I'm sorry but having watched Saints most weeks, there clearly was an issue with fitness throughout the squad under Martin. The club aren't going to publicly acknowledge that.
I must admit, Sulemana (albeit against probably slow opposition) did seem particularly fast yesterday. I just knew that every time he pushed the ball forward to run to it, he would get there before his man.
The poster before was claiming that Juric's comments on Sulemana were to be applied to the whole squad. But all Juric was saying is that Sulemana was unfit, he made no mention of the squad. I'm pretty confident with the data the club have on players they would know if there were fitness issues. If it was as simple as them being unfit that would have been addressed. I'd tend to rely on professionals and analysts looking at match and training data rather than fans that see us lose week in week out and want a simple excuse so settle for "players aren't fit enough".
if any footballer needed good coaching it’s him. Seemed totally confused from day 1 and steadily got less sharp. Didn’t fit into russball at all, but there’s a player in there if someone can properly coach him to understand the game patterns
The players themselves probably weren't/aren't unfit but from what I saw and read they weren't being pushed hard enough in training which meant they were not as fit as other PL squads. Having 2 days off in a row after a match for example. The plan of having Christmas Day off before Martin was sacked despite having a match the next day. When Poch came in he instantly installed double training sessions. He may not have been too popular at the time but the results spoke for themselves. When you haven't got the quality, you have to be able to work harder than the other team to stand a chance.
Well, IJ said he was unfit, plus game time and confidence does wonders for players, so I think we enter a new phase of hope for him I get the feeling that everyone that got subbed early yesterday will be starting Thursday, so that’s Suley, Tyler, Ugo & Mateus plus Bedders assuming he’s ok Late sub of Lallana May suggest it was a short run out and he’ll start too
We listen to all the Adam & Joe podcasts and they’ve been very balanced about the RM question, never suggesting any unknown negatives, just basically questioning the style and players available to play that way
Also, Sulemana is a different type of fitness. Under Russball (aka 'totally **** boring suicidal football'), possession was king. Sulemana is all about pace - short fast bursts. Bit like comparing Mo Farah's fitness v Ulsain Bolt's. Lol if only our players had the endurance of Farah and speed of Bolt
You don't have to say sorry, you are only reiterating what most of us were thinking. (Reply to message #461.)
I do get a bit of perverted pleasure when a player who is being slated, mugs off his critics, guilty myself yesterday, I had just sent a text saying Dibs was well off the pace and thirty seconds later he scores.
I didn’t recognise anyone around us, so obvs lots of non-ST holders were there Also a few very enthusiastic kids and that’s what we need to encourage. They’re now more likely to be Saints fans, especially as we won We need to price Burnley to open the whole ground and make it affordable for people to bring their kids (£5) Not so worried about over 65 prices when prices are lower anyway, but with low kids pricing they can bring their grandkids
He’s never as involved when he’s playing up front, definitely his best game in that position, mainly because we actually got some crosses in
I am worried about the over 65 prices personally as it's something that's creeping into the game bit by bit and I think we'll see all concessions be removed within a few years. Agree with everything else though. I'll take my nipper along to Burnley if priced more sensibly.
Interesting that Bedders was man marking Bianchini yesterday, even following him when he dropped deep. I assumed he was their top scorer/assister, but his league stats are Played 20, Goals 2, Assists 0 So it’s a mystery Wonder if we’ll see similar tactics in a league game?
That did seem to be the game plan. THB followed a striker deep into his own half too, a couple of times. I just hope the other defenders are alert to it and close off the gaps that better teams could exploit by launching a long pass for a midfielder breaking forward.
Isn't dropping them for cup games a sign? Don't remember that being a thing 4/5 years ago though happy to be corrected.
