I don’t get what the point of saying this is, of course they wouldn’t be but unfortunately we did play them and it was bad. I don’t agree with Still out by any means but these does follow from a series of abject performances other than one cup game.
Agree but he didn't have the squad to play the way he wanted at the start of the season and international the break has came at the wrongtime. Most of us are still hurting from last seasons s*itfest and are rightly p*ssed off. Just have a little patience.
I'm fine with that as a result. So that's three results I'm fine with, and two that I'm definitely not. Performance wise, the first half was awful and the second half was encouraging. But as I've said recently, performances aren't my focus at this early stage of the season - it's all about results. If we're still producing these poor performances come November, it'll be very worrying. But right now we're still finding our way. And in a derby, I think a draw is fine. I do really hate how long Still takes to make his substitutions - it's becoming a regular feature. We have one of the strongest benches in the division, so to not utilise the players earlier does seem a waste. But I'll give Still the benefit of doubt for now, and hope that this is just him wanting to give his starting players more time on the pitch together. But it definitely needs to change soon.
This was Martin’s Championship September: Lost 5-0 to Sunderland Lost 4-1 to Leicester Lost 1-0 to Ipswich Lost 2-1 to Middlesbrough Won 3-1 vs Leeds It is not easy to make this transition.
Downes is truly crap. Every game he gets done. Didn’t learn from his cock up against Stoke; almost got f*cked in the same way again today. Massive liability.
See, now this bit we are on the same hymn sheet. Needs some time on the bench. Signing him for big money was a huge error.
Just got home. Roerslev was an absolute embarrassment. Drop him straight away. Kept checking back instead of going forwards, kept giving the ball away, far too passive when closing down. One of the worst performances I've ever seen. Very disappointed with Fellows TBH. Thought he was poor and didn't do nearly enough when he got into good positions and let the game drift away from him. Must improve. Drop Downes for Jander going forwards please. I don't remember a single shot on target in the second half which is totally unacceptable. 15th in the table, with 6 points from 5 games, is a ****ing disaster to start the season quite frankly and the Hull game is a must win. With the budget we have and the money we've been able to spend the players should be ashamed of the start. As for Still, what the **** was that first half? There was no pressing whatsoever, gave them far too much time on the ball and I had no idea what we were trying to do. Very poor start to his spell here and why the **** didn't he get the players in for the first stoppage for an injury? He did for the second but he should have done so earlier. Very underwhelmed by him so far TBH.
Sat on the bus on the way home in the traffic. The performance was poor but there were brief flashes of what might be with the team once they start talking to each other more. A couple of stupid cards gained from a poor ref we have to vary up the long balls to archer with something else as almost every teams cb’s are going to be a foot or more taller than him most games and he wins nothing that way. for me downes has been poor all season so now we have jander let’s move him to the bench worst time of the season to play then but it’s done now and let’s move on.
What did you genuinely expect after the horrors last season? Things arent going to change overnignt at the click of a finger. We weren't suddenly going to go from barely winning to winning 6/6. The start we've had is pretty much what I'd have expected after last season, to be honest. If you thought otherwise, I'd probably argue your expectations are a bit high.
You should watch it back as Fellows was very good. Still has said he was angry at the first half and blamed last season’s players for going for lazy backwards passes and not offering an out - whicj forced the long balls.
Nobody said that. What we all said, and I still firmly believe, is that he was too wedded to an ideology that cannot work against high energy, physical sides.
Real let down of a game. Agree the atmosphere wasn't at the level you would expect, but was still a notch up from a regular game. As often is the case in recent years the way Saints played drained the enthusiasm out of the supporters, it was nice and loud before kick off. We were embarrassing in the first half, probably edged out the second. Still extremely toothless up front and slow and ponderous in build up. Been a pretty middling start to the season, but the benefit of the doubt is still relevant because there have been so many changes and that may take a few games to gel properly. If anything Still made too many changes today e.g. Robinson has been our most threatening player this season and he didnt get on until after the 80th minute, maybe he should have started today. Frustrating day, but way too early to call for Still's head or bemoan the season as a failure.
Glad you’ve had a chance to calm down Roeslev did give the ball away quite a bit but I do also think his main focus today had to be about tracking Murphy. He can’t afford to risk losing the ball close to himself and then Murphy being in behind so had to force the pass a bit more (Pompey we’re closing the CBs and CMs really well to cut those options off). Worst ever seen is somewhat reactionary I suspect. Jander in fpr Downes I think makes complete sense. 15th place eith 6 points isn’t a disaster. It’s it great but it’s salvageable. Automatic promotion needs about 84 points from 41 games. Not so different to what we needed 5 games ago.
Yes. But in the Premier League it was a total disaster and has led to our players being absolutely shell-shocked. You are normally a realist!
