SaintinNZ I am very depressed and upset about this afternoon. SR appointing Nathan Jones just seems like one of those things I tell my niece not to do and then she goes ahead with it despite the warnings that things wll turn out bad and to her ultimate detriment - the only difference is that my niece is 10 years old. When he was appointed, the nearest comment I saw the media make towards being positive was that it as "interesting."
Still processing but Bazunu lost us the game rather than a poor performance. NJ made the right changes and made them early enough. We showed fight in the 2nd half which was good. There are too many players in the squad who are 'nothing', just there, playing football without ever affecting the game. Ely, Diallo, AMN, Aribo. There is hope for an Adams, Edozie front pairing, as soon as they combined Adams wins the ball and chests it down for him, as we've all said he needs a finisher to play off him. We are in biiiiig trouble this season but NJ isn't the problem. He's possibly not the answer either but he's not going to stop Baz and our poor midfield effing up after one game in charge.
Yeah, I def got that from your posts. Its certainly a head scratcher putting NJ in charge but did he really get it that wrong today? I thought Diallo and Ely were anonymous but the starting lineup wasn't awful. I thought that Lyanco played very well and Salisu seemed good with him as a partner. Pleased to see Edozie starting as he's needing a good run in the team. Going in at 2 nil was a poor GK performance and the changes at halftime I was reassured by and they were good changes. I liked Ralph a lot but he doesn't make those IMO. Not an awful managerial job by any means and we have to respect that he has taken this job on with us anchored to the bottom of the table and looking certain for relegation.
I say again; why the **** did we let Romeu go for pennies? What a spectacular clusterfuck of a decision. Would any other premier league side be so stupid? I disagree with NJ looking out of his depth. He called it has he saw it and in his defence made some positive changes. At least he’s honest in his assessment unlike the delusion hasenhuttl was going through at the end.
Wrong question, Romeu wanted to go so had to be allowed to, the question is why do we still have to start Diallo, he didn't improve under Ralph and he isnt ever going to be an asset in the EPL. Lavia was an inspired signing but we should have been in for a Diallo replacement. Maybe it was going to be AMN but that hasnt shown signs of working
It's not the fact we sold him - we were respecting the wishes of long time servant of the club - it's that we didn't adequately replace him.
Ok, I with all the others who saw the match, left the ground feeling pretty low because after a first couple of bright opening minutes, the lights went out of the team. At one stage we thought, another drubbing 5+ goal defeat. But here's where I may differ, the second half had some better moments and certainly a bit more spike but too many misplaced and intercepted passes, leaving the field gate open for the third goal, made BHA look better ensured we could not get this match back. We have got a few weeks left before all hope is lost and as before, despite the present gloom, I will not be backing calls for another change of manager, way too premature. It's not his fault that this squad has lost its confidence over the last 8 months. But I do expect to see some difference in each match now to maintain what small optimism I still retain.
By all accounts, Romeu wanted to return to Spain. Which for me means that our error wasn't letting him go, but instead the failure to replace him. And yet, whilst not replacing him was a massive error, it still wasn't as big an error as failing to strengthen up front. I was baffled at the time that so many people were happy with our summer transfer window. Regardless of whether Jones is the right choice or not, if we get relegated this season it will be that transfer window which is far more to blame than appointing Jones.
Well yeah, this is what I meant. We went from a strong midfield with depth to relying on Lavia to stay injury free. Absolute ****ing suicide. This combined with sticking a teenager in goal is why we will go down. I don’t care if he wanted to go home. No other club is a soft touch that lets players leave for sentiment. He was still an elite level midfielder that could have been a good backup. You at least need 2 DMs in your squad. Absolute joke
Had time to mull this over during the drive back. Bazunu caught some flack earlier in the season and I was prepared to defend him as he was young. Having watched him play in many more games since, he's simply not good enough. He's made several mistakes leading to goals now and will make some average saves but he is not even close to being PL standard. How many clean sheets now, 1? Gunn was dropped and sold for much less. Drop immediately for Willy/Mccarthy KWP and Lyanco weren't terrible, but the rest of the defence were completely MIA throughout the whole game. The midfield were not existent. I hate to say it but JWP was ****e, if the captain can't be arsed what hope for the rest? Diallo, Ely, Aribo all aren't good enough. They're really really poor players who are not at this level. I didn't even realise Adams was playing until half time, Edozie did ok. The team looked genuinely confused throughout most of the game, it wasn't clear what the tactics were at all. There were some hit and hope long balls and then other times we were trying to play out from the back. The problem was our attacking players didn't know which we were doing and when. Mrs Lincoln joined us today (first time she's watched us live this season) and she couldn't believe just how poor and disorganised we looked. I'm so ****ed off with SR right now. It was clear we were fighting for our lives this season, the arrogance of buying a **** load of kids to sell on in the future was bad enough but to then compound it with the recruitment of NJ is beyond belief. The guy is so far out of his league it's unreal. We will not win a single PL game under him. Not one. He makes Portvleit seem like ****ing Ferguson. But at least his wife's family support Saints or something. Joke.
I'd definitely bring Alex back in for Fulham. I feel for Bazunu as it's not really his fault but you can't afford a young and inexperienced keeper in this league when you're a struggling team who can't score. I've never thought Alex as bad as many make out either and certainly think he's a level above at the moment.
We are genuinely awful. Barely any positives today except Edozie. Our squad is absolutely ****e and tactically horrific. Need to spend a fortune in January and sack whoever is in charge of recruitment. I know one left already, but get rid of them all. So many of this team are barely even championship level, let alone PL. Djenepo, diallo, Ely, Lyanco, Adam Armstrong, AMN are genuinely league one standard. Such poor, poor footballers. Aribo, Perraud, Bazunu, salisu, Adams would be bang average in the championship. Jwp and KWP who are normally PL level playing like Sunday league cloggers. Just unreal. After all this time in the premier league we have got worse and worse. I assume hasenhuttl had a big say in many of these transfers. So at least he’s gone
Our squad isn't completely ****e. That's a total overreaction. It's just a squad playing with no confidence at all.
I’m not sure about the them all being the right changes. The half time double change kicked us into gear, but the Perraud>AMN change destabilised us again.
Diallo was absolutely atrocious today. Djenepo is league one level. Aribo is dross. Child in goal. No DM without Lavia. The squad is absolutely ****e. We are so passive. Absolute passengers in this league