I’ve seen nothing from Armstrong to suggest he would do better than Che. In fact I think we would be a lot worse off. We need an upgrade on Adams but Armstrong is not it. I would be sending him on loan if possible.
I simply think he will nick a goal or two with his pace whereas I wonder whether Adams will even score again this season. His composure is absolute ****e. The first goal we didnt get yesterday was a total mishit by him that luckily fell to KWP. Everything that comes his way he blows it and he's not dealing with leading the line at all. I'm not arguing for Adarma to become lead striker, I'm saying that Adams is so poor that we would probably do better if he did. We would also have to change our style from lumping it to hold up man.
I haven't been to a home game since NJ was appointed - last game was Palace away, so can't claim to have experienced the SMS crowd yet, but one thing I know regardless of what I've experienced first hand of NJ is that toxic crowds don't help a team reduce those **** ups. My take isn't that SR are brilliant no questions asked - but it is that they have a financial vested interest, and know a lot more than we do about this stuff, and I hope that those two things together are going to see them do their best to steady this. Like it or not, given the choice between handing the reigns of taking the club forward as both a footballing and financial concern to Sports Republic or you (as metaphorical A. N. Other Fan, rather than LincolnSaint himself), the majority of Saints fans would stick with SR, even if we don't all like them. One thing I won't do is talk about eating humble pie after one game, then frothing at the mouth after we narrowly lose 1-0 next match, and then oscillate between the two ad nauseam for the rest of the season, which seems to be happening a lot on here atm. As is totally allowed, and I am not saying it's not - it just seems absolutely exhausting for you! Vent yourself monthly or something, or every four games, where you can then see a realistic yardstick of how we're progressing or not. It was Nigel Adkins, who I know you are a fan of, who preached not getting too high when we win, nor too low when we lose. Of course I want us to build up a run that gets us out of this, but I understand that we can lose 1-0 to Villa whilst also making progress in the medium-term (by which I mean the rest of this season). Believe me, I'm as frustrated as you not to lift ourselves out of the bottom three this weekend. By my understanding, the discussion we were having here is not who messed all this up, who signed the Luton manager and recruited badly - it's about which of either patience or getting on the team and manager's backs constantly is the more helpful approach to success on the pitch given whatever situation we currently find ourselves in. I prefer the former, and cannot see how anything other than that is going to help us - we should be the 12th man, as someone said, to help bring the team along in these difficult times. And SR` haven't yet failed to sign a striker twice - there is still well over a week left of this window, so we won't be able to say that for sure for a while. And strikers are no guarantee of success anyway - we couldn't get Cody Gakpo, and he hasn't exactly been setting the Golden Boot race alight at Liverpool.
I agree. I think we're lucky to have owners like SR. Sunderland were a circus of a club, similar to Everton now. Bad owners with a short-term vision for me would be splashing mega cash around now for sub-standard players. Whether our players are sub-standard or not, at least they're not sending the club bankrupt. We could shift an injury prone Lavia now for five times what he cost us months ago.
Good post Pell. Admit that I’ve been one to go from baking a pie to building an ejector seat across the course of a week. I will say that even during our good week, I was also saying that those scraped wins (and a superb victory against City) didn’t suddenly make him a good (or the right) manager though. Still, some good food for thought there. Thank you.
I personally believe SR to be a good thing overall. I just still remain concerned that Ankersen’s self belief (which is certainly not lacking) has meant we’ve crossed a line of unacceptable risk by appointing NJ. That’s my main beef.
Thanks LTL - and anyone has the right to take whatever approach they like, definitely not disputing that. Jury will be out on NJ all season, absolutely no doubt, and as it should be. But just feel frustrated if fans feel they have got to pile on additional pressure at games, as it just can't help the team.
But that’s NJ’s formula; get it up front as quickly as possible. We just don’t have the forwards to create / score. Adams is way out of form & Mara / Djenepo (MC) are at best “occasionals”.
It is obscene as some have said on here, that the fans don't make a difference. We absolutely can and I think too many of us on here and at SMS have us as already relegated. I'd like us to fight for survival and that starts with 'supporting' the team. Players don't always like to admit how much the atmosphere affects individual and team performances but it does - you can tell, because when we offer our support, it is appreciated and makes the difference (they obviously ignore the crowd when it is going the other way). Somebody said that the atmosphere against Forest until they scored was good. I don't agree - we were waiting for an excuse to pounce on Jones and the team that night. Saturday against Villa was better throughout the game until the disallowed goal (where we and the players couldn't really move past it) and at the end, we showed our support was with the players and recognised on some parts of the pitch, a good performance, just disapproval at the refereeing. The writing is not on the wall yet. We've got to get behind the team during games, regardless of what we think about the decisions that are being made. There is plenty to fight for and too much defeatism on here and at SMS. If you don't mind whether we go down to the Championship or feel that it's needed, that's fine. I and hopefully most still feel that our Prem status for next year is worth fighting for. We need to get behind the lads at home.
The crowd was very good on Sat. A lot stayed behind to applaud and there was a lot of togetherness at the end. Second half the Northam was giving it a good go. Can’t blame the fans for the mess the owners have put us in. We need a goalkeeper, CM and striker urgently imo.
I think I’m in the it’s not SRs fault camp. The reason for where we are is a combination of what has happened over the last 3/4 years where we have got steadily worse with a lack of investment and other teams have got better. This isn’t going to be rectified in one summer window. We still have some time left in this window to get a couple more over the line and thankfully there are a handful of other teams who are **** as well this season which gives us a bit of a chance. A centre mid and striker signing who come in and do well would probably be enough to survive.
No amount of singing his name is going to turn Adams in to a decent striker. A witty chant for Armstrong isn't going to turn him into Mbappe. A rousing chorus for Jones isn't going to stop him switching it to 5 at the back and become a quality PL manager. Our home form has been ****ing appalling for years. That's not on the fans. Most of us are defeatist because it's fairly obvious what we're seeing. I get it's a bit "chicken and egg" but if they considered playing with a bit of ****ing heart and effort then they might get the crowd back on side. I think we're (fans in attendance) are fed up and bored. It's very hard to get motivated by them at the moment
Don't agree with "most of us are defeatest" I think you mean most of us who are defeatest. I'm certainly not and nor are the majority who I sit amongst.
Maybe I'm wrong and am just in the misery section Seriously though, no one is expecting us to get out of this surely?
I disagree with a lot of this. Show someone encouragement and they perform outside their boundaries. Confidence is a fragile thing and once you have it as well as encouragement you can over perform. Same with Jones. I don’t think he is the right man, but a bit of support and encouragement from the stands would maybe stop the panic decisions and maybe we would get more out of him. SR may actually think he is not the right man after all, but I bet they are not telling him that every time they meet.
Glad to hear it. Not blaming the fans for the situation - but would hope they get behind the team regardless of the situation.
Sorry to get back into VAR but saw Motd & Leicester v BHA. Ref missed it but an absolute stone wall pen for BHA. VAR didn’t give, with the score at 1-1 The inconsistency from the VAR officials is just gobsmacking. If we’d had those clown’s Saturday, there’s no way they would have called the ref to view ….. but then again who the **** knows
Funny thing is though, the last two seasons we've been up in mid table at this point, and you've been adamant that those at the bottom would suddenly become world beaters and charge up the table and overtake us. But this season as it's the other way round and you're convinced there's absolutely no chance of us doing the same to say Forest?
I am. I mean, a win and a draw would see us mid-table, and its just past the halfway stage of the season. Not like it's the run-in. Does anyone know how many points we had last season after 20 games? Curious as to how many more points it was.
