Match Day Thread Saints vs Stoke City - Saturday, August 23 - 15:00 KO

Ipswich also don't have a new manager (or many new players) trying to implement a new way of playing either.

18th
No wins.

I know most people will drop a bollock if we don't beat Pompey, but over and above bragging rights, it really doesn't define our season. If we're awful from October onwards, then yes, I'll join in with the concern and criticism. But it's been said a million times, we need to have a bit of patience here, and nobody ever won the league in August (or September). Otherwise, let's congratulate Tottenham/Arsenal and Stoke now for their unexpected successes, and look forward to playing Manchester United for the four game season we play now next year.

 

I think we should shift Stewart,Archer and BBD. Not convinced by Downs and also agree with the comment about Flynn Downes. Damion Downs does not even look.like am upgrade on Mara.

Disappointed that Still is being written off in August! He has inherited a wretched squad and just feel there is too much to do rectify this and mount a promotion campaign in one season. The comment about being a few players short of a decent squad is salient yet I think the quality that is missing is in the front line. Archer,Downs , BBD and Stewart could easily be traded in for one decent forward but I think the there is question of quality or motivation through out the squad. I think a draw with be a good result for a nascent Will Still side.

I am.not convinced we will see any tangible improvement until November. To criticise Will Still at this moment is effectively blaming him for the consequences of last season. We will get a better impression of him by Christmas.

The Portsmouth match will be a challenge top. They ran WBA very close today. Probably a season ahead of us in preparation for this Championship campaign and more used to playing at this level. They will be far from a pushover. Until we enhance the current squad, I am not convinced that we are really superior to them....probably pretty evenly matched and they are more confident.

 

And in which case, they're being silly and impatient too. I'm actually staggered by the response to today.

 

No disconnect here, the fact Ipswich and Leicester aren't doing great is a bonus in the long run, but right here and now I don't really care about their season. I care about what we sat through this afternoon with our lot and what I saw was pretty bloody concerning

 

I kind of agree with part of this, and disagree with part too. I think we'll be fine, and Downs really wasn't as bad as people are trying to make out today - there were signs of some good hold up and link play from him (again). He's a lot better than Mara, and frankly showed much more than Stewart today (who has scored goals in the Championship before). The part I agree with is that Still has inherited a troubled squad and needs to be give time. Also that we'll have a much better impression of him by Christmas (though frankly, we should be seeing improvement, serious improvement, from October). The Portsmouth match will be a challenge, yes, because derby matches are mental as much as anything.

 

But can't you contemplate that maybe the struggles all three are having (after a massive three games of the season), might all be related? And that maybe once things settle down, just perhaps it could start levelling out and getting better?

 

I honestly forgot that BBD existed.

I am ok with Will Still I think there is more about him than RM, we just have completely dross strikers and a lack of depth on the wings which we all knew going into this season.

My bigger concern as things stand is that it has been a mediocre transfer window and we have some serious business to do this week if we are going to be challenging for autos imo.

 

Are you really though? I'm not

I didn't think it was anywhere near as bad as made out. Obviously not great by any means and there's some genuine concerns there but it's still incredibly early days and I expect us to improve dramatically.

I (sort of) disagree with you re the skates though, ultimately it's our biggest match since the play off final and to lose at home would be horrendous.

While you're right to say it won't define our season I think it could easily define Will's, as were we to lose that he'll sadly lose a lot of people and struggle to get them back.

Not saying that's right by the way but it's modern football sadly.

 

I thought we were easily the better side, but even so we were still a very long way off playing well. Playing three CBs is just totally needless. We shouldn't have started like that, and we definitely shouldn't have continued like that for the best part of 10 minutes after the red card.

I understand that we're badly lacking in wingers (something we definitely need to rectify before the window closes). But that's no justification for playing a back three instead. We all know that Armstrong is more effective when someone else is the no.9.

 

Then those people are idiotic. City losing to United last year didn't make Pep cack. It's so silly. It matters, but to the fans only (in reality). It also won't really matter if we beat them at their place and go up.

 

Just back in from the game and I'm a bit surprised by the strength of reaction today, to be honest. Well, I am and I'm not at the same time...

Our midfield had an absolute stinker, I can't defend them and I can't recall seeing a midfield three where all of them are as bad as that all at the same time. So many sloppy, underhit and mishit passes all afternoon. They continually opened up the back three to be run at by Thomas and Manhoef especially. I actually thought the back three were fine, the wing backs were contributing and doing what they could. In front was just so stodgy

We are just painfully missing that way of adding variation and unpredictability to our game. There's such a heavy dependency on Manning and Fraser at present, whereas Manning and Fraser's deliveries (which I thought were pretty fine for the most part) should be part of an arsenal of different approaches, which include playing through the No 10, diagonal runs from the striker, getting the wingers in behind, forcing overlaps etc. Unfortunately, we don't yet have those players...

I'm not putting any blame on Stewart either, that ball was smashed across at thigh height and he did what you'd ask of a forward and that's get something on it. I've not seen the highlights yet so maybe I'll feel different later, but from my seat in the Kingsland (B35) it was a bloody difficult one

We hit the post twice, forced a couple of big saves and on a different day, we come away with a win. We were easily the better side (IMO) and on another day we win that and score three in the process. But goodness me... that midfield has to tighten up, it was honking. I'm hoping that once we flex into a 4-2-3-1 the roles will be simplified for Charles and Downes and they won't feel like they need to create, as well as hold the midfield, the issues come when they start running all over trying to do multiple jobs at once and leaving too much of an expanse or over-exerting themselves and rushing into bad passes or slack play

Clock is ticking on getting people in now though. I still feel like we'll get the four I've mentioned before in (No 10, winger x2, GK) and one of the wide men will be a loanee, but it will be interesting to see if we start chasing a midfielder if Smallbone or Fernandes exit before the deadline too

I can't quite make my mind up if the international break will do us a favour or not, but I certainly feel like that's when our season will actually feel to me like it's truly starting...

 

PS - if you read Still's comments post match, he can very clearly see the things that are wrong.

 

It’s funny though that if you were to ask 100 fans of random Championship clubs if they wanted Archer, Stewart or BBD in their squad I would guess that about 90% of them would say yes, probably only Birmingham, Ipswich and maybe Leicester fans would say no.

This squad, on paper, has all the tools to be competing for top 2. Whether it will will come down to management and getting some confidence into the side. There is also a chance that they have all completely forgotten how to play football after last season

 

Which is essentially what Still has said post game.

 

As I said I'm not saying it's right but we live in a world of instant gratification.

I'm with you mate it's far too early to be making sweeping judgements but that's always going to happen unfortunately.

 

Agree with all of this. Midfield was definitely the biggest issue today and they were all really poor imo with Downes being the worst.

Frustrating really when it's our strongest position on paper but is what it is. They surely can't all be that bad again next week.

 

I like the Championship much more than the Premier League so is OK. Pompey game is a must win though or not OK

 

I was really disappointed in them, especially after seeing numerous Stokies saying that their midfield was their weak point. We should've run all over them and instead we couldn't get out of our own way and kept letting them charge straight onto our back line

 

Basically 'We need to erase the final traces of Russell Martin'

 

Well he's saying that we need wingers that can take on a man and actually score goals too, and a player that can thread balls through the channels (which we haven't had since, well, since about Tadic).

For all the moaning about Downs (which is the second most ridiculous thing about today), he was making some really smart runs off the defenders, but we weren't/didn't have anyone making that pass to him. We'd go wide instead and then 'lump it in the mixer' (I would have thought Lincs would be happy, because it's his favourite thing). If we can get your Spertsyan/Azaz type player who sees those runs and can make those passes (and clearly Still wants one, and clearly we're trying to sign one) then that's when we can start working out what we are as a team.