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Reply | 5 Things About The Arsenal Game
at 18:17 26 May 2025
3. Even in the pre-season games Charlie Taylor stood out. He was our best defender against Arsenal. Of course, he has been Leeds' Player of the Year, won the Championship with Burnley and was part of the mean defence that kept them in the Premier League for many years. He's probably the most reliable Premier League defender we've got so it was ridiculous that he was left out of the team for most of the season. Hopefully, Will Still's team selection will be an improvement on what we've had to put up with this season, Taylor will be a regular starter and we'll never see Smallbone play for Saints again.. [Post edited 26 May 18:20]
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Reply | Keep Robinson and Sulemana
at 21:50 25 May 2025
Let's hope we can keep Charlie Taylor. He looks like he's our best defender. |
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Reply | Smallbone on
at 21:48 25 May 2025
Nobody would buy him. He can't even sprint. Just release him so he can't cost us any more points. |
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Reply | Can we avoid another unwanted record
at 21:42 25 May 2025
When we were drawing late in the game, there was obviously some concern that we weren't going to break the record so Smallbone was sent on just to make sure we did. |
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Reply | If it ain't broke!
at 21:35 25 May 2025
Yes, as usual, our subs gifted the 3 points to the opposition. Smallbone is a real Jonah. Send him on and the opposition will almost inevitably score.
Fernandes and Charlie Taylor were both very good and didn't look out of place against Arsenal. Taylor should have been playing all season. He is an experienced Premier League defender, who helped keep Burnley up for years, was Leeds' player of the year and a Championship winner with Burnley. [Post edited 25 May 21:36]
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Reply | Thoughts on a summer of change?
at 13:29 24 May 2025
Your retained list is shocking. We'll soon find out the real one and hopefully it will be better than this.
"Retain:
Bazuma
McCarthy
Wellington
Larios
Bree
Wood
Edwards
Stephens
Lawrence
Sanda
Charles
Smallbone
Downes ?
Fraser
Matsuri
Juan
Armstrong
Stewart
Edozie
Takaoka" [Post edited 24 May 16:35]
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Reply | Will Still bringing his two brothers with him.
at 13:06 22 May 2025
I've always thought that Fonte would be much better managerial material than Lallana. He's currently a player-coach in Portugal, but as he's in his forties, this should be his last season as a player and I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to be assistant manager here. [Post edited 22 May 13:07]
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Reply | Will Still bringing his two brothers with him.
at 12:49 22 May 2025
I'd prefer Vasco Matos with Fonte as his assistant. They are realistic targets.
But, if Sport Republic choose the Still brothers, they'll have my support and I hope they are successful here.
Whoever we get, we'll still need a proper centre forward to score 20+ goals next season. Ayoub El Kaabi would be ideal and he'd be well within our price range. [Post edited 22 May 12:53]
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Reply | Will Still bringing his two brothers with him.
at 11:46 22 May 2025
His brother Edward doesn't seem to last long anywhere so I doubt we'll see much of him here.
Edward Still
In September 2015, he became assistant of Croatian manager Ivan Leko, initially as video-analyst at Sint-Truiden,[1] but thereafter he followed Leko as assistant at Club Brugge.[3] When Leko was coach at Al Ain, Still went on to work as a project manager at Vlerick Business School and as an analyst on the RTBF football talk show La Tribune. In May 2020, Still rejoined Leko's staff at Antwerp,[4] then Shanghai Port in early 2021.[5]
Charleroi
In May 2021, Still returned from China to start his first job as lead manager at age 30, at Charleroi where he succeeded Karim Belhocine.[6] On his debut on 24 July on the first day of the Belgian Pro League season, he won 3–0 away to Oostende.[7]
On 22 October 2022, Still was sacked by Charleroi, having taken 16 points from a possible 42 at the start of his second season. His final result was a 4–1 loss at Cercle Brugge.[8]
Eupen
In November 2022, Still became the manager of Eupen, also in the top division.[9] After the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his debut was a late 1–0 win away to Seraing on 23 December.[10] He was sacked on 25 April after taking 12 points from a potential 51; his final two games were lost 5–1 at home to Zulte Waregem and 7–0 at Club Brugge.[11]
Kortrijk
Still began the 2023–24 season as manager of Kortrijk, and was the first manager sacked, on 25 September. He had won none and drawn two of his eight games.
It's hard to see what the attraction is of the Still brothers. Let's hope Sport Republic know what they're doing. [Post edited 22 May 12:04]
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Reply | The annual struggle of having to shift players out of the Club
at 17:10 19 May 2025
You're right: Harwood-Bellis needs someone like Fonte as a mentor.
He was excellent for England when he had better players around him. Central defenders, like goalkeepers, usually take much longer to reach their peak than players in other positions. I remember how John Stones struggled in his first season at Man City. His mistakes cost them a lot of games, but they persevered with him.
My ideal management team would be Vasco Matos assisted by Fonte. They would sort out our defence and Harwood-Bellis would thrive in it. "Vasco Matos led Santa Clara to the best defensive record in the top ten European leagues, conceding only 19 goals in a season. This remarkable achievement, along with their promotion and current performance in the Primeira Liga, highlights Matos's ability to build a strong and organized backline."
There are some better youngsters than we realize in our squad. They just have very poor examples around them and have been dragged down to their level. That's the problem with retaining a nucleus of poor players. They have a negative influence on any new players we bring in. [Post edited 19 May 17:17]
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Reply | Players who didn’t give a 💩 today
at 10:54 19 May 2025
Fernandes has been one of our best players this season, but, if you're talking about the Everton game, he was one of the worst culprits.
As for Ross Stewart, he showed us just how bad his finishing is when he does get chances. That header was the easiest chance any player from either side had all day. You can see why, even though he's 29 this year, he's never scored a goal in the Premier League and only 10 in the Championship. Most of his career has been in the lower leagues in Scotland and here, which is his level, even when he's not injured. [Post edited 19 May 11:02]
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Reply | Come on Palace (n/t)
at 20:50 17 May 2025
The 6th different team to win the FA Cup in 6 years, and it will probably be another different winner next year. The last time there were 6 different winners in 6 years was in the 1980s. Any top flight team can win it nowadays, but no second tier team has won it since West Ham in 1980. |
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Reply | Ruben Dias
at 19:29 10 May 2025
The City players were stunned by that result. They were expecting an easy win. You could see how crestfallen they were at the end. I'm sure they'll be making lots of excuses for the next day or two.
To be fair, although they dived a bit, they were by no means the worst for it this season. The only one who really annoyed me was Nico O'Reilly when he tried to win a penalty and kept whingeing to the ref about it afterwards. Doku missed a trick. If he had thrown himself down on the edge of the penalty area, with his pace and trickery, the ref would probably have fallen for it. But, he stayed on his feet and Saints defenders marshalled him superbly.
They were bloody lucky to get 7 minutes added on at the end. [Post edited 10 May 19:44]
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Reply | Saints v Man City Thread
at 19:24 10 May 2025
Beautiful day for a gritty, backs-to-the-wall defensive performance. Probably the best second half atmosphere of the season, with all parts of the ground singing. I'm glad I was there to see it and I left St Mary's with a big smile after that.
Aaron Ramsdale was very good, as you'd expect, but a big shout out to the much-maligned Stephens and Bednarek central defensive partnership, who gave it their all and defended magnificently.
Saints seem to play with much more team spirit under Simon Rusk than they did for the other managers this season.
Up the Saints! [Post edited 10 May 19:25]
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Reply | Next Manager Odds
at 11:06 8 May 2025
Not much to inspire us there. [Post edited 8 May 11:07]
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 433 | | Comment Votes: | 1544 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 1977 |
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