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Comment | The Knives Are Out For Russell Martin In The Media But Do They Have Substance
at 11:27:54
To win points from here we need to play better, I think we all agree on that. But we are also depending on other teams playing worse but, if we think we can play better then why on earth shouldn’t others be able to?
I actually think I am a half full person because I see some if not most of our players up to PL standards. But under this manager I just cannot see them being able/allowed to play to their best.
Brian Clough was brilliant at making B and C class players into an A class team. Can we really say that about Russell Martin? |
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Comment | The Knives Are Out For Russell Martin In The Media But Do They Have Substance
at 09:50:39
Before all the “give RM a chance” merchants spout any more from their ivory towers, one statistic that many forget about is that last season we conceded 64 goals, which was equal fourteenth, yes FOURTEENTH!
Which I believe underlines the basic underlying problem with RM’s possession-based style which is exactly that, TOO MUCH POSSESSION.
And it’s simply a case of mathematics.
Suppose you have 35% possession and you lose the ball ten times in a game. That may or may not lead to a goal or two against you, maybe more, may less.
But….
If you have 70% possession, then by simple maths, that would lead to maybe 20 losses of the ball, so twice as many chances of conceding.
But even if you manage to play better with more possession and keep the loss of the ball to say 15 times or less - and we clearly have been unable to - then that still means you are much more vulnerable than if you only have 35% possession.
And this is without the increased tiredness that comes with it.
So proof positive that lots of possession is a good thing is an utter fallacy. We may have got away with in the Championship, but in the PL? Not an earthly
AND THAT IS WHY RUSSELL MARTIN HAS TO GO…
PS. I seem to recall all those nutters who were saying sacking Adkins was completely wrong and look what then happened; and it’s the same now, fine in the lower leagues, out of his depth in the PL.
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Comment | Southampton At Brentford The Damning Verdict
at 09:49:05
I’m afraid I think you are being much too generous in your comments Nick.
Saturdays display was surely was the epitome of a team that is all over the shop defensively with a manager who doesn’t know what to do about it given he refuses to change his system.
Watching what in my view was a near train crash of an interview with RM - not looking at the camera, trying to big up the team’s performance, looking miserable, saying it was his fault - I got the distinct impression that he was trying to hide a sense of defeatism, along the lines of “it’s all going wrong, the players are losing confidence, I don’t know what to do, I’m out of my depth, take me out of my misery”; and hence his comment about living and dying by the sword, which is another way of saying “I think it’s only a matter of time before I get the boot.”
What is more this must leak back to the team, and the latest comments, from the likes of Adam Lallana and Jack Stephens surely show that team spirit is fragile at best. And what will happen to it in the Man U game if we ship a silly goal or two?
But more importantly, having spent around £60m+ net in the transfer window, the really interesting question now is how long SR will now give him, because they must see that currently we are cannon-fodder for every other team in the PL. I reckon end-November max and could be (much) less if we don’t get some points on the board PDQ and the boos ring out at SMS |
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Comment | Southampton At Cardiff City The Carabao Cup Preview
at 09:44:18
“The manager will have two objectives from this game, the first will be to obviously win it, but the second is perhaps more important for the season, that is to fine tune the players on the fringes to the possession game he has introduced to the club and hopefully create some competition in the squad going forward.”
Sounds familiar?
Yes unfair I know but this was from Nick’s preview of the Gillingham game last year.
Plus ca change…? |
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Comment | Southampton V Nottingham Forest The Verdict.
at 15:11:46
We did not seem to be able to cope with Forest’s style of pacy play and their non-stop press, and they are supposedly one of the lesser lights in the PL. They just seemed more skilled, fitter, and half a yard faster and generally made us look like an average Championship team (which arguably we are), who were lucky not to have lost by two or three goals.
That said we might still have got something out of the game if our two wingers had someone in the middle to aim for.
Over the last few seasons the yardstick is at least 9 wins to stay up, in other words half your home games give or take. Last season Luton Burnley and Sheffield united won 14 games between them, ie around five each (whereas Forest in 17th spot won 9). Because unless or until we get in a goal scorer or two plus a goalkeeper in the next couple of days, on this evidence, given our frailties at the back and at the front, it is going to be a very long season…
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Comment | Vacancy- Ball Playing Goalkeeper Wanted Apply St Mary's Stadium
at 09:58:02
Great post and I don’t think there are many fans who would disagree.
Except RM that is!
As I said in a previous post, I do find bizarre the comments he made about AM being a great goalie and the blame for goal mistake should be shared..
Call me a cynic but it could be argued that he is making a fruitless effort to defend/justify a new 2 year contract (which he was presumably aware and supportive of). Furthermore, if he really does believe what he is saying, I just wonder, reading between the lines, whether RM - who after all is just 4 years older that AM - sees him as an ally and/or therefore might find it rather difficult telling off his contemporary…. |
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Comment | Southampton At Newcastle United The Verdict
at 15:47:48
I have commented about previously on how utterly useless I thought AM was and should not have tried to play silly buggers. In fact I think almost a worse crime was looking utterly shambolic when Isak passed to Joelinton, AM didn’t even make a half hearted attempt to save it.
However, just to be boringly even-handed about it… I just wonder whether looking at AM’s pass straight to Isak, it doesn’t look worse on TV and/or in the crowd? because we look down on the play and can see everything clearly, whereas the goalie only sees things in his direct eyeline and to him the pass may have seemed, or indeed to him it definitely looked, on.
More worrying though is the comments RM made about AM being a great goalie and the blame for goal mistake should be shared. Because I just wonder, reading between the lines, whether RM - who after all is just 4 years older that AM - might find it rather difficult telling off his contemporary…. |
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Comment | Charly Alcaraz Says He Wants To Be At Southampton
at 17:25:33
Like Broja, Charlie A from time to time was drop-jawingly amazing, but for whatever reason didn’t or couldn’t turn it on enough. So yes Saidou I agree with you that he was a bright spark - but I must correct you on one thing, that is the reason why any team gets relegated is not the lack of goals scored but the huge number the defence lets in that causes it, period.
But re CA, I think him coming back is potentially very exciting: he’s a year older, more experienced and joining a team on the up, so fingers crossed he can outfox a few defences in the PL.
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Comment | Would Southampton Fans Welcome Back Adam Lallana To St Mary's
at 17:00:52
Ricky Pope, that is the point; Championship, well maybe worth a punt, but PL? I think just because he may WANT to come back does not mean he is good enough to come back. Also does it not speak volumes that Brighton clearly could have made him stay if they’d really wanted him to, but didn’t? |
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Comment | Would Southampton Fans Welcome Back Adam Lallana To St Mary's
at 16:33:37
This has all the characteristics of buying another Theo Walcott, but in that instance we were struggling.
Now we are on the way back, this would almost certainly be as retrogressive a move as getting a Theo proved to be, if not more so.
I am pretty sure there will several much more promising (and younger) individuals available before we need to look at Alan. It seems the fact that he -and a number of other players - turned up to watch us at Wembley is being interpreted as meaning he wants to come back and/or we want him.
PLEASE NO. IT WOULD BE A VERY BACKWARD STEP AND WE CAN DO BETTER.
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Comment | Southampton V Leeds United The Wembley Play Off Final Verdict
at 10:13:04
Observations on an INCREDIBLE day
1. I have no doubt that Alex McCarthy has got so much better because he has a much more confident and settled back line in front of him. Yes he was lousy last season but he has shown that, by sticking to his last, he was quite capable of improving a massive amount.
2. Whoever had the idea of putting red and white flags on Saints’ seats was brilliant. This was a Masterstroke. Looking out at the Leeds end before and during the game, they were holding scarves and were unmoving, whereas our end everyone was waving like mad and I am convinced that made just a little bit of difference from the off to our mood and the enthusiasm.
3. I could hardly believe my eyes when Leeds started doing what we were so guilty of not so long ago, ie passing the ball sideways and backwards. A real sign of lack of confidence if ever there was one.
4. Speaking to Leeds fans on the way home, they all thought their team didn’t really turn up. And furthermore that Farke did an awful job with his subs. (Again echoes of RM in the past).
5. I just loved the way, from about 20 minutes into H2, we did absolutely everything to disrupt Leeds’ rhythm, pushing them, fouling them, kicking the ball out, marking them really closely… in other words we did a real job on them.
6. Munch munch munch. That is the sound of me eating humble pie about RM plus Rasmus Ankersen and his moneyball theories. What can you say, he/they have done us proud this season and if RM can keep this amazing spirit, camaraderie, never-say-die attitude and great self-belief going, who knows what we might achieve next season. At the very least I can see us worrying a few of the lesser mortals in the PL.
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Comment | Keep It Simple, Play Your Best Players, Change Little ! Is The Message To Southampton
at 19:03:56
I didn’t see the game v Leeds so I am risking talking bollo*cks but I recall RM saying afterwards that he decided midweek that they would try something different, ie us pressing the oppo rather than the other way round.
Whether that would have been achieved with another lineup goodness knows, but my impression is that the individuals on the pitch were happier playing that way. And that is the lesson to be learned, it’s not about WHO plays where it’s about HOW they play. So let’s hope that for the next three games they can replicate it, regardless of who is selected. |
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Comment | Southampton V Stoke City The Verdict
at 20:27:20
Colburn, I think the majority of those reading your piece will think, why does he take god knows how long to make such a minority-view point?! ie we should stick with RM because he’s got us to the playoffs.
I’m not denying your right to make it but my reading of the present situation - and i reckon that of most on TUI - is that we are playing rubbish football instigated by a rubbish manager. And if by some miracle we do go up, we will be the Sheffield Utd of 2024/25 and will get even less points than last time.
And I swear to God that if you cannot see that RM is a one trick pony then you have been watching our season through specs which are rose-tinted in the extreme.
I appreciate RM’s ability to have got the players to play in the style which he likes as a result of which we did well mid-season. But can you not see that this style is a real dead end street? Because if the likes of Stoke can work us out what hope do we have in the play offs let alone the PL?
If we don’t go up I reckon we could be stuck in The Championship for quite a few years unless or until we get a manager with vision and an attacking philosophy.
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Comment | Southampton V Stoke City The Verdict
at 16:20:01
Five observations from the Stoke fiasco:
1. The idea of possession-based football is to frustrate your opposition into leaving gaps which you can exploit. The downside is that it ENCOURAGES PLAYERS TO TAKE THE EASY ROUTE, ie PASS SIDEWAYS, AND DON’T GO FORWARD.
2. What THIS LEADS TO NOT ONLY DULL FOOTBALL BUT A GROWING LACK OF BOTTLE (why risk being tackled/hurt when you can avoid it by passing).
3. The backs and midfielders often seem to miss the obvious average longer diagonal pass forward to a player standing in lots of space, because they have been taught that a short pass is less risky.
4. We have bought/loaned several decent players. So how come the likes of Mara, Brooks, Aribo, et al seem to lose it after they been at the club for a couple of months or so? Unless that is they are being forced to play in a way that does not suit their strengths. And whose fault is that?
5. I simply cannot see where RM can take us now: one trick pony or what?! So let’s just pray that Dragan Solak and his SR playmates realised this too as they were witnesses to Saturday’s sh*t show and show him the door.
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Comment | Southampton At Leicester The Debacle
at 09:08:19
The funny thing about Leicester is that they play almost the same as us, ie quite a lot of tippy tappy, but press hard, and catch the oppo on the break. The difference was that last night our players, in defence looked petrified of losing the ball but most importantly, when LFC had the ball, DID NOT PRESS.
But Leicester aren’t Man City, they are a well organised and very fit team who have a (whole) game plan unlike us who only have half one: and I am convinced that if we had pressed them as much as they pressed us, then the result would have been different. It’s as if RM has coached them so far - got past the introduction and moved on to chapters 1,2 and 3 - but left it at that.
So why is that?
Well there are three likely answers (and probably a combination of them):
1. RM hasn’t got past chapter 3 himself and doesn’t know how to coach more into the players, but hopes/thinks that the players will work it out for themselves,
2. For some reason the players are not as fit as they should be (already on the beach?).
3, The players are over-rated, not as good as they think, lazy old sods, complete bottlers and are scared sh*tless of getting injured so won’t give 100%.
So what now?
I have come to the sad conclusion that MOST IF NOT ALL THE PLAYERS AND THE MANAGER IN THEIR HEART OF HEARTS DON’T REALLY WANT TO BE PROMOTED. They have resigned themselves to this because they are all on cushy numbers, earning a million p.a. upwards, they all think they’ll get jobs elsewhere - but in the PL? only with the bottom teams at best - so why kill yourself for a club that seems to them to be stuck in a rut?
I’ve said before that we are fast becoming like Middlesbrough last season, ambitious in theory but not good enough for the PL in practice, and I reckon that, Iike them in 22/23, this is going to be our best season in the Championship, ie knocked out in the playoffs, for many a year.
Season ticket next year? Looks less and less likely.
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Comment | Southampton V Watford The Verdict
at 18:37:39
onetowatch: first thank you for the response. I'm not saying that RM got it right or wrong about JS, simply that he has been made a complete scapegoat on this website for a long time, which I think is unjust because it is the whole team who should carry the can for failure, not one individual (I mentioned last week that Nick said he was not blaming JS for the result but he then went on to mention his name eleven times - obsessive or what? ) And so far as Shea Charles is concerned, all the times I have seen him, he has not struck me as anything more than OK, and he was certainly worse than that earlier on in the season. Better than JS? I don't think obviously so, so I guess we will have to agree to disagree about this one. |
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Comment | Southampton V Watford The Verdict
at 14:42:47
We seem to be witnessing an increasing amount of tosh coming out of this site!
As if the persecution of Jack Stephen’s wasn’t enough, now the next target (actually ongoing for a while now) seems to be the making of what you see as questionable substitutions, which to you are “baffling”. All I can say is thank Christ you’re not the manager!
Did you really not witness the fact that it was a warm day, and after 75 minutes a lot of our players were visibly struggling? So substituting them regardless of for whom wasn’t baffling it was plain logic.
And just to underline the point, apart from a couple of long term injuries, and the odd exception like your favourite(not) player, virtually all our team has stayed injury-free, save the occasional knock. Might it just not be a decent bit if game management by our manager? Compare this to say to the likes of Ipswich or Biro who’ve had to cope with massive injury lists.
Unless you’re a Man City or an Arsenal, substitutions are always going to upset the rhythm a bit and inevitably there will be a degree of square pegs and round holes.
But oh no, for you the subs are always “baffling”.
I’m tempted to quote that wonderful line from one of the Pink Panther movies when Clouseau addresses a man with a white stick and says” What ees ze matter? Are you blind or something?”
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