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Comment | Southampton V Stoke City The Carabao Cup Preview
at 09:57:57
I suspect RM will not play his strongest side and I suspect he does not really believe it is the most important game of the season but I do suspect the Southampton PR and Marketing team will have asked him or instructed him not to downplay the importance of the game in fear of a near empty stadium if he does........or am I just being cynical again?........probably! |
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Comment | Southampton At Manchester City The Preview
at 17:43:57
Agree JoeEgg. If Pep or Slot or Arteta are praising our team it is not usually a good sign.
I am going tomorrow but will also be seeing my son and going for a meal afterwards so the football is likely to just be a side show that will soon be forgotten. You always have that feint hope that a surprise may happen but you know it won't. |
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Comment | Graham Potter Ready To Return To Management
at 09:15:30
Potter will be in a job somewhere else by the time our board etc have decided that they have no option but to make a change. As much as I would like him to come to us, I just don't see it happening. |
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Comment | Southampton Board Said To Have Set Deadline Day For Russell Martin
at 11:05:12
I have never understood this football owner/management thing where supposedly the outcome of a managers future is decided by a single match or 2 matches or whatever criteria the said club or owner takes. So what happens if a manager wins the said game having lost copious amounts of previous games, so gets to stay but then loses the next 1, 2, 3 or 5 games. What happens if they draw games or say lose to a Man City 5-4 and put in a great performance? It is a bonkers approach.
As an organisation you make decisions based on performance but in the overall picture not by a single act. You either have a vision of what you have and how you want things to progress and decide whether the person that you have put in place to try and meet that vision is likely to get you there. I have no idea what SR vision is - my hunch is, that they did not expect to be in the PL this season and they have a championship outlook which frankly is where we are heading back to but it is what their vision and ambition is beyond that.
For the fans, for the players that want to achieve things, for the media that judge you as a side, and to some extent for the financial future of a club it is about results on the pitch and in that respect we are failing week in and week out.
To be honest, I think if SR was going to willingly dispose of RM and have someone lined up to replace him they would have done it by now (in much the same way as Cortese did - whether you like what he did or not). They are either just kicking the proverbial Can down the road in the hope things will change because they do not have a plan B or don't want to make the change or they are hoping the decision will be almost made for them. |
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Comment | Southampton At Portsmouth The Women's Game Verdict
at 12:59:46
I note the following comment in your verdict - if I didn't know better I could be reading about many of our men's first team verdicts here:-
But it was not a high standard, there were some good moments and some well worked moves, but overall there was a lack of control on the ball and a lack of an end product on two many occasions. |
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Comment | Southampton V Arsenal The Preview
at 12:44:12
I am going tomorrow and I usually look forward to a visit to a London club but this one fills me with horror. I can see nothing but a resounding and comprehensive defeat. 6-1 to Arsenal would not surprise me. I am not sure where I can find hope from - players don't usually take matter in their own hands - if they don't believe in the style, the manager etc then they don't usually lift themselves. That said, some players claim they do believe in what he is trying but is that just for the media - do they really - who knows!
One vague hope is that Ramsdale has a blinder but for 90 plus minutes..........can't see it.
Up until this last week I was still with RM by and large (with some obvious reservations like most) but he has not helped himself at all with his team selection, his tactics and his post match comments. If Bournemouth was a bad day at the office you could live with it but it feels a long way from just being bad day or night - it feels more ingrained than that.
All that aside I will go, hope us fans, no matter what happens are noisy and show some humour and try and enjoy the day out. |
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Comment | Southampton V Ipswich Town The Verdict
at 12:02:16
I feel I may be going against the flow here, but I enjoyed the game apart from that final few seconds when Ipswich equalised. I thought generally the performance was good without being perfect and there were some really good individual performances - Dibling, Lallana, Sugawara, Downes to name a few but no one had a bad game. The defence looked much better drilled and Ramsdale brought off some good saves, though interestingly 3 times he kicked the ball out and nearly put us in trouble (and a better opposition may have capitalised.
The line up on Saturday was better and they worked well as a team and looked much more energetic.
The opening goal was well worked but after that Ipswich actually looked the better side and had it been 1-1 at half time I doubt many of us could have complained. But, the second we were the better side. Had we taken one of our chances we would have been celebrating a win.
I am not sure all the subs worked but I understood some of them. I just felt too many were made at the same time.
On their equaliser - was we surprised? We hadn't taken our chances and the opposition gets a late equaliser. Not that unique for us - rarely though does it happen the other way. Relying on one goal is always dangerous and we are just not prolific scorers. If you want to stay in the PL you have to invest in a quality striker. All that said, I thought Archer was no better or worse than Adam Armstrong at this level.
On the equaliser, I do have a different view and the match analysis was good in respect of the Ipswich goal. They pointed out that AA just stood and watched which lead to the corner which lead to the goal. I do not understand players turning their backs. Ironically I was watching some of the West Ham game and I said then, why do players now turn their backs with an incoming ball? low and behold we did the same.
But, I enjoyed the game and whilst I think both these sides will go back down at least the performance was better. I am not looking forward to those games against Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool though! |
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Comment | Southampton At Everton The Carabao Cup Verdict
at 10:12:26
A win is a win even though it was through the lottery of a penalty shoot out - though they were all good penalties - so providing we use the right players when we do get a penalty we may have a chance.
It was a poor game overall with 2 poor relegation looking sides.
Generally our focus is on how error strewn our defence is, but really the big question is, the continued failing of our frontline to score goals no matter who we put there. The return on goals scored is dreadful and is equally costing us games and points as much as our errors at the back in the league (I realise that this was a cup game but our 1 goal in play came from a defender again). Why are we so poor up front? Is it quality?, is it confidence? is it lack of feed from midfield? is it tactics and positioning? Teams that don't score don't stay up generally. |
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Comment | Manchester United Have Injury Issues For their Visit To Southampton
at 13:13:58
Oh, here we go. Where have we heard this sort of thing before and when has such news ever worked well for us?
I recall numerous teams supposedly coming to St Marys or The Dell before it supposedly there for the taking. When have we exploited it? Burnley, Watford, Rotherham to name but a few supposedly on the rack player wise only to eek out a win or a draw. We cannot even beat or draw with a side that has gone down to 10 men so whatever side Man U put out they will be difficult for us to beat or even get a draw against.
I like your last sentence that we won't miss Ross Stewart. Has to be the understatement of the year that. We would all like some honesty and transparency on that situation. 2 weeks they said then another 2 weeks..........they don't even bother saying anything now. |
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Comment | Southampton At Brentford The Damning Verdict
at 11:10:06
Agree with much of your analysis Nick and the contributors especially Westsussex. I would just add that as well as our errors at the back and against Newcastle in goal Smallbone has been poor at this level and Adam Armstrong looks the same as he did when he was last in the PL. Neither appear to be up to the level required. We need our strikers to score because if they don't, we are immediately hoping for a flawless display at the back and that looks highly unlikely at this level in any game.
I am not one shouting or seeking RM to go (I want management stability and there is no guarantee based on previous recent history that SR would make the right selection) but if he does not deal with the issues and make the right selections and become more adaptable in his tactics and style he will be the architect of his own eventual dismissal.
The Man Utd game is now becoming very interesting for both managers. Both are facing question marks over their style and ability to get a team to perform. I fear that Man Utd (as they often do when they are criticised) will respond better and whilst we may put up a fight the outcome may well be the same. The last 3 games are ones you feel we should have picked up at least a couple of points. |
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Comment | Arsenal Delaying Signing Ramsdale Transfer Paperwork
at 23:05:05
............and if they don't sign someone? then what? transfer day goes and we are left with McCarthy and Bazunu and Lumley. I assumed Arsenal wanted rid of Ramsdale because he was surplus to requirements and was unlikely to get playing time with them.
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Comment | Southampton Turn Attentions To Arsenal Goalkeeper
at 16:21:35
This could all have been avoided if we had pulled our finger out as soon as the final whistle went at Wembley. It is not as if there were not keepers out there and available and for less than this.
I have not understood our recruitment strategy at all this summer. It has felt scatter gun in nature. |
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Comment | Sekou Mara Departs
at 12:53:42
I am not glad to see the back of him Nick. I wish him well and hope he progresses and becomes the good player I think is in there somewhere. Whether it was game time or what, but for some reason it hasn't quite happened with him at Saints and it is right for him and us that he is moving on. But, good luck to him. |
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Comment | Southampton At Newcastle United The Verdict
at 11:14:35
The one exception I take to the report is that in my view McCarthy should and has to take responsibility for that error. Whilst he may be expected to play the ball out I cannot believe that RM or any manager would say you do that irrespective of the threat. McCarthy is not a young green keeper, he is experienced and mature and he had time to assess the situation and the threat and how near we were to half time and the obvious and simplest thing to have done was to boot the ball up or off the pitch. He was to blame plain and simple. The thing is RM either gets a keeper that can play his way and is skilled and able to deliver that or accepts that McCarthy can't play that way and allows him to play the way he is best able to.
I agree with you on Brereton-Diaz. I don't like what he did and I am uncomfortable with it and hope it is not something he adopts. But it was the pot calling the kettle black when it comes to Newcastle and many teams. It was good to see that we could mix it though and not be bullied. We should had have at least a draw on Saturday - but McCarthy's error and our failure to offer a real goal threat (for all our approach play) let us down - but we cannot afford to be that generous or profligate. |
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Comment | Newcastle Winger Spotted At Southampton Airport
at 17:07:32
I have always said that Newcastle will release him to us after we have played them.
I like Fraser but I must be one of the few (or may be the only one) who doubts his ability to perform in a 90 minute game and at PL level. He was good at times, but there were moments when I forgot he was on the pitch. He was better as a sub. |
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Comment | Saints Confirm Arrival Of Japanese Midfielder And also His Loan To Goztepe
at 17:52:25
I am sorry Nick. I know I come from an age that probably no longer fits into modern football, though I do try not to be stuck in the past but I am a simply a one club person.
It's all about Southampton FC for me. I understand loans but I don't understand what we gain from purchasing and then immediately shipping out. I am not interested in clubs in Turkey or for that matter anywhere else and I don't want to help them particularly or be some sort of feeder club for them (I can partly understand being a feeder for more local clubs which may help local football or the community/economy).
For me, owners of my club should be focused on my club if they are not then they clearly don't completely invested in it (and I am not talking money here, I am talking about investing in it as what it means to Southampton the city, the people, the fans, the games etc).
I appreciate that you won't agree with me and many others won't but that is how I feel. |
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