| News Comment | Is Ralph's Full Squad A Help Or Hindrance For The Trip To Arsenal ! at 13:01:14
Oh well, so again the fans are the ones who lose the games. This time because the have an opinion, and RH, despite knowing it better of course, bows to the immense pressure of People writing on "the ugly inside". These articles become Comedy as there is so much nonsense written in it, that it would Need an article on its own to put it right. Sentences like Boufal "is why we are failing" are just too funny to discuss them. |
| News Comment | Saints At Brighton The Verdict at 10:43:17
Wow, that was poor all around. We were on the same Level with Brighton - after the red Card. We were two Levels below them before. Adams had a day to Forget and our midfield was not able to Control anything. It's about six months now since JWP had his last good game (his freekicks were shocking and you could feel for Boufal who wanted to take the last one), but well, Romeu and Hojbjerg didn't get into the game und the duells neither. Danso being played out of Position was not a good idea - there was noone on the left side for Redmond to Combine with, no width in our attacking. Wether or not he might come good as a CB I still don't know, but for sure he is no LB. Good to have th Points on board, and what a Goal by Djenepo, but in fact we were very poor. Didn't get the pressing right, as we didn't do it as a Team and in the middle of the park we were second best all the time. We got lucky - and with such Performances we don't have to think a second about reaching the Top 10... |
| News Comment | Saints Return To The Blueprint For Hughes Replacement at 15:48:15
As an Austrian I am pleasantly surprised as I think Hasenhüttl is the best Southampton could get at this Moment. In fact i doubted he would come here as his success throughout all of his Clubs as really impressive and he there were rumours back then during his Leipzig time, that if not Bayern Munich then at least Dortmund would be his next Destination. At Ingolstadt he took a Team that had lost seven of the first nine games and were in the last place to a respectable tenth place finish in the second Tier and even promoted them the next year by winning the title. In the Bundesliga, they where called the Relegation candidate number one by the experts and had the lowest market value and wage structure of all Clubs, he really impressed with his enjoyable Football and managed them to the 11th place. There he was called the "pressing-munster". He surely prefers quick Players with iron lunges, which I doubt he will find here as some seem to be under the unfittest Players in the league, which might be a result of the last years and which can't be turned around in a few weeks... He is able to to install quite other Systems too (as in Ahlen) and one who is known for reading the game very well - he has great statistics in Goals from substitues... All of this seem to be Things we were mising over the last Seasons. So yes, I really am overwhelmed and I think finally this might turn our Season around! |
| News Comment | Saints Head To Germany As They Continue The Search For A Winger at 14:44:00
Let's just hope this isn't true... And for sure Burgstaller will not "play a starring role" for Austria in the European Championship as he is far from being a starter. Arnautovic and Harnik are much better than he is, you can always spot a drop the Standard of attacking Play, when he is fielded for the last couple of minutes... I was surprised when he went to Cardiff, but I was for sure not surprised that he didn't make it there. How that should change in the Premier League is a mystery to me... |
| News Comment | Morgan Schneiderlin Draws Titanic Comparisons. at 07:51:28
It's as I already posted on a thread in the Forum: MS by far is the best midfielder in the squad, yet van Gaal isn't able to see it. No other Player has a winning percentage like him, when he starts, but he doesn't start despite that. Van Gaal doesn't rate him despite he performs when he Plays. That means it is very likely that any new Manager will do him nothing but good. The Man.U. fans criticise him for not scoring and not assisting, but that's not what he is there for. The stats say Man.U. would be quite some Points better off, if MS would be played a lot more, but luckily he isn't and so we still are able to compete with them. Let's hope he sits on the bench a lot for the rest of the season as it will help us to maybe finish above them... |
| News Comment | Caulker Returns To QPR To Join Liverpool at 09:48:40
What's a bit surprising about this is, that RK stated two weeks ago that he has no Intention of letting him go... Maybe he just didn't want to stand in Caulker's way now, but ultimately it says if if he seems to be very straightfoward and honest, you can't always rely on what he says... But well, we won't miss him - and from the original timeline Gardos should be nearing his comeback, though I didn't hear anything of it. |
| News Comment | What Has Ronald Koeman Learn't From Wanyama's Substitution On Saturday ? at 09:49:47
I'm with you on this. Wanyama is not the type of player you need going into games like the one on Saturday. He is an excellent battler and a player you need in certain games, but RK got this one perfectly right in our famous run last year with Cork. Wanyama ideally needs a dominating and asured midfielder next to him to give the ball to after winning his duels as his vision and passing range is very limited. He has to give the responsibility to someone and right now there's no new Morgan found to do that. But i can't see that happen again, he now very much is RK's constant as DM - but what may Change, indicated by RK'S interview after the Cup game, is that against the top sides now Romeu will be used more alongside Wanyama. After a quite bright start to the season, Romeu for some reason didn't get a lot of game time any more, which now may change in an approach to better shield the defence in the upcoming games. |
| News Comment | Saturday Could See The Clash Of The Disgruntled At The Hawthorns at 10:04:48
Let's hope Wanyama will be "punished" and will not start. This would be better for us cause this is the type of game he shouldn't start anyway - as was shown last year when Cork was the better choice in those games being capable of more than pure battling... |
| News Comment | Saints V Vitesse The Preview at 15:31:30
Normally you use the last game of the preseason to test the formation you eye for the first game. So tonight we will see the same formation as against Feyenord with Davis and Tadic, especially as Tadic played some great games against teams of a similar style. Looking forward to watching the Tadic we saw at the beginning of last season and to get the first countable impressions of Soares and especially Clasie against an opponent we should dominate. |
| News Comment | Could Jordy Clasie Have More In His Locker Than Schneiderlin at 12:41:55
How defensive minded a midfield is, is up to RK. Morgan was a No.10 in his younger years and certainly could have played a more offensive role, but that was not what was expected of him. Wanyama couldn't do that, but Morgan would have been very capable - but it has been our tactics not to concede and hope to score somehow. With Morgan the possibilty not conceding AND of scoring was a lot higher than with any other DM in the Team as he is one of the few able to contribute to both things... So thinking of an upgrade... Well, in contrast to Shaw Morgan absolutely was a vital member of the Team as we differed from making 1.8 Points per game with him to 1 without him (or just lost 25% with him to 57% without him)... Let's just hope Clasie will sign and maybe will come somewhere near to what Morgan offered to us... |
| News Comment | Feyenoord Fans Show The Difference In Supporter Culture at 14:06:08
A pretty bad article... People in countries like the Netherlands and e.g. Austria know that their players will move on to bigger leagues. And they appreciate if they make some steps forward in their careers. Especially if they gave some years of their service, like what is happening here to Morgan now. But it is totally different if they change clubs within the country. Players that e.g. leave Rapid Vienna for RB Salzburg, though RB are champions year in, year out, they are absolutely hated, like it would be for Feyenord if they all had left for PSV or Ajax. But if they leave Rapid for Germany or England there is no problem... For some time RB Salzburg was the exception as they played great in Europe. So even Mane was hated for being there just for a short time and then leaving for Southampton which last year was not considered a step forward by their fans (just financially) - though it of course was. |
| News Comment | Wanyama Goes Off At Ipswich With Hamstring Injury at 09:49:40
Wanyama should have been replaced at halftime, so that really is bad luck as it happened just some seconds before that... Morgan seems to be out at least till Swansea according to reports, no chance for saturday. |
| News Comment | Saints V Arsenal The Verdict at 13:46:12
Westsussex did mention it: I'm not of the same opinion regarding the Performance of Gardos. Of course he won the headers as Arsenal had to Play Sanchez upfront and that isn't exactly hi strength. But he has Problems in positioning, when Players run a thim, or worse run behind him. Fonte did a great Job keeping this to a Minimum this game. I wouldn't call a Performance "superb" of a Player that couls/should have been redcarded and gave away a good free kick (not far from a Penalty and I doubt he would hav acted differentely if it had been inside). I wonder what I would read about Yoshida if he made a run like Gardos over 50m not knowing what to do with the ball, losing it and giving a great Chance for Counter attack. Btw I think Alderweireld has to Play as CD - as RB he gave away two great chances with wrong positioning (weak shot by Cazorla that was held at 0-0 and an outstanding save from Forster in the second half), something I've never seen happen to him before... Of course you are right with all the rest, it was great game! Pelle has to score that one (I wonder why he did take the shot that badly and afterwards he dind't even seemed to be unhappy with himself). JWP too had to score twice - he really needs to add this dimension to his game... Wanyama and Davis to mention with an extra-plus... Great result, top game and a lot to smile about when the new year started... |
| News Comment | Saints At Crystal Palace The Verdict at 14:58:48
Glad I've been proven wrong on questioning Mane's selection over Long after the great performance vs. Everton. And btw Mane didn't just have one bad performance but more like seven in a row, so fair enough to criticize him... Not of your opinion about Forster as he did nothing to help the team - especially with some crosses near to the goal line that a guy of that height should have gone for. JWP - his dead balls have never been questioned and yesterday he added a great assist as I mentioned before. Playing in the position of a playmaker he really needs to do that regularly! Otherwise he has to be moved out on the wings where it's okay if he has nothing else to offer. Davis had a bit of a day off but it's been a good day to do so... Gardos again didn't manage to convince me, but finally he did nothing too wrong. I always have more concerns about him than Yoshida, who did an average job... Pelle again proved his worth - and was rightly substituted when the game was done. Our game clearly declined without him, even yesterday... Bertrand and Clyne both seem to very much like the new System which will be used tomorrow again I guess. Alderweireld - my MotM, another great Performance... |
| News Comment | Can Saints Put Out A Competitive Team Against Manchester United at 07:29:34
Gardos was really weak when playing at Stoke in the League Cup. Shaky, weak with the ball, no good positioning, simply the weakest player on the pitch. Wasn't able to see the Swansea game, but there he played just 10 men. Remembering that Stoke game it doesn't surprise me that Yoshida is ahaed of him and I doubt him to be an accurate DM because of a lack of mobility... |
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