| News Comment | Jack Stephens Deserves Saints Fans Respect At This Time at 09:58:19
The fact that Martin made Jack Captain in the first place was extraordinary - insane. The fact that Martin's Captain ignored this responsibility and rightly earned himself a five match suspension is also extraordinary. The common denominated in these and other extraordinary decisions happening at our Club right now is Martin the manager - way out of his depth. Stephens is not good enough for the Premier League. But neither are Smallbone and Adam Armstrong - presumably along with Stephens soon to be shoehorned back into the side. I sympathise with Martin only in respect of the blunders and disappointment created by Sports Republic. Our best hope is to try and make the most of what we have by adopting different tactics and selctions, and employing a new manager who might just have the experience to give us half a chance of survival! |
| News Comment | Graham Potter Lined Up For Southampton Job at 13:58:48
Irrespective of the Bournemouth result I have called many times for Graham Potter to be given the chance at St Marys. Martin isn't going to change and we do not have the players to execute successfully his style of play. For the manager to insist that Stephens, Smallbone and Adam Armstrong are going to effective at Premier League level is also ridiculous. He has stubbornly decided to stick with his favourites and described recent individual performances as 'brilliant' despite earning us just one point against teams that are nowhere near the best we shall have to play soon. We do have a few really good players who in the right hands might just help turn things around and bring on the youngsters and other inexperienced squad members. Nothing is guaranteed but I'm sure most of the players will feel more comfortable under Potter than tippy tappying their way with Martin. |
| News Comment | Southampton V Ipswich Town The Preview at 12:03:19
No pressure then! i have to say that doesn't look anything like a Premier League quality bench to me - far from it. Nevertheless a big game for all concerned. |
| News Comment | Southampton At Everton The Carabao Cup Verdict at 11:12:33
Hardly worth saying too much - save the ammunition for the Ipswich match. It was a poor scrappy game played between two reserve teams. Maybe Harwood Bellis was a plus and would surely do a better job than Jack as both a defender and Captain. "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." A1079 The perfect conclusion from A1079 and most worrying aspect of ALL our games. so far. Adam Armstrong again drops out of the reckoning and Brereton Diaz, isn't far behind. How short-sighted of the Board not to make a proven goal scorer or two the main priority during the scramble to find Premier quality players. It places a huge weight on the young shoulders of Dibbling and could yet prove the mistake that leads to Martin's own replacement at St Marys. |
| News Comment | Will Fate Once Again Force Russell Martin's Hand at 18:35:28
With any luck JS will now be banned for more games - Stephens using abusive language Once again I ask is this the behaviour expected from the Club Captain? Russell Martin has a lot to answer for. |
| News Comment | Will Fate Once Again Force Russell Martin's Hand at 13:13:09
i guess Nick that you make the same points here as in the latest match review, and I can understand your total frustration with the manager. We have to hope that we win something in the next three matches or else it will be back to Jack. What I really cant understand is why Martin sees Jack as a Captain! This is a ridiculous situation and only adds to my doubts about the overall suitability of Martin as a manager. You can add to that the decision concerning the penalty taker which arguably changed the match on Saturday. We now have at least three or four Premier quality players as witnessed in the first 30 minutes on Saturday - also in Adam Lallana we have a very experienced and intelligent influence to help bring the best out of the squad. The only question that remains is - do we really have a manager who will get the best out of our squad now that we are a Premier League team? |
| News Comment | Southampton V Manchester United The Verdict at 09:56:12
Dont have time right now to add a long comment - maybe later - except to say that I agree wholeheartedly with everything you say above Nick! We had a good line up to face Man Utd - bar the choice of Martin's favourite Stephens - still no effective centre forward - and as you say no Captain on the pitch. It cant be all Martin's fault - much of the blame lies at-the feet of Sports republic - but the manager badly needs a result against Ipswich or his days here are surely numbered. |
| News Comment | The Knives Are Out For Russell Martin In The Media But Do They Have Substance at 13:27:53
It isn't just the amateur journalists as the Ivory Tower brigade like to call them that have been super critical of RM this season. The ' far from amateur' journalists on Match of The Day have expressed their very serious concerns about RM's tactics with the very 'ordinary' squad that he has put together; It is difficult at the moment to imagine any scenario or system which will enable our squad of players to score more than the occasional goal. A continuation of RM's tippy tappy defensive system will concede goals regularly to the vast majority of Premier League teams. We have brought in a new army of Premier League hopefuls and it remains to be seen just how successful and effective they will be. The best teams got promoted irrespective of the efforts of their managers - they quite simply had the best players and pulled well clear of the remainder. This season is different and we will see just how good or bad RM is when coping with better quality opposition on a weekly basis, and deploying his only slightly more competent squad to deal with it! |
| News Comment | The Knives Are Out For Russell Martin In The Media But Do They Have Substance at 13:21:05
It isn't just the amateur journalists as the Ivory Tower brigade like to call them that have been super critical of RM this season. The ' far from amateur' journalists on Match of The Day have expressed their very serious concerns about RM's tactics with the very 'ordinary' squad that he has put together; It is difficult at the moment to imagine any scenario or system which will enable our squad of players to score more than the occasional goal. A continuation of RM's tippy tappy defensive system will concede goals regualrly to the vast majority of Premier Lea |
| News Comment | Southampton At Brentford The Damning Verdict at 10:24:21
Agree with much that you say Nick, but I too think you are being much too generous to Russell Martin. Having said that if you look at the complete League Table it is amazing that after just THREE games, it already looks much as you might expect it to look at the END of the season. Captain Jack's comments that he doesn't think we are really committed to the RM style is even more worrying - until of course you realise that Russell has two weeks now to iron out all the problems and then presumably everything will be alright! The way the manager tries to 'big up' the players and their performances is his way of desperately getting the team to support him with constant references to 'brilliant in that moment' or player X was 'fantastic'! So the players love him and RM can claim he has the full support of the entire squad! Even the television commentators are claiming that his players are not good enough to play the RM way. The Premier League will punish us every time - especially as we do not possess a confident goalscorer to place the opposition under any real pressure. Sports Republic will stick with their man - and presumably there is just a chance we will get some better results from time to time before Christmas. I repeat, RM thinks he is good enough for bigger and better things ahead - maybe even the Man City job. Maybe, maybe one day - but his stubbornness and arrogance right now is doing Saints no favours at all. |
| News Comment | Southampton At Cardiff The Carabao Cup Verdict at 18:16:44
Not quite sure why so many have taken to commenting on the Cardiff match. This match bares no resemblance whatsoever to a Premier League game which is all the excuse that Russell Martin needs to roll out Stephens, Smallbone, Manning and co on Saturday. Scoring five against Cardiff Reserves will also count for nothing if the manager persists in playing all his forwards wide with no experienced centre forward. |
| News Comment | Southampton At Cardiff City The Carabao Cup Preview at 09:23:18
Almost impossible to offer any comment right now that will not seem foolish by the time anybody reads it! Will we get a goalkeeper and that striker we so desperately need? Is Russell Martin seriously considering lining up against Brentford as we did against Forest? Eleven new faces lining up against Cardiff - will it be Gillingham all over again? And so it goes on. For me the biggest question mark now is just how is Russell Martin going to convince the majority of fans that he is the right man for the job? |
| News Comment | Southampton V Nottingham Forest The Verdict. at 09:25:21
Well I guess that was a fairly predictable summary Nick and not one you were hoping to write. Unfortunately Russell Martin is an arrogant and stubborn young man who is convinced that he's going to make it to the very top in management even if we aren't! Without some new forward strength I really cant see where the next Saints goal is coming from at this level. We dont get the ball forward quickly enough and any forwards that we have already got are lost out on the wing somewhere. I am sure Smallbone is a great fan of Russell's, but to expect him to power his way into the box and score us a goal or two at this level is at best incredibly shortsighted. The Premier League can be divided once again into two halves - the Clubs with money and quality players and then the rest that will struggle and fight each other to stay in the League. If we dont sign a true goalscorer at this Level we will finish in the bottom three without any doubt. At Newcastle McCarthy rightly took the blame, but he would be the last person to blame for the defeat against Forest. The blame for our poor start lies firmly at the feet of the manager and it remains to be seen how long his arrogance and stubbornness prevails and prevents us from moving forward. |
| News Comment | Vacancy- Ball Playing Goalkeeper Wanted Apply St Mary's Stadium at 09:38:05
Ha ha!! spot on Nick. We live in dangerous times. Can one reasonably hope that behind the scenes we are already close to signing an experienced top level keeper. Its not looking good for Ramsdale now - a nervous time indeed for all Saints supporters! |
| News Comment | Southampton At Newcastle United The Verdict at 09:19:39
A perfect summary by Nick "The Premier League can come down to fine margins, especially down in the bottom half, so it was frustrating to see a point and possibly 3 thrown down the drain." I have to admit that I was surprised how well we coped although I dont think Newcastle are anything like as good as they think they are! Apart from needing a goalkeeper, my main concern is our inability to unleash a goalscorer. A Danny Ings type of player is what we need - a player with a history of finding the back of the net. We just dont have one - Edozie and co can do amazing things at time but sadly all our young stars NEVER look like finding the back of the net. We will ALWAYS be vulnerable to conceding silly goals playing out from the back, so our greatest need is still finding someone to do the damage at the other end! |
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