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Comment | Did Charlie Austin Have A Point !
at 10:39:40
Saints Fans being critical of their own players is nothing new. When i first started going as a kid I can remember fans giving Hugh Fisher stick. The only period i can't recall the fans having a scapegoat was late seventies early eighties, i certainly cant recall one during that period, Lawrie McMenemy had everybody eating out of his hands during that time (fans and media) and The fans believed everything he said, so If he signed someone everybody automatically thought he was a good signing. The next Saints player who the fans used to knock on a regular basis was Steve Baker, in the mid to late eighties. Since then we have always had a player we like to knock EVEN Francis Benali had a group of fans who used to get on his back when he was trying to establish himself in the 1st team, since then there has been Ian Dowie, Paul Moody,, David Lee, all from the Branfoot era, Glenn Cockerill even got some stick in his final season or two when some fans were saying his legs have gone, they conveniently forgot that he was one of our best players for the previous six or seven years! i can remember Graham Potter (The now Brighton manager) getting stick when Souness signed him then Lee Todd who Dave Jones signed, he used to get some terrible stick. The difference is nowadays is fans can put things on social media for everybody to see, whereas 15-20 years ago it was abuse from the terraces that were probably forgotten until the next game, when the same old knockers would be shouting the same old things. I too can recall people knocking Mane and Pelle which used to baffle me. We all have opinions and i sometimes express mine on here but some of the stuff i see on twitter is out of order. Not just criticism of saints players but criticism by football fans in general. It's a much more cynical world nowadays.I agree with Nick in an ideal world we want everybody behind the side and encouraging them. If you have someone criticising you and telling you that you're crap at your job, would you find it motivating? The other side of the coin is that these players are earning fortunes and they should be critisised if they don't play well. I can understand that up to a point BUT personal abuse on social media is not helpful, these guys are still human beings with feelings. |
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Comment | Saints Under Fire Players Come Good At Chelsea
at 15:34:30
I back Nick in saying that we need another centre half at least. One who is commanding in the air, someone you can count on if you are facing an Arial bombardment. Look, I know from speaking to many supporters that the general feeling is that Jack Stephens is not a commanding centre half. Jack has been excellent the last couple of games and well done to him for that. By all accounts Jack is a lovely lad too, and we all want to see him prove himself and maybe he can win all his doubters over, but as things stand i suspect Jack, Yoshi or Danso will be prime candidates to eventually move on once replaced. |
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Comment | Saints At Chelsea The Verdict
at 14:50:37
It's fantastic reading all of the above posts. That performance yesterday was better than any of us were expecting. I too was very critical after the West Ham game and i was openly saying to friends that we look like a side who will go down. Then we produce a very good team performance at Villa and back it up with an even better one yesterday. Now I will keep my feet on the ground the best I can, even though i can feel myself floating off into ecstasy after yesterday. Football can lift you up to great heights but it can also kick you square in the knackers! We need to get our heads out of the clouds for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon and concentrate on picking off a very capable Palace side. Then hopefully we can float off into the clouds again!!! I so want Che Adams to break his duck. I KNOW that when he does he will be a very good player for us and score regularly. He was very good yesterday as were the whole side. We can all be very proud of the lads but we must now keep that ball rolling!!! COYS |
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Comment | Saints At Aston Villa The Verdict
at 15:12:26
Just want to add. Danny Ings is amazing, He certainly looks like he cares, being a Netley boy helps a lot.,His work rate is fantastic and when you have a good work ethic aligned with ability you have a proper player.on your hands Good on you Danny keep it going lad! |
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Comment | Saints At Aston Villa The Verdict
at 15:07:02
Credit where credits due. Terrific result yesterday. let's just see how we perform in the coming weeks. i have been critical of the side and critical of certain players. One result will not alter my views. For me to alter my view i need to see consistency i need to see players step up to the plate more often. We know that some of our players can look great on occasions but that is it 'on occasions' . We know we have defensive weaknesses and 'hopefully' we will FINALLY address these in January. So to sum up chuffed with the win but let's follow it up with some more decent performances that produce results. |
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Comment | Saints V West Ham United The Verdict
at 16:42:23
Some brilliant points above and many are bang on the money. Yes we are poor defensively but there are major issues right through this side. MAKE NO MISTAKE we ARE
EASILY one of the three worst sides in this Division and relegation is an absolute certainty. I will go further. If Watford and Norwich can win three or 4 games between now and the end of the season even they will finish above us too. Yes what I am saying is that WE ARE THAT BAD. There was a couple of wins recently but many of us were not fooled. We played Ok up at Newcastle but lost. We have a squad full of mediocrity, a squad that consists of players who can have good games here and there but generally they do not play well anywhere near enough. I think Hassenhuttl wants out maybe he is doing his best to force the boards hand??? We can change the manager but he will need to be a miracle worker to keep this side up! It's obvious there is nowhere near enough money available to put this right, so who in their right mind will take the job? I think our problems are that big that we will probably drop back into league one in the not too distant future and next time a Markus Leibherr might not come along to help us come back again. I maintain that 'The Southampton way' is doomed to failure. It only works if you buy well. When you start buying badly you run out of salable assets, and when you run out of salable assets you run out of funds and when you run out of funds you drop and until the cycle is broken with some investment and Mr GAO is not going to bail us out. That is where we are folks and we are going to drop but how far will that drop be? |
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Comment | Absolutely ******* Disgraceful
at 10:30:25
Three days later I am still struggling to get my head around it. IF you lose 9-0 at home that is beyond a thrashing, Beyond dreadful, beyond appalling, beyond shocking and beyond belief! I totally agree that we have not addressed the central defensive issues and there is NO EXCUSE!!! To not address a blindingly obvious issue for AT LEAST six transfer windows is GROSS NEGLIGENCE!!! I also maintain that the sell to buy policy will see us back in the Championship and we all know it might not stop there!!! We are not a pig to be fattened Mr Gao, we are a football club that you bought and if you fail to help us out you will be losing all of the Premier League TV money, IF we have to raise transfer funds by selling then we are f----d!... I can't see any salable assets apart from Ings I honestly doubt that we will not recover from this. The year Sunderland lost 8-0 to us they went down, the year Ipswich lost 9-0 to Man Utd they went down. Defeats like this will sap any belief there is within this squad. The ONLY WAY I can see us somehow make a recovery from this is DRASTIC ACTION taken by Owners, directors and management. If there isn't then relegation is inevitable. YOU DO NOT LOSE 9-0 AT ANY LEVEL OF FOOTBALL WITHOUT THERE BEING MAJOR ISSUES IN THE DRESSING ROOM AND WITHIN THE CLUB. ........SORT IT NOW!!! |
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Comment | Saints Open Bidding War On Striker
at 09:24:11
If we want Evans then we could throw in Charlie Austin or Sam Gallagher as part of the deal. We could maybe get him then, as City will have a replacement of sorts with either of those two. I have to be honest and say that I haven't looked that closely at Evans, Is he worth £16m? |
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Comment | Saints In Pursuit Of Austrian Winger
at 09:00:03
Sadio Mane came from the Austrian league and he wasn't too shoddy! £5m aint to bad in todays market. If Ralph thinks he is worth a punt I will go with his judgement. |
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Comment | Cardiff Game Nearing Sell Out
at 19:04:39
We all know that we need a full house on Saturday and three points, and I am sure we will have a full house, as this is a vital game, we really need to generate a decent atmosphere for the team and hopefully we can come out on top.
As Nick said in the above article, Hasenhuttl is a class act, that is pretty evident. However, Ralph will have to be on his mettle every week to get the max out of a squad that is limited in terms of numbers and in certain areas, limited in terms of quality! We should have added a couple of new faces in January, we needed a decent centre half and a decent striker in my opinion. Ralph is already learning that he will get no help in terms of investment from the Gao family, as we are all aware the club have to generate their own transfer funds by selling first! That only works if you keep producing quality players that the big clubs want to buy and at this moment in time we do not have that level of quality in the side BUT Ralph HAS already improved the likes of Redmond, Ward Prowse and even Vestergaard, so maybe by the end of the season we may have one or two that the big clubs will be looking at. If they are not looking at these players, then where will the summers transfer funds come from?
I will be honest I am not happy with our owners, Surely, they must be aware of the situation we are in and that we needed a bit of help?! The squad needed additions and as Nick said in his Burnley verdict yesterday that failure to add a centre half at least 'could' prove to be a MAJOR BALLS UP especially if we keep giving away silly goals that cost us points, like we did on Saturday!!! Hopefully though, Ralph can weave his magic and keep us up with a bit to spare. For this to happen we have to beat Cardiff for starters.
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Comment | Saints At Huddersfield The Verdict
at 12:56:24
I am absolutely delighted with the last 7 days as a Saints fan. As Nick said in his 'verdict' we look totally unrecognisable from the side of two weeks ago. It is quite staggering how different we look in such a ridiculously short space of time, chalk and cheese doesn't compare to this! I was one of those 'moaners' referred to by Saint Stu above and to be fair there was quite a lot to moan about wasn't there! I stated on a number of occasions that the squad was not as good as some thought. Now I have to say on the basis of the last two games that we look a half decent side. It really is showing how bad the previous three managers have been! I 'think' there are still areas we could strengthen and I am sure Ralph will make Mr Kruger aware of this once he has fully assessed his squad. As Nick said there will be a few twists and turns yet, we 'will' come a cropper here and there but there is no doubt that we are on the right track with Hassenhootl in charge, you can see that this guy is 'the business'. We just need to be prepared for the inevitable 'departure' further down the line and have a plan in place for his successor to carry on the progress we WILL make under this guy. I am just going to enjoy watching this team develop under Hassenhootl, Just a tip off for you lot keep Saturday May 18th free. |
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Comment | Saints V Leicester City The Verdict
at 10:12:18
Yes, last nights performance looked ok BUT as people have pointed out above this was Leiceser's 2nd string Nick. Our squad is NOWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH!!! |
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Comment | Radio Station Make Wild Claim About Club Legend To Replace Mark Hughes
at 14:08:10
The thing is with Kruger making the decisions we could end up with the Canadian Ice Hockey coach taking over!!!!..................Yeah you may all laugh!!!........I am expecting Hughes to be sacked but I am also expecting a pretty underwhelming appointment as his successor. |
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Comment | Watford Could Be Hughes Last Stand
at 11:25:33
It will take more than replacing Mark Hughes to sort this out, if we still have the same dullards in the background making poor decisions on recruitment. We have lost our way, the current playing squad is NOT as good as some think, some serious surgery is required to put this right. So employing another manager is like putting a cherry on a turd. You can't blame the Cherry for what's underneath can you? Until you get the right people in the right places making the right decisions then the new appointment would still face the same problems as Hughes does. |
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Comment | Saints At Manchester City The Verdict
at 16:00:59
I have had numerous conversations with other Saints fans in recent weeks and most of them think that it is more than the manager that needs to change. Undoubtedly the clubs recruitment over the last couple of years has been a disaster, this for me is the biggest reason why we are in this mess. I don't agree with Nick that we have a decent squad, when i look at it now, there is a lot of pretty damn average players in there, some of whom can be good now and again but nowhere near often enough. We have a few good players whose confidence is shattered and we have those piss poor additions from the last few transfer windows. When you look at the club now it just looks as if it is lacking direction, there is no 5 year plan for the fans to buy into, and whether you like it or not Mr Gao does need to convince many fans what his long term plans are for the club, we hear nothing and this makes many suspicious. When he came in i believe Mr Kruger said that Mr Gao was happy with the way the club has been run so he just lets us get on with it. If this is the case then Mr Gao needs to book a flight to the UK pretty damn soon and start throwing some F--ks into some of the incompetent individuals who are running this gaffe. There may well be some good people in the club doing good jobs, but from the outside looking in the whole thing looks leaderless and a total f-----G mess! |
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Comment | Time For Positivity In The Saints Supporter Base
at 22:07:59
No right minded Saints fan enjoys moaning about the club. However, other clubs are making signings and we are 'struggling' to get deals done by the looks of it. Whilst we are hearing that Tadic is about to leave us! The fact we haven't brought anyone in yet is something that is concerning me ESPECIALLY when we are desperate for fresh blood in a number of positions. We were lead to believe that the club were eager to get business done early this summer, in fact I believe Mr Krueger said this when he finally spoke to the fans after the season was completed and we survived relegation by the skin of our teeth. Yet again it would appear we are being 'outbid' by clubs perceived to be a similar size to us ie Leicester City for one.
Hopefully signings will be made soon and any 'negativity' will be replaced by optimism but if we head into July and we still haven't nailed down some new players then the fans frustrations will increase. We need to remember that the transfer window closes early this summer, so we can't f--k about. If we fail to bring in these new players then Mr Hughes will be fuming I suspect and another relegation struggle will be the result. Just as I am about to post this I see that Saints have agreed a fee for Stuart Armstrong from Celtic. I do not know much about him to be honest we will see if we get this deal done. |
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Comment | Will One More Win Be Enough ?
at 21:45:27
It's dangerous to think we might stay up with one win or one win and a draw. There is always a result you didn't see coming. I suspect Huddersfield may beat Arsenal on the last day of the season. If they do we will need to win at Everton AND Swansea. Lets not set our target to low. If we win two of out last three then we 'should' be ok. If we don't then we will be 'sh-tting' ourselves on the last day!!! |
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Comment | The Premier League Eye Up Saints' Vice Chairman
at 14:29:59
He is the guy who appoints the managers and makes the signings So based on that you have to say he has made some poor decisions over the last two years. As dirk doone said above he seems to have kept a low profile since things have started going belly up. He used to be seen photographed with new signings and managers when things were going well. He used to tell us about how wonderful our academy was, but even that seems to have stopped producing decent youngsters. You can't deny that we hardly see him nowadays, So as dirk doone says it looks from the outside as if he loves the praise when things are going well but is nowhere to be seen when its not. |
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Comment | Saints Cannot Attack And Defend
at 13:44:55
I keep hearing that we have a good enough squad and we are under performing. I have heard it from Nick and I have heard it from various pundits. The FACT is you need heart and desire to go with ability. Without the first two the latter counts for sh-t!!! There is no heart and desire in this lot and THAT IS WHY WE ARE IN THE S--T!!!
I hate to say this but if we get more limp displays in the next couple of games I can see our fans turning on the players. To lose a game is not a sin but to lose a game without fight and passion is a F----G DISGRACE! Like it or not NIck Les Reed has a lot to answer for IF he is the one responsible for recruitment ( or the lack of it).
Correct me if I am wrong but that 'famous' black box' we heard so much about was supposed to know everything about every professional player whether it be their character or their ability, Judging by a number of our current squad then I would say that black box is as much use as t-ts on a chicken! You'd get more accurate data from a cardboard box! |
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