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Comment | Southampton Planning To Keep Faith With Russell Martin But Why !
at 11:31:44
The silence is indeed deafening. I think it reflects chaos and incompetence at boardroom level, rather than anything else. There is no grand plan, there is no strategy, there is no long term vision bla bla bla.
Trying to attribute any sort of logic to the situation is a fruitless task. We are now owned by a bunch of reactive charlatans, throwing Solak's money around without a single clue about what they are doing. That has now become obvious after a sustained pattern over the last 3 years of conflicting 'strategies'. Just look at the managerial recruitment as one piece of evidence...Ralph--> Jones --> Selles --> Martin...zero consistency between those managers in terms of how they view the game, what their 'footballing ideologies' are. And let's not even get started on player recruitment.
Absolute sham owners, such a sad state of affairs. And yes the silence now is just coming off as an insult to fans. Disheartened, disillusioned, disgusted at how my club is being run into the ground. |
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Comment | Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict
at 01:16:28
There cannot surely be any debate any more at board room level, Martin has to go. He should have gone months ago - there have not ever been any signs that things are turning around, despite what we are told in press conferences, nor that if we 'keep on playing like that, then ultimately we'll be ok'. SR do seem to carry a sense of contempt for fans who are not idiots - everyone can see the lunacy unfolding on the pitch and reflected in the results.
I agree with other posters about the club now becoming a laughing stock. Not only do I now sit down to watch us with zero expectation of getting anything from games, I'm also feeling less and less connected to my club that I've supported for 40 years. The soul of the club is being ripped out by SR - I thought that the Jones / Selles season was the worst I could remember as a Saints fan in the prem, but this season we have plumbed new depths. I suspect Martin himself is also questioning his own philosophy as he sees the carnage unfolding every game which is probably quite a difficult thing for him to go through. He can't be that myopic that it doesn't push him to at least question his own football principles, surely? But he's backed himself into a corner and unfortunately he's taking the club with him.
The silence from the board is shocking. They have to now come out and publicly state either this is their plan (stick with him, take us down) or sack him. Leaving everyone in the dark is doing themselves no favours - if this is indeed their plan then at least have the plums to come out and say it. If not, then do something about it. I have never felt this apathetic about Saints before. I thought I had with Jones / Selles, but this is (somehow) worse.
To close on an optimistic note - I do think we actually have a half decent first 11 and I don't buy the argument that the players simply aren't good enough. For sure they are not good enough to play suicide ideology-ball, but I believe if we became more pragmatic on the pitch then a manager with a bit more common sense could still get us some points.
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Comment | Southampton At Brentford The Damning Verdict
at 10:38:38
Fully agree with this write up. RM often says how much the players enjoy playing this way. This may be the case in training, but results speak at the end of the day and it won't take long for players to turn on the manager the longer these performances, mistakes and results go on.
Think it has the potential to unravel pretty quickly unless the manager takes a more pragmatic approach. There is some good elements to our passing and we do look capable for periods of games. But I think we can all already see the confidence draining from the players, leading to more unforced errors. It's a self perpetuating cycle as confidence seeps away, players get more edgy and make more mistakes. It also doesn't help that the one player who is supposed to be our captain and leader was indirectly at fault for 2 of the goals on Saturday, as well as the Newcastle mistake by the keeper.
He has to make changes, drop Stephens at the very least and put players in positions they trust themselves and their teammates in. |
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Comment | Southampton V Ipswich Town The Verdict
at 02:32:42
Seems there has been a push throughout the championship for teams to play out from the back more this season. This is part of English football trend, with multiple teams now trying to replicate the masters like Man City, even Brighton nowadays. In this respect I don't think Saints are alone, and I've seen several teams get turned over and concede exactly the types of goals we are also conceding (counter press, turnover, goal). The difference is that we seem completely wedded to the idea whereas other teams look like they have a bit more pragmatism i.e. get rid of it when there aren't any other options. To me this is a bit stupid and Martin needs to adapt to the situation by bearing in mind where the team is at. Is it not possible to feed in this style of playing more carefully over the longer term? The players are clearly shell shocked now - Martin talks about there being too much fear in the team; I think he is partly responsible for that. He's created a culture where it is unacceptable for players to play with pragmatism or in-game intelligence. As such, they have become robots instead of professional players - just without the necessary data uploaded (sorry to use this clunky computer analogy). Fine if you are Man City or Barcelona but let's be honest - we are not! The best managers adapt and tailor their approach to what they have to work with. For me this would be more of a 4-2-3-1 shape with 2 holding midfielders. I'm not calling for Martin to go just yet, but I am concerned about his approach being so blinkered. Fine to have footballing principles (good thing!) but need to combine it with realism otherwise half the season will be gone before we actually start churning out results (assuming we actually get that far...) |
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Comment | Moussa Djenepo Target For Turkish Giants
at 04:38:45
I'd keep him. Think he has a lot of potential still and yes, he has not exactly been played where he would probably like to be.
What is the point on declaring our intent to sign 12 million pound players, make them better and then ship them out on loan? I'd be very surprised if there was any truth to this, would make all at Saints look a bit stupid. As others have mentioned I would also much rather we got rid of Redmond - both for our sake and for the player's sake |
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Comment | Saints Can Now Breathe After Fulham Defeat Ends Relegation Worries
at 01:15:01
This season has been one of the most depressing I can remember. As they say - it is the hope that kills you!
Will be amazed if we suddenly start playing now that 'the pressure is off'. These players haven't been playing with any pressure since we went 1st in the league. We have gone past the point now where even back to back wins in the next two games will paper over the cracks - we've become an absolute shambles.
Finally, I can't understand why we are so desperate to sign Walcott. All I keep hearing is that he is a 'good lad in the dressing room' and a 'good influence on younger players'. That's great, but I'm not sure what he brings when he's actually on the pitch? |
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Comment | Some Saints Fans Need To Forget The Last Three Months And Enjoy Sunday
at 12:10:18
Nick, as I said I am looking forward to the next game. I get massive satisfaction supporting Saints, as I have done over 30 years. I'm not sure what relevance that has in relation to your article though? You made the point that Leicester put in a poor performance and compared it to our showing against West Brom, I am disputing that.
To throw a game in the way we did on Monday was absolutely appalling. It was the manner of the defeat which I am still finding hard to accept. The reason I find it hard to accept is because I love my team to death! I just can't understand your position here. You're suggesting that people who criticise the team for the way they performed on Monday are not sufficiently supportive?
It's so simplistic to say that fans who knock the team when they play like they did are over the top. Look at how we played that game - absolutely incredible that a professional football team can get away with that sort of performance, and furthermore that you've written an article saying that fans should lay off them a bit!
I'll say it again - I love Saints, have done for all my life and will do until my grave. I'm not a social media keyboard warrior (I think it's a waste of everyone's time to be honest) but I do think it's valid for people to criticise the team when they play like they did. And that has nothing to do with supporting them on Sunday! One minute you're criticising fans for being too critical in stadiums, now you're saying they're also too critical on the internet? |
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Comment | Some Saints Fans Need To Forget The Last Three Months And Enjoy Sunday
at 10:07:23
Also, Leicester lost 3-2 and we lost 3-0. They put in a genuine shift second half and could even have nicked a point which would have been a superb comeback against a top 4 team, with several first team players missing. In contrast, we had virtually our first team to put out and, well, were playing second bottom of the league West Brom |
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Comment | Some Saints Fans Need To Forget The Last Three Months And Enjoy Sunday
at 10:05:33
I think every Saints fan is ready to support the team on Sunday, and we're all very excited about the prospect. That doesn't preclude the team from criticism following the awful display against West Brom - one of the most obvious examples I can ever remember of professional footballers downing tools completely. Given it seems to keep happening, I am not sure what you expect from fans. Of course everyone wants us to win! I'll be screaming at the TV at 2 am here in Thailand and willing the boys on, but I can't stomach the way we keep putting in absolutely shameful performances like on Monday and then turning round and blaming fans for not being sufficiently supportive on the internet... |
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Comment | Why Southampton's Trip To The Etihad Shows The Premier League Is Dying
at 10:42:21
Totally agree with this. The sooner the so called big six f@ck off the better! My only reservation is being able to watch us play as I live abroad. Other than that though, I would much prefer a more evenly contested league.
Good point about the 'big six' too - would be hilarious to see the likes of Arsenal and Spurs attempting to blag their way in! |
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Comment | Southampton At Manchester United The Verdict
at 01:16:42
Generally a fair assessment, apart from the stuff about Gao. Ultimately if there is no investment then the squad suffers. A poor squad = getting spanked every now and again when more than one or two injuries mount up. I'm not sure how it could be any clearer?
All the VAR / Mike Dean stuff is truly shocking, atrocious, amateur, laughable etc etc but that's a distraction from the biggest issue which is we are stuck with Gao now for the forseeable future. He has done nothing for the club - I don't buy this 'getting money out of China' as an excuse. People with that much money are quite capable of moving as much or as little money around the world as they want. If there was a desire to invest in the club, he would have made it happen.
The fact is we are screwed. No one is going to buy the club any time soon due to covid. Gao is stsuck with an asset he can't shift. He's surely even less likely than ever to put money in now.
Come on, I think everyone knows it is as simple as: money = good players. no money = absence of good players. Gao carries the can |
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Comment | Saints Announce New Shirt Sponsor
at 15:31:45
The lack of communication from our chairman is clearly mirrored by the lack of communication from LD sports - which is his company. There is something not right at all here. I'm surprised the club has come out so publicly with the wording of their statement about LD. Does it indicate a lack of communication about other aspects within the club? It is one thing the media / journalists speculating about it, it is another for the club itself to publicly smash its own sponsors (controlled by Gao).
I'm starting to think there may well be something more behind this having been a little sceptical about the previous rumours a couple of weeks back. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
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Comment | Does LD Sports Pulling Out Suggest Takeover Imminent At St Mary's
at 10:20:27
Interesting perspective Nick. Have to say I'd be surprised if the late sponsorship pull out indicates further signs of new owner interest - surely potential new owners would have wanted to avoid the loss of 7.5 million a year and seen this coming. Can't think of any football investors (who are uniformly tight) who would be willing to write this off?
What do I know though, I'd love to be wrong. One thing that does encourage me is the timing of this - seems like it would be a great time to invest in Saints if you have some capital lined up. We're very much looking upwards once again, with a lot of optimism going into next season and moving further forward. If I was an investor, I'd see Saints as very high potential at this point. Will be interesting to see how all this develops |
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Comment | Saints Closing In On Salisu But Youth Is Not The Solution In The Centre Of Defence
at 11:18:35
Broadly I'm in agreement with Nick here. I can't understand why people get so worked up about Stephens being called out for making mistakes?? You only have to look at his performance against Man U this week to see a mixture of bad positioning, turning away from the ball, sloppy passes and lack of organisation that directly led to goals. Even in the barn storming performance agains Man City that he put in (in which yes, he did play very well) there were a number of instances where he was all over the place - the deflection off his back from Bernardo Silva that went just wide of the post springs to mind. It was his spirit in that game that shone through and he deserves a lot of credit for that, but he is nowhere near a premier league quality CB in my view.
As for Salisu, I'm excited about this guy. He looks like an absolute beast in the challenge at 21 years old. Youtube clips are of course notoriously misleading when it comes to assessing a player, but I notice in a lot of them he seems to be gesturing to other players around him and communicating quite a lot - despite his young age, does he already have the leadership qualities that we have been lacking?
In summary, yes a gamble but at 12 million or whatever it is it seems like good value for money at this point. An older / more experienced head to come in alongside Salisu would be perfect, but if that doesn't happen I wouldnt be too upset. Think Ralph has got it in him to fix up someone like this and he looks to fit the bill of the sort of player we seem to be aiming for these days |
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Comment | Saints At Liverpool The Preview
at 05:01:21
Agree about putting JWP at rb, and bringing in Romeu ahead of him. If we play Danso again at right back I fear we will get absolutely killed. He gets so sucked in to the middle I can only imagine what any of Liverpool's attackers will do in the acres of space they will get. Got an inexplicably good feeling about this game! 1-1 |
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Comment | Hoedt Reveals Permanent Transfer Option At Antwerp.
at 12:18:01
Every time this guy makes statements in the media he comes across as a bit of a pr!ck. Regardless of how good he may or may not 'potentially' be, I can't imagine he's the best influence within the squad. Get rid at any opportunity. I'd take 8 quid for him |
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Comment | Saints At Chelsea The Verdict
at 20:22:52
Totally agree with everything that's been said and especially Ralph's post match interview where he was fairly open about the fact he felt he had lost his own way somewhat. It is very rare to hear a premier league manager talk so openly and honestly about his own failings. Today and last week you could really sense a togetherness about the team which we have missed for much of this season. Perhaps that 9-0 really was the best thing that could have happened to us and you have to take your hat off to Ralph for turning it around. Buzzing tonight, absolutely awesome performance to a man. Feels like getting the proper Saints team back! |
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Comment | Boufal Still Struggling With His Toe
at 14:49:11
Frustrating, but you make a good point about Sofiane as an impact player. I even noticed on Saturday he was knackered heading into injury time - he barely had the energy to pressure a Watford player after a shaky clearance from one of our boys. I was surprised at that, given he'd only been on the pitch 25 mins.
So whilst he'll be missed from the start tomorrow, he is maybe best suited to coming off the bench and ripping tired defences apart. Can't stop watching that clip of him utterly destroying some poor Watford defender on Saturday - the back heel followed by the nutmeg was just outrageous. Him and Djenepo on top form on either wing is a hugely exciting prospect, if we could get them playing like that regularly with Ings up top we would suddenly look very threatening |
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Comment | Saints At Everton The Verdict
at 13:54:21
For those calling for the manager to get fired, he is apparently on massive wages and so to sever his contract will mean a huge payout. On top of all the other managers we are currently paying off, plus the absolute lack of funds available for anything other than a collection of free scarves, this makes the possibility of the board sacking him extremely unlikely. It probably also explains why they were so quick to give him their backing after the Leicester game - its not because they have integrity or faith in the manager, we just haven't got any money! We're f@cked |
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