| Where are we at the moment? 22:37 - Apr 23 with 1170 views | MattFinish |
After a string of inconsistent results we found ourselves needing to beat Leicester to stand an outside chance of automatic promotion and we got hammered by one of our promotion rivals. At present it appears that the two top spots will be between Leeds, Leicester and Ipswich with probably Leeds and Leicester going up automatically. That leaves a playoff group of Saints, Ipswich, Norwich and WBA which is just about as bad as it can get. We certainly wouldn't be the team going into this on a high.
But where has it gone wrong. As you will be aware I wasn't the greatest fan of Russell Martin's style of football particularly the pointlessly precarious playing out from the goalkeeper at all costs. Having said that we went on a 26 game unbeaten run when at times we looked far and away the best team in the division.
The main issues as I see it though aren't the style of football but the striker and goalkeeper positions which have been the problem since Ralph was manager if not before.
It might be argued that being the joint top scorers in the division with Adam Armstrong on 20 goals and Che Adams on 18 that scoring isn't the problem but it is. Looking at the chances that particularly Che Adams has spurned this season I think both players could be on 37 to 40 goals.
In addition despite the apparent love for Gavin Bazunu I just don't think he's ready to be number one. Statistically last year he was the 2nd worst goalkeeper in the Premier League and this season he's statistically the worst goalkeeper in the Championship and you can't afford that if you're a promotion contender.
If there is a criticism of Russell Martin it’s his team selections and often puzzling substitutions that are usually reactive rather than proactive. One of the defining points of this season was Russell Martin's baffling decision to swap the defence around to enable the inclusion of Jack Stephens. We were on a 26 game unbeaten run when Martin decided to shoehorn him in. Before Stephens inclusion the defence conceded 7 goals in 12 games. After his inclusion we conceded 22 goals in the following 12 games. I'm not saying that this is entirely due to Stephen’s performances but we had a settled defence and there was absolutely no need to change it.
I've heard people say that we're unlucky that Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds have had such good campaigns but as far as I'm concerned our team and our squad are equal if not better than all of those teams apart possibly from Leicester. If you look at the list of games that we should have won and threw away we could easily have been promoted by now. If you look at the following results where we should have won or drawn we'd have an extra 20 points.
Sunderland (a) 0-5 – should have been at least drawing there (1 pt dropped)
Ipswich (home) 0-1 – should at least have drawn – (1pt dropped)
Rotherham (h) 1-1 - should have won convincingly (2pts dropped)
Huddersfield (a) 1-1 - should have won (2pts dropped)
Bristol City (a) 1-3 - should have drawn at least (1pt dropped)
Hull City (h) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped)
Millwall (h) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped)
Middlesbrough (h) 1-1 - should have won (2 pts dropped)
Blackburn (a) 0-0 – should have won (2pts dropped)
Cardiff (a) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped)
My biggest concern is what happens next. If we fail to get promoted we will lose KWP, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Che, Downes and probably Fraser, Stuart Armstrong, Brooks, Rothwell, Sulemana and Aribo. McCarthy and Lumley are at the end of their contracts. We will need Sports Republic to completely rebuild the squad, which after the previous two transfer windows fills me with dread.
If we go up it will be a similar situation because this team is not good enough to stay up and particularly if we try and play possession football in the PL we’ll get annihilated.
The issue with a major squad rebuild under Martin is that it took 2½ months for the team to get to grips with the system so we’ll always be in catch up mode. I think whatever happens it will be time to look for a new manager.
[Post edited 23 Apr 22:41]
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| Where are we at the moment? on 22:46 - Apr 23 with 1120 views | Southamptonfan |
For me there is always a root cause for Saints. The club isn't ambitious enough, it does things on the cheap (5 loan players, cheaper young players, cheaper unproven managers, selling Tella, Ward-Prowse whilst Leicester keep Vardy and Leeds keep their best players etc), then our owners just want to make money for themselves. All the managers lose the plot here, don't they? On to the next one. Sell a few more in the summer, bring in the next up and coming manager, let's see if things change. I refer you all back to root cause. [Post edited 23 Apr 22:49]
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