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Reply | If you thought the Bosman ruling was bad...
at 15:05 4 Oct 2024
We're not of course in the EU so the ruling of the European Court makes no difference.
There will be a problem with players moving from/to Europe and the UK.
The ruling is based on freedom of movement of people and capital. Those rules can override terms and conditions in contracts to a certain extent but if the contract is "fair" and written in compliance with the rules, it's hard to see how club/player could walk away from it.
Some contracts will not comply of course - perhaps those between a player a feeder club to a larger club - and these may fall. |
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Reply | A dispassionate view post the B'muff game
at 12:10 3 Oct 2024
I have to disagree.
If we are relegated and he stays the fans will be embarrassed and angry but to be blunt, the club ownership doesn't care.
The "loss" from losing 10% of the season ticket income would be more than matched by parachute payments.
I really cannot see a mass protest from season ticket holders in the event of relegation and keeping the same set up next year. Fans don't work like that. It takes a lot for fans not to turn up - or at least pay up - to matches. |
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Reply | Dibling
at 12:01 3 Oct 2024
Playing Dibling as a lone striker shows either desperation or a total disregard for the player's welfare or both.
I've said elsewhere that RM clearly wanted a more defensive line up and therefore one striker was needed - but not Dibling.
Most "one striker" teams have some big unit up front who will take some knocks but who will keep the ball. That is totally not Dibling and if RM really did say he wants him to dribble the ball out, then he is worse tactically than even I thought. |
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Reply | Jack Stephens Deserves Saints Fans Respect At This Time
at 17:01 2 Oct 2024
There are perhaps two ways of reading his situation.
Either he is absolutely committed to the club, the manager and the style we are playing and lost his head in a moment of madness, which, as you point out, would not be unique or even "up there" in terms of the worst offenses.
Or he has become disillusioned with all of the above and made a tackle that was was at best misjudged and then made a petulant remark to the ref in the heat of the moment, born of frustration.
The fact is however that the tackle he made was unnecessary - that game was already lost - and as captain, charged with bringing his side through matches and being the voice of the manager on the pitch, he has a duty/obligation to be a little better than those around him in terms of game management.
He would be a better man than most of us if he was not frustrated and it may be unfair to pillory him for what I hope is an isolated incident. However we are all unhappy at results and the way we are playing and the "fact" that the manager seems unable to turn it around, resorting to ever more bizarre player choices and positioning. He is not special in that regard, but does have obligations as above, that we do not.
And in doubling down on a red card he has become fair game for criticism.
I have nothing against the man. In our team he is perhaps not the best player, but far from the worst. I have sympathy for him being played in odd positions which he has never trained for. I would play him in the side but probably as a sweeper in a back 5. By doing what he did however, that option has gone for now.
I'm not a believer in loyalty between player and club. These are professionals working for a business. Loyalty ends at the pay cheque and in my eyes therefore "loyalty" buys no benefits or excuses for player or club.
Loyalty toward your team mates however I do believe in and whilst the tackle and red card can be excused for the reasons above and do not perhaps breach that code, adding to your suspension by being unprofessional does that breach that code.
Fans are loyal - to the club/team. Do I want to see our players care as little for the fans as the owners and management seem to? No. Do I want to see fans upset if a player gets yellow/red if they do something "for the team"? No. We accept that players make mistakes or sometimes will need to get yellow/red. Do I think that fans want to see players missing from the team for totally unnecessary reasons? No.
In my view, Jack may feel he owes the fans an apology, probably his team mates but that is all. |
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Reply | Jack Stephens Deserves Saints Fans Respect At This Time
at 11:47 2 Oct 2024
Why is there an obsession about players earnings?
Jack is no different from any other professional sports player who gets paid whatever the market dictates. That rate has nothing to do with ability or "loyalty" or performance in the last game.
There are 92 professional clubs in our system. with an average 25 players on the books.- so around 2,500 paid players. Some will earn mega millions. Most do not. PL players will be toward the top of the demographic. (20 PL clubs with say 30 players each?) so market conditions say that if they are on the books, they get the going rate. |
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Reply | A dispassionate view post the B'muff game
at 11:39 2 Oct 2024
Why are we stuck with him?
One: the owners will be happy for us to bounce between PL/Champ for a few seasons because of the parachute payments.
Two:his contract will be expensive to exit
Three: his style of play has a place in the PL but you need better players. It's a contradiction but they want his style but are not prepared to invest in the team.
Four: they may see RM as a medium term project which will come good but if not as long as the TV money keeps arriving they don't really care enough about the football.
Five: a new manager is likely to want guarantees or expensive buy outs in any contract offered. Also a new manager means new players which is expensive.
In my view, they will stay with RM even if we end the season with the lowest ever recorded points and only think about a replacement if we don't get promoted out of the Champ in the 25/26 season.
I hope I'm wrong but even if we had a Moyes or a Potter, they need 5 to 8 games to make us harder to beat which puts us 11 to 14 games into a 38 game season. We then need 36 to 40 points from 25 games which is mid table form.
We presently have defenders being asked to have passing skills and visions of a central midfield player; midfield players who are told to keep the ball as their absolute priority; forwards who I suspect are low on confidence and to be blunt, with one exception, not good enough. A Moyes/Potter will therefore perhaps need more than 5/8 games and as such our chances of staying in this league are low - so why bother with the expense and disruption of a new manager anyway? |
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Thread | A dispassionate view post the B'muff game
at 10:09 2 Oct 2024
I was away for a few days and have only just seen the "highlights" so appreciate that I may have a biased view of the match and its outcome.
The team that was picked looked to be unbalanced and unlikely to cause the opposition much trouble.
Whilst I was pleased to see a more defensive mindset and having only one up front, to make that "one" a teenager with a gifted left foot who has demonstrated his ability to skin full backs, is inept, incompetent or tactically naive. Take your pick. If Tyler was in the team, then you need two up front to get the best from him.
B'muff put us to the sword in a 25 minute spell in which the whole team was pushed into panic mode. Lack of direction from the bench or a central midfield player or a CB meant that the opposition could have scored twice as many goals in that period. Better opposition will.
Keeping you best or most experienced players out of the team and failing to use them when panic struck, is also baffling and bizarre.
The B'muff striker who scored their third also said "we watched some videos and were told and shown how slow Saints were to organise after giving away a free kick". And he's right. That is schoolboy stuff and the whole coaching staff should hang their heads in shame.
Calls fro RM's resignation are pointless as are calls for his sacking. We're stuck with him and look on course to set a new PL record.
I just wish their was an eject button because I'd rather we did not have to suffer what promises to be more dreadful results. |
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Reply | This Weekend's Fixtures, Can Southampton Get Out Of The Premier League Drop Zone
at 16:24 25 Sep 2024
Bournemouth refreshed their squad in the summer and from what I see, are not afraid to press and challenge and try to score because they are relatively weaker in defence. This means that they have to score to be in with a chance of a result..
Strong up front and weak at the back is close to where we are although I think their forwards may be better than ours.
In my eyes, we have are looking at a score draw or the odd goal in 3 or 5 to win it. I do think Archer might be suited here and perhaps is due a little luck.
I think Dibling might shine as well but putting too much weight on the shoulders of a teenager starting just his third game seems unfair.
I do very much hope that the manager and players think that if Bournemouth have 3/4 players in the forward press, then a longer ball has more chance of finding a team mate rather than a cross the park poorly weighted set of passes between defenders before going forward. But it's the hope that kills you. |
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Reply | 'Martin Out' fans are clueless!
at 15:41 24 Sep 2024
I completely understand why some "fans" want a change in manager (boring play, obstinate tactics, playing players out of position, bizarre substitutions) and I also completely understand that it's not going to happen.
RM wanted to play PL football in the Champ in the belief that it would get us promoted. In my view it did not. We got promoted because we changed the playing style to be bit more direct following a run of poor results in the last half dozen games of the season.
How much of that was done on manager's orders and how much was it the players deciding for themselves? Who knows.
We made promotion by luck. WBA and Leeds hit a bad patch at the wrong time.
Then we see the same style adopted in the PL - and the same errors being made only now they result in a goal against as the PL strikers are better. Loyalty to players has been suggested as a reason we started so poorly. Personally I think it's RM trying to show everybody that he was right all along.
In the last game we see us creeping back to that more direct style and frankly we were unlucky not to win. However Ipswich will be bottom 5 in May next year and a draw at home is not ideal.
RM should have had the newer players playing sooner. Loyalty be damned - if they're better than what we have, play them.
And this is where for me, he lacks something. Either he is stubborn to an unreasonable degree or he is limited and out of his depth.
Doesn't really matter for now because the Board will back him and unless/until we are relegared he is here to stay. |
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Reply | A huge sense of entitlement
at 16:55 23 Sep 2024
Depends what you think the ticket money is for.
If all you want is entertainment and care nothing for the result, save your money and go to the theatre/cinema/circus/pub/restaurant.
If the ball is in play (and when we play sideways and backwards there's always the risk that the opposition will win it from us and score) then something may happen.
If the ball is not in play for 28 minutes then why pay for it. |
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Reply | Benefits - essential safety net or invitation to abuse?
at 16:52 23 Sep 2024
I see the thread has morphed a little into a discussion on virtual wealth vs precious metals.
I am not, never will be, an expert on crypto but I understand the concept to be that the value of the currency is not correlated to any particular economy, industry or anything material that we might traditionally regard as valuable.
IN other words it's based on a fictional world of supply and demand. IN essence a parallel financial world which presumably can be manipulated by crypto providers but otherwise has not connection with - for example - industrial output or the cost of services or retail prices.
If my attempt at a description is anywhere near correct (and I accept it may not be) then I think I'm of an age to consider this risky.
If however I'm wrong, why can the Gov't not create a crypto currency and pay benefits in said currency to whatever level they like? |
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Reply | A huge sense of entitlement
at 16:43 23 Sep 2024
Interesting table on the BBC website.
Measures average time taken for a goal kick, corner, free kick etc.
Arsenal and Villa top of that table at 34 seconds per event.
Saints are 8th (highest we'll be this season that's for sure) at 29 seconds.
Think about it. A team might have 10 corners, 15 free kicks and say 25 goal kicks and throw ins. That's close on 28 minutes of fans just watching nothing happen. Think the club should refund 25% of the ticket price? |
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Reply | A huge sense of entitlement
at 13:27 23 Sep 2024
Well the City enquiry is expected to last until late this year or early next.
There will be an appeal - perhaps more than one.
A decision by the start of next season?
If that is the case, I'd expect City to be prevented from buying/selling players at worst.
Perhaps a slap on the wrist in terms of points deductions, certainly not enough to threaten them with relegation in the 25/26 season. |
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Thread | A huge sense of entitlement
at 12:23 23 Sep 2024
I watched some of the City/Arsenal game.
Had to turn it off (before the late equaliser). Then read some of the reaction today and got angry again.
The payers in the PL were all told that kicking the ball away would be a yellow card. Trossard clearly did that and Arteta moaning about the ref following the rules is pathetic and childish and does him,his club and the PL no favours.
Then we see a whole half of time wasting at every opportunity from Arsenal in particular.
The day I run the PL, it would mean Arsenal losing the point they claimed.
What arrogance to think that your club is big enough to have its own rule book. |
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Thread | Does a small improvement against a weak team = corner turned?
at 08:39 23 Sep 2024
Have seen extended highlights of the Ipswich match.
I'm pleased to see that our possession stat was lower than usual but that the ratio of attempts per minute of possession was better.
Less pleased to see that Ipswich had more attempts than we did. Allowing the opposition to have an effort at goal, will eventually allow then to score and Ramsdale kept us in that match.
Disappointed that we did not score another especially as Ipswich came forward and allowed space at the back.
In my view the subs brought on killed our momentum and ambition and I'm baffled as to why RM did that.
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