 | Forum
Reply | FA Cup Replays scrapped - Winter break gone
at 09:00 20 Apr 2024
Whilst I agree in principle with the comments against this idea, I think we should also bear in mind that the likes of us and other clubs going for promotion, reducing the potential number of games they have to play must be a good idea mustn’t it? |
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Reply | Adam Armstrong.
at 09:19 11 Mar 2024
I do find some of these comments puzzling! Adam is our best striker this season, period. Yes he misses some sitters, but so do some of the best. I seem to recall a certain mr Haraland have a blank run if a few games too; according to a March post in Goal.com he had”six goalless games in eight matches”
For goodness sake get real people! |
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Reply | Will we be promoted?
at 12:39 18 Feb 2024
Funnily enough I have never heard of a poor bookie... |
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Thread | Fair play award for the Saints? Er I don’t think so…
at 22:40 12 Feb 2024
We are currently 3rd equal (on 73) with Ipswich for yellow cards so far this season, headed only by Stoke (74) and PNE (75). The best is - and I cannot quite believe this - Leeds!!! On 43.
Staying fit for the remainder of the season is imperative; but having a few players on the sidelines for other reasons won’t help.
And individually :Jan B 8, Ryan M 8, Shea Charles 5 + 1 Red, Flynn D 7, Will S 7 , have the most. |
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Thread | AFCON final tonight 8pm on BBC3
at 09:55 11 Feb 2024
According to Opta supercomputer, Nigeria are favourites to win the 2023 AFCON, in 56.2% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Come on Jo…! |
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Reply | Mara over Adams?
at 07:49 11 Feb 2024
I cannot quite believe i am saying this but I put it down to RM because the way I see it BOTH players have improved:
Che seems now to be under much less pressure to score goals - although I am sure he still wants to - but is there now much more to draw the oppo, give them the run around, get them knackered and lay off to others as he did brilliantly to Mara on Tuesday. Whereas Sekou has got much more speed, and yes he still cocks it up - as he did against Rotherham several times before he scored - but is increasingly becoming more tactically and positionally aware as he showed yesterday with his late goal.
So hats off to RM for IMHO making them both better and mercifully, as others have said, bigging them up (justifiably) and making them much less likely to look to move. |
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Reply | To those who booed the team off at half time....
at 19:05 10 Feb 2024
…but on the other hand, just maybe a bit - and NB it was only a bit - of booing helped put some fire in their bellies, after a first half in which, LBH, they were terrible and deserved to be two down… |
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Thread | Pull the other one, it’s got a million bells on it…
at 09:20 9 Feb 2024
“It has now been suggested by outspoken Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony that Southampton manager Martin, could be an option for Liverpool.”
What an utterly ludicrous suggestion. Doesn’t it occur to mr MacDoughnut that a modicum of European experience is the very least they will require?!
The things some people will say to get a bit of publicity…. |
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Reply | Last game of season against Leeds could be decider.
at 19:16 3 Feb 2024
Leeds I reckon have 3 home and one away game vs the current top 8 in the league
Whereas we have two home and 4 away.
If our away form holds up, the last game will be a celebration… |
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Reply | Leicester/ Ipswich
at 09:27 23 Jan 2024
Last night’s game was quite an insight in to what faces us to get automatic promotion.
Leicester were undoubtedly the better side, closing down Ipswich from the start and consistently building pressure. Their ball skills and passing was much better but they did flag a bit towards the end. They will be hard to beat, especially at home.
Ipswich, on the other hand were quite “League-1’ish”, very average in terms of effective passing and control and relied a lot on the long ball out from the keeper which the Foxes’ backs - inc Jan Vestegard - had no problem dealing with.
But…
They didn’t stop and it was telling the early stat that flashed up that they have saved more points from losing positions than any other team in the EFL. And as Leicester flagged and/or got a bit complacent they scored. In other words fitness really told, and even if the possession stats were only just in Leicester’s favour, does this sound quite familiar…? |
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Reply | One thing I learnt from today...
at 09:46 21 Jan 2024
Am I alone in feeling a microcosm of sympathy for Jack Stephens?
Whilst I would be the first to admit that he has played pretty poorly since coming back from injury, comparing him to others who’ve improved in the last few weeks suggests that RM’s faith in him may be justified.
For example, for the first few months since joining us, Manning was way off the pace, kept on cocking it up, and certainly cost us a couple of goals. But more recently he has improved massively, some of his passing has been excellent and his control has got immeasurably better.
You could also say the same for Will Smallbone who has really upped his game in the last couple of matches and was of course MOM yesterday.
Jack Stephens on the other hand had the misfortune of having to linger on the sidelines watching as the rest of the team started to improve.
Some will argue silk purses and sow’s ears, but I for one think giving him game time - and OK yesterday he did cock it up a couple of times - will help him be more aware in defence, pass more accurately and generally get up to speed ; because surely he knows that (I) he is well below the required standard particularly as the captain, (iI ) he is letting his (now much better) teammates down, and (iii) worse for him will quite possibly be shipped out at the end of the season if he doesn’t improve.
I haven’t been a great fan of Russell Martin’s, but I am now eating masses of humble pie with all these records he’s smashed and the confidence he’s imbued into the team; so I feel quietly confident that, if he can sort out Manning and Smallbone, just maybe he can do the same for JS.
Yes I know, (last metaphor I promise) the sky is full of flying pigs…. |
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Reply | Chelsea going for KWP…
at 09:09 19 Jan 2024
Am I the only person who thought that KWP was a bit of a disappointment last season? Yes, he was good on occasion but many’s the time I recall him seeming to bottle it when the wing looked open to him, all ripe for a burst forward, but then stopping and passing sideways or backwards. I agree he’s been great this season but I do wonder whether Chelsea are seeing him through rose-tinted specs… |
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Reply | Aren’t football fans so fickle
at 09:50 14 Jan 2024
I freely admit I was one of those calling for Russel Martin’s head after the debacle in September.
So yes I am eating a huge amount of humble pie because yesterday’s performance was terrific, really entertaining and four great goals. And it’s thanks to him that the team is playing a system which they are increasingly more confident about and better at. So yes IM SORRY TO HAVE DOUBTED YOU AND YOUR METHODS RUSSELL. OK? I’ve said it.
But…and yes there has to be a but… I still do feel that, as, and hopefully when, we get promoted, we will likely struggle in the PL. Because what happened yesterday in the first minute is an example of how any team in the top tier will get at us throughout the full 90 minutes. Tippy tippy around our box has been (more than?) fine against championship teams especially those in the relegation spots and/or with few resources and depth of squad. But will we get away with it against the best teams in the land? We shall see. But in the meantime, the real tests in the current season are going to come in the return fixtures vs the other promotion candidates As for next season let’s worry about that when we get there. |
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Reply | Everton Choking To Pay Adams Transfer Fee
at 09:29 23 Aug 2023
If I was Adams I would seriously think about staying at SMS for at least this season. Because
1. his star is in the ascendancy at the moment so his value shouldn’t go down over the next six/twelve months.
2. if we do go back up he’ll be back in the PL, he can negotiate a better contract and/or will be more attractive to any suitors.
3. At Everton he could easily find himself in another relegation battle (if it hasn’t already started) and his value could then easily go down especially if his so-called PL scoring abilities desert him.
4. If he takes a serious look at himself in the mirror, might be not come to the honest conclusion that he is really more suited to a (top of the) Championship club? |
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Reply | Where has it all gone wrong?
at 08:41 12 May 2023
Very interesting stats about strikers.
But every team that gets relegated always has a dreadful GA record.
And that is really where our problems spring from.
Yes Bazunu is pretty average, but good GKs always have a top defence in front of them, which we simply don’t.
As for a lack of GF, I am sure that the confidence of a forward is only improved if he knows he’s got a solid back line behind him. Whereas it drops several notches if he sees that he’s always having to fight that much harder because we invariably go one or two goals behind. |
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Reply | Prowsey going to a top club?
at 20:12 11 May 2023
Call me naive … (yes you are stupidly naive)…
But I have a sneaking feeling that JWP will only move if a club comes along who can guarantee him 100% first team football and I’m not sure there are too many around (that he’d fancy going to) who can.
And looking at it from his POV, OK he may have to take a pay cut if he stays.
But…
Assuming we get a new manager who can convince JWP he has a plan and knows what he is talking about, and as a result can persuade Prowsy he can take us back up again, just think what he would become in the City. Forget about Matt LeT, ARISE SIR JAMES….
As I said call me naive… |
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Reply | Rumour Mill Starts Turning On Next Southampton Manager
at 08:08 5 May 2023
Not sure that’s wholly right.
When players are bought in from abroad, as in any walk of life when you move jobs, it takes time to find your feet, weeks certainly, and maybe months. And not just settling in with your team mates, your new manager, but I also include your family, where you live, the language. So when you bring a number in as we did in the January window, is it really such a surprise that it takes a while for all of them to adjust?
The mistake was the Board not moving during the summer. And even though our two managers since Ralph have been average at best, I do think in some ways they both had one hand tied behind their backs because of the previous lack of ambition by the Board. The Board thought they could get away with it, but things went wrong in the first half of the season, so they panic in January and only make the situation worse which is where we are now. |
| | davidargyll
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