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Comment | Southampton At Bristol City The Verdict
at 13:23:35
I agree with a lot of the comments above, this is only one game, we need to pick up and move forward and stay behind OUR team.
however the comments about Sulemana being poor last night, this was his first game back after injury and we were chasing the game. and like said above, they had 2 lines of defense with defenders sitting deep and midfielders moving in. but i would like to point out, that when i first saw a certain Mane, he was fast with no end product, look at what happened to him, i remember watching him run down the line and cross the ball to row Z, we have the coaches and setup to help him improve and become the player that his potential shows.
however my main concern (which no one has mentioned yet) is our goalkeeper. yes he may be one for the future, he has shown that he was not one for the premier league (yet), he has shown some signs of promise on this run of games and made some good saves. but when you look at some of the teams we have played, the GK has kept them in the game and pulled off some great saves when the defense has gone missing. but when our defense goes walk abouts, i worry that he is not good enough to stand up and be counted for. we all said it two years ago when Frazer left, we needed a quality replacement. we done what we had done in the past and brought a man city youth product. that didn't work then and doesn't seem to be working now. had we had that great shot stopper, i believe that things could have been so different.
first goal, to start with, he is just stood there, then when it comes close, he moves towards the near post, and as the ball passes, he is left in no mans land and doesn't even make an attempt to put a foot to it or a glove or anything, he just watches it. how many times have we seen goalies diving and sticking anything out that they can when that happens. yes they may not get it, but at least they tried. yes i know that our defenders have to take some responsibility, but he is our last line of defense and done nothing.
second goal, again poor defending. but he has moved from the correct position to be, middle of the goal to where the ball is going and we have lots of defenders there, yes the defenders were bad and missed it. but then it loops up and all he can do is half raise his arm and watches. If he is moving into that area, i would expect that to be to fist the ball away or get involved. the chances of the ball going down to the line would be minimal so had he retained his original position, it would have been an easy save. i want to see some effort and at least an attempt to get the ball.
goal 3, nothing he could do beyond watch, so no criticism there.
but when you look at Bristol's keeper, he made a good save when one on one with our player. that saves games and changes things. how many times have we seen goalies make good saves and inspire their defense and get them riled up. i just don't see it from him and i think that's an age thing. he needs to be commanding, shouting at them and having a go at them, not just whimpering in the back ground.
now i know that i may come in for some stick for this, but just my humble opinion and ready to listen to for you to try and change my mind. |
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Comment | Danny Ings Could Be Making A Shock Return To St Mary's
at 14:04:17
this is just pure paper talk and never going to happen. his agent is clearly trying to get a few of the lower prem teams to jump before he "potentially" signs for saints again.
its a shame as with him in our team we were doing well and had he stayed he would have been a local hero and who knows we may have still been in the prem and looking up instead of down. its a move that worked for neither the player or the team.
as for Broja, good luck to him and WHU, i cant see that he is an improvement on Ings and believe that its not the magic answer that they are looking for. he has hardly set the prem alight with goals and lets face it, if he was any good Chelsea would be keeping hold of him. |
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Comment | Rumour Mill Starts Turning On Next Southampton Manager
at 14:18:46
i would love WIll Still to be our manager and had seen a clip on him on the BBC website a month or so back. my major concern with him, is that he will come in and do a great job, promote us back to prem and have a great first season and then Tottenham or someone will come in and poach him, as he is looking better than our standards.
Brendan would be my first choice, he's been at the big clubs and failed and the bigger clubs seem to be overlooking him at the mo, so we know that he would be here for the long haul and create stability within the club, building his team.
Graham potter, would be a bit of a risk in my opinion. as can be seen now, brighton are in a great place and doing well. i wonder how much of that success was down to the running of the club and transfers, was GP involved and sanctioned them or was he, just their to coach and pick the team? either way, could do the job but with the issues in our club we need someone with proven experience and that would be Brendan.
for a bit of a curve ball i would look at someone like Christophe Galtier. i know still employed at PSG, but not for much longer if the rumer mill is to be believed and has a good history of doing well with small clubs and making them punch above their weights. |
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Comment | Southampton V Crystal Palace The Verdict
at 16:16:55
the only good part about this game was the pre match offer to upgrade your tickets so that you could have lounge access, 3 free drinks and food.
my brother in law was over from Aus and he always likes to come and watch a match. i was so embarrassed about the whole fiasco that i just got drunk to forget what i had just experienced.
first half we were okay at best, more like palace were terrible. all our passes were to the left wing for KWP, who was met with resistance from palace players. they knew what we would do and had the game plan to stop it.
the amount of times Theo was in space on the left and no one passed him the ball was criminal. having JWP on our team (one of the best dead ball specialist and able to make a pass that hits our own player) why didnt he paly a nice cross field ball to Theo and let him run on to it and cause the opposition defense troubles. the one time we did, we nearly scored. then RS took him off..... why because he wasnt doing anything. WRONG, no one passed him the ball. AMN was good in defense, but going forward was hopeless and failed to make the early pass and get the wingers running at the opposition defense, to often taking the ball to far and loosing it.
we were like a one trick pony all day and easy to read and beat. keeper passes to KWP, KWP_ runs down the line and into 3 palace players. loose the ball and back to defend.
i have never wanted to slate JWP, but i cant remember him making a single pass that was forward in the whole game. they were all side ways and back. we need to get the ball and play it forward quickly, use the pace of theo and sulamana and the others to run at them and cause them problems. what happened to switching play and going from left to right and not just down the same side all the time. its like they get the ball and just head down run. they need to look up and know that if they paly the ball wide that wingers are running onto the ball and going to be in certain spots ready. thats what Theo done all game, ball goes left he runs into space, calls for it and we dont pass to him.
unlike most, i was quite happy with the team selection. most of the players up front had scored this season and it was more of an attacking line up, just a shame that we didnt use them.
then the substitutions came. tall paul on, but no tall long balls for him to connect with. he ended up back in his own half trying to pick the ball up and not doing what he should be doing, dragging their defense back as he would break their off side trap.
watching the game it was hard to see who you would sub in the game. no one played particularly bad, we just had no idea what to do or what they are supposed to be doing. but then RS took off the only people that were actually doing something and brought on what can only be described as lesser quality. Theo off Djenepo on.... sorry but Theo has been there, done it and got the t shirt, Djenepo IMHO is not prem standards and not a fighter, bad decision by RS. Aribo off tall Paul on, Aribo was okay no service so cant expect much from him, but if you bring on tall paul you need to get down the wings and get crosses in. not sure i saw one in to him. Alcaraz off and Edozie on, again another strange sub. Alcaraz looked okay, had shot on goal and made a menice of himself, Edozie is a young lad and does not have the experience that we needed on that pitch that day.
bring on the first division and maybe we can get back to wining ways. as next year anyone with quality will be off and we will be left with a lot of over paid rubbish and in the same position as this year. |
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Comment | Southampton V Grimsby Town The Verdict
at 15:21:16
i think that the entire saints squad should put this weeks wages to charity as they dont deserve the huge sums of money that they are being paid.
1st division here we come, at least we might win a few more games.
to be honest, i cant wait to go down and for all the rubbish on exuberant wages to leave. its just a shame that we will also loose the good players like JWP, KWP, ABK, MS, RL etc. for rock bottom prices as they know we will want to clear the wages. with that we will also loose all our up and coming talent and be left floundering in the lower divisions.
i blame the board for the transfer decisions. to sell PL players like romeo for cheep and replace them with unproven kids, what did we expect....
we were trying to copy Brentford. the main difference is, that they brought emerging talent when in the lower leagues and honed their skills and team cohesion, in the lower leagues with no one looking. then when on the big stage PL, they shone. we actually thought that we could do that from the off in the PL???
when are the owners going to realize that there business model is all wrong. to be in the PL is a money looser. most if not all clubs loose money. yes we may get the odd gem and sell for good money, but you dont get that every year, just once in a while.
we need a base team of PL quality players and then introduce the emerging talents one at a time, let them settle then introduce the next, not buy 5-6 youngsters and hope that we can stay up.
in all my years of supporting this club, this is the lowest i have seen it and seriously makes me wonder if i will buy another ticket... got my brother in law coming over from OZ this year and was going to take him to a game, but not sure i can handle the embarrassment |
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Comment | Southampton At Leeds United The Verdict
at 13:36:35
why have we brought Bednarek back and put him in the team so quickly???? does that mean that the rest of our defenders are that bad that we have to use him? he was pritty much unused at Villa and for a good reason. we have so many better defenders than him, lets try some of the new signings.
i saw a post during the week from a chat show speaking with a premier league striker saying that Salisu was one of the hardest defenders to play against. we need him back desperately.
i am not sure why we are not playing KWP on the right and RP on the left. what are we not seeing in training that gives KWP a starting spot?
it also amazes me that the players that seem to score excluding JWP, seem to score and then dont play again.... Jo Aribo, scored a couple at the start of the year, then has been dropped and left. Roman Perraud has scored a brace in the cup then dropped... Carlos Alcaraz scorse on his full debut and then dropped... are we picking tams to not score?
goal keeper seems to be our biggest problem and i believe what is causing our defense most nerves. we should have brought a recognized keeper in the summer with some top level experience and used GB in the cups and occasional games to get experience. i would drop him in favor of Willy Caballero. from what i have seen he would be a good/improved player for that position and give our defenders some confidence.
my ideal line up would be 4-2-3-1
GK- Willy Caballero
RB- Kyle Walker-peters
CB- Armel Bella-Kotchap
CB- Mohammed Salisu
LB- Roman Perraud
Defensive midfilder - Romeo Lavia
Defensive midfilder - Carlos Alcaraz
Attacking midfield left - Kamaldeen Suleman
Attacking midfield center - James Ward-Prowse
Attacking midfield right - Stuart/Adam Armstrong
striker - Che Adams |
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Comment | Watt View - Time To Assess The Options
at 13:54:29
first i do not believe that this has been a rush appointment. i believe (hope) that the board have been looking at replacements for quite some time and the sacking of RH was just the end of the process. i think that its a positive that we have acted quickly, the new manager will have time over the break to train and input his style of play on the team and give the new manager time to get results and keep us up. had we gone for a interim manager we are just wasting time and games to keep us up.
as for the striker situation. lets be realistic. we do not have £30m to go and blow on a new proven talent and still no guarantee that he will get the goals we so sorely need/want. we have brought in 2 of the top championship strikers in the last 3 years and both are struggling, CA has never hit the 30 goals a season he did in the championship and neither has AA.
we all keep saying it, our biggest problem is the defense. we ship goals like its going out of fashion, yet we have some great defenders that the bigger clubs are looking at. 1 clean sheet in 14 games is relegation form. had we not conceded so many and kept clean sheets we wouldnt be in the bottom 3 and those above us wouldnt be so high
lets be positive whoever we appoint as our new manager hopefully they can get the best out of our squad, get the defense tight and forwards more accurate |
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Comment | Southampton Right To Hold Steady In The January Transfer Window
at 13:40:53
i would dispute the fact that Saints were right to hold steady. for one i would have liked to see Saints actually table a bid for Fabio Carvalho, he fits into our structure of young and talented, and getting him in the January transfer window would have allowed him time to settle in and get used to our style of play, so that he was ready for the start of the next campaign. also by not going for him now the likes of Liverpool and co are set to pounce for free.
also regarding Dele Alli, would that not have replicated itself the same as when we brought in Danny Ings? he was 25 ish and had struggled at a bigger club. we still made a profit on him. and i believe that the same could have been true with Alli, we could have turned his career around and had a good season and a half out of him and then sold for a profit, also he would have brought in prem experience and also European experience. he could have also guided some of the youngsters. also by signing someone like Alli, its a statement of intent. he may have also helped the likes of Carvalho to sign, seeing that we have ambition and also giving people a chance to play. yes its a gamble but one i would have rolled the dice on.
it seems all to often we are linked with players (not sure of how much is paper talk and then they are off to a bigger club) and stall on placing bids and offering contacts, one player that i was hoping to sign a few years back was Weston McKenny, according to papers we were about to sign and off they go to the likes of Juventus.
i think that someone like Carvalho would have been perfect, now he is going to follow his fellow academy graduate to Liverpool and struggle for game time and progress his career. we need to be showing the young lads that we will sell them to bigger clubs and we are just a stage to get them there. |
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Comment | Saints Linked With Yet More Midfielders ! But Why ?
at 10:53:21
another thought if we are supposidly looking at a midfield player of 27ish, why do we not look to resign andrew surman from bournmouth, his wages are not silly he knows the club all too well (having come through the youth ranks) and is a great player and English. he is also out of contract at the end of the season if the papers are to be believed? |
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Comment | Saints Linked With Yet More Midfielders ! But Why ?
at 10:46:21
due to the fact that we are lacking quality up front at the moment with injuries and players that are not performing are we not going for saido berahino? he has proven track record of scoring, he has been part of the england under 21, squad as have a lot of our youth team and he is at the end of his contract and not being played by WBA, i know they still want £15m but at the end of teh day we are no doubt going to cash in, in the summer for VVD and this would be good business in my mind. i know that he has a lable for causing disruption for not getting a big move to a bigger club but lets face it, if someone came in with big money what would saints do SELL SELL SELL |
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