Ivan Juric has been speaking to the Daily Echo and has claimed that new Technical Director Johannes Spors is in tune with the way that Saints are currently playing football, thats two of them then.

The Daily Echo have been speaking to Ivan Juric and he has said some interesting things, see if you agree with him.

"It's the most important thing, I think, that we think about football in the same way," Juric told the Daily Echo, when asked about Spors.

"We all agree that for the Premier League you need some kind of player that you can compete with. It's good. We have had conversations about everything.

"About the team we have, about how we play, about the things that are not going well. About everything. I have a good relationship with him. Normal, very professional."

In his own interview with the local newspaper Johannes Spors spoke about the importance of the physical approach to the game, especially at set pieces and when dealing with long balls and Juric had this to say.

"Set-pieces, even in the Premier League, are of huge importance. Everybody prepares. I think we are working a lot about set-pieces.

"But I always say that the most important thing is who delivers the ball and which kind of player you have when you are attacking this ball.

"Sometimes we make it really complicated, but sometimes it's really simple. Who will put this ball and do you have players that want to score?"

The first point I will make on what Juric has said and where Saints are going wrong is that Juric was left with a squad low on players who have a physical presence and are athletes, Russell Martin based his style on Manchester City who had a far better quality of player, Pep Guardiola teams had 2-3 players with physical stature and 7-8 who were of a smaller nature.

In the transfer window this should have been addressed, but instead we bring in more a lightweight player in Albert Groenbaek and play him out of position.

We are the opposite, we have no one up front with a physical presence, Tall Paul might be as his nickname suggests, Tall ! but his presence is minimal, at the back it is not much better, no towering centre halves.

In midfield the only player with that physical presence is Big Les Ugochukwu, who was completely ignored by Russell Martin.

As you work your way down the Premier League table, the ratio of big strong athletes to smaller players increases, the likes of Fulham, Wolves, Brentford etc are packed with strong players, sometimes as many as 8, they have the strength to not get bullied and stay out of relegation trouble

In this sense Juric has an excuse, but the real issue is that most Saints fans haven't a problem with him playing a more direct pressing game, but it is his team selections, substitutions and his bizarre tactics that we have a problem with.

This is the root cause of all our issues since Juric arrived at the club 3 months ago, we lost to Manchester United because of his substitutions, taking off our only big strong player with 10 mins to go and then at Forest a few players later leaving him on the bench.

He talks of physical presence and set pieces, but these are our weakest areas, he is not improving us, he is making us worse, full backs & midfielders employed as central defenders whilst dedicated players in that position sit on the bench.

I speak to a lot of Saints fanes, I read a lot of opinions on social media, I cannot find one person who would be happy with Juric in charge of the team nest season.

He can say all the words in the World, but we have seen the proof in his pudding, we see chopping and changing and no sign of any strategy, we don't see calm or organisation, we see chaos and desperation as players are in and out of the side, we see those with the experience that we lack, sidelined and ignored by Juric.

No one is under any illusion that we have a team that was good enough to finish mid table, but we did have a team that well organised could have just about avoided relegation, yes Juric hasn't a lot to work with, but he has made a pigs ear of working with what he has got.

There is one simple way to cut queues at St Mary's next season and that is to keep Ivan Juric in the job as manager.

All Photos Via Reuters

kingolaf added 12:16 - Mar 18 Juric is an onion. If he stays next season, I won’t renew my season ticket.
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stmichael added 12:43 - Mar 18 If he’s here next season I’m over AFC Totton. I will take that as a massive V sign from the club to me and that’s exactly what I will do. Hes like a Charlie Chaplin film🤷‍♂️
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Centurion added 12:56 - Mar 18 Juric is onto a hiding to nothing. With a clear out in the summer and a new championship team with a greater physical presence he might make it work. In which case the first six games are important. Win 5 of these and all will be forgiven. One hell of a gamble mind.
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Bowlercow added 13:31 - Mar 18 A couple of days ago Alfie House was credited with claiming that there is no way Juric will be our coach at the start of next season. Now he is responsible for an interview which leads you to believe Juric will stay with Spors blessing.No wonder I doubt every word journalists publish If there is even the slightest chance he is staying then we, the paying fans,must let our feelings be known over the last 5 home games.Late arrival,early exits,pitch invasions after the final whistle are all legitimate tactics Let's do it

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saint901 added 14:07 - Mar 18 Pitch invasion probably breaches your ticket conditions and may even be contrary to a local by-law? Otherwise I agree. Fan power is these days almost non existent but we should maximise what we can do and that means withholding money. I've not had a ST for a few seasons but going into the Champ has tempted me. Not however with IJ because I thinks he's just a stooge for SR and actually incapable of understanding the game here. If he stays I will definitely not be buying a ticket.

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Fisk27 added 15:05 - Mar 18 The only thing he should positioning himself for is to receive a P45, sooner rather than later! What an arrogant.....
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Colburn added 16:44 - Mar 18 Not sure they’ve done any practice at set pieces. At the weekend we had Manning curling balls in which arrived with snow on them.. Terrible corners and nowhere near the step ladder.. He has inherited a weak team which lacks pace, so it’s not his fault we’re in this position. That said, some of decisions have had a detrimental effect on our chances of results so although I don’t blame Juric, and actually quite like how he comes across, I just don’t see him bringing us back up next year. Are we really going to change ten out of squad to bring in his sort of player? I doubt it. I wouldn’t read into the words in the Echo interview too much. What is he supposed to say? No we don’t see eye to eye..?

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Colburn added 16:52 - Mar 18 Btw I wonder if any team has gone an entire league season without scoring 3 goals in a game at any point? If not I think we may be the first.
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bryanK added 17:52 - Mar 18 When he was first appointed I felt he would bring some semblance of order based on his track record but he has been a complete disaster. I hate not going to St Mary’s but after his totally bizarre tactics against Brentford I had seen enough. Sports Republic just get shot!! Perhaps you should go with him as you have demonstrated during your ownership you could not run a bath let alone a football club

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YosemiteSaint added 22:06 - Mar 18 It is indeed infuriating. And/But, who know what he's up to, as we'll likely face a mass player exodus this summer, and he's probably identifying who stays and who goes once we drop to the Championship. It's all experimentation at this point. None of it will make for competitive play or fun viewing. (Say what we will about Russell Martin, but he likely did what he could with the dross we've got.)

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