For the record, I don't ever remember the atmosphere at The Dell being as bad as it has been recently at St Marys. Do you think the football we played under Koeman was that great, really? A lot of it was fairly agricultural, the sort of direct long ball stuff that when West Ham did it to us, we claimed to despise, A front three of Mane, Tadic and Long was great to watch at times, but as a team we were a lot more entertaining under both Adkins and Pochettino. But no one moaned when we were winning. Styles of play are all well and good, you can argue for hours about tactics, possession, formations etc, if you want. But all that matters is winning. How often football supporters complain about the boring, predictable manner of their endless victories? How many Chelsea fans moaned about negativity when they mugged their way to Champions League victory? I never get down because of winning games, however we win them.
You were never there when Branfoot was in charge? Or the last month of Chris Nicholl? It was VERY bad then. Maybe not all directed at the team during games, but still a very negative atmosphere (with good reason). It's not the booing that annoys me at St Mary's right now, its the silence. Why are they silent? Too many "new" fans who sit on their hands regardless of how the games go? Too few "lads" who have been priced out of going? Or is the football on offer, just too boring? Football under Koeman was more good than bad. It wasn't set in one style either. We had some shocking performances in the cups especially, but I still had belief in the manager that he knew what he was doing. Can't say that's the case now.
I must admit I was a most infrequent visitor during the Branfoot era. Part of the reason for the antiseptic atmosphere in many grounds is definitely that many traditional supporters have been priced out. Youngsters no longer really make a last minute decision to rock up to the ground with their mates. Koeman inspired confidence, that's part of his character, but he has his limitations. I am not yet ready to pass judgement on Puel, but I'm pretty sure he does know what he is doing. It just remains to be seen if he can get the current crop of players playing the way he wants.
Ever since Corteze sacked Nigel all of our management appointments have been reactive. Corteze resigned, Poch resigned, Koeman resigned... a generation of players left. Maybe if the club were to be proactive rather than reactive we could believe that the much vaunted 'Southampton Way' was a tangible programme rather than marketing spin. As Kat looks to sell, we drift. Les seems to have run out of rabbits. No wonder there are rumours of the senior players having little faith, that Claude has lost the dressing room, That Eric Black is everything the Villa fans warned us of.. Still, I heard Messi is signing tomorrow... that should cheer me up.
Are you serious? Not about Messi, although that was the most credible thing about your post. It appears you are basically suggesting to have sacked managers and that in your eyes would be us being proactive! We monitor, as I an sure most clubs do, loads of managers for a number of different reasons. I agree we seem to be drifting, and whilst I dont like it, the Board deserve some slack in my opinion, until the Summer. Come on man, pull yourself together
I agree with you Beddy. Supporting Saints is like going on a date with a prick teaser. You think you are on to a promise but at the end of an extravagant night you walk home alone.
I honestly don't think there is anything the Board should do right now. Are they going to sack Puel after only a few months? Bring in a big money creative attacker before we've seen what Boufal can do? If I were in charge, I wouldn't be doing anything and laying low myself. Even without a possible club sale hanging over things. We have a fairly large squad of good-not-great, mostly interchangeable players. Mostly now on long term contracts at or above market wages so they are difficult to move. For the team to really improve, I believe we need 2-3 attacking players, one more very good mid, and 1 CB (whether or not Fonte goes)... and mostly likely 2 as VVD will be leaving. You are not going to get 4 in and 4 out in January. OTOH I think we are safe from relegation, and also safe from threatening for any Euro spot. So it makes sense to assess things and come up with a master plan for the summer rather than panic buy in January. See what we have in Boufal, or Redmond might step up. See what we have in some of the youngsters. See how Puel does. Figure out what maybe went wrong in the summer and tweak the black box for next year. etc. And all of that is WITHOUT the possibility of a club sale. And the strong possibility the club is not actually trying very hard to win a PL title or improve. I think the massive emphasis on the academy and the extension of everyone's contract this summer was a big hint that ownership sees the club as a well-run mid-table kind of organization, and so the priority was in tying down the solidly mid-table players we had and in bringing the next generation of likely similarly decent players through. If you look at Saints' goal being to stay up and finish 8-15 most years, with the occasional foray into Europe, then everything they have done makes sense. And it's not like Krueger hasn't been hinting at that being the goal for a few years now.
Good post ISIRTP, but not sure they are above market rate when it comes to wages...think that has been part of a wider issue for a while.
I mean, I doubt we'd be saying "oh no, what ever will we do with these two excellent creative attackers, I thoroughly regret that decision" a year later.
Just been chatting to a saints fan about recent form, etc. Not sure if this has been mentioned recently on any of these threads, but thought it worth a mention. To make it clear, this may well be rumour and conjecture and nothing more, there is no source other than people who have heard things within people at the club but nothing is official. He basically said that players and management are currently divided on strategy to the point where tempers were becoming frayed and management and players were separated after the West Brom game. The air was cleared in the Sunday but tempers again frayed after the abject performance on Monday. Players are not openly supporting Puel like they were and have closed ranks. I'm not saying I believe this but could be an explanation for the abject performances over the last 4 weeks, the silence from most players which is deafening and ultimately may be a contributing factor in the contributing factor to the Fonte situation. In terms of form this season, we can and have played well, but performed better against poorer teams like Prague, West Ham, Swansea and an off form Bmth/Arsenal 2nd team. I'm not being a bed wetter, just thought it would be an interesting topic of conversation.
Is there any indication that any of this is remotely truthful or just pure rumour.... as I have heard....?
Quite possible, I don't know a lot about a lot but regardless of this rumour, things don't feel right at the moment. It's not losing, that I can cope with, but with all the progress made so far it just feels very flat at the moment....
