This post was prescient. I felt the game turned completely when Wilshere came on. I wasn't sure which Wilshere would turn up: the fighting, skilled, powerful midfield game-changer or the feeble duffer who falls over if there's a strong gust of wind. Within a minute or two they started coming through our midfield like a knife through butter and the panic commenced, so I guess that question was answered. Vin
Yeh I found it pretty dull, was watching it with neutrals and they were all basically asleep. Not having a dig a saints and we did ok first half but without gabbi nether really looked like we would score. The entertaining part of the game was after wilshire came on when they really should have won. Anyway time for this season to be over (been a good one with cup final and recruitment of gabbi) as although the precise league finish position matters as a fan I'm not gonna loose much sleep over 12 vs 9.
Jeez, you sound like fun. Can we all pleeeeeeeeease stop saying stuff like "Without Gabbi", "Without Van Dijk", "If we had Gabbi", "If we had Van Dijk" etc etc? It is becoming very tedious. Players get ****ing injured, get over it. It's not like Puel is keeping them on the bench, unwilling to play them. The strange thing is, you say you have lost interest in the rest of the season (words to that effect), yet I guarantee 4 weeks after the end of the season you will be itching for our pre-season friendlies to start. Why not just think of the rest of this season as a kind of 'pre-pre-season', and enjoy some football where for once there won't be any pressure to get results (hopefully). (Subject change) Next season is gonna be double derby fun with Brighton coming up. We'll have our own little mini-league within a league. Ooh-er. AND maybe even Reading. How lovely would that be? Though I still want Leeds or Wednesday preferably.
I really believed that Southampton were overdue giving someone a tonking and I felt that , with the break, Bournemouth fitted that bill against what has been a resurgent Southampton of late. My position regarding Puel is that is doesn't deserve the sack but, on the other hand, he is offered the same fare next season as we have been served in 2017/17, I would not be disappointed to see him go. I appreciate that he was dealt a poor hand at the beginning of the season and the issue with strikers that was only resolved with the signing of Gabbiadini has been done to death on this board. I think there is a danger of losing sight of the fact that football is an entertainment industry. We have seen something like 14 home goals in the league this season and I believe this is only one better that Middlesbrough who, incidentally, sacked their manager. For me, yesterday's performance typified so much of this season. The match started with Saints making things extremely difficult for Bournemouth and their defence was at sixes and sevens. I found the first 45 minutes engaging and it would be harsh to criticise of the strength of the first 45 minutes. The second half was a different kettle of fish. Our substitutions made things worse, we played too deep and there was , apart from Long, a lack of attacking at pace. In the end, we were hanging on and the opposition can feel disappointed at not taking three points. This is where I have a problem with Puel. There were no goals and we were lucky not to lose against a lower-level team fielding an understrength squad. It is probably fair to comment that we were without our best striker but this performance was against a team we should have put to bed quite quickly. I would expect a home match against Bournemouth to be three points in the bag. Whilst there is no guarantee about getting results, we seem to underwhelm against too many teams like Bournemouth this season. You come away from the match knowing the Puel is out if his depth but then you witness performances against the Italians , Liverpool or the Wembley appearance and , all of a sudden, you think perhaps Puel might know what he is doing. My concern is that the "better" performances are too few and far between and that ideal opportunities to increase the point and goal tally are missed when we play teams like Bournemouth.
We definirly disagree on what a clear cut chance is. I also wasn't being critical on the players that missed them. That happens.
I thought our substitutions were actually very positive. At that time, Bournemouth's midfield was pretty well non-existent so to put on Boufal for JWP seemed a good move. However, not long after that Wilshire came on and everything changed. We were crying out for someone to chase him down and that was never going to be Boufal. As you say, his skill on the ball is incredible he just needs to become more of a team player to be a real asset (think Mane).
I said before the game i wanted the 3 points not another unlucky loss, ok we didn't lose but i still feel disappointed. I feel we are a better team than the table shows, and if we just had an average conversion rate we would be MUCH higher than we are now. Even yesterday we had to expose our weakened defence to try and grab a late goal because we couldn't convert our earlier chances. but i just don't know how you can fix that with the players Puel has. how do you make players suddenly good at finishing? I was actually trying to support your argument(as i had made the same one), sorry that came across as harsh, i guess that was my mood after the game
Look, I'm going to try and engage in conversation. Genuine Questions: Do you realise this lower level team is one place below us on the same points? Did you realise that under strengthed lower level team we're playing against an under strength Southampton? On the manager who doesn't try and play entertaining, attacking football. The substitutions that you said made things worse (and I agree they did, but I also have said I would have made the exact same ones), left us with three flair players and a speedy Shane Long on the pitch - he clearly was trying to win the game in an exciting manner, so if you didn't like that, how can the fella possibly win? I'd be interested to see if you answer these questions or not.
Channon Thanks for your response. It is all about opinion and I appreciate your perspective. I agree that manager's need time and I am only able to comment on the home matches as I do not go to the away games too often as I also follow non-league football and can't be in two places at one. Winchester were in a similar position to Saints in August following the departure of their manager and we poached Ian Saunders from Petersfield who was very popular amongst the fans and managed to assemble a squad which put in some decent performances. By and large, they were entertaining too and, although there is a chasm in the quality of the football, it was often more fun watching Winchester play. Last week Saunders was sacked after a run of disappointing results, something most WCF considered to be extremely harsh. As a "consumer" of football, I think it makes an interesting comparison as I found Winchester more entertaining this season than the Saints matches I was watching. It is so difficult to suss Puel out. I can't recall watching a previous season where Saints have scored so few goals (I have been a regular since the early 80's but started going as a kid around 1975) but there are elements of our performances where things are working. It is like a machine where all the cogs might be functioning properly but they are not always connecting and the machine doesn't go forward. This is the first time where, for much of the season, I have enjoyed the non-league game more than what has been served up at St Mary's. Interestingly, I think there is clearly a strong core of non-league supporters who also have Saints season tickets and the considered opinion of many I have encountered at places like The Den Plan, Totton and Basingstoke is that they don't like the style of football that is served up. Fat Le Tiss and others are, of course, entitled to their opinions, but I don't feel I am some sort of exception and perhaps my sentiments are more typical of the majority of Saints supporters.
1. I was aware of this albeit I think we have several games in hand on them. I somewhat doubt if we will finish one position different from them and would hope that the gulf would be more significant. 2. I agree that we were under-strength and have already pointed out that we were missing key players. 3 I thought that Long fought well when he came on but we always gives 100%.
How many fans watch nonleague every other week and Saints on the other weeks? Is it 5, 20, 100, 500 or 10,000? I appreciate your enjoyment of non-league football, but I think your perspective on the numbers is wrong. Just my opinion on that particular point. .
On 3. You missed my point - it was about the manager you don't think is attacking enough in his style, throwing attacking players on to be entertaining and win. When he made them, did you think "Great, he's going for it with attacking players" or did you wish we had put on another CDM? I ask because I think he can't win with you in this particular instance. On 2. Not really fair to use them as under strength in your analysis then. On 1. We play Arsenal and Chelsea in our games in hand... may leave us still level, or close to them.
Personally, Ive actually really enjoyed this season on the whole, we've had lots of matches, lots of controversy, Europe, a win again inter, a cup final, lots of youth coming through and lots of other ups and downs and plenty to talk about. as Puel would say, it's been interesting. Even if it has also been frustrating. I don't just like football for the goals. But thats just me?
It has been a very interesting season. I'm out "poor" season, we are still 10th in the league having been without our best player for three months (and two more to come), playing with our third and fifth choice CBs for three months and without a decent goal scorer for all but four games. I think seasons of 8th, 7th and 6th have spoiled a few fans. We haven't scored as many goals this season and we all love goals, but we haven't been as bad as some make out. I am very hopeful that next season will be very good.
We have had to play 900 games too, which hasn't helped us focus on the league, but has meant some players like Ward-Prowse and Redmond have been able to make huge improvements.
Lol yeh because my post clearly is slating Puel for gabbi getting injured isn't jeez. For me games without much riding on them aren't that interesting, I couldn't care less about pre season friendlies (injuries aside etc) hence this end of season isn't gonna be that interesting for me. If your gonna love it then great, you do you mate.
