Top post. I never boo (and at Lincoln there's been a lot to boo over the years) however I understand the booing. Middlesboro's decision was stupid and obviously a desperate decision to try and save the PL money gravy train. I am not desperate to get rid of Puel. I just want more attractive football. This forum seems to not ever be able to equate a difference between results and the football on display!!! Pulis' West Brom have had a great season but it's still lump it up and sit back. Similarly I don't doubt for a second that an Arsenal (or other "big" team" fan) would not understand complaints at an 8th place position and a final for "lowly little Saints." The football is dire to watch (bar the odd game) and the question is not about whether he should go because we have seen what he has done this season. It is more about whether anyone believes he can turn it around next season. You can warble on about the board all you like but assume they have a similar summer to last season. A manager has to play with the cards he has been dealt. That does not mean play defensive because he is unhappy. He has been sold the vision at the beginning and accepted that his employers want attractive football. He will get a nice pay off. I also agree on the Koeman/Puel comparison by another poster above. Puel put youngsters in games in the cup games that "didn't matter." So did Koeman. He put the "youth" in when we had injuries. Koeman would have as well. I don;t know how involved he is in the youth side though so have no idea if he still would had we not been very focused on the cups (until the later stages) or if he would have played them in the league had we not had the injuries. Which is why Marco Silva interests me (and interested me last summer) because being married into a family of rabid Sporting fans all I hear about is having to compete while utilising their academy (stadium costs causing trouble) and my brother in law couldn't believe Silva went to Hull. He is absolutely sure Silva would suit us as in his words "Southampton is like the next level of Sporting." As for loyalty and time, that argument went the day Adkins was sacked so I don't buy that anymore. I don't think many Saints fans do or even can argue with the league position or cup final and it is purely down to Puel's defensive style.
I haven't been told anything. I just think we give it a week and then have "talks" with Puel. Then he leaves. But he is gone, I have been told that much.
Yes, I'll give you that. I was going to put that in anyway, but ended up clicking the Post Reply button. Couldn't be bothered to edit the post.
In a time when we were a club where anything about relegation was all we could expect. I have challenged the "love in" about Strachan before as well as Hoddle. Under Strachan we were a team that worked hard for a result, not a lot of flair and it was more the hope we could win games. Chris Marsden for instance. Great player in that team and lots of us still remember great moments from him. Would he get in this side? He wouldn't even make the bench. And Hoddle's sides were extremely defensive. Not that far from how Puel has us these days however that was that Saints not this Saints. That was a Saints where anything but relegation was a good season. That is not the Southampton we have now so comparing that Saints with this Saints is just not realistic. Since Markus took us over we have not been that small time little club unable to compete in the PL era. We have had backing, we have had good boardroom management and we have had owners that have not held back at putting money into the club. You can argue that money not being enough but we aren't some small club unable to compete on the transfer front anymore and we most definitely are not that little club where a rare appearance in the top half is a great season. We are much more like the club was before the PL era where money didn't make as much of a difference as it does now. Where Leicester (replace with Forest or Derby etc) can win the PL once in a blue moon while the big boys (the Liverpool/Arsenal/Everton) would win each other year. A bad season for us realistically is goin to be a bottom half finish. Relegation at the moment is unthinkable. A good season for us is European qualification or as close to. A great season is European qualification. and a sensational season is going to be (<------going to be is an important statement there) Champions League qualification. So we can;t equate the old Saints with the new Saints. 2 very different beasts. We are now one of the "also rans" like we were pre-PL. We are not one of those scrapping about for survival with a good season here and there like we have been since the PL started. Would you want Gordon Strachan or Glenn Hoddle managing Saints at this time in our history? I hope the answer is no!
Then I with my Adkins love ins and quite open to Puel leaving am much more optimistic than you. I have no preconceptions of Saints being one of the big boys however for several seasons despite what holds us back we have not been that far off the CL and on occasion been the match (not just in head to head games) for the CL teams despite our financial hamperings!!! We will qualify for CL. Probably not perennially but we will. And yes it might take a season of great luck in terms of injuries and signing s hitting the ground running from the start but we will qualify for the CL in the next decade!!!
Fernandes was one of our best players through that period and vastly unappreciated!!! One of the first players (we see it all the time now) that played on the wrong side a lot and cut in.
I would like to ask Ralph and Les one question: what was the minimum expectation placed on Claude when you appointed him?
Well I recall the three main objectives of this season were: Top half finish Cup run Get out of the group in europe As they say, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
I think you miss a point here and Schad can feel free to correct me but this whole concept of English teams falling back from the European teams is very misguided. Our top teams are 6+. Spain's top teams are now 2 (with AM as an extra here and there.) This is how the Prem was before Chelsea with Man U and Arsenal being streets ahead and PL teams dominating the champions league each year. An era where when one of these teams would come to play Saints (at Saints) with their reserves albeit with a couple of 1st 11. The reason English teams are struggling in Europe is because of how strong the English league is. You can't go anywhere with your second team anymore because of Europe in mid week. Our top 6 is Spain's top 2. Any team in that top 6 can compete £ for £ with those 2 if they really wanted to (less illegal tax or agent/3rd party dealings.) So 7th/8th in this league is quite literally the same as 3rd/4th (occasional winner) in their league. The fact that their top 2 can keep Spain's CL quota at 4 whereas we are a 6 top club fighting for the same 4 is what is the difference here. If we accounted for their 4th place (results+quality) and equated that down the PL we would end up having 10 PL teams in the CL (happy days.) It is a misnomer to look at European results and state that the PL is not as good as it was. The PL is stronger than it was and players cannot be given as much rest time as they were because their next PL opposition is vastly stronger than it was and most definitely stronger than most European team that they will face. We will never see (other than late season Mourinho style resting at the moment of a side not in contention) a top 2 side going away with 1 or 2 first 11 in the starting lineup.
Haven't many of ours slated West Ham fans in the past for coming out with all that 'way' bollocks. Just throwing that one out there
How can you claim the likes of spurs can compete financially with Madrid or Barca? That's absurd. Spurs, Liverpool and arsenal don't have a single player on £200k a week. Ronaldo earns £350k a week AFTER TAX. United are the only team as rich as Madrid and barca, City and Chelsea aren't too far behind.
I know he didn't but would people be defending Branfoot on a results basis had he got better results?
