Match Day Thread Saints V Stoke City Sunday 21st May 3pm

I don't suppose the players donated their massive salaries to charity to make up for "not playing" for the manager.

 

We got enough points to stay up 11 games ago.

 

People in general really. If there's a group of 30,000 people then there's bound to be some ****s among them.

Same as in a nightclub of 500 there's always a few ****s that wanna fight everyone.

I guess what I'm saying, is generally speaking... people are ****s

 

Au revoir Claude, we'll always have Wembley.

 

Agreed.

 

I don't suppose they did......
Just as the fans haven't been reimbursed for some of styles of play the manager insisted on..........

 

It's tough for the supporters when they pay their money and are treated to lousy games.

But from my perspective as someone who does not go to any games, I just look at points as points. We did bad at home, but decent away. Eighth place is eighth place. You can point at the gulf between us and the teams above us, or how close things were mid and bottom table. But that happens a lot. Last year was an exception where the big clubs didn't dominate. Most teams live on the edge, we are no different.

What were the goals this season? To me, I think we needed to get some younger players to step up. This was made more difficult by the board opting to re-sign some older players and not spend a ton on transfers. I thought that Yoshida was as good as Fonte. Stephens was decent. JWP looks like he can replace Davis. Not totally convinced by Cedric just yet, but he played much better this season.

We have a good solid young core now. And if we dropped a few points in order to make that transition, I have no problems with that at all. The board needs to step up now and keep those players here and spend on some new ones.

My concern with Puel is not that he did a bad job, because I don't think he did. It's more whether, if the board backs the team with money, is Puel good enough to take the step up with the team? Not sure about that. Ultimately, if its true that many players don't like him, then he needs to go. But I don't think I would sack him just based on match performance.

 

If Claude had not used a variety of tactics and players he would be slaughtered for being stubborn. He did and he is slaughtered for being too changeable. None of the fans really know the ins and outs of how the club is run. Is it Claude's fault that key players got injured, that players missed a sackful of goal chances, that the fixture arrangements were ridiculous? Apart from the Arsenal cup game, he played the best team he could, considering his resources. At the end of the day the fans control nothing. So get over it, we have had an exciting season.

 

8th place in the Premier League and a cup final Beddy. If Ian Branfoot or Jan Poortvliet had achieved that would you mind the styles of play they came up with?

 

I mentioned it earlier, but does anyone know if 4 consecutive top 8 finishes is a first?

 

The fans control to a certain extent the one thing I despise about modern sport . Money , the board would soon pay attention if they sold no tickets / Merchandise next year .

 

Puel

Positives:

Bought a few players up to the next level.

Actually went to our youth games and knew our young players names.

Got us into a cup final

Didn't play a **** Martina

 

I think style of play is at least as important as results because we go to games for entertainment. I didn't get there as often as I usually would, but I never once thought "gosh, I am missing a cracker here!" That may be because I made the Liverpool semi (home) and knew I didn't deserve to go to the final.

 

No i'm sure there have been teams finishing 4th for quite a few years now

 

In truth no I didn't like their style either........... sadly what was achieved was at a cost. Or should I say has little meaning. Simply because when Saints didn't play at their best, consistently, in front of the home crowds disillusionment starts to creep in. Which invariably affects both players and fans alike. Fans lose faith.......players lose confidence. Jmo..........

 

He knew the players he would have when he was interviewed and his playing strategy was supposed to get the best out of those said players. I dont believe he therefore had the 'wrong' players, he largely had the wrong tactic's, got it right sometimes but ultimately not enough, and no goals in five straight home games is full on ****.

Personally, I thought he could be a good prospect, it hasn't turned out like we hoped and he has got to go, with mild thanks for giving it a go and with dignity...

 

Anyone who was there... how did lap of honour go?

 

A record for Saints in the top flight, definitely. Worth getting the sack for?

 

Looked like the place was emptying as normal, I didn't go but 1/3 to 1/2 full for the lap is what my dad said and he was listening to radio Solent

 

About a third of the crowd still there, belting out songs for all the players, then 50% of those booing Puel.

The highlight of the afternoon was some people (can't bear to call them Supporters" or "fans") trying to start "Swing low sweet Claude Puel, hanging from the Itchen Bridge". That was while it was still 0-0. Fortunately it didn't get going or Onionman Jr and I would have missed the remainder of the game.

If I hadn't already renewed, I would seriously be thinking about whether to bother. As Dave said before the game, "I can live with the football but not the crowd". Horrible.

At the end of this season our supporters have managed to show quite clearly that they have no class whatsoever.

Vin