Thank God we are always two years ahead of the game with a variety of managers and players profiled to fit any need but never, ever, at any time, to conflict with the smooth Southampton machine, which can lose managers and players - as they are all just minor cogs in a perfect system - without it impacting performance in any way.
Pretty much, here's the numbers - for the record.... (I do remember Pochettino having some admirers in the media when we appointed him too) Season 1: Takes over with team 17th and finishes 10th Season 2: 11th Season 3: 8th Season 4: 14th Season 5: 20th (sacked in November)
I think saints fans didn't know about him because his achievements were with Espanyol. I'd like to compare it to how Spaniards would react if a team like valencia/villareal hired someone like Eddie Howe. We know how good he has done here butility i doubt the average Spaniard has heard of him
As you have eluded to here DLT it's all about the right fit for Southampton football club and it doesn't matter what they did before with other teams in different leagues. It's the potential on how they can develop and improve players, improve the team with a consistency on results and style of play. A man that the board can work with and ultimately raise the profile of this great club. Sometimes there is a fit, like fergie with utd, arsene with arsenal, warnock with Sheffilld utd. We found those fits in poch and Koeman but their loyalty/ambition in the end did not meet saints expectations. Puel May well have been that fit although the board acted quickly for whatever reason. So let's give whoever the new man is a chance to prove himself and let's not write him off before a ball is kicked. (Unless it's moyes or giggs). COYR
I hope that the black box research goes deeper than just someone in his 40s from La Liga who was an Argentinian CB, is called Mauricio and has a surname beginning with P and ends in O....
Gordon Strachan from Coventry was a good example of someone who would not have been a first choice for most fans but improved us massively.
Well Les is just trying to think of the fans. He knows we're **** at creating new songs.... "You got the bloke from Wigan and we got Pellegrino, Pellegrino"
Has this been posted before? Apologies if it has but if it is more true than bullshine then he doesn't appear to be similar to Puel. http://bit.ly/2tHWBco
Am sure he'd jump at the chance to come out of comfortable semi-retirement for a quarter of his usual salary!
IMO, the problem with the team was mostly the lack of attacking ability on the pitch. That, and losing both Fonte and VVD meant that we lost some ability to play out of defense as well. If there is a criticism of Puel, perhaps it's that he couldn't get Boufal to play up to his ability. But as far as the matches went, I didn't have a problem with either the results or the tactics Puel used. I don't think Pellegrino or most managers would be much different. That's the way it is nowadays. You get the team solid at the back, you try to have a solid spine, concentrate and team positional awareness. Have the ability to get and maintain possession. You structure the team less to score, than to create opportunities to score. Then you go out and find that player who can unlock defenses and let him do his thing. We had to spend time and effort on just building the foundation. We didn't have the creative talent or general ability on the pitch to add that last piece. Unless we fix the team in some way outside of matches (either by buying talent or improving the ability of the talent we have), I wouldn't expect Pellegrino to play much differently than Puel.
I still wonder if we're being hamstrung by the takeover issue. Well, I don't wonder, I absolutely think we are.
