Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton 26/12/17 - 12:30 Boxing Day Beat Down

Agreed. I'm just a bit fed up of directors sacking people less than them but we're led to believed that they're doing s good job. It's only recent than sacking a manager that's had less than a season in charge has been a thing tb

Agreed. I'm just fed up of directors getting away with stuff that's their responsibility - how they always look the good guys and caring for the club. It's ridiculous. The reason they're here is for money, money's ruined the game, but that's how football works now, if anyone thinks these people care for us - the fans then they're deluded (in my opinion) I'm afraid, if we get relegated just watch how many rats jump ship. I also apologise; I love football but the way I portrayed it when I was younger in the late 90s/ early 2000s. And besides, who would we replace him with?

 

I just saw us on MOTD which was my first view of the match. Seems to me that the players have given up. Maybe not all of them, but enough to make any effort by the ones that still care futile. The players have a lot to answer for but something has gone badly wrong in the club from the top down for things to get this bad.

 

I vote if FLT gets something at Old Trafford then he should so the threads for the rest of the year

 

More strolled than ran really...

 

OK!! You do that! I`ll do the FA Cup Final thread.

 

Thread up in next 20

 

Does this suggest that the players already know MP2's fate and all that is left is the announcement of his departure, and of course both parties reaching an amicable financial agreement. If this is the case, I hope MP2 goes out with some honour in tact with SFC picking up wins at Old Trafford, at home to Palace and in the FA Cup against Fulham.

PS: I will just throw this silly idea into the air. He is off to manage Sevilla where he could well be a lot more successful. As the old saying goes, courses for horses. To use another comparison If we think back to Pete Sampras he was the greatest player in the world on several occasions on three of the four slam surfaces, but was usually a floundering novice at Roland Garros; So to bring us back to MP2, he could well be a very good manager in La Liga but not in the PL where the situation is very different.

 

Hours? Good luck with this one!! Think of Shakespeare as you scribe your thoughts!!

 

PL Football is fast becoming oh so yesterday in this household. Our two favourite teams are destined for the Championship and my Bristol City supporting mate has thanked me for Saints so generously sacrificing their premier league place for his big city club on the up.

 

I have been staggered by the way we have capitulated in some of the last few games. It does remind me a bit of the situation when Saints went down from the Prem the last time as it always felt that there were a number of players who were not motivated then. I really hope that we don't buy mercenaries in the transfer window and the acquisitions form the basis for the club to pull it's socks up. It is hard to believe that the situation has been allowed to deteriorate since we finished the last season under Koeman and the signings we have made seem to largely be squad players who have not really staked an impression as individuals. The new Chinese owners have been incredibly quiet and the club's predicament does not seem to have resulted in Pellegrino getting a "vote of confidence" which typically signifies he is drinking at the last chance saloon. I feel Pellegrino probably has three games to same his job. If he does not win the Palace match and knock Fulham out of the cup, I think he will be gone. There will be not expectations about the Man Utd game unless we put a similar Spurs / Leicester City - type performance in.

The relegation rival situation seems pretty fluid but I think Swansea are down already. I would put WBA as the 2nd most likely tram to join them as I cannot see Pardew sorting out the mess he inherited from Pulis. All the teams up to Brighton in 12th are all capable of getting relegated although the form of some like Palace are suggestive they may pull clear. The relegation battle this season is far more intriguing than the top half of the table and maybe a reflection of the gap this year between the "top teams" and the rest. Only Burnley in 7th can be seen as a "surprise package."

 

Have you honestly not seen this coming Ian?

 

Another thing that is becoming increasingly frustrating is how, when we are chasing a game and commit more bodies to attack, we actually look as though we can play football.
Maybe the team needs to become less defence minded and play as if they are one down, with 10 minutes to play, from the first whistle.
The (earlier in the season) Romeu interview, in which he said (something like) “The manager still likes us to defend and mark players, even when we have the ball”, worries me. If players are being caught in two minds as to where they should be, ie supporting an attack to hanging back in readiness for the counter attack, then maybe they should ignore the manager and play with their instincts.

 

Whilst I agree with you, if a player is seen ignoring the managerial template, then he is hauled off and replaced with someone who can. Maybe the players should tell the manager how it is, this is how we are going to play, now we need your support. Didn't this happen at Chelsea when Rafa was the interim, but the team played according to the John Terry script?

 

I missed that and if that's true, it's got to be one of the most ridiculous statement ever said by a manager in history of football

I wouldn't even mind us being very defensive minded (I like a good back to the wall performance) if we got the results. But Pellegrino parks the bus and we still concede at least two goals

 

I commented yesterday, (may have been to my son) how I felt that Romeu and Lemina were playing (first half) in zones, with little or no cross over into each other’s area.
I felt, at times, that when Romeu was facing up to the player on the ball, then Lemina should have dropped off and moved a little behind him, to eliminate the simple pass between the pair of them, but all too often he remained square, inviting the pass. Equally it was happening in reverse.
If they are playing to instruction, then we will continue to have problems with players running into space between and behind our defensive midfielders, exposing our CBs.
Second half it looked as though both Romeu and Lemina were given licence to be freer in their movement and positioning, but there’s no accounting for the soft goals that stopped our good start to the second half, especially when one of them starts with a misplaced pass by Redmond.

 

The BBC has provided the answer: WBA - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42370385

Taking the sides in 10th to 17th from that table (those below 17th were not in the PL for the full calendar year), and converting their points-per-game ratio into a 38 game season (not all teams have played equal number of games in that table), you get the following:

10. Swansea 43
11. Palace 41
12. Stoke 41
13. West Ham 40
14. Saints 40
15. Bmouth 40
16. Watford 40
17. WBA 33

Obviously there were not identical fixture lists across all teams. But given how awful our 2017 PL year was, the above does illustrate the ongoing point about how much other rubbish there is in PL (in that if our year was bad, well so was it for those other sides too). And that's without even considering the three relegated/three promoted sides - with them you have:

Huddersfield 43
Hull 42
Brighton 40
Newcastle 34
Boro 20
Sunderland 20