If I was a new manager I would do some defensive positioning drills, working on getting the ball forward quicker and playing a higher line. Pellegrino hasn't changed a thing in 23 games. We are still losing in the same way, and we are still making the same basic errors etc.
I`m not sure which is worse - total intransigence and the board doing nothing, or waiting until it`s too late, then making the change. Bit of a trend - Saints have a good first half - opposition manager goes direct second half and mixes it up - we don`t react to it.
Van Dijk and Bertrand both wanted to leave and basically disrespected Puel throughout the season. Bertrand was one of the players that basically forced the board to sack Puel
Yes we have Spurs next, but equally Newcastle have City, Brighton have Chelsea, and Stoke have Utd tomorrow before they and Huddersfield then play each other. So there's every chance that we'll go into that Brighton home game straight after Spurs with a chance to jump up the places that we missed out on today. I have no problem with Palace and West Ham continuing to win, if it means they take out the other sides around us in the process.
Doesn't mean he should have players disrespect him. The players ultimately got a manager we finished 8th with sacked. That says it all
That summer was a real opportunity and I alluded to it earlier it was the most attractive the clubs been in a generation. We really failed to take advantage of that and we're not likely to be in that position again for a long time. Shame.
I agree, but the problem we have now is the board’s collective ego. They were pressurised by players and fans to sack Puel, when another season with him might have begun to pay dividends. They farted and fiddled around before dismissing him, during which time they missed the opportunity to appoint either Marco Silva or Thomas Tuchel, and ended up with Pellegrino as an apparent panic buy. To sack him now would be a massive admission of failure on their part, and they are obviously desperately hoping he can turn this season around. The question remains, how much longer can the board’s bluff continue?
Yeah, I’ve thought about playing a higher line as well. It’s riskier, and since our positioning is the major issue to me, I’m not sure the offside trap will be effective. Then again, we don’t have much to lose at this point. I think our CB’s are decently mobile, and okay with passing. So in theory it could work, maybe? We lose track of people in the box. If they can’t be in the box without being offside, problem solved? If we play a high line and win balls back quicker and farther up the pitch, we’ll automatically be able to play the ball forward quicker. I guess I would be loathe to push it beyond that, as our defensive minds are like the only people I trust right now. Would rather suck them in a bit, and see if Hojbjerg, Romeu, or especially Lemina can operate as pseudo-deep lying playmakers.
Agreed. Sort of. I think they’re as guilty of “be careful what you wish for” as us tbh. They’re also young kids with lots of money,
You are talking about 2016? Everyone here was ecstatic we re-signed Davis, Tadic, Forster, Long. People were harping about “continuation” and “keeping our best players.” I’m not saying those people were wrong, because I think most people also wanted us to bring in additional players and were at least mildly disappointed in our lack of acquisitions. But yeah, in hindsight that was the big summer for us. We either needed to step up our spending and join the big boys club, or we needed to sell (and/or at least not extend contracts) and start to turn the club over. We became scared to make moves, or the board got cheap, or we got too cocky that all of our signings would pan out as gold. Maybe a bit of all three. I do not think Redmond or Boufal were bad purchases. Or Gabbiadini. But that’s why you have to spend. Not every signing works out. And sometimes when you refuse to sell players wanting out, you get bad attitudes. But we started to stagnate right then. We decided we were in good shape with the core we had. We weren’t, for numerous reasons.
Spent a while calming down a bit but as much as I want Pellegrino gone for such an inept performance in the second half, it still doesn’t hide the fact that we didn’t get a win today because of blatant cheating as well as shambolic officiating. Hope bans are delivered and jobs are lost, they ****ing deserve it. Ok I haven’t calmed down.
For me, the difference is this: with Puel, I disagreed with his tactics. With Pellegrino, I'm still struggling to understand what his tactics are. We're an attacking team that retreats into a shell if we go ahead, a possession team that stands off opponents, a defensive-minded team that gets 11 men behind the ball yet concedes very easily. What exactly are we meant to be?
Add to which both of them want out of the club. Why back wantaway players over a competent manager? I didnt love Puel but I was in favor of giving him more time and new signings to work with. If this is true, this for me is possibly the biggest failing of the board so far (who I do still have some faith in but it is eroded). As a senior management decision, getting rid of a manager who does well with what he had to work with just to appease players who want out is ridiculous. You end up here, with a less competent manager, best players gone and a relegation battle on your hands.
