Marseille were not a great test, but that saints back four looks very good. Think Valery, Klarer, Jones & Vokins are on course for solid professional careers...hopefully with Saints
Have to admit, I'm not really looking forward to this season. I feel very disengaged and every time I peer in and take a look at Saints, nothing is really changing that. Glaring issues in the side that still haven't been addressed, a lack of accountability from the board in their comments since the end of the last season and as much as I thank Hughes for keeping us up, I'm not entirely sold on him either. Incredible to think that for a third season in a row, we're going into it with Austin and Long. (and Gabbi!)
Impossible not to agree with the striker situation. While I think Austin is a true goalscorer and adds plenty to the side, if we start Shane Long again this year then we will get the same result we have had for the past two seasons. If this happens I expect a wall to go up between me and the football. I'm simply not interested in watching a re-hash of the last two years. However, if we are starting Gabbi, giving Gallagher a go and letting out academy lads onto the pitch I will support our attempts to build something new. There is plenty of new blood on the pitch and behind the scenes. Hughes has my support for as long as he continues to show that he cares about the club and results. Much will depend on him as a man-manager and whether he can bring a team unity which we have been so lacking in recent seasons.
Pretty much. Don't get me wrong: I'm glad that we have been somewhat active in the market, and like the majority of the signings. We didn't need a new welcome mat and some curtains, though, not when the foundation's caving in, and I'm dubious that we've solved that. The biggest impediment for the Academy kids is the sheer number of backup-calibre players in the squad; unless we excise them, or are willing to suffer the disharmony that would result from banishing veteran players from the squad entirely for months on end, they're really going to struggle to even see the matchday squad.
I still feel the same about Hughes as I did with 8 games to go last season. Not a lot has changed. I’m incredibly grateful he kept us up (with a big thanks to Swansea) and I hope I am really wrong, but he just doesn’t excite me.
Will you still offer that support if he shows he cares about the club and results, but those results are poor, the football is poor, the youngsters aren’t good enough to break through and the squad doesn’t feel good enough after 8-10 games in?
What would you define as poor results with the current squad? I think some people think we should be challenging the top 6/7.
What I’m saying is that I expect our fans to be as pissed off as they have been the last two seasons come October. The sad thing is that last season shouldn’t even be classed on with the season before. That season we were fighting for 6th/7th going into that horrendous Christmas period. Our fans had already judged Puel and he couldn’t win, yet we were a fairly good team and tough to beat. NZ said he’d support Hughes while he showed he cared. I don’t buy that (not from NZ specifically, but large swathes of our fans) because if we draw or lose to Burnley, come out of September with one scrappy win, a couple of draws and defeats, playing a “don’t get beat” style of play, the fans will be moaning. They should be. If not, then they’re just hypocrites. I really hope we don’t have fans expecting 6th-7th challenges this year, but we probably do.
My expectation now, based on the squad today and the manager, is for a low bottom half finish. As ever. I’ll be right behind the team and supporting them as much as possible, whenever possible, but things don’t look great to me. Fingers crossed I’m talking out my arse.
11 days (including today) left of the window and on paper we still have a fair bit to do. We probably won't get it all done, I don't blame anyone for that in this window. With the state of the previous 3/4 windows and a couple of different managers in that time it was always going to be impossible to sort it all out in one window. But what we have done this window I don't think is enough to go into next season with loads of confidence that we can be finishing top half. My prediction as of right now is finishing 14th and going out of both cups early, which will equal a pretty boring season in my book. That is what some fans seem happy with though after last year.
I must be the glass half full guy on here. I think MH came in, did a job and it wasn't pretty, but he did what was asked and ugly was necessary for the situation we were in. Just think back to the last game under Pellegrino. I was 100% convinced we were down. Not even Pep could have saved us. We didn't play the MH way, but he showed he can adapt to what is needed. And we stayed up. He brought unity in the players and for the first time in a long time the fans supported the team and could see what they were trying to do. Redmond became a player, Tadic (I know he has gone) was galvanised and bothered, and even Gabbi scored! Even Bertrand looked like he cared. We looked a bit ropey at the back, but it seems this year we have 12 centre backs on our books so we will be ok. This summer we have done some business early and I am sure there is more to come. Last year for our strikers can be written off as until MH came, we were clueless with no spirit or service. Gabbi does not become a poor striker overnight. Long isn't that bad. Gallagher will come good too - he is a finisher. Oh and we have Austin. He will always score. I seriously think top 10 is a possibility. Hit the ground running and maybe a bit more COYR!!!!!
I know what you mean but would rather have Hughes than another Pellegrino. I think we need another striker but I have every confidence in Gabbi if he is played regularly and Austin if he stays fit. Would Long be better on the wing? He never gives up on anything and I have never believed he was bought for his goal scoring. Who remembers what a pain in the arse he was playing against us. I for one am glad he's still here am I the only one?
I'm expecting a solid season....we underperformed last season. We should have been comfortably midtable for most of the season and I will be happy if Mark gets us back where we should be and lifts team morale. Fans will only be disappointed if they expect a return to the Poch years....we have a different team and a different manager. Doesn't mean I have given up hope of great seasons in the future, but it won't be this season. This season is consolidation...I'm hoping for consistency, more wins and a bit more entertainment. And that isn't me being negative...it's being realistic....some fans have already set themselves up for disappointment if they demand top 6.
A lot of people weren’t too fussed about the result at Derby, but it concerned me. I get that the result doesn’t matter and I get that it was an exercise in improving fitness, but my concern was about there being no real pattern of play and how we were swamped, in the defensive midfield area, by a team that pressed high and gave licence to the players to get forward. I was reminded of our performance against Watford, at SMS, last season, with a mix of our game at WHU thrown in. I would love us to go back to the high press days of MP, and I would love us to bring in a striker whose movement is more random than that of the ones we have. In fact I want more random movement from all our players when we are going forward, with players running into areas where they aren’t expected to be, dragging defenders away from where they should be, creating space for others. And, if we are playing 3 CBs, I would like to see BOTH, central midfielders pushing up and getting more involved with the forwards, rather than just one of them with the other staying deep.
Why don't you offer an opinion rather than questioning mine FLT? At what point will you turn on the boss?
Given the recent past I'm OK to sign on for a fairly uneventful season with a mid table finish and one or two highlights such as a 4-0 thrashing of Man U!!
I will stop supporting Hughes if he continually ****s up game plans and shows an inability to influence the match Plays SLong as a lone striker for half a season Mopes around on the touchline looking lost ****s a defenders wife and loses the dressing room Takes a full page ad in the paper saying its not his fault Thats it. Those are the only reasons I'll turn on him. Do you buy that? Am I bothered?
