I wasn’t just talking about you - there are other people on the forum mate! I’m not so much disagreeing with you either on Puel or Hughes. I didn’t think Puel was great but thought he could be about to turn into something better in season 2, but wasn’t surprised he was moved on. MP2 was awful from day one, even preseason I thought he was out of his depth and it’s unforgivable he was allowed the time he had. I wouldn’t have stayed with Hughrs this season. I was somewhat ambivalent in the summer, but I thought we should look elsewhere and I’d be surprised if he is here by Xmas. We are playing better than last season, but we still have relegation form than runs back from Puels second half of his season. The rate we ship goals isn’t alarming it is going to get us relegated. Hopefully Hughes can change it but he’s had 15 games give or take and it’s worse than ever. My comment about Puel stands thiugh, lots on here now say he was ok (I do recall you saying you’d be happy to keep him) but lots I believe are using hindsight, particularly now he is at Leicester as it’s an easy statement.
I really think that the dynamic with football managers has changed over the last 4-5 seasons. Cautious and pragmatic styles of playing football are no longer respected and whereas fans might have been accepting of someone like Mourinho grinding out results at Chelsea back in the 2000's / early 2010's, I feel what has happened at Liverpool, Man City and Spurs has increasingly meant that this is no longer the case. It happened with Saints under Poch and Koeman where more expansive styles of play stoked the imagination of fans. I really feel this has percolated down through the clubs in the league and Puel, for my money, was a victim of this phenomenon. It does seem difficult to think that back in the 1990's many manager were looking at a "long ball" approach and thinking about the statistics of getting the ball in to the other team's half as quickly as possible and with the minimum amount of passes. This would be totally unacceptable in today's game. As a Saints fan since 74/75, I feel that we are a club who has, for the most part, tried to play attractive football. This is what fans want. We sometimes lose track of the fact that football is about entertainment and Puel appears to have created himself a reputation for dull football at Saints, Lyon and Leicester. I would say that under Hughes the games are more interesting to watch although this has as much to do with the fact that we now look vulnerable at the back as well as more creative going forward. What we have seen so far from Hughes is probably not what most Saints fans had expected at the end of last season. We survived and everyone would have hoped the recruits would have pushed the team on. I am still confident that when Armstrong returns, we will push on - but we need to start doing this in October and cannot afford another "soft " start to a season.
It’s not an exact timing. It’s a decent period of time and as this was me picking up on someone mentioning Hughes better than Puel, I can remember where we were going into Xmas, so a direct comparison can be made. If we are really struggling and bottom having lost most games earlier then I don’t think I’ll get to make that comparison.
There have been some improvements in individual players which suggests that they are responding to Hughes and having a goal scorer in Ings must raise spirits, but we have to overcome our vulnerability at the back. We aren't as exciting as we used to be so I no longer have hopes of beating top sides (hope which was very real at one time), but we must start winning more points against the other two thirds of the league....especially at home. Two points v Burnley and Brighton is the stuff that will kill us. Do I think we will be relegated this season...no. There are quite a few poorer sides. However, I would like to see us achieve some cohesion....I have no sense of what team we are yet. Let's get some style back.
If I heard correctly, we have only won two league games at SMS, since last November. This is where we drastically need to improve things. There are good signs, as in we did enough in the second half, v Burnley, and the first half v both Leicester and Brighton, to win all three of our home games, so I am hopeful that we may soon turn the corner. Unfortunately our next home game is Chelsea, where we WILL be punished for continued defensive errors, although I would love to be proved wrong. Not panicking yet.
We put ourselves in position to win several games last season but didn’t capitalise. We drew 15 games. I haven’t checked how many were from winning positions but a lot where we could have said “we did enough to...” then blew it. It’s seeming a little similar at the moment.
Bertrand on the Liverpool game in the Echo “It was in the balance. If we take away the goals we go into half-time full of confidence and you’d see an even more impressive second half" Hopefully if we're 3 down again this weekend we can get them scrubbed off...!!
I understand that, but, for me, this seasons performances are better and we are taking the lead because we have been the better team. Last season we seemed to nick the odd lead, but not as a result of dominating teams, whereas this season we have been. Our issue is game management, when ahead, and whether or not we have the manager or players to see games out. I despair when we are playing well, taking the game to the opponents, then we make defensive substitutions, allowing them to regain possession quicker and higher up the pitch, forcing us back into our own box and watch the inevitable error that leads to an equaliser or winner, simply because we don’t have enough forward players on the pitch to relieve the pressure. I remain hopeful that we will, one day soon, start winning at SMS.
To be fair St B, hard for me to judge fully as no ST this year. I can only comment on the bits I’ve seen and last year. It does feel similar though.
My concern with Hughes is that I believe the team we have this year is better than what MP2 had to work with. I was critical of how we spent our money and to a large degree I still am. But the bottom line is that every player of any significance to us last year is still available to Hughes, along with Ings, Vestergaard. Even accounting for injuries to Armstrong and Moi. We look better in some areas, but we look worse in others—namely defense. I don’t think it’s just bad luck that our overall performance is no better. I also do not think it is a big surprise we are where we are as it is a carryover from last season when we had the same issues under Hughes. The team Puel had to work with was not as good as what RK when he left. Pellegrini’s team was worse than Puel’s. Hughes’s squad is at a minimum equal, but probably better. So I find it a little strange that Hughes is being excused for things because of what he has to work with. Comparatively he has been given a better chance vis a vis his predecessor than the manager’s before him. Which isn’t to say I want Hughes sacked. Of course he deserves a chance to see what happens when the team is healthy and new players get integrated. But at the same time, improvement should not save Hughes’s job either. Because then, it could well simply be the team talent level that is responsible for the improved play and not Hughes. I think the fairest comparison is Hughes of this year so far compared with Pellegrini early last year. And IMO, Hughes has yet to show me he is any better. I’ll give Hughes more time, but I’m basically not buying any of the excuses being made for him as far as who could we get that is better?, we look better in some areas, the team is bad, etc.
We don't look as mentally fragile this season as we did lastimo. Still need to cut out the defensive errors, but we're not going a goal up then inviting teams on. We've just blundered at the wrong times. Totally outclassed at Anfield, but that won't just be us this season.
Not bothered about the Liverpool result (I'm getting more thick-skinned ), because I accept that our days of glorious victories against the big sides is over (at least for the moment) but we have to improve against 'the rest'. I also think that overall our team is stronger than under the last 2 managers, but that is overall....we do lack real stars, so time for the 'nearly stars' to step up....and we do have a few of those. We are having a slow start....there is potential for real improvement, so I am still hopeful.
