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Match Day Thread Southampton v Everton Saturday 9/11/2019 15:00

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by sotonsaint, Nov 4, 2019.

  1. Lovelocum

    Lovelocum Well-Known Member

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    True. ****ing **** is what it is.
     
    #481
  2. Beef

    Beef Well-Known Member

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    I didn't. He hardly changed our form and we scrapped staying up. Guy never should have been given a chance.
     
    #482
  3. RedandWhiteManofKent

    RedandWhiteManofKent Well-Known Member

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    "Most also
    "Most saints fans didn't like Claude Puels brand of football, yet he had a win ratio of 37.7%"

    That's right Ian but it's not all about win percentages as I recall you were one of the loudest in the puel out brigade.
     
    #483
  4. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    Ralph isn't getting the most of a not-very-good squad, but the problems simply run deeper than that. So long as we remain utterly directionless off the pitch, we're likely to remain utterly directionless on the pitch. If no one behind the scenes gives a damn about the club, how can they expect the players to?

    After the Arsenal match, we'll play Watford, Norwich, Newcastle, West Ham and Villa in succession. That's our season. As bad as we have been we can still survive, but we cannot absorb another bad six weeks even if we believe we'll blow the doors off in the January window (we won't).
     
    #484
  5. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

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    This ^^
     
    #485
    Barbswilliams1 likes this.
  6. steve79

    steve79 Well-Known Member

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    Not a fan of jokes about someones look.

    But i take back calling you a **** tho <cheers>
     
    #486
    sotonsaint likes this.
  7. Velcro Roy

    Velcro Roy Well-Known Member

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    You should move to Lincoln.
     
    #487
  8. I Sorry I Ruined The Party

    I Sorry I Ruined The Party Well-Known Member

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    He has the same team he had last year, plus some additions. He might have a couple more options but he has said himself he likes a smaller squad.

    I like Ralph, but he has to take his share of responsibility for this mess. Ironically he is his own harshest judge because he showed last season what the team is capable of.

    JWP, Hojbjerg, Gunn, Bednerak are all playing considerably worse than last season. And in the case of JWP and Hojbjerg, those two are the worst they have been under any coach.

    We can't change owners and I'm skeptical about why Gao is to blame anyway. We can't change all our players. RH is the only thing we can change.

    If we go down, we cannot count on RH or anyone to stay and perform. So I wouldn't play for the long run here.

    I actually didn't think the team looked quite as dire as others, so I am willing to give Hasenhuttl another couple of games. But that's as much leash as the club can afford. It's desperation time.
     
    #488
  9. Velcro Roy

    Velcro Roy Well-Known Member

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    No wonder Scottish football is so ****.:emoticon-0102-bigsm
     
    #489
  10. Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc)

    Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc) Well-Known Member

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    It is quiet clear that the past 4/5 years of mismanagement and poor recruitment has been way more damaging than any of our recent managers.

    Regardless of who is in charge, we are heading down until we cut loose the 400k/week worth of ****e we have signed and invest that in 4 or 5 quality players.

    All I know is that, considering who else is available, I would like Ralph to reinvest that money and re-build the squad.

    If that is in the championship then so be it. It would be much better than this.
     
    #490

  11. Paddy Podped

    Paddy Podped Well-Known Member

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    What is still clear to me having been at today's game is that we do not have the calibre of players to show any sort of attacking threat when we play 5 at the back, nor are we good enough defensively to hold out for the clean sheet if that's the tactic we're going for,


    So for me the only option is to go attacking, and aim to force the opposition into taking a more careful approach against us for fear of how attacking we are.

    Therefore I don't want to see a back 5 again this season.

    Teams are not scared of our defence
    Teams are not scared of a MF of Romeu/Hojbjerg/JWP

    Teams are scared of attackers like Boufal, Djenepo/Redmond/Ings


    So for me we have to go for 4-3-3

    McCarthy

    Valery/Cedric, 2 CBs, Bertrand

    3 out of Romeu/JWP/Hojbjerg/Armstrong

    3 out of Redmond, Boufal, Djenepo, Ings (or Adams if game suits him)



    This is players in their right positions. This is attacking players on the pitch. This is a system opposition teams will not enjoy facing.



    Right now our standard 5 at the back line up is boring, it's ineffective, and it has players playing in unfamiliar positions. And it's not in any way taxing for opposition teams to face.
     
    #491
  12. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    He does have the same team as last year. But, IMO, people got a bit worked up about a decent stretch last season and treated it as our new normal. Our normal is bad; that stretch of competence was the deviation from the norm.

    I agree about going more attacking. Where we saw an uptick was in the first stretch where we were willing to throw people forward with abandon, particularly on changes in possession. Even though it bit us repeatedly, we're simply not competent enough to be cautious...we need that swing-for-the-fences approach to pick up the occasional win, but it's understandable that players (and maybe Ralph himself) have gotten a bit gunshy given how many goals we surrender.
     
    #492
  13. Giboman

    Giboman Active Member

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    I'm as pixxed off as everyone else here!
    But if you take a step back and breathe a little, we are only 5 points short of 12th. It's been a very tough run of fixtures and maybe we're only 2 or 3 wins short of expectations at the begining of the season. The recent performances are more worrying than the results and obviously confidence is lacking in buckets. We have a far easier run of fixtures in the coming weeks. Let's hope for a couple of good results and maybe, just maybe we can get back on track.
     
    #493
  14. I Sorry I Ruined The Party

    I Sorry I Ruined The Party Well-Known Member

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    I agree, but that stretch of good play would have seen us comfortably settled in mid-table. So we could take a step back, and still be better than we are. Also, you figure in a normal situation, getting the off-season to get the players fully familiar with our tactics should have been an advantage.

    And we did bring in players. At the exact positions we needed them. It’s certainly possible Gao cheaped out. Hasenhuttl hasn’t complained but he would be stupid to do so publicly. We just can’t know. I will say that IMO given our budget and current club situation, the players we got were about the best we could expect in general terms. If there were a player good enough to warrant a 30m spend, that player would not come here. We may have gotten the wrong specific players, but that’s on the scouting department.

    I am not backing Gao, exactly. But he has pretty much cleaned house. Reed and Kruger are both gone, so we can’t blame this on them anymore.

    I don’t want to scapegoat Hasenhuttl but at the same time, I was responding to a post saying he could do nothing with the dross given him, I don’t think we can say that is the case.

    He was given close to a fresh start as far as staff and as much as we could do with players. We bought Danso to play CB, but he’s been playing out of position. We've seen odd choices at FB all year. We played Adams over Ings, who has been maybe our best player. RH was the one who picked Gunn over McCarthy. And JWP over others.

    At some point, if you are making unorthodox/controversial choices and the team sucks, you have to answer for it. It’s definitely not all on Ralph. But it has to be somewhat on him. The players don’t seem fully happy with his style or choices either.

    And anyway, it’s the only change we can really make. I’m not fully onboard the Ralph must go train just yet, but we have to at least be considering it and lining up replacements.
     
    #494
  15. saintrichie123

    saintrichie123 Well-Known Member

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    Looking for positives..........um........um...... Ryan is back for next match ........and we can’t lose next weekend:)
     
    #495
  16. Lovelocum

    Lovelocum Well-Known Member

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    Gao bagged 70m immediately upon purchasing the club and hasn’t provided us with a strong CB. We don’t have the quality CDM’s to protect our awful defence.

    Agee with a fluid 433 but if we go attacking we will get hammered on the break.

    Recruitment is to blame.
     
    #496
  17. Bill Hill

    Bill Hill Well-Known Member

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    Changing the manager doesnt solve the problem. The squad is awful with obvious deficiencies that have not been addressed for several windows.

    I am unclear about ralph. Do i just want him to stay because he comes across as a decebt bloke? I mean if Puel had played the RB at LB (again) and our AMC at RB he would have been slaughtered.
     
    #497
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  18. Archers Road

    Archers Road Urban Spaceman

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    Probably the best manager you’ve had since Moyes <ok>
     
    #498
  19. Archers Road

    Archers Road Urban Spaceman

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    Ralph makes some very strange decisions, no doubt. If he does that and we win, he’s an eccentric genius.
     
    #499
  20. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

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    That’s the thing - he doesn’t, as far as I’m aware, have form for doing mental things with players/formations, does he? Which would suggest something else is going on here.
     
    #500

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