The player who was most responsible for that goal hasn’t, so far unless I missed it, been blamed. Theo Walcott. The Leeds player takes the ball into the corner, tracked by AMN and Mara. Theo, for whatever reason, trots out to the touch line leaving Diallo with Harrison and Firpo (who Theo should have been tracking). Diallo had to go to Harrison, leaving Firpo unmarked. Having said all that, it was a soft shot that really should have been stopped.
It was bad defencing all round. Their was a Leeds player who was being marshalled by two Saints players and still managed to get a pass away. Their was a Leeds player unmarked running into the box. After that it just went badly
This is it and has been for months if not longer. I'm hanging on in probably some misguided belief that we can still do this but only if we actually score more goals. I pick some encouragement from the fact that we've only let in one goal in the last two games, yes, it was the one that beat us, but prior to that it was two a game on average. The forward goal scoring option has to start with the midfield and that is not happening. Whether Ruben can sort that out or not will be the difference between staying up or going down.
Was at the game yesterday. Totally gutless performance. Set up was clearly to not lose and hope we get a free kick for JWP to win the game. Never looked like we could create goal scoring chances. Poor substitutes etc etc. Leeds were there for the taking as were piss poor themselves. This team will go down as our worse premier team in history. We’ll be lucky to get 25 points this season
Just watched the Sellés interview on the BBC Sport website. Forget the result/performance, that is how a manger should be. "We", "us","our" - took the blame too. Accepted we have a large squad and said needs to give others an opportunity on Weds as they have all worked hard. That is another way of saying the door isn't shut, you can play your way into this team (as frankly he had been let down yesterday, without naming anyone). I feel better watching that as I now feel we have a tactical manager in charge and not a guy who looked like a rabbit in the headlights and was always on the defensive (personally, not in the game). Even Rubén's demeanour on the pitch wasn't one of someone who was winging it and didn't have a clue. Also, after taking some time away, I don't get the total hate for SR. They have made mistakes, sure. They don't make them on purpose, and whilst it may piss us off, it costs them money. We know the mistakes - no striker in the summer and a total moronic managerial appointment. Those two things may take us down. We were always going to be in a relegation fight sooner or later and I for one am happier that we have SR as owners than Gao, as we would probably ceased to exist if the worst happens if we were under Gao. With hindsight, buying for the future in the summer was also maybe a mistake, but perhaps like me, I thought we were ready for that as had established ourselves in the PL and were just a couple of good signings off top half. Accuse me of being a happy clapper, but I see it as a measured, non emotional response to what is happening. As I always say, "we are where we are, we can't change the past, just learn from the mistakes"
Yeah posted similar about SR a couple of weeks ago. I'm not pissed off with them at all. Our fans having been calling for more ambition since Koeman left. Well, you can't say SR haven't been ambitious. Ironically they've just been too ambitious. We didn't need 15+ new players. We weren't a newly promoted team for f*ck's sake. I still lay the blame on Ralph appealing for the squad overhaul, when we clearly didn't need it. We let Redmond go for free, Tella go out on loan, and then we spend 40m on players who - well, just aren't as good (Sulemana, Orsic, Edozie). It's been a disaster watching this team lose what little identity it had, but it's hard to be angry with the guys who have thrown so much money into it. They tried too much too soon, but they will have learned from it. . I honestly think a year in the Championship is going to be great. We have a whole team of players who just aren't ready for the Premier League yet. The likes of Mara, Sulemana, Edozie, Larios, ABK, plus youth players such as Simeu, Doyle, Finnegan, Ballard will have a much better time in the Championship for a year. Plus Tella back. Livramento will probably stay because I can't see anyone spending 30m on a teenager who's been injured for so long. Our seniors (Lyanco, Stephens, Bednarek, Stuie, Aribo, Perraud, Bree etc) will all look like decent players in the Championship too. There's always the risk that it goes tits up, but whatever, it's can be fun supporting a team outside the Premier League.
Mate, as you're a more reasoned "happy clapper" I usually read what you say to see if there's some bits I can get on board with, to temper my frustration with the club over the SR era. But for me SR are totally totally responsible for our relegation. When their (many) mistakes are listed it shows their sheer incompetence. I don't see them having learnt from their mistakes at all 1.Not sacking Ralph in the Summer but sacking all the coaches 2.Not buying a striker in the summer 3.Their whole transfer policy. Yes we as a club are never going to be in the 40-50 million bracket, but signing entirely youth academy products with no PL experience was always going to be a disaster. 4. Selling our players with PL experience and replacing them with said academy products. 5. The appointment of Nathan Jones 6. Dithering on with Jones post the Forest game when it was totally obvious he was out of his depth and had alienated the fan base. 7. The January transfer window, signing players so late in the window 8. Not having a decent replacement for Jones. And that's just the football side of things. 9. The pissing about with the Itchen stand 10. The debacle with the club shop 11. Buying other clubs in Turkey and splitting their attention 12. The ****ing light show. With the exception of Lavia and perhaps Edozie our signings have all been pretty ****. A lot of those who are pro/neutral to SR talk about them spending close to £100 million as if that makes them good owners. It really doesn't matter though if they've spent it on total ****, which weren't purchased to make the club better but to sell on for ££ to pour in to the SR coffers. And at risk of sounding like a total conspiracy loon, I think they are massively interfering in the day to day football. There has to be a reason 3 successive managers are playing the same players in the same way. Ralph, Jones and now Selles all seem to do exactly the same ****ing thing. There's no guarantees at all regarding next season, I think we're in for a miserable few years. **** SR
13 Dismantling of the scouting networks 14 Constant backroom changes, both first team and academy, with many long standing stalwarts leaving 15 The Joe Shields saga
The two biggest negatives about losing our place in the PL is that JWP will almost certainly go (I wouldn't blame him) and it will make it harder for us to win a cup, despite ironically being one of the few clubs to win it from the second tier. The Championship trophy would be nice thing to win though and a realistic aim with what I feel will be one of the strongest squads in that league despite losing a few top earners. It won't change how I feel about the club and it will be exciting to play a few different clubs and hopefully some more goals and wins which we all like to see and I think that a feel good factor will return. I personally won't miss the fans that are only interested in us in the PL. COYR!
I mean they have messed this season up so badly in terms of transfers and managers, it’s difficult to see them getting it right in the championship. Hopefully we will be a bigger name there and can blow some of the smaller clubs away with cash. But at this point I have very little faith that they will be able to make the decisions to get us back up quickly. It’s been one disaster after another so far
We’ll find out what SR are like in the off season and next year in The Championship. To many mistakes have been made in their first year, way too many for a club of Southamptons stature, to survive. Biggest decision they’ll have to initially make is who will be the manager? Then clear out the wet lettuce players who haven’t got the heart or desire to fight for every second they’re on the pitch. Then hopefully SR will learn from their mistakes from their first year in charge, come back stronger and hit the reset button. We’ve got some good young players in the squad and upcoming through the B team etc, we’ll lose JWP, KWP etc so buying some experience is essential. So let’s hope they walk the walk not just talk the talk.
Ah, but this is hopefully where Wilcox comes in. I don’t think it’s wholesale SR, but it is Ankersen’s fingerprints that have cocked up on the football side.
I really hope so. Hopefully he’s not another Nathan Jones appointment & isn’t out of his depth. Although it may actually be a fairly easy job after yesterday…it would genuinely be harder to make us any worse.
Next season is hard to judge right now solely because we have no idea how many of the current team will still be here if we go down. I think 15-20 players will leave in that scenario (some we may want to keep, some not so much) As I’ve said before it doesn’t seem to be that hard to come straight back up anymore just because of the money side. Are we really in a worse situation/worse side than the likes of Fulham/Bournemouth/Norwich/West Brom/Burnley who all bounced back quickly?
It's all about the players for me and we will have a few that are proven at Championship level and have done well there like Che, Adarma and Bree. We will be much better prepared financially for the drop than we were in 2005 when we had the new stadium as a massive millstone around the neck and even then we had a chance of getting promoted initially although it nearly bankrupted the club. I'm excited to see how our current crop of exciting young players will be used but I agree that it's imperative that we bring in a few older heads for balance and guidance.
Has anything they have done so far made you think they will make the right decisions? So far all the major decisions they have made have been spectacularly bad, why would their decisions in the championship be any better?
Because the margin for error is much bigger in the Championship. Our squad was tragic last year and is better now, but ultimately every other team has spent as well over the last 2/3 years and we have one of the worst squads. If we spend money in the Champ (which supposedly we have budgeted for according to the fans forum) then that should be enough for us to do well. Ultimately the more you spend the higher you finish in the league 9/10 so the logic would be that if we spend we will do well in a league where we will be minted compared to the vast majority of clubs
As I mentioned before - the fact Wilcox is coming in to make those decisions, rather than Rasmus "I'm so clever" Ankersen does give me some cause for optimism.
