One of the most baffling straight reds I've ever seen. Just kind of ran into him didn't see any stamp or anything.
Aye i was raging when he said that. They are playing out based on martins instructions. The manager has to take the blame for conceding 9 goals in 2 games
I know I’m old fashioned about my football Scout, but I don’t get what Martin is doing with Walker-Peters, he is an exceptional player but he is everywhere on the park except where he should be. They are effectively playing a back 3 without wingbacks, so out of possession they haven’t got the numbers in defence and will always concede goals
Agreed, CM is a huge huge problem for Southampton. Watching them shows how important a CDM is for teams, they just dont have anyone to do it at the minute
I hate possession football, I remember a few years ago, Swansea at the SOL with Brendan Rogers their manager. They had around 70% of the ball but it was all along their 18 yard line and never threatened our goal. We ended up beating them 2-0 and they were very fortunate to keep the score down to that. I remember saying to my mate, I couldn't watch that ****e every week, I would rap my season card in.
I dont mind possession football but it has to be with tempo. Too many teams want to slow it down n try n move teams out of their shape but the best way to do that is doing it at pace. The main stat i will look at in a game is how many shots 1 team has compared to the other. Couldnt care less about what % of the ball a team has if they dont do anything with it
Yeah, I understand the principle Scout, and as you say played at a high tempo it works. Played like Southampton did at the SOL or Swansea a few years ago and in my opinion it's boring. As I said earlier though, I'm very old fashioned about football.
I do like possession football mind but you’re bang on, Ipswich had that spell against us where they could’ve probably scored 4. The stats at the end of the game don’t always show that. Generally with having the lions share of possession to the extent that Southampton are and dominating the games the results will come but something needs to change. This is why I knew we weren’t really in too much trouble come the start of the season when results were going our way, anyone watching could see we deserved more and when you’re playing the way we do the results will 100% come. Leicester won the league basically playing on the counter, they didn’t want the ball but when they had it they were devastating.
Weird Russell Martin saying "if we play like that with less defensive errors we'll be ok" What a knob, not sure why I care mind
He needs to focus on the defensive errors with laser accuracy or he'll be sacked in no time. Build from the back.
You're right mate, possession football has to be played at a tempo. Spain at their best in the late 2000s were the best example of that. They could keep the ball for ages, but pull and push opponents around and wear them down as well as switch speeds suddenly to catch teams out. What you're getting from teams like this Southampton team is just possession for the sake of it. There's no urgency or or trying to stretch opponents or run them ragged, it's just pass and safe pass one after another.
Aye, caught some of his interview on sky. Get you have to style it out sometimes and protect the players but **** me that's taking the piss! No harm saying we've got some work to do and might have to tweak the system, we've good players and we'll be alright. Not admitting that there could be improvement, apart from eradicating mistakes, and change required is nonsense after 4.5-0.5 aggregate defeats over 2 games, they weren't unlucky
I disagree mind, Charles in particular is suited to playing there. Smallbone and Downes are capable to a lesser degree. It’s a conscious and stupid decision Martin has made to play without one and to instead, effectively, just go man for man. I do wonder how last night’s result and performance from Southampton May affect the lads’ confidence today. They will have been riding on the crest of a wave but I wonder if the edge is taken off a little and it’s dampened seeing how poor Southampton actually are. Probably not made any difference and besides, in my opinion we broke Southampton and provided the blue print for how to play them so we shouldn’t take any less pride.
Then Rogers came out afterwards and said how privileged the Sunderland fans must have felt to witness their performance and see, in person, his team that ‘everyone had been talking about’. There were echos of that Rogers interview from Martin post match tonight.
