I've been all for giving him time to get his ideas across with a newly assembled squad but the last four games read W0 D0 L4 GF2 GA12 and really should've been more goals conceded. The players look confused and lacking spontaneity and the passing is turgid mostly and we really should be better than this with this squad by now. I'd still give him until the next break but there simply has to be a big improvement by then.
Just read over on Saintsweb that during our two seasons in the Championship where we just stayed up and then went down we only lost 4 games in a row once across both seasons League 1 was alright though, be there again next season at this rate
This is depressing. I’m not desperate to see him gone because we’re not going to replace him with someone who has a track record of promotion from this league which feels like what we and the players need. SR will just try and be clever again, it’s what they do. It’s like the last few series of GoT where the directors started making the characters do dumb things and the storyline didn’t make sense just because they didn’t want to do anything the watching fans would expect. While we undoubtedly have one of the best squads in the league, it seems like we haven’t got the right mix of personalities/leaders/winners once again. Not bringing in another, more experienced DM and having to rely completely on a young player in his first senior season is another mistake that we stupidly keep making. I haven’t voted because although it looks like Martin has **** tactics, doesn’t learn from his mistakes, is unwilling to compromise on his bullshit tactics etc. etc. I just have no enthusiasm for ANOTHER new manager rollercoaster with SR. So so so bored of Saints being so ****. I hate football.
Just for the sake of it, I thought I'd produce a list of managers who have achieved Championship promotion since 2010 (no particular reason for picking that year): Vincent Kompany (2023) Paul Heckingbottom (2023) Rob Edwards (2023: replaced Nathan Jones in November) Marco Silva (2022) Scott Parker (2020 & 2022) Steve Cooper (2022: replaced Chris Hughton in September) Daniel Farke (2019 & 2021) Xisco Munoz (2021: replaced Vladimir Ilic in December) Thomas Frank (2021) Marcelo Bielsa (2020) Slaven Bilic (2020) Chris Wilder (2019) Dean Smith (2019: replaced Steve Bruce in October) Nuno Espirito Santo (2018) Neil Warnock (2011 & 2018) Slavisa Jokanovic (2015: replaced Billy McKinlay in October & 2018) Rafa Benitez (2017) Chris Hughton (2010 & 2017) David Wagner (2017) Sean Dyche (2014 & 2016) Aitor Karanka (2016) Steve Bruce (2013 & 2016) Eddie Howe (2015) Alex Neil (2015: replaced Neil Adams in January) Nigel Pearson (2014) Harry Redk*app (2014) Malky Mackay (2013) Ian Holloway (2010 & 2013) Brian McDermott (2012) Nigel Adkins (2012) Sam Allardyce (2012) Paul Lambert (2011) Brendan Rodgers (2011) Roberto Di Matteo (2010) Side note: you can make a change between September and January, and still get promoted.
Dear Nathan Jones, I would like to sincerely apologise. I called you one of the worst managers in Southampton’s history. I thought I would never see anyone as bad as you in charge. I thought that after Pellegrino, Wotte and you I had seen it all. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Yours, Os
The treatment of Charly is on a par with Branfoot leaving Le Tiss out of the starting XI, will we have a Newcastle moment against Leeds I wonder?
I’m another step closer to thinking he’s not the right man for the job. no purpose, no initiative, no direction. RM and the players appear to be on very different pages. The longer this run goes on the harder it will be to get it together.
How's about this as a form of protest?; We all contribute a couple of quid. Buy as many Argentina flags as we can, and whoever is going to the game can wave them about as much as possible, as a 'message of support' for Charly. Also has the benefit of letting Martin know how f*cking unpopular he is.
I do wonder whether the club is so down in the ****ing dumps that it will take an high profile appointment to lift the gloom. Jones followed by Martin has just compounded the ‘huh? ‘ Hassenhutl brought some excitement. Maybe that’s what’s missing,players and fans alike will follow someone who has proven they know what they are doing rather than just saying they know what they are doing. sick of saying ‘I really want xx to succeed but i just don’t see it’
Someone like Brenda or Rafa would do the trick. We need a 'name' so badly. The players aren't playing for Russell. We win hardly any 50/50 balls, our pressing is halfhearted. And they keep making the same mistakes, so he clearly isn't giving them the bollocking they deserve. Shea Charles made a big boob against Leicester that led to a goal. Okay, he's young. That's an important part of his education. But he made two horrific mistakes again yesterday, the first was when they hit the post first half, second was the penalty. He is so casual on the ball it's ridiculous. Either the manager or the captain should be screaming at him. EDIT: Oh sh*t. And I completely forgot that it was Charles who was at fault for the Ipswich goal too. This kid is causing us to lose a lot of goals. Who do we have to replace him? Oh yeah... bollocks.
. The mistakes-leading-to-goals table (from last 4 games): 3 - Charles 2 - Holgate 1 - Sulemana 1 - Smallbone
Hmm in hindsight maybe selling all our DMs and replacing them with a child wasn’t the smartest move in such a tough league. Who could possibly have predicted that? We are run by absolute clowns.
The thing is, is that it doesn't have to be a big name. Ipswich Kieran McKenna or Preston's Ryan Lowe are not big managerial names but are managing teams on a small championship budget extremely well. Their teams are well organised and playing with confidence. It is inexcusable that we can't keep a clean sheet and look so disorganised and broken in defence and going forward. RM must be in the last chance saloon now, with a half empty glass. Get someone, big name or not who can sort this out.
