As we are currently shipping goals at an alarming rate it could be argued that NA has built his squad from the front rather like Keegan did at Newcastle and Fulham. Some would argue that this has largely been the Southampton way. This way, be it by design or by luck has been reflected in the lack of central defenders our youth system has developed, Monk and Williamson are the only current premier league players. We would have to go back 25-30 years to Malcolm Waldron to find a home grown central defender who made the grade and stayed. Yet we have developed top class midfielders and forwards by the lorry load. Clough, was a lot of things, but above all a pragmatist. He believed that teams were built on a bedrock of defence. Admittedly he managed largely when it was only 2 points for a win, so draws were more valuable. Nevertheless we have spent near 20 million on go forward players and may be 5 - 6 million on defenders/goalkeeper. Have we got it the right way round?
I think nigel adkins and southampton have got a good philosophy in theory which is playing attractive attacking football with excellent attacking minded players like ramirez, porado and lallana. However, it is now time for southampton to focus upon remaining as a premier league club and with the exception of swansea many promoted sides to the premiership find it difficult to survive with a pooor defence. Therefore, I believe southampton should have used the 11m spent on ramirez more wisely and invested in a decent goalkeeper, decent left back to challenge danny fox and a decent centre half to challenge hooiveld and fonte!
Comparing Keegan to Clough is like day and night in the managerial sense , but to answer your questiom , we have not only got it wrong we have got it badly wrong .
we should have invested the 11million spent on ramirez into buying a new goalkeeper, new left back and new centre back...seems logical
Yes..... I think. As has been mentioned goal drought rather than shipping goals tends to relegate teams. No matter how good a defence is against the elite we will always concede a few, without quality attacking midfielders/strikers we will never penetrate premeir league defences. It would be nice to have 4 solid top quality defenders but against the city's/utd's/arsenals of this world they will always find a way through. Utd/City beat us not because they didn't concede but because they upper their attacking game and got the goals when they were needed. And doesn't too many draws usually lead to a rele dog fight?
If Saints played the Clough way we'd all be on here moaning about lack of gaols and boring one nil wins!
I would be doing backflips over my house as we have just won the European Cup for the 2nd time.....................................
You can have a decent defence on paper, but if you don't have a central midfield partnership that are willing to work hard back and forth, you may as well give up, the wingers have to track back as well, you can't blame the defence/goalkeeper when you concede every time. The first coach I ever played under told me this "for them to score, the ball has to go past every single player on your team, not just the defence".
As far as producing centre backs, we also had Chris Baird, and Matt Mills has played near the top of the Championship so there's been a few decent players. I'm concerned about our defence and the way we've conceded some of our goals but it's difficult to come to any firm conclusions yet - Man City put 6 past Man Utd last season and they in turn stuck 8 past Arsenal so I think you have to accept that in the Premier League there can and will be days like last Saturday. Hopefully the investment up front will lead to extra goals that will win us enough points to stay up.
Most teams including the top 4 will have a couple of embarrassing score lines over a season. Happens to us all!
I'm sorry to bite but its got to be said this is an incredibly stupid thread. In answer to the original post the reason we have shipped so many goals lately is because we have played; Manchester United with Rooney and Van Persie, Manchester City with Aguero and Tevez and Arsenal with Podolski and Gervinho. Plus a range of other attacking talents. If we had spent the 11m from Ramirez on a covering left back and centre back do I think we would have won any of those games. Realistically, No. If we go down at the end of the season having shipped a ridiculous number of goals then perhaps I could understand this thread but in fact we have played 4 Premier League games and actually have played well in periods in them all. The main reason I hope to god we beat Villa this weekend and ideally with a clean sheet is to just shut these people up who make these profoundly negative threads for no reason then to have a moan and criticise. I for one have no doubt what so ever that we will stay up this year. And in fact it is precisely because of signings like 11m on Ramirez that I think we will do so. This thread has even managed to criticise one of the best things about our club, our youth system. Would the bringing through of another couple of centre backs changed the course of the first 4 games? No. Tell me, because Man United and Man City havent produced that many youth players (compared with us!) does that mean that their is a fundamental problem in that position in their club? No. To say that the money spent on Ramirez should have been used elsewhere, how about we give the lad a chance and see what he can do. Will you be saying the same thing if we stay up because of his goals and assists? No. Sorry for the rant. I just don't understand the mentality of some people. You've managed to turn 2 of the most positive things that have happened to our club in recent times; our youth production and the signing of big name attacking players as a negative. Seriously. I have no doubt all the usual negative posters will come on and criticise me for shouting someone down who has a different opinon and yes maybe I am but that is because that different opinion is wrong and unfounded. Why do some "fans" feel the need to instantly be negative about the club? Apoligies to Tiggermaster for this response. Nothing personal but a combination of the responses as well as your initial post just aggrevated me! I try not to bite but this negativity finally got to me. Support. Believe. Succeed. Together as one.
Yes, exactly! Do you really expect to beat the top teams with our current squad + 1-2 better defenders? No. But with a tallented attacking player such as Ramierez, coupled with lallana, we will cause some problems and in my opinion stand a better chance of winning games. Plus we will play attractive attacking football. I for one am on the bus.
