Have to say I can understand this view. This was a winnable game today, they made a big deal about it being "game of the season" and then didn't show up. Season's basically over. Sorry, but if you show that kind of contempt for the fans, particularly those poor ****ers who wasted their weekend, and no little amount of money, making the trip up there, then you can have no complaints when you get apathy in return.
The other day I was saying something about how if you're going to use sarcasm you have to do it right. This is what that looks like.
Come on guys. I'm disappointed as I always am when we lose but there is still a lot to look forward to. Feel sorry for those who made the long trip but every so often teams have a bad day. We've not had many this season. Not sure we'd have won whoever had been picked. We just werent at the races.
There are absolutely going to be games worth watching, and I'll watch every one that I can. However, the club is sending out a message of 'check back next season', between this showing and allowing the squad to thin out with the transfer window outgoing movement and lack of inbound players. Those might well be the right decisions long-term, going for eighth in the league and eschewing the cups while building a warchest for the summer, but it does mean that the remaining twelve matches are something of a damp squib in the grand scheme.
I've seen enough awful Saints performances to know what "one of those days" are like. This was not "one of those days". It was something deeper, orchestrated by the Management, who simply did not go "all out" to get a victory today. They may well have believed the team was "good enough to win", but that's still not the same as ensuring you give yourself the maximum opportunity to win a game. Poch would not have picked that team against Hull or next week against West Ham. He put out a weaker team, with the wrong mind-set from everyone and we got what we deserved... nothing.
As I just said on the other thread we dont know what MP has been told. KL might have said its all about the PL.
I find that very hard to believe & you are clearly reaching. I imagine KL has strong and pleasing memories of her smiling & proud father sat in the Royal Box at Wembley.
You can't pick and choose when to deliver a performance. You have to pick your best side and pray they deliver. Today, we let ourselves down. We betrayed our attacking, positive instincts and selected a side to do just enough, and it failed. I hope some of our better players don't see this as a sign of timid management and believe they can win more with a move to better teams! God it always hurt to lose, but to lose in such a timid way, is not we and the team deserve. Poch is a great coach, but he hasn't suffered the way we the fans have over past seasons. We know this FA cup opportunity may not come around again for many years. We failed to try our best, and the feeling is one of what could have been.
I think this may be the first post ever where I disagree with almost every single sentence. We're not going to go down, we're going to finish where we are now, we're out of the FA Cup so I really don't care what Saints do between now and the end of the season. We don't have to finish where we are now. We have a third of the season left I'll still follow them but I'm not shelling out £35 to watch a game where Saints have very little to play for. - Little to play for? We could easily end up above Man U. When did we last do that? A complete waste of money. - Really; you get no enjoyment out of going to a game just as a game? When Saints lose I won't feel disappointed at all and when we win I'll shrug my shoulders and say, season's over, doesn't matter. - How far up the table would we have to be for you to care? We could, with a following wind, end up sixth. Would that be too tedious for you? It was far more interesting last season when Saints were battling relegation. - Hopefully we can arrange that for you next year. That'll make you happy. I travelled to places like Norwich and Newcastle because the team needed all the support they could get. - Then you give up supporting when we do well enough to stay up but, well, tell me exactly what position we should be in upwards from where we are before you'd consider the team worthy of support? If they don't care about the FA Cup, I won't care about the rest of the season. - Non sequitur. If we'd been in second place and "not cared" about the FA cup would you have said OK or would you maintain consistency and "not care"? I'm upset that I care more about an England friendly than I do about Saints right now. - Tell you what, if we can get MP to lose the next ten matches will you be interested again? I'll see you next season Saints - Until we get to a safe position again, I guess. Let me save you the time; the chances are we'll end up in a middling (but hopefully slightly higher) position next season so if I were you I'd give up at the start of the season. With a bit of luck I'll be totally wrong and you'll get your wish of an exciting relegation battle. Vin
Finishing above Man United would fill me with pride. Also as we have them last game of the season, it could be pretty exciting.
I don't agree that the season is "over". We are on course to finish in our highest league placing for God know's how long, and could even finish above Man Utd. Having said that, today has hurt me (and seemingly many others) more than any other defeat I can remember for a long time. Questions have to be asked, ie; Does Pochettino feel we are not good enough to win the cup? Or does he simply not care enough about winning it? (Either way he is seriously deluded). What exactly does he care about winning? (he's not a fan of the Europa). Is he basically using Saints as a stepping stone? Does he not care about the wants of the fans and the players? Someone raised the issue on another thread that if Saints don't challenge for Europe soon, we will lose our better players. Well, you can say exactly the same about showing no ambition for the FA Cup. I love Poch. that hasn't changed a single bit. So of course he is forgiven, but he does need to come out and apologise. I can't enjoy watching the City vs Chelsea game now, or the Liverpool vs Arsenal game tomorrow. And the feeling of sickness that I will feel in my stomach tomorrow when Sunderland are drawn at home to Brighton will be unbearable. Finally, I apologise to anyone I had a go at, earlier on the other thread (Dan, Beefy). Today was a massive slap in the face, one of those "what's the point?' moments us fans sometimes have, so things were perhaps said in haste.
Here's an idea. Scrap the Europa Cup and bring back the Cup Winners Cup for teams who, y'know, have won cups. A far smaller competition in terms of teams than Europa, but one that could (if constructed properly) mean something, and that could by extension bring back meaning to the FA and even League Cup.
Overreaction. Mauricio wanted to win today, but thought he could do it with some changes. Wrong,,,because it destabilised the team and we never recovered. He made a mistake...hasn't he earnt the right to the odd mistake. The players wanted to play well....they weren't deliberately having a bad day in unison. Don't think I am not annoyed...because I am. However, one crappy game isn't going to change the fact that this is a good season. There is a lot of the season left...I want Saints to win as many games as they can and finish strongly...starting with West Ham.
You are spot on Fran. In fact, so much so, that I am even a little embarrassed by my own reaction today. Thanks for being a voice of reason among the rest of us hot heads. Altogether everyone, let's just move on. Love Saints. Love Poch. Sod the bloody cup, haha!! (until next year anyway)
I agree about the Europa League, but it has itself been devalued by the sheer size of the Champions League. If we went back to the CL just being for the Champions, and replace the Europa with something like the old UEFA Cup, with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in each league plus cup winners, then both competitions would mean more. That, in turn, would upgrade the domestic cup competitions. At the moment, the prize for winning the Cups is the same as coming 5th and 6th in the Prem, whereas in my suggested system it would be the same as top 4 apart from 1st.
