When I talk I tend not to speak in riddles or try to manipulate people and I expect the same from others. So it's no surprise that when someone says something seriously, I tend to take their words as the truth until I have reason to doubt them. But then again, I'm no fool either. However, there comes a point where being cynical of every piece of dialogue one hears or reads becomes so degrading to one's own opinion forming that it's a good idea to clean the slate and become open minded. Anyone can point to any situation in the past and say... see, I was right about that, after all. I think Cortese is possibly the worse case scenario you could have picked. He didn't want to leave, but he wanted to run the club his way, with no interference or compromise. It had worked astonishingly well. That has nothing to do him with walking away. Poch saying he'd leave if Cortese left can always explained by the fact that, by his own admission, Cortese's last words to him as a Chairman was, please stay here, and that Katherina had said nothing changes, we still have the same ambition and we back you. Now you can double-think that all you want, but isn't it simpler just to accept it for what it is, until events prove it incorrect..? Personally, I haven't the time or the interest to double-think these people because 1] I'd be guessing, and 2] me thinking I knew better wouldn't change things one iota. I don't indulge in face saving exercises. If I'm wrong I front up and say so.
Whilst admirable, I just think that currently there is too much up in the air (re: Liebherr's intentions) for me to really feel 100% confident that the statements can be taken on face value. I think there are enough unanswered questions at the moment to warrant others' 'strong feelings' against such ideals of stability. I personally prefer to be optimistic, so to cut down the amount of time spent on angst, but am still taking none of these statements as a single source of truth. Hope we're right in our confidence!
Fair comment. The night before the cup final in 76 the girl I was dating at the time (a Stoke City fan) told me to enjoy it because 'clubs like ours' don't get many cup final days. She predicted this would be the only cup final I attended in my lifetime. Since then I have been to two cup finals at Wembley (76 and 78) and one at the Millenium (03). I've seen Anderlecht at the Dell, I've been to Steau Bucharest and this season I've seen some of the best football ever served up by a Southampton side. So I'm not going to over-react to a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland that cost us a 6th round tie. Actually - I was more upset by the league cup defeat. At least that was a tad closer to a final! Come on guys. Lets concentrate on three points against WHU.
A bit tricky this one, we may be up against 12 men for some of the match as Mr Clottenburk is in charge?
I don't think this is true at all. If you are building a CV what looks better? Winning a cup competition in a country where none of the top flighht teams take it seriously or finishing as high as possible in the 'most competitive league in the world'? If I were wanting job offers in the summer I would prefer 7th or even 6th on my CV. That would be impressive with the squad and setup Southampton have and look very favourably on Poch. Most teams our size or smaller do not get to the finals of cups (Carling and FA) AND finish high in the top flight. Most smaller clubs that do well in the cup finish lower in the league like Birmingham, Stoke, Pompey (twice), Cardiff or Wigan get to the final. If a manager was to say 'I won the FA cup' he would probably be humoured before being mocked for winning a cup 'that big teams aren't bothered about'.
Are we not proud of winning the Johnstones paint trophy only 4 years ago? Silverware is Silverware. Do you think Mr Pardew would leave it from his CV, do you think the players will wipe it from their minds because of the competition they faced? Did it hinder our success on the way back to the Prem?, could the FA Cup have been a confidence builder for the team to remind us we can compete/beat anyone on our day. We are is one of the best leagues in the world and if we won the Cup then thats something any manager/player proud of, gaining kudos from all over the world, attracting better players, more sponsership etc.
Look elsewhere, do not blame Pochettino for Southampton's cup exit: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014...-not-blame-pochettino-for-southamptons-fa-cu/
It wasn't so much the team for me (other than guly up front, gallagher?) ... understood Hooiveld playing. It was the attitude of the team, the way they played and Pochettino himself ... did he even look remotely interested? Did some of the players? To me, it looked like the players weren't happy Saturday, and it showed in the performance. But then if that was a league match, would we have made 6, yes 6 ... half the side, changes to the side? Don't think we would have done. The disruption to the side didn't help at all.
The players were probably sh*tting themselves because the last time we played Sunderland lovren and Ramirez came away with bad injuries with in seconds of each other.
I cannot see that it was the attitude of the team I have to admit. The team did look lethargic I wouldn't argue.....they just looked so tired. I think that it was mainly their midweek game that made them so lethargic...they just didn't seem to be able to get going. Not until the last 20 minutes anyway. We had the opportunities to have buried Sunderland but we didn't take them...on another day perhaps we would have. Their goal was an exceptional goal that all teams are vulnerable to every now and then. Trouble for us is we don't seem to have anyone capable of pulling one of those out of the hat every so often! As I have said before we have good players but few are exceptional.
Why do people say this? How do any of you know their attitude? Your next four words are, "the way they played" and that is the truth of it. The didn't play well and you can say you know that, not about their attitude, that is simply you and others joining dots and not accepting that it is possible for a human being to under perform.
"Kelvin Davis deputised for Artur Boruc in goal" "This has been the club's cup policy throughout both the FA Cup and the League Cup" And this really says it all doesn't it - it is club policy to play a weakened team in cup games. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. If we finish 8th or even higher (COYR) it will have been a fantastic season, and I hope for more next. It nonetheless clarifies how those in charge at Southampton FC see the cups. Now I know there are good reasons for playing your second choice players, especially in early rounds. I know loads of clubs do it. I know that even Sunderland did it on saturday. However, personally - with a quarter final at stake - I would've put Artur in goal, and Jay in Guly's place from the start. If we'd still lost (and let's face it we probably would have) no-one could have any reasonable complaints. But then if I was in charge we wouldn't be 8th
And although your post is perfectly reasonable, the last sentence was the one that made most sense. Don't think I'm knocking you, just using your sensible post to highlight the fact that we can all second guess the manager. That's what a forum on football gives us. But hardly anyone has precisely the same view, and how Saints should have approached the match against Sunderland. Plus, we can all turn away for calm down time when we get fed up with how the team has performed [granted we aren't paid either]. Saints are in safe hands, and if the team under performs every once in a while, but still continues the ambition and overall rise in stature and success, then I'm not going to complain about the details. Yep, it was a disappointment, but the sky didn't fall in.
Just seen this. Afraid to say I disagree with almost all of it! Kelvin severely weakened our possession play with his poor kicking, so Boruc would have been a marked improvement there even if he had few saves to make, and Fonte's injury looked gruesome but pretty superficial (and he was fit enough to be on the bench). It's not really credible that that was the strongest team available. Pochettino's attitude on the touchline was also questionable. I don't remember seeing him standing in the technical area encouraging the players anywhere near as much as usual. He was frequently picked out by the TV cameras sitting glumly on the bench, and the substitutes, though positive, arguably came too late. I agree to the extent that the players on the pitch didn't perform as well as they should have, but I can't help but feel that if Pochettino had really wanted the win things might have been different.
Not a bad write-up, DTLW. I agree with 99% of it. I'll take issue with you on the Guly isn't good enough for Premier League football line, though. I think with another team he would have had more game time, and then might have established himself. There are poorer players in the PL who feature reasonably regularly for their team. Guly is just a victim of having fit and preferred/better players in the Saints squad.
I wouldn't say Guly was PL material. He may have been if he got regular games, but he's only had a few good games whilst in the PL and did very little in the second half of the Championship.
