Didn't David Moyes walk into Utd on a long term contract (he was never going to see through) and then tried to make the players do double/triple sessions? Although Moyes was doomed from the start and I wouldn't like to suggest Pochettino is doomed from the start as that wouldn't be very positive.
Fair enough. I can understand the misgivings though, I just like the idea of us taking the game to the op[position, like Southampton, and potentially getting more out of our players.
Crystal Palace: How Tony Pulis achieved Premier League survival http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27253266 If Tony Pulis is leading the example by working hard then who am I to suggest Pochettino is just full of hot air, although Pulis never walked into palace trying to make headlines by claiming he would have the players in at 6am, he just went about his business and lead by example and while many people are sunning it up, Tony is still in at the gym, at 6am, what a guy!
I would think that for better or worse Poch needs to get the squad working harder in games to be a success, and for that to happen he may need to improve fitness. I'm very interested to hear Spurcat's better informed opinion. Marathon training sessions in a sport I know a bit about were superseded by briefer but more intense training sessions long ago. The five mile runs oarsmen went on turned out to be useless. There's no doubt I would welcome a harder working team as a fan, though. I love watching Chile for their spirit and determination.
*scratches head* - if you guys did a wee bit of research on your new manager, you'll know he has a reputation for very hard training sessions and high intensity fitness programmes. Hence the question, and his responses. Every Saints player mentioned how much fitter they became after he came in an how, in training, he "works you like a dog" but that that pain pays off in games. If you think he's just doing sound bites, then really you don't know too much about him.
So it had nothing to do with the fact he wanted to move to a better team, with better players and a higher ambition? His former club look likely to lose a number of stars too, hardly a tough decision solely based on financial gain was it?
Think most of us have acknowledged his philosophy of a tough regime. It's safe to say though not many people know what he'll be capable of doing with our squad, of course there's optimism and insight but there's no guarantees. The reaction from Saints players suggest we have a gem of a manager on our hands, works players harder than ever yet maintains a good man management structure about him which to me seems a perfect type of manager/ head coach for our lot but then AVB was supposedly an attack minded manager that was loved by Porto players...
Southampton fans keep coming here trying to pick a fight. I think it's best to ignore them, they're obviously very upset with us signing their manager(which we had every right to do) and Pochettino joining a club that doesn't look like selling half their first team(which he had every right to do)
I freely admit that I don't know too much about him, as he hasn't actually been a manager for that long, but most people are aware of his reputation for hard training. The point being made is that virtually anyone coming into this sort of job tries to make a point of this sort of thing when they start, though. Getting those under his command to put in a shift should be the minimum requirement. That's true of any line of work. Having said that, that should be a pretty good platform to build from, given the players that we've got available.
Pochettino is a young unproven manager who has zero experience of walking into a club that is expected to challenge for top four and manage players with a higher reputation (then mid table teams). He also fell out with his only big name signing at Southampton and all this talk of making players work hard is nothing more then just words, means nothing until he puts in practice what he says, and shows he can make an impact in the same manner as he has done with smaller clubs. This isn't to say he can't succeed but all this talk of being proven is complete rubbish, he is unproven and we obviously hope he can prove to be a success but I'll see how he handles the job first before I start saying his methods are going to be a success, as making the players work hard won't be what brings us a success, As Mentioned above, working hard should be the minimum expected. Managing the pressure, dealing with tactics when teams keep us out, making the right signings are more important as if the players respect the manager then they will work hard even without extra training sessions and while Pochettino will be wanting to mould the team to play his style, he will learn quickly that the high pressure game is going to result in frustration, we will find ourselves struggling to break teams down and thats where you need a plan B and so far (from posting on the saints board) and watching their games, they struggled when their hard work failed.
Just got around to watching that. He sounds like Rafa Benitez. That's not necessarily a bad thing. He's won quite a bit, has the waiter. As long as our new manager doesn't grow a bloody goatee, then we should be ok!
Not trying to pick a fight in the slightest personally. I'm gutted we lost MP, absolutely, but I think you have an absolute gem on your hands and, possibly on my own here in terms of Saints fans, but I hope he does a great job with you. I think he will.
As I said before we got him, I hoped Southampton stayed together and kept everyone because you've been a breath of fresh air in the league. Sadly that's not how football works and any side that performs well is bound to have players and staff picked off by clubs with money. Purely from a Tottenham perspective though, I'm very pleased to have him. It can go eitherway with the fans though. Sometimes there are circumstances that can make you bitter about the circumstances of a player leaving but there's also a sense of wanting them to do well for your own club's pride. Like with Modric, no one was happy with the way he went on strike twice but after the move he was criticised for being a waste of money(and a worse buy than Song!) so it was good to see him being used properly this season and getting a lot of praise for his performances. Similarly with Bale, who didn't leave in a bad way, fans of both us and yourselves took some pride in watching him play a key role in helping Real win 2 trophies this season, even if it was a shame that he wasn't still wearing our colours.
Sadly the whole thing with Lallana/Shaw (and Lambert to an extent), along with now it seems Lovren too, has buggered up a lot of the enjoyment of seeing 'our' players in the Workd Cup. Ah well, we will come again. At some point.
I told the only Southampton fan that I know that they'd probably done a little too well, rather counter-intuitively and that they'd see all of their talent picked off in the close season. I didn't expect us to be involved, admittedly, but Shaw was a target for several of the big spenders and Lallana's been watched by various clubs for years. That's the nature of the beast nowdays, I'm afraid. The problem isn't really losing the top players, it's losing a chunk of your squad, having youngsters picked off and having to make some other changes through choice. The stars are replaceable, but it's disruptive and you have to move on poor players, so there's no stability.
If it's true that United have offered Shaw £160k a week I think we can all have a laugh at how mental they are It could still be the same for us too with Lloris and Vertonghen being rumoured to leave. Those rumours might have died down for now but it only takes a couple of articles to get the ball rolling again
We know all about losing key players. Personally if I was Shaw, I'd stay with Soton for at least another season, Lallana I can somewhat understand wanting a move to a CL club, that's part and parcel of having a fairly successful season yet falling just short of something that can persuade your big players to stay, again something we know too well about. What's "lucky" with you guys is you seem to have a conveyor belt of top talent coming through, not that it's a complete consolation for losing star players but it's definitely something that helps. We're finally starting to produce a bit of our own now, with Townsend, Kane and Bentaleb featuring quite a bit, plus the likes of Carroll and Pritchard who seem to be pushing through, whether they'll fully hold down a first team place is another question but it's refreshing to see us bring through some of our own lads now.
If the likes of Lallana or Lovren want a move to a CL club, Southampton should loan them to Celtic for the season. Not only will they get their wish, but after a season of playing in the SPL they'd be glad to return to Southampton for a few more years without so much as a peep about moving.
