I can forgive that. In my case I was miles out this time and completely missed it..! Is there a live Youtube about still up and running..?
Ron says this weekend's game may be more important for some players, but not for him as he wasn't here last season. He never expected us to be 2nd at the moment, but team spirit is high. It was high when he arrived and he was told it was like that last season as well. Wouldn't be drawn on introducing a rule to help black managers into work...said it's a free country. Doesn't want to talk about other teams (i.e. Spurs) as he can't affect them...only has effect on Saints. Says he always tries to work with international managers, but in the end it is up to the national side. Mentioned Yoshida as a case in point...doesn't believe he is fit, but he will join Japan if they insist. Has played against Mauricio at Espanyol and he never lost to Espanyol.
Koeman: "I think I played against him when he was at Espanyol... who won? I never lost against Espanyol." Love you Ron.
I'm quietly confident too which sometimes proves fatal.......in last years game Lovren was crap but where we lost it was in midfield....Schneiderlin and Wanyama didn't feature, JWP and Cork our two DM that day got over powered 2nd half.
Koeman is a legend though, a towering figure in world football who won everything as a player. His appointment steadied the ship at a time of crisis, whereas when Pochettino was appointed out of the blue to take over an improving side, we all thought "Mauricio who?" There is no comparison imo. A couple of years from now, people may again be thinking "Mauricio who?", whereas no-one will be asking who Ronald Koeman is. I'm sure of that.
He still loves Southampton??...doesn't know what sort of reaction he will get from Saints fans....Hmmm...
If I was in the changing room, and he told we were going to go out and beat someone , I`d believe him - he doesn`t seem to pass on any stress to the players. There`s years of his being a winner which is being applied to our advantage. The MP year and a bit were great, but pressing for 60% of the game but not winning, and losing steam in the last 20 mins was becoming too common.
Just been listening on Radio 5 Live, and one of the topics discussed was the pressing game and whether or not to do it. Interestingly, one thing that came up is that already, the pressing game is being used more sparingly and intelligently, especially in Northern Europe. There, the counter attack is very much in the ascendancy. Actually, someone mentioned that it's now the counter-counter attack [don't ask me, just listen to the podcast, available later this evening or straight off the Radio iPlayer], just to get the technical bits correct. They didn't mention it, so I'm not sure that they've noticed, but Saints are doing very much as they described European football is heading. So Ronald appears to be in the vanguard of football strategy.
For the record, not feeling remotely confident. When did we last beat spurs? Under Strachan was it? Would be delighted with a hard fought point.
