By the way, for what it's worth I think there's a lot of sense in Joey's OP, but some of the rest of this thread is a new level of insane that ranks alongside the 'sack Ron' sentiment that's been insidiously creeping in. Just. Wow.
I can't work out what goes on at Southampton anymore. Your chair has an insane amount of wealth, yet seems reluctant to make that final injection of cash to push for a top four spot, instead you just seem to be treading water.
My non-tech assessment of the team at the moment is that we are unbalanced and unfamiliar. We have the engine but no driver to steer us on the pitch. Our midfield is not working as either a defensive shield or an offensive line at the moment and it doesn't seem like the players are on the same page. There are some square pegs being forced where they don't belong and there seems to be a lack of heart and soul about the squad which is something I haven't felt for years. Everyone said you cant keep selling your best players and eventually they would be proven right. Its getting very close to that point right now I feel. Looking positively we are fine at the moment in the league and we have raw talent. I think time will fix it, patience will fix it. We need to improve one or two positions but more player sales and more new recruits could positively wreck it.
Brilliant. Thats a magician, none of this Vegas tiger taming lear jet disapearing nonsense. Just a bald man and his furry assistant. And a rabbit.
What? If a player has a stormer than he needs starts. If you hadn't noticed I'm not the Saints manager. I assumed Gazzaniga was out the reckoning and out of Koeman's thinking. In which case we needed to sign a keeper to replace, or compete with, Stekelenburg. Since Gazzaniga's not out the reckoning, and has had a stormer. He will compete for the number one berth. If he claims it and keeps it, then he can be Forster's number two and competition in the future. And the second part is all well and good, but if it was up to me Gazzaniga would have played long ago. The likes of Reed and Ramirez would also be getting chances. It's not my problem that Koeman won't play them. It's Koeman's problem and Koeman's fault. We need more creative spark and end product, but he won't even have Ramirez on the bench . Therefore we desperately need to sign a centre forward and a creative player. I'd happily take the managerial role as Saints manager if I could.
I loved that Mrs Merton line to the lovely Debbie McGee "Debbie what first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?"
I agree with so much of what you say Tintin, a lot of the time, but you really, really need to allow for shades of grey, as well as black and white sometimes.
The real problem isn't player signings or players needing time. It is the amount of players we sell. Our team just gets used to playing one way and and how the guy next to them plays. Then next year that player is gone. We will never be able to bring in the same caliber of player that we sell because: 1) It would cost far too much. 2) They wouldn't want to come to us in the first place. People need to accept we are a now a club that buys a prospect then soon as he matures we sell them on. Leicester have had a settled team for ages and have just added to it. We have a team each season were we have to rebuild. That is the difference.
I wouldn't say we've spent small amounts- its something like 170m since returning to the top flight 3.5 seasons ago.
This is the key for me, and perhaps too many of our fanbase bought into the whole getting into the top 4 stuff the board have been saying. So now they are getting frustrated with certain players and the manager which is harsh imo. Yes we aren't as good as last year or the year before. No we won't go down. Yes our season will probably be all but over by end of Jan/mid Feb. But these types of seasons happen, have to hope the recruits we get in the summer to replace those who leave and add to the squad can hit the ground running. For those of you who want Koeman to stay this season could be a blessing in disguise, his rep wasn't the best in Europe and many may see last season as a fluke, meaning that there might not be any clubs interested who he deems a step up.
Short answer is that no one really knows with any certitude what is happening behind the scenes. It's an odd position; our owner is the rare one who didn't buy a football team. We don't know if she wants to own one long-term, or if she wouldn't mind so long as she is paid back first, or if she has become a rabid fan in the interim and is just waiting to unleash the piles of money. The only thing we have to work with is the occasional scattering of tea leaves...Cortese leaving, the summer sales/spends, the vague statements of members of the board, Koeman casting doubt on the spending approach in the media. And those inevitably can be read enough different ways as to really do little more than harden one's predisposed impression.
One thing is certain; we won't be splurging cash in January trying to turn this around. The solution will have to come from the team we've got. Which it will.
I liked the OP, not because I agreed verbatim, but the fact that someone had taken the trouble to give an analysis from watching the team. Nice one. For what it's worth, my observation is that seasons do not provide a neat cut-off from the momentum for a club. Leicester are flying - as they were at the end of last season having taken some time to get themselves up and running. We are struggling, as we were at the end of last season. Two clubs we keep citing as teams we need to be up there with are Spurs and Liverpool. Anyone notice how last year we couldn't buy a win towards the end of the season, yet these two were not getting away from us. Turning any of those nightmare away days into a win and we would have been top 6 or even 5. Familiar? For what its worth I think Spurs will lose us in their slipstream this year. Poch probably went there to avoid the sales and has proven himself to be a very good coach, which we suspected. We had lost our way at the end of last year. The "buzz" of watching Saints was fading during a laboured win against Burnley as much as seeing those dire end of season away defeats. The 6-1 win in this run was the sole lift, and was a smoke screen. Of course Schneiderlin and Clyne were huge losses, but we had begun to look pretty ordinary with them. The previous losses had some impact, but Shaw was more than adequately replaced; Lambert was heading for the bench, sadly; Lovren wasn't as good as he thought and Toby/Virgil have been better. Lallana is another matter. How often was he our get-out-of-jail card? Much though I admire Tadic, Lallana he isn't. However, I don't think that there is something rotten in the state of Liebherr. Simply they are at decision stage - stick or twist? January will pass without drama, but next summer will show us the way the wind is going to be blowing. Koeman has set out his stall on the issue. But he is not suddenly crap, as some here assert. Just trying to manage dwindling resources.
I agree that if a player has a stormer, I'd think he should be playing the next game. You've gone so black and white though. Last week you were so wrapped up in getting a new keeper that you assumed Gazza wasn't in Ron's plans. For you to now say he should have started long ago is interesting because as I said on the other thread, you didn't even mention that when you actually questioned if we'd actually want him as back up... That doesn't sound like someone who wanted him to be starting. I said what I needed to say on the other thread so I'm not going to piss the other readers off anymore by saying it all again here. All I am saying is that you have some good views, but you also have a tunnel visioned approach to posting those. It comes across to me as if you believe they are 100% correct and nothing else can be said and no questions can be asked. For me, this keeper scenario just shows how quick things change in football in 7 days and shows how difficult it can be for a manager and players to get things right. Just be a little more forgiving.
The truly realistic view. Half the team aren't quite good enough and the other half are treading water in anticipation of a move next summer if not earlier. That is what happened last year and is happening again this. We are always in a state of transition because we have no stability or continuity of players. We're the Sainsbury's of the Premier League - everyone's favourite shop for footballers. We have been stupid enough as fans and as a club to believe the hype that we are a well run club.
