Can't agree, Godders. The intentions of the club hasn't changed, but new purchases either can't cope in the EPL or (more likely) going through a lean spell. We cannot attract or pay the top players, so we have to take calculated chances on the next rung of players and sometimes that will work, sometimes it won't. We won't lose lots of players next season because there are only a few that are good enough to attract the seriously top prices...refusal to let Mane and Wanyama go last summer shows we don't just roll over. We are well run...but we have to accept that means purchases have to be within our budget and sometimes those purchases will be gems. We have good facilities, a good manager, sound financial plan, a seemingly happy owner content to wait for a money return, and a good team (going through a poor spell, but League Cup aside, not getting hammered). I don't know what other definitions makes up a well run club.....apart from never having players off form, never ever making a mistake, and a bottomless pit of money.
Interesting stuff! I thought stekkers would be bottom, he just never seems to make any saves! Also great point about shots faced, the problem is if your keeper can't make saves then one shot is often enough!
Agree with every appraisal. Big Vic and Fonte's drops in form have been startling but we have nobody waiting to come in to give them a rest. It's not rocket science to work us out. Defend solidly high up the pitch (or deep if Mane plays more centrally) and transition quickly and accurately.
I think Katherina has an emotional link to the club (through her father), which means she will not pull the rug out from beneath us and will provide support for the club to develop on its path, but doesn't mean she is a raving looney who will pour money in a la Abramovich. This isn't based on a feeling, but her actions. She stepped in and helped sort out our finances, by converting the loan that Cortese took out into something more manageable and secured by her guarantee, converting other loans to equity, allowing her father's name to be put on the Academy building, and her smiling presence at events (remember she doesn't have to even come near the place). Another small sign...her proposal that we link with Mary's Meals....remember her initial reason: she saw the name and thought of us.
I wasn't expecting him to be so low. However, I thought the big positive was how few shots our apparently awful defence is actually letting through. No-one's chosen to pick up on that. Strange. Vin
Gazza had to make a few saves, but up until recently our defence has let few through. However, as the odd one becomes a goal, it is our lack of scoring that is the real problem. Our players can score, so it comes down to confidence, confidence, confidence....oh, and accuracy. A little bit of luck wouldn't go amiss either.
I think it's all down to confidence as well. Our goal drought is a surprise as so many people (pundits included) were saying what a great front three we have. Ever since they started saying that we have hardly scored! The chances are coming so it's not so much the build up play just the lack of confidence in front of goal. From my point of view the most important thing is having a club to support so it being well run financially is fine by me. It's going to have to get a million times worse than a temporary lack of form to make me question Katharina or Les. Do people want us to do a Portsmouth just to get top 6?
The thing is i agree that we dont want to fritter money away and do a portsmouth but on the other hand , we sell our best players every year and spend less on replacements. It was only ever going to be a matter of time before that caught up with us. I expect Wanyama, Mane and possibly Pelle to go at the end of the season so we need to start identifying players to replace them im sure we are doing this but we need to show a bit of ambition. we would not be spending beyond our means if we bought in a player for 20-25m when you consider we will probably get 60-70m for the three forementioned players.
Not me, I remember him making some sublime saves that other keepers just wouldn't make. He had a poor game away at Spurs and I think one other, but I believe his shots:save % was one of the best from memory.
And the issue is is that there probably are no 25m players who would want to come to us. It will be interesting to see what the even more inflated TV deal does to prices this summer though
Not aimed at you, but if you wanted to waste some time and never get it back you could trawl through and find all the criticism of Fraser. Some people will remember it I am sure.
The thing is we can be cautious for years and years to come , sitting in mid table with the odd good year where we qualify for europe. And to be fair as a saints fan for 30 odd years that would be brilliant. However if we want to win trophies and play european football we have to be more than a 'show case' club. Everton and other similar sides seem to be able to keep hold of their big names why cant we?
I never worked out why people criticise Fraser hes a brilliant keeper and our lack of form without him speaks volumes in my opinion
This is a good point. Let's take Morgan. One player named as a possible closer replacement was the Polish lad at Sevilla. Were we really going to get him over Champions League football and the big clubs listed as interested in him? He would have been about 25m. Let's be honest here, Toby chose Spuds over us with no Champions League football and he would have been only 14m
Which of those teams have broken through to the top 4? Everton did it once and got knocked out in the qualifiers. Spuds did it once and had a good run, but not since. Spurs lost Bale. Liverpool lost Suarez and Sterling. I'll agree that Everton don't seem to get picked off so much on player sales.
Do you remember it happening though? People have short memories. I remember falling out with a few people over Fraser and all those goals "he should have got to"
I agree that naturally players will choose champs league before us and players will choose Liverpool, Spurs etc before us but look at teams like Everton and even Stoke to a certain extent this season they buy quality players we seem to be linked with the quality players but end up with decent players with a bit of potential we need to aim higher
