Match Day Thread Southampton FC v Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Europa League, Thursday 8th December, KO 8.05pm

Also I think tonight shows just why this site is so much better than rival ones.
Despite the many different and polarizing opinions tonight there have been no arguments, just disagreements.

 

He may well be. Pochettino had a 32% win ratio at Espanyol and got sacked because they were in the relegation zone. Then obviously came to us where he won 38% of his games in charge. One thing going in Puel's favour is his development of the youth players, and integrating them into the first team.

 

I've only just got in.

 

Just got in.....up in 4 hours......the things we do for football

 

Considering that was our chance to progress to knockout football in the Europa League I'm bitterly disappointed in that performance. Very flat. Very little movement or urgency which eventually sucked the life out of the crowd. Our attacking play (if you can call it that) is so slow and one dimensional. Disappointed in the tactics, disappointed in the energy and application of the players and disappointed that a lot of our problems stem from holes in our team/squad that have been blatantly obvious for seasons (exacerbated by the failures of this summer). We were never going to improve year on year on year...however, the gamble that the board took in the summer has backfired and it's going to be a case of how big a step back are we going to take. Not in meltdown, just being realistic. I'll still be there on Sunday cheering the team on.

 

Sadly I won't be there sunday... someone give Gaston a wave for me

 

The gamble the board took may not have necessarily even backfired.

Sure, we've definitely taken 1 or 2 steps back this season on last, but we may be building towards something where we're 3 or 4 steps forward again in 2-3 years time.

A lot of our players are young, with a couple of old heads and not many I would say absolutely in their prime. In 2-3 years we may have a better balance of experience in the squad, from players who have all gained it playing at a high level throughout their career.

We may just need to be patient.

 

Just watch him score a worldly and see the fans on hear say, why did we let him go, he is the player we need

 

Disgusting

 

Yeh me too,just now, bloody hell what a long day.think we got what we deserved.
Naff all! Wish we'd attack more and mean it,not much fun for my 10&1/2hrs invested.

 

Didn't see the game tonight (thankfully, it seems), but I presume all the people slating Puel for "not getting us out of an easy group" all think that Pochettino is crap too for not getting Tottenham qualified from an easy CL group either.

No?

Why's that?

 

Once again it seems we've conceded to a single shot on target too.could be said we're not really getting the run of the green right now too (though as stated I didn't see the game).

 

We don't all rim Poch like you do*













*that is a joke btw mate before we get into an argument

 

Thought it was farcical, and yet for the most part it will be those that negatively affected the team that will have the most outrage of entitlement about the game. That's what frustrates me most coming out of these kind of shipwrecks.

Will never understand how so many people can be so lacking in self awareness as to undermine the team they're meant to be 'supporting'. Usually justified with 'well I paid my money and that isn't good enough' or 'I can watch how I damn well want', and that's fine - but you're not a supporter then, you might as well be going to the cinema or theatre. At that point you're just there to celebrate and if you've nothing to celebrate then whoever you deem to blame should apparently darn well hear about it. And not just after all is said and done, but at any point during where you decide things aren't going the way you want them to - because it's not like 30000 people can have an effect on the psyche of 22.

Fair enough if there's other forces at play voice your concern, but we've been blessed to have had stability and apart from a couple of infamous and short-lived examples players that put 100% in every game, there's been very little for us to protest. Constantly heckling players who are out of form, or even just outright not good enough in general, does nothing but harm. And beyond the just indisputably unacceptable abuse, groans and shouts only exacerbate problems. Going back to Redmond again for example, in the first half he made several ****-ups and had moments of indecision, but midway through the 2nd half by the time he'd been kicked around by the crowd he was hesitating 3 or 4 times every other time he touched the ball. Claude is only really hurting him by playing him at this point.

And don't even get me started on the chicken and egg of 'the players are getting anxious/playing sloppy/dropping back etc.' and 'the crowd are very worried here/there's no noise at all', we'll be here all week. Long story short, 5-10 minutes of good atmosphere followed by noise only being prompted by promising moments is not really enough to stop nerves creeping into the team and fueling the age-old vicious cycle of 'the fans haven't really had anything to sing about'.

Now back into my hole I go.

 

Just got home. Oh, Saints.

And Oriol... why? What an awful pass. Why would you try that kind of pass in front of your own goal with 10 minutes to go.

 

Also, I really want to give Claude time but he was hailed as this manager with oodles of European pedigree and the nous to guide us through the two/three game weeks. Well, we played three away games in Europe, didn't even score a goal and even despite Inter Milan imploding, we didn't qualify.

So disappointed.

I understood the logic in playing for the 0-0 (as a 1-0 would've made no difference to what Be'er Sheva needed to do) but Christ alive, we are dull.

Hope this is just a bad run. Get put away by Liverpool and this is rapidly turning into a very underwhelming campaign if our league form doesn't turn.

 

Recorded the game and got early to watch before the family get up. Read through the last 2-3 pages on here only, as I am pretty sure what has been written elsewhere. We are definitely in a slump; similar to around this time last year. Is it worse or not than last season - for me its too soon to say.

Given the history to date of our season, 1-1 was the most probable result tonight. We can rarely score more than one goal in a game and we concede so often on the first strike on target.

Too many bad performances of late - not unlucky defeats as can happen - not based on just tonight's performance; but the team is leaden at present - zero creativity, poor in the final third, cannot convert chances and our shot-stopping seems questionable given the number of times we concede on the first attempts on goal.

Puel now has to show us how good a manager he is; he has been dealt a poor hand by the Board, but he has had long enough to reflect on the squad and the tactics and changes that need to be made come January. We will also see the intent of the Board to support him.

We move onto the next game and hope that lessons have been learnt but would add that unless we start to meet some reasonable expectations on the pitch; we are going to find player retention more challenging than ever and that, for me, is the most worrying facet of what is happening at the club. We have a small handful of quality players in the squad and we need to retain their services, not going to happen if changes are not implemented within the club that, in turn, take us forward on the pitch.

 

Don't believe for a second that this is a Puel decision. Has to be a policy related to getting him out by Jan end. Otherwise it makes no sense.

 

Agree, I don't like the petulant reactions. Particularly when he's got more to be criticised for. But drop him for who, Shane Long? Jay Rod? Not likely to achieve much at all. Maybe time to promote a youth prospect and hope for the best.

 

I agree, Conversely I think player turnover is what we need now. We won't but In jan we can dispense with Clasie, Davis, JayRod, Long, Redmond, Martina plus that crocked centreback because we can very easily find players who offer more. Sadly we have sold all the wrong players year on year and been left with workhorses and a couple of stars. Predictably we now produce bland solid workmanlike performances. We have a great first choice back four that could play for a top 6 team. Then we have Tadic and Austin. Overall its a disappointing first half to the season.