1 Year on

A year ago tomorrow, 12 March 2018 Southampton sacked manager Mauricio Pellegrino.

Played 30, 8 games left and a place above the relegation zone, just like now.

We had 28 pts (less than now) and were a point above stoke and palace, 2pts behind west ham and 3 behind huddersfield and Swansea.

As a positive, we survived and that was with the following fixtures, west ham (a), arsenal (a), Chelsea (h), Leicester (a), Bournemouth (h), Everton (a), Swansea (a), man city (h)

That was a much more difficult end compared to this year.

So how do we feel, 1 year on, more confident?

And where do you think we will be in a year's time.

What are the best things to have happened since Pellegrino's sacking.

We March on.

 

This time last year I felt we had no hope and were only sliding in one direction.

But for the implosion of Swansea, and a slight improvement spearheaded by Hughes, meant that this year, we are looking more upwards and positive than we have done in years.

 

The biggest difference now is that we can compete with almost anybody in the league on any given day but Ralph still has to learn how to break down stubborn well drilled teams that sit deep with no intention of playing football.
The first XI needs tweaking, mainly at CB but I believe there is a base there and I have complete faith in Ralph's ability to improve players, especially the younger ones and to game manage to get results. As i've said many times, if we return to being the club that plays exciting, fast football that can give the elite a bloody nose occasionally with a base of home grown talent then I will be a happy Saints fan.

I think that we will roughly be in a similar position that we were at pre-Pellegrino this time next season.

 

The turn around since Ralph has come in is quite simply miraculous.

He’s clearly still learning the league, and figuring things out, but he is the best manager we could have hoped for. A quality appointment, and I believe in a year we will be safe already and looking to see how high we can finish, instead of bricking it every game!

 

More hopeful. We play nicer football, it looks like Ralph has an idea of tactics and the team buy into it.

As said above CB needs addressing and ffs buy a bloody striker.

I think orbafarmy, vallery, return of simms and JWP hitting form have given the supporters a lift.

 

It would be more revealing to state that since Ralph’s first game in charge we have gained 21 points from 15 games, or 1.4 points per game. If we continue at this rate for the remaining 8 games we will finish on 41 points, which will be comfortably safe. If we had had Ralph in charge from the start of the season we would probably have had a better points return than that, but even 1.4 points per game for the season so far would have put us on 42 points, or 9th place as things stand. Continuing to the end of the season would then have given us 53 points, which in terms of last season would have meant we would have been pushing Burnley for 7th place.

 

Optimistic as things stand.
Brighton will be the last of those stubborn defenses and they may well be a little open as they’re playing at home.
We’ve got a chunk of teams who hopefully will have their flip flops on.

 

What a difference a year makes. Players stepping up. Youth being given a chance again. Love Ralph’s enthusiasm but also had respect for pelligrino and puel. We had lost our attaching talent and the gamble did not pay off to replace them. They did not have experience of attacking play and this was shown from their pre and post jobs but unfortunately you go with what you know and has worked. As much fun as having us start to win again and show our strengths I am worried the likes of JWP and Hoijbjerg can be swayed. Neither have really cemented their place until now and if a big bid comes in, could we expect them to turn around and declare loyalty. You can see the passion from both players for playing for us but I remember the days when Lallana did the same.

 

Far more optimistic than at any point since Koeman moved on. I'd expect to see us comfortably midtable next season based purely on the results Ralph has achieved with this current squad.

However - the squad is still rubbish and Ralph deserves better. Our recruitment needs to improves DRAMATICALLY before we can feel safe moving forward. The club needs to back Ralph and give him the players he needs if they want to hold onto him. We need to dump a bunch of regular first team players - Long, Austin, MoEl, Stephens, even Yoshida and probably Lemina will go IMO. There is a list of juniors who can't possibly all make it plus Cedric, Hoedt, Reed, Clasie, Boufal, McQueen and Carillo need to be moved on or re-integrated depending on what Ralph wants to do with them. Thats around 15 players, just writing that out re-inforced the scale of the rebuild we are currently undergoing. Its massive but it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Ralph is too promising to have him scraping by with ad hoc temporary squads and that lot has to be worth 100m+.

The highlights for me has been the resurgence of youth and a return to exciting football. To feel like I actually want to watch us play. Its just brilliant again and sad to think the opposite has been true for the best part of two years.

 

It`s a catch 22 situation - if the team are playing well, then inevitably the `big boys` will come sniffing around our best players.

 

I'd like to see us more consistent and by that I'd say win 2 consecutive games...we should throw a party if we achieve that as it would make such a difference at this end of the season. Definitely a defensive thing....we have overcome the not scoring bit, but we are still relying a bit much on the opposition having no luck in front of goal. So Ralph has made us look better and given some heart to the team, but we need to be more solid at the back. He's had them long enough to instil his thinking, so it must come down to personnel or the balance of the team. Stay up and roll on summer.

 

9th with this squad would be the work of some kind of deity, let alone 7th.

 

This defensive thing is interesting. At Leicester a few weeks back I thought we'd cracked it. Very solid, unflappable and filled me with confidence. Then Cardiff came along ..

Supporting Saints has always been a tough call. Come on. How many times have we looked OK and then ... Tranmere or Everton or Wrexham happen and we suddenly realise who we are again. The agony makes the joy last Saturday bearable, I suppose. But I guess I'd risk a bit of consistency.

One year on? Yes, I'm a happier bunny than I was. This guy is a huge step up and seeing the improvement in players is very enjoyable. There still seems to be a feeling of only just hanging on. We are all desperate to get to the end of the season and have a fire sale. But getting rid of players we don't want - and I agree the list is long - may prove more difficult than Theresa May getting through that vote today!

 

When you are a very good side, you can handle most oppositions. They have to play you. We are heavily dependent on how the opposition play.

 

Unluckily losing at OT and beating Spuds is a massive step forward from where we were at this time last season IMO.

 

I fully agree that we have to sort the wheat from the chaff and streamline the overall squad to become more cash efficient but only Maya and Chaz from the players you listed started the last match (I expect Danny to be back in for Chaz against Brighton).

BTW I think that Maya is a perfectly adequate squad back up and Shane has qualities that are useful at certain times during a match and the season.

Would like to see Boufal given another chance next season too.

 

Just mentally going our current options for each position...

GK: Gunn/McCarthy...tick..Forster..cross
RB/RWB: Valery/ Ramsay (from what i've seen looks another excellent prospect)... tick
LB/LWB: Bertrand/Targett..tick
CB: Bednarek/Yoshida...tick Vestergaard (still looks slow for this level), Stephens (his last start was a worry).. cross..Alfie Jones might come into the picture next season.
CDM: Romeu/PEH...tick, Lemina (still not convinced of his commitment).. cross...Maybe Jack could be tried out in this position or Harry Reed is given a chance.
CM/AM: PEH/JWP/ Slattery/Armstrong/Redmond/Sims... tick Lemina (as above) Mo El... cross...I think that Boufal and Hesketh might come back into the fold next season.
ST: Ings/Long/Obafemi... tick, Austin...cross...The jury is still out on Gallagher for me, i'll trust Ralph on that call.

So that's 18 ticks and 5 possibles for next season.

 

McQueen is injured. I think he deserves a genuine chance once he's back.

Highlights are:

* We have a decent manager who is getting the best out of a team that lacks a proven goal-scorer.
* Our manager isn't afraid to change the team around if things aren't working (See Tottenham game.)
* Our football is often entertaining even when we lose (See Man U game)
* Academy players finally getting a chance.
* Our fate is in our hands, and our run-in is better than our relegation rivals.
* James Ward Prowse is developing into the player we always hoped he'd become.
* Yan Vallery turning out to be a revelation.
* Hoedt is no longer in our defence.

 

Right a little mental shopping list for the Summer now...

Firstly, don't sell anyone that Ralph wants to move forward with.

A reliable quality goalscoring Striker...Che Adams would fit the bill perfectly.
A dominant and mobile CB preferably with leadership qualities in the mould of Jose Fonte.
Another quality CB.
A quality goalscoring creative AM
An experienced RB/RWB as a squad back up.

 

I’m worried, though ...... what if Liverhampton come in with a big offer for James in the summer and offer to treble his wages? How could we get him to stay? PEH too, if he gets on their radar.

Similar with Valery, Sims and possibly Obafemi in the next couple of years.

We need to be able to somehow limit the asset stripping of these clubs ......