Yeah it was tough mainly because we played the way we did, if we were more direct etc etc water under the bridge now. But yes I agree that this team trying to out possession and win games against far superior opponents than last year won’t end well. We have to mix it up at least occasionally, we will see if Martin will do that. Joe Cole made a comment yesterday about Utd pressing Ramsdale early and it was good that he acknowledged that and was going longer than we’ve seen from Saints before this season. Said it was possibly an indication that Martin has given his players a bit more freedom to play the situation
Im not sure how bad Stephens has to play before some people recognise it. He gives away at least a goal a game. He’s not good enough.
First goal Stephens has been at fault for this season no? (Correct me if I'm wrong). Was solid all of last season. Season before that good enough for Prem league Bompey.
Slight exaggeration to say that he gives away at least one goal every game. But yeah, he's clearly not good enough. If Bmouth had rated him high enough, they would have kept him. Given that we had just been relegated, I imagine he'd have been pretty cheap. But instead he came back, and no other PL club came in for in either (to my knowledge).
When we were playing 3 CBs although the space out wide was there a CB would come across and buy time for KWP to get back to help. Yesterday Utd were able to utilise the space AND double up on KWP because Diaz wasn’t putting in a defensive shift. Within 60 seconds of Fraser replacing him the wee man was tracking back and giving defensive support for KWP. On the other flank Dibling was helping Yuki defensively and has been praised by him for doing so, in a post match interview.
Newcastle, Brentford and yesterday. Imo he is responsible for at least a goal in each of those. Forest he didn’t but there was a massive chance where he lost his man. They should have scored but missed from just inside the box. Even when he’s not directly responsible he’s normally involved. He runs about like a headless chicken most of the time. He’s a ****ing liability. He has been for years at this level. It’s a joke he’s starting. An absolute joke but the whole club.
imo there is a very good manager in RM, the trouble the club has is whether they can wait for him to be the level required.
Yep. The fact that he dropped smallbone and aribo has given me hope. He can obviously see the problems that we can. The gap between the championship and Premier league is huge.
I hope we all learned something from the last time we got relegated. RM basically came in and saved the clubs arse, a bunch of mercenary players, knee jerk signings, hiring and firings had put us in a crappy position. If we revert to the same type we will get the same result IMO. So far we aren’t underperforming dramatically so there’s no reason to even think about firing him for performance reasons. the club has let him put together the team and if they fire him too early and without very good reason the next guy will have a lot of work to do to even get ther heads up. I would much rather we do a Luton or burnley TBH. Go down as one.
Stephens only played 15 times for Bournemouth. He was a squad option for them, not a key part of the team. On Martin, I'm not his biggest fan but the club have said they want to play this style so it's not all about him. If he is sacked at some point he'll be replaced by someone who plays a similar way.
Though they did also appoint Jones who's miles away from that style. Wilcox appointed Martin didn't he? Wonder how much of the style thing was his influence.
Yeah I remember lots of stuff about Wilcox being the main reason we went for Martin. Interesting if Ten Hag survives the year or if Martin gets a Kompany style move
I think (and hope!) that Martin is learning that loyalty can be a curse as well as a blessing. Adarma and THB were dropped at the weekend. I just hope he cannot ignore the fact that Stephens is not a suitable captain anymore. He's not good enough to play in the PL and he lost his head completely on Saturday. I would make Ramsdale captain. He's far more authoriative than Stephens and he has plenty of PL experience.
Good post, he doesn't have a "team" yet though but rather a collection of new players that have to be moulded into one. Very rarely does it click immediately into an oven ready XI but comes together organically in time. This is not new to Martin and his coaches, lest we forget 12 months ago and "experimental September" and that culminated in a record breaking 25 match unbeaten run with a largely unchanged team and ultimately promotion. Of course we won't see a similar run in the PL but I do expect performances and results to improve and the aim this season without a doubt is to finish 17th or above. I believe that Martin is a very good man manager that can get a group of players to fight for each other with a team ethic but that doesn't come overnight with a fresh group.
Well Stephens will be suspended for 3 games so let's see how it goes. Martin has to make at least 1 change. JS is not perfect but then none of our players are, we are Southampton after all, not Man City. THB was previously struggling so he was dropped, Martin was never gonna drop both, so maybe Jack edged it because he is captain. Whatever the reason he is now out for 3 games....last time he was out of the team, he couldn't get back in easily as we were winning. I recall everyone blaming Macca for the Newcastle goal, not the player passing back to him. But now Stephens has made a mistake, this goal is being put down to his pass!! Don't make me laugh! If VVD had played that pass there is no way anyone would be blaming him!
A captain is more than just whats on the field though; by all accounts, Stephens is very well respected within the squad and leads standards by example. You could argue hes a very good club captain off the field, but maybe the argument should be for someone in the vein of Hammond/Kelvin way back when, when Super Kelv was club captain & Hammond was the on-field captain. It's not something I personally agree with, mind ...
