Well, keep him as club captain and make someone else team captain in that case. I believe we have actually done that before. Ah, you pointed that out. I just don't think Stephens is suitable to be captain on the pitch from what I've seen.
I think people are over exaggerating what a professional captain is. If all the players are looking to one guy on the pitch to lead and tell them what to do then they shouldn’t/wouldn’t be playing at this level. If they are looking to one guy to show them how to behave then they shouldn’t/wouldn’t be playing at this level. I don’t think when Archer missed the pen everyone looked to Stephens and thought “oh well he’s not shouting loads then **** it I give up”. These players know what to do and all of them should have some internal motivation to do well, some more so than others of course just because everyone is different, but if Stephens/whoever is captain is the only leader on the pitch then we are ****ed. The captain basically does the coin toss and speaks to the ref, claps his hands a bit to encourage the team (he shouldn’t be the only one who does this) and that’s about it, probably more media stuff off the pitch as well.
They did appoint Jones but my recollection is in the summer when Martin was appointed something came out of the club saying they recognised that chopping and changing managers with very different playing styles and signing players to suit those different styles had contributed to our relegation so they wanted the club to have a preferred style of play in the future, they wanted that style of play to be possession-based and Martin was someone who played that way which is part of the reason he was appointed. I can't remember the details though. It might have been an interview and it might have been Wilcox driving it as you say. But honestly, even though I'm not a fan of this way of playing, if the owners change their plans AGAIN it'll be hard to believe they have any idea what they're doing.
I think there was more than this but here's a quote from Martin's first interview: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/martin-convinced-by-saints-vision "When I met Jason [Wilcox, Southampton FC Director of Football], Rasmus [Ankersen, CEO of Sport Republic], Henrik [Kraft, Southampton FC Chairman] and Dragan [Šolak, Chairman of Sport Republic], how they spoke about the club, how they spoke about the last 18 months and what had gone on, how much they’d learned from that, the direction they now want to go in terms of the game model and the style of play, and obviously Jason being a huge part of that, coming from Man City." So yeah, Wilcox was a big part of it. Perhaps just doing what he knew from City?
Even though I don’t believe he going to be sacked anytime soon, but the rumours have started. Southampton have shortlisted Blackburnmanager John Eustace as the Saints consider potential replacements for Russell Martin. (Football Insider), external
My first response to this was wtf? My more onsidered response is WTVF!! Regardless of the truth or otherwise of this rumour, it's very disruptive. There may well have been a conversation where Russell was told that failing to beat Ipswich could mark the end. But whatever has been said should remain confidential, including whether they've spoken to John Eustace. This sort of rumour causes waves at SFC, but also at Blackburn.
Lose today and I doubt anyone would be shocked if he got the push. I just hope the club decides to go with someone who has premier league or top league experience or we’ll just be in the same situation.
There's an article in The Times today about Russell and how wedded he is to his style. Apparently 7 of the 8 goals we've conceded have been down to messing about style mistakes. That's quite shocking when you think about it, and puts paid to the "the rewards are worth the risks" seeing as we've managed to only score once. With all that being said, I do still have faith we'll get better at this. That needs to happen soon/from today though.
One of the best squads in the Championship and we scrapped through for promotion. One of the weakest squads in the Premier league which under his management gives us only one likely outcome. You have to be the ultimate optimist if you believe he will keep us up.
It was obvious last season to anyone watching that we'd struggle massively against any decent pressing side in the PL.
Sorry, I was meaning "this" as in "being in the Premier League in a competitive way" rather than "mad passing around bollocks". Your point is still probably correct though, mind you.
Sorry just don't see Martin as the saviour of the club from relegation. He is so sure his method is right but at this level I just can't see it.
I guess the question is would anyone see - to name a few - De Zerbi, Maresca, Kompany, Reuben Amorim, Luis enrique, Xavi Hernandez, Arteta or Guardiola as a good fit for us? These guys are all play out from the back, possession heavy managers and they are all at top clubs in world football. I'm not saying that he will succeed or fail but what he is trying to do is what a significant number of managers around the world are also trying to do. If all fans care about is points after 5 games, we will be getting through 10 managers a year and we certainly wont be in the premier league. So can we avoid becoming the next Burnley, do we lack the quality to play possession football? I actually think that we are well setup through the def and mid thirds, its just whether RM can find an attacking combination that clicks. one goal a game will get us 2 wins if we are lucky this season.
Back in 2000, I was trudging home from the Dell having watched Beattie again miss or fluff a load of chances that would otherwise have seen us win. I said to my mate "He needs to be taken out of normal training, put in the 18 yard box on his own and have balls drilled at him over and over to finish until he gets some semblance of confidence back." A few weeks later, Beattie had scored in his third successive game and Hoddle was asked what had changed, to which he responded "We took him out of normal training, put him in the 18 yard box on his own and had balls drilled at him over and over to finish until he got some his confidence back". Naturally I thought this would be the start of a long and illustrious Premier League management stint for yours truly, sadly it only heralded the arrival of a Saints related anecdote in my cerebral inbox. Anyway, far from being a digression, it's what I see here on a weekly basis except it isn't isolated to just one player - we are utterly bereft of any semblance of nous in the attacking third and because it seems endemic, I happen to think it must be a coaching issue. We miss or ignore runs, we pass directly at the opposition, we fail to shoot when we could and we don't assume sensible positions inside the box. That's why we don't carry a threat and that's why our mooted "It will lead to more positive outcomes than negative ones" style isn't going to plan. Every team that plays out from the back ballses it up. The difference between the other teams and us is some common sense, guile and finesse when they haven't.
His method would be successful with the right players. Just look at Enzo Maresca. The Leicester fans couldn't stand him last season, but Chelsea now are already a vast improvement from how they were under Poch. Kompany struggled at Burnley, but he has hit the ground running at Bayern. Both Wenger and Klopp were relegated early in their careers. Coaches obviously improve with experience. This is Russ' first season in the Prem. He's had five games. We have a whole bunch of new players. If we get a new manager in, we might see slight improvements here and there. But he won't be a miracle worker. I get as frustrated as anyone watching Saints under Russ. I think it could take him a couple of seasons to mould this team into one that's fit for the Prem. So yes, that might take another relegation. The fans need to stop being so emotional every time there's a set-back. If Ipswich hadn't equalised, we'd all be buzzing right now. Crazy fine margins.
