I'd agree with that too - we play too deep and is that a symptom of a younger coach who so far has had to play games where they were not expected to be in the lead all the time and it's his natural instinct to shut up shop on a 1 goal lead? I think a lot of us are aiming for the same outcome but focussing on different ways to articulate it. I've been using formation as a driver for making the team WANT to play their football in the oppositions half and putting players who like to attack in the team would naturally pull the team up the pitch. All that is hot air if the direction from WS is we've got a 1 goal lead so lets shore up and hold on to it and we end up hoofing it up and accepting the returning pressure - which will lead to goals if we do it for long enough.
A while back, Southampton manager, Will Still, said that Super Eagles midfielder Joe Aribo and English-born star Sam Edozie are not yet ready to play for his team. He provided insight on the players’ situation following their continued absence from his squad since the start of the 2025/26 Championship campaign. Aribo failed to secure a move away from the club in the summer transfer window after being heavily linked with an exit from St Mary’s. The situation left the midfielder to continue fighting for his place in the Southampton squad. Southampton face Swansea City in the Championship this weekend, and speaking to the press, Still was asked about the situation with Aribo and others. “They’re still with us but they’ve missed a whole chunk of pre-season, and we have to be fair and honest with everyone,” Still revealed, as reported by the Daily Echo. “Who are you taking out? Are you going to say to Leo [Scienza], Tom Fellows, Finn [Azaz] or Jay Robinson, you’re out because Sam Edozie’s back in? “They’re just choices that we have to make. I’m just trying to stay as honest and as level as I can with everyone, and they’re crap decisions, mate.“But you’ve got to make them, and that’s what we’re doing for the moment.” Still no change? Is Still responsible or complicit in the fact that two talented players aren't getting any competitive matches, their careers in limbo, can't be good for them. Presumably they are on full pay and contributing nothing in a side that is falling apart?
Reading the above with interest along with the Preston match thread and struggling to maintain my optimistic outlook. I'm in DFK, DFC mode I don't have any answers to the woes of SFC, it's owners and coaching team. I expect I'll pick up as the week passes and regain some hope when Saturday comes.
We have had issues with attacking for so long now that I'm starting to believe it's a player issue rather than a manager issue. Still is not the first manager to hint in interviews that he's not sure why the players are playing the way they are playing at times. And I remember Martin a couple of times hinting in his post match that he didn't set up to be defensive so was surprised that the players played so negatively. I think not since the early era of Ralph have we actually looked like an attacking side. We've been defensive and negative for years now. The champ under Martin at times we were on the front foot but we still had many games where it was all pass around the back and aimlessly side to side. At some point I kinda just have to ask whether the players are just doing what they want when they step out on to the pitch. And this was also hinted at my Alfie house on the TSP podcast in that Will still isn't sure that the players are actually holding themselves accountable for their performances and have no intention to try harder. It very much felt like that last season, we were terrible and the players seemed like they didn't care at all. And I can't help but feel that has carried on into this season. There has pretty much been no change in style of play for the last 3 or 4 managers. Which tells me the players just aren't giving a ****.
I cba looking but I’m sure I saw that something like 20 players from last season have left, yet the general malaise around the club is still there. You’d hope players like Edwards/Armstrong wouldn’t be as effected as they spent half the season out on loan but until we somehow can string together a couple of wins this will just continue
At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, they are payed a fortune (£3.2millions per year for Aribo) and there doesn’t seem to be anything meaningful that their employers (SFC) can do if they don’t perform. Don’t have any answers but it seems to me that many of them are just too comfortable and living a charmed life.
Not much point being negative if you are going to loose any way. May as well go out there and try and win the match
It feels to me like we have the woodwork more than usual. A couple of centimetres left, right or lower could have our season looking very different
I think that's a sport issue in general. Let's be real, if everyone was suddenly paid £100k a week I'm pretty sure work productivity would dip across the board.
Jeez, just read that & it makes a lot of sense. If true, we are well & truly ****ed, coz a wet behind the ears 33(?) year old mgr, isn’t going to change it.
Take someone like Adam Armstrong. What are the actual consequences for him having a bad game? We aren't going to start benching him. We aren't going to slash his wages. We aren't going to send him to the reserves. He knows, no matter how many chances he missed last week, that he is going home to a lot of money and will very very likely start the next game. There is no incentive for him to up his game or question himself. And that's how he's been playing in my opinion. He's our most experienced player, that **** filters down. Yes we have off-loaded some players but chances are the new players have come in and seen this culture of not trying hard with no consequences and have thought "well this is lovely, the fans aren't on our backs and we can play ****! And if I want to leave, previous history has shown I just need to hit a bit of form and start stamping my feet and they'll let me leave!" The culture at the club is shocking and has been for years! The Tyler Dibling transfer says everything about where the club is at. Having your own academy graduate force a move when he has barely even played well for you is a ****ing farce.
Winning games is tricky if you can’t do that, though Arsenal were top of the league last time I looked, and they also lack a striker and sometimes struggle for goals. On the other hand, they don’t concede many, unlike ourselves who give away at least one soft goal per game. We’re ****ed until we can sort things out at both ends of the pitch (and the middle).
I mean, we did bench him after a poor start to the season and he worked his way back in, so not sure what you're argument is there to be honest. Just like we benched THB. And Downes. And Stephens. And Bazunu. And Aribo doesn't even make the bench. Not that I'm in any way defending the club too much and I do agree with the rest of your points, but it is important to know that Still, for all his fault this seasons, has been prepared to make some big calls & bench and drop the big players on big wages if they aren't performing.
Armstrong has played in every game this season apart from 1 so he may have been dropped from starting but I still feel like my point stands in that it's barely a punishment. It's not like he was completely benched for a couple games. He's still played in every game but Norwich away.
I think he's a bad example really, he may miss a few chances but he gets more than any other player and that's not by chance. I don't think anyone can doubt his commitment especially since becoming the captain, he presses from the front and chases like a terrier and probably covers more ground than any other player.
I don't think it is a bad example. Is he any better now than he was at the start of the season? Or does it feel like groundhog Day whenever he plays? I would say the latter, which is exactly my point. He has no incentive to improve. He missed multiple chances a game at the start of the season, is still missing them now and will likely still be missing them come the end of the season. The players don't improve, they just turn up and do the same thing as the last game.
He's scoring 1 every 3 games in the Championship, over a season that is 15+ goals, he's making more of a contribution than others you could have a go at. He's always missed chances but his overall scoring rate in the Championship is very good.
I'm using him as the example because he is arguably our best and most experienced player and, at least in my opinion, still been underperforming for a long time. If anything using him as the example is pointing out how crap the rest of the squad has been. Like yeah, he's at the top but that is not a ringing endorsement. My point overall is that none of the players improve. I would argue Armstrong is no better now than when he signed for us. And I can't remember the last player who actively got better while playing at Southampton. I can think of many who got a lot worse though.
Without his goals we wouldn't have got promoted last time, he's a vital player for us who plays better at the lower level. I don't think that he has deserved to be dropped is the answer to your point.
