well thought out post but I don't understand where the 'Adkins out of his depth' sentiment from a minority is coming from. Against Man City he made 2 subs that made instant impacts. Nearly got us 3 points in probably the hardest away game on paper. Against Wigan he admitted he made a mistake however.......that mistake was going 4-4-2 which was what all the moaners were suggesting we should be doing so he was only as bad as many on this forum Against Man U he had no choice. Adam, Punch and Lambert had not been in the game for 10 minutes after Scholes came on. Scholes had pushed us back 10 yards further than we were for the prior 60 odd minutes and so he had to take off the tired legs in an attempt to push us back out. Yes it failed but he had to take those tired legs off. Rather than Adkins being out of his depth he just didn't have any answer on the bench to Scholes who showed yet again even at his age what an incredible footballing mind he has. So I don't blame Adkins. We just don't have Man U's quality in terms of depth. It's something we aspire to have in a few years however at this moment in time it is more important to keep the ball rolling along. Maintain Premier League status and build as we go. Teh five year plan was to get to the Prem, not to go from League one to Champions league in 5 years.
one error for me, not having Chaplow on the bench. He can play across midfield and with his energy could have been tasked with picking up Scholes.
Depends how you work it. Wigan over the last 10 premier league games are bettered only by a few teams.
Playing any team who has had a prolonged spell in the PL must be considered a difficult game for a team that has had a complete overhaul and has ridden rapidly up the leagues.
At the end of last season, the Manager was hailed a hero among heroes – today we have played two of the strongest and richest teams in the PL – they had the resources to pack their bench with more experienced substitutes than Southampton currently can muster. We played well; we scored goals against difficult teams. We will face lesser teams this season and – with our new captures integrated into the team – we can expect some tough but successful matches. It is far, far too early to make judgements – first we all say Nigel Adkins is a great and inspirational manager and now we have doubts because we have a tough time in a tough lead in. He is not out of his depth – unlike most PL managers, he has personally hauled a football club up through two divisions over successive seasons. That is not the record of a failing manager in any business. Of course it is a learning curve for him, it would be for any such Manager – but he has solid, documented experience of generating success with his teams. There is no basis for assuming that he will be incapable of moving forward during the season. Saints do not have the resources of the Manchesters, but they certainly have the resources of many other PL teams. Be patient – be positive!
Adkins is well aware of what we have to do. The biggest learning curve I think is for the players. Most of them are new to the PL, and with these opening fixtures, the players are realising the hard way the sort of standards they need to maintain. They've learnt some important lessons: 1. Effort on its own isn't enough. Good teams approach matches with the mentality of dominating the game and making the opposition chase the game and run themselves into the ground. Tired defenders make more mistakes. The way to counter this is to get in their faces, stop them passing and play your own game. Easier said than done of course, but it has to be done to win games without seriously riding your luck. 2. It's not just the big teams that capitalise on mistakes. 3. We knew this already, but these tough opening games are really hammering home the need to adapt to the more fluid system where we can get more men around the ball. The players are showing good signs of addressing these challenges. I'm confident of getting a result against Villa.
I disagree with most of your points. Judging Ramirez on 3 games in the olympics which I am sure you didn't really watch. Congratz, the sun need to sign you up.
1. The same player who's had the likes of Inter Milan, Liverpool and Tottenham after him? 8 goals 6 assists last season for Bologna, with just one of the assists coming outside Serie A. 2. I see what you mean, I would still like to see Hammond with us but sadly that's not the case. I think that Steve Davis can be similar to Case because he gets stuck in and brings the ball forward. 3. We have-Morgan Schneiderlin! 4. Of the 11 that started against United, the only ones that didn't look up to it were the CBs, Fox and K Davis. Yoshida can be given a chance and can come in at centre back and I think we make up for our vulnerable defence by having a lot of attacking options. All of our attacking players that started on sunday were exceptional, and the likes of Lee, Ramirez, Mayuka and Rodriguez weren't even on the team sheet. Plus we have Cork to come back as well. 5. We scored two goals against the top two teams in the country. Our defence started off fairly weak last season, especially away from home and it improved as the season went on-we ended up having the third best defence in the division. Our back five needs time to gel, of our League One promotion regulars, only Fonte and K Davis were first choices in the Championship. Clyne has become a new starter and it looks like Yoshida will too, but our defence will only start to show its true quality when the new players have gelled within the team. We need time.
If you think the top teams are hard to beat wait until you play the bottom teams...They are harder as they need the points also....Its a very difficult league to stay in as a newly promoted side....Its exciting though and the parachute payment helps...
Let's say that, rather than taking the lead in both games, we'd been comfortably outworked by both City and United, trailing throughout in each game but putting together a late goal against largely content opposition to lose by one. Would there be the same kind of misery? I somewhat doubt it; we'd have exceeded the expectations of a lot of people without actually threatening to win, so the result wouldn't be burdened by the same sort of "what if?" despair. Ultimately, this is the reality of building a very young, very talented team: they're going to win some in spectacular fashion, and they're going to lose some in spectacular fashion. But I'd much rather than we followed the path that we're following -- putting together a group of players who have the potential to do much, much more than survive over the next few years -- and took on the inherent risks, rather than building merely to stick around. Swansea is a great example; they came up with ambition, they stayed up with ambition, and because of that ambition they've achieved a rare feat for a second-year team in replacing a good manager and good footballers with (potentially) an even better manager and better footballers. As a result, they very much appear a club that won't have to worry about relegation for some time, and they could have their eye on the top half of the table for some time. But at the end of the day, ambition isn't a synonym for success, so it could backfire. If that happens, we're back in the Championship, our finances are still sound (the combination of parachute payments and the departure of players wanting top-flight football should guarantee that), we still have a top-notch ground and facilities and one of the best talent pipelines in the country...plus a demented chairman who seems to have an incredible touch in the transfer market. And we'll be back. As far as worst-case scenarios go, that's hardly catastrophic.
!00% agree with this and think saints will finish in top 10 and have put my money where my mouth is! £ 100 at 14 -1 with ladbrokes. Hopefully this will pay for season tickets for a couple of years!!!!
Top post and one that looks at the bigger picture perfectly....We have signed all these young players on long term contracts with the future very much in mind. I expect a year on year improvement and with the Southampton philosophy of "improving players to be the best that they can be" (look at Rickie) and being schooled in " the Southampton way" of playing, I predict that we WILL be a regular top ten team pushing for europe in a few years playing a brand of attractive, passing and attacking football. Far from being worried about the Premier League, I'm really excited with the potential and I'm looking forward to a very bright future for the club.
Poorly constructed sentence. Hopefully rational argument, without anyone becoming abuse. Perhaps this is what he means? I had to think also when I read your original post.
Totally agree. We needed someone with a little bit of grit, a bit of bite to neutralize the threat of Scholes. Certainly Guly wasn't that man and I thought Adkins was a bit hamstrung in his choice of subs. Learning curve, in a way it's probably best that we get the top 3 out of the way in the first 4 games.
Some great posts with as you would expect some different opinions. There is a lot of logic content to your post Ian but also things that are just your opinion that others will disagree. Such as, i was at the GB game and for some strange reason Rameriz stood out for me, quite possiably because he looked quality. We are where we are with lots of hard work within the club and on the pitch and that wont stop. We all know improvment is required in many areas and if we as fans think that we are the only ones that relise that , then maybe we should put a consortium together and buy the club, or just leave it to the people who know and have taken us to two successive promotions. Patience is required.
Thanks for your insight from the experience of 1 season. We shall keep our fingers crossed that we can survive our 14th
I'm not sure if "bite" or "grit" are quite the words. "Bite" suggests a player who can kick opposition up in the air when what we really needed was a fresh pair of legs who could take a few touches on the ball, slow the game down and move the ball on to feet. The sort of strength they need is a low centre of gravity. Guly is all arms and legs, so isn't ideal.
Any post on here thar appears to be negative/realistic shall be dismissed and the writer will be outcast as a peddler of evil .
