If only Adkins was here, he could have told Lallana and Rickie to not miss those easy chances, I dunno why Pochettino didn't tell them
If you look at the stats from the games under Pochettino, we've been better in practically every aspect save points registered (which is pretty close on a per-game basis), and we've passed the eye test, as well. As mentioned above, he's not telling the players to shoot over from obvious chances, and it's something that we saw earlier in the year, as well...and saw for the second half of last season, for that matter. The common factor, I suspect, is the pressure of the situation; late last year, and now again, we face a race against a line, and every goal is vital. Early in this season, our players were facing the task of proving that they belonged at the Premier League level. Part of it is likely innate (our midfield scores a very healthy total, but they likely also receive an unusually-high percentage of the chances, and there isn't necessarily a natural finisher among them), part of it is the moment. When I say 'practically', there's only one aspect that stands out: our work from set-pieces. Earlier in the year we were scoring from them at Stokian levels; now, we're hardly even getting deliveries in good areas. Whether it's not something that's being stressed enough in training or simply a down-swing, I have no clue...though any training focused on routines is largely irrelevant if the ball in either doesn't beat the first man, or ends up going to the opposite corner flag. Lallana did fairly good work previously, but he, Ramirez and Puncheon (who take the majority of them, though Jay is starting to get a few...which isn't necessarily ideal, given that he's not much for crossing) haven't been doing the job. Surprised that, given his crossing ability, Shaw isn't asked to take more of them...whether he's simply no good at it, or it's a philosophical decision to ensure that three defenders aren't forward, no clue.
Never look back and never regret your decisions. Look forward be positive and make the best of of your circumstances. Aspire and achieve. Onwards and upwards. Regret is for losers. Nigel has gone so move on FFS and stop whinging and moaning. PS if you are so in support of our former managers you should have gone to Reading yesterday and you would have been able to see and cheer your avatar hero.
We will never know if Adkins would have kept us up, but I bet he would have been gone in the summer regardless. And we'd have been just as outraged (perhaps more so as Saints fans are used to struggling, then being saved). Cortese just doesn't see him as the future and moved when he saw a manager he wanted. All I want from MP this season is safety, then we can see if he can move us on to the next stage in 2013/4. I don't think my nerves could take Mauricio trying to get us promoted from the Championship.
MoPo will have to spend more time restoring player discipline, he didn't set a very good example himself and Markus hated any confrontation with Officials and NA was always quick to stamp down on any player that stepped out of line. NC may have a few words about this, and also we have started to pick up some uneccesary cards, our fair play record is taking a bashing. I am all for passion, but it has to be under control, the last thing we need now is suspensions.
Some of these bookings are surely down to the higher more aggressive nature of our game. Need to stamp(?) out the dissent bookings though.
We are picking up more fouls because we are being more sensible. We are making fouls that are 'take one for the team'. If there's a break on and they're absolutely thundering forward, we'd rather foul them and take a yellow. Gets all our men back behind the ball and gives us a better chance. I understand that.
Oh for Christs sake I wish people would stop thinking about the past. The future under Pochettino is surely going to be better than under Adkins.
Are we looking like a better team under MP? Yes, I'd say we generally are (although granted, QPR performance was very poor). Have we been unlucky to date under MP? Yes, I would definately say so. We had the chances to beat Everton and Norwich, and we could have easily have picked up better results against Utd, Wigan, Newcastle, QPR. Have we picked up more points from MP's seven games so far, than I anticipated beforehand? Yes. I'd previously predicted just five points. A win vs QPR, and draws to Norwich and Wigan. We've actually picked up six points. The four points vs Everton and Man City were unexpected points for me. And by the way, I hadn't just predicted five points from these seven. I had/have actually predicted five points from nine. So anything from Liverpool and Chelsea will also be a bonus.
Jesus ****ing christ, not again. Yes, we're having a ****ty run. But if you all haven't noticed, (and let's face it, you probably haven't, as it counts as good news) we're actually further away from the relegation zone than we were before the QPR game. What exactly is this bitching and moaning supposed to achieve, anyway? And if you feel the need to call me a happy clapper, then please feel free to go and die in a fire.
Only with the caveat that Wigan don't follow up their 0-3 humiliation of Everton by winning their game in hand
I believe their game in hand is away to Man City... I know football is a funny thing, but the odds of less than 3 points for them are stacked in our favour
Regrettably we may drop into the relegation zone if things don't go right for a couple of games (not hard to imagine when playing Chelsea and Liverpool), but I think this will be brief. A win and our GD will push us back up the table. Two of the teams below us have to do better than us over the rest of the season (harder for Reading and QPR, than for Villa and Wigan). We need to get the points that our play suggests we should...we are due a lucky result.
This is largely the point I was trying to make after the QPR game. We might drop into the bottom three before March is out, but nobody should panic. It would hopefully only be a very brief drop in. And actually, I'm quietly confident that yesterday's point will now keep us out this month. Yes, I could see one of Villa or QPR overtaking us this month (which one depending on their result against each next weekend), but I dan't see them both overtaking us and I can't see Reading overtaking. Which just leaves Wigan. And I have hope that they wont win both of their home games, even though individually they are both winnable.
