Fun game for you boys on Saturday!!! We are a new footy channel ( www.YouTube.com/ballstreet looking to give a little love to teams outside the Top 6. We have a new show called 451 (4 Leagues | 5 Topics | 1 Show) and want to do some video looking at the Reading game on Saturday. We are just a small band of fans who have set this up and dont exactly have the resources of the BBC etc. Thought I would nip on here and see what you guys thought about the Adkins sacking now, how many of you were actually up in arms when it happened and how confident you are of avoiding the drop (Very confident I would assume). Thanks to those that take the time to give us a shout. Always loved the Saints even though you pump my team (Huddersfield) nigh on every time we meet. All the best Matt - p.s. check us out on twitter @ball_street - we will post the clip once it is done.
I think most of us were up in arms over the Adkins sacking, it just came out of nowhere. It just felt like someone that had been so instrumental in our success had been treated very badly by them club, and to some extent it still feels like that now. On the other hand you look at Reading and the way they sacked McDermott and had to conduct a "Reading's next top manager" search, I can see why Cortese decided to make a swift and seamless change just before we had a weekend off. Whilst virtually every Saints fan is going to be extremely grateful for what Adkins achieved here, the results of a poll on this board the other day were a total landslide. Are we a better team under Pochettino: 103 Yes, 2 No. We are far more positive as a team in the way we play, seize opportunities, make decisive substitutions and hang onto leads. My 2 pence worth, hope it helps!
And so the build-up commences.... I can't wait for this one to be over in all honesty. Hopefully with a Saints win.
Best of luck with your project. It's lazy, but please see the recent thread "Are we better under MP?" Also if you want to see the natural reaction of fans, then the beauty of the Internet is the archive system. Can't remember the exact time in Jan that Adkins was sacked but you'll find loads of threads on the subject at the time the news broke.
The build up will snow ball, but I think this game could represent some good closure for a few of us. Us against him, there easy.
Yeah check out the poll results in the "Are we a better team?" thread. Note, if you're gonna use it, at least one of the two "no" votes is a joke.
We were going to stay up with Adkins anyway. Pochettino has only continued what Adkins was doing, perhaps with just a higher tempo - but there isn't a great way of difference in terms of style/formation.
We loved Nigel...he is a Saints hero. We were turning the corner and he would have kept us up. So the first feelings were anger, fear and sorrow. Then we imagined if Cortese left and realised who was most important to our club...he had never led us astray and most fans decided that the new manager needed to be given a chance. Not for us the foolishness of Chelsea fans who would never give Rafa a chance, even though it had a bad effect on their team. Our first game under Mauricio was the most exciting 0.0 draw you will ever see...we should have won by a landslide against a very strong side in Everton. We liked what we saw and realised we have to up our game as fans if we are to match our Chairman's ambition.
Spot on, Fran. I was totally amazed by Nigel's departure and have watched since with a "no-good-will-come-from-this" attitude and Mauricio has won me over. The style with which we swept aside Liverpool; the defending once we had taken the lead against Chelsea would not have happened under NA. Nigel Adkins will forever be a legend. Back to back promotions was beyond our wildest dreams. But Mauricio has taken us to a new level and if you listen to the players they know this to be true. I want this game at Reading done and dusted, and for Reading to go down and come back stronger with Nigel, but by which time we'll be competing with the big boys.
In terms of what he achieved, Nigel Adkins was our most successful manager since Lawrie McMenemy in the late 70's - early 80's, who won us th FA Cup, promotion to Division 1, and came agonisingly close to winning the League Championship. Nigel got us back to back promotions from a starting position of 22nd in League One when he arrived in September 2010, a record which, as others have said, established him as an all-time Saints legend. Like everyone else, I was shocked beyond belief when he was suddenly replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, but a few weeks of getting used to the idea has led to my thinking that the sacking was inevitable, for the following reasons. 1. Nigel may have got us to the Premier league, but it was by no means certain that he could keep us there. We needed a change of style which a new manager would bring to start getting some results. Pochettino's high pressing game has so far brought 12 points from the 9 games he has had in charge, including victories over Man City, Liverpool, and Chelsea. True, we are not yet safe, but a couple more wins should be enough. 2. Our CEO, Nicola Cortese, has ambitions for the club beyond those of most of us fans. He wants us to be challenging for European places within a year or two, and has already hinted at expanding the stadium to coincide with this. We needed a manager who could get us to this next level, and it appears that Cortese did not have the confidence that Nigel Adkins could get us there. It remains to be seen whether Mauricio will! 3. I won't go into details as I have no knowledge but there have been hints on this board that there was some unrest among the playing staff with some of Nigel Adkins' tactical decisions, particularly making late and ineffective substitutions.
I really disagree with this - I think the difference in style and tactical foresight has been chalk and cheese to some extent. I do think we would have (just) stayed up under Nigel, but I'd strongly suggest that MP's progression with the team is a lot more than just continuing what Nigel was doing.
Why you think the progression is different. What collective team qualities have become more evident? work rate, composure, movement etc? or is it about personnel and tactics? Be really interested to hear your views on how things have changed. Thanks
Thanks very much for this. Really insightful and nicely laid out. Thanks everyone too. A very balanced and informed bunch. Appreciate everyone taking time to feedback. Will post the clip when it is done. Best Matt - Ball Street
Mauricio is certainly getting more from Jay Rodriguez. Adkins couldn't seem to get the best out of a player we'd paid 7 mill for. Jay has more freedom to play centrally whilst Lambert pulls defenders away. (Lambert is a magnet for defenders...don't understand why. See picture on gallery of him laughing at John Terry who is clutching him desperately round the legs).
Because more and more Adkins was reverting to Lambert in a Grant Holt role whereas pre the half way point in the Championship Lambert had always done what he is doing now. Pretty much the No 10 role and interchanging with others. Adkins' team was struggling to exert themselves as much in games from that half way point last year and from there Lambert became absolutely the main man instead of one of many. In L1 and the first half of the Championship we weren't as reliant on Lambert as we had a team and style that was walking through the other teams. From the half way stage and onwards teams were combatting this and I don't think Adkins knew how to change things other than direct to Lambert. Somehow Mauricio has managed to return to that more fluid attack where Lambert often finds himself as the playmaker as we saw for the first goal against Chelsea. Probably the more intense higher pressing is giving our forward 4 much more room as well as the full backs being able to push on knowing that the DMs can cover for them. That's probably also the reason that Davis is more suited than Ramirez because Lambert is occupying the space where Ramirez wants to be. Will be hard to fit Ramirez in unless he can play anywhere across the line of 3 because none of our attackers have fixed positions
Yeh, read this thread if you want. http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...-Saints-manager-Southampton-FC-Football/page3 It's got some nuggets in: " I would suggest that nobody wears their team shirt or colours to the Everton game." "I shall be wearing black as today is a very sad day in the history of Southampton FC." "What a load of absolute bollocks." "If Adkins is sacked, saints will not have another penny off of me for many years, and I will probably stop following football for a while." "The team will be de(s)troyed" "If this happens we can wave good bye to the Premier league." "A little part of me would want us to get relegated if this were to happen"
