Seeing as you look comfortably safe, has this season been up to your expectations? Did you hope for more? Has the team performed consistently? Is there anything you would have liked to have seen done differently? Your thoughts and views please
Afternoon R. I think most of us pre-season would have been thrilled with 9th place but I supoose after our great start we are mildly annoyed that we let a chance of a cup or higher finish slip away by not making enough of all our possession. That said we are being lauded for our style of play and our youngsters so if we can keep the squad together and add a couple we could be a real force next season!
Well, I predicted and expected 8th place, it seemed like most others were expecting higher, so I guess a few will be disappointed. The team performed very well at first (albeit with a fairly easy run of fixtures) but hasn't really been consistent for most of the season since. We generally beat teams below us and lose to teams above though (or draw) so maybe you can say that is consistent in a way. After a promising start our biggest weakness has been in defence, I think all but one of our wins have had clean sheets, which shows when we concede we tend to struggle. The FA cup exit was the biggest disappointment of the season for me, but on the other hand it's great to see the form of our English players and the recognition they're getting now. The thought of seeing Lallana at the world cup is quite exciting.
Before the start of the season I was expecting to finish between 10-12 but what was important to me is that we kept playing the same 'red arrows' style. It is annoying we could not beat Sunderland especially in either of the cup runs and that we don't turn possesion into more goals. I still think we can finish above Newcastle and that should be our goal for the rest of the season. Next season if we can keep our manager and our key players I think 6th or 7th is within our ability to achieve, but it is a big IF.
I think before the start of the season, most would have expected top half as the next step. However, with an easy few first fixtures, I think people's expectations raised a bit higher. Unfortunately some key injuries during our toughest run of fixtures meant that we never maintained our high position. Overall, I think most would be happy with the progression made this year in comparison to last year, and will hope to climb a bit higher next season. A cup run would have been nice. I understand not being too keen at the start of the season, but when our safety was looking pretty much secured, I'd have liked a good go at the FA Cup. Saying that, I think the team we put out was probably good enough to win that match, they just didn't perform on the day.
There have been disappointing games, but overall a good season. We play a style I like, most of our players are internationals (especially pleased with the England call ups), a string of youngsters are coming through, and the new Academy buildings are nearing completion. Saints are stable, despite losing the Chairman who set us on our way. We had a fantastic start, but that was always unlikely to continue...looking at who is above us, 9th is about right...though I would like us to jump over Newcastle.
Singular games are always going to be disappointing from any individuals point of view - and I fully admit I am the worst in the world for that - but overall if you say 'We are Southampton' and genuinely remember it then finishing anywhere from 10th through to 7th in our second season after going from League One to here is actually fantastic. I think any feelings of disappointment from the general supporters [nutters excluded] is down to the 'Champions League qualification' twaddle that was bandied about at the beginning of the season [including from the club] which heightens expectations to an unrealistic level. The England call-up malarky and Sir Rickie's goal have been huge highlights and overall general Southampton play has been encouraging. Overall it's been a great season [unless we lose every game between now and the close 6-0]. Disappointments are - our attitude to the cup competitions, we aren't Chelsea or Manchester City and whatever the management say I do not believe they were using them to give fringe players run-outs. I just think there absolutely no interest in even trying to win either competition and if we could go out first round the club management would be happy. This season, above all else, proves this was misguided in the least. It really does stick in my craw. Not really a disappointment as such but I am worried that we seem to have one tactic and if someone changes their's during the game and it is effective we're in big trouble. Also never having won a game after going a goal down would seem to bear that out. Overall I would give the season B+ but with a bit forethought in some cases it could have been even better. So even though I gripe and annoy people I have to say I am happy about our performance. Next season I hope we are casting a eye over in the direction of WBA and Swansea City and are looking to push-on rather than implode. Otherwise what is the point and we will really have something to be disappointed about. The opinions expressed here are probably twaddle and other opinions are available.
I hoped we'd win more games? My (I thought optimistic) target was 8th, with the expectation that we would have built ourselves into a solid mid-table Premier League side unlikely to be troubled by the bad-old relegation battles that we are so used to. My expectation was also that the big-name players would push us on to a higher level. That has not worked out. What I did not expect was that our ex-League1 players and youth team would do that for us instead - while the big name players (perhaps excluding Vic who has tried hard and done relatively well) showed us how big money does not always bring happiness and success (in our case it seems to do the opposite). My hope is that we continue to build our - and England's - squad over the next few years, and that we might actually get our moneys-worth next year. And that we beat Sunderland away...
I guess we are about where I expected (hoped) we would be. I think it has been made clear to us we still do not have the necessary quality to move much higher. We have good players it is true but we will definitely need better for the next stage in my opinion. If we are to go for trophy's then we are going to need better depth as well. I make that we need a minimum of 4 quality players in before we can hope to move on and maybe a couple more for the bench!! Just to keep some of our better players on their toes......
It's our attack's fault, we shouldn't have to hope our defence keep a clean sheet in order to win the game.
I truly do not think you can actually blame defence or attack. The reason I say this is because both have made glaring errors at some time or other. When you look at our for or against columns they stand up to any of the 3/4 teams above us. Indeed we are not even that far off a team like Arsenal. If I was to be critical I would have to argue perhaps we have not scored enough goals which our possession has often warranted. Which in my book is because we do not have the quality needed in this league. Not any particular persons fault as such just a lacking of quality............
That's one way of looking at it. The way I see it is that we rarely fail to score, but we often fail to keep a clean sheet, and often the goals we concede are entirely preventable.
Great season. Apart from two home games (Wet Spam and Sunderland) I've not been bored, win or lose. Our banzai tactics lead to interesting games. I go to football to be entertained (rather than to be miserable and unhappy about what's going on on the pitch like so many fans), so it's perfect for me. Vin
There are many positives and I was looking for an improvement on last season and I got it. When you look at our first 11, they are able to give anyone a game. I think the home tie against Arsenal was probably the highlight game and Adam has become the player we all hoped, and could get even better. I am as guilty as anyone of getting over-optimistic about what to hope for in terms of league position but our squad is too thin to have done much better. It feels like where we are now is probably reasonable.
