I reckon this current squad is miles ahead of that 80's squad. I made a comment back in are Division One season that that was probably our best team ever and we obviously moved on since then. Of course, if you applied modern training techniques to the 80's squad you'd be a bit closer. But still, if we are talking 'squads' then the 80's one doesn't come close.
If you are comparing era for era, in terms of abilities, fitness, etc.., then of course the 1980's squad don't come close. If you compare the impacts and results they had at the time, then the 1980's squads are still better.
This type of thing is usually reserved for the long summers, but who would make your 22 man squad if you could select from players only between 1978-89(before we became mainly relegation strugglers) or narrow it even more and just McMenemy division one years...see how that best compares with the current crop
I'd take out the word abilities form your line. Some serious quality back then. It has taken us to find Morgan Schneiderlin to get close to Steve Williams.
Yeah, I've also thought since about some of the individuals, so fair enough. IIRC, we had 7 England captains in the squad, at one point. When England were still pretty good, may I add.
Terrific news...a club like ours should support women's football.....at this stage, it can be seen as part of being involved in the community with an eye to the future. I like the idea of starting from scratch, so that the proper standards are in the DNA. Well done to the club and, I suspect, especially to Les Reed.
And if on the off-chance we win a cup, we're back in Europe regardless of league position. Hell, there's more chance of getting CL football via the Europa than via the league for a club our size - if we somehow won the Europa, who's going to care about our league placing as long as we're not in danger of relegation?
Yes definitely, and apart from their ability, for sheer excitement then the early 80's teams were far better to watch than the present team - in my opinion. I remember being excited every game as even when we lost we often still scored a lot of goals. Its just amazing that a young striker so potent as Steve Moran ended up driving a van for a living - different times but i often think of him when our highly paid guys in the present team are struggling to find the back of the net on occasion. We had some very good footballers in the 80's.
Someone should tell Targett that eating a cooked breakfast and pointing at porridge isn't good enough.
I don't think we should be prioritising anything. We should not be sacrificing league position for a run in a cup competition. If you start prioritising you end up being a cup team only, and if you really take your eye off the ball you end up being relegated, or at the very least flirting with it. Besides which, you don't attract top players to a club with no real ambition to become bigger and better. No, a club the size of Southampton should be aiming to win every competition it enters. Just remember that we missed Champions League football this season by 3 [effectively 4] points. That's pretty damn close. And the aim is higher. Why stop.? Imagine what Ralph and Les would say if supporters asked them not to bother too much about the league position.?
I think Puel aims to win every game and intends to rotate the team and involve youngsters in order to do it....no sacrificing of the League Cup.
We had 27 years in the top flight last time n won **** all. I'd gladly have a shorter stint and actually win something I'd like to tell grandchildren stories of the year we won a cup final. Not the year we finished 6th.
Couldn't disagree more. Europa should be our top priority this year as we don't know when it will next come around again.
