Our most likely positions are in the range 3-7. Luck will play a good part. Incidentally I don't see any evidence that Levy sacks managers based on league positions. I think its more likely that he sacks them when they don't deliver on something important that they promised in the hiring process. If they were stupid enough to say that they can get the team into the top four and then don't - why do they deserve to stay?
At the start of last season when everyone was saying we where building for the title, I remained calm (and realistic) and said its likely we will finish 7th. OK I was one position off but I believe if you think about this realistically then you will realise we aren't getting top four and the best we can hope for is to bounce between 5th to 7th.
the difference this time is we have a manager who is on the up unlike AVB who failed at chelsea and Timmy who was unproven. The last 2 managers we had who were on the way up did well at the club (Redknapp & Jol)
There is more chance of Pochettino just being the next "flavour of the month" then being good enough to lead us to top four. Yes you're right in that fans view his appointment in a more positive light (then Avb & Sherwood) but there is also a higher level of competition from clubs who are also on the up and have better managers or more talented squads.
Yes he may be a better manager , but he can not take us further as others above are in another league . Net spend and proven managers come hand in glove when concerning success. At best we may have one but it takes two . We are Yesterdays nearly men.
Yes' there's nothing like a bit of optimism, is there? And I was quite looking forward to next season...
Close season always brings optimism as fans latch onto previous and say "Look what happened to Bale, it could happen to Lamela"......"look what Rodgers done with Liverpool, It could happen to us", Its largely wishful thinking and Sidney is right, we're yesterdays men when it comes to being the top four "surprise" team. There is no room to progress under Levy (and ENIC's) ownership.
Yet more sparkling optimism....is there no end to it?...I'm no fan of Levy's managerial appointment making skills, but the law of averages says that even he has to get one right eventually. Let's hope this is the one. At least, if and until, it can be proved otherwise.
It's a very interesting team, no doubt about that. So many debatable starters, unproven players and disappointments plus Lloris (ATM), Eiriksen and Ade. You would think there's a very good team hiding in there somewhere. Maybe two. The gossip now favors not keeping Ade, but I wonder why. If Poch is going to play a 4-3-2-1, he'll have a hard time finding a striker with better hold up and all around skills. Yet Ade flourished in a 4-4-2, and certainly didn't in AVB's 4-3-2-1.
Adebayor is all about the attitude. If Pochettino is going to be a training drill sergeant who makes AVB look like Arry, then he will probably be better off going elsewhere.
Pochettino was apparently the players mate at Southampton. If true, I'll put this down to him being young (naive) and he better learn fast you can't be the players mate at a bigger club. Avb tried that. falling out with his mate Ekotto (and then Adebayor) as contrary to what's been said, Avb, Ekotto & Adebayor where all friendly at one point and the players viewed Avb as "one of the lads". If Pochettino can't keep the right distance between players then he has virtually no chance of succeeding, on what are already slim chances to begin with.
I understand Ade could well have another bad year and/or not get on with Poch. But the hardest and most expensive thing to get out of a team is goals, and the Ade-Eiriksen connection were getting them at a good clip. As we've discussed, it's a difficult decision.
Our squad is at least as good as Liverpool's on paper but it has failed to deliver so far, not too surprising considering the management changes. Plenty of reasons for optimism, but I suppose it is some peoples method of dealing with disappointment. Of course we will win the league! Once again the get rid of Adebayor band wagon gets rolling. Considering how difficult it is to find a top striker it's a little surprising to find so many want rid of the one top striker we have had for the last few years. He was our main man in many games last season and I wouldn't even be thinking about outing him unless he fails this season.
Surely the Soton's players comments proves he does know where to stand in terms of meeting the balance of being a mate as well as a leader? I don't think us being a bigger club shouldn't dictate that it means he won't do well here, most of our lads seems like a good bunch and what with it being a relatively young squad, they're probably looking for a good man-manager who can also push them on to new levels (hopefully). On another note, seems Lamela is definitely going to be here next season (not that many of us thought he wouldn't be), he tweeted saying "I'm really looking forward to this season, come on you spurs!!" along with a photo of him doing a bit of stretch work in the gym.
You could think that (and you do) but its different at a bigger club (in my view anyway) as if you get too friendly with the players then I don't believe you can gain the amount of respect needed to get to the level we need. With smaller clubs (less expectations) its easier to be more friendly as less is expected. Anyhow thats just my view and we will obviously find out in the next year (or two) if Pochettino adopts the same type of balance, or he may be more stricter.
Its because fans don't trust him. Even his biggest supporter will be expecting some sort of drama from Adebayor, but if Ade can also deliver on the pitch and play to the level he did under Redknapp (and Sherwood) then I agree, we would be foolish to even consider selling him. Although Pochettino will need to understand Adebayor and its no coincidence that Redknapp & Sherwood (both oldschool in their approach) got the best out of Adebayor while Avb (modern) struggled.
We need to appreciate though that while we are a bigger club than Soton, we're hardly looking at challenging for the title or dominating Europe (yet!), so it's not as if Poch is taking a massive step up, we haven't got too many egotistical players that'll think they're bigger than him like you would at a club like City/ Utd so I think he's moving to a similar bunch in terms of personality though most are at a higher level performance wise than the Soton lads.
Come on buddy, Saints are a tiny little club on the south coast. They are minuscule compared to ourselves
