No. Whilst I am in agreement with the club as to ambition I also am not one of the types who want rid of a manager as soon as the first opposition goal goes in. I would want Ronald to stay and even extend his contract, if Saints were to fail in their ambitions. He's the perfect manager to bring young players along into the squad, plus he has that kind of presence and reputation as a man that great players want to play for him. The team he has around him is also superb. Erwin is quite obviously going to be a great assistant - they think along the same lines, and the rest of them are top notch people. I'd give that up very reluctantly indeed. No. Koeman most definitely IN. Your other point about realism. We're supporters. We don't really have to deal with realism too much. The club do that and they say what ambitions they are going for. They have all the data, we just have opinion. We can be as positive as we dare. All I dare to do is be as positive as the club. It's not a big deal for me to do that. And the club doesn't fold if the Board or I am wrong.
Fair enough yeah it wasn't a dig at you, just in general I think a lot of fans are expecting too much from the team after last year and that challenging Pool/Spurs will be the norm now, when that's unlikely to be the case.
I'm all for optimistic/overoptimistic/daft/downright blinkered expectations. It's how supporters behave after all. Likewise, I'm all for a rational and logical assessment of where our expectations should be pitched. The two can and often do sit comfortably. What was really apparent to me on Sunday though was Long's demeanour post-match. He was talking like Wenger after a disappointing result and it wasn't just generic footballer interview cliches; he really meant it. His view of "we created enough chances to win - we should have taken those chances - we're better than that - big disappointment - should be beating teams like Newcastle"* is clearly a belief that runs right through the squad. If the squad have those standards, surely it's not a bad thing for us to have them too. *I'm paraphrasing but have no doubt that's what he was saying.
Forgive me, but I think you're subconciously slipping back into lowering your sights. You like what I write [I therefore assume you agree] yet limit the club's own stated ambition. At this point in the evolution, Saints ambition is clearly to be challenging the likes of Liverpool and Spurs, and to me that's perfectly possible, year in, year out. I'm not saying that will definitely happen every season, but I'm certainly not going to call it unlikely. In fact, I'd call it likely. Btw, I know you're weren't having a pop.
Absolutely.! Long gone [sorry] is the we're lucky to be in the same division as these people, sort of attitude. That defintely hasn't been the case since July 2009. I love the fact that Saints have the we're better than that attitude. Their own expectations are probably higher than 95% of ours on here. However, I see no reason not to back them in their attitude.
Apologies if already posted. A nice bit of analysis of some of the tactical movement from Sunday's game. http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/08/11/tactical-analysis-newcastle-united-2-2-southampton/
Perhaps Shane is best as a fresh player coming on late in the game. It is a pity for him if it is so, but his problem will be getting starts to prove/disprove this theory.
You're probably right.....I just think we look at lot more threatening with him on the pitch. Also think the confidence of a few starts would improve him further.
The advantage that he does have is that if he carries on like this he is at least guaranteed some game time.
Long will get plenty of starts this season I'm sure. Either way he's a very useful player to have in the squad.
Not sure that 5ft 11ins is a small man, even in this era, but I get the point. I tend to measure the leap by how high the feet are off the ground if straight legged [rather than head height] and the hips [approx' centre of gravity], and he's almost Ron Davies high in all the shots of him scoring. Especially when you consider he's probably on his way back down.
