He's from the Island, he'll probably start supporting Bournemouth if we go down and they stay up...and I'll say good riddance to him.
Ok, I haven't read any posts since page 5, so don't know what has been said. In the first instance, how did we manage to lose that? We opened them up so easily, down their right, throughout the game, and put quite a few decent balls into the danger area. WE HAD ENOUGH CHANCES TO HAVE WON CONVINCINGLY!? But we didn't. Again. And this was despite being very lack lustre for large portions of the game. Several players didn't turn up, Boufal in particular, and Cedric had one of his worse games for a while. Only real positive, was that Gabbiadini looks the real deal. Some super touches that showed that some of our players aren't thinking quickly enough, as they were slow in reacting to some lovely little passes, around the corner. He made plenty of good runs, into dangerous areas. He's far too good for the Championship , so we better put the brakes on the slump we are experiencing. I'm not saying we will get relegated, but we are exhibiting relegation form. We need a lucky break, much like they had for their third goal. Forster had it covered, all the way, until Davis flicked it over his shoulder.
As for the difference in the efl cup that's completely normal. (Relatively) poor teams win cups fairly often, it often requires a bit of luck to win a cup competetion. Wigan and Birmingham have both gone down in the same year as winning a domestic cup in the last 6 years. Added to that, 2/3 English winners of the CL this century have finished 5th and 6th respectively. Liverpool were European champions with Milan Baros as their striker ffs A 38 game, slog of league campaigh is the true indicator of a teams quality. And we're pretty average if we're all honest with ourselves.
I would try a back four of Cedric,Maya,Ryan and Sam at Sunderland .....need to try something different.
There are plenty of positives to come out of this season, VVD, Romeu, JWP, Cedric the emergence of McQueen, Sims, Hesketh and Stephens, the wins against Inter, Arsenal and Liverpool and getting to Wembley BUT the league results have been quite disappointing.
We've had mixed success with our tactics, I think. But we are hurting bad without VVD. He was really massive for us. I like Bertrand as well, but there's only so much he can do on the left. Cedric is better going forward than back, but he's okay. But a backline of "Okay, meh, meh, decent" isn't going to cut it. Especially when they don't get much support from the central midfielders (bar Romeu).
I thought that Saints might win today but I didn't anticipate getting turned ovdr quite so easily. After the opening goal, it actuially seemed like we would easily take all three points. In fairness to Puel, the injury crisis has been a significant element of the bad run of form. Beofre his injury, we were relying on Austin's goals whereas Van Dijk and Fonte at the back were imperious. We now have the situation where the latter is a long term injury. Allowing Fonte to leave looks like a very poor decision. I would suggest that the honourable thing regarding Puel's situation would bave been the board to have stuck by him. There is no doubt he has been unlucky. Getting us to Wembley has been a massive achievement even if the most used phrase I hear coming from Saints fans this week is "papering over the cracks." However, watching the abject display this afternoon, I feel that Puel's future will rest on the Sunderland game, This is a match we must win. I feel it would be very unlike Southampton not to allow Puel to lead his team out at Wembley but I think the match has the potentional to be a rout due to the injuries that are stacking up. I have not said this explicity before but if we loose to Sunderland, I think Puel should go. I don't like his style of football and I can't see how come the club has allowed the standard of exciting football played in the past to descend in to something that it monotonous at best and verging on incompetent at worst. True, there have been some brilliant performances against the likes of Liverpool and Inter milan where Puel has got it absolutely correct. He is not incompetenet but today saw him tactically outthought by another middle-of the-table manager in Bilic and we are seeing this increasingly often this season. Under Puel, we can never expect to see sides put to the sword as was the case under Koeman. Listening to the interview on Radio Solent in the car, I had to admit that I find his assessment's maddening as I cannot understand what he is trying to say other that "we will assess the situation" or allude to being pleased with elements of the game. He is like an ostrich with his head buried in the sand. I can only guess at how uninspiring he must be to the players and wonder whether they are frustrated by him inability to get the message across too. I am appreciative that speaking a foreign language is very difficult and Puel's English is much better than my French. Yet when we empoloyed Pochettino he used an interpreter. Unfortuantely the combination of Puel's poor English and the generally unsatisfactory league results just give the impression that we are being managed by Inspector Clouseau. I cannot see quite how Puel can reverse our fortunes if he cannot see that there is a problem. There are talented players in the squad who have "done the business" in previous seasons yet you wonder if our ofrtunes will be turned around shortly. In the end Dave Merrington was asked to comment and he repated the same observations that he generally makes each week. Given Merrington's own less-than-brilliant reign at the helm of Southampton, it is all too depressing if even he can identify the problems at the club. In the end I had to turn the radio off because it was too depressingand put on a Lee Morgan CD instead,
Another predictable match, another predictable result, another predictably depressing slip up. This season (cup aside) has completely bored me to death. The board has failed in part, the manager has failed in part (stop sitting so deep and stop excessively tinkering) and there are plenty of lessons that need to be learnt before next season. Let's hope we can finish with a cup win and ensure we don't get dragged too deeply into any relegation battle,
It's fundamentally the board's fault that we're in this position, but at the end of the day, no board sacks themselves. People shouldn't be naïve; the manager is always the first to go, regardless of what hand he has been dealt. On that basis, the league cup final saves Puel. Otherwise, I honestly think he'd be a Sunderland defeat away from getting sacked. Because we're a Sunderland defeat away from having to concede that the worst might yet happen. And it' the board's fault.
I feel Bournemouth are going down having lost Ade (back to Chelsea) and Wilson. As for the other two, it will involve everyone from Burnley down. It may need a total of around 40 points this year to survive with everyone beating everyone else in the bottom half at the moment, except Saints and Bournemouth.
Yes, this is what I've been mulling over on the way home. Some of the board's failings directly contribute to factors that will, if things continue, result in Claude's sacking. I do question the atmosphere around the club and the group (through both direct conversations and from general observations) and bad results do nothing but make that worse. He's been failed in the January market, the summer market wasn't strong enough and now the injuries have been stacking up too. Those are things that really, in this age, aren't his fault. But sitting too deep, being too reactive and not proactive and seemingly struggling to motivate the side on a regular basis are all things that fall at Claude's door.
Was it the usual chit-chat around Chelsea wanting VVD during the week? If so how about Ade, Abraham, Loftus-Cheek and £20million cash.
Klopp looks more and more like a librarian whose budget has just been slashed, yet he's had a fine amnesty foisted on him by County Hall.
