2:00 mins in they start about Chelsea's challengers and Chapman tries and tries to drop Southampton into that ... then from about 3:15 it is about Saints. Love Martin Keown ... "then they lose three of their top players" he has already realized that Lovren is **** and I can only pretend that the other one must be Lallana (just because I want to believe that)
Mark Chapman tries to say 'Southampton will be under pressure', but this pressure is based on expectation, which the 'big' clubs will have, as they try to/need to live up to past glories. With Saints, even Ron Koeman admits (publicly) to being 'surprised' at our success, so no-one is expecting us to be where we are, now or at the end of the season. However, there is no story in 'Unfancied club does well and enjoys the season', so the media need to make out that Southampton are under pressure. It's the same pressure of getting all six numbers in the lottery - not to be expected,but, well, it might happen, and if you've ticked off four of them, you might start to sit up and take notice. I am optimistic enough to believe that we can go all the way, but if we don't win/get top four/play in Europe next season, I'll still be a Saints fan and I'll still know that we gave it a bl**dy good go
We have players who have won titles Gardos - romanian league champions 2012/2013, 2013/2014 (Romanian Supercup 2013) S.Mane - Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian cup 2013/2014 V.Wanyama - SPL 2011/2012, 2012/2013 Toby Alderweireld - Eredivise 2010â11, 2011â12, 2012â13 La liga 2013/2014 Ryan Bertrand -UEFA Champions League: 2011â12 Fraser Forster - Scottish Premiership: 2011â12,2012â13,2013â14 Scottish Cup: 2011,2013 G.Pelle - Feyenoord Top Scorer: 2012â13 (29 goals), 2013â14 (26 goals) Dusaan Tadic - Eredivisie Top Assists: 2010â11, 2013â14 Davis, Fonte, Schniderlin - JPT Being a football "expert"/analyst is so easy
The big difference with big clubs is that a wedge of their fans support them BECAUSE they are successful, rather than just being deliriously happy with any success they get (as we are). This is why there is such pressure on them. If we have a period of sustained success, we may attract a few glory hunting fans - but I don't think any of us will mind when they bugger off back to supporting Manchester United / City / Chelsea / Liverpool when our success wanes. Fans who choose their allegiance based on success will never know happiness of the levels we achieve for simple things like winning the JP Trophy.
I was thinking the same thing - over 50,000 Saints fans, celebrating a trophy that most glory-hunting fans couldn't spell, let alone be happy about winning - One of the best chants the Northam End has ever come up with, in response to Chelsea's song about winning the Champions League was "Johnstone's Paint Trophy - you'll never win that"
I think you're all being a bit harsh and have to say Shearer is wrong. Comparing Saints to Liverpool pressure and expectation: At the beginning of the season: Saints would be expected (from within at least) to be safe from relegation by a fair margin at worst with a target of exceeding last season's performance and having a good run in the cups. So where we are at the moment Saints are under no pressure. We are exceeding expectation and the season is only in it's first third. Reality says our initial targets and expectation will have been raised. In other words we now expect to be top 6 at the end and maybe win a cup, however know one expects us to maintain second and think we should win a cup. Liverpool are under intense pressure. Their targets will not have been lowered by much if at all. They maybe will now chalk off the good run in the CL but the target will still be top 4 in the league and to win a cup. To achieve that is going to take some performance now. If the situation continues to 20 - 30 games then pressure WILL increase on Saints because the closer to the end of the season we get if we are in a good position then it is like the cup for a smaller team. The closer to the final you get the bigger the game is. The more nerves and adrenalin there is. Liverpool would be expected to at least be top 4 again and have a decent run in the CL whilst possibly winning one of the cups. So I think Shearer is right when he says the players are under no pressure now but the closer you get to the end game then the more pressure you feel. The more you feel pressured. That is when you see how different people react under pressure. Lots of top talents in all sorts of competitions can crumble when that big moment gets closer. World record holders have crumbled at that crucial Olympic final (or earlier.) Teams (Keegans lot) have crumbled when they approach that momentus event. Pressure from outside has zero effect. It is pressure from within that is telling. Meaning it doesn't matter is someone keeps telling you that you'll fail, unless you start to think about it yourself and let it affect you.
Maybe it's the difference between 'hope' and 'expectation'. I expect that we will be safe from relegation (although during the summer I was veering towards hope). I hope that we will remain in contention for a top four place at the end of the season, but I'm realistic enough to consider that it will not be an expectation. However (I'm getting ahead of myself, here) NEXT season there will be genuine expectation that Saints will do well, and the more seasons we continue to do well, the more the expectation builds, until we fall into the "Big" club expectation/arrogance scenario. Right, I'll stop pontificating, and just enjoy the moment. WE'RE SECOND IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE!!!
It is bloody fantastic that Saints winning the league can even be discussed seriously on a football show. As Shearer said: just enjoy it.
I've always maintained that psychology is the biggest factor in performance. If you really believe in something then you have a far greater chance of achieving that something than if you simply treat it as an aspiration or a dream. Despite the public talking down of our chances by Koeman, you can bet your bottom dollar that he isn't saying those things in the dressing room and you just know that the players are certainly starting to really believe that they can, not could, can pull of something exceptional this year. A win at Villa followed by a strong performance against City, both in front of the cameras, and those players will start to feel the benefit of true momentum. Momentum coupled with belief is truly heady mix and when you consider the headstart we have over our rivals, who knows where it will take us.
Exactly. I would add though it is more how you deal with the reality of things and the belief in things. i.e. I believe we can win the league but I think the reality is that 8th is more likely then turns into where we are now where that same player can think I believe we can win the league but the reality is that 5th is more likely. If we are still in this situation after 20 that 5th turns into 4th, after 30 it may turn into 2nd. Who knows we could be top after 35 games need 2 wins out of 3 to win the title and in that case the player has to be thinking 'We are going to win this'. Any player that starts the season firmly believing they will win the league with no counter balance of reality in there is going to crash at some point. You believe in your own abilities to win but you have to balance them somehow or things can go really really bad (cough cough Liverpool / Man U)
You have to treat every game as a chance to win without getting ahead of yourself. Saints are good enough to beat any team on our day and that is how they should approach every game. Too easy to think about having all the top sides coming up...we aren't playing them all at the same time...just 11 players on one day. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey. The only thing I would say is that you have to take these rare moments when they come round and your stars are in alignment...Blackburn did, whereas Newcastle and Liverpool didn't and they got no second chance.
IIRC, Ronald Koeman said that Southampton (well Ronald, anyway) was not looking beyond the next game, so the only expectation is that we prepare in the right way, for every match. This 'short-termism' will also mean that (Abridged Kipling quote coming up) "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same;....Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, and—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!" Enough literary allusion - We'll take every match as it comes
Win the league (nice to discuss), top 4 (reasonable chance), 5-6 (most likely), 7-8 (would have been good when viewed at the start of the season, but now disappointing).
It's frightening to think how good we're going to be when all the new players have gelled.( Although thinking about it, Graziano was already gelled when he came here.) please log in to view this image
Do we have a team psych. Seems I remember that a few years back. They could play a big role as the seasons progresses.
I don't buy the 'take each match as it comes' at all in the contect that footballers and pundits and fans use it. Yes you focus on the next challenge but your eyes are ALWAYS on the bigger picture. The next challenge is purely the next obstacle to achieving that end goal. The way managers and players (in all sports) use it is to say 'I am not going to answer your question in anyway that could come back to haunt me'. When Koeman is asked Can this team finish in the CL places Ronald's honest answer would probably be Yes. If you change the 'can' to 'Will' he would probably still say Yes with the caveat that other factors can come into play such as injuries. The answer he DOES give is We don't set limits on ourselves but we take each game as it comes Its one of the biggest myths in sport that punters seem to buy these days. Its like Ronnie O Sullivan being asked a question of 'can you win this tournament' and him answering 'Its possible but I am just taking each ball at a time'. Ron/Ralph/Players will have a realistic idea in their heads of a range where he thinks we could finish which is hopefully from 1st to 5th after the start we have had.
