What lessons have Saints learnt this season

Pompey?

 

Power is a surprise and he'll come good in time, but the fact that he's struggling in the outfield and plays an entirely different sport makes him a no for me.

 

That competition for places is important so that when we run out of steam, as we have done this season, there are players on the bench who are chomping at the bit to get some first team action. We have been in severe need of fresh impetus since Christmas and we haven't been willing or able to get it from within the club. This concerns me a bit. Releasing players like Cork indicates that we would have a problem holding onto any decent players who aren't playing week in week out.

 

That's the big puzzle a top coach has to solve. You can't have players say on the bench waiting til a rainy day when they'll be used. You have to be bold and change things up when it's going well. It is tough and that is when the best coaches come into their own.

How many times in the last 4 years have I read on here "you can't change a winning team?" I've always said that is nonsense.

We need a larger squad of a slightly increased overall quality and then we have to play those players to keep them part of the mix. You keep someone on the bench for when players tire half way through the season, then their agents will be on their phones!

It's not easy. If it was, we'd all be doing it.

 

That if we cant go to the Britannia and beat Stoke, what chance do we have of going somewhere like Sicily and getting something vs Palermo?

 

All of this. Both this year and last, we've gotten off to hot starts by using virtually the same lineup game in and game out. Both years, a combination of fatigue, injuries, and a lack of quality depth (and consequently tactical options) has caused us to fizzle over Christmas and into the second half. We need a deeper squad (and if we're in Europe, we need a much deeper squad), and those players need to be integrated fully in the early stages of the year. "Not starting" isn't the same as "dropped"; if half your bench at times consists of players you'd be afraid to see in the starting lineup, as was frequently the case last year, or a modest wave of injuries leaves you with an unfilled bench, as happened this season, you simply don't have the depth to go toe-to-toe with the elite teams for a full campaign.

 

I agree with Schad...too often our bench has had players that are okay as subs, but you'd rather not start with. It has been a bit better this season, but it would be great to see a bench that could also start if needed. However, whilst we aren't poor, we aren't in the mega rich group either....our main attraction for players is that they will get to play week in, week out. We can't afford happy bench warmers on 100+K/week. We are still a team in progress...not doing bad in that case, are we?

 

I actually believe we are more of a "club" in progress rather than a team in progress. Semantics I know, but we can only generate a certain level of income, attract a certain number of people to games and therefore are restricted by our means.

I really think we need to enjoy all we have going right now and hope that the management (non-playing) can get us into a financial position that allows us to have a better chance if sustaining top 6 or hopefully top 4 positions.

Right now, we are unlikely to sign a star, so we have been unearthing gems who then could be tempted to step up to bigger salaried clubs. The next stage will be that we will sign "known" up and coming players who are not yet at the super salary levels. Players will want to join us as our reputation grows and they see us as a fast track stepping stone to the big money. We'll almost be a guaranteed career progression for players, like a tick in a box of someone's CV.

 

May I redirect you to my new post which includes as article suggesting we will find it harder to get these gems if Dyche's rules go through.

 

I have learned that Financial Fair Play is not fair at all. The drawbridge has been pulled up and it is going to be quite a task for Saints to break into the top four.

 

I read that myself this morning ... and it is Dyke

 

Not my fault he can't spell his name correctly

 

Yep... It's a nice idea in principle as it should stop teams doing a Leeds/Pompey but all it does is maintain the status quo as who they are and that will probably never change now, City got in just at the right time...

 

Yeah, not like they had written it out for you or anything .....

 

Back on death list.

 

We have the finances to sign a star at this point, of the calibre and wages/price tag of Lukaku. What we don't have is the finances to sign multiple stars...if we take the plunge and try to acquire a truly game-changing player, we have the resources to afford a good decision, but we cannot yet afford a bad one.

 

But Saints play as a team...probably won't do morale any good to have one player on massive wages....tempting though it is to imagine where we'd be if we had an ace scorer

 

Agree completely. We can't afford any big time Charlie's, and when we did stretch the budget to buy a flawed one, he turned out to be a mental case.

Proven goalscorers are rare as hens teeth and their agents know their worth, so we need to buy or develop unproven ones.

When I said we can't afford big time Charlies btw, I wasn't ruling out Charlie Austin. That horse might have bolted now though.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying that we should do it, because while we can afford to take that shot, we can really only afford to do it once...get it wrong and it'd be a major hindrance for several years.

 

Major hindrance = Osvaldo. Another thing to blame MP for