True but a couple of bad results for us and good results for others puts us right back in it. Got a feeling there will be half a dozen ups and downs to come this season and I'd be prepared to bet a few of those downs will be self inflicted by our defending but I would take that over what is being served up at most other clubs in the country - we have a proper manager that wants to play entertaining and winning football. Ready for the roller coaster to continue just hoping it ends on an up in May!
I think we will boing up and down a bit, but overall we are on the up. I think one person did most of the Nigel bashing, so his absence has improved the mood.
A couple of people did jump on to his stupid little bandwagon, and he was far more annoying when he wasn't alone with his opinions. Glad it's over now, but I'm wary of the next time we have a lull in form.
A couple of people did jump on to his stupid little bandwagon, and he was far more annoying when he wasn't alone with his opinions. Glad it's over now, but I'm wary of the next time we have a lull in form.
Yeh in all seriousness where was the evidence for this bullshite? And Cortese would have picked a weaker team intentionally?
We'd be able to see the white of the pinstripes plainly enough if the lads would slow down a tad while they're playing, but I'm glad they don't. The number of times, against Newcastle, they broke down Toon's possession and the team poured up the pitch in a full pitched gallop. I think I loved that every bit as much as the twinkly feet passing game we played. In fact, I'm going to go off and watch the highlights again..! BTW, interesting that Shearer mentioned Saints as the stand out performance over the weekend again, on MOTD3. Against his beloved Newcastle. That must have hurt. OK, he's pleased for his first club too.
As an aside, I am also wondering what happened to those who said that our defence was utterly useless, and far less polite things! I don't remember us signing any more defenders prior to the last 3 games? Actually, everyone agreed that it was individual errors which cost us more than anything, but I think that Nigel was right about the "defending as a team" thing. Sunday we closed down so fast that I lost count of the number of times Newcastle passed back to their keeper from a repelled attack.
You could say the defence is Shawed up now. With Luke stepping up to the plate and regular full back pairing our defence HAS changed. That coupled with a more robust central midfield pairing too. However, injuries may still be our Achilles heel...possibly more so than other teams. I was one that did question NA substitutions and he recently has not made ones considered a little bizarre by me and a few others on here. As for Nigel bashing, only one did as far as I can remember. Looking back on the games, that Wigan one still riles me as we were crap. As they say, we are only as good as our last result. Which is pretty good to be honest
We are not too far away from being a decent side. The return of Cork and Ramirez has made a hell of a difference to the centre mid field. Young Shaw is doing ok and learning his trade well. Fox is a good back up though. I still maintain our biggest weakness is in goal only because of lack of experience. Gazza is a good goalkeeper and will continue to be but his lack of experience has on occasion let him down. JMO though JMO.
To be fair pal, Adkins made some clangers with subs and tactics to begin with. He was rightly bashed for some things, and the doubt from most of out sides was will he learn fast enough to save us. And it looks like he has done a lot of learning lately! However our rapid turn of form must be, in part, to do with Corking the hole between attack and defense and Shawing up the back line....
The only errors for me have been the substitutes in the United and Fulham games, but those were partly forced (I would bet my house on us winning or drawing the United game if we either had Cork from the bench or starting with Davis on the bench), and the way we were set-up for the Everton game where we were completely unprepared to take them on. Other than that I think he has been decent or done well, and I've had faith in him the whole way. There's only one Nigel Adkins... oooooonnnnneeeee Nigel Aaaaadkins...
I never really understood the "bad subs" thing - like saying taking Lambert off cost us against United, but when he did it against Newcastle it's a good sub... swings and roundabouts.
Yeahhh taking Lambert off against United lost us the game. It had nothing to do with Van Persie at all.
Well its situational isn't it? Against United we were on the front foot and in control of the game, we took off our best attacking players, regressed into our shell and invited Scholes to pick us apart with no-one pressuring him before Van Persie scored two simple goals. Against Newcastle we were very comfortable, and withdrew our best attacking players to rest and shield them. Against United he was damned whatever substitutes he made as there were not great options from the bench in the situation we found ourselves in, however I think Lallana and Puncheon could have lasted the whole game. In fact Lambert could have lasted the whole game... Although he might need a few recovery steak and ales after the game. Then against Fulham we were also in a tough spot, but substituted Chaplow and Guly on, and ended up completely fading out of the game, with Ward-Prowse and Mayuka unused. Personally, I don't buy into the Van Persie or Scholes excuse. We were on top of that game and looking the only team likely to get anything with 65 minutes on the clock, regardless of who you're playing, you should do better for the rest game than we did... Being that all we did was attempt to sit with 10 men on the edge of the box and hoof the ball out for throw-ins and corners. Scholes had a good impact, but in reality, he came onto the pitch against a depleted team with tired centre-mids, with no-one pressuring him within 20 yards, and was free to pass it as he desired. You don't need to be Paul Scholes to do what he did in that game. Van Persie scored a hattrick and is a fantastic player, but he didn't exactly beat us with incredible play or 30 yard screamers. He scored a good goal after a Clyne slip, poked one in after a scrappy scramble, and then had a nice header unchallenged at the near post. I think just dismissing the loss with 'Ah well Van Persie just beat us on his own,' or 'Scholes just tore us to shreds', is inaccurate. We beat ourselves. It wasn't disastrous, and after it I was disappointed with the team and with Nigel but didn't lose any faith in either. But it wasn't a bad luck, little plucky Southampton try their best and work so hard but the quality of United is too much for them, it was little plucky Southampton play brilliantly, then shoot themselves in the foot and put the game on a plate for United. Not that it matters anymore, because we've turned a page and our march up the league has begun! And it wont stop until we reach the top... of the bottom five!
Nigel Adkins is a superb manager and person, he has great enthusiasm, passion, desire and empathy and he is always willing to learn from his mistakes and take on new challenges for his benefit, and most importantly, for the benefit of the team and the club. We need to continue to back him throughout this season, he is a top, top manager. The great thing is he wants to be saints manager for years and years to come, as long as he manages to provide succesful results on the pitch then Nicola Cortese will keep him at the club and we can build something very special at this club with Cortese's vision, Adkins' managment, the players performances and the fans support we can achieve something amazing at this club, maybe the best era ever at this great club of ours.
Obviously, results are the most important thing when you are in the bottom of the league, but performance is also important to Nicola. He must be satisfied on both counts at the moment. Pardew said recently that he knew Nicola didn't want him as manager, though he added there was nothing nasty about it. Can't remember how we played under AP, the last few years are just a golden haze, but presumably it was a question of style. Togetherness (fans and team) will make the difference this season and that is down to Nigel.
