As per the title really. Obviously it's not as easy as asking your players to run about a bit more, but given the demonstration of the benefits of the pressing game we have provided, you would think other teams would be gambling on it?
I would say very few managers have actually played this system. MP has basically played this style all his career and is totally familiar with what is required from the players and coaching staff. Could not imagine Moyes trying to implement it at Utd
I think it's as Gary Neville said the other night: the whole squad is drilled endlessly in playing that way, and only a full preseason has enabled the match day players to keep up that level of pressure on the opposition. It has to be said, though, that if we have any sort of success this season, you can bet your life there will be other clubs trying to adopt the same style next season.
It's a system that arguably requires all ten outfield players to press and have very strong engine's. (Could that be why we don't see too much of Ramirez now?). But a lot of sides out there have a player (or more) in their starting XI who isn't exactly suited to that. And once you have one or two players not doing it, I suspect the results diminish considerably. I might be wrong. It's just an observation. But from one to eleven, certainly we have bought into MP's philosophy.
I suppose if you don't have the right players it could go badly wrong. I expect to see more people talking about "doing a Southampton" in the future though.
I was thinking about that earlier actually, after on Sky in the post-match Jamie Redknapp fielded a question on whether we could keep hold of our talents now, which of course we now believe we can. But it's beginning to look like the most in-demand and difficult to keep hold of man may be Mauricio.
Ain't that the truth. I think Nicola could be very persuasive should clubs begin to sniff around though - and they will, inevitably.
I remember this question being put to a pundit at the beginning of the season and he said simply that you have to have the players for it. The players have to be talented, extremely fit, willing to learn and hardworking. I would suggest that Saints and Mauricio are the perfect storm...he would struggle to get some top players to put in the effort to achieve what we have...they would say we can play and win without all this effort. Remember though what our ex said, 'Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard.' Our players have bought into this system because it works...they are achieving results beyond what they could normally expect.
Agreed on the perfect storm front. Should other clubs come around for Mauricio, I think he'd actually be mad to go - this is a fantastic, ambitious project here and it fits Pochettino (as things stand) like a glove. I hope he knows a good thing when he has it - I have confidence that he does.
Redknapp said that Nicola should start tieing people down to long contracts and not leave them to run their contracts down to a year. He said our players will think they should be paid top six money if they are top six players. Mauricio mentions Nicola in virtually every interview...seems a big fan of his.
This! If our players weren't fluid and didn't do extra training, it wouldn't work. A lot of teams woud be happy with a draw in certain games and tend to park the bus, we don't.
I would think that because everyone has bought into Mauricio's master he would currently be a very happy bunny, where very few management positions would be of interest to him. Been supporting Saints for many, many years and I can't remember a better team spirit running through the entire club. If I was MP I would find that very difficult to abandon for another club?
Agree with that but your manager must also be a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, as Poch is. Other followers include no less than Pep Guardiola, which is why Gary Neville talked about Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the same sentence as Saints. A team has to be very brave to play the tactics we do, but Saints play it very well indeed.
