I could’ve excused last night on basis that it weren’t his fault that we had to play the fkn Yo Shida & Steve Jackson CB dream team again, but he’s already served up too many Embarrassing Results this season, so I would prob give him the Elbow, despite all his nice hair, and let some other bro have a pop.
I’m still traumatised from the first 10 mins of the Spurs game over christmas. I’ve never seen anything like it. I had to turn off before even the first goal went in.
I reckon we need a team first. Doesn’t feel like we’ve had one since two summers ago. I know it’s a bit chicken/egg but Saints have been mismanaged for the last couple of years. I mean by those higher than the head coach.
Ot had to be done…
?
Up until acouple of seasons ago, our annual sales/recruitment model was doing rather well. For good reason we were hailed as a model club, with a great scouting network and analysis ensureing we were able to pick up talent and then sell on at a profit with replacements semingly equal to the task. The theory is great, with decent revenues generated, with season on season improvements. Problem is, its a bit like a chainletter/Ponzi scheme, you have to keep feeding / recruiting at the bottom (in our case the conveyor belt of academy talent included) if the cream is always to be syphoned off the top. It also relies on managers beig able to improve and rapidly integrate new players into an established system…
Its not without risk… as we now see, if you fail to recruit quality or the academy dries up, we go backwards, especilly with the perfect strom of a manager struggling to find his feet.
I can understand fans concerns as the table reflects the difficulties of that perfect storm. But I just dont get it when some fans start ranting and raving. It was the same during the Lowe years, when you saw real ‘hatred’ aimed at folks just for not running a football club the way some fans wanted it to be run… which is frankly unjustified and a bit pathetic. being dissappointed is one thing, even getting carried away a bit and being angry is fair enough, but some the bile slung about is just ridiculous. If it causes that much emotional imbalance, stop fucking supporting because its unhealthy,
Yeah, agree with this. I almost walked away from the whole thing during the Lowe protests; Saints and football both. I’m starting to feel similarly now. It’s not about how well Saints are playing (although that’s not a great bonanza of good times), it’s the atmosphere and the complete disconnect I feel from people who can get so vitriolic.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I should withdraw from society and live in the woods.
Maybe I could teach squirrels to play cricket. With the badgers as umpires.
PS. I should have added,its not really aimed at anyone on here (expect a coupleof usual suspects)… more aimed at the fuckwits that lit their torches and grabbed their pitchforks back inNovember and have been desperate for failure to justify their perspectives/POV
Totally agree with the first two paragraphs.
However, regarding your third paragraph, I reserve the right to be an irrational mess when I walk in to work to be greeted with sympathy from Newcastle fans!
TBH,I think its a good sighn that you have more interests and value other things in life. I think those that get so obsessively fucked up by football and club support are typically lacking in much else in their lives.
I really enjoyed the L1/Championship days, because you could just support and not worry about out status in the game. I still lived close enough for to go each week and despite there being only 15-16k at some games, it was a good time of positive atmosphere … There are some fans for who our relative status is some sort of ego massage…
Since the arrival of Markus we have always had a coach. We will NOT recruit a Manager.
It is the Southampton Way. Which also dictates ourcsupposed style and tactics.
Think I did mention that…
The issue now is that fear and discord have grown unchecked. Sacking Purl instilled the fear of failure fear of a misplaced pass. Fear of losing possession. Fear of upsetting a player.
It is toxic and will not be solved by firing MoPe.
He needs new blood now and the Southampton Way (written before we went into admin) needs to be modernised and a new style/formation and flexibility must be allowed to permeate.
IF the U8s play 4-23-1 then that’ what MP must do.
Change the fucking formation Les. It is out of date
Rupert appointed SCW.
We then had coaches not managers.
Rupert & SCW “invented” the concept that every age group would play the same formation. There are tons of quotes it isn’ rocket science.
Led interpreted that as our formation.
Norman experimented but his main success came when he played longer quicker balls. It worked for NO because he made the players mega fit to play the Girls a style of the high press.
The press and a long ball are not easy to do together so Norman stopped the pressing.
Purl stopped the long ball.
And here we are.
Now the REAL Question 'e Purl are the stats of Gabbi before and after his injury.
Did Gabbi lose an inch of pace? He has never been the same since his knock. Before that he scored for fun.
It is not just about MoPe. It is about shackles and things like Gabbi & tbh Long who under Koeman looked like a footballer not Mo Farah
Word!
Southern or Southampton fans may feel that way but to many it is a huge part of their life right or wrong, having a passion for the club is a good thing not a bad one, middle class and rugby fans should fuck off, I’d love to go back to the Dell when it was real fans and a real club, if you mentioned champions league in the Archers or Milton you’d be laughed at just as I laugh at our new plastic fan believing such tripe, treat all owners as you would a politician.
I wondered how long it woudld take you to show up and mention:
The north
Real fans
middle class
Rugby
Plastic
Thanks for not dissapointing 
I’d argue that Koeman was as much a manager as he was a coach. He clearly got a vote when it came to player recruitment with the signings of Tadic, Pelle, Clasie and to a lesser extent Mane.
Equally Claude definitely had an input on Boufal.
Pellegrino didn’t bring anyone in from La Liga that he knew well and watched most weeks. Instead we have been shopping in Italy for the last two windows.
Perhaps that is an argument for giving him a transfer window, but he DID have the summer.
Unfortunately we cannot have a complete squad overhaul and it is easier to get rid of a manager in order to spark a reaction from an underperforming set of players. Right now we are in desperate need of some sort of change to spark that reaction. And I will be absolutely amazed if, given our current predicament, we signed some of these big names that we have linked with. If they come then it will be on loan because they won’t want to run the risk of being contractually obliged to have their wages cut or play Championship football next year. So will loanees be committed enough to fight and pull us out of the shit?
With regards the formation, I am in agreement. He seems very confused at the moment which is very worrying given we are 21 games in to the season. Just because we played well at Old Trafford playing 4-4-1-1 doesnt mean we should be doing that against Palace at home. How much shit have we seriously got to be in before he tries getting two centre forwards on to the pitch at the same time. Whether that is 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 I don’t care. What I know is that all too often chances fall to the wrong people in the box and having more than one target to find would certainly help ensuring that they are more likely to fall to the right person.
Simon.
MoPe himself said he had given his needs to the Board.
Not names of players.
Remember Paul Mitchell?
Or whatever that went to Spurs?
He ran the Scouts & Black box not MoPe nor Koeman.
Manager - Koeman came from Europe our system is European not Lawrue/Clough style
Wish we’ got Sammy Lee back though
And I bet you used to live in t’shoe box in t’middle o’road. Jumper as goal posts etc. You can have a passion for your club without living in a by gone age or pretending that things should be better than they are just because you have passion for your club. In the good old days supports used to support their clubs Barry. All you do, consistantly, is slag the club off. We dont hear a word from you when things are going well. As soon as things dont go so well you are all over it 24/7. It is the drama you crave and it has nothing to do with supporting a football club.
I have just seen the list of 5 people who could replace Pellegrino if he is sacked. One of them is Brendan Rodgers.
I’l take relegation rather than deluded if that’ alright
Clearly they are just throwing names in a hat, but he was one along with Eddie Howe, Ronnie Koeman, Manuel Pellegrini and Patrick Viera.
Actually, if Les wants to stand behind MP he could do worse than to bring the other MP in as his mentor for the rest of the season.
If harking back to the good old days, I always ask… ‘why do those who always go on about the good old days only seem to be those who go on and on about 70s and 80s?’ why not the 20s-60s when fans woudl go to support rivals when your side played away from home? The days of the rattles and rosettes?
Seems to me that its a specific bunch who were teenagers just AFTER the hideous 70s and 80s cages were removed and who missed out on the ‘fun’… desperate neanderthals who long for something that they feel is missing. Football has always changed - just look at the 1900s onwards - Football does not cost £1 anymore, but everyone has cars and most have a mortgage… its as if life is meant to evolve but football is meant to be isolated from evolving society… Funny as fuck really - folks desperate to maintain a ‘classsystem’ to hold onto a shitty identify hthat has fuck all place in amodern society… Bazza just needed to add how fottball shoudl be for the working classes andit woudl have been BINGO!