| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:03 - Dec 8 with 1321 views | Southamptonfan |
Good article. I have had sympathy with certain managers in the past. I'm talking about the last season in the PL, when I don't think we had the required quality to succeed in the premier league. And even in Ralph's final season, we didn't have a striker. We did need more quality then, most of the signings were not good enough for the top level, and because of that record, it was easy to think here we go again, more poor recruitment.
But that wasn't the case this season. Fellows and Azaz in particular were excellent in the same league just last season - great signings. Why were they playing so badly suddenly? It was obvious to me that the manager was at fault. Still rarely played them, yet they are proven, successful championship players! I was angry again at SR for getting the manager appointment wrong again, and I seemed to know this from day one. He just didn't seem confident, he seemed nervous and his monotone, never get angry, always calm, don't care attitude was grating on me. To add to that, to name just a few, Stephens, Armstrong, Flynn Downes, Harwood-Bellis are all good championship players. They all suddenly looked really bad against sides with vastly inferior players. It wasn't right. I was surprised by the number of people who thought Still would be good, clearly brainwashed by the reports of him being highly rated. Even when players were clearly unhappy, there would then be some fans blaming players. His first interview put me off from day one - boring, monotone, aloof, no relationship with the players.
The whole team looked so miserable, unmotivated, flat and in disarray. Even after the 96th winner against Wrexham, it was very unconvincing. You and I Nick could see it in the friendly game at St Mary's against Brighton. The players were literally walking around the pitch. The other friendly games were also highly unconvincing. Then the Pompey disaster, just to think we would have done them at home had Eckert been here instead. Will Still was a terrible manager, he wasn't focused, the team was all over the place, no style of play. Will Still looked nervous from day one to me, he didn't seem determined, he just seemed lost. It was clearly captain Jack who went to the owners to complain about Still and the whole squad clearly agreed. You could see from the body language of the players, that they were very unhappy. It was clear as day to me that they didn't like him.
So to be fair, apart from Downes, the recruitment has been good, particularly Sciensa who is such a brilliant player and possibly the best player we have had since Tadic. Jander I like too. Azaz and Fellows I expected to be good anyway.
I have also been surprised about just how good Eckert is, he hasn't just turned around results, he has got these players looking like world beaters almost over night. We attack with force and determination. Full credit to him. I really like him, he is a breath of fresh air in comparison to Still. Let's hope it continues, because if it does, we will be in with a good chance of returning to where this club belongs. [Post edited 8 Dec 11:13]
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:33 - Dec 8 with 1257 views | saintwizzler |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:03 - Dec 8 by Southamptonfan |
Good article. I have had sympathy with certain managers in the past. I'm talking about the last season in the PL, when I don't think we had the required quality to succeed in the premier league. And even in Ralph's final season, we didn't have a striker. We did need more quality then, most of the signings were not good enough for the top level, and because of that record, it was easy to think here we go again, more poor recruitment.
But that wasn't the case this season. Fellows and Azaz in particular were excellent in the same league just last season - great signings. Why were they playing so badly suddenly? It was obvious to me that the manager was at fault. Still rarely played them, yet they are proven, successful championship players! I was angry again at SR for getting the manager appointment wrong again, and I seemed to know this from day one. He just didn't seem confident, he seemed nervous and his monotone, never get angry, always calm, don't care attitude was grating on me. To add to that, to name just a few, Stephens, Armstrong, Flynn Downes, Harwood-Bellis are all good championship players. They all suddenly looked really bad against sides with vastly inferior players. It wasn't right. I was surprised by the number of people who thought Still would be good, clearly brainwashed by the reports of him being highly rated. Even when players were clearly unhappy, there would then be some fans blaming players. His first interview put me off from day one - boring, monotone, aloof, no relationship with the players.
The whole team looked so miserable, unmotivated, flat and in disarray. Even after the 96th winner against Wrexham, it was very unconvincing. You and I Nick could see it in the friendly game at St Mary's against Brighton. The players were literally walking around the pitch. The other friendly games were also highly unconvincing. Then the Pompey disaster, just to think we would have done them at home had Eckert been here instead. Will Still was a terrible manager, he wasn't focused, the team was all over the place, no style of play. Will Still looked nervous from day one to me, he didn't seem determined, he just seemed lost. It was clearly captain Jack who went to the owners to complain about Still and the whole squad clearly agreed. You could see from the body language of the players, that they were very unhappy. It was clear as day to me that they didn't like him.
So to be fair, apart from Downes, the recruitment has been good, particularly Sciensa who is such a brilliant player and possibly the best player we have had since Tadic. Jander I like too. Azaz and Fellows I expected to be good anyway.
I have also been surprised about just how good Eckert is, he hasn't just turned around results, he has got these players looking like world beaters almost over night. We attack with force and determination. Full credit to him. I really like him, he is a breath of fresh air in comparison to Still. Let's hope it continues, because if it does, we will be in with a good chance of returning to where this club belongs. [Post edited 8 Dec 11:13]
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Well said.
One thing that needs to be learnt is if we did ever return to The PL then the transfer strategy needs to be different than the last time.
Buying 10 players costing £100m didn’t work and it won’t again. |  |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:38 - Dec 8 with 1242 views | SaintNick |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:33 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
Well said.
One thing that needs to be learnt is if we did ever return to The PL then the transfer strategy needs to be different than the last time.
Buying 10 players costing £100m didn’t work and it won’t again. |
It wasn't the money spent or the number of players that was the issue last time, it was the type of player bought and the fact that Russell Martin refused to play most of them.
If you want to stay in the Premier League you have to have big strong athletes and the only one we had in the squad that met that criteria was Lesley Ugochukwu, who barely played till December
If we go up we need to bring in some heavyweights to match the likes of Palace, Fulham, Forest, Bournemouth and the rest |  |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:40 - Dec 8 with 1236 views | Southamptonfan |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:33 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
Well said.
One thing that needs to be learnt is if we did ever return to The PL then the transfer strategy needs to be different than the last time.
Buying 10 players costing £100m didn’t work and it won’t again. |
Yes and a really decent striker. A proper PL talented goalscorer. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:59 - Dec 8 with 1199 views | saintwizzler |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:38 - Dec 8 by SaintNick |
It wasn't the money spent or the number of players that was the issue last time, it was the type of player bought and the fact that Russell Martin refused to play most of them.
If you want to stay in the Premier League you have to have big strong athletes and the only one we had in the squad that met that criteria was Lesley Ugochukwu, who barely played till December
If we go up we need to bring in some heavyweights to match the likes of Palace, Fulham, Forest, Bournemouth and the rest |
And those players cost money.
Damion Downs is big and strong. 6ft 4inch | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:09 - Dec 8 with 1173 views | SaintNick |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:59 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
And those players cost money.
Damion Downs is big and strong. 6ft 4inch |
We would have some money, as we will likely sell Ramsdale and a few others plus we only spent about £50 million in the summer, but brought in about £110 million
Get in 5 promising players at £15 million apiece and it would be job done if we get recruitment right | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:14 - Dec 8 with 1156 views | saintwizzler |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:09 - Dec 8 by SaintNick |
We would have some money, as we will likely sell Ramsdale and a few others plus we only spent about £50 million in the summer, but brought in about £110 million
Get in 5 promising players at £15 million apiece and it would be job done if we get recruitment right |
Players that can hit the ground running is what’s needed as Sunderland have done.
Pay the money.
Players have been brought in this summer that are excellent at this level Fellows and Azaz.
Now there’s a manager in place who knows what he’s doing (so far) and they are thriving.
The PL is unforgiving. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:21 - Dec 8 with 1138 views | SaintNick |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:14 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
Players that can hit the ground running is what’s needed as Sunderland have done.
Pay the money.
Players have been brought in this summer that are excellent at this level Fellows and Azaz.
Now there’s a manager in place who knows what he’s doing (so far) and they are thriving.
The PL is unforgiving. |
Sunderland bought in about a dozen players the lowest was a free transfer and the highest £30 million, but most were in the £10 -£20 million bracket.
The key is identifying the right players either young and reasonably priced or older and experienced | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:30 - Dec 8 with 1108 views | Southamptonfan |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:21 - Dec 8 by SaintNick |
Sunderland bought in about a dozen players the lowest was a free transfer and the highest £30 million, but most were in the £10 -£20 million bracket.
The key is identifying the right players either young and reasonably priced or older and experienced |
Nick, I actually think wth this team, Sciensa, Azaz, Fellows, we don't need to do that much. I wouldn't want to see 8 average players come in. Imagine we buy a 40.million pounds proven PL striker, put him up there with Sciensa Fellows and Azaz behind him, I think.that would be enough. Add a really experienced central defender like Finte or Van D!ck and we would be ok. Just add about 3 or 4 really good top quality premier league players. In the RM PL season, had we bought a top quality centre back and a really good striker, just two signings we would have been ok. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:46 - Dec 8 with 1067 views | saintwizzler |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:21 - Dec 8 by SaintNick |
Sunderland bought in about a dozen players the lowest was a free transfer and the highest £30 million, but most were in the £10 -£20 million bracket.
The key is identifying the right players either young and reasonably priced or older and experienced |
They got 5 in that cost £20m+ each.
The only reason Ramsdale signed was because the £8m deal for Justin Bijlow fell through as he failed his medical.
I guess the Sunderland scouting network is better than Southampton’s. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:51 - Dec 8 with 1054 views | saintwizzler |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:30 - Dec 8 by Southamptonfan |
Nick, I actually think wth this team, Sciensa, Azaz, Fellows, we don't need to do that much. I wouldn't want to see 8 average players come in. Imagine we buy a 40.million pounds proven PL striker, put him up there with Sciensa Fellows and Azaz behind him, I think.that would be enough. Add a really experienced central defender like Finte or Van D!ck and we would be ok. Just add about 3 or 4 really good top quality premier league players. In the RM PL season, had we bought a top quality centre back and a really good striker, just two signings we would have been ok. |
Yes. 3 x £30m players for the spine of the team instead of 10 costing £100m.
4 would be perfect
Goalkeeper
Centre Back
Central Midfielder
Centre Forward
With Henderson and Xhaka doing so well an experienced head should be relatively cheap to get in the trouble then is the wages
Xhaka ain’t gone to Sunderland for the ambience of the city. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 13:18 - Dec 8 with 1002 views | Southamptonfan |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:51 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
Yes. 3 x £30m players for the spine of the team instead of 10 costing £100m.
4 would be perfect
Goalkeeper
Centre Back
Central Midfielder
Centre Forward
With Henderson and Xhaka doing so well an experienced head should be relatively cheap to get in the trouble then is the wages
Xhaka ain’t gone to Sunderland for the ambience of the city. |
Exactly. We would need to add a bit of PL quality. You need one, perhaps two quality match winners. Le Tissier is the clear example I think. We had very average squads back then, but his quality won games single handedly. We need a bit of that, in amongst the average/ good players. No point buying 10 average players. Just buy 3 quality players, real quality, players who win us games just like Matt did. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 21:25 - Dec 8 with 745 views | DorsetIan |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 13:18 - Dec 8 by Southamptonfan |
Exactly. We would need to add a bit of PL quality. You need one, perhaps two quality match winners. Le Tissier is the clear example I think. We had very average squads back then, but his quality won games single handedly. We need a bit of that, in amongst the average/ good players. No point buying 10 average players. Just buy 3 quality players, real quality, players who win us games just like Matt did. |
I'm loving the fact that people are talking about us as having the bones of good PL team.
Let's not get carried away. And let's get promoted before we start worrying about next year.
Keep going as we are and we should definitely make the play offs again. That would be a massive result after the damage Will Still inflicted. | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 22:02 - Dec 8 with 716 views | saint22 |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 12:30 - Dec 8 by Southamptonfan |
Nick, I actually think wth this team, Sciensa, Azaz, Fellows, we don't need to do that much. I wouldn't want to see 8 average players come in. Imagine we buy a 40.million pounds proven PL striker, put him up there with Sciensa Fellows and Azaz behind him, I think.that would be enough. Add a really experienced central defender like Finte or Van D!ck and we would be ok. Just add about 3 or 4 really good top quality premier league players. In the RM PL season, had we bought a top quality centre back and a really good striker, just two signings we would have been ok. |
We need a really good spine to be a really good team now
a keeper a CB and a striker are a must in January and the summer | | | |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 23:19 - Dec 8 with 658 views | mushinexile |
Six games in and talking seriously about promotion.
If we are doing that, then the SR board will be listening to Tonda. He could make them a lot of money and if he thinks the same as you, I'll wager he gets them. Bazunu is looking better because he has much less work to do! | |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 10:15 - Dec 9 with 518 views | Butty101 |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 23:19 - Dec 8 by mushinexile |
Six games in and talking seriously about promotion.
If we are doing that, then the SR board will be listening to Tonda. He could make them a lot of money and if he thinks the same as you, I'll wager he gets them. Bazunu is looking better because he has much less work to do! |
This - the players are always one game away from downing tools |  |
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| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 13:12 - Dec 9 with 433 views | StAnt |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 11:59 - Dec 8 by saintwizzler |
And those players cost money.
Damion Downs is big and strong. 6ft 4inch |
Actually he's big and weak. | | | |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 18:57 - Dec 9 with 310 views | TripleNiemi |
| How Tonda Eckert Has Changed Saints Fans Opinion On Recruitment Policy on 21:25 - Dec 8 by DorsetIan |
I'm loving the fact that people are talking about us as having the bones of good PL team.
Let's not get carried away. And let's get promoted before we start worrying about next year.
Keep going as we are and we should definitely make the play offs again. That would be a massive result after the damage Will Still inflicted. |
This |  |
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