8th place and Europe 20:59 - Jul 5 with 1359 views | dirk_doone | That team and manager have that in their sights. 100% + effort from every one of them. That's 9 points from 4 games since the restart. If they keep that up, they could just do it. | |
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8th place and Europe on 21:04 - Jul 5 with 1326 views | saint22 | Brilliant performance today Everyone of them Very interesting how much More solid we loo minus PEH | | | |
8th place and Europe on 21:19 - Jul 5 with 1261 views | 1885_SFC |
8th place and Europe on 21:04 - Jul 5 by saint22 | Brilliant performance today Everyone of them Very interesting how much More solid we loo minus PEH |
He seriously isn't going to be a loss to us old PEH. I've just bought some gloves, a face mask & a bottle of sanitiser gel in order to drive him up to the capital myself if the 'North London Yobbo's' are foolish enough to part with the kind of fee for him I'm reading about! | |
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8th place and Europe on 21:20 - Jul 5 with 1256 views | dirk_doone |
8th place and Europe on 21:04 - Jul 5 by saint22 | Brilliant performance today Everyone of them Very interesting how much More solid we loo minus PEH |
Credit is due to Walker-Peters too. The central defenders knew they could rely on him to cover our right flank, which means they didn't get pulled out of position like they did when they had to cover for Valery. Bertrand has always been a solid defender of our left flank and he was again today. | |
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8th place and Europe on 21:21 - Jul 5 with 1248 views | Bicester_North | Shame about our goal difference, could be the difference in the end. But got to keep believing it now Burnley in 9th only 3 points ahead | |
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8th place and Europe on 21:29 - Jul 5 with 1207 views | dirk_doone |
8th place and Europe on 21:21 - Jul 5 by Bicester_North | Shame about our goal difference, could be the difference in the end. But got to keep believing it now Burnley in 9th only 3 points ahead |
One thing's for sure: Ralph's team is going to win more points this season than Puel's did when we finished 8th in 2017. This is the best team since the Koeman team that finished 6th in 2016. The difference with this team, compared to Puel's is that they won't settle for a draw: they always want to win. Only the top 5 have won more games than Saints this season. [Post edited 5 Jul 2020 21:33]
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8th place and Europe on 21:31 - Jul 5 with 1193 views | kingslandstand1 | Exactly. Yet you have Danny Murphy continually saying hd waz surprised by our continued commitment as wd havd nothing to play for! Wtf | | | |
8th place and Europe on 21:33 - Jul 5 with 1178 views | kingslandstand1 |
8th place and Europe on 21:19 - Jul 5 by 1885_SFC | He seriously isn't going to be a loss to us old PEH. I've just bought some gloves, a face mask & a bottle of sanitiser gel in order to drive him up to the capital myself if the 'North London Yobbo's' are foolish enough to part with the kind of fee for him I'm reading about! |
Well if he does go there he won't be getting European football! | | | |
8th place and Europe on 08:58 - Jul 6 with 993 views | 1ASIN12 |
8th place and Europe on 21:29 - Jul 5 by dirk_doone | One thing's for sure: Ralph's team is going to win more points this season than Puel's did when we finished 8th in 2017. This is the best team since the Koeman team that finished 6th in 2016. The difference with this team, compared to Puel's is that they won't settle for a draw: they always want to win. Only the top 5 have won more games than Saints this season. [Post edited 5 Jul 2020 21:33]
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This for me is what some people dont understand redarding Puel, he set up his teams not to lose, Ralph sets his teams up to win. For me football is about winning matches. | | | | Login to get fewer ads
8th place and Europe on 11:08 - Jul 6 with 919 views | TimSaint |
8th place and Europe on 21:33 - Jul 5 by kingslandstand1 | Well if he does go there he won't be getting European football! |
Interesting game coming up.... Spurs v Everton Not sure what I want to happen here. Probably a draw - so we have a chance to catch both ? | |
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8th place and Europe on 11:53 - Jul 6 with 879 views | SaintNick |
8th place and Europe on 08:58 - Jul 6 by 1ASIN12 | This for me is what some people dont understand redarding Puel, he set up his teams not to lose, Ralph sets his teams up to win. For me football is about winning matches. |
I think some are a bit harsh on Puel, I'm not saying he was the best manager we have ever had, but he had a difficult situation. He had lost Pelle & Mane from the previous season, he had his two central defenders sulking because they had been tapped up elsewhere. His centre forward Charlie Austin was crocked by December, his big signing Sofiane Boufal scored only once (yet 4 years later people are still telling me he will come good one day) and after Xmas he had only Yoshida and Stephens as central defenders. In the first half of the season we weren't bad, we won 3-0 at West ham, 4-0 at Sunderalnd and 4-3 at Watford, he had to put out defensive sides to get the best out of what he had, protect a weak back four and then try to score. Even our new striker Gabbiadini came in scored a few goals and then barely scored again in the next two years. Fair play to Puel in pure statistical terms he had about the 5th or 6th best season in our entire history, in very difficult circumstances yet he is continually slagged off | |
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8th place and Europe on 12:08 - Jul 6 with 855 views | franniesTache |
8th place and Europe on 11:53 - Jul 6 by SaintNick | I think some are a bit harsh on Puel, I'm not saying he was the best manager we have ever had, but he had a difficult situation. He had lost Pelle & Mane from the previous season, he had his two central defenders sulking because they had been tapped up elsewhere. His centre forward Charlie Austin was crocked by December, his big signing Sofiane Boufal scored only once (yet 4 years later people are still telling me he will come good one day) and after Xmas he had only Yoshida and Stephens as central defenders. In the first half of the season we weren't bad, we won 3-0 at West ham, 4-0 at Sunderalnd and 4-3 at Watford, he had to put out defensive sides to get the best out of what he had, protect a weak back four and then try to score. Even our new striker Gabbiadini came in scored a few goals and then barely scored again in the next two years. Fair play to Puel in pure statistical terms he had about the 5th or 6th best season in our entire history, in very difficult circumstances yet he is continually slagged off |
Absolutely correct Nick, the amount of abuse Puel got was ridiculous, he got us to Europe and a cup final, beating liverpool at Anfield on the way. A lot of folk called his side boring because what they saw were sides coming to St Mary's and forcing us to try and break them down, which went against the way Puel wanted his sides to play. Away from home we were magnificent at times, Watford away in particular springs to mind, sharp on the counter and played some brilliant flowing football. At the end of the day we were hurt by a combination of injuries and the players thinking they had nothing to play for post cup final so not putting the shift in. I'm not going to pretend he was the best manager we've had since promotion but he's nowhere near as bad as people make out. | | | |
8th place and Europe on 12:50 - Jul 6 with 830 views | dirk_doone |
8th place and Europe on 12:08 - Jul 6 by franniesTache | Absolutely correct Nick, the amount of abuse Puel got was ridiculous, he got us to Europe and a cup final, beating liverpool at Anfield on the way. A lot of folk called his side boring because what they saw were sides coming to St Mary's and forcing us to try and break them down, which went against the way Puel wanted his sides to play. Away from home we were magnificent at times, Watford away in particular springs to mind, sharp on the counter and played some brilliant flowing football. At the end of the day we were hurt by a combination of injuries and the players thinking they had nothing to play for post cup final so not putting the shift in. I'm not going to pretend he was the best manager we've had since promotion but he's nowhere near as bad as people make out. |
I never once called for Puel to be replaced because he did a reasonable job and as I said at the time, Les Reed would probably recruit someone worse and he did. But, to say that he was statistically our 5th or 6th best manager is bullsh!t. Of the 13 times we've finished in the top 8, that was the lowest points total ever. We got 46 points and were 15 points behind 7th placed Everton. In the previous season, under Koeman, we finished 6th with 63 points and in the season before that, under Pochettino, we finished 7th with 60 points. We won 18 league games in both of the previous seasons whereas in Puel's we won just 12. The drop from 63 points under Koeman to just 46 under Puel was one of the biggest seasonal declines in our history and fans who watched the team every week couldn't help but notice that. We put in some battling performances in the League Cup but I still can't forgive Puel for subbing Gabbiadini in the final. That substitution cost us a trophy. We knew that the club was selling our best players every year so most of us cut him some slack but Les Reed didn't because he thought he could bring in someone better and we got Pellegrino, who was worse. Puel wasn't one of our worst managers ever but he was nowhere near one of the best either. He had the 21st best win percentage of all Saints managers, which is probably a fair reflection of where he ranks. FranniesTache, basically we agree. He was OK but nothing special and his career since Kat and Les sacked him has proved that. In contrast, Ralph is an exciting manager and all Saints fans love him. I doubt that fans of the clubs Puel managed after Les sacked him, have any greater affection for him than our fans did. [Post edited 6 Jul 2020 12:59]
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8th place and Europe on 16:52 - Jul 6 with 733 views | SaintNick |
8th place and Europe on 12:50 - Jul 6 by dirk_doone | I never once called for Puel to be replaced because he did a reasonable job and as I said at the time, Les Reed would probably recruit someone worse and he did. But, to say that he was statistically our 5th or 6th best manager is bullsh!t. Of the 13 times we've finished in the top 8, that was the lowest points total ever. We got 46 points and were 15 points behind 7th placed Everton. In the previous season, under Koeman, we finished 6th with 63 points and in the season before that, under Pochettino, we finished 7th with 60 points. We won 18 league games in both of the previous seasons whereas in Puel's we won just 12. The drop from 63 points under Koeman to just 46 under Puel was one of the biggest seasonal declines in our history and fans who watched the team every week couldn't help but notice that. We put in some battling performances in the League Cup but I still can't forgive Puel for subbing Gabbiadini in the final. That substitution cost us a trophy. We knew that the club was selling our best players every year so most of us cut him some slack but Les Reed didn't because he thought he could bring in someone better and we got Pellegrino, who was worse. Puel wasn't one of our worst managers ever but he was nowhere near one of the best either. He had the 21st best win percentage of all Saints managers, which is probably a fair reflection of where he ranks. FranniesTache, basically we agree. He was OK but nothing special and his career since Kat and Les sacked him has proved that. In contrast, Ralph is an exciting manager and all Saints fans love him. I doubt that fans of the clubs Puel managed after Les sacked him, have any greater affection for him than our fans did. [Post edited 6 Jul 2020 12:59]
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I didn't say that he was our 5th or 6th best manager, I said that he had the 5th or 6th best season in terms of where we finished and the fact that we got to a cup final. The points total is not an indication, all seasons have differing points totals for varying reasons, you have to judge on league positions. Pochettino actually finished 8th on 56 points, but he never got to a cup final that year, so that makes Puel's season better than his. Win percentages mean dont mean a lot, Nigel Adkins has a great win percentage but 28 came in League one, 26 in the Championship and only 5 in the premier league, yet he has the highest win percentage of any Saints manager Better seasons as a manager than Puel I would say only these come near. 1. 1975/76 FA Cup final win plus 2nd division 6th 2. 1983/84 2nd in top flight plus FA Cup semi 3. 2002/03 FA Cup final plus 8th in Premier 4. 2016/17 League cup final plus 8th 5. 1978/79 League cup final plus 14th 6. 84/85 5th in Div 1 7. 80/81 6th in div 1 8. 15/16 6th in the Premier 9. 89/90 7th div 1 10. 14/15 7th in Premier 11 .68/69 7th in Div 1 12.70/71 7th in div 1 13. 13/14 8th in Premier League 14. 94/95 10th in Premier 15. 00/01 10th in Premier These are probably our 15 best seasons ever in term of league position and/or a major cup final reached I think slotting in Puel at 4th is about right, there is an argument that the seasons when we finished above 8th were better, but 83/84 aside I don't think they were unless they had a cup final which they didn't | |
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8th place and Europe on 17:01 - Jul 6 with 722 views | JaySaint | Puel is just not suited to the premier league. | |
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8th place and Europe on 17:20 - Jul 6 with 711 views | Saintsforeverj | In hindsight, Puel was ok. A cup final and 8th was not a bad return. But we wanted a Ralph didn't we. We wanted a passionate attacking manager, who relates to the fans. Puel was unfortunate to arrive straight after Koeman. We like passionate managers here and Puel was dull, let's be honest. But he probably deserved another season. But communication is everything - as my wife says. But it's true. The lack of communication from Puel and now the owner is their downfall. [Post edited 6 Jul 2020 17:23]
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8th place and Europe on 17:45 - Jul 6 with 691 views | franniesTache |
8th place and Europe on 17:20 - Jul 6 by Saintsforeverj | In hindsight, Puel was ok. A cup final and 8th was not a bad return. But we wanted a Ralph didn't we. We wanted a passionate attacking manager, who relates to the fans. Puel was unfortunate to arrive straight after Koeman. We like passionate managers here and Puel was dull, let's be honest. But he probably deserved another season. But communication is everything - as my wife says. But it's true. The lack of communication from Puel and now the owner is their downfall. [Post edited 6 Jul 2020 17:23]
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Biggest downfall of Puel was that he lost the dressing room and the club had no choice but to get rid of him | | | |
8th place and Europe on 20:24 - Jul 6 with 612 views | SaintNick |
8th place and Europe on 17:45 - Jul 6 by franniesTache | Biggest downfall of Puel was that he lost the dressing room and the club had no choice but to get rid of him |
I.m not arguing with that, I just think he did a good job in the circumstances, he lost the dressing room as he couldn't stand up to the two central defenders who were demanding moves, if Ralph had been in charge both Fonte and Van Dijk would have spent most of the first half of that season training with the youth team | |
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