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Reply | Sheffield Wednesday Fear Southampton Will Recall Shea Charles
at 14:13 10 Oct 2024
Maybe, or maybe he's playing in a position/style that suits him better, but either way when you're 19 years old, 1 year extra of age makes a big difference and we've seen how big the gap is between PL and Championship players.
Tino, Lavia and Dibling are real exceptions to the rule in being able to play at the top level at that age (and Lavia wasn't really able as he wasn't ready physically - the same may be true of Dibling). It shouldn't be expected of them. The norm is more Edozie, Larios or Sam Amo - they may turn out to be decent players but they're not ready yet. Saints were idiots to expect so much from these young players 2 years ago. It may be one small area where Banana Republic have learnt something since they started. |
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Reply | Manager gone if we lose to Leicester
at 10:26 10 Oct 2024
Surely a draw is no better than a loss in these circumstances? So why keep him if we draw? If the board are trying to stay up, then they have to bite the bullet.
Even if they've given up on staying in the PL, we want to get 12 points to avoid Derby's record. If all we've got is a point from home games against Ipswich and Leicester, our fellow promoted sides, then where on earth will we get the other 10 points? We will have used up our easiest games. On current form we can get something against Wolves and maybe someone else will have an off-day, but realistically if we draw we'd be on course for a total of maybe 8-10 points and eternal infamy. [Post edited 10 Oct 10:32]
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Reply | Did Saturday's game buy Russell Martin time?
at 15:35 7 Oct 2024
"Rasmus Ankersen was switched on at Brentford and hopefully is playing some part now"
Unfortunately, if press reports are to believed, then he is playing his part by keeping RM in his job.
I very much doubt that he was switched on at Brentford. What happened at Brentford was driven by Matthew Benham who is a similar figure to Tony Bloom at Brighton. Both used data and analytics to make the key decisions, using learnings from their sports betting companies. Benham brought Phil Giles with him from his betting company to run the analytics and it is said that he drove all the key decisions. That would seem to be borne out by the fact that Ankersen was the one who left.
Since Ankersen left Brentford, they have gone on to become an established PL club while everything Ankersen touched has turned to sh1t. There is absolutely nothing in the way SFC is run that matches how things work at Brentford. Again this suggests that Brentford was someone else's work and Ankersen had to leave to get his ideas implemented. Unfortunately for us, they have been implemented at SFC. |
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Reply | Why RM teams concede so many goals
at 11:20 7 Oct 2024
Trouble is different managers have different basics. For RM, playing out from the back, even in highly dangerous circumstances IS THE BASICS. It's fundamental to how he wants to play. In fact, the more dangerous the better because that means we bypass more opposition players if we break their press. He insists that we just need to be brave and it will all come good, but most people can see that he has crossed the line between bravery and stupidity. |
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Reply | Martin Sacked !!!!
at 10:41 7 Oct 2024
Not only did they not score, they didn't even create a chance or get close to creating one. They took major risks for absolutely no reward.
This type of football is pointless, self indulgent sh1te. It's the football equivalent of someone w*nking while looking at a picture of themself. |
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Reply | Southampton At Arsenal The Verdict
at 10:38 7 Oct 2024
I agree with most of this verdict, but I disagree with this about Tall Paul: "This is not to write him off, he could be a valuable asset to bring on in the closing stages of a game where we are chasing a goal or two."
That's actually illogical. Playing with Tall Paul is either effective or it isn't. If it's not effective, then don't bring him on at all. If it is effective then why wait until we're 2 goals down in the closing stages? Why not start with him and go 2 goals up? |
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Reply | Paul Onuachu yesterday
at 10:36 7 Oct 2024
Agreed. It's not in RM's style to make use of Tall Paul.
I'd like to see him played as part of a striker partnership with Archer. I think they'd complement each other. Paul can be a focal point and Archer likes to run in behind. But that would probably require a traditional 442 and getting crosses into the box, which isn't trendy enough for Russell. |
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Thread | Why RM teams concede so many goals
at 19:58 6 Oct 2024
We all learnt this about RM's style a long time ago, but it's clear that he never wants to learn. Just watched last night's MOTD and they had a graphic showing the worst teams for "Possession lost in defensive third". Of course we were the worst of the worst and that is the key reason why RM teams concede so many.
I just think it's so ironic that RM's style of play is supposed to maximise possession, but actually what it ends up doing is losing possession in the most dangerous area of the pitch. Yesterday we gave away 2 goals by losing possession near our goal and we were lucky not to give away more before the game had hardly started.
RM claims this style gets us more goals than it gives away, but I think if you look at goals for and against in the PL you'll see that this is total BS. He just doesn't want to deal with the truth.
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Reply | If you thought the Bosman ruling was bad...
at 18:35 4 Oct 2024
A few other points about how this will apply in the UK:
1) Diarra's contract was with Lokomotiv Moscow, which is not an EU based club. So if he had been complaining that he wasn't being allowed to walk away from a UK club without compensation, the court would have made the same ruling i.e. they would have ruled that no compensation was payable to the UK club.
2) The Bosman ruling was also made in an EU court, but it is now applied globally e.g. I believe our recent Brazilian signings were based on their contracts running out.
3) Since the news was announced a number of comment pieces have been published. None of them say this only applies to the EU. Also, from the BBC piece:
"The result could mean far-reaching consequences for the transfer system, similar to how the Bosman Ruling affected transfers in 1995," sports barrister Yasin Patel told BBC Sport.
"Players may now be able to move more freely to other clubs by breaking with a contract as opposed to being tied to the club and contract. In addition, buying clubs may not have to pay compensation or claims."
Futher on down it says: "More widely, it demonstrates again that football cannot behave like it does not have to work within the same employment laws that apply to any other industry."
That's the real issue because if I work for Tesco and want to go and work for Lidl, there is no transfer fee payable. |
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Reply | Team Saturday
at 15:55 4 Oct 2024
Hopefully it's a relatively minor injury so he can be back in 6 months or so |
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Reply | If you thought the Bosman ruling was bad...
at 15:36 4 Oct 2024
Not true because:
- we have to follow FIFA's rules for domestic transfers too, so this doesn't only relate to European transfers
- the exisitng rules said that a contract could be broken if it was unfair, the new ruling says that it doesn't even have to be ruled unfair because even fair contracts restrict freedom of movement
- Diarra had signed a contract which paid a lot of money but he then decided he didn't like it and broke it. The case went to FIFA and they ruled that he had to pay compensation to the club and a transfer fee had to be paid to allow him to play elsewhere i.e. they ruled that the contract was fair. The EU court has overruled those decisions and said that FIFA needs to change its rules such that players would be allowed to do what Diarra did and walk away, irrespective of whether the contract was fair or not. |
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Reply | If you thought the Bosman ruling was bad...
at 14:22 4 Oct 2024
I believe the situation is that if we want to be involved in international football, then we need to follow FIFA's rules. And if FIFA want to exist in Europe, then they need to follow the EU's rules. So, in other words, Brexit makes no difference unless the FA withdraws from FIFA which won't happen. |
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Reply | New manager
at 14:21 4 Oct 2024
Potter saying in an interview today that he has been using his time off to learn Spanish |
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Reply | Team Saturday
at 14:20 4 Oct 2024
Pretty sure that:
- Big Les, Cornet and Fraser to be dropped (unless stellar training this week)
- Aribo to be recalled after given special mention by RM
- Stewart to be given more time after ok performance
So, I'd guess:
Ramsdale
Suga THB Bednarek Taylor
Lallana Downes
Dibling Fernández Aribo
Stewart [Post edited 4 Oct 14:25]
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Thread | If you thought the Bosman ruling was bad...
at 11:00 4 Oct 2024
Today the European Court found that FIFA's transfer rules are illegal in the EU. It said that “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club,” which basically means that players who fancy a pay rise by moving to a bigger club should be able to break their contract without compensating their old club. I'm no legal expert but this seems to me to be an even more fundamental change than the Bosman ruling.
This, like Bosman, is an EU ruling but it seems to mean that FIFA will have to change the transfer rules to allow players to move mid-contract without compensation. So, if we had Tyler Dibling, for example, on a 5 year contract but he decided he'd rather play for Man City, he could just leave and start playing for them. He would not have to compensate Saints and Man City wouldn't have to pay a transfer fee.
People aren't yet making a big deal of this and it may take many years for the implications to work through, but at the end of it, I can't see any legal basis for transfer fees existing at all. Ultimately any player could move when they wanted to and claim that any transfer fee was a restriction on their freedom of movement. It may take another test case to make it happen, but that seems to be where we're going. There may also be other implications. For example, transfer windows would now appear to be illegal too as they also impede free movement of workers.
As with everything else in modern football, this ruling would benefit the players and the biggest clubs at the expense of everyone else. The Bosman ruling was a kick in the teeth for small clubs, this may be a death knell.
The legal case was brought by Lassana Diarra, an ex skate. |
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Reply | Dibling
at 15:13 3 Oct 2024
or hardly any one plays 2 up front, but does that make it a bad idea? I think football is too fad driven these days. If the players we've got suit a certain system then we should play it, regardless of whether it's trendy or not.
We haven't got a centre forward who can lead the line by themselves (unless Ross Stewart steps up) so playing 2 strikers may well suit us. |
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Reply | Southampton Board Split On Russell Martin Situation
at 10:40 3 Oct 2024
Maybe but Ankersen was CEO of SR throughout and responsible for "overseeing football strategy". The football strategy at SFC has been appalling and that has led to a decline in SFC which is SR's main asset. All of that is his responsibility.
So yes, maybe for example Wilcox led the recruitment of RM, but Ankersen is supposed to be in overall charge of choices like that and he, no doubt, was instrumental in appointing Wilcox in the first place (with the brief to bring his Man City experience and make us like them).
I can't see how he avoids responsibility for this. Even on the appointment of Selles, if Ankersen was taken out of the loop because of his disastrous decision on Jones, that is hardly a feather in his cap. It meant that there was a vacuum of leadership when a vital decision was being taken. |
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Reply | Dibling
at 09:46 3 Oct 2024
This was another dumb move by tactical genius Russell Martin. He said afterwards he wanted Dibling in the middle to carry the ball forwards.
Why?? Any idiot knows that you have more space on the wings. If you're going to dribble the ball, do it there. The middle of the park rapidly becomes crowded and dribblers get stopped, which is what happened to Dibling. He was far less effective than he has been in previous games.
In a must win game, RM tried a tactical experiment with an 18 year old that was doomed to fail before it even started. |
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Reply | Southampton Board Split On Russell Martin Situation
at 09:37 3 Oct 2024
Please say what you think Ankersen has done for the club. His "experience" has meant we:
- sacked RH
- appointed Jones
- appointed Selles
- appointed RM
- adopted a disastrous "copy Man City" philosophy
- adopted a disastrous "buy teenagers for future profit" strategy
- wasted money on multiple players who aren't good enough
Which of these do you think are valuable contributions? My mum has no interest in football and she'd have done a better job than he has. We'd have been better off without him. |
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