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I always thought McCarthy was terrible but even he isn't as bad as Bazunu and doesn't do this tippy tappy stuff in front of his goal to create goals for the opposition, although he is equally afraid of getting hit by the ball.
"Front foot feel is old an adage but a fair one. Last time we had a knock everyone pulled together. The badge is more important than anything. The restart is Chelsea, a positive reaction to the news is important. "
This 'front footedness' never seems to go well, does it?
When you're in the Northam/Kingsland corner, it sounds good. The problem is that because it's a corner it has the worst acoustics in the stadium, the sound gets directed inwards and doesn't travel well to the rest of the stadium or out across the pitch. It's been known by football fans for years, and acoustic tests have proved it, that if you want to be heard around the stadium and, more importantly, on the pitch, the best position is directly behind the goal. This is why many clubs stick the away fans in a corner. At the moment at St Mary's, we've got it the wrong way round and that's why the Club wants to change the setup.
I know some people are unhappy that they may have to change seats but when we moved from the Dell to St Mary's, everybody changed seats and we got over it. As for needing to be next to the away fans to make a noise, that's a pretty pathetic excuse. Go to the stadiums with the best home atmospheres all over the world and the noisiest fans have their own home end while the away fans are stuck in a corner or up in a higher tier at the other end. The last thing they want is away fans in a prominent position.
People have their own routines which suit them best. I've only ever left a game early once. It was an England game and I missed a last minute equaliser. But, that's because I've never had transport issues getting home from Saints' home games. Some people may have trains to catch or need to avoid traffic jams, which will save them an hour or more on their journey home or in some cases mean they will get home at all. Remember, some Saints' fans travel hundreds of miles to home games. You have always lived locally so this has never been a priority for you.
That's because they're divided into 2 groups in the corners so they get drowned out by the away fans. The Club understandably wants to change this but the nimbies won't have it.
You're losing it, Nick, if you seriously think Brighton would take Russell Martin off our hands. Next, you'll be telling us that they want Bazunu and Smallbone as well.
I remember when it was first rumoured that Martin was coming here, those in favour (a small minority) raved about a record-breaking 56 pass move when Martin was manager of MK Dons (it's featured prominently in his wiki and any other online biography).
What they neglect to mention is that MK Dons were in the middle of a 5-match winless run and lost that game to Gillingham or that, in a season when their "passing stats rivalled Man City's," MK Dons finished 13th in League One.
The way the draw works, including who has home advantage in the 2nd leg, the 3rd placed team is supposed to meet the 4th placed team in the final. Then it's a one-off at Wembley, So, yes, the 4th placed team should be better placed to win than those in 5th and 6th positions. It doesn't always work like that though. End of season momentum must be another important factor and, right now, we don't have it.
Luck with injuries is another factor. What we really need is for all 3 of our goalkeepers to miraculously get injured in a mass training accident, so we can bring in a new goalkeeper on emergency loan. It's not going to happen, is it?
The tactics need to change. At the moment our players think that their main objective is to keep possesion of the ball rather than to score goals, which means that, more often than not, when a chance appears, they pass the ball sideways rather than shoot. Even our defenders think that passing the ball sideways at the back is preferable to getting the ball into the opposition's half.
Maybe they know they will get assessed on their passing stats after the game. X number of passes completed = job done. That's why Martin says Bazunu is so good- his passing stats look good. Even if some of those passes lead to opposition goals it's OK, because the passing stats are the important thing, not the goals.
In this game of stick or twist, sh!t goalkeepers stick at Southampton. Who else would take them? How many millions have been wasted on McCarthy and Bazunu over the years? McCarthy was our highest paid player going into this season, raking in millions every year; Bazunu cost us a fee of £12 million plus his wages.
In 2020, I said on here that we should get Lukas Hradecky, an experienced Finnish goalkeeper. He'd have cost a lot less than Bazunu and would have been happy with half of what we pay to McCarthy, and, at that time, a move to a Premier League club would have been very appealing to him. That ship has well and truly passed. But, there are still experienced international goalkeepers out there. We really need to get one of them.
Smallbone is a waste of space, just there to make up the numbers. Opposition players just breeze past him like a training cone.
As for how dire it is to be a Blackburn fan, welcome to the Championship. They've been stuck in it for more than 10 years. At least, like most clubs of a similar size, they have their memories of winning trophies: League champions of England 3 times, FA Cup winners 6 times and a League Cup as recently as 2002.
Lots of teams are tired of being stuck in the Championship but don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Blackburn are just one of many. Stoke and Swansea have equally disillusioned players and fans. It seems to have happened to our players after less than one season though!
What most mid-table Championship games are like. Not much motivation or quality. The players wish they were in the Premier League but realize they're stuck here because they're surrounded by equally mediocre team mates who also don't bother giving 100%. Our players seem to have accepted their fate prematurely though, as we are still in the playoffs. Maybe they think thy will suddenly wake up then but once lethergy has set in, it's difficult to snap out of it. As for Blackburn, they've been stuck in that Championship limbo for more than 10 years and their fans and players seem to have given up hope.
Anyway, sounds like another brilliant match-winning performance from the man.
West Ham have got Bayer Leverkusen next, in the Europa League quarter-final, which could see 2 ex-Saints facing each other: JWP and Tella. They must both really regret not being able to stay her and be coached by Russell, like Smallbone and Adams.
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