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Reply | Eckert said Aribo was excellent
at 12:54 30 Nov 2025
Oh come on pur-lease. Get real!
What you say in public is totally different to what you might say behind closed doors! |
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Reply | No Leo
at 16:01 29 Nov 2025
Only a couple of bits of sloppiness in my view.
Millwall are playing well and hitting a lot 0of long balls some of which we are struggling to cope with.
Two excellent saves - one either end - have kept it goalless.
I agree though, could go either way. But judging by the number of corners and play in our half, Millwall you would reckon are shading it. But maybe they just may get a bit complacent… |
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Reply | Why we played so much better yesterday…
at 14:41 23 Nov 2025
I beg to differ Ifonly!.
The only team who DIDN’T press us - at home anyway - was Sheffield Wednesday.
All the rest, to a greater or lesser extent, most definitely did, especially Stoke, Boro and PNE. |
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Reply | Why we played so much better yesterday…
at 12:11 23 Nov 2025
Sorry to come back yet again, Ifonly. But I think you are wrong with your assertion: “Not many teams will press us like that”.
If a team has been coached to press they will continue to do so, as it is nigh on impossible to get a squad of players - apart from the absolute cream that is - to adapt at least in the short term to how an opposition copes with it; CL teams with limited squad numbers by and large simply do not have the physical or mental wherewithal to do so. You have one style of play, one plan and you stick to it.
Tuesday will maybe show if it’s the same old Saints, or a new dawn. |
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Reply | Why we played so much better yesterday…
at 10:38 23 Nov 2025
Ifony, if I I may, to contradict two things which you were maintaining:
1. Charlton had the equal best defence in the league prior to our battering yesterday, ie they habitually packed their defence but we - easily! - found ways through; and
2. Playing AA deeper was clearly planned BEFORE the game, knowing Charlton are a defensively-minded team, so why should it not work against others and upset them too?
Personally I have not been so positive for ages…! |
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Thread | Why we played so much better yesterday…
at 08:30 23 Nov 2025
For all who accused the players of downing tools under WS, this shows that it was much more the manager who can affect things; TE could see how to get them playing in a couple of weeks, WS couldn’t in several months…
(From Saints Marching…)
Eckert made these 3 subtle tweaks at Charlton
Southampton's Under-21 captain, Cameron Bragg, was brought into the side for his full debut. This allowed Eckert to play with a double pivot but gave Caspar Jander greater licence to get forward. The first benefit of Bragg's inclusion was to provide extra protection for the back three and to link play with the wide midfielders.
The second benefit of the youngster's inclusion was to provide insurance for Jander, who likes to get forward into the opposition box. Jander's second goal in as many games was further vindication of Eckert's decision to include Bragg.
Eckert's second tweak was to have Adam Armstrong dropping deeper to receive the ball in his own half rather than always running in behind.
As a result, Armstrong was more involved in the build up play and able to pick out the runs of players making forward runs from deep.
Both of Armstrong's assists were beautifully threaded balls, first for Jander to slot home Saints' third and then for Finn Azaz to round the keeper before making it 4-0.
Eckert's final tweak was to accelerate the speed of attacking transitions. Whether it was Scienza driving with the ball through the middle, or Tom Fellows making ground down the right, Southampton's attacking transitions were both lightning quick and extremely direct [Post edited 23 Nov 10:24]
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Reply | Be careful what you wish for…
at 12:28 15 Nov 2025
Forgiven!
But in my book running a club so badly that you flirt with or go into administration like SW or run up huge debts like Blackburn, is a whole load worse than what has befallen us. |
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Thread | Be careful what you wish for…
at 09:29 15 Nov 2025
1. A speedy announcement of the appointment of a new manager.
Surely, if nothing else, SR and/or Spors are being sensible taking their time to find someone? They realise that they have acted far too hastily in the past and don’t want to be accused of doing that again. Is it also not symptomatic of a lack of quality available, given that everybody mentioned has got no better than a checkered managerial cv? In other words, in my view they should take as long as they need to find the right person. And in the meantime let Eckert have the reins on a temporary basis.
2. Sports Republic and Dragan Solak selling the club.
Being polite I would say that Solak was at the very least led up the garden path by Kraft and Ankersen, is ruing the day and is only now getting to grips with the club. Yes it has taken a while and he has still made a number of mistakes but better late than never And at the same time he/they have not starved the club of cash. OK they have cashed in on a number of (mainly over-priced) players but the ones they have bought in recently are definitely better than the previous lot.
Also don't let’s forget it wasn’t so long ago that everybody was hugely anti Gao and desperate for him to sell and was more than happy when SR (with their successful Brentford connection) came in.
Furthermore you don’t have to look too far to see utterly disastrous owners we could have had, eg Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn. Portsmouth, Cardiff. Without even mentioning the likes of the Glazers.
No doubt I will be met with a howls of derision by suggesting that ST are not too bad owners, but if they were to sell we have absolutely no guarantee that the buyer would be any better. And could conceivably be one helluva lot worse. Be careful what you wish for… [Post edited 15 Nov 9:39]
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Reply | Out of left field…
at 12:12 12 Nov 2025
Not sure where others get their opinions about his managerial style from but this from Google:
“Lee Carsley's management style is characterized by a facilitative, player-empowering approach that emphasizes positional freedom and adaptability, rather than strict dictation. He builds a foundation with a clear structure but encourages players to problem-solve and make decisions on the pitch, leading to fluid formations and purposeful, attacking football. His style is also noted for being adaptable to different players and groups, focusing on the manager as a facilitator and a diligent preparer. “
Doesn't sound too bad to me
Of course he might have written it himself… |
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Thread | Out of left field…
at 09:21 12 Nov 2025
…a bit of money for Lee Carsley; from nowhere in to 16/1… |
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Thread | Look at the quality of the teams Tonda managed to beat …
at 08:25 11 Nov 2025
Whether or not he is the right man for the job I don’t know. But if you base it purely on the ability required to beat the two pretty good rubbish teams we have just beaten, then we really are doomed to mediocrity… |
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Thread | Spors MUST be on a yellow card with SR…
at 20:02 8 Nov 2025
…so I therefore think he will be extremely diligent and careful about who he picks as the next manager. After all his most recent picks have been pretty good rubbish - and that’s being polite.
In other words Tonda you would think would not be amongst the first choices, because, even if we have won - but not 100% convincingly - our last two games, I still think that experience is really what we want and he doesn’t provide it just now.
Today there were signs that the whole just could be greater than the sum of the parts. But at the moment mid-table seems to be where we are heading; unless that is the new man can provide give us that extra little bit of pzzazz…
Over to you Johannes ..
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Reply | Gary O Neil suddenly becomes favourite
at 09:19 8 Nov 2025
I don't think anyone should pay any attention to Gary O'Neill being current bookies favourite.
1. This is one of those novelty markets that only one or two bookies price up and it is purely a PR exercise for them - getting a bit of cheap publicity for their brand.
2. A very small bet eg £25 will shift the market enormously and I suspect one person has had such a bet based on nothing more than a whim.
3. No bookie will ever take on a big bet on this because they all know 100% it would be based on inside info.
4. GO’N may nevertheless become the new manager but at this stage I wouldn't take the betting market as any guide
(No doubt then he will be announced as new manager in the next hour…!) |
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Thread | What has Lallana been doing…?
at 14:17 27 Oct 2025
In the recent build-up culminating in this current unholy mess, I do wonder what Adam L has been up to, particularly as I notice that he seems to have been very firmly stuck in his seat throughout all the (home) games.
1. Has he been going along with or even helping to instigate some of WS’s awful decisions?
2. Or has he been a lone voice pleading for the manager to have a more sensible game-plan but has been smacked down?
Just wondering… |
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Reply | Wolves
at 08:15 27 Oct 2025
… and not so long ago Bournemouth were relegated under Eddie Howe (who was that club born and bred and originally got them promoted). And now look what they both are… |
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Reply | What next?
at 09:03 26 Oct 2025
I get what you’re saying UlsterBaz, BUT….
1. EVERY league winner, yes scores a shedful, but invariably concedes the least number of goals, whilst every teams that gets relegated always concedes the most;
2. The last two games we scored first, which you would think would instil some confidence in the team but this was well and truly squandered because the defence then made a complete horlicks;
3. All strikers are only flesh and blood and will always be in a positive frame of mind knowing they have a reliable defence behind them, ie, a good defence sets the tone for a winning team, not the other way round; conversely, always having to chase a game leads to uncertainty and lack of confidence in strikers;
4. How come so many of our forwards who fail with us seem to flourish elsewhere? I would suggest that at least some of this is because they move to better set-up teams, especially with the backs and GK. |
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Reply | What next?
at 08:01 26 Oct 2025
I’m afraid that isn't true MattFinish. Its CONCEEDING that is the problem, not lack of scoring!
We have scored 13 goals. But Millwall (14), Stoke (13), Charlton (14), West Brom (12), have all scored about the same as us but they are lying 3rd, 5th, 6th, 11th in the table because they don’t leak goals.
DEFENCE IS KEY and that us where Will effing Still goes wrong: he gets his players to concentrate so hard on getting forward that we inevitably leave ourselves open to the counter and hence we are lying 20th. |
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Thread | If I was Dragan Solak…
at 20:55 25 Oct 2025
…my thinking would be as follows:
1. Protecting the current value of my shareholding in SFC - even if it has gone down from when I first bought in - is paramount;
2. Having become chairman, I have subsequently realised that my fellow directors and other management may have stabilised the club’s finances post-relegation, but the team’s current performance is seriously risking a further deterioration in the value of my shareholding.
3. I also realise that the advice on the footballing side I have received since I bought my stake has been terrible. So can I really rely on my fellow Board members and/or the Director of Football to advise me yet again, should we get rid of Will Still, on whom we should replace him with?
5. I didn't become a billionaire without realising that there are times to double down on an investment and there are times to cut and run.
6. The only person now I think I can have an honest discussion with as to what course of action to take is Katherine Liebherr (because she is an interested party).
7. I think she will try to persuade me to stay and roll the dice one more time; but my business sense says SELL.
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