Fabrice29

I'm not having a pop at any of the managers btw and stop saying Lego, it's not witty

Add ‘working hard’ to my post to the top of this page.

He’s read the room and played to the crowd. He said himself he’d watched us for a while and therefore knew what the fans wanted. People were actively cheering long balls from the keeper to the smallest guys on the pitch before he joined. Fair play to him too although he might want to take note of Ramsdales comments after Fulham if he wants to keep the players onside as well.

Just seen this reply. The previous manager quite literally delivered us back to the PL and therefore success if we're holding the manager responsible for results. Yes, this season it went badly but it also went badly for three other managers at this level the year prior and its started off badly for another manager now. At some stage, someone, somewhere will have to start looking at other factors than the manager, maybe some of the players who have spanned all three seasons shouldn't be relied upon or in some cases rewarded for continually being out their depth at this level, why don't we afford managers the same kind of time these guys get, or vice versa, why don't we be as brutal as we are with mangers with players? The answer is because it's simpler not to, easier to compute, easier to call for a change in the manager than face up to the reality and to find peace with the reality. So yeah, Martin was responsible, as were the three guys before him and so will Juric. Cant wait to go into next season with Bednarek, Stephens, Armstrong and whoever else again and maybe they do well enough and then be back with them again the year after that and blame the manager again. Super fun. Or maybe next year we wont.

I don't think "it" has got worse necessarily fwiw. I just find it so funny that people think the answer to stuff is simple things like tactics or style. If you're not good enough at a level, certainly mentally, then different ways of playing just means a different way of losing.

New managers, more attackers, different formations. EVERYTHING IS SO SIMPLE WHY DONT THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE JUST DO IT THE WAY I HAVE DECIDED IT SHOULD BE DONE AND JUST WIN FFS!

Yeah man, always the manager, manager manager manager. Not working? Have a new one. Football is weird sometimes but that’s the way it is I suppose

Oh hi

Well it involves good recruitment which admittedly has been lacking in the forward area for a while. We will likely have to unearth somebody who isn't being given a chance by anyone else, whether it's a young player from a top club or from a lesser league, it's not going to be anyone established or has other options in the same league obviously. The Championship isn't a dead end league to be fair, it's still a place to make a name for yourself, especially if you are paid enough. But also it doesn't have to be someone who is playing in the Championship next season if they do well. It could be a loan or done with an understanding that if they do well enough to attract bids in the summer then assuming there is a profit they can go. 5 months in the PL is better than either sitting on a bench/U21 squad somewhere or 5 months in a league that doesn't attract attention. I also think it's important to still be seen as a club where you can get an opportunity and progress if you do well.

If SR show apathy in January and for the rest of the season, it'll seep into the players, manager and fans. Would only create an even more toxic situation. I said this when we appointed the manager and people said "focus on next season"...there's still half a season to go and quite a few home games that everyone (fans, staff and players) all have to be at... the idea that everyone just sits through it all reminding each other "all about next season" when another goal goes in is bizarre. It wont happen. We need goals and we have to attempt to address that in January, for everyones benefit.

Well they recruited some of them so yeah, they can absolutely be blamed.

How many times do we need to finish bottom of the league / get relegated for you to believe the players might be the issue?

Going by his performance against Palace and compare it to Armstrongs, who would you want to start Saturday out of interest? One got an assist, one didn't. Or is just picking random games to ask this question a bit daft?

100% correct btw. Would genuinely be insane on so many levels to not do anything. We need to improve and if we can do so then we must. Whether we can actually do that is a whole other question but any opportunity to find improvements should be sought, if only its for short term credibility reasons rather than anything long term. Would happily watch someone do well from January to move again in the summer when we go down.

He's better at left back imo. Whole pitch opens up to him when he plays there because he's comfortable cutting inside onto his preferred foot and going outside around the edge of the box for those short cut backs on his left foot. I'll be surprised if we don't cash in on him in January though. From memory the stats show this as well. More key passes and more shots from left back over his career. As for the manager, he's hampered at this level by the squad, like previous managers since Ralph. Quality and mentality both lacking at this level. Not fair to judge him and the problem transcends tactics and will manifest itself just in different ways but hopefully this way of frantic football will produce some results and better vibes. If we can get some goals in January there's a chance of some credibility to be gathered. He isn't staying without some better results though.

Fuck me good luck with that, I'm done.

I suspect he's started less games at St Marys than Onuachu tbh. Oh good point mate, my bad. How silly of me.

Its facetious but I would also point out for a man who has "no track record as a goal scorer" he's got more PL goals and goals at St Marys then Onuachu. But not relevant etc.

Okay cool, him and Cornet up top today then and each game until you're ready to judge. Finally a run of starts for them both.

I also think Onuachu has something to offer today. I’ve been calling for a physical presence up front all season as well although I’d much rather we signed one in the summer than relying on someone who didn’t/still maybe doesn't want to be here and hasn’t scored for us yet despite scoring everywhere else. I don’t really see him as the answer but my point isn’t whether he’s the answer or not, it’s that he’s not done anything for us of note yet, we did well without him last season and we signed others to play whilst he was planning on leaving so it’s hardly a shock he was down the pecking order. I also still think Martin is wonderful and will manage at a higher level than we’ll get to anytime soon. Hopefully I’m wrong on all accounts.

Again, as I’ve stated a few times in here, this isn’t about our tactics or RM, it’s about Onuachu not being hard done by. I know this place is a bit obsessed with RM but there appears to be a thread with his name on it that’s still going so maybe that’s the best place for chat about him. If you want to discuss whether Onuachu was deserving of better treatment then this is the place for that.

I’ve said all season we don’t have the strikers capable of scoring regularly in this league. The idea that Onuachu, who until Thursday barely looked like scoring for us let alone actually having done it, is not only the answer to that but has been all along and RM is the only one who didn’t think it…is fanciful.

Going by their goal scoring records for Southampton who would you rather start? It’s really easy to limit the parameters and get the answer you want. I’d much rather we signed another striker and start neither tbh, but that’s unlikely today. They were asked to play completely different roles from what I could tell on Thursday so I don’t think it should be a choice of the two anyway. Think Armstrong is competing with Archer in this way of playing and we’ll have to accept that the rotation of strikers when playing so frantically is to be expected.

Well he wasn’t very good is how I can judge him. When he did start games he wasn’t very good and when he came off the bench he also wasn’t very good. Just as I’m sure we’ve all judged Maxwell Cornet as not being very good for us and undeserving of regular starts up until now, TP was the same. Anyway, we’re going around in circles. Maybe you always believed was our saviour, despite actually being bought to be our saviour last time and not being good enough to get regular starts, maybe he’ll score for us one day, hopefully today.

‘He wasn’t very good under the two managers previously either. One of which signed him and played tactics similar to his strengths’ Everything I’ve said here is correct. Cheers.