trousers

There you go. Weird (ish)

QED followed by other words

Qed

Two test posts to follow....

Seems to work if followed by another word....curious. This is going to keep me awake at night.

q.e.d. edit: damn website won't let me type capitals on their own. FFS.

Worrying. It would seem we can't have our cake AND eat it....

Don't get me wrong, my gut feel puts me in the "don't touch anything" camp, but, given we're now hailing Wotte as the better tactician, wouldn't it make sense for him to CONSIDER changing to a slightly more defensive/grittier line up against Brum on Saturday. My thinking: I'm guessing we'd all be happy with a point away to Brum (especially on the back of three wins....on the back of three not so good results would be a different matter!). So, perhaps, just perhaps....it would be an idea to exchange one attacking midfielder (McGoldrick probably) for a more defensive and aggressive midfielder, i.e. Wotton. If, say, we then get to half time at nil nil Wotte can take a view based on Brums perfomance whether to revert to the more attacking line up for the second half or stick with the more defencive line up if Brum are on form, and hang out for the draw. We bemoaned Poortvliet for dogmatically sticking with the same tactics whilst we were losing. Shouldn't we still look at any merits in tweaking tactics whilst we're winning too? As I say, my heart says "stick with the same line up" but my head is wondering otherwise.

Indeed. Many of us let out a collective groan when Poortvliet was replaced with Wotte because there was a valid belief that we were replacing like-for-like. How were we to know that Wotte was going to do a u-turn on the 'total football' strategy that he was part of bringing to the club? How were we to know he had a remit to play a better blend of seniors and youngsters than Poortvliet was seemingly 'allowed' to? There was no statement from the club at the time saying "We've given the job to Wotte and, oh, by the way he's going to ditch the dogmatic 4-3-3 tactics and start playing some of the more senior players on a regular basis". If there had been an announcment to that effect when he took over then many of us would have been more receptive to the idea. So, just to clear this up once and for all, those that were sceptical about Wotte taking over from Poortvliet were NOT sceptical about the man himself per se, rather they were concerned that he would continue with the flawed strategy that he had been an integral devotee to for the previous 9 months. I know it's not in some posters' interests to acknowledge this difference but hey ho.

Tonight's.... http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=223441#post223441

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/7908394.stm Ipswich 0-3 Southampton Two goals from Jason Euell and one from substitute Matthew Paterson secured an impressive victory for Southampton that severely dents Ipswich's promotion bid. Euell headed home an Andrew Surman free-kick for his first before capitalising on a Pim Balkestein mistake to slot home his second. Paterson drove in from the edge of the box to complete the rout. Saints also had headers from Jan-Paul Saeijs and Chris Perry disallowed by referee Andy D'Urso for fouls. Ipswich boss Jim Magilton: "It's certainly the worst since I became manager, without a shadow of a doubt. It was three (nil) going on six. "It was not acceptable. The crowd had every right to voice their opinion. "You have to have a few words after that performance. You want to know where it came from. It stunned the life out of me. I didn't see it coming." Southampton boss Mark Wotte: "Jason Euell has done fantastically for us tonight. I am pleased with him. "When I started this job I gave him a substitute role three times, and every time he had a good impact - so I put him in the first XI. "His contract is expiring, so he has personal reasons to play well. He feels confident, like most of the players, and he has done brilliantly."

Yes, in the friendly vs Ujpest (Jan's last game in charge....)

I believe it's something to do with B&Q selling off airbrushes at half price today I do find it strange that some believe one can't be chuffed and frustrated at the same time. But hey ho.....in a roundabout way I think we're all in agreement that the last 3 results are a pleasant surprise given where we were a few weeks ago. cheers and good night

Who's not happy? I'm chuffed to bits personally.

Indeed it is. Am happy to wait until we're safe before we get the answers to why Wotte wasn't made No.1 from the off.

Anyone know if Wotte employed these winning 4-4-2 diamond tactics we are seeing today whilst he was manager of the reserves and/or academy team(s)? However, given part of his remit was to seamlessly integrate the reserves & academy players with the 1st team one assumes he was actually embracing and copying what Poortvliet was doing with the 1st team, otherwise how would this seamless integration have worked? Good to see that he's done a u-turn now though.

Yep. Totally agree

Going over old ground here but comparing Wotte's tenure with Pearson's isn't like-for-like. When Wotte took over the 'head coach' badge from Poortvliet he wasn't starting cold from square one. As for writing off Wotte, it would appear that someone convinced Lowe to write him off as head coach nearly a year before folk on here did...

The OS article at the time he was signed (only on loan BTW.....) Dutch defender Jan-Paul Saeijs has spoken of his desire to succeed in English football at Saints following his move to the south coast. "Southampton is a big club and compared to where it should be it's standing at the moment is too low," he commented. "This is a Premier League Club and I want to come here to make a contribution." At 30 years of age, the centre-back will provide plenty of experience and admits that he will be no stranger to the set-up that Head coach Jan Poortvliet has put in place at the club. "I'm used to playing with younger players, because I did so at ADO den Haag, in Holland and I know that a good mixture of younger and older players is what any team needs. "I feel that I can help the youngsters here and I hope I can make myself into an important player at the club," Saeijs added. The defender is also familiar with his new boss and hopes to impress the former World Cup Finalist from his homeland. "Jan has a fantastic record in Holland and he's a good coach too. I am happy to have passed my medical and I'm fit to play whenever the manager wants me to." That may happen as soon as this weekend should clearance come through in time and the defender can then prepare to live out a long term dream of his. "I said to my girlfriend that I always wanted to play in England, I love the football here and I think that it is the most beautiful game in the world." In his career to-date, Saeijs most notably played for Roda JC, where former Everton player Raymond Atteveld was manager. Atteveld, Everton's first ever Dutch player, made Jan-Paul his captain, before he lost his job in October last year. Jan Poortvliet had been tracking the 6' 3" defender for some time and as soon as his situation became clear, the 52 year-old swooped to claim his services. "I know him personally very well," Poortvliet explained. "His mentality is good and his character is very strong. He's good in the air and quick enough to cover some space when required, so when we knew he was available, we got in touch." "He is a good tackler as well and has even played up-front when he was younger, so we are aware that he can score goals too." "He was very keen on coming to England and helping Southampton to get better results. At 30 he's also a very good age for a central defender and he has played almost 250 league games in Holland." http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/search/?mode=movenav&page_id=11199 Hmmmm....perhaps we do owe credit to Jan on this one then....

Here's hoping they keep up the winning habit.... (come on, don't say it didn't cross your minds too.... )

Hmmm....Food for thought....

I'm doing both. i.e. enjoying the here-and-now at the same time as being frustrated about the past, multi-talented chap that I am....

cheers - superb goal by Paterson

I'm not too sure either, but let's say, for example, that we share the server with Charlton's forum, then if we cut our usage from 50% to 30%, Charlton's mob might just soak up the extra 20% for themselves? Depends if we have a fixed allocation on the server or not I guess. Pass.

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