ant

I'm late 30s. And whilst we really ought to have added to our major trophies during my lifetime, reading this thread makes me realise I've done alright out of big memories. For me, it'll take some doing to beat the Coventry match that secured promotion under Adkins. The thumping result itself, in such a crucial match; The feeling of being BACK, after nearly ceasing to exist; The celebrations at the final whistle, and long into the night; Being there with my uncle, who's the reason I support Saints in the first place - he used to cart me around to home & away games as a kid.

Just checked the ticket app on my phone and it's the same scenario. The main 'Southampton FC' app now has a My Tickets tab, claiming digital tickets will soon be hosted there. But seems odd to blow up the existing solution before implementing the replacement.

Last night felt like odd timing. On reflection today, I wonder whether SR feared that if we fail to recover from Millwall, they'll lose the (evidently fragile) fan support RE: Tonda? They do seem extremely reactive and insecure about criticism from the stands. If that's wide of the mark, then why act on the eve of the match rather than at any other point of the week?

This feels correct. If we're going with Eckert, we need to give him some form of security and to protect ourselves from potential poachers. Whilst finding the balance of not going OTT. It's not a terrible gig for your first managerial job... I wonder whether he'd be amenable to an incentivised mid-term contract, with a performance-related automatic extension?

Wouldn't you be more concerned if there was zero discourse about Eckert and his methods? He's undoubtedly staking his claim, but there remains risk factors in making him permanent. And - perhaps - risk factors if we don't. It's a bigger conversation than any single result. Especially when that has its own thread.

I'm not arguing against playing it around at the back, but the key (which it isn't clear from your word soup whether you're for or against) is how the ball is subsequently used. If it's played along the rearguard as a method of pulling the opposition hither and thither, that's great. But if it then goes forward at a glacial pace - and/or includes unnecessary 5-yard passes to every player en route - the opposition resets, we get to the halfway line and there's nothing doing. Having watched us do the latter for all too long, I grew bloody weary of it. I don't think I was alone. Yesterday was a much more dynamic approach than we've become accustomed to.

The recycling at the back was largely inconsequential to that move. You could just as easily cut it out of the clip. It was two consecutive bold, between-the-lines passes that made it happen. Often we overplay that ball out of defence, hitting the boots of every player in-between. The speed of transitioning from defence to the halfway line was key. Keeping hold of the ball is fine. But at some point you've got to take a chance and make a beeline for the opposition box. Not every side will be as naive positionally as Charlton, but even with teams playing low blocks you've more chance with countering with pace than ponderous buildup. Is this Eckert's influence, or simply the players let off the leash? Guess we'll see.

Best we crack on with being the bullies our financial status suggests we ought to be, then.

Anybody else indulging in imagining the scenes within the Charlton dressing room as Jones combusts? 🤭

I make that 25% of Charlton's goals this season conceded in under 25 minutes. What a stat!

Gotta love an opposition sub within the first half hour. 👌

"Nathan Jones, your football is shit." 😆

Surprise surprise, top Championship players can play a bit when unshackled. Continues to feel like a black mark against Still rather than any mega advert for Eckert. IMO.

Bad feeling about this one. Mad Nate has them well-organised, and other than a narrow loss to Wrexham they've been in very good form. Can absolutely envisage him doing something akin to a 'Ralph v Liverpool' come full time.

Always found it bizarre how many posters spelt his name Goa. Or did it just become an in-joke? 🤷‍♂️

Whilst I'd have respected the chanting continuing, it was never likely if results started picking up. Think it's wrong to assume they've stopped, though. Won't take much for discontent to rear its head again.

If we choose to follow that counter-argument we can continue as we are for a bit, no? Rather than giving Eckert a multi-year contract. Might be nice to dodge paying further unnecessary payoffs. Just for a season or so...

Every week (OK, not so much today...) we see opposition keepers that could improve us. Most could've been pried away for a reasonable price. They might not do us in the Prem. But how about we fucking focus on getting there first? You could permanently demote Bazunu to play with the kids and he would still be shown up. There's sunk-cost fallacy and there's... This. One of the clearest examples of Sports Republic's insanity.

Felt it was disjointed for long spells, and once again we lost the plot after the subs. However we were at least fairly clinical, which isn't something you could accuse us of this season to date. The creative players seemed to have a bit more freedom to run at the opposition - but that could've just been because Wednesday are limited. Two fairly 'meh' wins is probably the best we could've hoped for in this interim spell.

Done some reading around why Middleborough let Carrick go and it seems fan opinion was he was overly wedded to a possession-based system that didn't frequently enough convert into points. Whereas the board couldn't get over the regression of league positions, and didn't feel they had the assurances that things would change/progress. In 2024-25 they'd budgeted for promotion, so finishing 10th (when the points threshold for the playoffs was the lowest for a decade) wasn't deemed acceptable. Aside from any virtues of Rob Edwards, I guess this in part accounts for why they're flying high at the moment, i.e. the squad building was already well under way. (As an aside, it's worth noting that they haven't really spent a fortune - and how heavily they lean on loans...) In mitigation, it sounds like there was a general falling out in the January 2025 window over transfer targets, with Carrick being overruled. Not sure whether that speaks for or against his strength of will and/or character. Perhaps a couple of red flags. Granted, this doesn't fully account for the competency/incompetency of the Boro board. But then look at what you have to work with for us... 🤦‍♂️

Not for long.

Hope you're right. Now's the time to hit the gas, not the brakes.

Looks like the club still hasn't posted anything on social media since before the match, which is interesting. A conscious attempt not to give fans somewhere to react? Waiting until it's news of the manager getting the boot? Or option C...?

Trying not to care, as a method of self-preservation. But still absolutely livid this morning.

This league's schedule is relentless. Can't we go a few bloody days without having to endure another shitty Saints performance? Used to hate international breaks. Now they just seem like sweet relief.