There when Franny scored

I think you are right, although the undertone of the article does perhaps convey a slightly acerbic agenda as you say. However, I appreciate that she is saying that the media would perhaps turn these stats against Pochettino if he was at a bigger club, but having looked at the stats more closely I'm not sure that that's accurate. Possibly the preconceived starting point of the article has led her to select statistics that are neither negative nor would be perceived as negative in the media. Hence she is falling foul of her own message because she failed to apply the rigour advocated in her article when assessing performance to her own interpretation of the statistical analysis of Southampton's performance. For example, I don't think the media would pick up on the 80% pass completion rate when Man U and Everton are 83% and Chelsea and Liverpool are 84%. That Fulham have a 1% better completion rate than us is more an indication that Fulham are overachieving in that area relative to their overall performance. The long ball one possibly, but again if you look at the stats more closely the most long balls in home games are played by Chelsea and the most in away games by Swansea. I think if it were any reputable sports journalist they would be critisising the disparity between our home and away performance (as they do with Man City). E.g. pass completion home 83%, away 76%. You could select several others, but for the top teams the difference is much smaller, i.e. they generally maintain performance away from home. We still do not, although we have had more difficult away fixtures. To belatedly conclude, she says "Nobody is pointing out that Southampton play more long balls than any other Premier League side and have a pass completion rate lower than Fulham". I think nobody is pointing that out because nobody sees, or would see if they applied more scrutiny, those stats as particularly negative. If she'd applied the same thoroughness to the selection of statistical indicators that she's demonstrated in assessing MP's performance I don't think she would have selected those stats in the first place.

I did understand the point which I suppose can be summarised as MP has received, almost without exception, praise in the media for his style of play, use of young Englishman etc., but a closer analysis belies some of the hype. The point I was making, althouth perhaps tangentially, was that the statistics she herself is using are a little misleading so you might argue that she falls foul of her own message!

You can interpret statistics however you like to suit the point you are trying to make. We also have the 2nd most possession and are 7th best for short passes. We play an average of 69 long balls per game whereas Chelsea in 10th place play 64 so the range is compact. We are in 10th place for pass completion with 80% which is indeed 1% below Fulham and 6.9% behind Swansea who are the best but are below us on points. http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/3853/Stages/7794/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2013-2014

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/europa/rennes-il-southampton-sulle-tracce-di-pitroipa-508727 Jonathan Pitroipa Sorry if already posted.

Agree with you kwsaint. McNulty is one of the most unimaginative reporters out there and epitomises the BBC's bland and "safe" stance towards sports reporting in general. I suppose you might say that he is only going his job in that regard. Vickery is the obvious exception of course. You're not the only one - http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/584743-football/65330227

They are also the first pair of football shorts I have bought in about 10 years. I can confrim that they are the nicest pair of shorts, and possibly single piece of clothing, I've ever owned (although somewhat transparent) and I've even taken to sleeping in them. I also have made a speacial request to my wife to wash them only with her underwear.

Good post and good points well made. Although he is out of his depth the abuse he gets is disgraceful and can only make things worse. I think he is a better player than he thinks he is, but is chronically short on confidence and petrified of pace meaning that he tucks in too far leaving our left completely exposed and dragging other players out of position to compensate.

Dani Osvaldo ‏@danistone25 2h Southampton, 03 de Octubre de 2013 De mi consideración: ​Me dirijo a Uds. con el fin de contestar las (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1rpdafr The link in the tweet is to a longer message that is in Spanish, but the gist of it is that his ex-wife is spreading derogatory comments in Argentina about his failure to pay child support and visit their son whilst at the same time allegedly preventing Dani from seeing his son when he attempts to do so. Anyway, he sounds genuinely very upset about it all and has published this message seemingly in attempt to set the record straight.

Apologies if already posted - http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/7fHxs0eUAkSGk2Jf9sUAOg/Show/

From the Harvard Business Review. Long, but worth a read. http://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula/ar/1 There are certainly some similarities with the way Saints are trying to do things.

I don't think you're being harsh, difficult to say if it was lucky or instinctive!

Lovely assist from Gaston in Uruguay's crucial game - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAdhC77kJIc He came on as a second half sub when it was 0-0.

I agree with the observations in the OP. The recent Tim Vickery Blog contains a quote from a player who played under Sampaoli the Chilean manager who models his teams on Bielsa, the same as MP. I think this is what MP was trying to achieve which is why he does not want traditional wingers who are generally quite restricted in terms of their positional play: '"We are not allowed to be afraid of playing," said Rodriguez. "We always attack with six players and defend with four. The six rotate, keep the ball moving, occupy and create space, and the four wait and close down space to win the ball back. The order of these four is fundamental, as is the disorder of the six." It is straight out of the Bielsa handbook.' Interestingly, this ties in with the recent quote from one of the coaching staff "We don't play in positions. We play from positions." I also think we have departed from the original mantra and certainly against Norwich without Shaw and Clyne (who would normally make up the six attacking players along with the front four) we appeared instead to attack with four and defend with six which is why we were so limited and produced no crosses at all from the by-line. Predictably, our defence has improved greatly while our attacking threat has suffered. I think MP is working towards a more fluid front four (with support from attacking full-backs) that are able to create spaces amongst the opposition without necessarily having to outnumber them thus creating chances and remaining tight defensively. This hasn't really worked as yet from an attacking perspective, but it may take more time (and possibly additional personnel). A couple of further observations / questions: - I'm not sure if Lambert fits into this system although I think he's more adaptable than people give him credit for, just not that mobile. - I think this is why he really likes JWP as I believe he is quoted as saying something like he feels JWP's technical ability allows him to play in any of the midfield or attacking positions (bar the central striker presumably) which I don't agree with as against Sunderland and Norwich he did not look comfortable in the wide role. He was much better when he moved to a central position against Sunderland. It has certainly been an interesting tactical journey so far with MP and at least he has a clear idea that he is trying to implement rather than the sort of trial and error approach we have seen from several previous managers.

Fonte man of the match on the widely regarded as instructive "Whoscored" website - http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/719871/Live Went about his business in a efficient, understated fashion befitting of a seasoned premier league performer IMHO.

This summary seems quite realistic at least http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusive/2013/08/16/4190486/-

The French site for AS Roma fans is saying that we bid 20m euros yesterday in the hope of getting him in before Saturday. No idea as to the reliability, but it's not an attention seeking false transfer rumour site at least. As Roma Francophone ‏@AsRomaFrancopho 18m Hier #southampton est passer d'une offre de 20millions a 9poir #osvaldo et selon les bruits ils l'auraient demander pour Samedi !

http://hereisthecity.com/2013/07/18/mn-how-a-qatari-club-could-affect-tottenham-arsenal-and-southamp/

Emil Hallfredsson http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/transfer-talk/news/saints-favourites-to-sign-hallfredsson_94021.html

Thanks for these. I just "liked" the Thailand group. They have 1069 likes now!

This is a question, asked by many fans, that derives directly from the continual persecution of agents in the media, the constant need for a "hero and villain narrative" in football coverage. While some of the criticism is warranted there are a lot of agents out there who play an invaluable role in the development of a player's career as explained in detail in the chapter on agents in the book "The Secret Footballer". As it points out in the chapter, all players and clubs use agents and there are some very good reasons why.

http://sporton.co.ke/latest-headlines/southampton-on-the-verge-of-signing-wanyama/

Thanks for that. Very interesting reading and would no doubt spice things up on the South Coast!

If true, it is quite something that we offered 20 million euros for one player. http://www.vocegiallorossa.it/?action=read&idnotizia=55077 "Osvaldo: Sabatini in touch with Southampton, but the player wants another 20.06.2013 08:45 by Emanuele Melfi Twitter: @ EmanueleMelfi article read 1297 times Source: Time - Serafini © photo by Federico Gaetano The Giallorossi ds Walter Sabatini, as reported in the newspaper Il Tempo, he would find an agreement with Southampton for the transfer of Oswald. The English club would be ready to pay about 20 million, but the player appears to have blocked the deal. The Italo-Argentine would like a club level and Southampton would not guarantee to Osvaldo international visibility."

Can anyone work out if the journalist is on Twitter? Might be worth asking him directly for more information. We might get an idea of how confident he is in his sources.

http://www.calciomercato.com/mercato/southampton-obiettivo-hiroshi-kiyotake-360153 "Southampton goal Hiroshi Kiyotake - June 12 at 21:44 As he writes in the British press, Southampton, after Yoshida, looking for a new Japanese: it is the attacking midfielder born in 1989 in the Nuremberg Hiroshi Kiyotake"