Graffito

Couldn't see a difference, it's nigel's team playing pretty much as before but impressed that new bloke was aware of everton's strength down the left. so whereas shaw got forward on the left, clyne rarely got out of position. ramirez was up for it first half, maybe one benefit of having a spanish speaking manager. anichebe turned yoshida a few times. that won"t go unnoticed by the centre back. lambert was blowing out of his @rse at the end.

Family club eh?

We know why he sits on his own now... wearing that girlie anorak.

There was no thank you in Cortese's statement.

What are you on about. How's a kids banner or a thank you to our former manager going to affect the result.

London Liverpool St to Norwich. Now gone up to £24 or £28.50 if you want to get a return earlier than 8pm. Got to gamble on these or the or the rare bargains are lost.

I fear Lambert's days may be numbered due to the way in which Po likes his teams to play. Would be a sad day when he goes to be replaced by a runner.

I see Mo Po has Jes'us as his assistant first team manager. That's quite a coup.

This is exactly how it is not. You only see in retrospect that Adkins replacement of Pardew was a good decision. Your evaluation is influenced by what is sometimes called outcome bias. It's even more tenuous to extend outcome bias to the current situation, i.e. Cortese was right with Pardew/Adkins so he must be right with the current sacking. Consider the current replacement of Adkins by new bloke and tell me it's not a monumental risk.

Formation may have been a factor in the sacking but I don't agree that failure to play 433 or playing 442 made the sacking inevitable. However we lined up, the team tried to play between the lines. There's a place for pragmatism with even the most dogmatic adherents to 443 until perhaps you get to the level of Barcelona. Many of us were saying earlier in the season that we didnt really have all the players required for 433. Maybe Nigel was simply experimenting with variations to get the best out of the players available in a period of transition.

Fans didn't forfeit rights when the Leibherrs took over. We never had any rights as is clearly demonstrated by the debacle that preceded the leibherr takeover. Shareholders had rights but what use were they in preventing the shambles of the plc era? You are probably right that there is no point in protest although I'm not so sure that Benitez won't be removed at Chelsea if the protests at home games continue to affect results. We dont have the luxury of that kind of sustained protest, being 3 points above the zone. Ultimately we can vote with our feet. Potentially that can have a major impact but few will do so because we have no wish to damage the club.

No certainties. All the more reason to manage the risk. On the face of it the risk has increased with this appointment. Needless to say I hope I'm wrong. Taxes fair point. much easier for some to manage - amazon, Starbucks.

I think you are over simplifying. Recruiting hiring and firing football managers is very different to backing a product.

Taking a punt with the most important appointment to a multi million pound business. Taking a punt...I hope you're not a businessman.

There was a time many years ago when Southampton Football Club, if not a by-word for integrity, was respected as a decent well run club.

That little b&stard Le Fondre reminds me of Adrian Heath. Drags Newcastle down though.

He didn't give Adkins £7m to go shopping with. That's not how players are signed at Southampton.....as you know.

Put Pochettino into Google translate and you get "Little bit".

Was thinking waving hankies just ain't British and then I saw this.

Thanks for keeping it on topic. Saints were a value buy. Ein schnappchen as ML called it. Buy low and sell high. Try as I might I can't see them in it for anything but the money. They also converted £30m or whatever of debt to equity. All well and good but they'll want it back.

Anybody considered that the long term ambitions may not be as long as we'd like and Cortese been given the task, with a timescale, of building up the club to sell it? Or does he love all things Saints?

I heard Nicola Cordozy but then I could have heard what I wanted to hear. Think i'll switch it off now, there's only so much West Ham I can take.

Not sure whether the twisted and re-written comment was addressed to me but if so I disagree that I've done either in my comments. It probably was going to the wire with Nigel. Where is it going now Lord?

The way I see it, the safer decision would have been to leave Nigel Adkins in post and make the change, if Cortese thought it necessary, at the end of the season with PL status preserved. No guarantees but it was evident to most of us that progress was being made under Adkins and we were heading in the right direction. Instead of which Cortese has made this high risk decision midway through the season and midway through a transfer window. Fair play, he's made two good appointments so far, though you could argue he's made two poor sackings and got lucky with Adkins. I could understand the decision a little more if there were some prospect of high reward this season but realistically the best we can hope for is preservation of PL status. On the face of it that looks less likely now with a rookie Manager that speaks pigeon English. Does Cortese have free reign or has he been set targets? Go beyond Cortese to the owners. We know nothing of what they want from the club nor what financial or time pressure Cortese may be under. The Academy and training ground improvements suggest long term. Cortese may genuinely believe new bloke is a better long term option but the timing of the apoointment seems odd. We're ahead of plan aren't we so what's the rush?

"This decision has been taken with the long term ambitions of Southampton Football Club in mind." Cortese's short statement on the sacking of Nigel Adkins then refers to long term targets. This is the only explanation we have for a decision which puts at risk, unnecessarily, our PL status. Do we know what those long term ambitions are? What are the targets? Do the clubs ambitions align with the fans'? I'd like to know. Cortese seems to be in an awful hurry to get somewhere.