saint in Den Haag

Cheers Norm.. Don't post often (v rarely in fact) but had a sense of de ja vu. 2 years ago I was on holiday in Istria Croatia when news of Poch, lambert, Lallana hit within days of each other and ever so slightly made me a grump on holiday. But in the evenings with a glass of local red started reading about Ron's tactics when he was favourite and liked what I read especially when with PSV he switched to 3-5-2 and got results. A plan B after Poch sounded good.. So ironic that I am on holiday again in Istria with this news and going through the same process - but this time more chilled in that I have faith that the next manager will suit the team for what it's needs right now, just like Ron did 2 years ago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am starting to warm to FDB having read a few articles regarding his tactics (outside of the boot, squawka & 442) He plays the traditional Dutch way of 4-3-3 and wants his players to be more intelligent and technically able. The Squawka article implied that his version of 4-3-3 was more like the Spain false 9 system, so more midfielders than genuine attackers - In having possession and switching play waiting to create space behind the defence. He also gave them license to be fluid, so making the decision when to be direct and go direct to goal. Although he was not afraid of changing to a more direct 4-3-3 with pacy, direct wide front 2 when the opposition was stronger, i.e fast counter. So yes the negatives are that his team came across as boring, but I wander how much that was to do with the players he had available (dominantly youth with Erikson, Suarez leaving amongst others), where creating space and intelligence is not an easy trait, passing it around and keeping possession is easy enough - having the players that suddenly make space and someone to pass it is the key. But Long and Mane would have a field day with that licence to create space and could Tadic, Davis or dare I say it JWP be that intelligent false 9? Pelle has the ball to feet skills to drop deeper, not seen enough of Austin but he seems more of a traditional no. 9. Also in his 4-3-3 you would only need 1 holding mid, so losing Wanyama might not be disastrous. I also believe certain clubs are the right for a manager and I think we suited Ron at the right time for everyone involved so would not be surprised if it does not work at Everton. FDB wants to manage in the EPL and likes good passing technical players & puts faith in youth - again it feels like both parties suit each other. His key coach is also Bergkamp - what a player our forwards could learn from to be more clinical!!! Just my thoughts but am getting more comfortable in taking a risk on an unproven manager like FDB (unproven in that managed 1 club in 1 league) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am very happy with him to date. Although I agree the ticket fiasco is tough on some of our fans and for that it is a shame However as someone who tries to remain balcanced I think we have got to rememer a few things. - Firstly his previous job was a senior investment banker (or somehting similar) he has never run a company or been a CEO before and its not a simply position I imagine or at least not a position that you can learn in less than a year!!! Those on the board in my company have got 30 plus years experience in the industry, have proved themselves as general managers within numerous positions in the UK and abroad and they know the company's ethics and code of conduct. So this is a big jump for NC and I am sure he is learning every day! Also am sure investment bakning is pretty 'cut and thrust' and back stabbing is common if you want to gte ot the top - so sometimes hard to change the way you've been used to working for the last 5 yrs etc!! - It does not matter where you work - if people are unhappy for whatever reason then they will moan and when moaning they will tend to exagerate to make their moan look a little better. Even i come home form work and moan at my partner about a meeting and probably make it seem worse than it was! So the stories coming out of the club - how do we know for sure that they are true? maybe 80 / 90 % is. - if he is genuinely asking people to come back to work early or faced being sacked - then i am sure he will be breaching employees contracts, and if he is then if i was that perosn i would let it happen and then sue the company. As people are saying Marcus is from a respected name so he wont want a bad name against him and law suits! So maybe he has changed people's contracts and waived a few perks that they used to have. anyway just my opinion and trying to see it from another angle. - right back to work myself!

That daily mail article was a good read. am really loving Jan every time i see anything where he has commented - comes across as a quality guy - I really hope (and also think) that the youngsters will actually hold him in high regard, almost like the Man U kids do to Fergie. But back to my point!!! notice in the article that Jan admitted to being used as the man marker of the "most skillful" player - have we seen that in our new tactics?? is Jan asking one of our C. def. to act as the man marker? - obviously a question to those who have attended matches? cheers in advance.

cheers influenced - good points. guess for people like myself who have not seen us play yet due to being abroad etc, it is hard to actually visualise this play you describe. I remember at the start of the season, people were saying that "total football" sounded good on paper etc - but can it work against the bully boys in the champ etc - but good to hear it can. - as Jan said himself "no matter the game, there's always room to play the ball and play good football" (or words to that effect anyway!! ) as far as point 2. - i am sure we all remember managers of old where it appeared that they did not do any homework and would not make changes during the game!!

Thanks for this steve. - good to hear. sounds like Mcleish did not have a game plan 2nd time round to stop our passing football and also good that bis sounds like Jan has a good eye for changing things when necessary during a game. - cant wait to see my 1st match at SMS this season.

As the title suggests, I have a question for those who attended both birmingham games. I have not seen this new exciting saints side yet (due to living abroad) so am learning about our new young team through posts on this board (thanks people ). For all the positives i am hearing about Jan and the way he is getting the team to play, we are still only a few games into the season and there are still unknowns/reservations regarding our new style of play which have been mentioned a few times in posts on this forum - such as: 1). Once the more tactically astute mangers of the league work out our style of play, then the opposition can stop us playing. 2). As good as Jan appears to be so far, we still don't really know how tactically aware he is either - does he change things in order to capitalise on a team's weakness or strength? So I thought It would be good to hear from the fans who went to both brum games, as maybe these quesitons can start to be answered (although i admit it is still early in the season). So did brum adapt to a different approach the 2nd time round? Did they try to stop our passing football, close us down all the time?, or put pressure on the weak areas such as the fullbacks? or stop the lone striker? Or did you see saints trying anything different this time round? did Jan learn form the 1st game? Thanks in advance people. - much appreciated hearing the views of those that went to matches. - and I am moving back to the UK (Reading) from The Hague in a month or so time and i will definately be going see us play - cant wait!!!