beatlesaint

Sorry but when he starts referring to Stephens as "an incredible footballer" as he did to The Echo and talking about teams playing four centre backs then I'm done with him. He's single handedly screwed up automatic promotion by forcing players into positions they arent suited to (and I dont just mean Capt Jack, there's Samllbone and Rothwell to name but two) then refuses to go back to the main line-up and system that scored us a 25 game unbeaten run! Incredible!! The arrogant twat can do one and take his propoganbda football with him !

We wont finish third, no way. 4th (or 5th) is probably best in so far as 3rd play 6th, and 6th placed teams are usually on a roll having put together a run of form to secure that last spot.

We’ve got Coventry before them…..that’ll be tougher !

The RM interview after will be fascinating 🤣

It’s like that 25 game run with a settled team (defence) just never happened !

Wrong, you’ve missed out Captain Jack, he’s bound to start !

Unfortunately I think thats the most likely case.

Yes but Lego, as you call him, isn’t like most managers, he’s much cleverer 🙁

You don’t honestly believe that ! Come on ! Christ if that was the case the keeper would have been dropped 6 months ago !

Because he had to keep Stephens in the team. Haven’t you grasped that bit yet? All those clever bastards who insisted KWP not playing was a fitness issue even given the 3 week break we had…..well you’ve had your answer from RM now…..and you’re wrong !

With the next game not until Saturday he could have said that if it was the case. But no he’s so fkin desperate to shoehorn Stephens in we now drop our best player of the season. Unbelievable, he can go now as far as I’m concerned and take his 75% possession football with no end result with him.

Ipswich win that because they have three things we don’t - guts, a decent keeper and decent strikers.

I know what you’re saying but having shortfailings masked by a 25 game unbeaten run sounds odd !

So the manager’s quote that KWP and Frazer were back, like they’ve never been away and are ready for the run in was incorrect then? Ok

Maybe if that’s correct he should have left him on the bench Friday and played him today…..I mean it’s an old fashioned approach but I’d go with playing your best players in your tougher more important matches?

He hasn’t really dropped KWP surely? 👀

Funny thing was Stephens getting man of the match from supporters for that goal saving tackle - it was a hell of a tackle in fairness - which shows just how piss poor a game it was. Even more ironic when he was nowhere near the striker when he placed that header into the bottom corner of the net. He was in some weird no mans land marking absolutely nothing at all, which sums Jack up I'm afraid. Still I'm sure RM was delighted to hear his favourite get the award and justify his selection 🙄

He’s truly horrific yet a lot of people were wetting themselves about him leaving last August………I bet they fkin aren’t now !!!

I couldn’t believe they didn’t put a photo of Chris up on the screen in the 77th minute. The fans have shown them up by having to organise it but they must have known it was going to happen. Instead of embrace the gesture and go with it they continued to ignore it. That’s disgraceful.

I didn’t see any limp to be honest

The sad thing for Matt is that he has pianted himself into a corner. Ok he "got the sack" from Sky for his views, apparently, although he fails to offer the reason Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson were let go at the same time ! Now had he just toned it down a bit, learnt a lesson about how far to go, he would by now have been back on the pundit bandwagon with BBC, ITV, BT (or whatever its called now) probably offering him work as he was a bloody good pundit. Instead he decided to take the path thats gone deeper and deeper into conspiracy theories, ignoring medical evidence etc so instead of being seen as a football pundit with some challenging views he's just disregarded as an outspoken theorist. The number of people who have said to me "whats the issue with that bloke who used to play for your lot, he's a bloody nutter isnt he?" Its sad, but he's made his bed and i hope he's happy lying on it.

I’m not sure he has a personality disorder, I just think he’s one of those people who thinks he’s always right, no matter what the situation. Ironically that attitude probably played a huge part in him staying at Southampton all his career !

The tinkering isn’t just related to Jack Stephens.

No we didn’t in my opinion. I don’t believe we would have won more or scored more but I do believe we would have conceded more and that the run wouldn’t have lasted that long. My reasoning is this - as soon as Stephens was fully fit and up to speed RM was itching to play him, quite happy to move two or three people around to accommodate the player. He couldn’t help himself with his tinkering which as you well know cost us dear in those two home games against Hull and Millwall. During that run, and I take your point about available options, the team virtually picked itself. The understanding was superb as everyone knew their job and their position. As soon as that was disrupted the wheels began to fall off, not totally of course, but significantly. So that’s my yin to your yang 🙃

Thats ignoring the basic fact of this thread which is the number of goals coneded. How many of these - Next 27 games - Goals Conceded 17 (52 scored) W17 D7 L2 - did he play in ? It's not an attack on Jack, its facts and stats !