Saint86

Do think its a bit mad that the club hasn't used this window to address the manager position... If Eckert really is the best they can attract then we're really in the mire...

They have one last throw of the dice before we are doomed to spend years in the wilderness imo. Years where we will be waiting for another Marcus to swoop in and save us. The next manager and transfer window is the last chance saloon for them imo.

Pretty much agree with alfie tbh.

Its not a complete list in fairness to the spammers. Don't get me wrong, they've had a terrible record in recent years especially (the likes of Scamacca and Haller), but for example, that list is missing out on Payet, who scored 15goals for them (12 in 42 in the prem) from the wings/attacking midfield and was being talked up as player of the season (at one point) the year we finished 6th under Koeman (we somewhat stole west ham's thunder if i recall correctly). A lot of (understandable) negativity at west ham at the moment. I watched the Forest game last night and it reminded me very much of watching Saints - they were terrible at times, and even when they were winning you just knew something cruel would happen to give forest the win in the end. They are in deep deep trouble - and that stadium has the potential to be a millstone around the team's necks for many a year, they badly need a stadium move.

He plays an "attacking" 4-3-3 possession style of football, with a penchant of prompting youth players. Smacks of succession planning to me - just give him some time to get used to 3-5-2...

Absolutely agree with this. Solak has invested money into the club and we should all be grateful for that. He has just been very badly advised by those closest to him - both initially in the premier League, and then, even when trying to restructure things, he is still isolated somewhat from real football people and with the input/influence of Rasmus sat on at least one shoulder... The grim fact is that the short period with Wilcox as DoF remains the only period where there has been success under SR. For whatever cumulative reasons, he left us in the lurch, and sadly in doing so he also pissed off Solak. And that may now perhaps have coloured his views of getting in further experienced footballing people (who knows)? Although it is broadly a concern that we've lost so many backroom and senior non playing staff under SR. There is no smoke without fire, and there has been plenty of rumours of external/higher influences/meddling going on the background. It's also notable that when you speak to people in the footballing world (certainly in the south / south west), there are plenty that know ex Southampton people who absolutely slate the club's setup under SR and will openly tell you how bad the club's reputation has become as a serious footballing operation behind the scenes. And that is all on SR.

Aber hat er Hunger?

Probably far too independent and concerned about Saints to be let near the job under Rasmus in any case.

We've been outplayed by most of the teams we've faced under Eckert, with the exception of Wednesday (who are a car crash), and injury ravaged Charlton (former league 1 side), and Leicester (who i suspect would have been right in that game without 10men). So yes, as it stands, we are bad enough to be looking over our shoulder. At his worst, this guy is another Southgate - his tactics are to hit it to a couple of dribblers / fast players to try and run at the opposition side on the counter, and then to try and park the bus and try to sit deep and defend whatever he's got. Originally i was saying he failed his only real challenge (Millwall) and wasn't convincing vs the likes of Brum and WBA etc... but actually its so bad now that you can look at it objectively and say the likes of Oxford and Norwich were relatively untroubled by us. If we keep him much longer and something doesn't radically change, we could certainly slide right back into the mire. We're lucky perhaps that Sheffield Wednesday are taking one of the three spots for certain this year. Form wise, we are comfortably a bottom 3 side at the moment - and that includes losses to Norwich and oxford - and we're certainly a long way off promotion contention playing like this. Worth noting, that our lucky stint of wins under eckert included WBA, and then before he got the job we also lost to Blackburn and failed to beat portsmouth or swansea (3 of those were home games vs sides below us - will we get better results away? or worse?). Next 3 matches are Hull (h), Sheffield Utd (h), skates (a) and stoke (a)... a promotion side would be looking at those targeting no losses and a minimum of 2 wins... who is confident we'll get more than 3-4 points playing as we are? As bad as we are, you'd still think we should be fine.... but....

Its a tad harsh on the promotion side to label them as "constant failure". But i support the general sentiment 😄🤣

Background says it all i'm afraid. This guy may think he's a genius who can reinvent football, but the reality is that all he's doing is using the SR group to destroy Southampton football club. And if Solak can't see that, he'll soon lose all his investment as well.

We didn't. We performed well vs a makeshift Charlton (for 1 half), the worst team in the championship in the midst of a financial implosion with barely enoguh players for a matchday squad, and 10man Leicester. QPR outplayed us, we were lucky to beat WBA and brum, Millwall deservedly beat us. The warning signs were there and were raised by a fair few of us. Its utterly mental that we gave him a contract beyond the end of the season.

Spot on. We are heading to League 1, administration, potentially the loss of the training ground or stadium etc. They are completely and utterly destroying the club, its a slow death by a thousand cuts. They need to sell asap.

I think the style of football is entirely dictated by Rasmus tbh.

A bad day at the office today for sure.