Saint86

So obvious to everyone, except perhaps rasmus and his data driven reinvention if football?

Need to bring Ralph back. It's the only way 😌

This. There has been enough noise and signs that strings are being pulled from afar. Need ankerson out of the club asap. Or do people still think it's a coincidence that we're playing 5 at the back?

He's shit. But I guess we wait for the clappers to slowly realise that (as always)...

Not likely under this Southgate clone.

Couldn't watch this game (the joys of grass roots kids football tournaments)... whats the verdict? A well won point against the 10men league leaders, or 2 points dropped?

Exactly this 😄

So a 4-4 draw incoming?

Thanks for letting us know... Out of curiosity, at what point did you A.) Realise this fact? and B.) feel that signed up members of a Southampton Football Club forum would need this fact explaining to them? 😅

I think this is an overly simplistic view of the "tippy tappy" football (or passing it around at the back). We do this both when we're attacking and when we're defending. When we're attacking its fine - we draw the opposition onto us with the two wide CBs moving out wide, and Baz and the other CB covering central. At least one of the WBs is then slightly further forward to provide width across the middle and crucially to be set for the counter attack. We bait the opposition onto us and then quickly transition up the pitch - either via a driving run from fellows/scienza, or by having created a pocket of space for the likes of jander/downes/AA/Azaz etc. I have no issue with this, we turn the opposition around and get them running to thier own goal with space for our very talented (for champ level) attacking players to move, run, and either take on or pass through the opposition. This is far better than under Still, where we played with an almost arrogant like style of having to push right up all the time and having limited opportunities to break through an opposition that was sat in two deep defensive lines basically in their own 3rd, and where we were open to the counter. I would prefer to see us play very similar even in a back 4 - with a central deep lying CDM to provide depth to the midfield, one all round CM (Jander), one central mid in a free role (azaz), and AA up top and given freedom to float and run at teams. We would be devastating on the attack, and generally stronger with a central midfield 3 and an actual anchor man. My issue is when we go into what i am going to call Tonda's "defence mode" (his attacking play is superb). But its when he decides to stop attacking, seemingly take far less risks with the ball, and drop much deeper that we really do come a cropper. At this point we essentially pull the wing backs in as almost full backs and sit very deep with a flat back 5. We then only have the two CMs, who get overwhelmed by the opposition in the middle of the pitch which further stifles our counter attacking play and also starves possession from our attackers - essentially suffocating most of the threat we should be posing. In addition to that, the now defensive full backs, narrow CAMs/ST, and narrow CMs essentially remove any width for us in the central and final 3rds - this also greatly diminishes out ball options from the defence and further allows the opposition to push right up onto what are now essentially our defensive full backs... and that then means that they can overload our full backs with either the first man crossing, or passing it back to the supporting player to cross from deep... Which is why when you watch us we get absolutely bombarded by crosses. And given we have a keeper that (lets face it) isn't great at commanding his area, plus 3 cbs who are all pretty average in aerial defensive challenges - this just turns into an utter car crash. We go from playing to our strengths (attacking players in space, using baz as a sweeper keeper or for his distribution), to nullifying basically all our attacking play and dropping deeper to invite crosses our defence and keeper are terrible at defending. And given we have done this in every game under Eckert, the only assumption i can make is that this is a deliberate tactical ploy and is how he wants to play - not something he is learning from or likely to change. In essence, i just don't think he has the bravery needed to keep us playing attacking football over say 70min, and instead he opts for the defensive parking of the bus once he's decided we're far enough ahead, which essentially is us ceding the pitch to the opposition and daring them to come and score goals. He certainly isn't a manager who follows the "attack is the best line of defence" mantra, but he needs to find a mid ground as a minimum, because honestly his defensive set up is just shit, no 2 ways about it.

If you stop and think about it, that is actually ridiculous - its just straight up Orwellian style censorship of light hearted humour🤦‍♂️.

That sounds about right tbh. Football is a funny old game, and by all accounts, their having their own little wobble recently (albeit in relative terms).

Over a 46game season you'd have a point - but thats actually the point the rest of us are broadly making. Whereas since you take umbridge with that, i can only assume you think a 6 to 8 game sample size for a completely fresh manager is enough to extrapolate the rest of the season from, despite us not playing well in over half of those games and being damn lucky to have got 3 of those 6 wins. But Yeah... those of us that are worried about the tactics, game management, and overall performances (and what it will mean for future dropped points) are the ones chatting "bollocks" 🫣.

Well regardless, it was still a well below par / shit performance.

1.) Not specifically aimed at you, but i feel there is a need for some of the fans to adopt some realism here. And on that, i mean that our results generally overshadow the quality of the performances (across 90min) - i.e., we don't deserve to have won 6 games out of 8 - and so constantly having people bandy that stat about like its some kind of "gotcha" argument to counter anyone raising concerns is becoming quite tedious. So yes, we did comfortably beat a injury ravaged Charlton, an imploding Sheffield Wednesday, and 10man Leicester... But surely, any serious fan (that expects us to be targeting promotion with this squad) would have expected as much?. Then you look at the other games, and it really hasn't been that convincing imo. There has been spells of breath taking attacking football - but matches are longer than 20-30min! We led twice vs Birmingham, allowed them back into it the first time, and ceded the entire pitch to them after going 3-1 up - on another day they get at least a draw because they certainly had the chances. A lucky win. WBA - 3-0 up and we tried our hardest to snatch a draw from jaws of a comfortable victory - a terrible performance and lucky to get the win (which after being 3-0 up is very poor). QPR - Outplayed us and deserved at least a draw, if not the win - so another lucky win for us. Norwich - A side in the relegation places missing their best player and only real goal threat (The rest of that team had a maximum of 7 career goals at championship level, Sargent has 50). Handball goal aside, we would have carried on the same way until they'd scored regardless. So all in, we deserved that loss. Millwall - we were poor. Soft penalty in our favour, had the lead twice, ceded the pitch and initiative to them. End result - you certainly can't begrudge Millwall the win, and its a deserved loss for us. Its been the exact same pattern in each of those matches, with no signs of him adapting or learning from it. Its a huge tactical flaw in his game and if it doesn't get addressed we won't get promoted. 2.) What does being a miracle worker have to do with anything? He's manager of Southampton football club, a position he should only have been given on merit. With the squad of players available, that means he should be good enough to deliver promotion. Regardless of the results, there is certainly an open point on our performances (game management and defensive setup) to be concerned over whether he's good enough to achieve that. I think that is all people are (rightly) saying. Hopefully he learns and develops, but Saints are not here to be a creche for new managers - as a club we need promotion. Equally, does he have the background and experience to radically learn and adapt his tactics in the short timeframe he has this season? I hope he does, but i'm not convinced.