Daft Kerplunk

Arguably we'll still in a better place than where we were in the summer of 2014 to attract and recruit a high calibre candidate.

But that year we had to take a gamble to prove something. At the end of last year I'd suggest the board and Les believed their own hype about how great they were at recruiting coaching and playing talent. It was said that Puel had four interviews and was touted as the man who would improve things. As always I don't blame Puel, the board are culpable, probably for being arrogant.

Some good days out but overall boring. The amount of times the stands have been half empty at the end of a match says everything you need to know about the lack of entertainment. At some point the board may remember that football is something that should entertain on some level. It is really not just about winning for fans of clubs like saints but we do expect committed performances and having a go. Many of the good moments this season saw us lose too like the San Siro and Wembley trips. Wouldn't swap them for the world but they weren't successes.

C-

Significant room for improvement

A point away is a good result

 

Hopefully, from an offensive point of view, we play better against Arsenal

When we are this **** going forward, hope is all we have so you are right

Takeover imminent then...

I hear a rumour that Gareth Rogers might have met with the Spanish archer. Anyone know anything about that?

Guess if he's not at the player's awards night then it might be more than a rumour perhaps

I thought the Lander deal was dead because the top man had been bribing some bent politician who was executed.

 

Hardly looks good on your CV when trying to past the FPPT.

Football is not genuinely worried about who runs it, it is all about money

Looking through the posts on here & other threads the consensus seems to be that Poch is a fantastic manager, one of the best around.

 

His first full season in English football he had playing in his side . Artur B, Shaw, Lovren , Clyne , Morgan , Big Vic, Lallana , pre injury JRod & Rickie . How many of them wouldn't walk into our present side? Bertrand ahead of Shaw maybe and possibly Gabbi over Rickie ( although personally I wouldn't ). I think it's pretty unarguably the fact that the others are far better than we've got now.

 

So with one of the present games top managers who already had half a season in English football, with a group of players far superior than Puel has, where did we finish ....8th , that's where. Plus a pathetic cup exit at Sunderland

 

I point this out not to compare Poch with Puel as there's clearly no comparison, but to add a bit of realism to the debate. Some people's expectations are way too high. If Poch with that squad could only manage 8th, realistically why does this season come as a surprise to anyone.? If 8th with that group was great, why is 10th or 11th with a cup final suddenly manager out territory. We could even still finish 8th, as we sit 9th . Which of course is only 1 place below the great season Poch had.

 

 

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With Poch you could see what he was trying to do almost immediately and the players needed to get fit enough to play that way. It was generally a more exciting style. He did have the benefit of not losing so many of the players that had us on the up to that point of course so the core team spirit was there.

With Puel, sometimes the football has been good but more often than not, and especially at home it has been dreadful but what are we are trying to be as a team?

Poch has a very clear style and this was evident from the beginning when he took us over, I'm not sure what Puel is bringing to us just yet.

Puel being sacked would mean the board admitting they made a mistake. It would be a huge surprise if that happens.

The league is only the guide for how good a team is, and we are distinctly average as a Premier League team this year. How are Watford getting on?

Thought we gave it a good go but ultimately you can't concede four goals away against the best team in the league and expect to get anything out of the game. An enjoyable enough game but it was, in my eyes, a bit of a procession for Chelsea in the second half but the last minute Bertrand goal gave the game a slightly fairer reflection (albeit at a time when Chelsea had almost completely switched off). I never really thought we were truly in the game as I expected Chelsea to click through the gears and go through us which ultimately they did. Souness made a good point in that we are easy on the eye but ultimately not too hard to play against. We aren't a very physical side and players like Davis and Stephens get outmuscled relatively easily by the top players.

 

I can take losing and especially to a team like Chelsea but I thought that irrespective of how good they were we were pretty poor defensively - every time they came forward I thought that they were going to test us and with Fraser almost incapable of making saves we were always likely to be under a bit of pressure. The first goal especially was far far too easy for me. You can't give good players that much space.

 

No disrespect to Maya and Stephens as I do think they've done a decent job in the circumstances but they just aren't good enough as a pair against top class players like Costa and Hazard (to be fair though, few can stop them when they are in the mood).

 

We played some nice stuff going forward but we just aren't decisive enough and still don't take enough chances even with Gabbiadini. We can't expect him to score every game so we do need the others to chip in a bit more and I think we need to improve our finishing coaching ideally.

 

I think this summer will be a bit of a cross roads for us because, although we as fans have been completely spoiled by our recent successes, it does feel as though we are on the decline. If we want to push on then we can't suffer another season of mass exodus and relatively slim investment - this season has shown how easy it is to get sucked in although thankfully we were never particularly close. We really have paid for a summer of poor business, the delay in getting Gabbi in (would have been excellent had he come in the summer and by all accounts we were in for him then as well) and the failure to replace Fonte once VVD was injured.

 

If the club's ambition is to improve then we need to give Puel the tools he needs to make it work, at the moment he hasn't got them at the back and it really shows. Unfortunately I expect VVD and at least one significant other to leave (probably Cedric) so we'll have another grand redesign on our hands in defence at least.

Agree

This is nonsense from Koeman and no journalist picked him up on it...

 

 

 

Stephens and Ward-Prowse both played for our academy teams and are both currently starters in the 1st team. Stephens being used ahead of 2 internationals - Caceres & Gardos.

 

Plus Sims, McQueen, Targett & Reed are all getting a good amount of exposure around the first team training and some bench and game time.

Is it really nonsense though if we want to be at the top end of the table? MLG, you pride yourself on having decent football knowledge so realistically, do you see any of that next crop (Prowse isn't included as came through under Nigel Adkins) playing to the level needed for the top 8?

This is not me having a moan about the academy, far from it, but it is very difficult to continue producing really top players year on year and some periods will produce good, but not outstanding players. I'd say Ronald's view was perfectly reasonable from what I've seen and I've seen a fair number of u23 games live this season.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/21/roanld-koeman-young-platyers-english-managers-everton

 

Talks about both using Young players this season

Pretty fair from what we have seen from the current crop of players on the edge of the first team. Good, but not good enough to be in a team aiming for the top end of the table, however much hype there is. The U23s last night weren't good and that included several players talked about for the first team. This isn't unusual though and we may need to wait awhile until the next bunch come through. In an era of marketing hype, I'm sure the football side of SFC is being honest and realistic and knows that they need far better players to come through if we are to hit the 50% first team squad (competing in or qualifying for European football) made of academy players target.

Irrational overseas investments eh. That rules out football in one clear statement. Football is an ego project for the super rich, not really a rational business in the truest sense.

Hopefully here is someone else out there who fancies a dabble in being a super rich premier league team owner.

Hold on to as many players as possible bar the likes of J-Rod who will sadly never return to what he was by the looks of it.

Then let Puel do what he was bought here for and develop Hojbjerg into a very good midfielder, get the head and body right of Boufal, get Gabi to be scoring all season and continue developing the other players who fit into his system.

I would imagine Les would also want the academy to produce some players more on the level of those who came to the fore or were developed primarily under the previous regimes. The academy must be absolutely key to our business model and needs to produce genuine world class talent if the aim is still European football.

Top 8 should be the minimum for this club. Cup runs are a bonus.

Virgin Media sponsor the club, club gets revenue, revenue gets spent on players. That's how it works. Very very simple. Therefore not a con.

If and when (as in this close season or another in the future) VVD leaves us, he should go to one of the great clubs, but, and it is a big but, he could easily end up at Everton if they agree to pay us and him a stonking great fee. From a football perspective he would be daft but agents aren't always motivated by football reasons and neither are the players who 'follow' them and take their advice.

Too quiet, too loud.

It's football, it's supposed to be loud and if the fans don't make the noise then the club should.

Music choices were excellent yesterday as well, better than the football.

Wonder why nobody is applying the logic to Katharina that is applied to players. If they don't want to be here, let them leave

If we are serious about becoming a 'relative' force in football then European football is a must for the majority of seasons. Unlikely this year as we had too crap a period between October and February but with a reasonably settled squad next year plus some key acquisitions, we could get there for 18/19 and look to maintain it from then on.

Things move on...but not to everyone's taste. The music at the match is not too loud as far as I'm concerned, it's great and could even be louder. It is definitely not as loud as a concert. Not even close. Live music is quite a lot louder than St. Mary's will ever be...apart from when that ex Take That dancer performs there of course

As for the Saints Way song, it was created by the players because they wanted to give something to the fans to sing. Does that not say something to our fanbase or is everyone so slow on the uptake? For one thing, it shows they feel part of our club which should be celebrated quite frankly. Also, maybe they want us to make more noise. I'm going to make a very easy guess and suggest the players want us to be louder, more vocal and intimidiating during matches. It might help their performance or keep them going, let them know who they are playing for or that we Saints fans actually give a sh!t.

Wembley was amazing. Colourful and noisy, albeit only with one song but I bet the players absolutely loved it and want it more like that every week.

Yes, but with the sash reappearing every 25 years.

Motion proposed and agreed.

Oh, and navy blue shorts would be good.

Clearly nobody has a grasp of Italian landscape, there's no way Les would shop for a Lambo in the South!

I like this kit thread more, it has pictures.

Rank Xerox/Air Florida Patrick inspired kit FTW, then never change. Ever.

Only just started wearing Under Armour so might have picked up a knock before he signed that deal

With the new TV money, probably £750m per annum, agents getting £432m