Swansea 0 Saints 1

Hughes won't be cheap. He has a decent record on the whole as a premier league manager, and what he's done here is nothing short of remarkable. His stock will have increased further. Summer negotiations will be more us persuading him that we can match his expectations on and off the pitch rather than him selling himself to us. He's proved himself the right man so give him the job, and a budget to get the right players.

Cheaper than signing another Carrillo or paying off another CP or MoPe.

No thanks. In my opinion, the last few months already provides enough "due diligence" that Hughes can do the job and take us forward from here. Do you really want Les/Ralph to go into weeks/months of farting around pretending we have a chance of getting someone like Tuchel/Emery whilst Hughes buggers off and then we end up with some no mark who wants to park the bus in every game again (but who "fits the club philosophy perfectly?"). I would much rather we get Hughes signed up with no messing about (assuming he wants it) and get straight on with the important job of strengthening the squad after the damage that has been done in previous windows.

Generally I agree with this post. Apart from the park the bus bit neither Puel or MoPe parked the buss we probably would have done better this season if MoPe was actually capable of organizing a team that could park the bus. Meanwhile Hughes has achieved success by making us far more defensive and trying to play on the break..

I reckon that the stress level after we scored was very similar to the time I was waiting for a specialist to advise whether test results would show I had an aggressive or benign tumour..

 

Fortunately both results came out the right way.

 

However this comparison makes me realise how ridiculous my long term obsession with the Saints is.

Congrats on your health - that's always more important!

My stomach is still in knots! So much relief. Will be glad when the game is over on Sunday and we can look forward to the World Cup

Please, No! Not another unknown foreign manager with questionable performance stats in some overseas league who would struggle to make himself understood by our players. After Puel and Pellegrino, both of whom must have looked good on paper, surely a lesson has been learned.

"Dr. Bunsen, what does 'lesson learned' mean?"

"I've got no idea, Beaker."

No thanks. In my opinion, the last few months already provides enough "due diligence" that Hughes can do the job and take us forward from here. Do you really want Les/Ralph to go into weeks/months of farting around pretending we have a chance of getting someone like Tuchel/Emery whilst Hughes buggers off and then we end up with some no mark who wants to park the bus in every game again (but who "fits the club philosophy perfectly?"). I would much rather we get Hughes signed up with no messing about (assuming he wants it) and get straight on with the important job of strengthening the squad after the damage that has been done in previous windows.

I can honestly say that the last 20 minutes of last night was probably the worst I have ever experienced in my life - not just in sport. I am not ashamed to admit that I simply couldn't stomach the first 65 minutes, I watched the first 5 and was nearly sick. I turned back on at 65, we scored and then couldn't turn it off (although I really wanted to). I measured my heart rate after the game and it 148 bpm, god knows what my blood pressure was and I would love to know how much adrenaline was in my system at the end too. I didn't go to sleep until nearly 2am.

 

It sounds counter intuitive now but not beating Everton may have actually helped in the end. Would Sparky have put Gabbi on if we had a two point lead on Swansea? We could have been caught between a stick or twist scenario (like Be'er Sheva last season).

 

Personally I hope Swansea stay up, always had a soft spot for them since my uni days and being witness to their 'Great Escape' from total oblivion back in 2003. They need to focus on Huddersfield, just win the game and hope the Terriers don't pick up a point. Even for the most pessimistic Saints fan, we are not going to see a 10 goal swing.

 

As others have said, we should never be in this situation again - a clear out of some players who clearly do not want to be here (Boufal) and a return to the formula that has worked so well - offer ourselves as a stepping stone, to attract the best young/undervalued and tenacious players and give them the opportunity to impress a get a big move. Invest in the academy and add solid players as you go.

That could very well be true. If we'd beaten Everton then a draw yesterday was a real possibility. We'd still have got the 4 points, but Swansea would only be 2 points behind us going into the last match. We definitely got the draw and win in the right order!

What a night. The atmosphere in the away area at the final whistle was really special. Adrenaline so high I couldn’t draw breath

Yep it felt more like the decision that was taken out of Hughes hands to extent rather than some stroke of managerial genius. I doubt he was particularly thrilled at the thought of leaving just Hoedt and Stephens at the back but the bench was pretty light on defensive options last night so his choice was limited.

 

I'm not convinced that Hughes would have dropped the three at the back if Jan hadn't been knocked senseless. More likely he would have just swapped Austin for Gabbi instead imo.

Actually in his post-match interview he said he was going to swap a CB with Gabbi 5 minutes later, and the injury just made him do it 5 minutes earlier than planned.

Ironically Gabbi scores 4 minutes after coming on.

Yep it felt more like the decision that was taken out of Hughes hands to extent rather than some stroke of managerial genius. I doubt he was particularly thrilled at the thought of leaving just Hoedt and Stephens at the back but the bench was pretty light on defensive options last night so his choice was limited.

 

I'm not convinced that Hughes would have dropped the three at the back if Jan hadn't been knocked senseless. More likely he would have just swapped Austin for Gabbi instead imo.

In Hughes post match statements, he did say that he was planning on taking off one of the CB's in a close match because he felt they had to win. He said that the injury forced his hand about 5 minutes earlier than he would have likely made the switch, but that he was planning on it anyway.

We do owe a huge thanks to Swansea - they really have ****ed it up.

After the manager change they played 13 winning 7 drawing 5 and losing just once (scoring 27)

Then the bubble burst and the last 9 they've won 0 drawn 3 and lost 6 (scoring 2)

Without that massive drop of form we'd probably be relegated or still batting it out with Huddersfield

So thank you Swansea

Generally I agree with this post. Apart from the park the bus bit neither Puel or MoPe parked the buss we probably would have done better this season if MoPe was actually capable of organizing a team that could park the bus. Meanwhile Hughes has achieved success by making us far more defensive and trying to play on the break..

I don't agree that Hughes has made us "far more defensive" than the previous 2 managers. He has certainly set the team up better defensively than Pellegrino in the last few games by using the 3 at the back, but I disagree that our overall approach has been defensive. Under Pellegrino, whatever formation we were playing, caution was drummed into the players so much that many of them appeared to have forgotten the objective of scoring goals altogether! At least a couple of players were quoted as saying or hinting that they were being held back from attacking by MP for fear of conceding. My impression since Hughes has taken over is that he has strived to put us back in a more attacking mindset and focused on trying to score, and that has helped the likes of Tadic, Redmond and Long I think.

That could very well be true. If we'd beaten Everton then a draw yesterday was a real possibility. We'd still have got the 4 points, but Swansea would only be 2 points behind us going into the last match. We definitely got the draw and win in the right order!

It's not often I can claim any sort of foresight with football, so I'll take it where I can lol.

Might turn out to be a blessing in disguise when we're looking back on it.

 

I like the chances of a Southampton trying to win against Swansea better than the chances of a Southampton thinking a draw against them might be enough.

I don't agree that Hughes has made us "far more defensive" than the previous 2 managers. He has certainly set the team up better defensively than Pellegrino in the last few games by using the 3 at the back, but I disagree that our overall approach has been defensive. Under Pellegrino, whatever formation we were playing, caution was drummed into the players so much that many of them appeared to have forgotten the objective of scoring goals altogether! At least a couple of players were quoted as saying or hinting that they were being held back from attacking by MP for fear of conceding. My impression since Hughes has taken over is that he has strived to put us back in a more attacking mindset and focused on trying to score, and that has helped the likes of Tadic, Redmond and Long I think.

With Pellegrino we had a defensive mindset, but weren't actually any good at defending.

Well that’s annoying. I’ve just got back home and sat down to watch the recording of the match on my Virgin TiVo box and it craps out after 20 minutes

Love it - talkSport Durham and Gough going off on one.

We do owe a huge thanks to Swansea - they really have ****ed it up.

 

After the manager change they played 13 winning 7 drawing 5 and losing just once (scoring 27)

 

Then the bubble burst and the last 9 they've won 0 drawn 3 and lost 6 (scoring 2)

 

Without that massive drop of form we'd probably be relegated or still batting it out with Huddersfield

 

So thank you Swansea

Stoke haven't won a game since January. So thank you Stoke.

West Brom went from January to April without winning a game. So thank you West Brom.

Leicester have been on the beach for the last few weeks, helping us with a point. So thank you Leicester.

Everton went on a shocking run, culminating in their defeat to us earlier in the season. So thank you Everton.

Love it - talkSport Durham and Gough going off on one.

Yep apparently it's very possible that we will lose 0-6 and Swansea will win 4-0

They are using Swansea scoring 8 vs Notts County as evidence

Two numpties

We all know it is possible, and we all are not getting so over excited as to think we are 100% safe. They seem to have taken exception to the celebrations that took place. What they don't realise is that it, as well as those celebrations vs AFCB, were down to the release of a huge amount of pressure. I had to turn the pair off, but not before they were saying that it was like we had won the league. I'm surprised by these two ****s, as I thought that they would approve of passion. But no, I guess they are just sycophants to the big clubs.

Please, No! Not another unknown foreign manager with questionable performance stats in some overseas league who would struggle to make himself understood by our players. After Puel and Pellegrino, both of whom must have looked good on paper, surely a lesson has been learned.

Yeah, that Pochettino chancer was dreadful, wasn't he?

Yeah, that Pochettino chancer was dreadful, wasn't he?

Actually in his post-match interview he said he was going to swap a CB with Gabbi 5 minutes later, and the injury just made him do it 5 minutes earlier than planned.

 

Ironically Gabbi scores 4 minutes after coming on.

In Hughes post match statements, he did say that he was planning on taking off one of the CB's in a close match because he felt they had to win. He said that the injury forced his hand about 5 minutes earlier than he would have likely made the switch, but that he was planning on it anyway.

well he would say that wouldn't he

Wasn’t first MP and latest MP’s CVs pretty identical before they joined us?

I don't agree that Hughes has made us "far more defensive" than the previous 2 managers. He has certainly set the team up better defensively than Pellegrino in the last few games by using the 3 at the back, but I disagree that our overall approach has been defensive. Under Pellegrino, whatever formation we were playing, caution was drummed into the players so much that many of them appeared to have forgotten the objective of scoring goals altogether! At least a couple of players were quoted as saying or hinting that they were being held back from attacking by MP for fear of conceding. My impression since Hughes has taken over is that he has strived to put us back in a more attacking mindset and focused on trying to score, and that has helped the likes of Tadic, Redmond and Long I think.

Hughes approach has been more defensive after the West ham and Chelsea games he has had us playing far more cagey, keeping it tight, keeping shape looking to play on the break. The difference is he has us playing on the counter better buy looking to go forward with the ball quickly rather than trying to hold possession like MoPes team did. A lot of recent games Leicester, Bournemouth, Everton and last night have seen us soaking up loads of pressure and defending in numbers quite desperately at times.

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

They're on the OS, or at least they were this morning.

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

http://www.southamptonfc.com

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

http://www.footballorgin.com/swansea-city-vs-southampton-full-match-replay-tuesday-08-may-2018/

Wasn’t first MP and latest MP’s CVs pretty identical before they joined us?

Yes, both called Mauricio, both Argentinians, both former internationals, both former CBs, even similar surnames, both managed Spanish minor clubs with a degree of success. But the mistake we made, was getting Pellegrino and not Pellegrini.

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

As good a job as he has done SO FAR, it's not yet finished. And I would prefer the club did due diligence on other potentially better options as well.

With you on that as long as it ain’t Les and Ralph doing the due diligence.

https://youtu.be/zqSLX-FN3ZE

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Yes, both called Mauricio, both Argentinians, both former internationals, both former CBs, even similar surnames, both managed Spanish minor clubs with a degree of success. But the mistake we made, was getting Pellegrino and not Pellegrini.

Very good, but you know really what I’m suggesting is that the cvs for the awesome Pochettino and the awful Pellegrino were pretty identical before they joined us, other than the latter had played and coached a little in the EPL.

There’s a lot of luck involved in whether you get a genius or a clown when recruiting young talent from abroad (management or players) and that for me is what Les has been guilty of in the last couple of years - reliance on luck (and then being unlucky). When you have a similar budget to half the teams in the league and want to get ahead you need to take a risk and try something a little different. We did and to start with it worked, lately it hasn’t.

Not sure what my overall point is. Maybe as Adkins always used to say, don’t get to up when it goes well or too down when it goes badly? I wouldn’t make vast changes at the club. Give Hughes the job for 3 years and improve the squad in 3 or 4 players

I thought the ref was very generous to us with the added time. Bednarek was down for a long time, so I was relieved to see only 6 go up.

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Spent the entire matching match literally sat on the edge of my seat, watching on a Russian channel with a bottle of vodka. Mrs Minsk came in from work at half-time then sat through the 2nd half with me, and helping with the vodka. I think, for the first time ever, she shouted than me both when the goal was scored and at the final whistle. We then went on to finish the bottle. It helped that today is a public holiday here and, rather aptly, the occasion is 'Victory Day'. I know it is meant to be victory at the end of WWII, but I am still celebrating Saints' victory last night.

COYS

With Pellegrino we had a defensive mindset, but weren't actually any good at football.

Adjusted slightly for the sake of complete accuracy.

Spent the entire matching match literally sat on the edge of my seat, watching on a Russian channel with a bottle of vodka. Mrs Minsk came in from work at half-time then sat through the 2nd half with me, and helping with the vodka. I think, for the first time ever, she shouted than me both when the goal was scored and at the final whistle. We then went on to finish the bottle. It helped that today is a public holiday here and, rather aptly, the occasion is 'Victory Day'. I know it is meant to be victory at the end of WWII, but I am still celebrating Saints' victory last night.

 

COYS

The weird thing is, I wasn't that nervous after we scored. I was more nervous before. It was probably because Swansea offered so little, we were barley under any attack after we scored. Their efforts were summed up in the 94th min when a long kick just went into the arms of Mccarthy..

It was a pretty comfortable closing out of the game to be honest.

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

You can try this but I think you need to sign up with them first at no cost:

http://www.skysports.com/football/swansea-vs-soton/373404

How come no midweek MOTD? In the slightly cooler light of day, 4 games unbeaten, two clean sheets, nearly 3 wins on the trot, our best run this season?

All the players fitter (bar Charlie bless him) and energised and up for it, qualities coming to the fore at last.

Alex has been a revelation, why can't Fraser learn from him?? My MOTM was PEH simply because he got booked early on then had to be very disciplined thereafter.

And as for the pitch, a disgrace to the Premier League. And, If only one or two of those shots we had on goal against them in the home game had gone in!

Not the only one who didnt sleep well last night, so hyped up!

Not available here in the UK.

 

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Plenty of free vpn's around, check the streaming thread.

I thought the ref was very generous to us with the added time. Bednarek was down for a long time, so I was relieved to see only 6 go up.

 

 

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I thought the same at the time, but thinking back, that was the only real stoppage I can remember in the half.

I thought the same at the time, but thinking back, that was the only real stoppage I can remember in the half.

There were 6 subs. That's at least 3 mins of added time.

Does anybody have match highlights? No MOTD coverage for this one : (

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2018-05-09/highlights-swansea-city-southampton-premier-league-1718

Huge, mind-blowingly huge.

 

It wasn't a perfect performance by any means, but what it lacked in technical style, it made up for in grit and determination.

 

This is the main trait that Hughes has brought to us, and let's be honest....any half decent manager would bring to us. Get back to basics, mix up the play a little and play with a genuine purpose.

 

To this day I still do not understand what Puel or MP were trying to do with us, revolutionise football or something, but it was all too over complicated and it never made any sense.

 

Barring in absolute crazy situation, we can probably now start tentatively planning for next year, which I must admit looked a long way off a few weeks ago.

 

Why on earth did we stick with MP for so long?

Totally agree!

You hit the nail on the head. Clucas had been involved in a lot of their offensive work, with Long on he was back pedalling the whole time. He couldn't handle him.

Adjusted slightly for the sake of complete accuracy.

Lol, an accurate fix

I thought the ref was very generous to us with the added time. Bednarek was down for a long time, so I was relieved to see only 6 go up.

 

 

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Same. Maybe it was the pessimist in me but I was expecting to see at least 7, and was thinking "has there ever been double figures? surely they can't do more than 9...?", so 6 was a pleasant surprise.

That could very well be true. If we'd beaten Everton then a draw yesterday was a real possibility. We'd still have got the 4 points, but Swansea would only be 2 points behind us going into the last match. We definitely got the draw and win in the right order!

That's exactly what I thought! When Bednarak had to come off, if we'd at Everton there's less chance Gabbi would have been replacing him. Hughes is a lot more ambitious than Pellegrino (ok, that's a very low bar!) but even so, that would have been quite cavalier.

Just hope the team complete the job on Sunday and we don't even have to take much notice of events at Swansea.

The weird thing is, I wasn't that nervous after we scored. I was more nervous before. It was probably because Swansea offered so little, we were barley under any attack after we scored. Their efforts were summed up in the 94th min when a long kick just went into the arms of Mccarthy..

 

It was a pretty comfortable closing out of the game to be honest.

Likewise. The first half was pretty nervy, but other than that excellent McCarthy save at the start of the second half, I never felt we were in any real danger after that.

Their substitutions helped us, I think - they were causing us problems by getting the wing-backs wide and putting crosses in, but they took Olsson off to get Abraham on, so they had three strikers but nobody on the left side to actually put the ball in the box for them. Carvalhal then doubled down by taking Naughton off on the other side for Narsingh, and they ended up with two central midfielders at full-back in a 4-3-3, which provided no attacking threat at all and allowed us an easy out ball of playing it long to Long who was always going to beat Sam Clucas in the air.

If Austin could have found a corner rather than the centre of the goal for one or more of his chances, the scoreline would have been much more comfortable, but I don't think the result was in any doubt once we went in front.

Very good, but you know really what I’m suggesting is that the cvs for the awesome Pochettino and the awful Pellegrino were pretty identical before they joined us, other than the latter had played and coached a little in the EPL.

 

There’s a lot of luck involved in whether you get a genius or a clown when recruiting young talent from abroad (management or players) and that for me is what Les has been guilty of in the last couple of years - reliance on luck (and then being unlucky). When you have a similar budget to half the teams in the league and want to get ahead you need to take a risk and try something a little different. We did and to start with it worked, lately it hasn’t.

 

Not sure what my overall point is. Maybe as Adkins always used to say, don’t get to up when it goes well or too down when it goes badly? I wouldn’t make vast changes at the club. Give Hughes the job for 3 years and improve the squad in 3 or 4 players

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