Our friend Neil Ashton

[VectisSaint]

More rubbish from The DM. Where will it ever end?!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2748093/Francis-Benali-pushing-limit-ex-Southampton-defender-runs-1000-miles-three-weeks-Cancer-Research.html

Disappointed to find we are playing West Ham again on Saturday, was hoping to see Newcastle.

[Batman]

Just said he got it wrong on sunday supplement

[angelman]

maybe, but he's still a **** of the highest order

[Saint Charlie]

Just said he got it wrong on sunday supplement

 

Fair play.

[sadoldgit]

Perhaps he is now going to run positive puff pieces every day through the autumn to make up for it?

[Toon Saint]

Just said he got it wrong on sunday supplement

 

Sort of, though probably the most we can expect from the turd. He admitted that he predicted a meltdown in February (neglecting the many doom-laden headlines in the summer), which obviously hasn't happened and he said our start was impressive. Alyson Rudd spoke the most sense about us, and talked about a deeper philosophy embedded in the club at youth level in terms of our style of play/formation and that Koeman is just giving our players the freedom to express themselves in the way that they know how, without changing too much. She named JWP as someone who is flourishing under him and who is taking more responsibility after the exit of Lallana and our other stars. Rudd also billed him as one of the most promising players in English football - though nothing particularly new there. Although she felt we won't stay in the top 4 (which was her pre-season 'wish' incidentally) she doesn't think we will 'plummet' at all as we have a solid base. Ashton then asked for a bit of 'help' from others who also foresaw meltdown. Matt Lawton said that while he wasn't concerned over the exit of Cortese, he had us down for relegation as well after Poch and other key players left, but spoke about the importance of keeping Schneiderlin and how 'looking back at it now' our board seemed to feel he was the only one that was irreplaceable, while we were able to make like-for-like replacements with Shaw, Lallana, and Lambert. He said it was only 5 games and we could still struggle yet, but did suggest that the fact that Morgan is encouraged by the ambition of the board and that he won't necessarily be leaving now, as an encouraging sign. Neil Custis also confessed he was worried about us, but talked about Koeman being impressive in interviews and him commanding respect - he got the sense that he knew exactly what he was doing. Ashton then rounded things up by talking about Forster being a decent acquisition (with which Lawton agreed, as he was worried about our goalkeeping department last season) and all agreed that they hope Southampton have a good season given the nature of the summer and to show that despite FFP 'locking' in the wealth of the top clubs, a club can achieve success with a different model. Not much discussed on Koeman 's tactical changes (compared to Poch) or the potential of players like Gardos/Mane/Toby, but at least the narrative around the club is starting to shift. Good signs.

Edited 21 September, 2014 by Toon Saint