Tonda Eckert

[tdmickey3]

Still shows no idea how to change the approach when the game is crying out for it.

Not good enough and never will be 

[Give it to Ron]

14 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Not been on for a while as couldn’t face the usual happy clapping because we have miraculously picked up some results recently. I’m not a glass half full type of person and of course some result were much welcome not to mention the Leicester cup game gave us a brief glimpse of what it’s like to support an exciting football team. But can any of you genuinely pin down a core discernible reason why we picked up those results?
 

The truth is like the last brief purple patch we had when Todger took over it’s completely unexplainable. A wise man would admit we were promoted under Martin in spite of him, not because of him. If we scrape in this year the same will be true for Todger. I know some fans struggle to admit it, but we probably have one of top 3 squads in the league, if not the best squad of all. Our bench today was absolutely ridiculous for the championship. I reckon all other teams would have them in their starting 11s without question. After the experiment with Still the brief was clear, get an experienced old manager in to get the basics right. We gambled again but this time on a literal PE teacher. Let that sink in…… Nothing is going to change until we get an experienced manager. We lost today because of the no mark in charge. 

We didn’t lose ….

[Lord Duckhunter]

15 hours ago, Harry_SFC said:

Is he being dictated to by the medical team regarding subs?

It would be interesting to know if he makes the changes based off what he feels at that moment or if he is doing it because he is told to.

 

I’d imagine it’s the same at pretty much every club, the medical team will advise and the manager will then make an informed decision based on the back of that advice. In Ross Stewart’s case he’s already said they’ve told him he can’t play more than 60 mins at the moment. Ignoring that advice would be brainless when we’re only in February.

[Harry_SFC]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I’d imagine it’s the same at pretty much every club, the medical team will advise and the manager will then make an informed decision based on the back of that advice. In Ross Stewart’s case he’s already said they’ve told him he can’t play more than 60 mins at the moment. Ignoring that advice would be brainless when we’re only in February.

Yeah I get the Stewart one completely and we've got a decent enough back up for him now so no problem there. Was more thinking of the Charles change as that sub really seemed to affect us. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

39 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Yeah I get the Stewart one completely and we've got a decent enough back up for him now so no problem there. Was more thinking of the Charles change as that sub really seemed to affect us. 

He’s been out for a while as well, so I imagine with it being a 3 game week they wanted to protect him a bit. Personally, I had no problem with that but maybe he should have replaced him with Bragg rather than Jander. 

[Badger]

48 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Yeah I get the Stewart one completely and we've got a decent enough back up for him now so no problem there. Was more thinking of the Charles change as that sub really seemed to affect us. 

What would your view of the manager have been if Charles had pulled up again as he did at Blackburn and out for another two months ? 

[Badger]

9 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He’s been out for a while as well, so I imagine with it being a 3 game week they wanted to protect him a bit. Personally, I had no problem with that but maybe he should have replaced him with Bragg rather than Jander. 

At the time I thought Jander was seen as possibly offering more going forward. Bragg in his limited time on the pitch though slotted in well and was impressed given his age. 

[beatlesaint]

Are we criticising Tonda for managing players minutes who have had a long injury record or lay off in what is a 3 game week now ?

Poor bugger is on a hiding to nothing.

[S-Clarke]

The Edozie sub improved us I felt, but Jander has struggled since the turn of the year for me. Needs some time out of the side. 

Where was Romeu out of interest? I thought that run out against Leicester would have been enough to at least get him on the bench, but no sign.

[ecuk268]

1 hour ago, beatlesaint said:

Are we criticising Tonda for managing players minutes who have had a long injury record or lay off in what is a 3 game week now ?

Poor bugger is on a hiding to nothing.

After 20 games he's won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.

A win percentage of 50% which will place him in the top 3 or 4.

[beatlesaint]

12 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

After 20 games he's won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.

A win percentage of 50% which will place him in the top 3 or 4.

Exactly

[Behind Enemy Lines]

22 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

After 20 games he's won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.

A win percentage of 50% which will place him in the top 3 or 4.

I’m not saying this to be argumentative here, but these stats need to be taken as they are. That is, for the squad we have, compared to the rest of this league, we should be winning the majority of our games, drawing a few and very rarely losing. 
 

Comparing stats in this league this year, to those of Poch, Koeman, Strachan etc, where we often had a much weaker squad compared to the rest of the league, isn’t really a true comparison. 

[Toadhall Saint]

26 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

After 20 games he's won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.

A win percentage of 50% which will place him in the top 3 or 4.

These are the stats that matter.

[SaintsRoyalty]

59 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

After 20 games he's won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.

A win percentage of 50% which will place him in the top 3 or 4.

With arguably the best squad in the league. So those stats are appalling actually. You are ignoring the fact that our squad would win 50% of its games purely off the back of its own strength with no one telling them what to do. A good manager gets a squad of this strength to win every game. Look at Burnley, Leeds etc in the past.

I honestly feel like I’m living in a twilight zone where I’m the only one that can see blatant and unprecedented failures at this club. No other club would hire someone that not only had never managed a professional man’s team before, but never played the game. You sometimes get ex players who get bumped up a bit too early and almost always have their inexperience exposed straight away but what club hires this guy????

I’ve said before the biggest issue at this club is the fans. I honestly think if Rasmus hired his mum as the next manager but she got a few results the fan base would get behind her.

 

Edited Sunday at 13:43 by SaintsRoyalty

[washsaint]

27 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

With arguably the best squad in the league. So those stats are appalling actually. You are ignoring the fact that our squad would win 50% of its games purely off the back of its own strength with no one telling them what to do. A good manager gets a squad of this strength to win every game. Look at Burnley, Leeds etc in the past.

I honestly feel like I’m living in a twilight zone where I’m the only one that can see blatant and unprecedented failures at this club. No other club would hire someone that not only had never managed a professional man’s team before, but never played the game. You sometimes get ex players who get bumped up a bit too early and almost always have their inexperience exposed straight away but what club hires this guy????

I’ve said before the biggest issue at this club is the fans. I honestly think if Rasmus hired his mum as the next manager but she got a few results the fan base would get behind her.

 

What utter nonsense......best squad in the League my arse.

For most of the season we did not have a real striker fit or available.  A weak link in goal.  And a scarred squad from an awful Prem season with a club clearly in disarray.

'On paper' Leicester had the strongest squad in the League, with Ipswich not far behind.

If you are so blind as to not see that 35 points from 20 games is an excellent return, that's your problem.

Eckert has taken a squad with low morale and playing abysmally to, somehow, still being in with a shout of the plays offs and it also looks like the culture within the club is being improved and rebuilt.

Seriously, some fans.  No doubt they'd prefer someone like Dyche (a 'proper' manager).

[Badger]

20 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Still shows no idea how to change the approach when the game is crying out for it.

Not good enough and never will be 

Might be a fair point about not changing things during the match, but very few managers have that insight. He’s not alone and by no means the worst we’ve had.

As for yesterday, by my recollection we had two cleared off the line, hit the bar in the first half.  Suggests that the tactics were working if we were creating chances.
 

Some cooler heads when chances arose, Bree getting his header on target and Matsuki not ending up on his arse might have helped as well. 

 

[LuckyNumber7]

1 hour ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

With arguably the best squad in the league. So those stats are appalling actually. You are ignoring the fact that our squad would win 50% of its games purely off the back of its own strength with no one telling them what to do. A good manager gets a squad of this strength to win every game. Look at Burnley, Leeds etc in the past.

I honestly feel like I’m living in a twilight zone where I’m the only one that can see blatant and unprecedented failures at this club. No other club would hire someone that not only had never managed a professional man’s team before, but never played the game. You sometimes get ex players who get bumped up a bit too early and almost always have their inexperience exposed straight away but what club hires this guy????

I’ve said before the biggest issue at this club is the fans. I honestly think if Rasmus hired his mum as the next manager but she got a few results the fan base would get behind her.

 

What rubbish. You mean like Will Still did, winning 2 of his 13 games?

And if you think we have the best squad in the league, you're deluded. We do have some good individual players, but so do other teams.

Honestly I'm not sold on Tonda yet, but he's doing a pretty decent job on the whole. I feel like we could win every remaining game and some of you would still be moaning about him.

[tdmickey3]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

Might be a fair point about not changing things during the match, but very few managers have that insight. He’s not alone and by no means the worst we’ve had.

As for yesterday, by my recollection we had two cleared off the line, hit the bar in the first half.  Suggests that the tactics were working if we were creating chances.
 

Some cooler heads when chances arose, Bree getting his header on target and Matsuki not ending up on his arse might have helped as well. 

 

All true of course but my point is he never tries anything different, just like for like and hope

[pimpin4rizeal]

1 hour ago, washsaint said:

What utter nonsense......best squad in the League my arse.

For most of the season we did not have a real striker fit or available.  A weak link in goal.  And a scarred squad from an awful Prem season with a club clearly in disarray.

'On paper' Leicester had the strongest squad in the League, with Ipswich not far behind.

If you are so blind as to not see that 35 points from 20 games is an excellent return, that's your problem.

Eckert has taken a squad with low morale and playing abysmally to, somehow, still being in with a shout of the plays offs and it also looks like the culture within the club is being improved and rebuilt.

Seriously, some fans.  No doubt they'd prefer someone like Dyche (a 'proper' manager).

This is nonsense .. whatever your opinion we was  second favourites for promotion. Behind Ipswich at the start of the season ..and we have strengthened a hell of a lot since that so yes it is one of the best squads in the league however poorly will still done with it .

also what’s the matter with dyche? Your talking about a manager who kept a dogshit Burnley side punching well above its weight in the premier league for a long time ..  is absolutely no guarantee of eckart doing any thing of that note and it could well be another Russel Martin type nightmare if he gets promoted and isn’t managing a better squad then the rest of the league like he is in the championship 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

31 minutes ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

This is nonsense .. whatever your opinion we was  second favourites for promotion. Behind Ipswich at the start of the season ..and we have strengthened a hell of a lot since that so yes it is one of the best squads in the league however poorly will still done with it .

also what’s the matter with dyche? Your talking about a manager who kept a dogshit Burnley side punching well above its weight in the premier league for a long time ..  is absolutely no guarantee of eckart doing any thing of that note and it could well be another Russel Martin type nightmare if he gets promoted and isn’t managing a better squad then the rest of the league like he is in the championship 

Yep agree with this.

Underperformed with Still. 

However I dont agree with the other poster thinking 35 points from 20 games is a great return from Tonda's reign so far, given the squad we have. The blips have cost us.  

45 points from 20 games would have been a great return for me.

[Badger]

13 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Yep agree with this.

Underperformed with Still. 

However I dont agree with the other poster thinking 35 points from 20 games is a great return from Tonda's reign so far, given the squad we have. The blips have cost us.  

45 points from 20 games would have been a great return for me.

That would be 80 points if continued over the course of the season, which would be good, even if not a great return. Solid play off form and finish.

Making allowance for this being a first job, and what appeared a squad low on confidence and belief, it’s not a bad return. I suspect many would have been pleased had say Dyche or Carrick come in and achieved it.

(Yes there were some poor results in there as well, Norwich, Oxford, Hull at home.). 

[Badger]

56 minutes ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

 

also what’s the matter with dyche? Your talking about a manager who kept a dogshit Burnley side punching well above its weight in the premier league for a long time ..  is absolutely no guarantee of eckart doing any thing of that note and it could well be another Russel Martin type nightmare if he gets promoted and isn’t managing a better squad then the rest of the league like he is in the championship 

Might be a question to pose on Everton or Forest forums. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

All true of course but my point is he never tries anything different, just like for like and hope

He took a full back off at Leicester & replaced him with a forward. He changed from a back 3 to a 4. He has brought an extra centre half at the end of a couple of games. To say he doesn’t try anything different is pony…

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

That would be 80 points if continued over the course of the season, which would be good, even if not a great return. Solid play off form and finish.

Making allowance for this being a first job, and what appeared a squad low on confidence and belief, it’s not a bad return. I suspect many would have been pleased had say Dyche or Carrick come in and achieved it.

(Yes there were some poor results in there as well, Norwich, Oxford, Hull at home.). 

Yeah very true. It is his first job proper and all.

So do take in those points when laid out like that. 

Probably being a little harsh on Tonda which is unfair.

 

[Maggie May]

One draw and the forum goes into meltdown mode. We’re not going to win every game. 

[tdmickey3]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He took a full back off at Leicester & replaced him with a forward. He changed from a back 3 to a 4. He has brought an extra centre half at the end of a couple of games. To say he doesn’t try anything different is pony…

Revolutionary…

[trousers]

2 hours ago, Maggie May said:

One draw and one forum member goes into hyperbole mode

Fixed it for you 👍🏻

[SNSUN]

I'm not sure what to make of Tonda...

 

 

I'm kidding of course. I actually think he's doing a decent job. I remain slightly sceptical overall but we are playing and fighting as a team. Whether we go up or not, unless the PERFECT manager becomes available (whoever that may be), he gets to start next season and we can only hope SR back him. Correctly. With good signings.

[CB Fry]

12 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

45 points from 20 games would have been a great return for me.

It would be better than Coventry have achieved this season.

[Dman]

19 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

With arguably the best squad in the league. So those stats are appalling actually. You are ignoring the fact that our squad would win 50% of its games purely off the back of its own strength with no one telling them what to do. A good manager gets a squad of this strength to win every game. Look at Burnley, Leeds etc in the past.

I honestly feel like I’m living in a twilight zone where I’m the only one that can see blatant and unprecedented failures at this club. No other club would hire someone that not only had never managed a professional man’s team before, but never played the game. You sometimes get ex players who get bumped up a bit too early and almost always have their inexperience exposed straight away but what club hires this guy????

I’ve said before the biggest issue at this club is the fans. I honestly think if Rasmus hired his mum as the next manager but she got a few results the fan base would get behind her.

 

Based on last season, Burnley and Leeds won c. 60% of their games. No unfeasible that Tonda could finish the season with a similar record. Lets also not forget that good manager that Leeds have needed 2 bites of the cherry (as was beaten by a Russell Martin side 3 times in one season). 

I'm not convinced Tonda is the right man for us long term. I suspect we'll have a new man in the dug out this time next season, but to rubbish his record, when he came in when we were looking more likley to go down than fight for play-offs is nonsense. 

 

 

 

 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

3 hours ago, CB Fry said:

It would be better than Coventry have achieved this season.

Exactly. Aim for the stars and get to the moon!

I did acknowledge in a later post that I'm being a unfair on Tonda.

[Mr X]

What would you rate tondas managerial peformance so far out of 10? Mine would be 6 out of ten, has delivered the bare minimum expected with the squad just about kept us in with a fighting chance of playoffs, that said still was a 3 or 4 out of 10 at best! 

[pimpin4rizeal]

On 22/02/2026 at 17:20, Badger said:

Might be a question to pose on Everton or Forest forums. 

He kept Everton up and won 6 out of 18 for forest, doesn’t look too terrible . Sometimes though decent managers do fail with certain jobs only gotta look at hoddle at spurs after us or Koeman at Everton . Just seems a bit nuts when tonda is getting lauded and dyche ridiculed after doing an immense job with Burnley . For the moment  I think he’s kinda doing what Russell Martin did in doing alright in the championship but if he can be anything more then that is still to be seen 

[tdmickey3]

4 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

He kept Everton up and won 6 out of 18 for forest, doesn’t look too terrible . Sometimes though decent managers do fail with certain jobs only gotta look at hoddle at spurs after us or Koeman at Everton . Just seems a bit nuts when tonda is getting lauded and dyche ridiculed after doing an immense job with Burnley . For the moment  I think he’s kinda doing what Russell Martin did in doing alright in the championship but if he can be anything more then that is still to be seen 

Absolutely correct

[Patrick Bateman]

11 hours ago, Mr X said:

What would you rate tondas managerial peformance so far out of 10? Mine would be 6 out of ten, has delivered the bare minimum expected with the squad just about kept us in with a fighting chance of playoffs, that said still was a 3 or 4 out of 10 at best! 

The way I see it is that Tonda was basically starting on minus points after such a dreadful start, under a dreadful manager, with a mix of new players finding their feet and some who had lost their feet and seemingly couldn't be arsed.

When he took over, Saints were 21st (!!) after 13 matches and already 12 points off the play offs (Preston were 6th, Stoke were still 3rd). Stoke are now 5 places below Saints (and everyone was saying why didn't we have their manager etc etc) and we're now only 4 points off the play off places with 13 games to go.

If Tonda can bridge that "minus point gap" from the first 13 matches, I'll give him a 9/10. So far it's a 7/10 - I think you can see he's still learning as he goes, which isn't a bad thing, but if Saints somehow go promoted, which I still think is a big ask right now, I'm pretty sure he's going to need help and guidance otherwise he's going to become a 2/10 and I feel we'll be wasting a potentially decent manager. 

Plenty of should have and could have moments in football, not hiring Still, hiring Rohl, even given Tonda the job from day 1 etc etc.

I just see a vast improvement and the proof is there in the league table figures from after the 13th match of the season. Who knows though, just my opinion anyway.

[BERMUDASAINT]

On 22/02/2026 at 09:42, SaintsRoyalty said:

With arguably the best squad in the league. So those stats are appalling actually. You are ignoring the fact that our squad would win 50% of its games purely off the back of its own strength with no one telling them what to do. A good manager gets a squad of this strength to win every game. Look at Burnley, Leeds etc in the past.

I honestly feel like I’m living in a twilight zone where I’m the only one that can see blatant and unprecedented failures at this club. No other club would hire someone that not only had never managed a professional man’s team before, but never played the game . You sometimes get ex players who get bumped up a bit too early and almost always have their inexperience exposed straight away but what club hires this guy????

I’ve said before the biggest issue at this club is the fans. I honestly think if Rasmus hired his mum as the next manager but she got a few results the fan base would get behind her.

 

 

He did play as a CM, retired 2016.

Just some info on our u21 coach, i did not know much about him, so thought I would take a look, i am impressed, his young career stats look very good!

U21 before he took over:

2024-2025 Southampton U21 Stats
Previous Season Next Season
Record: 10-4-6, 34 points (1.70 per game), 7th in Premier League 2 (1st Tier)

Home Record: 5-2-3, 17 points Away Record: 5-2-3, 17 points

Goals: 38 (1.90 per game), Goals Against: 31 (1.55 per game), Diff: 7.

U21 under him, he had improved results and goals per game:

2025-2026 Southampton U21 Stats
Previous Season
Record: 5-3-1, 18 points (2.00 per game), 5th in Premier League 2 (1st Tier)

Home Record: 3-1-0, 10 points Away Record: 2-2-1, 8 points

Goals: 20 (2.22 per game), Goals Against: 15 (1.67 per game), Diff: 5

His career so far, has worked with some good coaches. I see Marco Rose was one of them. He has been mentioned as a canidate, i wonder if that would be a good fit as they havd worked togethef in the past?

Club & role		from / until	Games / PPG
	Southampton Caretaker Manager	25/26 (03/11/2025) / -	2 / 3.00
	Southampton U21 Manager	25/26 (11/07/2025) / -	10 / 1.90
	Genoa Assistant Manager	21/22 (19/01/2022) / 25/26 (10/07/2025)	-
Assistant Manager of: Alberto Gilardino (79 Games), Alexander Blessin (33 Games), Patrick Vieira (26 Games)
	Barnsley Assistant Manager	20/21 (13/08/2020) / 21/22 (19/01/2022)	-
Assistant Manager of: Valérien Ismaël (44 Games), Markus Schopp (16 Games), Poya Asbaghi (8 Games), Gerhard Struber (7 Games), Adam Murray (3 Games), Joseph Laumann (2 Games)
	FC Bayern U17 Assistant Manager	19/20 (01/09/2019) / 19/20 (30/06/2020)	-
Assistant Manager of: Miroslav Klose (16 Games)
	RB Leipzig U19 Assistant Manager	17/18 (01/07/2017) / 18/19 (30/06/2019)	-
Assistant Manager of: Alexander Blessin (31 Games), Robert Klauß (28 Games)
	RB Leipzig YL Assistant Manager	17/18 (01/07/2017) / 18/19 (30/06/2019)	-
Assistant Manager of: Robert Klauß (6 Games)
	AKA Salzb. U18 Assistant Manager	16/17 (01/07/2016) / 16/17 (30/06/2017)	-
Assistant Manager of: Marco Rose (22 Games)
	RB Salzburg YL Assistant Manager	16/17 (01/07/2016) / 16/17 (30/06/2017)	-
Assistant Manager of: Marco Rose (9 Games)
	1.FC Köln U17 Assistant Manager	13/14 (01/07/2013) / 15/16 (30/06/2016)	-
Assistant Manager of: Stephan Möthrath (63 Games), Ralf Aussem (14 Games), Markus Daun (1 Game)
	Fortuna Köln Head of Scouting	12/13 (01/07/2012) / 12/13 (30/06/2013)	-
	Germany Match Analyst	11/12 (01/11/2011) / 14/15 (30/08/2014)	-

 

He did play as a CM

Transfer history as a player

16/17

01/07/2016

Retired

Free Transfer

 

 

Arnoldsweiler

 

Total transfer fees:

 

 

 

 

Stats 25/26

 

Competition	Matches	W	D	L	Points	PPM
Total:	12	7	4	1	25	2.08

[pimpin4rizeal]

If he is any good we should be at least making the playoffs from our position with this squad. for the most part I think spors has actually done well in the transfer window the only danger position is striker which is a pretty big gamble but we have quality in most positions compared to the other teams round us.

[Midfield_General]

His record (including cup games in brackets) is W W W W L W W L D L D D L (W) L W D W W W (W) D. 

So putting performances aside and focusing purely on the nitty gritty of results, with a priority given to league results, his form table so far is basically an incredible start, a very poor middle, and now really gathering momentum again. 

All in all, in the simple terms of games won vs. games played, he's done pretty well. However the argument will continue as to whether with the players and resources we have at our disposal at this level, he should still have done better. Or, whether another realistic managerial appointment would have done better. 

I'm doing a @trousers at the moment and am on the fence. We've just been very inconsistent and streaky. Great one game, rubbish the next and almost impossible to predict which version will turn up. If he can find a way to grind out some consistency for the run-in and keep this current momentum going, then it could look like a pretty impressive record for a first job by the end of the season, but I'm reserving judgement until then. 

Or he could just go and win the Cup in which case who cares, he's an instant legend. 

Edited 15 minutes ago by Midfield_General