Tonda Eckert

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

My main complaint was that this entire forum knew we should be playing 4 at the back and fellows isnt a wing back yet it took a long fucking time until it got to him as well.

 

Who would he have played as right back in 4  then Einstein? Bree was at Charlton, & the other 2 were mostly injured. Stephen’s?, that bloke who we just stuck 5 past?

If only we’d listened to you, we’d be in the play off places now…

The fact is, as soon as he had a decent right back on the books, he reverted to a 4. 
 

 

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Wait till we ‘reset’ in the summer and ‘pivot’ to 3 at the back 

It’ll be far sooner than the summer if we have a wobble during our playoff chase. 
Ramsus will make his demands again. 

[trousers]

25 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Who would he have played as right back in 4  then Einstein? Bree was at Charlton, & the other 2 were mostly injured. Stephen’s?, that bloke who we just stuck 5 past?

If only we’d listened to you, we’d be in the play off places now…

The fact is, as soon as he had a decent right back on the books, he reverted to a 4. 
 

 

If only the "Einsteins" at the club hadn't loaned out Bree in the first place... 

Edited February 27 by trousers

[AlexLaw76]

Edwards could have played RB

[StrangelyBrown]

13 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

You’re right but claims like ‘let’s see what the next 7 games are like’ seem a bit wild to me. What if Eckert passes trousers test over the next 7 games with flying colours but never wins a game again. Good or bad? 

There’s obvious differences a manager can make, you’ve named some and Eckert has done well in some but I do think this fan base can take a step back from wild conclusions on managers, good or bad, based on small samples of results especially when 11 players on the pitch have stopped giving stupid goals away which immediately makes us more competitive.

What are these "wild conclusions" you are talking about? When are people allowed to have an opinion?

Edited February 28 by StrangelyBrown

[CB Fry]

11 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Who would he have played as right back in 4  then Einstein?

Youre making out Fellows as a wing back was some under duress down-to-the-bare-bone makeshift decision when it was clearly intended / actively desired by the manager. And it was and is a fucking stupid decision.

[Fabrice29]

21 hours ago, trousers said:

 

Good observation, which means the next tranche of 7 games will tell us how much the latest good run of 7 games has been influenced by an upturn in the manager's (& team's) performance or more down to the reduced quality of opposition. Interesting times...

 

15 hours ago, trousers said:

Where did I say "solely" you giblet muffin?

 

You don’t seem to mention anything else as far as I can see? And you seem pretty keen to point out the next 7 games will tell us how much the managers influence has had so I just assumed that’s what you meant. 

[Fabrice29]

11 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Edwards could have played RB

Barely played CB well let alone RB.

[Fabrice29]

25 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Youre making out Fellows as a wing back was some under duress down-to-the-bare-bone makeshift decision when it was clearly intended / actively desired by the manager. And it was and is a fucking stupid decision.

You’re making out Fellows hasn’t played as a RWB semi regularly before, including in arguably his biggest game before signing for us, against us. And making out we didn’t go on a mad run of form with him playing there and making out he’s not been pretty bang average and dropped since moving to RW.

[trousers]

43 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

 

You don’t seem to mention anything else as far as I can see? And you seem pretty keen to point out the next 7 games will tell us how much the managers influence has had so I just assumed that’s what you meant. 

Fair point. I probably should have said "may" rather that than "will" 👍🏻

I still maintain it's a reasonable observation though...

The general consensus seems to be that Tonda (and Saints) has turned a corner and, therefore, that that tranche of 7 poor results is unlikely to be repeated.

I simply found it interesting that Tonda's reign, so far, has 3 distinct 7 match spells, and I'm very much hopeful that this 'boom / bust' cycle won't be repeated over the upcoming games, despite the observation that the 2 'boom' periods tended to coincide with playing poorer teams, and the 'bust' period with playing better teams. 

P.s. given the heaps of praise coming Tonda's way at the moment (quite rightly) one would venture that most people believe that the manager is has a significant influence on results, one way or t'other...?

Edited February 28 by trousers

[coalman]

12 minutes ago, trousers said:

Fair point. I probably should have said "may" rather that than "will" 👍🏻

I still maintain it's a reasonable observation though...

The general consensus seems to be that Tonda (and Saints) has turned a corner and, therefore, that that tranche of 7 poor results is unlikely to be repeated.

I simply found it interesting that Tonda's reign, so far, has 3 distinct 7 match spells, and I'm very much hopeful that this 'boom / bust' cycle won't be repeated over the upcoming games, despite the observation that the 2 'boom' periods tended to coincide with playing poorer teams, and the 'bust' period with playing better teams. 

 

Even in the 5-0 win we looked pretty ordinary for most of the first half after we scored. Those are the kind of performances that have resulted in Saints becoming passive and waiting for the inevitable. What I'd really love to see is Tonda coach the team to play with higher intensity in these situations. We're not always going to be playing against QPR's Baz tribute act. The same thing played out against Charlton - our play slowed to a crawl and we didn't go for it whilst looking increasingly vulnerable and could easily have turned that performance into a loss. When we become passive we also go back to the whole dicking around at the back nonsense where we invite pressure and take unnecessary risks around our own penalty area.

I think that Tonda is very much the beneficiary of fine margins being in his favour during his reign as opposed to Still where we were very much on the wrong side of them. As Napoleon noted about one of his generals "you say he's good, but is he lucky?".

Teams adapted after our quick start and we got picked apart pretty easily. Our 5-1 win at Charlton showed what happens if you give our players space while trying to press. The 1-1 draw with Charlton showed there's a way to play Saints where you sit back in the low block and we lose all our intensity. A better side than Charlton would have exploited that. I imagine we'll start seeing other teams trying this approach.

It also doesn't bode well for if we return to the Premier League. Our inability to turn up the intensity in pursuit of a result or to match the other side was our undoing in many matches last season. We need to (re)discover this part of our game if we're to harbour serious ambitions of staying up should we manage to get promoted. You can just about get away with being passive in the Championship if you have the players who can make a difference. You can't in the Premier League.

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Fair point. I probably should have said "may" rather that than "will" 👍🏻

I still maintain it's a reasonable observation though...

The general consensus seems to be that Tonda (and Saints) has turned a corner and, therefore, that that tranche of 7 poor results is unlikely to be repeated.

I simply found it interesting that Tonda's reign, so far, has 3 distinct 7 match spells, and I'm very much hopeful that this 'boom / bust' cycle won't be repeated over the upcoming games, despite the observation that the 2 'boom' periods tended to coincide with playing poorer teams, and the 'bust' period with playing better teams. 

P.s. given the heaps of praise coming Tonda's way at the moment (quite rightly) one would venture that most people believe that the manager is has a significant influence on results, one way or t'other...?

I'm not saying he doesn't have influence. I'm saying judging managers in batches of 7 games, ranked on difficulty, is something we should stop doing. We've gone through a significant portion of managers recently, mainly because we've wet the bed almost every time a bad run of results happen. I've said this before but we have to stick with a manager through poor form at some stage, but the fans initial reaction every time we lose once/twice/7 times is to always blame the manager. I think we started to address some of the major issues in January, we haven't addressed them all though and the defenders who have never shown themselves to be too far away from a mistake and unreliable goalscorers will rear their head again at some stage this season and when they do I think we should look in those directions rather than immediately declare the manager as not good enough because it's in a self chosen 7 game batch that we've somehow decided is a marker.

[trousers]

16 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

I'm saying judging managers in batches of 7 games, ranked on difficulty, is something we should stop doing.

Fair enough. I just find such patterns interesting, and potentially revealing. No worries if you feel differently. 

[Fabrice29]

36 minutes ago, trousers said:

Fair enough. I just find such patterns interesting, and potentially revealing. No worries if you feel differently. 

Yes that’s fine and how we rise to the challenges is of course interesting. I’m pointing out that it’s not on the manager to rise to that challenge, but players. Can they cut out mistakes, continue to be resilient and continue to take chances? Because I think it was painfully obvious that’s where the failings have been this season rather than how good our managers supposedly are. All things a manager can influence a bit but predominantly on the players and we should reframe those conversations for me. But yeah, different people, different perspectives.

[trousers]

10 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Yes that’s fine and how we rise to the challenges is of course interesting. I’m pointing out that it’s not on the manager to rise to that challenge, but players. Can they cut out mistakes, continue to be resilient and continue to take chances? Because I think it was painfully obvious that’s where the failings have been this season rather than how good our managers supposedly are. All things a manager can influence a bit but predominantly on the players and we should reframe those conversations for me. But yeah, different people, different perspectives.

Yep, agree to disagree 👍🏻

[Convict Colony]

16 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Who would he have played as right back in 4  then Einstein? Bree was at Charlton, & the other 2 were mostly injured. Stephen’s?, that bloke who we just stuck 5 past?

If only we’d listened to you, we’d be in the play off places now…

The fact is, as soon as he had a decent right back on the books, he reverted to a 4. 
 

 

So keep doing the same thing and get pumped with 3 at the back without trying something different !

Worst case scenario put stephens there for 1 game who has done it alot in prem and champs or put quarshie or Bragg but at least be seen to try something rather when 3 isnt working.

Agree Bree makes the difference but so far this club loaned him out and now relies on him as 1st team starter I'd like to see how spors spins that.

The Oxford away 1 in particular annoys me as a game we should have had 4 at back as they ceded half the field to us.

And just to add no way in hell did i think we would be in playoffs if this was done, he's done very well for his 1st gig.

Edited February 28 by Convict Colony

[Lord Duckhunter]

6 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Youre making out Fellows as a wing back was some under duress down-to-the-bare-bone makeshift decision when it was clearly intended / actively desired by the manager.

Which right backs were available instead? 

[Cuddles]

He's a bit starey but getting the points we need. Fair play.

[trousers]

[John B]

On 27/02/2026 at 21:01, trousers said:

If only the "Einsteins" at the club hadn't loaned out Bree in the first place... 

I think they realised that Bree was not a PL player so brought in two fullbacks but unfortunately they seem to be duffers not easy recruiting players

Overall I feel SR have recruited reasonably for this season

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, John B said:

I think they realised that Bree was not a PL player so brought in two fullbacks but unfortunately they seem to be duffers not easy recruiting players

Overall I feel SR have recruited reasonably for this season

the Bree situation was ridiculous at the time, let alone what it is being shown up as

[John B]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

the Bree situation was ridiculous at the time, let alone what it is being shown up as

Hindsight is a wonderful gift that you over the last twenty years or so  in your various guises have shown in abundance

 

 

[Disco Stu]

There really is no benefit of hindsight regarding the Bree situation. Loaning out a proven Championship player was clearly a ridiculous decision at the time. It forced us to waste resources getting 2 new right backs.

Edited March 1 by Disco Stu

[Ex Lion Tamer]

33 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

There really is no benefit of hindsight regarding the Bree situation. Loaning out a proven Championship player was clearly a ridiculous decision at the time. It forced us to waste resources getting 2 new right backs.

Our previous two managers didn't rate him and it was bizarre that whole time 

[Badger]

3 hours ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Our previous two managers didn't rate him and it was bizarre that whole time 

In fairness to Martin he did also have KWP on the books, although he did play him as a LB as well some of the time. Still was probably told from above about the fantastic Danish players he was going to have at his disposal. 

[SaintsRoyalty]

On 25/02/2026 at 14:51, saintant said:

Can't argue with that. Considering his age and lack of experience his record to date is remarkable. He has the potential to manage at the highest level if he continues turning in these numbers. Probably a bit early to know what the future holds for him but you can't question his record with us so far.

People were saying the same thing about Martin in our last promotion run. He was the messiah, that long unbeaten run, moments of free flowing football etc but then went on to arguably show himself to be one of the most delusional and out of his depth managers in the history of the premier league. He couldn’t even get Rangers winning in a 2 team league. Winning is easy when you hold most the cards. 

I don’t want to be a downer or pick on Eckart, but if people can’t see the parallels between his position and Martin then it explains why it’s been Groundhog Day at this club since Koeman. Our squad is easily in the conversation as being the best squad in the league so winning nearly every game is the bare minimum. Yes he’s made some of the simple decisions that for some reason have been difficult to make at the club like doing 4 at the back, ditching the worst keeper in the whole of Europe, having a target man etc, but when the playing field is more level or worse we are an underdog like we will be in the prem, do you want Eckart on the touchline? History is repeating itself and we will be bottom of the prem with a few points but won’t put him out of his misery until Jan by which time only someone desperate will take the job with little time to do anything about us flirting with that 11 point Derby total.

We had our best period in recent memory under Koeman because he’s Koeman. He has experience, pedigree and gravitas. Better players were attracted to the club and the whole standards increased. Maybe some of you can’t see it but we are on a hiding to nothing with Eckart. Just an impending dose of Deja vu. 

[Badger]

20 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

People were saying the same thing about Martin in our last promotion run. He was the messiah, that long unbeaten run, moments of free flowing football etc but then went on to arguably show himself to be one of the most delusional and out of his depth managers in the history of the premier league. He couldn’t even get Rangers winning in a 2 team league. Winning is easy when you hold most the cards. 

I don’t want to be a downer or pick on Eckart, but if people can’t see the parallels between his position and Martin then it explains why it’s been Groundhog Day at this club since Koeman. Our squad is easily in the conversation as being the best squad in the league so winning nearly every game is the bare minimum. Yes he’s made some of the simple decisions that for some reason have been difficult to make at the club like doing 4 at the back, ditching the worst keeper in the whole of Europe, having a target man etc, but when the playing field is more level or worse we are an underdog like we will be in the prem, do you want Eckart on the touchline? History is repeating itself and we will be bottom of the prem with a few points but won’t put him out of his misery until Jan by which time only someone desperate will take the job with little time to do anything about us flirting with that 11 point Derby total.

We had our best period in recent memory under Koeman because he’s Koeman. He has experience, pedigree and gravitas. Better players were attracted to the club and the whole standards increased. Maybe some of you can’t see it but we are on a hiding to nothing with Eckart. Just an impending dose of Deja vu. 

Very few people had any expectations under Martin, most seemed to say he'd easily be found out if/when we were promoted.

Don't think anyone hailed him a messiah either. 

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

Very few people had any expectations under Martin, most seemed to say he'd easily be found out if/when we were promoted.

Don't think anyone hailed him a messiah either. 

Fabrice did to be fair.

[Cuddles]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Very few people had any expectations under Martin, most seemed to say he'd easily be found out if/when we were promoted.

Don't think anyone hailed him a messiah either. 

This. Many of us were very sceptical - we made way too many defensive clangers throughout the 23-24 season to think anything other way.

Tonda's doing well. The mentality of the squad looked all wrong before he took the reigns, so sorting that out as well as the formation etc. was quite the ask.

[pimpin4rizeal]

On 28/02/2026 at 10:40, Fabrice29 said:

I'm not saying he doesn't have influence. I'm saying judging managers in batches of 7 games, ranked on difficulty, is something we should stop doing. We've gone through a significant portion of managers recently, mainly because we've wet the bed almost every time a bad run of results happen. I've said this before but we have to stick with a manager through poor form at some stage, but the fans initial reaction every time we lose once/twice/7 times is to always blame the manager. I think we started to address some of the major issues in January, we haven't addressed them all though and the defenders who have never shown themselves to be too far away from a mistake and unreliable goalscorers will rear their head again at some stage this season and when they do I think we should look in those directions rather than immediately declare the manager as not good enough because it's in a self chosen 7 game batch that we've somehow decided is a marker.

Without judging on seven matches he shouldn’t of got the job in the first place though . To be fair I was totally against the appointment but considering the stats of us being top since he took over and all the other stats I think he’s earned a bit of slack now 

But without hindisight it still looked another retarded gamble from sports republic and I hope this doesn’t swell their egos to keep making inexperienced appointments 

[goodymatt]

I think most of us are on the same journey with Tonda. Massively underwhelmed that we weren't going for a more experienced manager with past playing experience like Carrick but also aware of the recent question marks over any experienced candidate interviewed/linked. He smashed the interim period out of the park, making it difficult to not award him the job before then going on a dip of form where we all thought, "told you so". Then he's picked it back up, learning well on the job and as many posters have pointed out, our form under his management is right up there compared with the rest of the league.

We are now looking at a points per game average under Tonda that compares very closely to Martin's for us in the Championship. That is pretty much the rate Boro have been achieving all season and it looks to be there or there about for automatic promotion this season. Question marks over ability to handle Premier League tactical and player demands are not of any relevance at this time. His record, given his inexperience has been and continues to be impressive and it's difficult to imagine any other replacement doing much better considering how well he is fairing against other teams during his tenure.

He now moves into the business end of the season and how he handles that will be interesting.

[Badger]

30 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

He now moves into the business end of the season and how he handles that will be interesting.

It will be, but have to remember that ‘luck’ will play a great part in how this pans out, specifically injuries and suspensions.

If Peretz suddenly is out for a few weeks, we’re buggered if relying on Long and the Warrington bloke. Not sure he’ll be able to do much about that.

Beat Fulham at the weekend we could also derail our own season with a fixture pile up and be hampered by our own success. 
 

But as you say be interesting to see how he handles the challenges. 

[Midfield_General]

Article about Tonda’s background and career, with some interesting insights into his approach and what he learned from working with the German national team: 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/07/tonda-eckert-southampton-championship-fulham-fa-cup-fifth-round

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

15 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Article about Tonda’s background and career, with some interesting insights into his approach and what he learned from working with the German national team: 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/07/tonda-eckert-southampton-championship-fulham-fa-cup-fifth-round

Seems very abrupt! But interesting insight into his background. 

Still feels like he needs support on the fitness side for the squad. Some games seems like the players are gassed quite quickly. 

[goodymatt]

Similar to the Guardian article but also worth a read.

[washsaint]

He seems like a top, top guy and I think, as stated several times before, he could be an excellent manager for us and I get the impression he won't jump at the first opportunity.

It would be nice to have some stability around the club and absolutely no-one (including people like @tdmickey3) can dispute his record since becoming interim manager.  A ratio of nearly 2 points per game from where we were for the previous 15-18 months is quite remarkable: and without the benefit of a summer transfer window (dealing with what he inherited)

[washsaint]

What a manager Saints stumbled into!  I just hope we can keep him - he is clearly showing he is headed for the top.

[Toadhall Saint]

He has a lot of pedigree without having a lot of pedigree. 

[skintsaint]

Well he is being a bit too positive after this game I feel 😅

 

[saintant]

Never lost an FA Cup tie.

[Harry_SFC]

35 minutes ago, washsaint said:

What a manager Saints stumbled into!  I just hope we can keep him - he is clearly showing he is headed for the top.

He's certainly winning me around. Especially today.. he set the team up perfectly.

[AlexLaw76]

He has won me round... 

 

[washsaint]

32 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

He's certainly winning me around. Especially today.. he set the team up perfectly.

Winning you over?  You do realize his record now sits at:

P25

W15

D5

L5

which equates to a 60% win percentage and - if all League games - 92 points over a full season.  Taking into account the state of the club/team when he stepped into the breach his record is nothing short of miraculous.

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Winning you over?  You do realize his record now sits at:

P25

W15

D5

L5

which equates to a 60% win percentage and - if all League games - 92 points over a full season.  Taking into account the state of the club/team when he stepped into the breach his record is nothing short of miraculous.

It is good,, but he also has the biggest squad in the league, or in the top 2...

[Sheaf Saint]

I was skeptical when we appointed him, despite the good run if results when he was interim. Then the poor run over December/Jan didn't do much to convince me that SR hadn't just made another very poor decision.

But the turnaround since then has been phenomenal. We're starting to put in some very professional performances now and managing games/protecting leads very well, which is light years away from where we were just a few months ago. Even during that interim period we were still collapsing and riding our luck, but not anymore.

Seems he's really finding his feet and the players are really enjoying playing for him. Long may it continue.

[sfc4prem]

He's very calm, articulate, and seems to be rational and unwavering. Seems like he's got the players on side and believing, which is most of the battle won straight away.

[Harry_SFC]

15 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Winning you over?  You do realize his record now sits at:

P25

W15

D5

L5

which equates to a 60% win percentage and - if all League games - 92 points over a full season.  Taking into account the state of the club/team when he stepped into the breach his record is nothing short of miraculous.

Miraculous is pushing it, let's be totally honest.

He's now doing a very good job, but it's taken me a while to get over how he stupidly persisted with 5 at the back.

[Toadhall Saint]

5 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Miraculous is pushing it, let's be totally honest.

He's now doing a very good job, but it's taken me a while to get over how he stupidly persisted with 5 at the back.

He learnt - you can ask no more and yes we have one of the best squads but it takes a decent coach to get them playing in tune.

[SaintsRoyalty]

Credit where it’s due he managed a good game against prem competition today. Admittedly Fulham were missing their best players and were poor but we still played like a unit and created lots of chances. 
 

I still wouldn’t want him as our manager in the prem as experience and a pull factor for players is required but it’s getting harder to call him a PE teacher now.

[Nordic Saint]

2 hours ago, washsaint said:

Winning you over?  You do realize his record now sits at:

P25

W15

D5

L5

which equates to a 60% win percentage and - if all League games - 92 points over a full season.  Taking into account the state of the club/team when he stepped into the breach his record is nothing short of miraculous.

The best win percentage of any Saints manager in 130 years. 

List of Southampton F.C. managers - Wikipedia

Edited 13 hours ago by Nordic Saint