Tonda Eckert

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, Bob60 said:

Manager get a lot of praise for that, short of a start player and changed it and played really well

Love seeing a tactical plan comes together a-team style.

Edited March 14 by Baird of the land

[stevematthews635]

Myself and Nordic have been saying since he came in he would be a top, top manager.

Give him an extended contract now.

[BotleySaint]

Doing a great job. But seems blind when it comes to Archer.

[trousers]

12 minutes ago, Bob60 said:

Manager get a lot of praise for that, short of a start player and changed it and played really well

Nah... If you can't blame the manager for a poor performance, they can't take the credit for a good one... 

(c) Saintsweb Intelligentsia 

[Toadhall Saint]

He learns and implements what he has learned - we have potentially a great manager on our hands.

[Osvaldorama]

Brilliant today. Changed it up and it worked. Quality quality stuff. 

[Nordic Saint]

We are 12 games unbeaten and have won away against 2 better teams, Fulham and Coventry, because we have got by far the best manager in the league.

W16 D6 L5

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

16 minutes ago, stevematthews635 said:

 

Give him an extended contract now.

 

6 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

we have potentially a great manager on our hands.

 

2 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

because we have got by far the best manager in the league.

 

 

Fuck me, calm down. 

[LuckyNumber7]

About time some on here start giving him the respect he deserves. He's doing a fantastic job and completely did a number on Lampard today.

At this rate we'll struggle to hold onto him.

[MB]

I actually disagree. Hopefully he gets us up at Wembley and then sack him. Need a proven manager for the PL.

 

no doubt an unpopular opinion but otherwise will be a repeat of last season if not worse. 

[Toadhall Saint]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

 

 

Fuck me, calm down. 

Your view?

Let’s just say that every criticism of him he has answered. I mean there’s someone posting above that criticises him for having a blind spot with Archer. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, MB said:

I actually disagree. Hopefully he gets us up at Wembley and then sack him. Need a proven manager for the PL.

 

no doubt an unpopular opinion but otherwise will be a repeat of last season if not worse. 

A repeat of last season will depend on whether we sign PL quality players or bottom half Championship ones. If we repeat the latter, the manager will be basically irrelevant, as three different people proved last season.

[USaintA]

I think he's obviously doing very well. It's nice to actually look forward to games again with some hope instead of dread. Good luck to him and the team.

[LGTL]

He got it absolutely spot on today, fair play to him. He needs to find a way of breaking down teams that are happy to sit in though. 

[beatlesaint]

1 hour ago, BotleySaint said:

Doing a great job. But seems blind when it comes to Archer.

What choice did he have today? Larin was knackered so it was Archer or a young lad.

I thought he did ok when he came on, he ran at them, got the ball up the pitch.

He’s not great, we all know that, put TE’s options are limited.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

11 minutes ago, LGTL said:

He got it absolutely spot on today, fair play to him. He needs to find a way of breaking down teams that are happy to sit in though. 

Yep agreed.

Saw a midfield three and thought he would try to nullify Coventry's midfield and worked a treat. Also helps that Downes is getting back to the sort of form from the last stint in the championship. 

Definitely need to figure out how to do better against teams who defend deep and like to counter. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Your view?

He’s done a really good job, intelligent young manager who has pretty much guaranteed himself another crack next season. He is not however, “great”, is not “by far the best manager in the league”, and at the moment there is no need to extend his contract. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

A repeat of last season will depend on whether we sign PL quality players or bottom half Championship ones. If we repeat the latter, the manager will be basically irrelevant, as three different people proved last season.

Not this nonsense again. Last season was on Lego head, pure and simple. As his record in Scotland shows, he’s a shite manager who was out of his depth. A decent manager playing proper football would have given us a chance. Just as Leeds, Burnley & Sunderland are still in with a chance of staying up. There will not be a repeat of last season, unless we are managed by an arrogant cock again. 

[Hoggins]

He’s totally turned the club around tbh - it feels like we have a team again for the first time in ages 

[Lighthouse]

45 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Not this nonsense again. Last season was on Lego head, pure and simple. As his record in Scotland shows, he’s a shite manager who was out of his depth. A decent manager playing proper football would have given us a chance. Just as Leeds, Burnley & Sunderland are still in with a chance of staying up. There will not be a repeat of last season, unless we are managed by an arrogant cock again. 

You think Wood, Edwards, Lallana, Fraser, Cornet, Sugawara, Archer and BBD would basically have been fine for any other manager than Martin, even though Juric and Rusk couldn’t do any better with them? Weird how no other PL club came in for them in summer.

 

[The Kraken]

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You think Wood, Edwards, Lallana, Fraser, Cornet, Sugawara, Archer and BBD would basically have been fine for any other manager than Martin, even though Juric and Rusk couldn’t do any better with them? Weird how no other PL club came in for them in summer.

 

It’s humorous how you’ve defended your position by listing 8 players who weren’t (or at least shouldn’t have been) considered first team starters. Never mind the fact that Martin was the manager when they signed.

But yeah, you’re never wrong, so carry on.

Edited March 14 by The Kraken

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

13 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You think Wood, Edwards, Lallana, Fraser, Cornet, Sugawara, Archer and BBD would basically have been fine for any other manager than Martin, even though Juric and Rusk couldn’t do any better with them? Weird how no other PL club came in for them in summer.

 

In fairness to Juric and Rusk, plenty of the damage was already done. Dont get me wrong they were shit too but a semi competent manager at the beginning of the season would have made a difference in my opinion. 

Not saying that Saints would have survived relegation by any means but they could at least put up more of a fight.

[Lighthouse]

13 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

It’s humorous how you’ve defended your position by listing 8 players who weren’t (or at least shouldn’t have been) considered first team starters. Never mind the fact that Martin was the manager when they signed.

But yeah, you’re never wrong, so carry on.

Yep, you've spotted the point there, I'm glad we agree. If we go up and sign more 'back up' to our current squad we will get annihilated again in the PL, Tonda, Russ or otherwise.

[Convict Colony]

proper tactical performance from intial set up and formation to subs.

10/10 his highest mark for me since he has been our manager, was more impressed with this game than any other.

He's come along way since this.

[Toadhall Saint]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He’s done a really good job, intelligent young manager who has pretty much guaranteed himself another crack next season. He is not however, “great”, is not “by far the best manager in the league”, and at the moment there is no need to extend his contract. 

Think you need to read my comment you quoted.

[The Kraken]

35 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Yep, you've spotted the point there, I'm glad we agree. If we go up and sign more 'back up' to our current squad we will get annihilated again in the PL, Tonda, Russ or otherwise.

You say it as if Russell Martin had zero choice over the players that were signed after he got us promotion. It’s very strange. Poor old Russell who had to oversee all these players who weren’t up to it.

A big part of management is overseeing a good transfer window. But us signing badly in Martin’s summer is, according to you, nothing to do with him. Bizarre.

Edited March 14 by The Kraken

[inspectorfrost]

40 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Yep, you've spotted the point there, I'm glad we agree. If we go up and sign more 'back up' to our current squad we will get annihilated again in the PL, Tonda, Russ or otherwise.

The one-dimensional obsession with dicking around with the ball in our 18 yard box resulting in us giving away the ball on our penalty spot week after week, and a manager refusing to back down from the same car crash game after game after game were far bigger factors.

 

[Lighthouse]

39 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

You say it as if Russell Martin had zero choice over the players that were signed after he got us promotion. It’s very strange. Poor old Russell who had to oversee all these players who weren’t up to it.

A big part of management is overseeing a good transfer window. But us signing badly in Martin’s summer is, according to you, nothing to do with him. Bizarre.

Seems like you're making up a conversation to have with yourself, as I've never said or implied that. He should never have been in charge of signing players and neither should Tonda if we get promoted. The players we signed in summer '24 were dreadful and were never going to get close to staying up under any manager.

[The Kraken]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

Seems like you're making up a conversation to have with yourself, as I've never said or implied that. He should never have been in charge of signing players and neither should Tonda if we get promoted. The players we signed in summer '24 were dreadful and were never going to get close to staying up under any manager.

That’s is just barmy. Wow,

[UpweySaint]

2 hours ago, The Kraken said:

That’s is just barmy. Wow,

It’s not. I’m all for coaches/managers having input but I don’t expect them to be trying to identify signings. For all Martin’s failings the club clearly dropped a bollock not having a proper DoF in place. We signed some utter dross!  If we go up I hope Tonda can have some input on the profile of player he wants but otherwise focuses on coaching the first team - a job he’s currently doing well at.

[Whitey Grandad]

6 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

We are 12 games unbeaten and have won away against 2 better teams, Fulham and Coventry, because we have got by far the best manager in the league.

W16 D6 L5

 

Better teams?

 

[The Kraken]

22 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

It’s not. I’m all for coaches/managers having input but I don’t expect them to be trying to identify signings. For all Martin’s failings the club clearly dropped a bollock not having a proper DoF in place. We signed some utter dross!  If we go up I hope Tonda can have some input on the profile of player he wants but otherwise focuses on coaching the first team - a job he’s currently doing well at.

That’s a reasonable approach. I would want any manager to be a full part of a committee of people who review signings together then agree them together. The manger will recommend some players he knows from before, the DOF does the same. Then the transfer committee choose who we we sign. As Lighthouse is advocating by saying “Tonda, if you get promoted  you have zero influence on transfers”….”welI just think that is a lunatics approach. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

They look like a team, even the likes of Flynn Downes and Taylor Harwood-Bellis look buzzing and are becoming leaders

[UpweySaint]

30 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

That’s a reasonable approach. I would want any manager to be a full part of a committee of people who review signings together then agree them together. The manger will recommend some players he knows from before, the DOF does the same. Then the transfer committee choose who we we sign. As Lighthouse is advocating by saying “Tonda, if you get promoted  you have zero influence on transfers”….”welI just think that is a lunatics approach. 

I didn’t see that in the comment you responded to but may have missed it. I agree a coach having no input feels disjointed. Some clubs do it - I expect some may arguably even do so successfully (though how you measure success is a whole other question …) but I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Since we’ve had Spors in place we haven’t had 100% hits but we seem to have a decent return. If he is leading the recruitment but working with others with relevant expertise and input (including Tonda) I’m quietly confident we could continue building a quality squad.

[Dark Munster]

A lunatics approach has been Rasmus having influence on transfers.

[Give it to Ron]

9 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Better teams?

 

Are you saying they aren’t? All 12 unbeaten games and teams just lucky?

[Lord Duckhunter]

Here’s one thing this blokes done, that Lego couldn’t and it’s a massive part of the management game. He’s made players better. Because people were wrong about Martin (and Baz) they blame “recruitment “ as if coaching, setting teams up correctly & making players better has nothing to do with managing the club. Here’s another fact, had Tonda been at Rangers, he’d have done a better job than that dick. 

[saintwbu]

1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Here’s one thing this blokes done, that Lego couldn’t and it’s a massive part of the management game. He’s made players better. Because people were wrong about Martin (and Baz) they blame “recruitment “ as if coaching, setting teams up correctly & making players better has nothing to do with managing the club. Here’s another fact, had Tonda been at Rangers, he’d have done a better job than that dick. 

You can think Tonda is a better manager, and still think recruitment last year was embarrassing. Tonda hasn’t been able to make Cameron Archer useful even in the league below, but he was brought in to be our centre forward in the top division. We were doomed before we began, really.

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

Are you saying they aren’t? All 12 unbeaten games and teams just lucky?

That's my point.

[Lord Duckhunter]

21 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

We were doomed before we began, really.

With Lego head thinking we could outplay the league we were. 
 

Tonda says he wanted experienced players in Jan, players who had played in various other leagues, he wanted Bree involved. What happened, he got them. Why didn’t lego, the bloke who praised Archer, said if he didn’t have Baz would want to sign him, do similar. The manger isn’t some innocent bystander, he’s an integral part of recruitment. Do people really believe SR suddenly decided to loan Baz out, get an experienced big man up top in, and not send Bree back to Charlton, without any prompting from Tonda, that it would of happened regardless of who was manager. 
 

The “domed before we started” line of thought has been discredited by Leeds, Sunderland & Burnley, 2 of whom may well go down. But they’ll go down fighting, not being a total embarrassment. Let’s not forget, Tonda has beaten as many Premier league teams as Lego already. 

[Badger]

On 13/03/2026 at 09:03, goodymatt said:

 

Is someone able to access this to cut and paste the article? 
 

Bastard paywall 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Is someone able to access this to cut and paste the article?

Try this, it’s basically the same article:

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/tonda-eckert-huge-southampton-changes-some-bizarre/

[goodymatt]

21 hours ago, Badger said:

Is someone able to access this to cut and paste the article? 
 

Bastard paywall 

I believe https://archive.ph might do the job.

[Saint86]

Great Vs Fulham and Coventry - he has learnt exactly how to setup this team to be solid and hit teams on the counter. Still concerned over our ability to break teams down (that isn't just on Eckert). But he's grown into the role and he's shown that he can learn - and he's done so fast. I was quite critical of him early on with the back 5 and the poor football, but he's turned it around lately and we now look a very solid and efficient championship team. Fair play. But will it be enough? Not confident we have enough about us to beat an inform Norwich at home, and I still think Eckert makes some basic mistakes that a less green mananger would aside step. Also, is he on a mission / bet to get archer to turn it around?

Edited March 16 by Saint86

[John B]

On 14/03/2026 at 16:57, Lord Duckhunter said:

Not this nonsense again. Last season was on Lego head, pure and simple. As his record in Scotland shows, he’s a shite manager who was out of his depth. A decent manager playing proper football would have given us a chance. Just as Leeds, Burnley & Sunderland are still in with a chance of staying up. There will not be a repeat of last season, unless we are managed by an arrogant cock again. 

Obviously it was mostly to do with Martin but the recruitment for the PL last season dire was pretty dire with players like BBD and Archer not even getting a chance in the Championship

Apart from Downes the recent recruitment has been pretty good and we have offloaded much deadwood

I would be happy with another season in the Championship myself because to be competive we need better players in the PL in lots of positions

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Love the last line of the Mail article ... 

‘Southampton was an environment not focused enough on winning but more focused on other things. Now, it’s very clear – we are here to win.’

[Midfield_General]

34 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Love the last line of the Mail article ... 

‘Southampton was an environment not focused enough on winning but more focused on other things. Now, it’s very clear – we are here to win.’

Remember when we had a manager who said he'd rather lose than play anything other than 'his way'?

Thank god that sort of ego-centric madness sounds like it's a thing of the past

[Patrick Bateman]

5 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Remember when we had a manager who said he'd rather lose than play anything other than 'his way'?

Thank god that sort of ego-centric madness sounds like it's a thing of the past

Absolutely - frightening way to approach sport! Just weird and as you say, complete ego-centric mentalness. I feel the club is in a much better place currently - loved that line though about winning, it was telling. 

[Saint Garrett]

On 14/03/2026 at 19:28, The Kraken said:

That’s is just barmy. Wow,

The manager hasn't had control of transfers for years at Saints.  It's been a transfer committee which dates back to at least Pochettino...

The manager is part of that committee along with about 4/5 others.  

Think it was quite obvious that Martin didn't want a bunch of those players signed, and they didn't fit how he wanted to play. It was a car crash of a summer, to the point that I'm not sure any of those players are playing in the prem now apart from Matty Fernandes who was class, but lets be honest, far from the finished article.

[Doctoroncall]

8 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

The manager hasn't had control of transfers for years at Saints.  It's been a transfer committee which dates back to at least Pochettino...

The manager is part of that committee along with about 4/5 others.  

Think it was quite obvious that Martin didn't want a bunch of those players signed, and they didn't fit how he wanted to play. It was a car crash of a summer, to the point that I'm not sure any of those players are playing in the prem now apart from Matty Fernandes who was class, but lets be honest, far from the finished article.

Wouldn’t Martin have had more of a say as we were lacking a DoF at the time?