Tonda Eckert

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Telling again on how the players always reference him post match with them saying Tonda has made a difference. 

Also another grounded outlook from him in his own post match interview.

[Willo of Whiteley]

TONDA TIME IS WONDERFUL

[trousers]

Getting a tune out of the players that "no manager could get a tune out of"... Marvelous 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

Getting a tune out of the players that "no manager could get a tune out of"... Marvelous 

Also being told that the players were rubbish and wouldn't get into the squads of other teams earlier in the season 🙄 

[Mboto Gorge]

Almost like the manager can make a bit of a difference, isn’t it. 

[beatlesaint]

11 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Almost like the manager can make a bit of a difference, isn’t it. 

Yep, in the same way a proper goalkeeper and an old fashioned centre forward can !

Edited Tuesday at 22:23 by beatlesaint

[trousers]

Tonda Eckert on the result at Fratton Park: "I don't know why everyone says that they have done us a favour, I think we've done them a favour today with our performance." (Alfie House)

👏🏼😂

[Whitey Grandad]

26 minutes ago, trousers said:

Getting a tune out of the players that "no manager could get a tune out of"... Marvelous 

A Tonda Tune

[saintant]

20 minutes ago, trousers said:

Tonda Eckert on the result at Fratton Park: "I don't know why everyone says that they have done us a favour, I think we've done them a favour today with our performance." (Alfie House)

👏🏼😂

Nice one Tonda 🙂

[Tamesaint]

So that I can sing it properly to myself what are the words for the Tonda Eckert song? 

"We' ve got Eckert ..." 

Edited Wednesday at 13:37 by Tamesaint

[S-Clarke]

15 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

Yep, in the same way a proper goalkeeper and an old fashioned centre forward can !

Definitely cannot under estimate how much they've improved us too. 

Tonda has identified the gaps and suggested the GK and ST, I'm sure. And it's been transformational. 

The structure of the team is amazing though, I mentioned it before but we just look well coached. Players making runs in advance of getting the pass, players pressing in groups rather than individually. The entire machine feels coordinated, and you can even swap players around and it still functions the same - that's all down to coaching.

[goodymatt]

5 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

So that I can sing it properly to myself what are the words for the Tonda Eckert song? 

"We' ve got Eckert ..." 

We’ve got Eckert, Tonda Eckert,

I just don’t think you understand,

He’s gonna take us up,

And win the FA Cup,

We’ve got Tonda Eckert.

[JustinR]

1 minute ago, goodymatt said:

We’ve got Eckert, Tonda Eckert,

I just don’t think you understand,

He’s gonna take us up,

And win the FA Cup,

We’ve got Tonda Eckert.

You forgot the OOOOOH 😉

[allsa001]

Apart fom everything else about our team and performances at the moment, I really like the fact that even with rotating the squad, the team sheets make sense.

 

With previous managers, the team sheets were often baffling, and very much round pegs in square holes. It almost felt like managers were picking names out of the hat.

We would have a CM injured, so rather than another CM play in that position, we would keep that CM as a sub. Then we would play a CB in CM, which would mean we were now short of a CB, so we would play a RB in the CB position. This is obviously just a made up example, but I do remember similar things happening. It just seemes a completely mad way of picking a team.

 

We now just have a really well balanced squad. Everyone is playing well, and the squad rotations are helping to keep players fresh with so many matches.

[Saint86]

On 15/04/2026 at 22:51, allsa001 said:

Apart fom everything else about our team and performances at the moment, I really like the fact that even with rotating the squad, the team sheets make sense.

With previous managers, the team sheets were often baffling, and very much round pegs in square holes. It almost felt like managers were picking names out of the hat.

We would have a CM injured, so rather than another CM play in that position, we would keep that CM as a sub. Then we would play a CB in CM, which would mean we were now short of a CB, so we would play a RB in the CB position. This is obviously just a made up example, but I do remember similar things happening. It just seemes a completely mad way of picking a team.

We now just have a really well balanced squad. Everyone is playing well, and the squad rotations are helping to keep players fresh with so many matches.

It is absolutely mental how long it took successive managers (including Eckert) to adopt the obvious 4-2-3-1 formation, the uptick in form post this is stark. What is it now, 18 matches, 15 wins, 3 draws... 😄. It feels like a distant memory when people were asking where the 5 at the back crap was coming from through successive managers.

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[goodymatt]

19 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

It is absolutely mental how long it took successive managers (including Eckert) to adopt the obvious 4-2-3-1 formation, the uptick in form post this is stark. What is it now, 18 matches, 14 wins, 4 draws... 😄. It feels like a distant memory when people were asking where the 5 at the back crap was coming from through successive managers.

15 wins, 3 draws 😇🔥

[saintant]

19 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

It is absolutely mental how long it took successive managers (including Eckert) to adopt the obvious 4-2-3-1 formation, the uptick in form post this is stark. What is it now, 18 matches, 14 wins, 4 draws... 😄. It feels like a distant memory when people were asking where the 5 at the back crap was coming from through successive managers.

But, but, but.....surely formations don't matter!

[Osvaldorama]

9 hours ago, Saint86 said:

It is absolutely mental how long it took successive managers (including Eckert) to adopt the obvious 4-2-3-1 formation, the uptick in form post this is stark. What is it now, 18 matches, 14 wins, 4 draws... 😄. It feels like a distant memory when people were asking where the 5 at the back crap was coming from through successive managers.

Was literally so fucking obvious what we needed. Everyone was screaming it. Lol. 
 

Thank you Tonda for having common sense and being a good coach. 

[AlexLaw76]

On 16/04/2026 at 12:35, Saint86 said:

It is absolutely mental how long it took successive managers (including Eckert) to adopt the obvious 4-2-3-1 formation, the uptick in form post this is stark. What is it now, 18 matches, 15 wins, 3 draws... 😄. It feels like a distant memory when people were asking where the 5 at the back crap was coming from through successive managers.

Remember the days Alfie House (and the odd poster here) would rudely dismiss the concerns anyone had about playing such a terrible system (3/5 at the back), to claim it is not about the formation.

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Remember the days Alfie House (and the odd poster here) would rudely dismiss the concerns anyone had about playing such a terrible system (3/5 at the back), to claim it is not about the formation.

No, I don’t. I remember people saying we didn’t have the full backs or we needed another centre half because the keeper came for crosses like Warwick Davies. Alfie House actually mentioned this in the week, that Tonda stopped playing an extra centre half when he had the height of Bree, Larin/Stewart to call on when defending set pieces. You may or may not agree with that assessment. But it really wasn’t as simple as “formations don’t matter” , It wasn’t as black and white as that. 

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

No, I don’t. I remember people saying we didn’t have the full backs or we needed another centre half because the keeper came for crosses like Warwick Davies. Alfie House actually mentioned this in the week, that Tonda stopped playing an extra centre half when he had the height of Bree, Larin/Stewart to call on when defending set pieces. You may or may not agree with that assessment. But it really wasn’t as simple as “formations don’t matter” , It wasn’t as black and white as that. 

It was as black and white as that - results have proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I think the point you're making is that perhaps we didn't have the players to suit a back four until Bree's return in January which is a different matter.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Personally for a team with Saints midfield and attacking options I thought it was mad to play an extra defender when another attacker would give the opposition more to think about.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

It was as black and white as that - results have proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. 

Chicken or egg. Are you trying to suggest a back 4 without Bree, Perez, Stewart or Larin would  achieve the same results? Course it wouldn’t have done, the question is whether a back 4 with Baz in nets, a different right back & without 6ft Larin or Stewart, would have done better than we did prior to the switch. Tonda has explained his rationale, he felt he couldn’t play a 4 until he got the right players in, once he did, he successfully switched formations. There is a legitimate debate as to whether he should have done so earlier, but that debate isn’t black and white regardless of results since, as he had different options in important positions. 

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Chicken or egg. Are you trying to suggest a back 4 without Bree, Perez, Stewart or Larin would  achieve the same results? Course it wouldn’t have done, the question is whether a back 4 with Baz in nets, a different right back & without 6ft Larin or Stewart, would have done better than we did prior to the switch. Tonda has explained his rationale, he felt he couldn’t play a 4 until he got the right players in, once he did, he successfully switched formations. There is a legitimate debate as to whether he should have done so earlier, but that debate isn’t black and white regardless of results since, as he had different options in important positions. 

Nice one - I notice you only quote the part of my comment that suits your agenda. Are you a journalist? 🙂

[Baird of the land]

47 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Chicken or egg. Are you trying to suggest a back 4 without Bree, Perez, Stewart or Larin would  achieve the same results? Course it wouldn’t have done, the question is whether a back 4 with Baz in nets, a different right back & without 6ft Larin or Stewart, would have done better than we did prior to the switch. Tonda has explained his rationale, he felt he couldn’t play a 4 until he got the right players in, once he did, he successfully switched formations. There is a legitimate debate as to whether he should have done so earlier, but that debate isn’t black and white regardless of results since, as he had different options in important positions. 

Yeah we were pretty rocky playing a back 4 against Donny, with peretz (debut), archer and jelert. The hull game after that is the one where we shouldn’t have reverted to 5 at the back.