Tonda Eckert

[obelisk]

9 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Don't disagree with this overly. Its a pretty tasty side. Begs the question, should we have kept (/ would we be better with) AA on the right and not signing Fellows... for me, probably a yes - would have added some serious threat down our right side.

Fellows offers a threat, right up until the moment he shoots. Maybe if he gets one to dribble in then the floodgates will open. Mind you, he probably has a fair number of assists.

[coalman]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Don't disagree with this overly. Its a pretty tasty side. Begs the question, should we have kept (/ would we be better with) AA on the right and not signing Fellows... for me, probably a yes - would have added some serious threat down our right side.

No. We immediately improved when Armstrong left. 

[manji]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

IMO, no. I've got no evidence for this whatsoever, but I've a hunch he might have been a bit of a 'cage rattler' behind the scenes... Yes, he was one our best players, and probably better 'on paper' than Fellows, but team spirit and cohesion is often worth more than individual player ability...

Yeah I heard that from quite a few people. I may be wrong but without AA the team looked far more motivated.

[Saint86]

40 minutes ago, coalman said:

No. We immediately improved when Armstrong left. 

AA as a central striker vs AA as a right winger playing off a big man though. He was essentially championship player of the season under Martin when he played on the right coming off of Adams - They are very different things.

I am purely hypothesizing over his on pitch offering, not any potential issues behind the scenes.

Fellows has been very frustrating so far. He's great running at players, has a very good engine, but his end product isn't enough. AA had 36 goal involvements playing largely on the right under Martin. Fellows managed 6 last season. I know people can be revisionist over players that leave, but thats a 30goal difference per season 🤷‍♂️

Edited 1 hour ago by Saint86

[coalman]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

IMO, no. I've got no evidence for this whatsoever, but I've a hunch he might have been a bit of a 'cage rattler' behind the scenes... Yes, he was one our best players, and probably better 'on paper' than Fellows, but team spirit and cohesion is often worth more than individual player ability...

Not even sure he was better on paper. He only looked good when the other team stood off him and gave him space or the ball dropped to him and his first time shot went in. 4 out of his last 8 penalties scored tells a story of its own. His greatest strength was shooting on sight which was also a huge weakness. He rarely stretched play or beat his man and the ball rarely stuck to him when competing for it - he was not an out ball. One thing in his favour was work rate but after Elyounnoussi I didn't want another attacker who was good without the ball.

Throw in the alleged team dynamics issues and Wolves are welcome to him. I hope he's happy and successful there. Just not against us obviously.

Edited 1 hour ago by coalman

[AlexLaw76]

Armstrong was brilliant the season we went up with Martin.

Crap before and after. Last season, that miss at Fratton was hilarious 

[trousers]

1 hour ago, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

This fella has done his homework….

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/332732/are-saints-going-to-get-an-impartial-decision-on-tonda-from-the-fa/#2

I'm sure our crack legal team are on the case to snuff out such bias...

 

[saintant]

Shows how little news there is on Tonda when this thread takes a turning to discuss the merits of AA over Fellows 🙂

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

32 minutes ago, trousers said:

I'm sure our crack legal team are on the case to snuff out such bias...

 

FFS, cue an incoming 6 month ban.

[BERMUDASAINT]

From Downes about Tonda, another example of how good our young coach is!!

"Everyone feels ready to go now," Downes added.

"Personally, I feel really good and, to be honest, this is probably the best I have ever felt, the gaffer's been unreal with me. 

"I feel like my game's developing, my football IQ's getting better and physically I'm improving too, let's see what the season holds."

We've got one goal, and that's to win the league. 

"So it doesn't matter whether we're starting on minus four points or not. We're going for that and that's that."

Edited 17 minutes ago by BERMUDASAINT