Southampton banter 3

27 Mar 2024 07:53:23
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new player profile about, Kostas Tsimikas

22 Mar 2024 10:48:31
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new player profile about, Kobbie Mainoo

18 Mar 2024 12:48:00
Just like to wish Ralph Hasenhuttl good luck in his new managerial position at Wolfsburg

18 Mar 2024 18:54:48
I agree Teejay. Wolfsburg have got themselves a top manager, shame our fanbase couldn't see it, we wouldn't be in our current predicament if they could.

C'est la vie though.

19 Mar 2024 03:17:46
With a lull in the games calendar l felt it appropriate to express my personal observations and feelings rafter than “I told you so-within a few weeks.Considering starting the season with a reported strongest squad. In the division in my opinion we will be lucky to end up 5th/6thin the table.Comparing Kieran McKenna’s achievement of bringing up Ipswich Town FC directly from Div.1 with little Transfer monies Martin’s success looks questionable.His failure to inject any steel into his Players plus continually playing Players out of their best. Positions and appearing ( (even now) not to know his strongest side.Should Southampton FC achieve their Pipe Dream of promotion to the Premirship they will certainly have to consider an upgrade in Manager to be installed.—-Steve Cooper—-Perhaps?

19 Mar 2024 07:11:56
I agree that with the squad we have we should be top two and RM's inflexibility gives me serious concerns.

I think 5th or 6th at best is harsh. We are 7 points clear of 5th with two games in hand. Plus we should have all of Downes, KWP and Fraser for the upcoming games.

Anything could happen of course and we have a lot of tough games to come but we be aiming for a playoff final at least.

09 Mar 2024 18:13:50
Have to say I agree with previous post. Manning and Stephens weak links. However I think Will Smallbone is doing well enough when not DM.

Well.today again we followed the script

1) Nearly give a goal away in the first couple of minutes

2) Dominate from 5 mins to 42 mins but end up 2-0 but should be 4 or 5 up by half time

3) Start 2nd half poorly. Make substitutions on the hour and disjoint performance even more. What is the point of Sulemana?

4) Let in 2 goals from suicidal defending (Sulemana) and keep on playing ball into defensive midfield area where losing it is catastrophic. we are not Man City and it is about time RM realised we need to hoof it away sometimes

5) Luckily rally and get the 3 points

AGAIN, NOT CONVINCING AND BETTER TEAMS THAN SUNDERLAND WILL BEAT US. IPSWICH, LEEDS and LEICESTER SPRING TO MIND.

Still hoping for better but think we are heading for the play-offs and with RM`s arrogance and our lack of `killer touch` that is unlikely to end well.

10 Mar 2024 00:09:54
Astute reporting St Michael. That could have ended differently and with it, any lingering chances of grabbing second spot.

As it is, whilst not quite in our hands, if we win the game in hand and beat the three above us and avoid banana skins then we may not have to endure the winner takes all play offs.

But that was a lot of ‘ifs’ thrown in.

Realistically, we will be keeping a keen eye on who finishes fifth.

This scenario reminds me of that on going debate about how fair is it that a team can finish third with a massive points tally and end up losing out on promotion to a team which finishes 6th.

Fair or not, the play offs make for great drama - unless of course your team is wrapped up in it.

09 Mar 2024 14:12:48
Disappointed to see that Martin is sticking with his favourites,
Stephens, Manning and Smallbone .
Sunderland will exploit their weaknesses . and there is a lot of them!
Smallbone neither tackles or presses, Manning's positional play is bordering on amateurish, Stephens poor decision making and mistakes .

08 Mar 2024 20:46:31
Anything less than a win against Sunderland and I think it's fair to say it's playoffs for us. If Ipswich win then it's a 10 gap between us and automatic 2nd place.

Whilst playoffs is still technically a chance and not necessarily a bad way to end season, I don't think we have enough ruthlessness to put teams to the sword when it matters. Tomorrow will be a testament to that. It's a mist win game soo. Russell, mate .prove me wrong.

09 Mar 2024 08:07:09
To be fair Lesleee, they’re all MUST win games from now on in, until the gap becomes so wide we’re no longer in the mix.

I haven’t got a good feel about this one especially after the way we were battered at their place.

09 Mar 2024 13:23:36
Same Sunderland are are going to be a tough game, surprised they're not higher up in the table then they are.

07 Mar 2024 08:13:08
Was that our promotion prospects just gone up in smoke?

07 Mar 2024 16:07:14
Good one!

Or we will be fired up to promotion!

05 Mar 2024 23:21:06
Now for something completely different.

I saw that Hughie Fisher is auctioning his FA cup winners medal which made me think two things:
1. What a shame it's come to that (although fully understandable) and
2. How much would you be prepared to bid for it if you had the money and felt sentimentally inclined.

I'll start the ball rolling - I would happily provide a new home for it for £2K simply because I was there!

04 Mar 2024 23:04:17
There's been a few comments about us being better off in the Championship rather than tonked every week in the PL.

In other words, better to over achieve in the league we're in rather under achieve with the big boys.

I kind of get the rationale but I'd far rather be in the PL even if it is an eternal dog fight at the bottom. I suspect Sheffield United fans may have a different view (another 6-0 drubbing at home tonight).

Perhaps it's the 'better to have loved and lost than never having loved at all syndrome but surely we must aspire to compete at the top table.

I agree this season has been more fun (and frustration) than last year but I'm not sure if I would be up for the fight a second time round. The novelty of putting 5 past Swansea and Huddersfield etc would wear thin next season.

Anyway, an interesting debate and one with very mixed opinion I would have thought.

05 Mar 2024 22:17:11
Sorry Millertime, I'm on the other page.seeing Burnley dominate the championship last year and get tupped every week in the prem must be so wretched for their fans. If we squeezed into the prem this year, we would keep our egotistically endowed coach and just have a wretched season culminating in a swift return. I think Leeds and Leicester both have coaches that stand a chance at understanding the prem, but we dont. Would rather wait till SR show some real ambition (or sell) and we have a coach who engenders belief. Despite winning runs and playoff placing, diehard RM fans are thin on the ground for good reason

05 Mar 2024 23:15:09
I expect to be in the minority on this one and I don’t disagree with your logic Exeter St David. However, even though we would be strongly tipped to go straight back down, I would cling to the hope that there were 3 inferior squads to ours.

My worry is, that if we stay where we are, RM will still be in charge this time next year, and the year after. He will feed off that run and to my horror, there are fans who would build a bloody statue of him.

Sadly, (depending on where you stand) the results all went against us tonight meaning the pressure is ratcheted up another notch against Preston and then Sunderland. Oh well.

05 Mar 2024 23:58:14
I agree ExeterDave . Like I've posted before the most exciting signing to get excited about is an amazing board, with fresh ideas and a plan to move forward. We had it once with liehber and I mean look at Wrexham now. No matter what happens I bet those fans are happy every game because they know their team are moving in only one direction.

As it is with us, we don't necessarily have a bad board (not as bad as we've had in the last anyway) just not one I'd particularly call great and because of that were going to be languishing around and up and back down the premier ship (if we go up) for a while due to dodgy signings and dodgy managers.

I think the boards heart is on the right place so with that I have a little hope, maybe if grow and learn as board maybe were get somewhere but all in all if we have the same structure for the next few years I'd rather be the championship then go up like Burnley and become the laughing stock of the league.

Any decent succes we have with any particular players will be poached from us as soon as we're promoted, hence why we need a board that will stick firm to a vision, otherwise we're stranded.

02 Mar 2024 21:08:15
Regardless of yet another ridiculous game, ridiculous scoreline and ridiculously late goal, this is so much more fun than the last few years in the PL.

Yes we nearly blew a lead against a 10-man side in 20th, yes we've conceded early again for what feels like the sixth game in a row, yes we're conceding goals and yes we're underdogs to go up automatically, BUT

We've somehow found a way to win again - we were never winning these games (granted against better sides) in the PL. Given Leeds and Leicester didn't win, we've made gains on the day and it's still just about in our own hands if we can win 9/10 of the final 11 games.

But we also need to look at the ridicukous standards that have been set this year.

Leicester were so ridiculously good for half a season that alone should've sent them up. Three losses in a row and they're clinging on to top.

Ipswich managed to cling to Leicester, went on a five game run of not winning to sink to fourth and were suddenly cut adrift and now have found it again.

Leeds were way off it, won 9 in a row and are suddenly right in the mix, then one draw and they're out of second again.

Saints lost four early on, had to go 24 unbeaten to make the top two and then two bad weeks seemingly chucked us out of the contest again.

We're on nearly two points a game and are fourth in such a competitive league, it's bonkers. The main fear I have is those finishing 3rd and 4th are going to have so much taken out of them that the play-offs will be a real struggle - and if we do make Wembley, a potential winner takes all versus Leeds or Ipswich will be horrible to watch.

Either way, we may be playing crap, but that's football and we're still winning. If we win our next two games, and win them well, we're suddenly back in the mix - the top three have tricky away games next weekend, we could be within touch of Leicester by then ?