CamberwellSaint

Absolutely this. Ankersen is v similar to a senior operations manager I work with at the moment: Decent human being, but only sees process, tick box, checklist, flowchart, outcome. Team leaders are supported if they also buy into this view. The service we deliver could be appalling, but if enough of the metrics and 'reference points' are passable, he won't see it. If he's forced to see it, he drags his heels gracelessly before letting change happen. As many have said, Jones has no class, no charisma, divisive toward the players, harps on about Luton endlessly, and blames everyone else [fans, Lavia, "pandering"] for the team's failure. It's worse than the final 3 months of a Mourinho team, without Mourinho's charm and the us-against-the-world success first. These aren't teething troubles or signs of a bad situation gradually improving. The board is obviously struggling within itself to acknowledge and act on this. Chop chop, lads.

Regular reader, very occasional poster here. Is it me or is it very odd that there are 56 photos of the training today: 1. Not a single smile on any of the ? 100-odd faces 2. Plenty of Lavia, Caleta-Car, JWP, Tall Paul etc 3. One, distant, uninvolved, scowling Jones. The club's media person obviously chooses the photos from the 100's the photographer takes. Message here, surely? And if the message is: He's going/gone, why on earth involve him in training except to maintain appearances prior to finalising sacking arrangements?

That's basically what I meant- AFAIK its the first time in a competitive match for a long time that RH has been set straight [good thing!] but he didn't look very happy about it. But if the effect is formations that get the best out of our best players, then doesn't really matter how we get there.

I was at the Emirates yesterday with a Gooner mate. Leicester are fast and dangerous down the wings intermittently, and Vardy is obviously a piece of work [didn't seem to get riled by the "your wife's a grass" chant..] But little threat centrally, Tielemans looked distractible and Fofana was their best defender by a mile. Lose those 2 and they're beatable. Much depends on the fall out from the discussion that MoTD showed between Selles and Ralph before our substitutions; RH didn't look happy at all- overruled by his own coaches? Didn't know what to do and embarrassed at being told?

Evening all. I'm starting this thread mostly as I'm keen to know when Saints' final home friendlies are going to be [nothing on the OS at the mo as far as I can see] Tho also as I'm wondering whether we'll repeat our recent pattern of beating e.g. Austrian second tier Oppo handsomely, then come obviously unstuck against someone half decent from Italy at SMS just before the seats starts.

Just in case this hasn't already had enough trailing in the meedja... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/aug/09/southampton-15m-offer-accepted-for-adam-armstrong-blackburn

I second this. It's a big upgrade. Much appreciated.

I might be behind the curve here- where's Valery? Where's Djenepo?

Even a hint of some spine and nerve would be an improvement on last week, even if we still get beat by a goal or 3. If you're going to play 3 at the back they've got to be mobile and organised- surely this means Yoshida in with Bednarek, and I'd give Vestergaard another chance as Stephens has already had several too many. Liverpool are the kind of team that we should do well against in a 4-2-2-2, except they're a far-too-good version of that. Maybe this: Gunn Valery-Yoshida-Bednarek-Bertrand Hojbjerg-Romeu WardProwse- Boufal/Djenepo Adams- Redmond Looks skilled but lightweight.

Just watched the Kelvin Davis interview on the OS: God, the poor guy looked (and sounded) shellshocked. He didn't do a bad job of it all told, and the focus on the concentration of the team, and the stability of preparation for the Spurs game without fuss was really quite stoic and impressive. Nice to hear that Hughes was classy and encouraging to the team even as he was being sacked, and Kelv was very genuine about what it meant (and didn't mean) for him personally. Didn't appreciate that KD also has a dry sense of humour in there too... Nice to hear Kelv say that "it's up to the guys upstairs" instead of the generic "you'll have to ask the chairman about that". Hehe. Also: "body count" in relation to injuries. Ha!

I kind of regret starting this thread now. This isn't the start of the season. Or the end of last season. Or when a new-ish manager would normally get a big-production interview. I think this suggests a shift in power, away from Reed and to a lesser extent from Krueger. They made a real mess of the last 2 years, operationally, and Hughes knew it. There were no obviously better candidates, and nobody has the confidence in themselves now to dip into the pool and think they're gonna hook out another Pochettino. I'd be amazed if this interview isn't Hughes saying, very diplomatically, that he's in charge now. I think it's about as good a situation as we could have hoped for, given where we were pre Pellegrino's departure.

They did. But Puel and Pellegrino certainly didn't get another, very sympathetic and extended one, 3 months later. Any thoughts on the interview?

Obviously it's all part of the slick publicity schtick that Saints run these days, but I was quite impressed overall with what Hughes said and how he said it. He comes across as genuinely quite hard-minded and politically savvy. (Boufal's vanishing act and total silence during the run in can't have been by chance) and I liked the way he regularly references the group, unity in the club, the general importance of character of the players. He's usually miserable sounding, but he actually sounds quite happy with what he's doing: "Dictate to the opposition" and "remember what it takes to win games", sound like a more welcome hard headed approach compared with the training ground exercises that Puel and Pellegrino assumed would be enough. Perhaps there'll be no exodus, maybe because we've not any high achievers anymore, so Hughes can probably plan for next season with more or less what he finished this one with- he doesn't sound like a man who's expecting his squad be sold out from under him. It watches like a puff piece on Hughes, but it's significant that the club has felt it necessary to make one, after the Puel and Pellegrino debacles. Onwards and upwards.

This more or less sums up my view. I don't get to SMS much these days owing to family commitments; the 0-0 against Hull at the fag end of Puel was dreary, training ground pap, and the 3-2 defeat vs Chelsea was actually thrilling, committed and made me a little proud to be a Saints fan. There are obviously players who can get either better (Stephens, Boufal) or more consistent (Tadic, Redmond, Lemina) under Hughes. You get the impression Hughes can be flexible with tactics and can play to the strengths of the team we have in reality (rather than the one we'd like to have!). I think the learning curve from the West Ham horror show to the narrow defeats to Arse/Chel showed he's better than the low points on his CV suggest. The board really need to sort out our transfer policy. Required: one high quality CB and a replacement for Davis. Hoedt and Carillo can do one. Sims, Targett, JWP and McQueen to be preferred to big signings who aren't in the 1st 11. I'm more hopeful than I've been for a couple of years.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/18/football-transfer-rumours-barcelonas-paco-alcacer-to-southampton Having watched the highlights of the Newcastle game, I'm not certain that Alcacer would add a great deal unless we're shipping Austin out and using a formation that needs two strikers. While I'm posting, Van Dyk clearly doesn't care (anyone notice him and Maya not even look at each other before the last minute NUFC corner? I lost count of the weak VVD clearances, not least the one that led to the first Newcastle goal). Cedric and Bertrand were anonymous, and not because they're suddenly bad players. How about this? Goalkeeper Hoedt Yoshida Stephens Cedric Romeu Bertrand Lemina Boufal Davis Gabbiadini

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/18/liverpool-reject-third-barcelona-offer-philippe-coutinho These feeder clubs have a terrible time, don't they?

Well, Guillem Balague and Sid Lowe know a lot more about recent Spanish football than the rest of us, so I think what they have to say is pretty heartening for us, no? I was particularly impressed with Lowe arguing that "Everyone got better under him", which I think is something we have missed since Pochettino. Even more so Lowe saying that as a player he was "not the best centre back, but the one the coaches valued most" with the ethos that if the team is better, you are better. Puel could probably have improved a bit tactically if given more time, but the team went backwards under him (the gulf between us and Everton in points terms, and the glut of mediocre teams right behind us) and if we believe what we hear, the players weren't playing for him. (5 games with no goal at the season's end..). So parting ways looks like a risk but a calculated one. My only 'live' match last season was the 0-0 at home to Hull, which was not a team with a season's worth of building and cohesion behind it- more like a collection of decent parts assembled into good components that wouldn't work together. Onwards and upwards.

Phillipe Auclair (not a Saints fan) on the Guardian podcast re: Saints employing Puel: "Excellent choice... I wouldn't say he's an upgrade on Ronald Koeman... Came in at Lyon when things were very difficult financially... Admirable work with Nice... The way he gets them to play is one of the most pleasant teams to watch in France.. A team which has won games that nobody gave them a chance to win... People thought that Nice would be kind of mid table, and they've done far far better than that and its to his credit... very good choice indeed by the Saints board."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/27/southampton-close-to-appointing-claude-puel-as-new-manager No clear source here, but the writer doesn't usually just recycle rumour.

Did anyone listen to the Guardian football podcast this morning? James Richardson and Paulo Bandini (who generally know their continental football) both seemed to have heard quite specifically that Rudi Garcia is 'in line' to come here. Their take was that he did a great job for a year at Roma, and was a very good manager for building a strong dressing room rapport, spirit etc, but second season in, didn't have a plan B, got stale, loads of dull draws. Anybody else heard more about this?

Unsung hero here is Romeu without a doubt. Norwich haven't been able to sustain any pressure at all, and play has been very quietly broken up. Top effort.

Good work by JWP, but most importantly played the pass forward to Mane *quickly*!

Targett getting bollocked by Yoshida and Tadic for lack of movement. He's looking like a back up LB at best at the moment. Overall, the passing is better but we're painfully slow getting it through the midfield.

That's an absolutely quality pub, one of the best in London. (I'm lucky enough to work round the corner). Have a good one!

That's what I thought. Someone on the thread mentioned composure and that's what it seemed we lacked most of all. They created almost nothing, and must have been absolutely delighted in contributing so little but getting away with a draw. I'm not sure that will work again though, and I'm still confident we'll go through, winning 2-0 over there.