Simon3737

Agree. If we played and passed faster, I think this tactic would work. Today, we passed too slow to tire Rotherham out. We look miles better when we pass fast and there’s lots of off the ball movement. I think the players are good enough and fit enough to play that way. Doesn’t need a radical change to Russell’s tactics to get there imho.

The iFollow audio only coverage of the 25 minute half time entertainment was an absolute thrill! Wish I was there! 🤪

Not sure if this shared screenshot works. No bonus streams at bottom of screen… https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdV_6v_KlkQasinEPfUozvzw

Looks like Red Button is unavailable on the iOS Now TV app….

I’ve recently subscribed to Sky Sports via Now TV. Does anyone know if I’ll be able to access this Red Button match via the iOS Now TV app (on my iPad) I’ve tried investigating whether Red Button access is available via the iOS Now TV app but I got contradictory answers. Alternatively, is there a Windows Now TV app that will let me watch on my laptop? [My TV doesn’t have a Now TV app (it’s too old I guess).] I’ll obviously find out for certain at 7.45 whether Red Button options appear, but it would be good to find out sooner. Thanks.

I’m not advocating giving up on the manager yet, but clearly we can’t carry on conceding this many goals and being so predictable. My reading of Sports Republic’s agenda is that Jason Wilcox is the key man, not Russell Martin. I support the principle of a club having a clear philosophy that we stick to. It worked for a couple of years under Ralph and I hope it can work again under Wilcox (and hopefully Martin if he can adjust tactics to learn how to avoid being so open to counter-attack). I think the lowest risk strategy would have been to appoint a Director of Football committed to the original high-press style of early Ralph, but I understand why they picked Wilcox and were willing to take time for the club’s whole footballing philosophy to change from one extreme to the other (especially as we expected a high turnover of players this summer no matter what). I’m pretty sure that Sports Republic and Wilcox are now fully signed up to the Man City-lite possession style. If Martin fails and gets sacked, I’m pretty confident Wilcox will be trusted to find an alternative possession committed manager. I don’t think there’s any chance now of us going back to the original Ralph high press style or direct Nate-ball. Wilcox would pick another manager to fit the club’s new possession philosophy. I think this is a good thing. We’ve seen how the alternative ends up (too many players incompatible with each other and a mess of a squad). For what it’s worth, I think if Martin can adjust his ideas a bit on the holding midfielders and full backs and becomes a bit more pragmatic, we’ll be ok this season. If not, Wilcox will find us a possession style manager who (he thinks) can.

Whoop! I’m a billionaire! 🤪

A few people have made this point, but I’m not convinced we need to concern ourselves speculating on this summer’s balance sheet. The CEO talked at the Forum about the complexity of deals/instalments etc. Cashflow is obviously something he and Wilcox need to keep on top of. However, I’m sure it works both ways. If money from player sales arrives in instalments, then I’m sure payments that we make for new players will be paid out in instalments too. Same principle for sell-on fees etc. I expect we benefit sometimes too from players we sold getting re-sold later to bigger clubs. I’m not underplaying the importance to any business of keeping on top of cashflow. Many companies collapse by messing this up. However, the people running the club seem competent and I trust that they will ensure cashflow balances out over time. We can confidently presume that money from this summer’s sales will be rolling in for many summers to come. Given that none of us are ever going to be privy to the complexities of instalments, wage structures etc, I think it’s a pretty reasonable rule-of-thumb to presume instalments etc should all balance out over time. Back to the post above, therefore, we wouldn’t need £20 million in the bank this summer before we can buy a £20 million player. We just need to ensure that we can afford the first instalment. To be very simplistic, let’s assume you’re correct that there’s a £70 million deficit this season and let’s predict that we’ll receive £120 million in sales (media reported figures). In that case, I think it’s pretty reasonable for us to assume that would leave us around £50 million ‘in the bank’ for potential purchases. I’m fully aware that idle speculation is the primary function of this forum and I have no inside knowledge at all. I just think it’s pointless trying to delve too deeply into instalments/sell-on clauses/cashflow etc (unless things didn’t seem to add up and we were worried about crazy gambles, risking administration etc). For what it’s worth, I suspect the gap between headline sales and headline purchases will be considerably higher than £70 million this summer (loss of Premier League income, recovering money gambled last January, still paying wages for sacked managers, unwanted players etc). Should still leave us with a reasonable balance leftover for 3 or 4 decent purchases.

If this is West Ham working at top speed to conclude a deal, I’m fascinated to see what they’re like when they take their time!

I’m sure you’re right, but I think this is the biggest problem. If they announce some new rule at the start of the season they need to stick to it for the whole season and reassess next summer. Subtlety changing the rules every few months (in response to moans from ‘top 6’ managers and their media mates) is simply unfair. We all need to know what the rules are and they need to be consistently applied throughout a season, August to May. Never happens though.

I’m thinking of signing up to Sky Sports for this reason. Now TV are offering a 12 month subscription to all 11 Sky Sports channels for £26/month which seems fairly reasonable (cancel any time too). Does anyone know if the Red Button games are accessible if I subscribe via Now TV? Do we know many Saints matches are likely to be on Sky Sports Football and how many via the Red Button? Thanks!

Good point. I thought I’d read that Wilcox joined on 1st June but there’s been no welcome interview etc on the website setting out his vision, plans (5 pledges? ) etc yet. If Wilcox is to have total control of football, it would make sense if he gets to announce Martin. I don’t really understand the secrecy. Wilcox must have an official start date set in stone. He was recruited in January after all. Why don’t the club just tell us?

I’ve been to the Nag’s Head in Covent Garden a few times. I had no idea that it had such an esteemed place in Saints folklore! 🤪 That documentary was interesting, but rather depressing in its glorification of hooliganism. I especially enjoyed the bit where the presenter described Southampton’s history as the home of international cruises then cut to an image of the Red Funnel 🤪

My reading of this decision (and the fact that the Board were unwilling to offer Marsch a contract beyond the summer) is that they’re waiting for Jason Wilcox to join as Director of Football at the end of the season. They’ve said Wilcox will oversee all football matters including the first team so I assume they’ll want him to pick our managers from now on. Rasmus has said he was only leading on recruitment temporarily. Obviously, Selles is highly likely to be chosen to stay if he keeps us up - or even if we get relegated but improve massively and get 30+ points (and go down fighting with a good platform to start a promotion push).

There’s no longer a vacancy here! Let’s not get carried away after one performance, but 12 year contract for Selles now! 🤪

Bazunu KWP DCC Salisu Perraud Lavia JWP Alcaraz Sulemana Orsic Mara Sub: Tall Paul last 25 mins Score: 2 - 2

Very impressive in both parts of the press conference. He certainly talks a good game. I allowed myself to be wildly optimistic for 2 minutes and worked out that, with 16 games left, we can still get up to 63 points. That is exactly the same as Koeman’s last season when we finished 6th! Coincidence???🤪 Obviously, talk is cheap (but a very welcome change from front-foot and Luton talk nonetheless). It’s certainly too early to write-off survival, but we do need a very quick turnaround in form to have a chance. Like most of us, the main thing I want to see is for us to play more positively and, if we go down, at least go down fighting and have a bit of optimism going into next season. Let’s hope he manages as well as he talks!

I’ve just thought of a reason why the club are refusing to commit to anything for over 6 months. Jason Wilcox is joining as Director of Football in the summer and I’m guessing they want to let him to pick next season’s manager. I still think it’s a mistake not to offer Marsch 18 months now. A great deal of damage can be done if we get a bad interim manager and get relegated with a whimper. I don’t think waiting is worth the risk but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s their plan.

I believe the multi-club model is supposed to be the solution here. Academy graduates who won’t make Premier League (assuming we stay there/return) will go to one of the foreign Sport Republic feeder clubs. Have they actually done this yet?

I don’t blame him! I was relaxed when people were thinking both sides would be happy with a short contract, but clearly this was untrue. I’ve been persuaded over the last couple of days that he’d suit our players and get us back to Ralph’s original high press, high risk style. If we go down, at least go down fighting. It must be demoralising for Marsch to not feel that the club believe he’s the future. i understand the pragmatic decision (if he fails, we could end up having to pay wages for Ralph, Nathan, Jesse and a new manager all at once if none get new jobs by then). I don’t think a Big Sam or Rafa style manager would sit our players and certainly won’t give us any sort of preparation for hitting the ground running at the start of next season (especially if we’re relegated and demoralised).

Agree with this. I think we’ve been on a downward slope ever since Ralph lost faith in his original Plan A (high press, high risk, 4-2-2-2 etc) and he tried becoming more pragmatic. We couldn’t have just carried on unchanged after the second 9-0, but (with hindsight) Ralph ‘Plan A 2.0’ didn’t improve us. We’ve got gradually worse. I appreciate that this is a bit of an over-simplification. Maybe it would have worked if we’d properly replaced Ings etc. But maybe this just proves that when manager’s get stale and their plan stops working, it’s time to change manager. I admired the way Semmens stuck with Ralph and went against the trigger-happy sack the manager orthodoxy, but (again with hindsight) 90th out of 92 in 2022 proves things weren’t working.

I agree with this approach too. I think we’ll need to accept that Onuachu wouldn’t be a starter. Good super-sub option though. I’d give Mara a run in the team to see if he can make the role his own. If he fails, I’d go back to using Che. He’s bad at finishing but great at leading the press and holding the ball up which could suit Sulemana etc.

Individual players will obviously fit more than one system, and can adapt to different teams when they move on, but our squad as a whole was bought to fit a system (at least that was the theory!). High press, hard working etc. In principle, I think this is very sensible. Otherwise, teams end up having to buy 5 or 6 new players every time they change manager. We’ve fallen into this bloated squad trap many times in the past. Most of our players are used to Ralph’s style so I think we need a manager who plays a vaguely similar style. Doesn’t have to be identical, but I can’t see our players adapting quickly to a more defensive style, e.g. Nuno or Benitez. The new manager needs to suit the players we have and quickly get them comfortable with his style of play. I haven’t paid much attention to Leeds under Marsch, so I have no strong views on him personally, but his style sounds like it could fit our squad (except Tall Paul probably).

I agree that our form suggests limping to relegation, but it’s by no means a mathematical certainty yet. We’re 4 (although effectively 5) points from safety with 16 matches left. Nearly half a season. We’ve signed some decent players in the last 2 windows who a competent manager could theoretically pick and form into a competitive team. 20 points from our 16 remaining games would probably be enough to stay up this season - if we sign the right manager, and very soon!! Odds are very much against us, but it’s still too early to give up. I think we need to accept that we have players bought to play one way, high risk, high press, and pick a manager who fits that. Big Sam etc won’t suit that (as the R#*^*p gamble didn’t work in 2005). We were supposed to have a ‘playbook’ every age group playing the same style etc - which makes the Jones appointment even weirder. Let’s get back to what we’re best at. Have a try for another 90s style Great Escape. We’ll probably go down anyway, so we may as well be positive and play exciting football again. Whats the worst that can happen?

Prediction: Tall Paul Moi JWP [no-one) [no-one) [no-one) 2 “aggressive front-footers” 5 “aggressive front-footers” Baz Bench: 8 back-footers, Caballero