Long Shot

Well we seem to be managing to pick up points which to many is all that matters but we remain a side that lacks conviction. To that end I remain very unconvinced by Russell Martin’s managerial abilities.

Sam Gallagher out of contract in the summer 😉

They will probably be above us come Saturday evening. That’s how low we are sinking with a manager who talks the talk but is yet to walk it.

Pro RM fans argue we are just one point from the play offs (actually it’s two because of our awful GD) but should note Millwall just sacked their manager and they are just 3 points from the play offs. Also Rowett has finished above Martin the last two seasons.

Appreciate the reply and I accept you are only telling it how you see it. I would really like to be convinced and give him time but he has been a manager for 4 seasons now and has an average finish of 14th if my maths is correct. I am comparing him to the likes of Leicester who do not seem to deem it appropriate to call a seminar to explain why they feel they have it right. Their fans just have to look at the table. Early days I accept but I reckon we are where we ought to be and both managers have been at their clubs a similar length of time. And let’s not forget we did the double over them last season. Of course the elephant in the room remains the catastrophic and incomprehensible appointment of Jones last season which has completely undermined any confidence many of us have in the managerial appointment process at St Mary’s.

I don’t think there was a demand from any fans for this to happen? The fact KB was drafted in to compere sort of tells me this was one large PR exercise to win over some fans who were keen to be won over. I am sure RM is a very likeable human being but I’m not really interested in that bit about him. I am only interested in can he win matches playing vaguely decent football. I don’t think he can otherwise last night would have been unnecessary.

I smell horseshit. if it’s necessary to have a sweet talking session at the stadium with gullible fans that’s a sure sign they are getting desperate. I prefer to judge what I see on the pitch and up to now I am underwhelmed.

The best Southampton player of all time, it’s a crying shame he turned into an utter crank.

Well I am not entitled as I wrote off our promotion hopes around about the time Sunderland’s 5th goal went in. With Martin at the helm we will soon just be another mid table, also ran Championship team of that I have no doubt. The happy clappers will keep clapping for a few months but the penny will eventually painfully drop.

𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚝? 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝚌𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚕.

It sounds like you didn’t go and you watched the highlights instead. It’s very easy to have a go at the fans who were actually there having to watch a very frustrating game who dared to then vent those frustrations at the final whistle. Customers “support” the team by putting funds into the club so to differentiate between supporters and customers just plays into the toxic division that is growing at the club. RM and SR have successfully split the fan base.

We battered them senseless by playing mindless crop circle football until they were so numb they scored.

This in an absolute nutshell. The Martin apologists while perfectly entitled to their opinions are actually doing the club harm. Perpetrating a myth, defending the indefensible and ignoring the bleeding obvious with selective stats.

You are taking three games in isolation. Stoke we got away with it, today we were garbage and Leeds ok in the first half. And let’s not go back any further. Martin is not the answer no matter how long you happy clappers want to give him

Let me sort out your bafflement. Rotherham got back into it because we let them by playing ultra cautious sideways backwards unadventurous football. Forwards afraid to attack, midfielders afraid to hit a through ball etc etc. Tedium personified. Negative sideways football. That’s Martin’s style. Not his fault. Blame Wilcox for thinking this is the way forward.

Disagree strongly. This tip tappy cross circle negative always play safe backward looking football is shit. It caught us out today. While Martin is our manager we will go nowhere and remain a tedious team to support.

For me Manning sums up our team. Tries hard, runs about a bit but an average Championship player who is error strewn and lacking in positional discipline.

Everyone happy with a gritty win but no way do we look anything like automatic promotion hopefuls. Miles inferior to the side Adkins took up.

He did head straight down the tunnel though. There was definitely a strop going on. He’s a talented but headstrong kid that will take some nurturing. I think he’ll move in January.

Let’s be brutally honest and recognise that the only way we will be able to compete at the top level again is if we are purchased by an oil rich nation (probably with an appalling human rights record) or a multi billionaire US hedge fund or similar. The days when clubs of our size held our own against the big boys are over. We did well to last as long as we did. We might as well get use to being an unremarkable middling Championship side and turn our backs on the PL for ever.

Disagree slightly. Yes individual errors are one reason for our predicament but the last four games have also all shown some deeper reasons to be worried. On Saturday for instance there was an utter lack of urgency and intensity. There was a lack of cohesion and even desire. We ultimately lost to a poor side having gone one up. The Sunderland game was one of the worst ever. A capitulation. The next match we lasted 21 seconds and then indulged in some reckless Keystone Cops defending straight from the school playground. Ipswich was a good chance to make amends but we failed miserably hardly laying a glove on them. Yes we have lost four games on the bounce before but I can’t remember when the four games have been so inept. Not exactly battered but not far off it. And then we have the deterioration in the standard and sense of the manager’s post match interviews. He appears to be losing his grip and composure. I thought the reaction of the fans at the Riverside at the final whistle was revealing. The away support are usually the last to turn but on Saturday they were furious and rebuffed Martin’s overtures. All this adds up to there being a lot more amiss than players making mistakes, although of course that doesn’t help.

It’s ok. Nick Illingsworth has just found out what’s been going wrong. Apparently it’s all the fans fault as we keep “hounding out” the managers. Check out his latest rant on the UI website and then castigate yourself.

Didn’t we do the double over Leicester last year? I think you are WUM to be honest or are just bored and looking for a fight. Yes changing managers yet again is ridiculous but save your scorn for the idiots who have been doing the selecting.

I watched the match yesterday with a friend of Russell Manning’s Dad. Apparently RM knew he was off soon after January and told Manning he would take him with him. Not sure whether Saints had put out feelers at that stage but I reckon contact had already been made soon after Selles was appointed.

To be fair the fans gave the players the fuck off coming over signals at the end. I was sitting in the opposite stand and it was obvious very few of the away support wanted to applaud the players at the end. it’s my last post and I would just like to say to St Louis that yes Arma scored today but that was his only meaningful contribution the whole afternoon. He really is a poor player.