Reflections on our season

[Saintru]

Many posts have been put on the forum about how we have done in recent weeks, 'gutless' was one comment. Let's take a moment to think about where we have come from and how we have done from the low point of being in League 1. A few years ago if you asked most fans that we would be in the Prem 2013-2014 for a second season and when the money to prem teams will significantly increase they would have bitten your hand off.

 

Saints have made significant strides this season and certain players have really stepped up, Morgan, Cork, Clyne, Shaw, Rickie, Punch, JRod. Pretty good when you consider a lot of these guys were playing in the lower leagues. Ultimately there will always be down sides and is sad to see that Gaston has struggled and that AL, has not recovered his form following his injury. Fans have been commenting that the latter is not premier league quality and he has come into some stick recently. We should remember that he started the season well and Gary N was talking about him as a possible England call up. Year after year he has been one of the top players at the club, so let's not get too down on him. Over the last few games the cutting edge seems to have been lost and I am sure MP will be looking at this over the summer.

 

The season has been a roller coaster and when we beat Villa things started to look up, after all we had a tough fixture list first up. The doom and gloom descended the ranks with no win in 6, including a thumping from Wet Spam and a heavy defeat to Leeds in the cup. Adkins not good enough, we are going to struggle to stay up etc. However NC stood firm when some fans on the forum were calling for time on NA.

 

Then came some better performances and results, beating QPR, followed by a great team display in beating the Toon. Suddenly we looked good, pundits were praising us and we were upwardly mobile in the league. However another dip with a loss to Sunderland and a thrashing by Chelsea in the cup had us panicking again. Hold on this was followed by an away win at Villa and a great draw at Chelsea....then NA's sacking..What? Outrage, anger, upset, who was MP? What would this mean to us? The media were equally outraged, prompting Lawro to predict that we would lose most games!

 

However we sooned turned a potentially negative situation into a positive with some great football and Fergie saying the best team he has seen at United this season. The City win was amazing but typical Saints we then succumbed to defeat at Newcastle, followed by a humilating loss at home to Redcrapp. But then it all changed with 3 straight wins from 3 tough looking fixtures and almost guarenteed safety. While the results have not be great in recent weeks they should be looked at more closely. Wet Spam had a draw written all over it, Swansea, we had a clear goal and would have won if that had been given, West Brom (ok very poor performance), Spurs, we were better they had one shot on goal and Sunderland, again we were the better side. Lack of goals is the real disappointment in the last few games which has to be said.

 

There is plenty of work to do in the summer, but we have a solid foundation of a team to build around, will play attractive passing football and have high energy levels. Win, lose or draw Sunday we should all be proud of how we have done in 2012/13. One final word, I think we, the fans, have been great this season, we have got behind the team, travelled well and never got on NC's back when NA left, other clubs may have done. I was at the Spurs away game and it has to be said, our support was superb.

 

Onwards and upwards COYS.

[saints_is_the_south]

Good summary. The start was very very tough on us, a culmination of a horrendous set of fixtures and some real amateur defending. You could be forgiven for writing us off after 10 games, as no promoted team in PL history had started as badly and stayed up. Luckily for us, there were a few others who had started almost as badly, namely QPR. People will point to the game at Loftus Road as the turning point, but for me it was a week earlier against Swansea. Whilst we didn't win, and Gazzaniga threw the points away for us, I sensed a change that day. We looked so much more solid all over the pitch, and coincided with Jack Cork and Luke Shaw's first starts of the season. The tension in St Mary's was incredible, the roof came off the place when Morgan scored.

 

Since then, we've never really looked back. We've had a few dips here and there, but I think I'm right in saying that our form since that game would have us 8th or 9th in the table. We've not been in the bottom 3 since moving out of it on 2nd January. With one game left we could still finish in the top half, and a win on Sunday will with all likelihood see us finish in 11th, which for our first season back would be a great achievement, made even greater by the start we had.

 

We've had some brilliant moments to look back on with fondness in years to come, beating the Champions of England and Europe at home the most notable. We have predominantly young team, with a good blend of English and foreigners and the future looks bright. Lets hope the Liebherrs and Cortese can sort out there differences, if they can then we could be in for some exciting years ahead.

 

All things considered, I've thoroughly enjoyed our first season back in the big league, seeing players I've watched since our League 1 days pitting their wits against some of the finest players in Europe, and for the most part competing very well has been nice to see. We've had some lows, some highs, and hopefully there are more of the latter to come.

[Andre]

1. We have the best away support in the country.

2. We have a great level of passion and fight in our squad.

3. We have done amazingly to not only survive but show glimpses of thriving.

4. There is still a hell of a lot of work to do.

[saintmatt]

Great summary mate, can't see many disagreeing with that.

[alpine_saint]

Great summary mate, can't see many disagreeing with that.

 

Indeed, I cant see much wrong with it overall, apart from a bit of charity in a few cases. For example, the glossing over of the WBA result. Overall it was a bloody good season, but it could have turned out a bit better.

 

Teams that are quality and succeed do it week-in, week-out. They dont go and beat Chelsea, Liverpool and ManC to lose at home to QPR. And the team simply didnt turn up against WBA, that is unacceptable. This is the step we have to take next year - consistency. And the improvement needs to start from the CB positions.

[Whitey Grandad]

Turned out nice again!

[adrian lord]

Good summary.

[S-Clarke]

Good summary there, and there's not much to disagree with in that.

 

I thought our start to the season was a bit of a surprise, we were kind of like rabbits in headlights for the first few weeks. We didn't adept well enough to the pace, the movement and the speed of thought at this level - but you can also say that our start, fixture wise, was bloody tough to say the least. Man Utd, Man City, Everton, Arsenal, all within the first few weeks. It's tough for anyone, let alone a newly promoted side, to get off to a head of steam with that list. We were killed by not winning our ''winnable'' home game against Wigan in the middle of all that.

 

So, the start kind of held us back a bit. Confidence drained and we had to sit through results at Eland Road and Upton Park, which will not be remembered very fondly. Once we got into November, we started to adjust. The West Brom game was kind of like a tidal change for us, it wasn't a great performance, but it was kind of a positive because we weren't ripped apart, time and time again...as we were in previous weeks. After that game, we never really looked back.

 

We then went on a nice unbeaten run and pulled ourselves up onto double figures and within touch, after being cut adrift for quite a period of time. We looked absolutely resigned to the drop during October, but really since November we've had top 10 form. Consistently picking up draws, a nice few wins back to back and a couple of defeats here and there - but we kept them in check, we weren't getting thrashed every week anymore and our goals conceded reduced dramatically at this point.

 

Our start has never allowed us to really get clear from relegation at any point, but to end with potentially 40+ points after the position we were in back in October is damn impressive, and you've got to say that once we adjusted, we have looked a damn fine side for this level and well deserving of our place for next season. Things still aren't perfect, but there's now a terrific basis for MP to work from. We've got a young spine and decent finance to add to it. Staying up this season was always important and I think we'll go from strength to strength now.

[jimbojones10]

Great first season, great team, great fans, great club

[pap]

The start of the season was crazy. The whole Ramirez saga, the collective amazement over us not targeting players for our weaker positions - and most of that was before the season started. Our first games were encouraging in terms of spirit and the way we wanted to play, but the weeks without points because of a lack of ruthlessness or silly mistakes was tough to take. Learning curve, and quite honestly, one of the most uncomfortable periods I've ever experienced as a Saints fan in the Prem. Back in the day, the first couple of scrapes with relegation were a bit of a shock, but we knew what we were in for. After quite a few "nice football, shame about the results" performances, we finally got a win. Turned out to be a false dawn. November was dire.

 

While it was good to see us climb out of the relegation zone, January was utter chaos - mostly due to the NA sacking.

 

I can appreciate the opinions of those who think that the sacking was mishandled. It definitely could have been handled better, but I'm not convinced ol' Nige was as in the dark as we were, or at least pretended to be.

 

I do think we've shown definite improvement under MP; not just the big scalps but the general desire to win that has been there for most of his games. I don't know whether that's sustainable over the long run, but it has been amazing to watch when we've clicked. Bossing teams; no respect - I'll have a lot more of that, please.

 

End of the season has been a bit of a disappointment in terms of wins, but we've picked up some important points to get us over the line. Sitting here with the certainty of safety, it is nice to have survived at the expense of QPR, and absolute joke of a club and surely the final nail in the "'Arry's a good manager" coffin. I don't too think many people will be too disappointed to see Reading go, but I am a little gutted that Wigan have gone tonight - a far cry from my whining about them a few years ago.

 

I'd like to see someone able to reliably shoot from distance next year. Not particularly arsed about whether that's someone boning up pre-season MLT style or a new signing, but I do feel it's missing from our game.

Edited 15 May, 2013 by pap

[Saint_clark]

Indeed, I cant see much wrong with it overall, apart from a bit of charity in a few cases. For example, the glossing over of the WBA result. Overall it was a bloody good season, but it could have turned out a bit better.

 

Teams that are quality and succeed do it week-in, week-out. They dont go and beat Chelsea, Liverpool and ManC to lose at home to QPR. And the team simply didnt turn up against WBA, that is unacceptable. This is the step we have to take next year - consistency. And the improvement needs to start from the CB positions.

 

Depends what you mean by that doesn't it. If you're on about succeeding United style then yes. But if you're on about getting to where WBA are for example, then don't forget that after beating us 3-0 they went and lost 4-0 to Norwich. Not exactly doing it week-in, week-out.

The fact of this league is that there are teams in the top half of the table who have still lost more games than they have won. If we had a season where we won more games than we lost - now that would truly be a remarkable achievement.

[Hedgehog]

This has probably been one of the seasons in the premiership, the last I can't remember, where I really felt we would not be relegated. Even with results not going as good as hoped in the last few weeks, that horrible feeling in my stomach was not there. In all, what with our very poor start, I think this season has been as good, if not better than I was expecting. A good result Sunday, and other results going our way, the end of season table may look as though we had a great season!

[CB Fry]

This has probably been one of the seasons in the premiership, the last I can't remember, where I really felt we would not be relegated. Even with results not going as good as hoped in the last few weeks, that horrible feeling in my stomach was not there. In all, what with our very poor start, I think this season has been as good, if not better than I was expecting. A good result Sunday, and other results going our way, the end of season table may look as though we had a great season!

 

You thought we would go down when we were fourth at Christmas under Strachan? That was our last Premier League season but one.

 

And prior to that the preceding three had us with no genuine threat of relegation either. Oh well.

 

Anyway. Mission accomplished this season, my hope was we would still be in it on the last day, and we beat that by a week.

 

And delighted we have done it with players that seem "ours" rather than bought in mercenaries, Ramires notwithstanding.

 

Morgan and Cork best embody this, but we have it all over the pitch. Gradually building on that core and spirit is essential next season.

 

As it stands I am unconvinced by MP, we shall see how he fairs with his own team and pre season.

 

But next season I do not expect "consistency". At best we'll be top eight (well, eighth) and frankly even clubs at that level are inconsistent: West Brom and Swansea have put in some rotten displays this year. As long as we hit a three month spell of amazing form, like those clubs seem to, we will be fine for solid mid table.

[alpine_saint]

I dont get all the excusing against attaining "consistency". We seem to have managed it under Strachan and Hoddle.

[Saints Fan Dan]

First game of the season we were delighted to narrowly lose to Man City. Then in the return game we tore them to pieces. In that time we had one of the worst starts to a season possible, turned it around and sacked our popular manager. I was thinking about how the ending to this season hasn't been quite as fun as previous ones and then I remembered, this actually is the first in 4 seasons that we haven't won anything. Still, it's been a great journey, long may it continue.

[VectisSaint]

Indeed, I cant see much wrong with it overall, apart from a bit of charity in a few cases. For example, the glossing over of the WBA result. Overall it was a bloody good season, but it could have turned out a bit better.

 

Teams that are quality and succeed do it week-in, week-out. They dont go and beat Chelsea, Liverpool and ManC to lose at home to QPR. And the team simply didnt turn up against WBA, that is unacceptable. This is the step we have to take next year - consistency. And the improvement needs to start from the CB positions.

I guess you didn't watch the FA Cup Final then. Citeh demonstrated exactly the same problem as us agains the Baggies. It wasn't our result against WBA it was the performance that was shocking. We just didn't turn up, showed a lack of interest and lack of imagination. Citeh were the same. It was not the only game it happened this season, and the same thing was evident a couple of times last season as well. All teams seem to do this at times and you wonder why they seem so dozy. If I was completely paranoid I would start to suspect some sort of international betting scam, but as I realise that not everyone is out to get me I don't think that at all.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

I dont get all the excusing against attaining "consistency". We seem to have managed it under Strachan and Hoddle.

 

Teams that do it week-in week-out win the league, even then, they still have bad days.

 

Under Hoddle and Strachan there were good performances and bad. Goes for all clubs, managers and players.

[saint-crinny]

If we beat Stoke and sneak up into 11th, given the start we made after 10 games, as a promoted side, I would imagine that would be pretty much unheard of in Prem history.

 

And we've done it playing nice stuff, shocked a few of the big boys, with a team that we have seen develop from League One to comfortable(ish) at the top level.

 

I'm happy, and looking forward to what's next.

[Chez]

Teams that are quality and succeed do it week-in, week-out. They dont go and beat Chelsea, Liverpool and ManC to lose at home to QPR.

Chelsea did.

[St_Tel49]

Indeed, I cant see much wrong with it overall, apart from a bit of charity in a few cases. For example, the glossing over of the WBA result. Overall it was a bloody good season, but it could have turned out a bit better.

 

Teams that are quality and succeed do it week-in, week-out. They dont go and beat Chelsea, Liverpool and ManC to lose at home to QPR. And the team simply didnt turn up against WBA, that is unacceptable. This is the step we have to take next year - consistency. And the improvement needs to start from the CB positions.

 

If you do it week in week out you win the league! That's a big aspiration for a newly promoted team!

[Minty]

I'm gonna defend alpine here, because I think he has a point... thing is, there are different degrees of consistency. Every team in this league is now capable of beating anyone on their day, and the top teams are clearly more than capable of losing to teams near the bottom... seemingly far more than I ever remember feeling when we were last in the top flight. That's what made some of our wins vs Man U in the past all the more memorable.

 

We do need to be more consistent, we should be aiming for that, but nobody expect Man U levels of consistency... I'd be happy with WBA or Swansea levels of consistency next season!

[lordswoodsaints]

Our season can be split into thirds, consisting of the first third being not so good,the middle third being excellent and the last third being average...... I will be expecting the same next season tbh.

[CB Fry]

I dont get all the excusing against attaining "consistency". We seem to have managed it under Strachan and Hoddle.

 

Both of those managers pretty much lost as many games as they won at Saints.

 

As I've already said the likes of Swansea and WBA will go three, four, five without a win and still finish 8/9/10th.

 

But if that was Saints you'd be having an epilectic fit and pronouncing us down and "fuming" after two games without a win.

 

So don't denand consistency. You won't get it in this division from us.

[Batman]

Both of those managers pretty much lost as many games as they won at Saints.

 

As I've already said the likes of Swansea and WBA will go three, four, five without a win and still finish 8/9/10th.

 

But if that was Saints you'd be having an epilectic fit and pronouncing us down and "fuming" after two games without a win.

 

So don't denand consistency. You won't get it in this division from us.

WBA lost 3 and drew 1 on the bounce in january/february

[CB Fry]

WBA lost 3 and drew 1 on the bounce in january/february

 

There you go then. I didn't bother checking, just kind of knew it. Just how it goes in the Prem.

[alehouseboys]

1. We have the best away support in the country.

 

No, really, we don't.

 

It's good, been very good last few years, it's made a welcome change travelling around the country knowing we've been in with a reasonable chance of getting a result unlike years past where results have been consistently poor. And this season has seen new grounds for some and attractive fixtures, will be interesting to see how it holds up in the coming seasons. But it's certainly been very good in numbers this season.

 

But the football I've watched since MP arrived has, on the whole, been as good as anything I've seen from a Saints team in over 40 years of following this club.

 

Looking forward to MP's side next season.

[Lallana's Left Peg]

If we beat Stoke and sneak up into 11th, given the start we made after 10 games, as a promoted side, I would imagine that would be pretty much unheard of in Prem history.

 

And we've done it playing nice stuff, shocked a few of the big boys, with a team that we have seen develop from League One to comfortable(ish) at the top level.

 

I'm happy, and looking forward to what's next.

 

Exactly. And I guarantee that the vast majority of Saints fans on here feel the same way other than those are are habitually negative.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...

 

The best?

Well beating both the (then) Premier and Champions League title holders was really more than any Saints fan could reasonably have asked for. OUTSTANDING.

We have our share of good players now but seeing young talent such as Morgan Schneiderlin, Jack Cork, Nathaniel Clyne and Luke Shaw flourish at this level has been a true privilege.

At our best we've played some smashing football this season and I hope I'm not going too far when I say that in my opinion we have now earned a degree of respect from this division - We truly are now Premier Class.

The worst?

After the memorable drama of our first fixture, losing the next game against Wigan came as a sobering reality check. With a challenging fixture list ahead of us (to put it mildly) that drab disappointment kinda put us on a uphill path we would spend much of the remainder of the season trying to escape from. But it was losing a game I'm sure most of us never expected to win anyway (Man Utd at home back in September) that really hurt this fan.

I left St Marys that evening feeling as depressed as I can ever recall from seeing my team get beat. We played so bloody well that day and were so brave, yet our reward was another 90th minute MUFC goal that was about as much as I could take at the time.

 

So a memorable and - on the whole - a successful season then. My thanks go out to my fellow SFC fans (both at St Marys and on here) the Liebherr family, the Don, our managers (both of them) and most of all the players for making it so. My life without this wonderful old football club in it would be such a poorer one that I can hardly bare to contemplate the prospect.

[doddisalegend]

I'll be totally on my own here but after the last few seasons this one has been pretty dull IMO. There has been some good games (and some not so good games) and having given up my ST at the end of last season I haven't been to as many games as usual, which has probably impacted on my view of this season, but when I have gone SMS has been totally lacking in atmosphere at all it might be a fuller stadium this season but I'm not sure that's made for a better atmosphere. The cups were a bust this year (I'll admit I'd swap with Wigan in a heartbeat ....I'd love to win the FA cup again) which didn't help either. I've still wanted the team to do well but really couldn't get that upset about the possibility of being relegated. Best bits for me were Clyne and Shaw (both have been great this season) and beating Man city and Liverpool.......worst bits were Nige being sacked (even though I figured he wouldn't last the season and expected him to get fired early on when he wasn't I thought NC would stick with him) and losing so often at the start of the season (oh and having to sit through the QPR game at SMS).

 

Still we're in the "Best league in world" for another season and I fancy us to be more of a Swansea than a Norwich ( or god forbid QPR) next season so roll on August.

[Glasgow_Saint]

season summary -

 

start: poor

Middle: good

end: average

[krissyboy31]

season summary -

 

start: poor

Middle: good

end: average

Results wise maybe but for the most part we've played decent football (even in the first 10 games). There's certainly room for improvement but if you had offered me the season we've had before hand, I for one would have taken it, no question!

[WealdSaint]

Really enjoyed this season. Pleased to see our young players come on by leaps and bounds.

 

My low was the long train journey back to Kent after RvP Fergietime winner (we played so well that day which made it worse)

 

My high was beating Liverpool at St Mary's (a MUCH happier train journey back to Kent)

 

Another high was my 14 year old son, who has faithfully supported us through his life FINALLY being able to go to school with a sping in his step the Mondays after beating Man City, Chelsea & Liverpool

[Window Cleaner]

season summary -

 

start: poor

Middle: good

end: average

 

Middle dictates the end though. We needed a good middle to rectify the start but it obviously took a lot out of the players and apart from that I guess they knew they'd done the job that needed to be done.....38 points and a respectable GD was always my target and might have well been their minimum contract as well. Thankfully we had Mauricio to get us points against some of the better sides.