Patrick Bateman Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Anyone got any links to newspapers from last summer? I'm always amused to see how badly they guessed - QPR being a good one as I seem to remember certain journos predicting they'd be top 6?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saints_is_the_south Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Like many, if offered 14th after the first 10 games I'd have snapped your arm off. Slightly disappointing that our season tailed off after those 3 wins in a row had us looking good for a top half finish. We are not far off being a very good side and a combination of some quality additions and improving our ability to hold onto leads (29 points dropped from winning positions FFS) then we should be able to make the push into the top half next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Anyone got any links to newspapers from last summer? I'm always amused to see how badly they guessed - QPR being a good one as I seem to remember certain journos predicting they'd be top 6?? For the Lolz, the Beeb has printed Lawrenson's prediction league for the season, if the results had been how he predicted, QPR would have been top half, and we'd have stayed up ahead of Swansea on goal difference. Such ignorance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martel Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Brilliant. And better to come, I hope! Agreed, however, perhaps someone could bring me up to speed with this fair play rule coming in for next season, if I have this right is it not based on the income of the club, if so does that also mean that funds coming in from the trust fund be deemed income? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raging Bull Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Considering the start we had that was not a bad result in the end, home wins against City, Chelsea and Liverpool were my stand outs. And arguably what kept us up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 14th is decent, more than decent for first season back in the top flight. The home wins v City, L'pool and Chelsea were the highlights, along with the opening day performances at City and twice v Man U. If we'd have defended properly those games would have yielded more points. Had an awful start but the new signings generally did well - Clyne and Boruc were the best but Yoshida was great value and J Rod has shown enough to build on. Should see more from Gaston and Vegard next year but don't know about Mayuka. Shaw's emergence was wonderful to see and JWP did himself proud at City opening day. We got away with it until January with CBs, would have been in real trouble with any injuries or bans to Fonte, Jos or Maya. What is needed is an injection of pace and width, plus more competition for Rickie and J Rod. Defensively, we'll almost certainly strengthen but the core of a good squad for a few seasons ahead is there - Morgan, Cork, Clyne, Shaw, Yoshida, Forren, Lallana, JWP, Punch, Rickie, J Rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedAndWhite91 Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 14th, happy with that. Said at the start of the season I'd be happy with 17th, the nightmare start to the season left me thinking we'd finish 20th. I think back to 2009, we were bottom of League One after 12 games. That season I saw us lose at places like Tranmere, Colchester, Swindon, and Gillingham, you realise how far we had fallen. Not even four years later, I'm then watching us beat the English champions, the European champions, and, er, Liverpool as well, and those important victories are made even sweeter when you think back to what was happening just a few seasons before. Everyone wrote us off, predicted we'd finish 20th, predicted Lambert wouldn't get more than 5 goals, but we've proved them wrong, think we've also gained a lot of admirers along the way, so I'd say it has been a successful season, even if we did tail off towards the end. Hopefully next season we'll proper push on, but I'd say there's still a lot of work to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 quite fitting that Lambert scored the first and last goals of the season for us. LEGEND!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Good season, petered out a bit but didn't matter. 14th perhaps could've been higher but it's a solid place to build on next season. It's now easier for us to say that next season is a success if we finish 13th or higher, as oppose to us finishing 10th/11th this season and slightly lower next season. Does that make sense? Curious as to why the petering out doesnt matter. Until we have hard evidence of transfer activity, it does not augur well for next season. Our players and our manager were well and truly sussed out by the final whistle against Stoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmel Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Overall we have to be happy with 14th, as staying up was the single objective of the season. That said, I'm not sure it reflects our overall performances and how (I believe) we compared against other teams. There will always be "If only's" but this season seems to have far more than I can remember. Disappointed with way we tailed off, but with the exception of WBA at home, that was more to do with results as opposed to performances. At times we have played some fantastic stuff and absolutely battered some teams (Including the top four) and it has been great to be a Saints fan. A little bit smarter, a little bit sharper in front of goal and actually a little bit more of lady luck and you could easily put another 10 points on our season total. If the close season and transfer activities address those points above, next season will look very interesting and it does feel like we could be on the verge of something special and I could see us being a fantastic cup side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNSUN Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Curious as to why the petering out doesnt matter. Until we have hard evidence of transfer activity, it does not augur well for next season. Our players and our manager were well and truly sussed out by the final whistle against Stoke. "Good season, petered out a bit but didn't matter" was what I said - as in it didn't matter because we were safe from relegation. As in it could've mattered had we not been safe from relegation. Not that it didn't matter and we should gloss over it. The latter form is worrying in that we should've done better - but this season has been a learning curve for everybody and we'll be much more prepared and settled next season... and have better personnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Can anyone find footage of Lamberts goal V City? Can't seem to get it anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Curious as to why the petering out doesnt matter. Until we have hard evidence of transfer activity, it does not augur well for next season. Our players and our manager were well and truly sussed out by the final whistle against Stoke. Petering out does matter. We finished the season as badly as we started, 4 points from the first 6 and the last 6 games. In between enough points were gained to get to safety by 5 points above Wigan but had we lost any two of the 3 great and unexpected, home wins against Man City, Liverpool or Chelsea, the picture could have been very different. The great thing is that we have survived and it sounds as if Pochettino knows where the weak spots are in his squad. It also looks like he has the financial support needed from the Chairman with the backing of Katharina Leibherr. The manager saying he wants his squad in place by 1st July is a very positive statement. Although it may not be in his hands to deliver on that, the next few weeks could be very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Can anyone find footage of Lamberts goal V City? Can't seem to get it anywhere. All the goals from that game are here: http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2012/08/19/man-city-vs-southampton-3-2-goals-highlights-2012-tevez-dzeko-nasri-lambert-davis-saints-video/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legod Third Coming Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Curious as to why the petering out doesnt matter. Until we have hard evidence of transfer activity, it does not augur well for next season. Our players and our manager were well and truly sussed out by the final whistle against Stoke. Not really. Only West Brom beat our system. The rest we gifted results to through: Poor defending - fixed by two better Centre Backs. Poor finishing - fixed by a new striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legod Third Coming Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Overall we have to be happy with 14th, as staying up was the single objective of the season. That said, I'm not sure it reflects our overall performances and how (I believe) we compared against other teams. There will always be "If only's" but this season seems to have far more than I can remember. Disappointed with way we tailed off, but with the exception of WBA at home, that was more to do with results as opposed to performances. At times we have played some fantastic stuff and absolutely battered some teams (Including the top four) and it has been great to be a Saints fan. A little bit smarter, a little bit sharper in front of goal and actually a little bit more of lady luck and you could easily put another 10 points on our season total. If the close season and transfer activities address those points above, next season will look very interesting and it does feel like we could be on the verge of something special and I could see us being a fantastic cup side. Agreed. Danny Fox cost us a draw at the Etihad. Nigel Adkins cost us a win against United. Jos cost us goodness knows how many points (and I say that as someone who loves him to bits). Bad luck cost us at Old Trafford. Look at the winning positions we threw away and there is your optimism for next season right there. Some of these lads were cutting it in League One 18 odd months ago!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Not really. Only West Brom beat our system. The rest we gifted results to through: Poor defending - fixed by two better Centre Backs. Poor finishing - fixed by a new striker. Indeed, I get the shudders everytime the opponents get a corner and we really need someone who can convert half of the half chances and a quarter of the quarter chances. Our build up play is second to...well not many..but we're just not putting chances away, should have won about 4-0 yesterday, with an Aguero type we would have but I realise that 25 million might be outside our price range so I'll settle for 12 million and just the 2-0 win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicestersaint Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Like most people I know, I would gladly have accepted a tally of 41 points at the start of the season. However, the season has ended rather disappointedly - just 4 points out of the last 18 and only 3 goals scored (and 7 conceded) and the 6 matches involved some fairly ordinary sides. There is no point in denying that we really went off the boil towards the end. Whether Pochettino really is any better than Adkins remains to be seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
um pahars Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Always thought this season would be about survival, so more than happy to have survived. Was worried how players would make the step up, particularly when two seasons previously they were up against Dagenham, Hartlepool et al. Some players managed to step up, others progressed faster than I thought, whilst some were found out. Inexperience and perhaps being in awe of our opponents caught us out sometimes, as perhaps did having a relatively thin squad. Think the term "mid table" flatters us, so next season would like us to consolidate properly in mid table. Need to strengthen the first team, not just buy squad players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Curious as to why the petering out doesnt matter. Until we have hard evidence of transfer activity, it does not augur well for next season. Our players and our manager were well and truly sussed out by the final whistle against Stoke. Finished higher than i expected,with basically same squad as came up,things will improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwsaint Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 Think we've done well this season. Although somewhat weird how we stayed up, it's good building blocks to move this club forward. Onwards and upwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersonic Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 we've had a great season. Some lows, but a lot of highs. Stand out games were Villa, City, Chelsea, Liverpool. And the stand out players were: Boruc, Clyne, Shaw, Yoshida, Puncheon, Morgan Some players however, need to up their game (notably Hooiveld, Lallana and Ramirez) But with some sensible signings we'll be able to move onto the next level. Even yesterday we looked fairly good and if it wasn't for the fact we were up against (in my opinion) the best shot-stopping keeper in the league, we'd have been comfortable winners. I think special praise has to go to Mr Cortese, yet again, a decision has paid off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint-crinny Posted 20 May, 2013 Share Posted 20 May, 2013 One of the things that makes me look forward to next season is that MP managed to impose his style quickly on to Adkins' team, and get some success. We didn't get the results we should have at the end of the season especially (and some of the crazy dropped points earlier on - Swansea at home really grates on me, hilarious defending from Gazza and Yoshida for the equaliser, although not funny at the time) but armed with a decent transfer budget and the opportunity to bring in his own players, adding depth and quality to the squad, you have to feel confident that MP will get better consistency and better results next season. One thing is for sure, none of the top 6 sides will be relishing a visit to SMS next season. Most impressive performers for me this season were: - Clyne and Shaw - cracking to watch them flying forward and both good defensively too - Morgan and Cork - Cork's return began the revival and Morgan was exceptional all season - Puncheon - unbelievable turnaround for him at Saints really but he always had talent, always willing to take on his man and take on shots (Lallana should take note) J Rod - showed what he can do when his strengths are utilised, think next season will be a big one for him Rickie - fair play to him, always delivers. great to see him getting goals at this level - think he showed a lot of people (especially that moron Merson) what we always knew - he is great front man and has so much to his game. Saints legend Not seen this as a question, might have missed it somewhere, but stand-out individual display of the season? Two games for me and while he hasn't floated everyone's boat, it has to be Gaston against Villa and Newcastle at home for me. He was untouchable in both and while his season has gone up and down and ended on a sour note, those two displays should be enough to show everyone we have a superb talent on our hands. Really hoping he will perform consistently next season and sure he will be better for a season under his belt. Our most naturally talented player for me. All in all, it was job done. A few terrific wins to savour, lots of promise, a brutal sacking that IMO has moved us forwards and now looking forward to an exciting summer of speculation and pushing on next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max_saints Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 http://espnfc.com/feature/_/id/1454703/premier-league-2012-13-club-club-review-11th-20th?cc=4716 SOUTHAMPTON Season in short: Overachieved. The Saints' season turned in January when the beatific Nigel Adkins was ruthlessly dumped as manager. The transition proved as inspired as it was unsentimental. Adkins had achieved back-to-back promotions. Though his buccaneering team were brave, their Premier League naïveté marked them as relegation candidates. Incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino fused a steely pressing game with the team's attack-minded philosophy, and his players pulled themselves out of the mire. Forward Jay Rodriguez was among those who benefited most from Pochettino's arrival. His inventive movement provided the perfect complement to the stealthily prolific "Super" Rickie Lambert's relative immobility. Young talents Jack Cork and Luke Shaw also thrived. The end of the campaign was soured by a breaking boardroom drama in which the club's controversial executive chairman Nicola Cortese threatened to resign. Southampton fans eager to think happier should savor Jason Puncheon's cheekiness as he marked a strike by commemorating his infamous televised toilet break against Everton -- surely the goal celebration of the season. Best Player: Morgan Schneiderlin. The 23-year-old Frenchman dazzled in midfield and is now coveted by Arsenal. Worst Player: Vegard Forren. Much was expected from the Norwegian international when he arrived in January, yet he mysteriously failed to play a single game. The future looks: Bright. Pochettino was hired with loftier goals in mind than merely avoiding relegation. With a talented young core, and time to inculcate his trademark brand of aggressive football, a sense of ambition next season would not be misplaced. http://espnfc.com/feature/_/id/1454703/premier-league-2012-13-club-club-review-11th-20th?cc=4716 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 http://espnfc.com/feature/_/id/1454703/premier-league-2012-13-club-club-review-11th-20th?cc=4716 SOUTHAMPTON Season in short: Overachieved. The Saints' season turned in January when the beatific Nigel Adkins was ruthlessly dumped as manager. The transition proved as inspired as it was unsentimental. Adkins had achieved back-to-back promotions. Though his buccaneering team were brave, their Premier League naïveté marked them as relegation candidates. Incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino fused a steely pressing game with the team's attack-minded philosophy, and his players pulled themselves out of the mire. Forward Jay Rodriguez was among those who benefited most from Pochettino's arrival. His inventive movement provided the perfect complement to the stealthily prolific "Super" Rickie Lambert's relative immobility. Young talents Jack Cork and Luke Shaw also thrived. The end of the campaign was soured by a breaking boardroom drama in which the club's controversial executive chairman Nicola Cortese threatened to resign. Southampton fans eager to think happier should savor Jason Puncheon's cheekiness as he marked a strike by commemorating his infamous televised toilet break against Everton -- surely the goal celebration of the season. Best Player: Morgan Schneiderlin. The 23-year-old Frenchman dazzled in midfield and is now coveted by Arsenal. Worst Player: Vegard Forren. Much was expected from the Norwegian international when he arrived in January, yet he mysteriously failed to play a single game. The future looks: Bright. Pochettino was hired with loftier goals in mind than merely avoiding relegation. With a talented young core, and time to inculcate his trademark brand of aggressive football, a sense of ambition next season would not be misplaced. http://espnfc.com/feature/_/id/1454703/premier-league-2012-13-club-club-review-11th-20th?cc=4716 A decent summary, but quite how they can nominate Forren as the worst player when he didn't actually play a single minute is beyond me. I take it this guy didn't see any of our games where Danny Fox played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 ESPN summary fair but agree harsh on Forren. Fox was our consistently worst player, Jos had a terrible start but did show great character to improve and feature regularly although will find it harder to nail down a place next term. Adam is copping a lot of criticism presently but remember how well he was playing before he got injured v Reading and when he came back in the new year he never got started again. He is plenty good enough for this level but just needs an extended pre-season starting a couple of weeks early along with Forren and Gaston to really get strong and in top condition. What we do need is more competition up front, which MP has alluded to, express pace in wide areas (Lens) and more defensive reinforcements. Might be another keeper coming in as well if Kelvin moves into a coaching role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legod Third Coming Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 ESPN summary fair but agree harsh on Forren. Fox was our consistently worst player, Jos had a terrible start but did show great character to improve and feature regularly although will find it harder to nail down a place next term. Adam is copping a lot of criticism presently but remember how well he was playing before he got injured v Reading and when he came back in the new year he never got started again. He is plenty good enough for this level but just needs an extended pre-season starting a couple of weeks early along with Forren and Gaston to really get strong and in top condition. What we do need is more competition up front, which MP has alluded to, express pace in wide areas (Lens) and more defensive reinforcements. Might be another keeper coming in as well if Kelvin moves into a coaching role. Lallana not half the player since injury as he was before. However, this is not helped by making him captain and picking him! He should have been out for longer, come back stronger and then had to fight his way back in. He's classy as they come on his day and easily good enough for this league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Barby1 Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 Enjoyed this season massively! Hopefully with a couple of summer signings we can push on and improve next season. Also, check out my video of the lap of honour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 A decent summary, but quite how they can nominate Forren as the worst player when he didn't actually play a single minute is beyond me. I take it this guy didn't see any of our games where Danny Fox played. It's a rubbish summary. Forren was the obvious and correct pick though because he was a £3.5m signing that didn't kick a ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 Forren was never meant to play a big part this season, how many times does this have to be repeated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 Forren was never meant to play a big part this season, how many times does this have to be repeated? You'll be repeating it until he starts in August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 21 May, 2013 Share Posted 21 May, 2013 Forren was never meant to play a big part this season, how many times does this have to be repeated? Is a fair point. Only have to look at the QPR comments re: Samba's fitness when they signed him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 Forren was never meant to play a big part this season, how many times does this have to be repeated? Who has mentioned him "playing a big part"? He hasn't kicked a ball. Not even managed a two minute run out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 Who has mentioned him "playing a big part"? He hasn't kicked a ball. Not even managed a two minute run out. We've been good defensively since he came in and his agent has said that the intention was always next season. A strange player to pick for most awful player. Might as well pick Lee or Hanmond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 We've been good defensively since he came in and his agent has said that the intention was always next season. A strange player to pick for most awful player. Might as well pick Lee or Hanmond. Not really as we didn't pay £3.5m for either of them this season for them not to kick a ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 Not really as we didn't pay £3.5m for either of them this season for them not to kick a ball. Why does it matter? The club wanted him and he would have gone elsewhere, some big clubs were interested in Jan. Clearly not our worst player of the season as the club were never interested in using him this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 Why does it matter? The club wanted him and he would have gone elsewhere, some big clubs were interested in Jan. Clearly not our worst player of the season as the club were never interested in using him this season. How do you know that? Based purely on what his agent said? If he's that good, how can he not even displace Hooiveld? Why didn't we buy him for this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 How do you know that? Based purely on what his agent said? If he's that good, how can he not even displace Hooiveld? Why didn't we buy him for this year? He's been on a program to build strength and stamina. His reading of the game and technical ability is what attracted Saints and many other clubs around Europe but his general shape has never been good enough for the PL, he's had work to do. Never any urgency from the club, happy to work with him for remainder of the season and over pre season and player happy with this approach as well. From a member of technical coaching staff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reynoldson!! Posted 22 May, 2013 Share Posted 22 May, 2013 My mate told me earlier that we took points off every team bar Man U (who we lead against in both games), Spurs (who we bashed last time we met) and WBA (...). NOT BAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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