Who do you want to blame?...

[david in sweden]

....for the setbacks?. Stats are always interesting -aren't they. So here goes...

 

Games 1-10 . W5 D4 L1 Goals 11-4 = 19 points

 

we played a fairly settled starting side in nearly all of these.

Steven Davis replaced JWP (as a regular starter) after game 3, and Shaw missed only 2 of those 10 starts.

 

Games 11-20 W2 D2 L6 Goals 15-19 = 8 points

(game 11 was the 4-1 Hull victory over Hull),

 

but after which ...Boruc was injured midway through game 12 ( Chelsea) and has missed 7 games since.

Clyne was injured in game 14, as was Wanyama (both have been out for 6 games)...although Clyne few mins. as sub haven't been encouraging to watch.

Fonte was injured game 15 and missed 2 games.

Osvaldo has (disturbingly) been out since game 16 ....and has missed the last 5.

 

JWP and to some extent Schneiderlin have looked a bit off colour, and certainly not upto their "usual standard"

 

Its clear that very few of the " bench regulars " are really upto Prem. standard, although Cork has been fairly impressive, but he's no Wanyama.

Chambers came back and played as if he'd never been away, and was one of the best on show on Sunday.

and despite the negative results - KD looks a whole division better than Gazzaniga ..(who I will not criticise any more than I have in the last 12 months.)

 

It's apparant that "double-training has produced some outstanding performances, but at the same time has taken far more out of the players than we might previously have expected.

 

The regulars (from games 1-10) are clearly the ideal start side, but of the rest .....the likes of Fox, Jos, Lee and even Yoshida don't even come close to the men they replaced, and encouraging as it may seem to be.... Gallagher and Reed must get some real game -time in, if they are to make any impression this season, as " the gap" in their experience is enormous.

 

Blame is difficult to attach (if indeed anyone wants to). There's been a lot of injuries to key players at the same time, and a lack of adequate replacements available.

 

.....the worst may not be over, as we cannot expect the absentees to come back like " Saints Supermen " when they eventually get fit enough for selection. Ce'st la vie !

 

Pochettino seems to suggest " no panic buying ", but Nicola Cortese will be looking anxiously at the rest of the season if we don't start a recovery soon.

Edited 2 January, 2014 by david in sweden

[Rasiak-9-]

The intensity of the winter fixture list, tougher opponents and our fair share of suspensions and injuries.

 

All of which are issues that have been heavily exacerbated by our lack of strength in depth.

[Dalek2003]

Come back to this post after the next 8 and we might be able to answer the question.

[The Kraken]

What setbacks?

 

if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

[DuncanRG]

The intensity of the winter fixture list, tougher opponents and our fair share of suspensions and injuries.

 

All of which are issues that have been heavily exacerbated by our lack of strength in depth.

 

The definitive answer.

[martel]

What setbacks?

 

if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

 

Common sense has prevailed with your post The Kraken, yes the results of late have not gone our way, however, our performances for the most part have been good, do not forget we have a very young team as well and all of them will only get better, two or three seasons from now and providing we keep these young players we will be a real force, we just need to share the vision of NC our manager.

[norwaysaint]

The intensity of the winter fixture list, tougher opponents and our fair share of suspensions and injuries.

 

All of which are issues that have been heavily exacerbated by our lack of strength in depth.

 

Yep. Chelsea could field two teams that were man for man better than our best. It's no disgrace that they were far too strong for us on the day.

[Smirking_Saint]

What setbacks?

 

if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

 

Exactly, all Ive seenover the past couple of weeks is a few bedwetters doing exactly that and the usual crowd attempting to take over the asylum.

 

From what I see we have lost a very able keeper, our two excellent midfielders including Wanyama who I think seems pretty vital to how we play. Added to this the loss of Shaw and Clyne for periods and breaking up the centre back pairing, its not really crazy to think we are going to be not as successful as we were.

 

All that before looking at some of the opposition.

 

Get a grip (not you krak)

[Dig Dig]

Good posts Krakers, Smirkers and Rassa!

[Bobbyboy]

I *want* to blame Guly, Fox, Jos, Gaston, Jonno Quick and if possible Rupert Lowe. I'm finding it difficult right now, but I'm trying my best. Bleddy Michael Wilde also. And Askham. And Souness. And Branfoot, sheesh we'd have beaten Chelsea with ease if not for his reckless management twenty years ago.

[aintforever]

Our start was easy and we had few injuries to key players, that is all.

[CB Fry]

What setbacks?

 

if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

 

Bang on.

 

The fact we are 9th despite having a dreadful run shows just how special our start was.

 

We will have another run of good form in Feb/March/April and we will finish around about where we are now. Happy days.

 

Cup run to cap it all off nicely. Treasure these days I say. It's Saints, it'll be fleeting.

[Turkish]

Bang on.

 

The fact we are 9th despite having a dreadful run shows just how special our start was.

 

We will have another run of good form in Feb/March/April and we will finish around about where we are now. Happy days.

 

Cup run to cap it all off nicely. Treasure these days I say. It's Saints, it'll be fleeting.

 

Not our realistic target of 6th then? How disappointing.

[eurosaint]

When I saw the OP title with the word 'blame' in it, I expected the usual suspects to dominate with their pathetic wind-ups !

Pleased to say that almost all posts have been objective and considered !

Happy new year everyone !

[Dr Who?]

Come back to this post after the next 8 and we might be able to answer the question.

 

This, it could be injuries or could be the fixtures. I would have loved to have seen us in the last 8 with the same team as the first 8.

 

I think we will pick up over the next 2 months.

[Dr Who?]

Oh and I do not blame anyone! We are in this together for 38 games

[Deano6]

I put it down to we have generally beaten teams we are better than and lost to teams we are worse than, with the fixture list putting most of the games against the former before the latter. Our league position is about right. Interestingly if the computer had organised the games in reverse we would have been bemoaning our terrible start to the season, then marvelled at our peaking in "form" to leapfrog other teams into 9th (a little like what happened last year come to think of it).

 

There is also injuries / suspensions / bit of bad luck / congested fixtures thrown in, but it's mainly the first point.

[Horley CTFC Saint]

The intensity of the winter fixture list, tougher opponents and our fair share of suspensions and injuries.

 

 

...and illness - there seems to have been a virus doing the rounds at the club

[Viking Warrior]

I blame nobody . We started well unlike citeh and united . Now they have started toot form . Ours will be back soon . We do not have a divine right to win week in week out . It would be nice but we are Southampton . We have up we have downs . We will be okay keep the faith

[leithsaint]

Am I the only person who is unconcerned with the specific placing in the table, and looks more at a decent improvement on last seasons points tally. To my mind a points total of 54 would be a very good improvement on last season. I guess some people within the club have mentioned challenging for the top 4, I wouldn't discourage that, it's called ambition.

[alpine_saint]

The intensity of the winter fixture list, tougher opponents and our fair share of suspensions and injuries.

 

All of which are issues that have been heavily exacerbated by our lack of strength in depth.

 

Definitely this, but it has been further aggravated by some pretty stupid luxury marque signings.

[leithsaint]

oops wrong thread.

[Rasiak-9-]

I should perhaps add that I'm really quite happy with the season as a whole. I think we're better than everyone below us and not as good as anyone above us and thoroughly merit what is an quite impressive league position of 9th. Certainly I'd be more than happy to finish the season in the top half and absolutely elated if we could manage to win more matches than we lose in only our second season in the Premiership, both would be excellent achievements.

 

Agree with Alpine to some extent re. the marquee signings even though I'm not hugely disappointed with any of them as individuals. (I actually think Osvaldo's been judged quite harshly considering the fact that he's been injured/the manager hasn't been playing him, and could easily have an ordinary but respectable tally of 6-7 goals if he had played against Swansea, Hull, Fulham, Cardiff etc.)

 

Its not so much the marquee signings themselves but the lack of depth and cover that should have been addressed. One example of a player I was crying out for in the summer was Maynor Figueroa, an ordinary but athletic and experienced left-back who can cover at centre-half as well if needs be; we could have easily got hold of him in the summer and relatively cheaply too.

 

I mean I don't want to obsess over Figueroa specifically but that one free signing could have provided us with adequate cover for Shaw/Fonte/Lovren and avoid having to play either Fox or Hooiveld who are just awful, awful weak points in our team that are incredibly easy to exploit.

 

Same issue with the goalkeepers; Kelvin Davis has never been good or consistent enough either in the air or especially when it comes to dealing with low, skidding shots towards his near post and Gazzaniga should have been sold if we think he'll never be good enough or out on loan to a team in the lower leagues to get first-team experience if we think he might be in the future.

[adrian lord]

I blame the parents. And Roma immigrants.

[September Saint]

The definitive answer.

 

+ 1

[Mr X]

I blame that bearded bloke in the sky he's just not pulling the right strings and i believe he may have a drinking problem

[Batman]

What setbacks?

 

if anything we're doing better this season than I thought we might. A top ten finish this season would be a very good achievement IMO. We're on course for that at the halfway stage.

agree

 

I think nearly all teams have the dreaded bad patch. we have ours and we are 9th. that is brilliant

[lifeintheslowlane]

Who's to blame? It has to be said...Clattenburg has a lot to answer for.

 

Apart from that I think the vast majority of fans have got it right...it's been an excellent season, we're playing an entertaining brand of football despite not scoring as many goals as we should have. Not too worried about the "marquee" signings as they are a signal of ambition as well as an aid to performance. I'm sure even the nay-sayers would get a buzz from seeing them eventually produce a return on their outlay. If blame ever needs to be apportioned it comes at the end of the season.

[ericofarabia]

I blame the Red Kit.

 

It worked initially when teams thought they were playing Arsenal or Liverpool, but they now seem to think they are playing Brizzle City and don't give us the respect we deserve.

[Joneth]

With the exception of the second halves of both Chelsea games, we have not been outclassed at any point this season.

 

In terms of performance I don't think theres been a lot of difference between the first 10 and the second 10 games. I think we've been a little unlucky recently (or maybe lucky in the early part) and losing some key players hasn't helped but I don't think we're far off being a very comfortably decent side.

 

We need better cover in defence but other than that I'm pretty happy with what we've got and don't really feel there's much for anyone to be blamed for, we're 9th!

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Injuries, bad fixture list and luck have all played a part in this 'blip' of a run. However, we are still playing well, dominating possession in nearly all games in this run, and if you control the ball you will win more than you lose.

 

No need to panic, yet.

[Batman]

Injuries, bad fixture list and luck have all played a part in this 'blip' of a run. However, we are still playing well, dominating possession in nearly all games in this run, and if you control the ball you will win more than you lose.

 

No need to panic, yet.

by end of feb will see us play some teams at the bottom, it's never easy but better than playing chelsea, man city etc

[um pahars]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone, but I do get the OPs point about evaluating the season so far.

 

Always thought our early season position flattered us to some extent. A relatively easy start to the season, combined with a run of confidence and no injuries/suspensions to really worry about.

 

Injuries to key players in a run of tough games that came thick and fast brought us down to earth.

 

Happy with a mid table position, but need to pick things up to some degree to make sure we don't slip down any further.

[tpbury]

Osvaldo's goal was fairly marquee to me!