Player Perspective?

[Saint Charlie]

Could we really blame any of our better players for taking a look at this last week or so and thinking its time for a change?

 

Thinking of the likes of Morgan, Lallana, Shaw etc. Been with the club a while and have had a great time, but they must surely be thinking about their future, and career prospects, Intl ambitions etc?

 

Season is almost fizzled out in January...uncertainty around the future of the club and what our actual goals are now? Not exactly what they all had in mind in the months since they signed new contracts in the spring/summer of 2013. Ditto almost for the Management team.

 

Seems like a new era, and maybe its the end of one for some of the players - just feels different now, the optimism has gone. Wonder if they feel the same?

[Sour Mash]

I'm sure players are always thinking about their future whether things are going well or not. Things hadn't been going well before NC left anyway, the poor form and injury problems were already there. I'm sure many are disappointed with the form and themselves but they're young so must be confident the team will improve.

 

I imagine if/when any leave in the summer we'll get long threads about how Cortese wouldn't have let it happen despite having no proof of it whatsoever.

Exactly. If Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd or Chelsea come in for any of our players, you couldnt blame them for wanting to go regardless of this last week.

[Window Cleaner]

Could be a tough summer. From their comments they've all been happy and ambitious here, improved together and know they can keep doing so. The potential of this group is great. But it's clear that one leaving for a big fee would dent the ambitions and make all the others question things. If Shaw goes, I think we'll get others looking to follow. Hopefully not Lallana, but there will be interest that could turn his head. Don't think many would want JRod yet, but Lovren, Clyne, Morgan, Wanyama and Lallana could all get a lot of attention.

 

 

 

Would make the owners public enemy no 1 though so seems unlikely.

 

Morgan turned down (well Cortese helped him) Sociedad last summer because he wanted to stay here and be part of the progress towards great things. They were offering about 16 million and of course European football, I do wonder if he's not regretting that now. It was documented somewhere or other, perhaps in one of the long interviews he gave to the French media when we were riding high what seems ages ago now. With all eyes on Griezmann at Real now you'd just have to wonder what he might have made of that chance.

[Dig Dig]

I'm sure players are always thinking about their future whether things are going well or not. Things hadn't been going well before NC left anyway, the poor form and injury problems were already there. I'm sure many are disappointed with the form and themselves but they're young so must be confident the team will improve.

 

I imagine if/when any leave in the summer we'll get long threads about how Cortese wouldn't have let it happen despite having no proof of it whatsoever.

 

The players will want to see that the club are growing and able to match their ambition as they grow as players. We've been in a unique position to do that whilst attracting a calibre of players which will keep the team challenged and comforted that the club wants to push forward.

 

Without showing intent this window and next, we will lose a core of our best players over the summer.

 

The impact of Cortese going will either be minimal if you have never rated him or significant if you did.

[buctootim]

Morgan turned down (well Cortese helped him) Sociedad last summer because he wanted to stay here and be part of the progress towards great things. They were offering about 16 million and of course European football, I do wonder if he's not regretting that now. .

 

Real Sociedad are no bigger than Saints though really. Obviously, Inter, Real Madrid, Bayern etc would all turn his head - Real Sociedad, not so much.

[Batman]

Real Sociedad are no bigger than Saints though really. Obviously, Inter, Real Madrid, Bayern etc would all turn his head - Real Sociedad, not so much.

 

they were playing CL though?

[Barry Sanchez]

Real Sociedad are no bigger than Saints though really. Obviously, Inter, Real Madrid, Bayern etc would all turn his head - Real Sociedad, not so much.

 

Yes they are, to answer that statement quickly.

[buctootim]

they were playing CL though?

 

Were they? tbh I didnt check. Ive been to their ground which is no bigger than SMS and last time i looked they were 7th or 8th in La Liga

[Batman]

Were they? tbh I didnt check. Ive been to their ground which is no bigger than SMS and last time i looked they were 7th or 8th in La Liga

 

yeah, they were

they are 6th currently a few points off the CL spot

[aintforever]

The impact of Cortese going will either be minimal if you have never rated him or significant if you did.

 

I don't think it matters much about his ability at all, no player is going to be that bothered about the skill set of a CEO. The only reason to worry is WHY he left. In my opinion it is probably down to Liebherr not wanting to finance his little dream.

 

If Cortese has promised the players something that cannot be delivered then he has left us with a big problem.

[Saint Charlie]

I don't think it matters much about his ability at all, no player is going to be that bothered about the skill set of a CEO. The only reason to worry is WHY he left. In my opinion it is probably down to Liebherr not wanting to finance his little dream.

 

If Cortese has promised the players something that cannot be delivered then he has left us with a big problem.

 

Surely the players would be bothered by the CEO's ability, as in many cases they are directly linked to the fortunes of the club and its progress?

[aintforever]

Surely the players would be bothered by the CEO's ability, as in many cases they are directly linked to the fortunes of the club and its progress?

 

I expect the only thing they would have cared about is Cortese's ability to get hold of loads of Leibherr's money - that is what success is linked to.

[S-Clarke]

Surely the players would be bothered by the CEO's ability, as in many cases they are directly linked to the fortunes of the club and its progress?

 

I'd say as a player, if anything, you'd be more worried about the ownership of the club. The same people own us at the end of the day, so in that sense not a great deal should change. The figurehead may have gone, but the people defining the stability and financial security of the club are still there.

 

And KL hasn't done anything wrong thus far, business as usual in the most part.

[aintforever]

I'd say as a player, if anything, you'd be more worried about the ownership of the club. The same people own us at the end of the day, so in that sense not a great deal should change. The figurehead may have gone, but the people defining the stability and financial security of the club are still there.

 

And KL hasn't done anything wrong thus far, business as usual in the most part.

 

I hope you are right but my gut feeling is that if the money was still there Cortese would still be there.

[Sour Mash]

I don't think it matters much about his ability at all, no player is going to be that bothered about the skill set of a CEO. The only reason to worry is WHY he left. In my opinion it is probably down to Liebherr not wanting to finance his little dream.

 

If Cortese has promised the players something that cannot be delivered then he has left us with a big problem.

Exactly this really.

[S-Clarke]

I hope you are right but my gut feeling is that if the money was still there Cortese would still be there.

 

I don't think they've ever been the sort to flash the money around, I believe that ML left a pot of money for the club - which he entrusted Cortese to use. His untimely death lead to that being transferred into a trust fund as such, but it wasn't a bottomless pit and you'd have to say that over £70m spent in the last 2 seasons has probably eaten away at a good deal (and that's not including wages, the staplewood redevelopment etc).

 

At the end of the day the pot of money was to be used to progress the club in the short term and to enable us to stand on our own 2 feet, it did that and we're now at a level which I think is a true reflection of the club. I remember ML's comments when he first arrived, his seemed to believe that we should be a Top 10 PL club - which we are. The CL stuff was always a pipe dream and would never have been achieved with the backing of the family, if we wanted to move to that level then we'd need a Man City style takeover.

 

Overall we need to look at it as we're not in trouble, we're secure, stable and have a fantastic infrastructure which wasn't here 3 or 4 years ago. Our upward curve was always going to take a slope down at some point, and it looks like the next 12-18 months will be that down point, but the practices and infrastructure put in place over the last 5 years should ensure that it's not too huge a slope.

[aintforever]

I don't think they've ever been the sort to flash the money around, I believe that ML left a pot of money for the club - which he entrusted Cortese to use. His untimely death lead to that being transferred into a trust fund as such, but it wasn't a bottomless pit and you'd have to say that over £70m spent in the last 2 seasons has probably eaten away at a good deal (and that's not including wages, the staplewood redevelopment etc).

 

At the end of the day the pot of money was to be used to progress the club in the short term and to enable us to stand on our own 2 feet, it did that and we're now at a level which I think is a true reflection of the club. I remember ML's comments when he first arrived, his seemed to believe that we should be a Top 10 PL club - which we are. The CL stuff was always a pipe dream and would never have been achieved with the backing of the family, if we wanted to move to that level then we'd need a Man City style takeover.

 

Overall we need to look at it as we're not in trouble, we're secure, stable and have a fantastic infrastructure which wasn't here 3 or 4 years ago. Our upward curve was always going to take a slope down at some point, and it looks like the next 12-18 months will be that down point, but the practices and infrastructure put in place over the last 5 years should ensure that it's not too huge a slope.

 

I'm not sure spending £15mill fees and 60K a week wages on players like Osvaldo is our true level though.

[Dig Dig]

I'm not sure spending £15mill fees and 60K a week wages on players like Osvaldo is our true level though.

 

With the prem money these days, neither figure is unusual at all. Times have moved on, even since 2005.

[Doctoroncall]

I'm not sure spending £15mill fees and 60K a week wages on players like Osvaldo is our true level though.

 

 

I think the deal is with a few good international players signed it would be the quickstart of raising the standard to one that could be sustained with more home grown products within the 'world class' learning and training environment over the coming seasons.

 

One aspect of Cortese that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is the absolute control that he wanted which obviously KL was against. It's not clear how much money is avialable and is still in the pot to use for player purchase. But I'd hope there is a better evaluation of players and who to offer a deal to than we have recently as the team cannot afford to have players that don't perform or take too long to get up to a level that will be of benefit.

[S-Clarke]

I'm not sure spending £15mill fees and 60K a week wages on players like Osvaldo is our true level though.

 

TV Deal has changed the landscape. A few years ago Swansea spending £13m on someone like Bony would have been seen as bizarre, similarly on Norwich for spending over £25m in one window. Would say that based on the PL money and our general income, that's now our sort of level fee and wage wise.

[Batman]

I'm not sure spending £15mill fees and 60K a week wages on players like Osvaldo is our true level though.

 

how have you come to that?

[aintforever]

TV Deal has changed the landscape. A few years ago Swansea spending £13m on someone like Bony would have been seen as bizarre, similarly on Norwich for spending over £25m in one window. Would say that based on the PL money and our general income, that's now our sort of level fee and wage wise.

 

I hope so, I just think Saints being 3rd highest spenders last summer hints at us living beyond our means. Hopefully we will carry on the same way anyway. Only time will tell.

[NickG]

Could we really blame any of our better players for taking a look at this last week or so and thinking its time for a change?

 

Thinking of the likes of Morgan, Lallana, Shaw etc. Been with the club a while and have had a great time, but they must surely be thinking about their future, and career prospects, Intl ambitions etc?

 

Season is almost fizzled out in January...uncertainty around the future of the club and what our actual goals are now? Not exactly what they all had in mind in the months since they signed new contracts in the spring/summer of 2013. Ditto almost for the Management team.

 

Seems like a new era, and maybe its the end of one for some of the players - just feels different now, the optimism has gone. Wonder if they feel the same?

 

I credit our players with being more rationale and less fickle than supporters such as OP.

 

You say yourself they were happy in summer of 2013.

 

So if they are going to take your lead and review things five months later, what will they think?

 

They will think that as far into the season as 23 November we were playing Arsenal with opportunity to go top. Arsene Wenger saying one of best two sides he has played this season.

 

They will remember that as far into the season, and before being hit by injuries we were 1-0 up at half time away from to Chelsea playing better.

 

They will be proud that England management have recognised the ability of Clyne, Shaw, JayRod, Ward-Prowse, Lallana and Lambert - amazing. Three players in full England side.

 

International prospects? Ignoring the fact we are the England managers pet club haven't Yoshida, Wanyama, Lovren, Osvaldo, Steve Davis, Boruc and Ramirez all played internationally since the Spring /Summer?

 

7 December we played Man City. Probably one of the top 5 sides in Europe at the moment. Facing side with Kompany, Toure, Nasri, Ageuro, Navas, Nagredo, Dzeko etc.

We finished game with a young side of 21, 18, 24,30,18, 19,23,24, 18, 24, 27.

Pellegrini said pleased with point and " Southampton are a good team and if you give them the ball they have dangerous players,*I felt for us that it was a good point, not that we lost two points,’ he said.

 

‘Southampton played very well, they had better possession of the ball.

 

‘Southampton have good players to keep it, and they tried to play.*

 

Vincent Kompany said of our boys " " I think Southampton were actually in control of the game.

 

"We will look at this and think that we did not get beaten and moving on it was a tough game so wasn't a bad result."

 

 

"Every team should be disappointed if they don't manage to maintain a result," he said. "But it is a very good Southampton team and many teams will lose points here.

 

"It did feel like a top game, it did feel like we were playing a top side, so for us we take a positive out of the point and if we manage to win the next game then ultimately we will be happy with the draw."

 

But he is only a title winning international captian and premier league player of the season.

 

Season fizzled out? Goals gone?

 

What were your goals in the summer? Top half? Well that goal may not excite you because looks so comfortable.

 

Still chance of finishing 7th!

 

Still in FA cup.

 

We have 5 players with some chance of playing for England in Brazil world cup final.

 

Won 3 out of last 6, with two defeats against 3rd and away to 6th.

 

They were so happy 5 months ago....where did it all go so wrong??!!

 

Or is it just irrational fickle fans in a panic reading articles in mail so clearly muddled they contradict themselves?