Unbelievable Jeff Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 We've been cack for a while - well before the prospect of CL football was extinguished, leaving us only with Europa and well before Forster got injured, though his injury certainly exposed the cracks. I think cack is a bit far, we struggled scoring, we weren't playing badly. The thing that swung it for me was Les Reed saying we'd supplement our first team squad with those from the under 21's, instead of bloating our squad - which is fair enough - but shows that we're not bothered. It's frustrating for the fans, I understand, bit the money is not there in the Europa - you get more money finishing 8th instead of, say 13th, than you do for getting to the first knockout round. I just don't think it's worth the risk for the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srida1991 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 http://find-yourselfheree.blogspot.com/2015/05/thiago-alcantara-if-messi-played.html Thiago Alcantara : If Messi played a goalkeeper will .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 I think cack is a bit far, we struggled scoring, we weren't playing badly. The thing that swung it for me was Les Reed saying we'd supplement our first team squad with those from the under 21's, instead of bloating our squad - which is fair enough - but shows that we're not bothered. It's frustrating for the fans, I understand, bit the money is not there in the Europa - you get more money finishing 8th instead of, say 13th, than you do for getting to the first knockout round. I just don't think it's worth the risk for the club. agree with that. seems not a great deal of money will be spent in the summer. I am guessing top 10 will be the aim again next season, like this. Just so frustrating that we are going to bottle it and miss Europe. I just can't see the top of the league being this weak again next season...this was our chance never mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 http://find-yourselfheree.blogspot.com/2015/05/thiago-alcantara-if-messi-played.html Thiago Alcantara : If Messi played a goalkeeper will .... what is this shyt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 (edited) what is this shyt? School holidays ? Anyway we don't need 2 idiots posting the same thing on every thread, sort it out mods. Edited 12 May, 2015 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 (edited) I think cack is a bit far, we struggled scoring, we weren't playing badly. The thing that swung it for me was Les Reed saying we'd supplement our first team squad with those from the under 21's, instead of bloating our squad - which is fair enough - but shows that we're not bothered. It's frustrating for the fans, I understand, bit the money is not there in the Europa - you get more money finishing 8th instead of, say 13th, than you do for getting to the first knockout round. I just don't think it's worth the risk for the club. Frankly I don't see a huge drop off in performance - whether it was our laboured wins against Newcastle, QPR and Palace or our frustrations against Wham, WBrom and Swansea (notwithstanding an excellent first half) -all of which happened while we still had a shot at the top four, we've been on a similar trajectory for a while. If it seems worse now, it's probably because of Forster's injury and the fact that we're deeper into an already long season. Agree to some extent about Les Reed, though he is the master of bluster and overstatement. After last summer and even before, we've all learned to take his words with a pinch of salt (which doesnt make them any less exasperating). Just as I have no doubts that players will be off, I'm also pretty sure we'll add to squad depth should we qualify for Europa. In each case, he's simply trying to talk the club up (whether it's our ability to call the shots on transfers or the strength of our Academy) rather than reveal any real information. Edited 12 May, 2015 by shurlock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Why would they want it? Because its a great achievement for the club? Because it's a significant step for growing our club and our aim of being top 6? Because it grows the club brand (for want of a better term). If we're not aiming for top 6, what are we aiming for? Having a decent crack at teh Europa and finishing 11th is surely better than not playing in the Europa and finishing 8th? It's pretty obvious that the club will want Europa League football. Was our poor rus in December and February because we didn't want Europa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 what is this shyt? He was first here on Sunday under a different name, again with a link to his blog and was promptly banned. Was here last night, so this is his third different username. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 . In each, he's simply trying to talk the club up rather than reveal any real information. That is all he's doing, sometimes well, sometimes over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 1 Did not replace JRod when it was pretty obvious he was out for the season. 2 Paid 12M for a proven 6 goal a season striker. 3 Paid 10m for a keeper who is only slightly better than what we had. 4 Did replace the poor back up keepers with someone better. 5 Did not replace Lallana with a goal scoring midfielder 6 Replaced the ineffective Ramerez with three similar ineffective players. 7 Did not get the deadwood of the books. 8 Did not strengthen in Jan to cover for suspensions and injuries. 9 Become complacent with regards to European qualification ( re this weekends newspaper story regarding playing the U21,s ) 10 Koemans limited ability to recruit players from outside of the Dutch league. I do enjoy that every player we are linked to either is dutch, has played in the dutch league (esp. feyenoord) or plays weekly premier league football. Not exactly pioneering approach to scouting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfahaji Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Let's face it, if we were doing what Swansea are now in terms of their run of form, and still ended in 8th, we'd be pretty happy with life. You're right, but it shouldn't really be that way, should it? Although they will be happy with 8th and ecstatic with anything above, we are the ones who actually sat second in the table at one point, and for at least two thirds of the campaign were genuinely in contention to finish in the top 4. The sheer excitement and joy that phase of the season gave us shouldn't be overlooked just because the final position doesn't reflect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redslo Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Seems like a cop-out if you say it out loud to a non-Saints fan, but i do wonder if the motivation, either consciously or sub-consciously, dropped once the Champions League shot drifted away. Whatever Koeman and the team say about finishing in Europe, we have surprisingly poor in recent games against average teams and lacked drive and motivation. The only recent game we went at it was Spurs, which clearly we were desperate to win and should have, which shows they can get up for it at this stage of the season and it isn't just poor form. That said, if someone said that to me and they supported a team like us, i'd tell that them they were talking b****cks and were just playing s**t. However you look at it: 1) 8th would be a great result considering where we started the season 2) It will also be a huge disappointment for us as supporters considering how the season has panned out (if not for the management perhaps) Let's face it, if we were doing what Swansea are now in terms of their run of form, and still ended in 8th, we'd be pretty happy with life. You may be right, but the Champions League slot had not yet dropped away when our quality of play fell off. We are 11 points behind Manchester United and we threw 10 points away in February. If the team actually gave up on the Champions League and started playing poorly, they gave up too soon. (Or to put it another way, the Eleven points we dropped in our last five games would also have kept us in contention.) We just stopped scoring goals. Were we just lucking in the first part of the season or were our players underperforming in the second part of the season. No way to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 5) Aziz Yebda is a Skate ! I'll go for number 5 ! You're thinking of Hassan Yebda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 You may be right, but the Champions League slot had not yet dropped away when our quality of play fell off. We are 11 points behind Manchester United and we threw 10 points away in February. If the team actually gave up on the Champions League and started playing poorly, they gave up too soon. (Or to put it another way, the Eleven points we dropped in our last five games would also have kept us in contention.) We just stopped scoring goals. Were we just lucking in the first part of the season or were our players underperforming in the second part of the season. No way to know. the main point that you have to consider is that even when we were playing well and scoring at the start of the season the bulk of the goals scored by our principal striker were against poor teams, 2 in the rout of Sunderland, 2 against an abysmal Newcastle. The fact is that Pellè is not good enough to score against better teams and we don't have an alternative having wasted 12 million pounds on Long. People will say you're a clown, an idiot..I can live with that but Koeman's tunnel vision concerning Pellè has been our downfall. Strikers like Pellè do not score shedloads of goals in the PL, he's not quick enough of foot or brain to be where he needs to be when he needs to be more often than not. Big lumps don't score a great deal in the PL any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAY-Z Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 the main point that you have to consider is that even when we were playing well and scoring at the start of the season the bulk of the goals scored by our principal striker were against poor teams, 2 in the rout of Sunderland, 2 against an abysmal Newcastle. The fact is that Pellè is not good enough to score against better teams and we don't have an alternative having wasted 12 million pounds on Long. People will say you're a clown, an idiot..I can live with that but Koeman's tunnel vision concerning Pellè has been our downfall. Strikers like Pellè do not score shedloads of goals in the PL, he's not quick enough of foot or brain to be where he needs to be when he needs to be more often than not. Big lumps don't score a great deal in the PL any more. Maybe if cortese hadn't wasted so much money on Osvaldo, Ramirez, Mayuka, gazzaniga we would have better depth in key areas. One thing you are right about is players like pelle don't score shedloads - generally these players cost at least twice as much as pelle For me the biggest difference is how teams are playing against us. First half of the season there was low expectation and games were much more open. As we continued to get good results teams started to respect us more and more so closed the field up against more. What we don't have is enough key variety in attack, especially in the number 10 type role to continually unlock opposition defences which drags our midfield forward more and leaves more chances at the back for counter attacks. As long as we keep most of the team together they will learn a stack more upon reflection during preseason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Maybe if cortese hadn't wasted so much money on Osvaldo, Ramirez, Mayuka, gazzaniga we would have better depth in key areas. One thing you are right about is players like pelle don't score shedloads - generally these players cost at least twice as much as pelle For me the biggest difference is how teams are playing against us. First half of the season there was low expectation and games were much more open. As we continued to get good results teams started to respect us more and more so closed the field up against more. What we don't have is enough key variety in attack, especially in the number 10 type role to continually unlock opposition defences which drags our midfield forward more and leaves more chances at the back for counter attacks. As long as we keep most of the team together they will learn a stack more upon reflection during preseason Any cost arguement is totally negated by the fact that we wasted 12 million on a bit part player like Long. That is just totally unexplainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALWAYS_SFC Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 5) Whinge, whine, snivel,cry like a child who has his toys taken way by his big brother, slag players off, claim we should have signed him , him,blah blah etc, slag off Koeman and the board and just about anyone we can think of then go off an sulk somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarrettIvo Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 I'm sure things'd be better if old Harry was in charge. He knows how to get the best out of a bunch of good lads. Pity his knees are shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScepticalStan Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 It is easy to forget that in the perfectly possible scenario that Spurs (who are playing dreadfully) manage to drop any points against Hull (who will fight for all their worth to get a point), then all we need is a win against Villa and Spurs will have to beat Everton away on the final day to have any chance of catching us even if we do get hammered by City. Likewise, if Swansea were to lose to City they would need to beat Palace away to catch us even if we lose both of our next two games. I think we're just as likely to finish 6th as we are 8th. You can talk about form all you like, but form comes and goes and you can never predict when (besides which, Spurs are doing just as badly as us). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 It is easy to forget that in the perfectly possible scenario that Spurs (who are playing dreadfully) manage to drop any points against Hull (who will fight for all their worth to get a point), then all we need is a win against Villa and Spurs will have to beat Everton away on the final day to have any chance of catching us even if we do get hammered by City. Likewise, if Swansea were to lose to City they would need to beat Palace away to catch us even if we lose both of our next two games. I think we're just as likely to finish 6th as we are 8th. You can talk about form all you like, but form comes and goes and you can never predict when (besides which, Spurs are doing just as badly as us). Yep, that's true. It's all very, very tight. People will say our game is tough cause they're fighting for their lives, same can be said of Spurs home game. A very interesting weekend, makes it exciting! As long as we win, we'll be alright for 7th minimum, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sussexsaint Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 What a great season , enjoyed that. Next.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint86 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Even IF we finish 8th we have managed to improve on last season despite having our entire first team squad ripped apart, whilst also massively improving the clubs finances... I really hoped that our fanbase wouldn't turn into every other stale and arrogant set of plastics that expect success as a premier league birth right rather than having progress and sustainability. Considering where this club has been in recent years you'd think we would ALL savour sustainable top half premier league football... It is staggering that we can't as fans enjoy this.... aside from LM there has been no better time to be a saints fan with 5 straight years of success, being the media darlings and a period this season where expected to beat arsenal at home, united home and away and gave chelsea very good run's for their money. People moan about forster.... jesus christ why. We've have signed a very capable first team goalie that will see us through for 10 years... To do this we upset an irratic pole who cost us points single handedly last season. Tadic set a joint record for assists in a game this season. Pelle has had one bad lapse but has still hit double figures... Bertrand better than shaw... Mane is a player with great potential and will either do it with us or make us a tidy proft... Toby could well be joining for £7m.... Lovren cost us more and cost Liverpool £20m... Duricic, Elia are loans... no commitment... Beyond me why people slam the clubs transfers this season... I repeat again, we have improved on last season even if we finish 8th... the first team was ripped asunder, and we have drastically improved the clubs finances... Plus the u21's are showing great potential, winning the u21 cup and having 7 of them in the squad when we smashed everton... The posts on here sound like they are from children who throw their toys out of their pram when they don't get exactly what they want, when they get it..... Seriously, if you can't handle that not being the case then go and support chelsea. I for one am really please about the season, considering I had serious doubts over renewing my season ticket last summer and was gutted when we sold Lambert, Lallana, Shaw, chambers etc.... Part of me really did fear for the club for a few days... so to have improved is some achievement.... Just look what liverpool and tottenham did with their millions.... Support the team ladies... lets try not to slam every player who plays for us shall we Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 1)didn't want Europa anyway! 2)Europa cup ruins your season 3)rather go for top 4 next year 4)Pelle is **** 5) Look where we were last summer 6) Look where we were 5 years ago (the oldies are the best) 7) Didnt sign a keeper Didnt sign a striker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monk Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 "Could be worse, we could be Pompey" or "At least we didn't go down." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sussexsaint Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 we're staying up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxford_lou Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 1. Bugger 2. But who cares, what a season. 3. Can't wait for the next one. 4. Koeman is King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Thinking about it, if a Europa Cup campaign means we get dragged into a relegation fight it could be a disaster considering the increase in Prem prize money the season after. I wild be gutted to miss out on a European trip but you can see why the club's priority must be staying up next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 the main point that you have to consider is that even when we were playing well and scoring at the start of the season the bulk of the goals scored by our principal striker were against poor teams, 2 in the rout of Sunderland, 2 against an abysmal Newcastle. The fact is that Pellè is not good enough to score against better teams and we don't have an alternative having wasted 12 million pounds on Long. People will say you're a clown, an idiot..I can live with that but Koeman's tunnel vision concerning Pellè has been our downfall. Strikers like Pellè do not score shedloads of goals in the PL, he's not quick enough of foot or brain to be where he needs to be when he needs to be more often than not. Big lumps don't score a great deal in the PL any more. Our downfall being our highest ever points total in the PL (possibly our highest ever finish) after having the guts ripped out of the team last summer? Lets hope the next few seasons are filled with downfalls to if this what a downfall looks like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Thinking about it, if a Europa Cup campaign means we get dragged into a relegation fight it could be a disaster considering the increase in Prem prize money the season after. I wild be gutted to miss out on a European trip but you can see why the club's priority must be staying up next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Thinking about it, if a Europa Cup campaign means we get dragged into a relegation fight it could be a disaster considering the increase in Prem prize money the season after. I wild be gutted to miss out on a European trip but you can see why the club's priority must be staying up next year. Have we just found Dalek's other account;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Kent Saint Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 8th is fine, next season is to look forward to we will be at Villa to see a much needed home win !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Our downfall being our highest ever points total in the PL (possibly our highest ever finish) after having the guts ripped out of the team last summer? Lets hope the next few seasons are filled with downfalls to if this what a downfall looks like... I still don't get all this we're doing as well as can be expected stuff, to me only Lallana hasn't been replaced correctly and we've spent a whole lot of money. Bertrand is and always was a better player than Shaw, Lambert was at the end of the road, Lovren...well you all like to laugh at his "deboires" and Toby is a good player, pity we didn't sign him permanently last summer and Chambers was a back up RB. So yes Lallana is missing but none of the others is of any great import, we got good money for them all, more than we probably should have done so let's knock off all the poor old us we've done well considering stuff eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicestersaint Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 It's a disgrace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 It's a disgrace! apparently not, we're doing "as well as can be expected" seemingly. Mind you from my limited experience of hospitals when they tell you that it's not usually a very good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ART Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Time to remind everyone of the story of the "HARE AND THE TORTOISE" It's he who crosses the finishing line first who wins the race Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Should've finished higher of course, but I'd have bitten your arm off if you offered 8th last summer. That pretty much sums it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 I still don't get all this we're doing as well as can be expected stuff, to me only Lallana hasn't been replaced correctly and we've spent a whole lot of money. Bertrand is and always was a better player than Shaw, Lambert was at the end of the road, Lovren...well you all like to laugh at his "deboires" and Toby is a good player, pity we didn't sign him permanently last summer and Chambers was a back up RB. So yes Lallana is missing but none of the others is of any great import, we got good money for them all, more than we probably should have done so let's knock off all the poor old us we've done well considering stuff eh. Mostly replacing the players we lost. We have done better than last season so what the hell you were expecting is beyond me. Like it or not there is a glass ceiling that the club has hit breaking the top six is a mammoth task that isn't going to happen easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 (edited) Mostly replacing the players we lost. We have done better than last season so what the hell you were expecting is beyond me. Like it or not there is a glass ceiling that the club has hit breaking the top six is a mammoth task that isn't going to happen easily. Right, I didn't want to remind you all of this Ralph gem from last September but it seems that I have no option; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2754285/Southampton-stronger-following-summer-exodus-claims-chairman-Ralph-Krueger.html So if we're stronger we should be doing better right ? If you dig about on Redslo's blog or in the forum archives I'm sure that you can find the original audio Solent interview. Edited 12 May, 2015 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Right, I didn't want to remind you all of this Ralph gem from last September but it seems that I have no option; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2754285/Southampton-stronger-following-summer-exodus-claims-chairman-Ralph-Krueger.html So if we're stronger we should be doing better right ? If you dig about on Redslo's blog or in the forum archives I'm sure that you can find the original audio Solent interview. but we are doing better..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 but we are doing better..... The bloke is a loon, there's no reasoning with him, just look through all of his posts from today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 The bloke is a loon, there's no reasoning with him, just look through all of his posts from today. Over this no, our form since we took 26 points from 12 games has been patchy, these last few weeks it has become poor. As long as the majority are content with it and accept small compensations like a couple more points or 1 place better I guess it's OK. For me we've not done as well as we could have expected mainly due to management errors. I'll leave it there I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 I've already used the "some great holidays coming up" line if we don't make it into the Europa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalek2003 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Our squad will never really be any deeper than it is now. We're not a big enough club to have huge numbers of top 8 standard players sat on the bench. In which case it would be prudent to keep out of the Europa League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalek2003 Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Thinking about it, if a Europa Cup campaign means we get dragged into a relegation fight it could be a disaster considering the increase in Prem prize money the season after. I wild be gutted to miss out on a European trip but you can see why the club's priority must be staying up next year. Wise words indeed. At last people are coming over to my way of thinking, it has been a very lonely season until recent times but now it is becoming very crowded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Finishing 6th or 7th doesn't make us immune from relegation, it's arrogant to think otherwise. Same applies to clubs like Swansea, Stoke etc. Clubs our size will only ever be one bad season away from a relegation battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Meh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 12 May, 2015 Share Posted 12 May, 2015 Finishing 6th or 7th doesn't make us immune from relegation haha yes it does u IDIOT! omg read the rules ffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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