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Yorkshire Saint

Who should replace Ronald Koeman?  

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  1. 1. Who should replace Ronald Koeman?



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Called Garcia back on page 14 and still a fan. Would be great news if we can get him. Definite step up from Koeman manager pedigree wise. Blooded 9 academy players in his 2.5 years at Roma, plays 4-3-3, took a club of similar stature in Lille up the table. My favourite stat is still him leading at halftime 51 times during his time at Roma, from there he won 46 times, drew 5 times, never lost. That suggests he breeds discipline and focus in the team and has the tactical nous to counter tactical counters. If we get him it's a coup imo.

 

Pretty good early call matt; I hope you had some money on at that stage. Obviously a long way from being over the line, but you would certainly have over-the-odds if you followed your hunch at the time!

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Pretty good early call matt; I hope you had some money on at that stage. Obviously a long way from being over the line, but you would certainly have over-the-odds if you followed your hunch at the time!

 

No money but i'd still be buzzing if we land him. We'd have taken Everton for mugs; upgraded our manager and they're effectively paying him.

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I wonder if Pellegrini will be one of the candidates?

 

Can I point out that this latest info backs up Jack Schitt's account earlier in the week?

 

He said that there were two unnamed candidates (presumably Garcia and mystery man) who we're leading the field. After that came Yakin, Pellegrini, Jemez, Howe and Pereira in the back-up section with Avb and Fdb further down the list and (thankfully) Moyes nowhere to be seen.

 

To me this seems to align with our core principals of playing attacking, possession-based football in a 4-3-3 pressing stylee with promotion of academy players.

 

Like the sound of Garcia and very optimistic about the process.

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Koeman rumoured to be after kevin Strootman of Roma.

Could it be a player Saints would of wanted if we bring in Garcia?

 

 

Which players of Roma could do a job for Saints as they have many good players in their squad.

 

Think there's no way he'd come here, even less of a chance of him going to Everton sans-Europe

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I've seen a few Roma fans moan about Rudi Garcia but you can't get beyond the fact that he delivered them some of their most exiting attacking football in a tough period for them as well as in his first season getting their record points tally and clean sheets. I think he would thrive at a stable club like ours where he will be able to have an input in transfers unlike at Roma as well as not being under the constant pressure and high expectations of Roma supporters.

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Koeman rumoured to be after kevin Strootman of Roma.

Could it be a player Saints would of wanted if we bring in Garcia?

 

 

Which players of Roma could do a job for Saints as they have many good players in their squad.

 

He has a worse injury record than Lee Holmes and Marian Pahars put together, I'd rather steer well clear.

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I've seen a few Roma fans moan about Rudi Garcia but you can't get beyond the fact that he delivered them some of their most exiting attacking football in a tough period for them as well as in his first season getting their record points tally and clean sheets. I think he would thrive at a stable club like ours where he will be able to have an input in transfers unlike at Roma as well as not being under the constant pressure and high expectations of Roma supporters.

 

Yep, because he wont be under constant pressure and high expectations from Saints supporters!

;)

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Seeing how far his odds have fallen, perhaps he already has ;)

 

If he REALLY wanted to treat himself, he could be putting Garcia's name out there knowing that he's second favourite... Saints fans lump on, odds tumble, mystery man suddenly appears in the betting at high odds, KBS wins a wedge and retires to the Maldives.... :suspicious:

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I believe they are at the moment. If i'm honest neither were well known to me so can't say anything for or against either candidate but both would be intresting. It would to many of our fans be like when Poch was appointed, many asking who?.

 

Eduardo Berizzo at Celta Vigo? Another Bielsa disciple.

 

Vincenzo Montella? Former Fiorentina manager. Only sacked because he fell out with the owner.

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MLT on Talk****e again this am. The large headed Scottish buffoon asked him about the new manager saying that we would miss transfer targets now the fixtures were out without someone in the hotseat. MLT was his normal laid back patient self and explained again how the club wasn't necessarily dependant on this being in place at this point in time. He said that the club would recruit as they had before finding the right manager to fit the style of play that the club were aiming for rather than the other way round. Brazil then went on to quiz MLT about specific names. He was very diplomatic when asked about the possibility of Moyes coming in, saying he wasn't perhaps the best fit in terms of the style of play the club are after at which point Brazil using his extensive imagination moved on to Roberto Martinez as a potential manager. I think Matt just about gave up at this point, pointing out that we would like to defend rather better than Martinez's teams do.

 

It is easy to be dismissive of Brazil but he is of his time. It does demonstrate once again how little pundits, broadcasters and print media understand about the philosophy that Saints have. They are stuck in the past where the manager (often a big personality) brings their own style to a club rather than the other way round and they struggle with the idea that our recruitment process isn't plastered over the back pages or in the public domain. Everton/Koeman anyone?

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First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about

Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also

followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to

watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd

like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've

seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia

and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but

there is more to Garcia than just his statistics.

 

 

So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when

the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals

Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first

season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football

with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and

defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place

and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared

that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the

man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto.

 

 

Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their

first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by

refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they

had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the

title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met

Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards

things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor

Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of

draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with

the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into

2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly

outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites

at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd

place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away

the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were

also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half

time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa

Italia, again by Fiorentina.

 

Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had

started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend

against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma

to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no

answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3

formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma

played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly

frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and

they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front

without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of

Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often

blaming it on bad luck or injuries.

 

I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his

formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at

Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to

expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to

attempt changes.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/

 

Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on

but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did

temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't

last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and

embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a

penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia

which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast

majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in

January this year.

 

Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was

harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football

played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen

them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was

just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became

inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It

was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early

on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely

passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until

the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his

tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly.

 

IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that

he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager

but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been

unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come

back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses

the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to

get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

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First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about

Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also

followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to

watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd

like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've

seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia

and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but

there is more to Garcia than just his statistics.

 

 

So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when

the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals

Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first

season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football

with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and

defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place

and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared

that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the

man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto.

 

 

Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their

first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by

refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they

had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the

title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met

Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards

things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor

Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of

draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with

the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into

2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly

outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites

at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd

place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away

the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were

also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half

time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa

Italia, again by Fiorentina.

 

Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had

started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend

against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma

to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no

answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3

formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma

played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly

frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and

they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front

without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of

Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often

blaming it on bad luck or injuries.

 

I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his

formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at

Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to

expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to

attempt changes.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/

 

Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on

but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did

temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't

last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and

embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a

penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia

which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast

majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in

January this year.

 

Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was

harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football

played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen

them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was

just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became

inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It

was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early

on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely

passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until

the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his

tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly.

 

IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that

he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager

but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been

unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come

back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses

the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to

get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

 

Way to dampen the mood ;)

 

Thanks for the insight though, really interesting. I guess stats aren't always the be all and end all!

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First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about

Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also

followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to

watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd

like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've

seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia

and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but

there is more to Garcia than just his statistics.

 

 

So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when

the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals

Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first

season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football

with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and

defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place

and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared

that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the

man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto.

 

 

Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their

first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by

refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they

had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the

title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met

Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards

things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor

Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of

draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with

the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into

2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly

outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites

at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd

place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away

the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were

also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half

time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa

Italia, again by Fiorentina.

 

Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had

started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend

against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma

to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no

answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3

formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma

played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly

frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and

they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front

without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of

Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often

blaming it on bad luck or injuries.

 

I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his

formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at

Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to

expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to

attempt changes.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/

 

Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on

but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did

temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't

last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and

embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a

penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia

which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast

majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in

January this year.

 

Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was

harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football

played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen

them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was

just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became

inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It

was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early

on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely

passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until

the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his

tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly.

 

IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that

he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager

but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been

unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come

back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses

the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to

get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

 

Sounds not dissimilar to Koeman in the Winter until Pelle's injury. (Although tactically Ron did switch us to a wing back formation at one point if memory serves)

 

Cut from very similar cloth.

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First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about

Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also

followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to

watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd

like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've

seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia

and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but

there is more to Garcia than just his statistics.

 

 

So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when

the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals

Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first

season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football

with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and

defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place

and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared

that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the

man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto.

 

 

Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their

first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by

refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they

had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the

title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met

Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards

things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor

Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of

draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with

the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into

2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly

outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites

at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd

place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away

the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were

also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half

time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa

Italia, again by Fiorentina.

 

Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had

started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend

against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma

to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no

answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3

formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma

played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly

frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and

they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front

without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of

Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often

blaming it on bad luck or injuries.

 

I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his

formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at

Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to

expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to

attempt changes.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/

 

Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on

but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did

temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't

last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and

embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a

penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia

which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast

majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in

January this year.

 

Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was

harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football

played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen

them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was

just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became

inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It

was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early

on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely

passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until

the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his

tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly.

 

IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that

he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager

but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been

unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come

back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses

the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to

get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

 

Informative post. Some of the football under Koeman was at times pedestrian and lacking any real innovative penetration. Obviously since turn of the year our attacking play improved and we scored lots of goals albeit to the detriment of our defensive shape and organisation. We got counter attacked far too easily. Im not overly enthused about Garcia but Saints do have a knack of providing the necessary platform for not just players to improve but managers as well.

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It does demonstrates once again how little pundits, broadcasters and print media understand about the philosophy that Saints have. They are stuck in the past where the manager (often a big personality) brings their own style to a club rather than the other way round and they struggle with the idea that our recruitment process isn't plastered over the back pages or in the public domain.

 

I was listening to Andy Goldstein and Jason Cundy on TalkSport on Tuesday evening (same day that Koeman to Everton was confirmed) and they were similarly struggling with the concept of a Premier League club having a different operating model, despite several Saints fans phoning them up to explain what you've outlined above. They were saying it proves how "little" a club Southampton are when they rollover and let clubs like Everton poach their manager, with no regard to the fact that it might have been in our interests to let him go n the circumstances.

 

p.s. don't ask me what I'm doing listening to TalkSport at 10pm at night. It was a momentary lapse of judgement and I promise it won't happen again :)

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I think that some of the points in Saints_is_the_south's post can also be levelled at Poch whom many thought had no plan B. Knowing the Board's attention to detail, I would imagine that they have fully researched the candidates strengths and weaknesses.

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He has a worse injury record than Lee Holmes and Marian Pahars put together, I'd rather steer well clear.

 

Thats what a lot of clubs thought with Van Nistelrooy as well and United thought 'well maybe....' and we know how that worked out. If he would pass his medical just like any other player i would take Strootman in a heartbeat, in shape he's one of the best out there on his position.

 

Not that it matters cause Strootman aint leaving Roma for Southampton.

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First post in a while but felt compelled too when the news broke about

Garcia last night. As well as being a Saints season ticket holder I've also

followed Roma as my foreign team for the past 12 years or so, been out to

watch 25+ games and watched every Roma match during Garcia's tenure so I'd

like to think I'm well placed to offer a bit of an insight into him. I've

seen some on here and twitter who have obviously searched him on wikipedia

and seen his win percentage and overall record with Lille and Roma, but

there is more to Garcia than just his statistics.

 

 

So here goes. Garcia had a fantastic start at Roma, picking them up when

the club was in turmoil after losing the Italian cup final to bitter rivals

Lazio the season before hand. After winning the first 10 games of his first

season in charge (a record in Serie A), the team played some great football

with Totti and Gervinho linking up very nicely indeed in attack and

defensively they were solid as a rock. Roma went on to achieve 2nd place

and a return to the Champions League after a 4 year absence. It appeared

that Roma had found a very talented and special manager and possibly the

man who could one day lead them to the Scudetto.

 

 

Roma started off Garcia's 2nd season in similar fashion, winning their

first 5 games before losing to Juventus in a game heavily influenced by

refereeing errors. Roma's performance in that game however suggested they

had closed the gap to Juve and that they would fight with them for the

title until the very end of the season. Shortly after that game Roma met

Bayern in the CL at home and took a 1-7 hammering. From that moment onwards

things started to go downhill and it's a defeat that neither the team nor

Garcia ever fully recovered from. They soon fell out of the CL and a run of

draws against mid table and lower half teams allowed Juve to run away with

the title. This poor run of form meant that in the end Roma scrapped into

2nd place on the penultimate day of the season. Not a particularly

outstanding achievement given many had considered Roma as title favourites

at the beginning of the season after Antonio Conte had left Juve, and 2nd

place was the bare minimum expected considering Garcia had by far and away

the 2nd best squad in Serie A. During the 2nd half of the season Roma were

also hammered by Fiorentina in the Europa League (3-0 down at home at half

time in the 2nd leg) and knocked out at the quarter finals of the Coppa

Italia, again by Fiorentina.

 

Some real cracks were beginning to appear in Garcia's Roma. Teams had

started to work out his tactics and they became a lot easier to defend

against. Many opponents would sit deep, not allow space in behind for Roma

to counter attack and Gervinho to utilise with his pace and Garcia had no

answer to this. He had no plan B and persisted with the same 4-3-3

formation week in week out and continued to play out of form players. Roma

played some incredibly ponderous football which became increasingly

frustrating to watch, there was no energy or creativity about the team and

they would spend most games passing the balls sidewards and back to front

without threatening the opposition at all. Another annoying feature of

Garcia was his failure to accept responsbility for Roma's poor form, often

blaming it on bad luck or injuries.

 

I've read that his lack of plan B and inability to be flexible with his

formation and tactics also caused problems during his latter seasons at

Lille. This blog written at the time Roma appointed him explained what to

expect from and highlighted his tactical inflexibility and hesitance to

attempt changes.

http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2013/06/19/what-as-roma-fans-can-expect-from-new-boss-rudi-garcia/

 

Roma started off his 3rd season in mixed fashion, beating Juventus early on

but again failing to beat many of the smaller sides in Serie A. They did

temporarily manage to claw themselves to the top of the table but it didn't

last long. A run of 1 win in 10 included one of the most humiliating and

embarrassing results in Roma's entire history. A 0-0 draw followed by a

penalty shoot out defeat at home to Serie B side Spezia in the Coppa Italia

which was one of the final nails in Garcia's coffin. In the end the vast

majority of Roma's fanbase wanted him sacked and we finally got our wish in

January this year.

 

Some will look at Garcia's record at Roma and suggest his sacking was

harsh, but I can safely say that in 12 years of watching them the football

played during his final 12 months is some of the worst I have ever seen

them play. It got to a stage where the prospect of watching a Roma game was

just downright depressing, because the poor performances just became

inevitable and it was obvious Garcia had no idea how to change things. It

was a great shame because the way Garcia embraced the club and city early

on really endeared him to a lot of fans, myself included. He was genuinely

passionate about Roma and come across as a decent guy, and right up until

the very end I still harboured hopes that would turn things around. But his

tactical stubbornness and inability to be flexible cost him dearly.

 

IF Garcia has learnt any lessons from his time at Roma and can prove that

he is able to be flexible then we could do worse. He is a talented manager

but with some real short comings that so far during his career he has been

unable to address. Be prepared for a good start under Garcia, but if I come

back here in a year or two's times to see complaints that he always uses

the same formation, keeps playing out of form players, doesn't know how to

get us out of a bad run of form...etc then I won't be at all surprised.

 

Not convinced he's nailed on. Reckon/Hope the club have something else up their sleeve.

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You can't help thinking what sort of England team would be put out today If Pottychino stayed at Saints.

Thats the bit I enjoy most being a Saints fan when you watch them put on the national shirt.

 

I expect Les wants that too with the Redmond and Chambers deal in the pipeline alongside Garcia?

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He is French, his grandparents left Spain during the civil war.

 

Thus may be Spanish as well, same situation as my wife and she's obtained Spanish nationality with just a very simple proceedure.

They do love a bit of naturalisation do the Spanish, if your antecedents were Jews expelled in 1492 you can get Spanish nationality with a couple of clicks...apparently.

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