does the future look good for Pelligrino?

[Toomer]

Newcastle got benitez so you never know.

 

I think Newcastle is a slightly more attractive draw than us despite Mike Ashley.

[saintsmike25]

Everyone is calling for Pellegrino's head yet no-one can think of a suitable replacement. Even if he played 4-4-2 there would be no difference in results. This is the same crowd calling for Puel's head. If we drew 1-1, this reaction wouldn't have happened.

The problem doesn't stem with the manager or the talent or the players it's the players attitude, the only ones really performing at the moment are Forster (yes I said it), Yoshida, Long (at least he works hard), Lemina and at times Romeu.

There's no sense of togetherness and it really shows, and the lack of understanding is the issue, everyone is overplaying and too scared of making mistakes, we need our attacking players to shoot and cross, yet we always end up losing the ball around 25-yards out after promising breaks as we overplay it without any end product, this stems our movement as no players ever make the runs because they know they won't recieve the ball. And when we do find a striker or someone in behind there's a lack of support.

Its not rocket science, it's clear that the players need to stick to a manager for more than a season to get back to good attacking patterns. Under Poch/Koeman/Adkins there was stability for more than a season, and I think under Puel we'd probably be playing alot better than we ended last season.

 

It would be a mistake to get rid of the manager, but at the same time he needs to be brave and make some changes, Redmond/Tadic need some time on the sidelines. Bertrand has been awful so far compared to his previous form, I'd happily prefer Targett who will and has improved - until Bertrand sorts out his attitude, I'd also like to see more of Boufal and hopefully the return of Josh Sims means more competition for places and FFS start Gabbi!

[9-3]

These are worrying times. Need to sort quickly. Oh for a Lambert or Pelle....goal scorers!!!

[Dark Munster]

I think MP is good and will come good. He can't be blamed for his attacking options.

Claude was.

[danjosaint]

He can when he's not playing them

[hypochondriac]

I think Newcastle is a slightly more attractive draw than us despite Mike Ashley.

Not sure I'd necessarily agree. Maybe not now, but a couple of seasons ago I would say we were as attractive a draw as any team outside the top 7.

[CB Fry]

Everyone is calling for Pellegrino's head.

 

I don't think this is quite true just yet.

[View From The Top]

I've heard no one calling for his head at any game I've been to including today.

 

That said, I really don't rate him, he's far, far to conservative, even more than Puel was.

 

He needs to grow a pair and drop Redmond.

[nta786]

Find room for Stuart Taylor too. Couldnt give a toss 'if he's a funny guy'.

 

Most of our shooting in training takes place against a dross bloke in his thirties who's had a handful of first team games.

 

Funny because in the warm ups today before kick off, for a lot of the shots they still couldn't score past him and Long even had a shot that went over the nets and into our block :lol:

[Dangermouth]

I want Les Reed to go, and Wilson too. Recruitment of attacking players is the issue.

 

 

Last season I thought you were too much of an apuelogist; this season I find I agree with you a lot. I am, regrettably, still to be convinced by MP and find myself starting to lean towards the 'he's too inflexible, doesn't get it, wants to play slow, boring, pointless football' people although I am going to give him until December/January. After that, I think we'll be fighting off relegation again so I'd call up BFS and ask him to come and save us. The future's bright, the future's not the current board (but I hope we don't start giving silly jobs to nephews of friends and the like). : ((

[Turkish]

Surely all that matters is the standard of his interviews? Puel was immediately a punchbag for the dinlows because he was boring, so as long as Pellegrino performs better in front of the mic you lot will be happy.

[Pedro]

Changing managers every time things don't look good isn't the answer, history shows that clubs that keep changing rarely improve. Palace, Blackburn, Bolton, Birmingham etc.

[broncoboy]

Changing managers every time things don't look good isn't the answer, history shows that clubs that keep changing rarely improve. Palace, Blackburn, Bolton, Birmingham etc.

 

You don't seriously think the fans will put up with a manager who continues to select a team that can't score a goal or win a match at home? It may well be his options are limited but he picks the team and if he can't fix the problem he's gone no matter.

The alternative is morale will hit the floor and we get relegated. At Xmas the club will make the decision that he can't fix it and pray the next manger can even if it's not guaranteed the next one will do any better

 

 

The fixtures running up to Xmas are tough and with the window opening they will not trust him and sack him

 

Merry Xmas MP , well not in your case

[doddisalegend]

You don't seriously think the fans will put up with a manager who continues to select a team that can't score a goal or win a match at home? It may well be his options are limited but he picks the team and if he can't fix the problem he's gone no matter.

The alternative is morale will hit the floor and we get relegated. At Xmas the club will make the decision that he can't fix it and pray the next manger can even if it's not guaranteed the next one will do any better

 

 

The fixtures running up to Xmas are tough and with the window opening they will not trust him and sack him

 

Merry Xmas MP , well not in your case

 

People said the same about Puel and the same about Koeman (during the mid winter slump in his second season) neither of them were sacked in Jan and neither will MoPe be.

[davefizzy14]

This is insane in my opinion. We are 7 games into a new season! Pellegrino needs time to put across his ideas & methods. After today I am hoping that he will tweak a few things - as we all know it's in the final third. Personally a 3-4-2-1 formation could be good. However even in our favoured 4-2-3-1 we just need to get more bodies quicker into the opposition's box. Hopefully Gabbi and Boufal will be part of the attacking line up for the Newcastle game after the international break. I remember when Poch went to Tottenham it took him time to get his ideas across. Even the Spurs fans were on their backs for their first few home games after they had lost a couple and hadn't scored if I remember correctly.

Edited 30 September, 2017 by davefizzy14

[Lord Duckhunter]

Changing managers every time things don't look good isn't the answer, history shows that clubs that keep changing rarely improve. Palace, Blackburn, Bolton, Birmingham etc.

 

Changing the manager when we finish 8th & get to a cup final is not the answer.

 

The supporters lost their fuvking head after the league cup defeat & the club should have stood firm, but they lost theirs as well. Oh Claude upset the little darlings, so ****ing what, they needed upsetting. Now they've got a guy in they want to play for, they like , and surprise surprise, they're even worse than last year.

 

But we are where we are. The guys been handed a poisoned chalice, hopefully he can grow into the job and our ****ing idiot supporters don't hound him out.

 

 

 

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[Badger]

I want Les Reed to go, and Wilson too. Recruitment of attacking players is the issue.

 

But who is there at the club with any knowledge and likely to make such decisions ? Kruger has entrusted the football side of things to Les Reed so until Gao or Nelly appoint someone of their nomination it seems unlikely. Unless Gao already has a 'football consultant' giving advice of course.

 

Given some of the other kneejerk selections by Chinese owners (Zola at Birmingham comes to mind) be careful what we wish for.

[Pamplemousse]

Changing the manager when we finish 8th & get to a cup final is not the answer.

 

The supporters lost their fuvking head after the league cup defeat & the club should have stood firm, but they lost theirs as well. Oh Claude upset the little darlings, so ****ing what, they needed upsetting. Now they've got a guy in they want to play for, they like , and surprise surprise, they're even worse than last year.

 

But we are where we are. The guys been handed a poisoned chalice, hopefully he can grow into the job and our ****ing idiot supporters don't hound him out.

 

 

 

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That therein lies the problem. We seem to have far too many of them.

[Turkish]

Changing the manager when we finish 8th & get to a cup final is not the answer.

 

The supporters lost their fuvking head after the league cup defeat & the club should have stood firm, but they lost theirs as well. Oh Claude upset the little darlings, so ****ing what, they needed upsetting. Now they've got a guy in they want to play for, they like , and surprise surprise, they're even worse than last year.

 

But we are where we are. The guys been handed a poisoned chalice, hopefully he can grow into the job and our ****ing idiot supporters don't hound him out.

 

 

 

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Bang on pal.

 

Puel was no where near as bad as the *****s make out, still they got what they wanted, it's be goals galore since he went

[Forester]

Bang on pal.

 

Puel was no where near as bad as the *****s make out, still they got what they wanted, it's be goals galore since he went

I agree. I enjoyed many good away trips watching Puel's side, 4 at Sunderland 4 at Watford, 3 at Wet Spam, wins at WBA, Boro, good draws at Man City and Scousehampton. The there was the great cup run with wins at Arsenal and Liverpool. We fired him because we didn't score enough goals at home including three home games in a dead end month of May.

 

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, what is undisputabke surely is that Puel was left short with failure to replace Pelle and Mane, and then had VVD and Austin injured for half the season. He also had two games a week with Europa and League Cup action.

 

MP has week in, week out uninterrupted coaching time following the shambles against Wolves Reserves and he has a fully fit squad with the additions of Wesley and Lamina. I cannot figure out how some people can't see that he has a much easier deck of cards to play than poor Puel.

[van Hanegem]

It's an old cliche but "a manager is as good as his team performs." It's far too early to finish MP off, imo a new manager needs at least half a season to make progress. However, I too get bored at the moment, especially the lack of creativity is worrying. Tadic doesn't deliver for too long now and it seems Boufal has difficulties to adept. Gabbidiani, Redmond, Austin, Long etc. are not the players who are likely to create their own chances and to be honest: I don't really rate them as great finishers also. So there's a challenge for MP... Hopefully Les Reed will help him in the next transferwindow.

[Dark Munster]

I agree. I enjoyed many good away trips watching Puel's side, 4 at Sunderland 4 at Watford, 3 at Wet Spam, wins at WBA, Boro, good draws at Man City and Scousehampton. The there was the great cup run with wins at Arsenal and Liverpool. We fired him because we didn't score enough goals at home including three home games in a dead end month of May.

 

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, what is undisputabke surely is that Puel was left short with failure to replace Pelle and Mane, and then had VVD and Austin injured for half the season. He also had two games a week with Europa and League Cup action.

 

MP has week in, week out uninterrupted coaching time following the shambles against Wolves Reserves and he has a fully fit squad with the additions of Wesley and Lamina. I cannot figure out how some people can't see that he has a much easier deck of cards to play than poor Puel.

Spot on. I was (still am) worried that this was going to be another Nicholl->Br*nf**t and Luggy->Wigley/Saggy disaster. We all know the rumours that Puel lost the dressing room (or at least some of the senior pros), and if so it's not just Reed and the fans that are to blame.

 

Anyway, what's done is done, and it's far too early to write off MP. Defensively we're light years ahead of 2004/5 (even in goal if FF can replicate today's performance). So maybe just a Redmond-Gabbi swap can kick-start the season.

[austsaint]

It's an old cliche but "a manager is as good as his team performs." It's far too early to finish MP off, imo a new manager needs at least half a season to make progress. However, I too get bored at the moment, especially the lack of creativity is worrying. Tadic doesn't deliver for too long now and it seems Boufal has difficulties to adept. Gabbidiani, Redmond, Austin, Long etc. are not the players who are likely to create their own chances and to be honest: I don't really rate them as great finishers also. So there's a challenge for MP... Hopefully Les Reed will help him in the next transferwindow.

 

Sums it up well for me. Pep, Jose and Conte would have trouble getting results and goals with the attacking personnel Saints find themselves with. While the recruitment of Lemina and Hoedt have been first class, the current group of attacking players are an indictment on Reed and the Board. MP might not be the answer but it's folly to think that Long, Redmond, Tadic, Jwp, Davis (at 32) and Austin could be transformed by a higher profile Manager.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Apparently scoring goals is the hardest thing in football according to our genius Manager. Well it isn't so hard to score against us. He is making it all so much harder for himself by persisting with his ideology and relying on Redmond and Tadic to deliver it. He MUST change personnel or tactics or he will be on the way out soon. 4-5-1 WITH TADIC AND REDMOND IS NOT WORKING.

[Heisenberg]

Kick in the balls or a headbutt. Puel or Pellegrino

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Kick in the balls or a headbutt. Puel or Pellegrino

 

Perhaps you deserve both..

[Saint Billy]

Nothing in MP's past ever suggested he would come here and bring attacking expansive football with him, how on earth Reed thought this is beyond me.

[ally_uk]

Just need to go back to basics.....

 

Gabba on the left, Austin in the middle and Long on the right.

 

Redmond on the bench

 

Tadic / Boufal as a no 10.

 

I think the manager and players are to blame. Looking at the team sheet for the Stoke game my immediate reaction was we are not winning this with Long as a striker..... Secondly two of our technically gifted players not starting? ( Boufal, Gabba)

 

Is this manager a clown or out of his depth? Silly decisions....

[mrfahaji]

It's just staggering that they sacked Puel for lack of goals and entertaining football (despite finishing 8th & getting to the cup final) and replace him with someone who is ****ing worse!!!!! What sort of recruitment process do they apply ffs?? I am fed up with these managers that set up the team not to lose rather than actually having a go at winning the game, and continue to persist with a system that clearly isn't working. Why as fans can we see it but the so called experts (eg manager & coaches) can't see it???? I want a manager in charge of Saints that has a connection to the club, is PASSIONATE, and can motivate this bunch of players.

 

Boring manager = boring football = bored fanbase. I can't see anything changing anytime soon unless the board admit they have made a mistake (which they won't do)

 

You're in luck, Redknapp is available.

[mrfahaji]

Nothing in MP's past ever suggested he would come here and bring attacking expansive football with him, how on earth Reed thought this is beyond me.

 

This is true. And unlike most jobs where a good CV and interview can be enough to convince a prospective employer to take you on, a fair chunk of a football manager's work is in the public domain. There were people on here (and some articles online) who said Alaves weren't a high pressing or attacking team. I genuinely think Pellegrino's off the field similarities, and his friendship with Pochettino were what made Reed give him the job.

 

That being said, I'm still hopeful he can turn it round. But if he plays the same team next time out, that is a bad sign.

[CB Fry]

Puel was clearly a very competent manager, could stick a team out that was solid and competitive, and steered us to eighth and to a cup final despite missing a key striker and our best player across the two halves of the season, plus huge fixture congestion before Christmas.

 

The season ended badly, and it did feel a slightly harsh but understandable decision to sack him.

 

But the issue is the replacement of him with a flavour-of-the-month unproven replacement. Clearly Les had the "he's found another hidden gem" headlines already written in his head but it is not looking like he is anywhere near the standard required. He's certainly not the step up we were led to believe we were getting after sacking a manager for finishing eighth.

 

Thankfully I think we have enough quality in the squad to stay up especially when clearly there are worse teams than us about, but it's going to be a long season and feel we will be rolling the dice, Watford style, all over again in the summer.

[saintadam]

Any sensible fan should not be calling on Pellegrino head. Seven games in and talking about sacking the manager is utter madness. We’ve obviously not been effective in the final third but we are showing signs of (slow) improvement. I think the performances has not been bad at all. We should have won yesterday, and we should have won against United (who are in beast mode right now). Reading in here you would believe we are ****ing Palace, 0 goals, 0 points.

 

Its a shame we didn’t get that attacking midfielder we clearly are in need of. Everyone knows it, Pellegrino, Reed and the fans. For some reasons it didn’t happen but we are not far from being a VERY good team. Boufal showed som good signs yesterday and hopefully he can kick on.

 


Finally, isn’t time to stop go on about Puel? Jesus, he's like an old love-story for some in here. He’s gone, get over it.

Edited 1 October, 2017 by saintadam
spelling, hey I'm swedish forgive me

[doddisalegend]

Any sensible fan should not be calling on Pellegrino head. Seven games in and talking about sacking the manager is utter madness. We’ve obviously not been effective in the final third but we are showing signs of (slow) improvement. I think the performances has not been bad at all. We should have won yesterday, and we should have won against United (who are in beast mode right now). Reading in here you would believe we are ****ing Palace, 0 goals, 0 points.

 

Its a shame we didn’t get that attacking midfielder we clearly are in need of. Everyone knows it, Pellegrino, Reed and the fans. For some reasons it didn’t happen but we are not far from being a VERY good team. Boufal showed som good signs yesterday and hopefully he can kick on.

 


Finally, isn’t time to stop go on about Puel? Jesus, he's like an old love-story for some in here. He’s gone, get over it.

 

 

Why should we have won yesterday? If it wasn't for Forster we'd have been 4-0 by half time. We were utter crap yesterday throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Stoke for the last 10 plus stoppage time doesn't make us a good team harshly beaten.

[SaintMB]

I don't think you can judge every game on how it'd have been with no goalkeeper.

[saintadam]

Why should we have won yesterday? If it wasn't for Forster we'd have been 4-0 by half time. We were utter crap yesterday throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Stoke for the last 10 plus stoppage time doesn't make us a good team harshly beaten.

 

We had 70 % possession, more chances, more crosses, more control of the game. We should have won. We were clearly the better team, especially first half and end of the second half.

[Turkish]

Puel was clearly a very competent manager, could stick a team out that was solid and competitive, and steered us to eighth and to a cup final despite missing a key striker and our best player across the two halves of the season, plus huge fixture congestion before Christmas.

 

The season ended badly, and it did feel a slightly harsh but understandable decision to sack him.

 

But the issue is the replacement of him with a flavour-of-the-month unproven replacement. Clearly Les had the "he's found another hidden gem" headlines already written in his head but it is not looking like he is anywhere near the standard required. He's certainly not the step up we were led to believe we were getting after sacking a manager for finishing eighth.

 

Thankfully I think we have enough quality in the squad to stay up especially when clearly there are worse teams than us about, but it's going to be a long season and feel we will be rolling the dice, Watford style, all over again in the summer.

 

It ultimately came down to who was left. As we know the black box manager mode has an incredible ability to be tracking managers for years who all just happen to be out of work when we need one. After either we or Marco Silva decided each other wasn't right we were unsurprisingly rejected by Tuchel, Schmidt went to china and that left De Boer and Pellegrini as the only names out of work, um I mean black box recommendations left that we had honestly been tracking for like literally years and had them lined up anyway, honestly we did. It was just coincidence that just like when we appointed Puel and Koeman all the managers we had be tracking for years were all out of work then too.

[Saints foreva]

We had 70 % possession, more chances, more crosses, more control of the game. We should have won. We were clearly the better team, especially first half and end of the second half.

 

How many saves did Butland have to make?

 

They were pretty comfortable for the majority of the game.

[Badger]

We had 70 % possession, more chances, more crosses, more control of the game. We should have won. We were clearly the better team, especially first half and end of the second half.

 

How many saves did Butland have to make?

 

They were pretty comfortable for the majority of the game.

 

This is nothing new, has been the story of the last two seasons though. Even under Poch there were times we could dominate the first half, not make that count, and fall apart in the second.

[DuncanRG]

But the issue is the replacement of him with a flavour-of-the-month unproven replacement

 

What does this mean?

Edited 1 October, 2017 by DuncanRG

[GGalpin]

If the line of thinking was after the players complained about Puel, that a new manager would be able to get a tune of them, then clearly it hasn't worked.

 

I don't blame either Puel or Pellegrino for the lack of goals as I don't think our attacking options are good enough, and they don't seem to be link together in the same way Tadic/Pelle/Mane or Rodriguez/Lambert/Lallana could.

 

I feel that they need to buy another forward, but I don't really see how that would improve it unless we sign 2-3; do we sign a striker to play off like Lambert, or a forward to come from wide positions to score goals like Mane or Rodriguez? Even then that may not work.

[Forester]

Puel was clearly a very competent manager, could stick a team out that was solid and competitive, and steered us to eighth and to a cup final despite missing a key striker and our best player across the two halves of the season, plus huge fixture congestion before Christmas.

 

The season ended badly, and it did feel a slightly harsh but understandable decision to sack him.

 

But the issue is the replacement of him with a flavour-of-the-month unproven replacement. Clearly Les had the "he's found another hidden gem" headlines already written in his head but it is not looking like he is anywhere near the standard required. He's certainly not the step up we were led to believe we were getting after sacking a manager for finishing eighth.

 

Thankfully I think we have enough quality in the squad to stay up especially when clearly there are worse teams than us about, but it's going to be a long season and feel we will be rolling the dice, Watford style, all over again in the summer.

A very astute summary

[Sour Mash]

If the line of thinking was after the players complained about Puel, that a new manager would be able to get a tune of them, then clearly it hasn't worked.

 

I don't blame either Puel or Pellegrino for the lack of goals as I don't think our attacking options are good enough, and they don't seem to be link together in the same way Tadic/Pelle/Mane or Rodriguez/Lambert/Lallana could.

 

I feel that they need to buy another forward, but I don't really see how that would improve it unless we sign 2-3; do we sign a striker to play off like Lambert, or a forward to come from wide positions to score goals like Mane or Rodriguez? Even then that may not work.

 

I would have bought an attacking player this summer and consider that an error from the club, but that doesn't mean Pellegrino isn't underachieving, there's plenty of fairly average sides scoring more than us in the Premier League right now.

[East Kent Saint]

Saints need an attacker who is good in the air , can win a header in the box and get shots in . Pelle always had plenty of half chances that he hit first time , of course a lot of these shots went wide etc but some were goals. I would think Gabbi would feed off a target man like Pelle who had alot of flicks and chest ons etc and at least moved the ball on quickly not taking endless touches before losing all momentum.

[Poolesaint]

what other prem league manager leaves last seasons top scorer (Austin) and our best striker (Gabi) on the bench week after week in preference to a guy that hasn't scored in 19 games (Long) !!!!!!! We have the players, we don't have the manager

 

Spot on

 

 

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[SW5 SAINT]

Changing the manager when we finish 8th & get to a cup final is not the answer.

 

The supporters lost their fuvking head after the league cup defeat & the club should have stood firm, but they lost theirs as well. Oh Claude upset the little darlings, so ****ing what, they needed upsetting. Now they've got a guy in they want to play for, they like , and surprise surprise, they're even worse than last year.

 

But we are where we are. The guys been handed a poisoned chalice, hopefully he can grow into the job and our ****ing idiot supporters don't hound him out.

 

 

 

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This, they should have had someone lined up to replace Puel before they sacked him, if they really thought they could improve on Claude. After all it was the close season. In the end Pellegrino always seemed like a panic appointment.

[Katalinic]

This, they should have had someone lined up to replace Puel before they sacked him, if they really thought they could improve on Claude. After all it was the close season. In the end Pellegrino always seemed like a panic appointment.

 

Wasn't it fairly well documented that we thought we had Roger Schmidt in the bag except at the last minute he was offered a fortune to go to China?

[Wade Garrett]

How has Sims been playing for the U23s?

[qwertyell]

How has Sims been playing for the U23s?

 

He hasn't. Did his knee in preseason. Not expected back in 2017.

[saint77]

Saints need an attacker who is good in the air , can win a header in the box and get shots in . Pelle always had plenty of half chances that he hit first time , of course a lot of these shots went wide etc but some were goals. I would think Gabbi would feed off a target man like Pelle who had alot of flicks and chest ons etc and at least moved the ball on quickly not taking endless touches before losing all momentum.

 

Boy do we all now realise what we had in pelle

[SuperSAINT]

If the line of thinking was after the players complained about Puel, that a new manager would be able to get a tune of them, then clearly it hasn't worked.

 

I don't blame either Puel or Pellegrino for the lack of goals as I don't think our attacking options are good enough, and they don't seem to be link together in the same way Tadic/Pelle/Mane or Rodriguez/Lambert/Lallana could.

 

I feel that they need to buy another forward, but I don't really see how that would improve it unless we sign 2-3; do we sign a striker to play off like Lambert, or a forward to come from wide positions to score goals like Mane or Rodriguez? Even then that may not work.

 

We need both. Never replaced Pelle or Mane properly, IMO.

 

I always felt it was a risk deciding to not stick with a big-man up top. Lambert was brilliant & Pelle served as a very good replacement.

 

Nothing was broken -- I didn't see the need to fix it.