Had we’d gone down last season...

[saint lard]

Hypothetical I know.....

How different would this pre season coupled with this transfer window would’ve been?

 

I’m upbeat with the acquisitions thus far and our eagerness to be active in the transfer market.

I know a season does not rely on one result...but that single goal away at Swansea

Was monumental for Southampton FC.

Would you have been looking forward to the challenge of the Championship?......or are you revitalised for the the challenge ahead in the Premier league.

I don’t think I really comprehended the real prospect of relegation.

And all that could have followed with it.

We were a whisker away from a completely different scenario to where we are this pre season.

 

 

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[Saint Fan CaM]

Relegation would have been tough or rather the consequences would have been. I think we’ll have another struggle this year without a better striker coming in...goals win games.

[doddisalegend]

Relegation would have been tough or rather the consequences would have been. I think we’ll have another struggle this year without a better striker coming in...goals win games.

 

 

Unless you're Burnley who scored less than us last season but finished best of the rest because their defence was rock solid.

[Tony F]

Let's not forget, we spent the majority of last season in despair as to how our manager could extract such average performance from a squad with a fairly credible level of depth and quality.

 

If (and let's be clear the jury is still out) Mark Hughes can extract the level of performance that we expect, on a consistent basis, this season, then there's all likelihood we will be up around Burnley position this year.

 

After all, Burnley got there because their manager got the best from the squad. And that's all Mark Hughes needs to do. Don't forget who was the architect of last sessions mess ... and that he's history.

[hypochondriac]

If we had gone down then I wouldn't have worried too much since we deserved it and made a number of terrible decisions that in many other years would have had us nailed on to go down. I would have felt very sorry for the backroom staff, many of whom would have lost their jobs and the saints foundation which I am told would have been pretty much shut down.

[SuperSAINT]

Had we gone down, I suppose we would be looking to sign players from the other 2 teams that went as well.

 

(Judging by all the crazy stuff happening between WBA / Swansea / Stoke at the moment).

[labibs]

Full credit to those on here who suggested we would have signed Maddison had we gone down ?*♂️

[mrfahaji]

Unless you're Burnley who scored less than us last season but finished best of the rest because their defence was rock solid.

 

I'm more confident of Hughes getting a tune out of our attackers than making the defence rock solid though, aren't you? He doesn't have a great track record in that department, and the main reason we improved last year was that we started to show a bit more purpose going forward.

 

Normally I think a good manager can organise a bunch of defenders regardless of quality, but Hughes hasn't convinced me he can do that to the level that some other managers seem capable of.

[CB Fry]

I'm more confident of Hughes getting a tune out of our attackers than making the defence rock solid though, aren't you? He doesn't have a great track record in that department, and the main reason we improved last year was that we started to show a bit more purpose going forward.

 

Normally I think a good manager can organise a bunch of defenders regardless of quality, but Hughes hasn't convinced me he can do that to the level that some other managers seem capable of.

 

I'd say Mark Hughes is far more renowned for defensive solidity rather than attacking flair, his Stoke, Fulham and Blackburn teams were more likely to head up the lowest goals against tally than be free scoring attackers.

[Roo1976]

Relegation would have been tough or rather the consequences would have been. I think we’ll have another struggle this year without a better striker coming in...goals win games.

 

and so would keeping clean sheets if we only score A goal.

[mrfahaji]

I'd say Mark Hughes is far more renowned for defensive solidity rather than attacking flair, his Stoke, Fulham and Blackburn teams were more likely to head up the lowest goals against tally than be free scoring attackers.

 

I suppose if you look at Fulham and Blackburn, you might be right. I'm not sure about Stoke though, they eventually became shaky at the back and it felt that when he followed Pulis he did more with their attack (although maybe inheriting a Pulis team means that is necessarily the case). I thought we were significantly better going forward with him at the helm though, but again perhaps that's because he followed one of the most incompetent managers there has ever been.