Sam Wallace latest Saints Telegraph article

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Nobody has said that Ralph is worse than Hughes and Pellegrino! If we don't get much than 36 points this season, it'd be hard to argue that Ralphs performance this season is better than anything that either of those 2 did. 

Puel. He was better than many give him credit for. Forget comparisons with others, 8th place, and a cup final, was a decent return. 

8th and a cup final without 5 of the players that got us to 6th under Koeman. Strachan also got us to 8th and a cup final and he's remembered as a hero and one of our best ever managers, but then he did do a few funny interviews. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

10 minutes ago, Turkish said:

8th and a cup final without 5 of the players that got us to 6th under Koeman. Strachan also got us to 8th and a cup final and he's remembered as a hero and one of our best ever managers, but then he did do a few funny interviews. 

It was a poor 8th though. Weren't we closer to relegation than 7th?

[Turkish]

Just now, Jeremy Corbyn said:

It was a poor 8th though. Weren't we closer to relegation than 7th?

What is a good 8th? With Strachan we won away at Man City last game of to jump about 3 places, is that a poor 8th as well?

[Dusic]

The whole point with Puel, and the key difference between him and Ralph, is that CP was utterly unable to bring fans along the journey and build any kind of trust or rapport - because he couldn't communicate with us. (I'm pretty sure we did also end the season without a goal at home since Feb or thereabouts).

That is a big flaw, and it cost him at Leicester as well. 

Ralph on the other hand still has a lot of support despite two 9-0 losses and a poor run of form. Why is that?

I would suggest partly because he has shown that he can get the team playing in a a successful, entertaining way and people hope we can return to that, but also because he comes across as likeable, honest, a leader, someone who cares about the club and who fans trust and through the good and bad times we have understood and believed in what he is trying to do, even if it hasnt always worked. That is a powerful position to be in.

There is no value at the moment in any comparison with Puel. We obviously did an awful job of replacing him, but the decision to get rid of him was widely supported.

[SKD]

15 minutes ago, Turkish said:

8th and a cup final without 5 of the players that got us to 6th under Koeman. Strachan also got us to 8th and a cup final and he's remembered as a hero and one of our best ever managers, but then he did do a few funny interviews. 

It’s an interesting argument and I think with the benefit of hindsight, if we could go back to the summer of 2017 I’d back the manager over the players 100%. Although, that being said, I’m still not sure Puel was the right man for us. After all, he didn’t do a great job at Leicester either. 
 

Of course, on paper 8th place finish and a cup final is a huge achievement for a team like ours, but I do think he benefited from a league that outside the top 7 was pretty poor (Bournemouth finished 9th) and bringing in Gabbidini, who was outstanding for the rest of that season (you could argue down to Puel as struggled to recreate that form under anyone else). He also had Fonte and VVD at CB, all be it only for half a season and Tadic. 
 

Last season, despite being pretty shite for half of it, we finished with 2 more wins and 12 more points, but 3 places lower. I guess there’s an argument for what is a better season, more wins / points or a higher league position. 
 

Puel wasn’t a disaster by any means. Pellegrino, Carrillo, and then Hughes full time contract was. Would I rather Puel over those 2? Yes. Did Puel start the rot? I’m not sure, I think he was just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The start of Les / Ross changing strategy and losing the plot. However, the player power ousting Puel has left a cancer in the dressing room now though, in my opinion. 
 

Todays Squad is probably comparable to the second half of Puel’s season, however I think Ralph has a harder job. Puel came in when our stock and confidence was at its highest, Ralph when it’s at its lowest (Plus being hampered by the mistakes made in the Huges / Pellegrino years, both in manager and transfer market). 
 

Regardless of squad and injuries, should we lose 9-0, twice, absolutely not (even given the circumstances of the second one). However, we’re on course to finish about mid table (we’ll probably get c. Same amount of points as Puel achieved), which is roughly our level imo. 
 

Long story short, I don’t think Puel would do any better with this team. But I don’t think we’d have lost 9-0 once, let alone twice. Ralph the better manager, for us at least, imo. 

[SKD]

14 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

There is a huge number of factors. Name a job you think he could get and I'll say if it is better or not.

I’d say everyone in the premier league other than West Brom, Sheff Utd & Burnley would be equal, if not better, than what he’s currently got here. 

outside your traditional top 6 (although I think Tottenham and Arsenal now would), every club would snap him up in a heartbeat if they were looking for a manager and you’re deluded if you think they wouldn’t.  

Salary wise they’d all be able to match what we’re paying him, they’d obviously be able to match what we’re spending in the transfer market (£0) and would all probably offer a similar squad ability wise. 

The only thing we can potentially offer that offers can’t is he’s pretty much free to do what he wants and he won’t get sacked. 

Edited 26 February, 2021 by SKD

[Convict Colony]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Looks like Puel was actually better than Hassenhutl 

 

never thought I would say that 

Not at judging players

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/10533142/nathan-redmond-similar-to-arsenal-legend-thierry-henry-claims-southampton-boss-claude-puel

[sadoldgit]

Blimey, some people are hard to please. I’d be more than happy with a scrappy 8th place and a decent cup final. As for Ralph not being the messiah? I don’t think anyone has given him god like status have they? Those that rate him though can see his commitment and passion for what he does, something that has been sadly lacking for a while. It doesn’t matter what score you lose by, you still lose 3 points but it seems to be a hanging offence to some if you lose by more than 6. Ralph is a gambler. Gamblers don’t always win but they do give you are more interesting journey. He seems to be the polar opposite to Puel and also spilts loyalties, although Ralph seems to have more support from the fans than Claud, no doubt because the football is often more entertaining. You can just imagine this place in the early days of McMenemy’s reign. For me Ralph has earned the right to see out his contract having done wonders with limited resources. It is still a work in progress but performances last year show that progress is being made. Changing managers every five minutes hasn’t worked, so now we have someone worth investing in it is about time we let him get on with the job without calling for his head anytime there is a downturn. Of course questions should be asked when things don’t go well and of course he is not immune to criticism, but we need to understand that the grass isn’t always greener and sometimes you have to endure a bumpy ride in the hope that it will lead to a more smoother ride ahead.

[egg]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

It was a poor 8th though. Weren't we closer to relegation than 7th?

"a poor 8th" !!

8th is 8th, and in a league season you only have to do better than the teams below you that season. 

Flipping your point on its head, if we finish 18th on 42 points and get relegated but 42 points would normally be enough to finish say 12th, nobody would be saying "but it doesn't' matter, it was a good 18th" would they. It would still be 18th which is shit.

8th is good, and better than 11th.

Edited 26 February, 2021 by egg

[CB Fry]

27 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Not at judging players

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/10533142/nathan-redmond-similar-to-arsenal-legend-thierry-henry-claims-southampton-boss-claude-puel

Redmond not getting a look in these days, of course.

[SKD]

21 minutes ago, egg said:

"a poor 8th" !!

8th is 8th, and in a league season you only have to do better than the teams below you that season. 

Flipping your point on its head, if we finish 18th on 42 points and get relegated but 42 points would normally be enough to finish say 12th, nobody would be saying "but it doesn't' matter, it was a good 18th" would they. It would still be 18th which is shit.

8th is good, and better than 11th.

To be fair, if you got relegated on 42 points, I think you’d say, we were bloody unlucky. Like, we were probably lucky to finish 8th that season. It’s a bit of a daft comparison, but I get your gist. 

given 42 points got us so high up the table, it would show that the rest of the league was pretty weak and there’s an argument we should have won more and got more points. 

like I’ve said in a previous post, last season we finished 3 places lower, but 12 points and 3 wins better off (and suffered 5 less losses). To me, that would represent a better season, but the table would suggest it wasn’t? I guess it shows you can’t measure success on any 1 factor. 
 

the main goal in football is to win games. I.e the more you win (or maybe even the less you lose) the better you are. But in this argument, you’re saying that’s not the case. 

Edited 26 February, 2021 by SKD

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, CB Fry said:

There are people on this forum wittering about how we are in the relegation scrap who think we can't get the 36 points achieved by Pellegrino and Hughes. So they're saying Ralph is worse than those two, let alone 46 point, 8th place Puel.

The time to make a judgment is at the end of the season. 

[Whitey Grandad]

13 hours ago, egg said:

I thought this was a wind up at first, but you're actually serious. The only way to judge the success of a league season is by where clubs finish in a league. If a club finishes 3rd on say 80 points, but win the league the following season with say 78 points, on your rationale they've done worse despite winning the title. That's a bit crazy.

8th is better than 11th. 

Because points reflect results more than position does.

[Whitey Grandad]

12 hours ago, Turkish said:

I prefer Ralph too but it’s become gospel Puel was a disaster when he was anything but given the circumstances he had to deal with

His football was a disaster to watch. 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

His football was a disaster to watch. 

At times and other times it was good, like in Milan and in the cup final, plus both games in the cup against Liverpool. We havent been brilliant all the time under any manager we've had. the more dull performances coincided with an injury to Van Dijk and Fonte sold, leaving him with the worst centre back pairing the league. Maybe that had something to do wit it

Edited 26 February, 2021 by Turkish

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

8th and a cup final without 5 of the players that got us to 6th under Koeman. Strachan also got us to 8th and a cup final and he's remembered as a hero and one of our best ever managers, but then he did do a few funny interviews. 

If I hear “8th and a cup final” one more time I shall scream and some people will be in danger of losing their future rectal functions.

We lost in that cup final. What else did we win? Most boring team of the year. Ever?

The real question is whether anybody thinks that Puel would do better this season than any other manager. 

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

If I hear “8th and a cup final” one more time I shall scream and some people will be in danger of losing their future rectal functions.

We lost in that cup final. What else did we win? Most boring team of the year. Ever?

The real question is whether anybody thinks that Puel would do better this season than any other manager. 

Why? it's a valid point, just because you want to put your fingers in your ears and scream "Puel was shit" doesn't take away his achievements with one hand tied behind his back. He was no where near as bad as some make out, he wasn't great and either but people have selected memories. I remember when we beat Burnley 3-1 at St Marys it could have been 10-1 we played brilliant football absolutely battering them. We were great in Milan, we were really attacking when we won 4-0 at Sunderland and 4-3 at Watford back to back weeks. But still he got a few 0-0 draws at the end of the season when we had nothing to play for. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

If I hear “8th and a cup final” one more time I shall scream and some people will be in danger of losing their future rectal functions.

We lost in that cup final. What else did we win? Most boring team of the year. Ever?

The real question is whether anybody thinks that Puel would do better this season than any other manager. 

Puel is middle of road competence wise, much better than MoPo.  His personality and football are dull which is why people don't give him the benefit of the doubt, Ralph is the opposite.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

What is a good 8th? With Strachan we won away at Man City last game of to jump about 3 places, is that a poor 8th as well?

Yes

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

Yes

Please explain why.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Please explain why.

We only just won away at Man City in the last game of to jump about 3 places!

[CB Fry]

13 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

His football was a disaster to watch. 

It's an interesting comparison to look at what was happening at the same point in the Puel season.

Back in Feb 17 Match 25 was our 4-0 victory at Sunderland and Match 26 first week of March was our 4-3 win at Watford. Our 26th match is on Monday.

Then, as I was checking I wondered for a second why there was such a big gap between those games in Feb and March.

I wonder if anyone can remember what we were doing in that last weekend of February....? 

What a disaster.

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

At times and other times it was good, like in Milan and in the cup final, plus both games in the cup against Liverpool. We havent been brilliant all the time under any manager we've had. the more dull performances coincided with an injury to Van Dijk and Fonte sold, leaving him with the worst centre back pairing the league. Maybe that had something to do wit it

Milan? I was there too. I’m pretty certain that we lost. Abjectly.

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Why? it's a valid point, just because you want to put your fingers in your ears and scream "Puel was shit" doesn't take away his achievements with one hand tied behind his back. He was no where near as bad as some make out, he wasn't great and either but people have selected memories. I remember when we beat Burnley 3-1 at St Marys it could have been 10-1 we played brilliant football absolutely battering them. We were great in Milan, we were really attacking when we won 4-0 at Sunderland and 4-3 at Watford back to back weeks. But still he got a few 0-0 draws at the end of the season when we had nothing to play for. 

Because I had to sit through all those turgid games. I have never been so bored in my life and yes, I was there for the Branfoot games too. And to be honest I was never as bored during those.

[Turkish]

Just now, Jeremy Corbyn said:

We only just won away at Man City in the last game of to jump about 3 places!

Okay that was a poor 8th too 🤣

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Milan? I was there too. I’m pretty certain that we lost. Abjectly.

Because I had to sit through all those turgid games. I have never been so bored in my life and yes, I was there for the Branfoot games too. And to be honest I was never as bored during those.

Yes we lost but we could have won but were the betrer team and missed loads of chances, we played well. 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

It's an interesting comparison to look at what was happening at the same point in the Puel season.

Back in Feb 17 Match 25 was our 4-0 victory at Sunderland and Match 26 first week of March was our 4-3 win at Watford. Our 26th match is on Monday.

Then, as I was checking I wondered for a second why there was such a big gap between those games in Feb and March.

I wonder if anyone can remember what we were doing in that last weekend of February....? 

What a disaster.

You're not allowed to mention the cup final because it doesn't suit some peoples agendas. 

[saintrich]

I thought we did well to grind out some clean sheets given Fonte sold and Van Dijk injured, we clearly were more cautious for the right reasons. Shame we couldn't have ground out 0-0's at Newcastle and Leeds this season. 

[CB Fry]

6 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Milan? I was there too. I’m pretty certain that we lost. Abjectly.

I was there and clearly this is bullshit.

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I was there and clearly this is bullshit.

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Italians somehow come away with win amid terrible Saints misses in San Siro (thesun.co.uk)

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Saints miss several chances before Candreva winner - Daily Star

Inter 1 Southampton 0: Candreva seals fortunate win for Inter | FourFourTwo

I was there too and the media seem to agree with our memory, not Gramps selective one

[CB Fry]

10 minutes ago, Turkish said:

You're not allowed to mention the cup final because it doesn't suit some peoples agendas. 

In fairness I can remember standing in that massive beer garden place near the ground thinking what a boring disaster it all was.

Edited 26 February, 2021 by CB Fry

[Whitey Grandad]

45 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

In fairness I can remember standing in that massive beer garden place near the ground thinking what a boring disaster it all was.

What the fuck does standing in a beer garden have to do with the way that we played the game? Did you actually go inside the stadium? I can remember lounging on a beach in Barbados thinking what a wonderful time I was having.
 

I have had countless wonderful trips to Europe but I didn’t have to sit through a boring game to have a good time at those.

 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

48 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Italians somehow come away with win amid terrible Saints misses in San Siro (thesun.co.uk)

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Saints miss several chances before Candreva winner - Daily Star

Inter 1 Southampton 0: Candreva seals fortunate win for Inter | FourFourTwo

I was there too and the media seem to agree with our memory, not Gramps selective one

Like you and others I have been to many great away games and come away thinking we were unlucky to have lost. This wasn’t one of them.

Getting there was none of Puel’s doing either.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Yes we lost but we could have won but were the betrer team and missed loads of chances, we played well. 

That sums up most of our time supporting Saints.

[CB Fry]

3 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

What the fuck does standing in a beer garden have to do with the way that we played the game? Did you actually go inside the stadium? I can remember lounging on a beach in Barbados thinking what a wonderful time I was having.
 

I have had countless wonderful trips to Europe but I didn’t have to sit through a boring game to have a good time at those.

 

 

That was a reference to Wembley not Milan.

Was that boring for you too?

[Turkish]

19 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Like you and others I have been to many great away games and come away thinking we were unlucky to have lost. This wasn’t one of them.

Getting there was none of Puel’s doing either.

I think you must have been at a different game then as i've not spoken to a single person or read a single report in the 3 years + since that game that agrees with you. i think 6,999 saints fans left the San Siro thinking we were unlucky to lose The worst people say is that we were wasteful with the amount of chances we created. I realise now you're being stubborn and admitting anything that suggest we might actually have played well one or two times under Puel doesn't fit your narrative but to say we shouldn't have lost in Milan is quite frankly ridiculous. 

Edited 26 February, 2021 by Turkish

[Whitey Grandad]

30 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

That was a reference to Wembley not Milan.

Was that boring for you too?

No, not boring but I still don’t see what a beer garden has to do with your experience.

And we lost comfortably.

18 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I think you must have been at a different game then as i've not spoken to a single person or read a single report in the 3 years + since that game that agrees with you. i think 6,999 saints fans left the San Siro thinking we were unlucky to lose The worst people say is that we were wasteful with the amount of chances we created. I realise now you're being stubborn and admitting anything that suggest we might actually have played well one or two times under Puel doesn't fit your narrative but to say we shouldn't have lost in Milan is quite frankly ridiculous. 

“Shouldn’t have lost” is extreme wishful thinking, yet somehow we managed to lose. 

Sure, we played well a couple of times under Puel but not very often, and that is my point.

Did you go to all the home games that he managed? 

 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

If I hear “8th and a cup final” one more time I shall scream and some people will be in danger of losing their future rectal functions

 

8 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No, not boring but I still don’t see what a beer garden has to do with your experience.

It's mainly a response to your post above.

We've been to two major cup finals in my lifetime as a Saints fan, but you seem to very aggressively reject the very mention of it.

Which is the behaviour of an absolute twat.

Edited 26 February, 2021 by CB Fry

[Sunglasses Ron]

The whole Puel 08th placed finish thing always irritates me.

Yes, we finished 8th, but I believe we secured 17 (seventeen) less points than Koeman the previous season.

Combined with the terrible goalscoring record towards the end of that campaign, I still maintain that giving him the boot was the right thing to do.

How he got the Leicester job I'll never know, but that didn't really work out either did it? 

Edited 26 February, 2021 by Sunglasses Ron

[Whitey Grandad]

20 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

 

It's mainly a response to your post above.

We've been to two major cup finals in my lifetime as a Saints fan, but you seem to very aggressively reject the very mention of it.

Which is the behaviour of an absolute twat.

There’s no need for the abuse. It was only the League Cup final.

Getting to that cup final was the only thing that Puel ever achieved in my view. I never went to any of his games watching where we were in the League table, to be brutally honest. 
 

Did you personally go to his homes games?

[Lord Duckhunter]

If he name was Ralph Higgins and he was an ex centre half from Barnsley, I bet people wouldn’t be quite so enthralled by his football and tactical nous.
 

Some people are still spitting feathers about a somewhat boring man that gave us a decent season. A season that included some great performances, some boring ones and some unlucky ones. We certainly didn’t have the absolute shit shows that we’ve had to endure this season.
 

Hopefully Ralph will match Claude and take us to a final. Fingers crossed he’ll match Hughes and get us to a semi final. But if we go out to Boscombe, what then? How will his performances be measured? I’m sure some on here will find weird and wonderful ways to big him up. 

Edited 26 February, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[Fan The Flames]

LD paraphrasing Sam Allardyce, if only Maurice Pilgrim was called Mauricio Pellegrino we would have backed him for longer.

For me Ralph still has credit in the bank.

[woodsaint1]

5 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

After the January Puel had Jack Stephens and Yoshida as centre halves. Bertrand, Pied and Cedric as full backs. JWP, OR and Steve Davies, JRod, Long, Gabbi, Redmond and Tadic. He had to use Josh Simms and McQueen and had a very young PEH. Is that really any better than we’ve got now. I’d say only Tadic would get in this side, maybe Steve Davies. That lot managed to win a semi final and win 6 of their last remaining 13 games. They also never got stuffed 9. And we never looked a complete shambles as we have done at times this season.

My opinion has always been the same regarding Claude. He did a good job in difficult circumstances, whilst I wasn’t 100% sure of him, he deserved another season. He suffered a raw deal from most supporters, including the unbelievable claim that points matter more than places (a calculation which means Liverpool’s runners up had a better season than Arsenals invincible’s). Under him we were the 8th best team in the country, and with the squad we had that’s a pretty good return.
 

Puels achievements are derided and he’s lumped in with Pelligrino and Hughes, he deserves better than that. This blokes achievements have been  exaggerated big time. 11th is par for us, unless he does something in the cup, this looks like it’s going to be another bang average return this season. 

Cant argue with any of this. I personally felt that Puel deserved another season to at least try and build his own team. In his defence also, we missed VVD for most of the second half of that season, but he made us hard to beat with Stephens and Yoshida at CB (a feat in itself). Ultimately, this led to a bland style of football which the fans and then the owners became impatient with. Anybody who lumps him in with Pellegrino and Hughes should seek help.

I think we'll win another handful of games before the seasons end and finish 11-14th which given where we were in December is very disappointing. However, it was probably where i seen us finishing at the start of the season. I honestly believe that Ralph can take us to 8-10th next season if hes backed and we finally move beyond some of the bad transfer business which has held us back in recent years. However, he also needs to adapt his style of play as two 9-0 defeats is unacceptable for any club, let alone a PL one, and our team confidence at times has looked shaky to say the least.

[Trout-Tickler]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

At times and other times it was good, like in Milan and in the cup final, plus both games in the cup against Liverpool. We havent been brilliant all the time under any manager we've had. the more dull performances coincided with an injury to Van Dijk and Fonte sold, leaving him with the worst centre back pairing the league. Maybe that had something to do wit it

What didn't help CP was the poor entertainment at St Mary's, especially when we'd been strong at home under both Poch and RK.

Over our 19 home league matches in 16/17 we scored only 17 goals. Taking into account we knocked 3 goals each past Burnley, Palace and Leicester, we only managed 8 goals at home in the other 16 matches. We played out 4 goalless draws at St Mary's. That season I think my season ticket cost me over £40 per goal and was the last year I bought one (though I'd been thinking about giving it up for a while tbf).

Puel's reign wasn't the worst I've seen nor was it the best. For me it was just meh!!

 

 

[Turkish]

56 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No, not boring but I still don’t see what a beer garden has to do with your experience.

And we lost comfortably.

“Shouldn’t have lost” is extreme wishful thinking, yet somehow we managed to lose. 

Sure, we played well a couple of times under Puel but not very often, and that is my point.

Did you go to all the home games that he managed? 

 

Not all of them but some of them and quite a few aways as well. Some were good, some weren't, some were exciting some were dull, the dull ones mainly towards the back of the season with nothing to play for. This default response of Puels football was boring and he was a disaster simply isn't true. 

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, Trout-Tickler said:

What didn't help CP was the poor entertainment at St Mary's, especially when we'd been strong at home under both Poch and RK.

Over our 19 home league matches in 16/17 we scored only 17 goals. Taking into account we knocked 3 goals each past Burnley, Palace and Leicester, we only managed 8 goals at home in the other 16 matches. We played out 4 goalless draws at St Mary's. That season I think my season ticket cost me over £40 per goal and was the last year I bought one (though I'd been thinking about giving it up for a while tbf).

Puel's reign wasn't the worst I've seen nor was it the best. For me it was just meh!!

 

 

Strangely if you'd flip our home form and our away form round then i expect fans will have a different view. The reasons given out is that the football was dull and that he threw away our Europa league chances, well so did Koeman. They also forget that our two leading scorers from the previous seasons were sold and had to play half a season without 5 of our best players, but no one ever seems to mention that.

[Daft Kerplunk]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Italians somehow come away with win amid terrible Saints misses in San Siro (thesun.co.uk)

Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0: Saints miss several chances before Candreva winner - Daily Star

Inter 1 Southampton 0: Candreva seals fortunate win for Inter | FourFourTwo

I was there too and the media seem to agree with our memory, not Gramps selective one

I actually barely remember the match as b) just enjoying the one-off moment of us playing such a legendary ground and b) I’d consumed a fair few Menabreas along the canal 🤣

[Trout-Tickler]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Strangely if you'd flip our home form and our away form round then i expect fans will have a different view. The reasons given out is that the football was dull and that he threw away our Europa league chances, well so did Koeman. They also forget that our two leading scorers from the previous seasons were sold and had to play half a season without 5 of our best players, but no one ever seems to mention that.

We won 6 away and 6 at home that season. Perhaps people's perception is skewed slightly because we put 4 past Watford & Sunderland plus 3 at Bournemouth & West Ham? Those were certainly away highlights though the 2-1 defeat at Hull was terrible.

 

[Saint86]

19 hours ago, Streaky said:

Exactly dont understand people saying ralph hasn't been backed in the transfer market. For a club of our size he has been backed well.

For me we should be finishing in the top half this season with the size of our wage bill. Anything else would be a dissapointing season.

What?!?!?! We barely have a squad of 15 premier league quality players... The main reason we aren't playing championship football already (or in the relegation zone this season) is because of ralph.

And if the ref's hadn't been screwing us out of goals every single game since Christmas we'd be pushing for Europe... despite the injuries we've had.
 

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

The whole Puel 08th placed finish thing always irritates me.

Yes, we finished 8th, but I believe we secured 17 (seventeen) less points than Koeman the previous season.

Combined with the terrible goalscoring record towards the end of that campaign, I still maintain that giving him the boot was the right thing to do.

How he got the Leicester job I'll never know, but that didn't really work out either did it? 

I don't think anyone on this thread is saying we shouldn't have sacked Puel. It was a decision that made sense and if we'd replaced well that incoming manager had a reasonable platform to build on and some money.

But the comparison between Claude's season and this one is a very interesting one.

If we choke this cup QF and stutter away in the league then I'm sorry there will be little that distinguishes our Ralph with some of our most average managers.

Dave Jones 97-98 12th place anyone?

[miserableoldgit]

36 minutes ago, Trout-Tickler said:

What didn't help CP was the poor entertainment at St Mary's, especially when we'd been strong at home under both Poch and RK.

Over our 19 home league matches in 16/17 we scored only 17 goals. Taking into account we knocked 3 goals each past Burnley, Palace and Leicester, we only managed 8 goals at home in the other 16 matches. We played out 4 goalless draws at St Mary's. That season I think my season ticket cost me over £40 per goal and was the last year I bought one (though I'd been thinking about giving it up for a while tbf).

Puel's reign wasn't the worst I've seen nor was it the best. For me it was just meh!!

 

 

To me what summed it up was the end of season walk round the pitch after the last home game. For the first in my life I didn't stay for it.....and I have been watching Saints regularly since the mid 50's. I just couldn't be asked. I have always stayed before even in relegation seasons. There was so little actual entertainment during that season.