Time for Mea Culpas

[washsaint]

Well, what a difference a week makes.

I, amongst the majority, was keen for Jones to go, out of his depth, etc.

Maybe, just maybe, the club was in a worse condition than any of us really knew.  Since Forest he has us playing as a team, some nice football, some bite and a togetherness not seen for a very, very long time.

Although it is still early days, I am prepared to eat crow.  As bad as things were after Forest, I have had to pinch myself since!  

I believe I was wrong - Jones could actually be a good fit.  PLay like we have the last 3 games and we won;t be going down.

[Crab Lungs]

I think we underestimate how much of a sh1t show we actually were and still are as Ralph kept us afloat quite comfortably… until he tired of it all and ran out off puff. It masked a lot of the issues but behind all the fluff, we were slowly rotting from the inside out.

The mismanagement, poor recruitment and iffy investment over the past 6 years finally came to a head when a manager no one wanted or respected was appointed and we lost our first 4 games, including the biggie v Forest.

I’ve actually no doubt Jones probably came and saw some of the players and thought he had some better players at Luton on first impressions.

I think the one thing I’m enjoying more now is the step up in aggression. We’ve been too nice, for too long and it just doesn’t do anyone any favours in competitive sport. 

I think there’s going to be a few more ups and downs but I’m confident NJ is getting his style across now and ultimately, the confidence levels up.

[badgerx16]

Up to kick off against Palace what we had produced under NJ was garbage, and getting worse. Criticism at that point was entirely justified. This week has hopefully shown that we have changed direction and the manager and players are starting to understand each other.

We must keep the momentum going - Villa are nothing special but Saints have always had the capability to regress disastrously.

[coalman]

I wasn't impressed with the way the team were playing. This last week has been great. Long way to go in the season so let's see what happens next.

The second half at Liverpool was positive. Everything up to the FA cup was a bit pants. Everything since has been looking up.

Until last Saturday I thought we were nailed on for relegation. Now I have a sliver of hope fair play to the coaches and players for that.

[SotonianWill]

with the greatest of respect, he comes from a welsh mining village. 

[Baird of the land]

12 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Up to kick off against Palace what we had produced under NJ was garbage, and getting worse. Criticism at that point was entirely justified. This week has hopefully shown that we have changed direction and the manager and players are starting to understand each other.

We must keep the momentum going - Villa are nothing special but Saints have always had the capability to regress disastrously.

To me that's lazy results based nonsense. We largely matched or even outplayed Fulham away who are 6th in the table.

Yes Forest was an utter horror show, but no worse than Villa earlier under the season under ralph.

 

[whelk]

I don’t understand this thread. A mea culpa is admitting it was your fault not that you were wrong. I feel no fault but happy to admit the wee Welsh bastard is winning me over 

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

To me that's lazy results based nonsense. We largely matched or even outplayed Fulham away who are 6th in the table.

Yes Forest was an utter horror show, but no worse than Villa earlier under the season under ralph.

 

it is not "results based nonsense", I have watched every game, other than Liverpool, that NJ has managed.

[Baird of the land]

1 minute ago, badgerx16 said:

it is not "results based nonsense", I have watched every game, other than Liverpool, that NJ has managed.

Don't know how anyone who watched today and Fulham could come away with any other impression than they were broadly similar gutsy performances. Difference was today we conceded 1 sloppy set piece goal rather than 2.

[Whitey Grandad]

19 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

with the greatest of respect, he comes from a welsh mining village. 

When was the last time they mined anything there?

[SotonianWill]

5 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

When was the last time they mined anything there?

33 years ago

[sibster]

46 minutes ago, whelk said:

I don’t understand this thread. A mea culpa is admitting it was your fault not that you were wrong. I feel no fault but happy to admit the wee Welsh bastard is winning me over 

The phrase usually means "my fault". It can be used (less commonly) as "my mistake" so I kind get the point of the thread. Fwiw I always expected it to take a while for anything new to have any effect as things have been going badly wrong for down time now. Fingers crossed we have turned a corner (not holding my breath quite yet though!)

[CanadaSaint]

If there are any mea culpas, I think the mods on here deserve one - and I don't think I've ever taken a pop at them.

The ill-advised poll asking "Do you want Nathan Jones to manage Southampton Football Club?" was started on November 8 - before NJ had even managed a game here.

Naturally, people voted - some, again, before he'd even managed a game. Once someone voted "No", they felt obligated to move into "told you so - never wanted him here" mode, and it snowballed from there. WTF kind of welcome is that for a new manager, and what kind of signal does it send to players who hear about it?

I wasn't thrilled with the appointment, and I'm still wondering what he did during the six weeks he had to assess the squad, but he didn't deserve that - never mind some of the personal shit that went along with it.

Things look very different today, and I think both "sides" have learned from it, but it's time to turn the page and focus on the future - starting by locking the Nathan Jones Out thread.

[Huffton]

1 hour ago, SotonianWill said:

with the greatest of respect, he comes from a welsh mining village. 

A wonderful welsh mining village

[sotonjoe]

I was and still am utterly embarrassed by the conduct of a large proportion of our supposed 'fans' as far as the treatment of Jones is concerned. We have one of the worst fanbases in terms of sitting in silence in our flat pack stadium and now we dont even get behind our own manager at the start of their employment. It is utterly, utterly embarrassing. We could learn a thing or two off the blue lot down the road sometimes.

[Give it to Ron]

3 minutes ago, sotonjoe said:

I was and still am utterly embarrassed by the conduct of a large proportion of our supposed 'fans' as far as the treatment of Jones is concerned. We have one of the worst fanbases in terms of sitting in silence in our flat pack stadium and now we dont even get behind our own manager at the start of their employment. It is utterly, utterly embarrassing. We could learn a thing or two off the blue lot down the road sometimes.

What the lot that storm out of ground when 2 down like the other week? Constant booing!

up until this week we were 90th out of 92 so what do you really expect non stop applause and singing?

I have only managed 2 aways Villa and Fulham this year and we are light years above either for noise and support 

[Saint86]

Results up until about half time at Crystal Palace were simply not good enough, and Jones has said that himself, but he's done well to turn it around since then. Fair play. Needs to keep it up now and move us up the table.

Edited 15 January, 2023 by Saint86