Any lower mid table team is in danger of relegation. It’s a tight league and a few injuries and a bit of bad luck will put you in the mire. Che Adams and Adam armstrong came from the championship and have yet to prove themselves in the PL. I don’t think it’s unfair to suggest they are championship level.
No, I don't disagree. As AshbySaint said, it's a work in progress. He's not there yet but showing (to me) that he will get there when he gets the right service (like Tella's beautiful cross yesterday which sadly he just got a few inches in front of). Incidentally, we thought Ings was on a poor run toward the end of the season and in the end assumed his head was elsewhere. He's actually scored the same number of goals this season at Villa as Adam has here. But you're right and I'm looking ahead.
I didn’t see the game yesterday as out with friends. We’re there any positives? Or was it a case of wrong formation, and harm minimisation?
Having slept on it, I'm still disappointed with what I saw yesterday. Yes it was a free hit, but we have a habit of making life difficult for the big teams. We didn't do that yesterday. Why change things radically from what worked at City and gave Chelsea a good game? I appreciate they all have different styles and Liverpool's front 3 are arguably the best in world football at the moment. We had very small spells where we looked like we might do something but I never thought we were going to get something or score. At Chelsea, in the 2nd half until the red card, I thought we were going to come away with a point at least. We needed Diallo in midfield (although someone said he twisted an ankle in the warm up?) so that may have scuppered Ralph's plans a bit. The reason why I left so early was that I was seeing similarities in the performance yesterday to the 2 9-0's. Just ridiculous defending, heads dropping from some players and lack of in game management from Ralph. OK, he changed it at HT, and it stemmed the bleeding but he should have had the guts to change it before HT. No player likes being subbed before HT if they're not injured but sometimes you've got to do it. Also, I refuse to accept criticism from some for leaving early when they were watching at home in their lounges at a cosy 20 degrees. You don't agree with me, make the ****ing journey yourself.
Right or wrong Ralph wants us to be able to play different systems and what I saw on the lowlights had more to do with individual errors than anything else. Whenever they moved someone was ball watching, Priel and Toni were particular examples. Jota unmarked in the 6 yard area They are phenomenal on the attack too MOTD didn’t even pretend to want to talk about Saints We win or we learn
I agree Adams has been here a while now and whilst he has done okay, I wouldn't say he has established himself as a premier league player - certainly needs to score more. But Armstrong has only started 11 league games, and got a couple of goals and assists. What ever happened to acknowledging that it can take time for players to step up when they first arrive at a new club and in a new league. As Ralph says, we don't have money to go and buy established top level players, we have to buy good players and then help make them great. That takes time. Certainly longer than 11 games.
Agree with your first point. But I think Armstrong proved last season that he is too good for the Championship. There is, however, a big gulf between the Championship and the Prem, and therefore a lot of players who find themselves situated between both in terms of ability, and therefore probably best suited to a league like the Bundesliga or Serie A. I also think that just because a player doesn't do the business with one club, they'd be very capable with another. Last season Mitrovic wasn't good enough to play for Fulham in the Prem, and now Juventus are rumoured to be after him. As Ronnie says above, far too early to judge Armstrong, and he has been decent enough so far. Though he should have twice the number of goals.
Hey, less of the miserable if you don't mind... I wished you luck in the prediction cup whereas I never needed it...
Beat me to it. At the end of the analysis of the game, my wife, who is not interested in football at all, said “wasn’t that very one sided. Little or no mention of Southampton”. Ralph was only interviewed because it’s in the contract. The mask is off. MOTD should be retitled Top six match of the day.
I would say in the realistic section, which in Saints’ case is probably almost falling off the bottom.
Yes that's the reality check and, as other posters have said, it's a work in progress and progress has been made.
I’m not really seeing what others are with Armstrong so far. Be very surprised if he became a double figure scorer in the PL.
Firstly I should point out that I'm not an emotional "they're all useless" type of supporter. I know you didn't suggest that I was but I'm coming from a position of calm acceptance that we don't have the best players. And yes, as manager it's Ralph's job to get the most out of what we've got. It's true that there have been some really good performances with this team but even Championship players can give top performances from time to time, and that's what we get from the majority. Players I would list as true Premiership quality are Tino Stuart Armstrong Salisu Walker-Peters JWP* Oriol* JWP and Oriol are both PL standard but are inconsistent, when Oriol is off his game he can be woeful and JWP has games where he disappears. But when they are on it, their class is higher than the rest.
I don’t agree with whoever said our squad was Championship level, but it’s a squad that will be bottom half most seasons. To use an analogy, our squad is like a building site with a lot of capable labourers but no master craftsmen, and it’s the lack of master craftsmen that make the difference. Hopefully Salisu and Armstrong will develop into the craftsmen we need to improve our defence and attack (and I think Salisu has despite his brain fart passing at times). We are crying out for creativity and pace in midfield. JWP and Romeu are generally very good at regaining possession but neither will power forward on a 30 yard run with the ball, and pick out a defence splitting pass. Same goes for our wide players, with the exception of Stuart Armstrong and, on his day, Redmond. Most of our wide players are consistently inconsistent, which adds to my frustration.
Still not as bad as the ****athon which is Sky sports. I'm sick to ****ing death of Neville and Carragher's "banter" and everything being about those 6 clubs. At least some of the pundits on MOTD will actually acknowledge other sides being present.