As my first post on N606 I decided to enter the Ring of Fire and give my two pence worth on the Saints current situation. I have lived in the USA for many years and until this year have only been able to follow the Saints via BBC Sports, the old 606 and now this forum. At last we gained promotion and now I can watch the game on Fox Soccer TV from the comfort of my home, they only show the Premier League, so I have had to wait 7 years to watch Saints live. Because I can only watch from TV, I do not get the real feel of all the subtle running off the ball etc, so my perseption will be a little tainted. Against City we played really well but the pace and concentration finally got to us and we lost (wish Fox had just ducked as the ball came over for the 3rd goal). United was much the same but I was stunned with the substitutions and felt that tactically this was the first time I questioned Atkins managerial skills and thought to myself what was he thinking. Felt we should have got a result vs Wigan but their keeper played well and as was becoming a pattern, our defence was suspect on a few occations. The two full backs do attack well, but at times, expecially when we are leading, shutting up shop and parking the bus for the last 20 minutes is not all bad. In the Premier league the Saints has to learn how to earn points anyway we can get them, get the pressure off from the supporters and Press and eventually we can start relaxing, enjoing the experience and beating the Cities and United's. Did not see the Arsenal game so cannot comment other than I was sort of expecting a bad result. So big picture is we have had probably the toughest start any team would want from a Fixture point of view, and all the talk about no team who lost the first three games has avoided relegation cannot be applied here as no other team has had this kind of test. As Atkins has said, and I firmly believe, all the talking about what a tough start we had has to end, we will be judged over the next five games and we need to prove that it was the tough fixtures that caused us to be 0-4 and now we can start making our move up the table. Can someone please tell Kelvin to improve on his distribution as my old heart cannot take it, oh, and by the way, can we please have our stripes back.
One more 3-2 & I'm going into the desert to find some payote! Been a whirlwind start, but as Nige says, its starts now. Keep flying the flag out there mate.
They're there, it's just that you can't see them with NTSC 525 line format television. Good first post.
The players we took off against United were totally knackered and fading out of the game. I don't think we had much choice but to bring them off. It's just unfortunate that we didn't have the depth when we needed it.
I agree that they were knackered, not questioning the decision of replacing them more the actual type of replacements and the lack of thought put into the selection on the bench, most of us would realize that Man U would be a very tough game, but just in case we were handling them well for an hour and we were actually leading 2-1, may be we would want to bring on a defender or two like Chappers. Anyway, water under the bridge and all that, as most of the people have commented on the board lately, its a learning process just hope management is learning.
We are Southampton, our traditional colours are Red and White Stripes, do not think I have every seen Newcastle Utd in all black shirts with a white pin stripe, but I am sure someone can prove me wrong
How any of our fans still don't know the name of our manager/how to spell it, I'll never know. Who the **** is Nigel Atkins?
Oh come on, I have seen esteemed journalists and pundits make that mistake too. Although they are both medical professionals I suppose. Anyway welcome SOB and I am sure we will get some points on the board soon enough. I'd definitely rather have a tough start than a tough finish. I'll get someone to have a word with Kelvin too.
Which paper had a photo of Nigel Pearson as Adkins the other day, now that was stupid! All the football people out that day or something?!
Against Man Utd, I would have bought on Lee instead of Mayuka and shove Rodriguez in the middle because Lee wouldn't stop running and would have been a better defensive option. Rodriguez would have won the balls that were being aimed towards him and we wouldn't have lost possession as much.
