23 Jan 2018 07:30:30
What's everyone's current stance with MP. Clearer we think he should be sacked, but how long will it be until the board gets rid of him? If we lose to Brighton this weekend, do we think that'll be his last game.
The way he speaks about it he doesn't seem nervous at all. He sees how close the table is and thinks a few good results and we'll no longer be in danger. But I don't see us collecting good results anytime soon. Whatever, happens he'll need to completely turn this season around to keep his job in the summer.
And I think this has become the problem at the club and the board. They're not proactive enough. You look at all the decisions in the past year.
- We prematurely sacked Puel without having ano instant replacement and because of that we've ended up signing what was probably the clubs 5th choice
- Realising we had a scoring issue last season and not addressing it until now (and we're just reading rumours)
- Not selling VVD. All the fingers have pointed to VVD for our position in the league. Why didn't we just cash in knowing he was unsettled
- Still not sacking MP. The results haven't been convincing. There's no signs of a turnaround. The draws to Arsenal/ Utd/ Spurs are good results but no wins in 11 and no actual convincing wins this season shows that MP should've probably been proactively in November.

1.) 23 Jan 2018
23 Jan 2018 08:43:50
I can see why everyone at the club likes MP. He is positive and optimistic, yet realistic about the club’s position on and off the pitch. He takes responsibility and emphasises the need to work harder, find consistency and turn these performances into wins. It may all be rhetoric but it always helps to carry hope over to the next match. I would still really like to see him succeed at the club but the timing hasn’t worked in his favour. He’s joined the club in the middle of a takeover that may have stymied finances over the summer and with several players unhappy and unsettled at the club; the team’s best player actively agitating for a move to Liverpool. If the club is to back him, it must be with acceptance that relegation is possible given the current situation. If not, they need to ensure that the new manager has sufficient time to turn fortunes around. In other words, the sooner the better. But I do not think the club should compromise the style of play we all wish to see simply to cling on to a Premier League place.

I disagree that the board are not proactive and the examples you’ve given support that. You can’t be retroactive and prematurely do something. Puel was sacked at the end of the season when the players were going off on holiday – along with all other players – once everyone could take time to sit down and review the season. The club probably considered it had time to find a suitable replacement and I think they did so in relatively good time. Especially if some of their initial targets were genuinely as ambitious as we are led to believe and ultimately turned us down.

The scoring issue was most likely erroneously considered a result of having a defensively minded coach in Claud Puel. The club has to carry that one, not MP. They are responsible for signings, not him. As far as this window is concerned, as fans, we all want signings to be instant but negotiations with other clubs over the various transfer fees, clauses and conditions are now almost as complicated as the player’s contract. The club want to take time to negotiate the best financial deal for the club and if this takes a little longer, so be it. We are a club with the finances that we have. Also, the club will need to work hard considering we are trying to recruit in a notoriously difficult winter window and we are currently threatened with relegation.

On VVD, it was a gamble by the board and it has backfired. However, I for one was pleased over the summer to see Liverpool rebuffed after their poor behaviour and it was great to hear the club say we are no longer a selling club. The club gave VVD time to get over it and have been proactive in selling him immediately in the next window available having acknowledged their mistake. Wishing he was sold in the summer now is with the benefit of hindsight. None of us knew that we would continue to be as blunt this season as we were last as most of us also wrongly felt that the team’s lack of goals was down to coaching style rather than personnel.

I think the board genuinely acknowledge the errors they made and how MP’s hands were tied in the last window. He has taken on an average side and tried to turn things round under a shadow. Equally, most managers say that it takes about 6 months to translate their ideas to a new team. This must surely be effected by league position and confidence and we have seen the players sitting deeper in deeper in games not because of MP’s instructions at half time, but because they’re terrified of losing a lead and dropping points. Several players have come forward in interviews and said this. Its not MP. Its them deciding to take fewer risks. The players have not turned up for two or three games and given up, but this has usually been followed by a positive response. There have been a number of good performances against the best teams in the league so I guess the board believe there are positive signs. I still see MP lasting a while yet as the board will want to give him the full season if they can. In addition, they will know with the managerial options out there, every replacement represents a significant gamble. Changing managers does not always keep teams up.

2.) 23 Jan 2018
23 Jan 2018 12:05:22
I still personally think that MP and his coaching staff are not up to PL level. I say this because he is known as a defensive coach, he was with Alaves and did reasonably well with them last season. What I don’t understand is why we appointed him to replace Claude Puel, We basically got rid of CP because we weren’t scoring goals and we were producing dull unattractive football in the second half of last season. Why then employ a manager who was more defensively minded than his predecessor? The main worrying thing for me is that his set up and coaching has been really poor especially defensively. Having watched our recent games in detail our man marking in the box has been very poor and that is not just the fault of the players it is also down to being coached poorly. We have some quality defenders in my opinion but somehow they seem to be all over the place at times. I just think we need a new head coach that knows the PL and British football in general and has the ability to tough it out in probably the hardest league in the world.

3.) 23 Jan 2018
23 Jan 2018 12:32:22
Very good post figo.

4.) 23 Jan 2018
23 Jan 2018 13:19:41
Like Figo, I don't agree with you when you say the board aren't proactive. Whatever you think of the Puel decision, it was a proactive move to not be satisfied with 8th and chase further improvement. If anything, they were too proactive there. I also agree with Figo on VVD - they were in a difficult situation. If we'd just caved and sold him, you'd criticise that. So they gambled, kept him, and it didn't work. Either way you would be criticising the board for their handling of that situation, so they really couldn't win.

I think it's difficult for the board to recruit during this window because they're looking at players who have long-term potential in line with our ambitions to challenge the top 6, yet are willing to join a team in our current (albeit hopefully short term) situation. Personally, I still think it's the right approach to be looking for players that fit our long term vision rather than going out and signing players in a panic to stay up. I'd like to think (though I'm less and less confident! ) that we still have enough quality to get ourselves out of this situation. That said, Promes please!

5.) 24 Jan 2018
24 Jan 2018 08:40:58
Interesting stuff there guy's, good to hear people's points of view. I'll be honest, I thought anything less than a win on Sunday would have been MP's chips bearing in mind how much of a tall order that would have been. I was fully expecting us to get mullered against Spurs, perhaps if Eriksen had been fit it would have been different, not that I'm grumbling over a point with things the way they are. It's been said on here before about Coaching, I'm in agreement. I think this needs to be dissected somewhat, I think its clear something is lacking here. A creative team now just had no ideas, or they are being prevented from being so. I appreciate this is also tactics based, but I think most of us are clear that Saints should be on more points than they are. The football that Pellegrino has come from is vastly different to the "best league in the world"; bit of a step up and sadly he is still struggling at the bottom rung. I think we have to take the plunge and change the mananger; I accept I was a Puel hatter and wanted him gone and I am now eating my words. But he came from Ligue 1; similar in many ways and he had lots of experience. Silva would be a good shout, I think he was on the list. Its a shame MP didn't go before christmas as then a new boss could get some new blood in and utilise the market. I think that the board are more patient than most clubs but ultimately it can't be argued this is a results business and we don't have the results.

6.) 24 Jan 2018
24 Jan 2018 11:00:33
I think the big difference between MP and CP or RK is his lack of experience as a manager and the teams he's managed. You look at his record and the only big team on the list is Valencia, who he only managed for 21 games, so he's already been in charge of us longer. Whereas Puel and Keoman have both won trophies, yes they had no premier league experience but had managed teams in the Champions League.
MP seems like a massive gamble that hasn't paid off. I think they were after another Pochettino and that hasn't happened. Who at the time was a big gamble and had been sacked by a relegation bound Espanyol. However, a 19% is quite frankly terrible and I think I was a bit harsh when I said the board is not proactive enough. Basically, slaughtering them for not being mindreaders and foreseeing this current situation.
Maybe the problem lies with the coaching change. We had CP last season who was defensive minded and wanted to keep possession of teams, this doesn't seem like MP's approach and that dynamic shift in the field probably hasn't worked.
Although, looking at the rumours and the money we could be willing spend does suggest that the board's transfer policy has slightly changed. Now realising that we have the power to make clubs spend an awful amount of money on players e. g. VVD £75m, it seems like they've realised we could spend £30m on Promes and if he does come in and play well and then decide the leave we'd probably get more than £50m for him. So we'd made 20m more. I think they've realised that the inflation on transfer spending his increased so much in the last 2 seasons, that we need to spend more to get better players and if they do play off we'll surely make our money back.

7.) 24 Jan 2018
24 Jan 2018 22:42:45
Saint jay we are not getting 75 million pounds probably about 60m but in instalments so no big wedge to splash out with. I’ll say it again we got rid of CP and employed a new coach that was 100% more defensive minded than he was.

8.) 25 Jan 2018
25 Jan 2018 09:09:09
Yes, Chris, I understand the VVD money won't be a big sum of money and we haven't been handed 75m of disposable cash that the stakeholders have just cashed into their banks!
I think you mistook what I was trying to say. I was just saying that now the board has probably realised that they can spend more money on players because the transfer market has changed. I've always had the impression that they don't like the gamble, spend big. For example, Dani Osvaldo. But I think the difference between now and a few seasons ago is that big clubs spending more than £50m isn't uncommon anymore. Think about if we had kept Mane, Lallana and sold them now, we could easily pocket £50m+ for them.
Again, I'm not saying that MP isn't a defensive coach. I feel like his tactics are not about keeping high possession like CP and slowly try and break down a team. His seems to be more about playing fast flowing football that cuts teams apart and our first team adapting to this has been a problem.

9.) 25 Jan 2018
25 Jan 2018 09:24:59
I think his knife is a bit blunt 😄 Can’t remember what the edge of my seat feels like.