Southampton Banter Archive January 10 2014

10 Jan 2014 10:14:17
Sorry all,

But there's a Saints fan on here whose said a few un-favourable things about Pochettino.

Is anyone else displeased with his management and would like to see him replaced? Why/why not?

Feel like I've gone mad debating with a Saints 'fan' whether Poch has done a good job or not. I think he's the best young manager in Europe and we're lucky to have him. Dip in form is to do with a thin squad (in terms of quality) which is vital for Poch's high intensity game plan. Nothing to do with being a bad manager. Or am I missing something?

Thanks all, will happily apologise if my views are misplaced but I'm unabatedly on #TeamPoch

LondonSaint

I think he has taken the team to a new level, on our day we can beat anyone. Negatives are that we seem to be a bit naive and only have a plan A.
JS93

I think Poch has been incredible, and whilst it's fair to say he only has plan A, I think he will branch out from this. What the team lack at the moment is depth and players who offer something alternative to enable other options when we're in a drawing/losing position.

MoPo's been great, honestly doubt we'd be anywhere near the level we are without him, we haven't lacked the talent in the squad over this injury period, it that we've had so many the team seems to change each week due to injuries and we've lacked a settled team, which we need to play our style of football. I think we have got a plan B, C, D whatever else, it's just that they're subtle changes, and we haven't been able to use them over the last month or so 'cause of the injuries. Once everyone is back, we'll start to creep up the table again

MP and his "crew" have been a breath of fresh air to our club and to the Premiership. This complaint about no plan B is a nonsense. He has been requiring the squad to play a very different style to what they were used to. He has concentrated on them getting plan A correct and has had problems with injuries. He is a really bright manager and will not load the squad down too quickly with further tactics until they are ready to take them on board.

Some "persons" just do not bother to listen to what he says. I can quite understand why he is so careful with what he says to the press.

Saint Martin

I think that Poch has done a great job so far, but what do I know.

Well, you hear Saints player coming out and saying what a great coach he is. You also hear how he's a top bloke.

I had to laugh recently when someone on this site stated that Poch signings were dodgy - siting Osvaldo and Ramirez - If I'm not mistaken Gaston was signed while Adkins was the manager, and Osvaldo has only been here 6 months!

Last summer there was a lot of talk about signings, with people on this site saying they wanted another CB, Striker, attacking midfielders, and wingers - Instead, we strengthened the spine of the team, making us far harder to beat.

Yes we've dropped points recently, but with the fixture list, in conjunction with the injuries, it's only to be expected. However I do feel that the level of expectation since Poch has signed has gone up exponentially, and for me, this is a sign of how well we're doing under Poch.

Personally I feel it's an irrelevant argument, since all that matters is whether Cortese is happy with the progress of the team.

Cortese wants to see continuous sustainable growth, and you have to say that that has happened under Pochettino - since our strongest 11 is far superior this year to last, with the added quality signed in the summer.

If I had one grumble, it was that our strikers haven't really set the world alight. The sooner Osvaldo gets to grips with the Premier League the better, but we all need to be a little patient with him.

Have to say that from my pre-Xmas calcs, we're 3 points adrift of where I thought we'd be following the Christmas 'rush'.

Considering the injuries and our enforced reliance on a "not quite an A team" I'm not overly bothered by this - as they say * happens and considering it happened when we were up against teams where we would be expected not to come away with too many points we really should consider ourselves lucky.

Far better now than when when against teams we really should be expected to beat.

Looking forward to the rest of the season!

COYS

Thanks all,

You fill me with hope that we're not economy spoilt plastics.

Take care and COYR!

LondonSaint

Great job, 6 or 7 places better off than Adkins after spending £6m on Lovren, £14m on Johnny Depp (the real Johnny Depp would have been better) and £12m on big Vic. Adkins only managed 45 places better than Pardew, but he bought Fox for two pence who helped get us promoted from Championship, but Foxy is Satan's son.
Keep up the good work!

Interesting to see that Lallana put Fox in his all time Saints 11 on Sky's Fantasy Football last night.

I think the only reason this person wants pochetino out is because we have won 1 in 9 which is understandale but if you look at the form we hadat he start of te season we should be happy and greatefull we have someone like pochetino at our club its eithier that or the fact e dosent speak english which I knw the reasons for but shorely by now e should speak englih to the press because he does to his players

Perhaps it's just an attempt to give a more balanced view rather than the unbelievable hype some people give Poch while making out previous managers as total numpties.
Same as "Big Vic" being the best player ever to walk the earth and Ossie getting the benefit of doubt despite no evidence to prove he cares, wants to be in England or has what it takes to make a regular impression in the premiership.
Some of the s**** posted on here at times means that you have to go so far to the other extreme just to give balance.
Hope that clears things up.

It doesn't really clear things up e. g. is Gaston ok now or should we still 'cash-in' and buy the 'flavour of the month' from the Championship? I'm not aware of any evidence that Ossie doesn't want to be in England but, personally, i'd rather not be in floody England atm.

Rumour from inside the club is that Poch may well be leaving this summer. Comes from a senior person within the club.
Also Luke Shaw to Chelsea with Ryan Bertrand in part ex is a very strong possibility.
No news on Gaston or Ossie "rumours" but will advise if this changes.