It’s absolutely fine if you don’t agree with my ‘logic’. I did my best to justify my opinion but you disagree, hey ho.
He was asked about whether the season was a success and whether he was under pressure. He answered about the cup final which I totally agree with as being an achievement, and then that he said that he’d improved some players. Which I don’t see as an achievement that one can personally take credit for under the circumstances.
As a fan, I don’t think improving a few squad players is a suitable barometer for how successful the season has been. It probably is for the club as a business but I am not a shareholder and have no financial interests in the club.
Furthermore, as a fan, history dictates that when we improve players we invariably sell said players. So it’s a double edged sword and not one worth celebrating. Just like when one of your players gets called up for England. You feel proud for about 5 minutes until you realise he’s going to be rubbing shoulders with 5 or 6 Liverpool players for the next week.
Even Clattenburg said Lallana had changed after he played for England. Anyway, I digress…
The football has been poor and there has been no consistency in performances and ultimately results. This is an opinion (not a fact or necessarily a correct one) formed over 40 odd games and not just the last few weeks. That is how I have judged the season.
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It’s very hard to improve players if they don’t have regular game time.
Anyway, it seems you’re rocking the glass half empty vibe. Personally, I reckon he should get another crack of the whip. It does feel like we’ve taken a bit of a backward step but that was kind of inevitable given the trajectory we’ve been on. If we can keep Bertrand and Romeu - with a couple decent additions I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to.
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I agree it is hard to improve players without regular game time. But that was never my point. My point was and still is that some of those players have improved by getting that game time by enforced circumstances. He HAD to play them and give them regular game time and as a consequence they improved. But is that a measure of success? In either his individual performance or that of the team? By very definition that is the point of having a squad and he wouldn’t have played those players if VVD wasn’t injured and Fonte had a reasonably proportioned sense of self importance.
Yes, 100% I exist in the camp of rather being pleasantly surprised than ultimately disappointed. That’s no secret. I believe I am balanced and objective enough though.
At the end of the day, the average level of performance makes me feel that something is not quite right. So inevitably I wonder whether the players buy in to him.
How do you know he wasn’t the reason they improved rather than regular game time?
Let’s face it we’ve had plenty of players over the years who haven’t improved with regular game time. Maybe their improvement has been a combination of his coaching and regular game time. That seems the most likely situation.
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I normally have better things to do at this time of night. But it sounds like there are several cats fucking downstairs in the kitchen so sleep is an impossibility at the moment.
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This is very true. Can only speak from personal experience, but I definitely get worse the more football I play.
You too…?!
My two are champion mousers. Unfortunately they bring 'em up to my bedroom & Mrs C_S won’t get out of bed to catch an throw them outside…
Beers have been bet down here.
We have an exact 50:50 split that he’ll be here at start of September
I’m in the here camp.
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I don’t know that he isn’t the reason. But a manager doesn’t only coach and work with the starting eleven on the training ground. It isn’t as if they would have been ignored from a coaching point of view until now by all previous managers. So from that perspective the only thing that has changed is the regular game time.
We’ve argued this to death now so let’s just agree to disagree.
For what it’s worth I think he will still be there next year and has earned the right for another season. I wasn’t somebody who wanted Adkins out, nor was I someone who was asking questions of Koeman’s tenure during our 5 game losing streak last winter. I’m sick of the constant upheaval so it makes little sense to bring more of it upon ourselves. Only the club will know if things aren’t alright in the dressing room, and if there’s a problem then I suspect they’ll act. If it is all just rumours and circumstantial gossip then great.
I feel he deserves another crack purely because of the adversity he has faced that was out of his control - fixture congestion and injuries to key players. All I have judged him on is what is within his control - team selection, tactics and in-game management. I like many others have found him wanting at times. That’s either fair criticism or unfair depending on your personal perspective.
However, with a summer transfer window, a full pre season and no European campaign next year I believe we will learn a lot more about him and I will either be won over or I won’t be. I don’t expect us to win the league but I would like to see more consistency in performances and dispatch more of the shite teams that come to St Mary’s.
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Indeed, so maybe Puel is the cause of their improvement then… 
I agree with your last paragraph, btw.
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While I haven’t been leaping around with excitement on occasions, today we have a couple of reminders about how fortunate we are.
Silva sent out a gutless inept team that he failed to motivate - again.
And Bilic has turned the Olympic Stadium into a buffet where the visitors can fill their boots.
Puel may not be the next Conte, but those two guys above have been mentioned as exciting possible replacements.
Claude has been firefighting fixtures and injuries but he hasn’t stooped to their levels - he should be given until Christmas to create his team.
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My view is that away performances have been pretty consistent & overall have been as good as Koemans record. However we’ve lacked the barnstorming home wins. Seeing as most of them were Mane inspired, it’s not really surprising. Take Mane, Vic, Pelle & VvD out of Koemans side and I’d say that mid table and a cup final is a pretty decent return. Certainly doesn’t deserve the sack and it’s disheartening that people are jumping onto the bandwagon and calling for him to go. We can’t have constant upheaval, we need the guy to stay. He’s not the best around, if he was he’d soon fuck off, but there’s a lot lot worse out there. Personally, I think he’s a pretty decent fit.
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Spot on. Most fans only see the home games, and it has been those games where we have failed to break down poor teams that has given the ammunition to those who like to be vocal. We do look well set up as a counter attacking away team, and hopefully next season we can put away those chances that we do create at home
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Its hard to see why some people are wetting their panties over Silva. He would get eaten alive here (well, certainly on TSW) and doesnt seem any better than Puel. More than happy to see Claude here for another season. There were glimpses of what could be this season and with a bit more time and a few prudent transfers, we could get that consistancy we have been striving for.
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I am not sure about the ‘at least he isn’t as shit as some of the really shit teams’ argument. That is one down from the ‘but we were bottom of league 1 X years ago, look how far we have come’. I won’t be happy until poch and the little angry Italian guy come back. I have still not recovered fully from them leaving.
We’ve been spoilt, plain and simple, for the past 6 years or so. It’s as though we’ve been stealing the WIFI from our next door neighbour for years and now suddenly they’ve put a password on it.
That’s bang out of order.
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They must have copied and pasted that from somewhere else.
As I have no grasp of physics or maths I thought we would continue to improve our league position forever.
This bombshell of not being able to compete with clubs who buy players for £90m and pay them four times what we could afford has made me sad.
I think I might display this sadness through frothing vocal anger when I see the first misplaced pass on Wednesday night.
Yes, that’s a good plan.
I might motivate some of our players by shouting abuse at them too.
That’ll definitely help.
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So you’re equally rubbish at History then.
As that tactic so clearly worked since 1885
