I will be on the Southampton FC Womanâs page. Up the Saints!
You will have plenty of company!!
This thread is worth a quick read.
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Well according to Football league world
1 A good track-record when it comes to getting the very best of players Under the guidance of Jones, Luton exceeded all expectations last season as they managed to reach the play-offs where they suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Huddersfield Town. Jones managed to get the very best out of his players during this particular campaign as the likes of Elijah Adebayo and Kal Naismith both made considerable strides in terms of their development. Adebayo scored 16 league goals for the Hatters while Naismith averaged an impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.05 at this level in the 44 games that he participated in. When you consider that Southampton currently have a young squad at their disposal, they may find it beneficial to hand over the reins to the Hatters boss as he could help these individuals improve significantly during the second half of the season.
2 An ability to transform Southamptonâs fortunes in a defensive sense The main area that Southamptonâs next manager needs to improve is the clubâs defensive ability as they have conceded 24 goals in 14 league games. Given that Luton currently possess the sixth best defensive record in the Championship (19 goals conceded), Jones will be confident in his ability to transform the Saintsâ fortunes. By overcoming this obstacle, there is no reason why Southampton cannot go on to retain their Premier League status for another year.
3 Jones will feel as if he has a point to prove at the highest level Before rejoining Luton in 2020, Jones endured a tough spell at Stoke City which eventually culminated in him being sacked by the club. Since this particular experience, the Hatters boss has silenced his critics by excelling at Kenilworth Road. Jones will still feel as if he has a point to prove despite his success with Luton and will be desperate to transform Southamptonâs fortunes. An extremely passionate individual, it wouldnât be at all surprising if he turns out to be the perfect man to lead the Saints into a new dawn
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I liked this clip of Luton defending!
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Iâd rather a less desperate approach. 
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I will settle for fighting at all bloody costs to make sure they do not score
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Looks like itâll be Nathan Jones - how are we feeling?
- Excited
- Meh
- Underwhelmed
- Who?
- Quite fancy Milwall away next year
0 voters
Like some, a little sad that this has come to pass, but much relieved - personally I would have been happier to have got to this stage some weeks ago - the squad could have done without the demoralising results over the last few weeks. Yes, they may still have lost, but may have felt some freedom to put a bit more effort in, and wouldnât have had to wonder who the fuck made the team selection against Newcastle! There probably at least 4 U18s and B team players who would have been a bette pick that Walcott.
Great energy and enthusiasm to keep the ball on their box⌠But surely great defending would be to clear the fucking thing!!
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It was pre-ordainedâŚ
Ummmm Iâm sure @Simon-says posted that earlier, Iâd have thought youâd be able to keep up with your new whizzy fast broadband
I have a relation living in Luton who reckons Jones has done brilliantly and the fans donât want to lose him.
But just as a striker banging in goals in the Championship can find it a totally different game in the PL, so managing at the top level is very different. If he comes, I hope heâll translate what heâs doing now to a new level and continue bringing on young talent. But heâll need to earn the respect of players who, despite criticism, are a class above what he has now
Rumours others have left today. Matt Crocker & Toby Steele
Rumours that Jones is Razmus choice and Semmens was told to appoint him.
All from Tweets & Taxi Drivers
Can anyone crib the article?
My guess is a rehash of the rumours he kept dropping
Hasenhuttlâs Southampton sacking: Rows with players as strategy reboot falls flat
Jacob Tanswell and Dan Sheldon
Nov 7, 2022
23
Ralph Hasenhuttlâs four-year tenure at Southampton can be defined by the highest of peaks and the deepest of troughs.
He wanted heavy-duty football and got standout results. He guided Southampton to the top of the league in November 2020 and recorded victories against Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. His energy, on-pitch bravery and high-pressing game reinvigorated a club that had lost its identity.
However, the inconsistency which plagued him throughout was never truly shaken off and lead to his demise.
The clubâs longest-serving manager in over two decades was sacked on Monday, leaving Southampton 18th in the table and engulfed in a malaise that has overlapped two seasons. The plan had been to part ways with Hasenhuttl during the World Cup break, enabling a swift succession between managers. But the manner of defeat against Newcastle United accelerated the change. After his departure The Athletic can revealâŚ
- Southampton started considering replacements near the start of the 2021-22 season, when they failed to win any of their first seven matches
- Serious thought was given to sacking Hasenhuttl at the end of last season, with doubts in the dressing room continuing in pre-season
- Players likened the way he talked to them to a headteacher
- Players noted how, after a win, Hasenhuttl would wait until they had left the pitch so he could receive adulation from supporters
- Former assistant Danny Rohl described as âRalphâs brainâ
Southampton maintain a list of managerial targets and continued to update it during Hasenhuttlâs tenure. Bruno Lage featured prominently before he took the Wolverhampton Wanderers job. Brighton & Hove Albionâs new manager, Roberto De Zerbi, was on the list. Nottingham Forestâs Steve Cooper has admirers behind the scenes at St Maryâs, while Rasmus Ankersen has a good relationship with Brentfordâs Thomas Frank . The latest is Nathan Jones, Luton Townâs manager.
Luton Town Football Club can confirm that permission has been granted to Southampton to speak to Nathan Jones about their managerial vacancy following the Hattersâ match at Stoke City.
â Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) November 7, 2022
Some players had hoped Hasenhuttl would leave at the end of last season and viewed a potential departure as having a deciding influence on their own futures. They voiced their concerns to the board.
Despite some members of the hierarchy wanting to part ways with Hasenhuttl then, other senior figures were insistent on sticking by him. Having made do on a sell-to-buy budget and largely overachieving, it was understandable Hasenhuttl would be afforded the opportunity of working under the backing and additional funding of new ownership group, Sport Republic.
When the notion of dismissing the Austrian was discussed in the summer, the 55-year-old had support in the boardroom from Ankersen and Martin Semmens, the chief executive.
Ultimately, Southampton opted to re-energise his support network, sacking Kelvin Davis, Dave Watson and Craig Fleming â three members of his backroom team. It was accepted the first-team environment had grown stale and to arrest the decline, new impetus was needed.
At this point, though, the mood in the dressing room had turned to one of scepticism, with Hasenhuttl described by some sources, who have asked to remain anonymous to protect their jobs, as having a limited relationship and limited interaction with his players.
They felt Hasenhuttlâs man-management and communication skills had long been a problem but would tend to exacerbate and become even more insular when form nosedived. Those players likened the way he talked to them to a headteacher. The counter-point to this, however, is that the Austrian was in charge of the team and responsible for results.
In the lead-up to this pre-season, The Athletic was told by those with close ties to some of players that while Hasenhuttl had not lost the support of his squad completely, there was a feeling it was the beginning of the end.
Hasenhuttlâs relationship with some of his squad became strained (Photo by CHRIS RADBURN/AFP via Getty Images)
In his defence, the former RB Leipzig manager has never proclaimed or tried to be a best friend to his squad â and is far from the only top-level manager to take this approach. If a player was dropped or struggling for minutes, Hasenhuttl felt putting an arm around their shoulder would take too much investment. If he did it once, he would have to do it every time.
His sacking puts an end to more than a year of unrest and rumblings. After Southampton failed to win their first seven matches of the 2021-22 season, The Athletic can reveal the hierarchy first started to consider potential replacements. It followed a fraught summer window, where Hasenhuttl was left wanting more.
The centre-back Marc Guehi, for example, was earmarked as a target before he moved to Crystal Palace, while the decision to sign Adam Armstrong in a deal worth ÂŁ15million from Blackburn Rovers was not his.
However, results did begin to pick up, culminating and, in some ways, ending in the 3-2 win away to Tottenham Hotspur in February this year. That night was internally regarded as Hasenhuttlâs peak managerial performance and left the clubâs board insistent they did not want the rest of the season to fizzle out. Therefore, the manner of collapse towards the end of the campaign â winning once in their final 12 league games â was as surprising as it was concerning.
The 2-1 home loss to Crystal Palace in April raised questions as to whether the players were still listening to Hasenhuttl. Those thoughts were being discussed at the highest level inside the club.
Hasenhuttl has been known not to speak to players on the periphery for months at a time, offering no direction when they are left out of the team. A separate source, again speaking on the condition of anonymity, recalled one occasion towards the back end of last season, when the manager promised a player he would start a game away from home. But he later reneged, relying on a senior squad member to tell them the news. Some more experienced professionals would, at times, make their frustration known over the way he was perceived to talk to players â which did sometimes result in heated exchanges. This is not unusual at clubs when performances on the pitch are below par.
Hasenhuttlâs displays of emotion were seen as a strength and a weakness (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
One of Hasenhuttlâs best wins can be characterised by his celebration at the full-time whistle. After their 1-0 victory at home to Liverpool in January 2021 he collapsed to his knees in tears and it was seen to encapsulate the best and worst of his management style; showing fervent passion but also, mentioned to The Athletic as the primary example, for getting too emotional.
His emotion on the touchline increasingly rankled players, who believe it led to spur-of-the-moment tactical decisions. However, it is worth noting that same emotion had once been seen as a catalyst for an upturn in results shortly.
If a player missed a chance, Hasenhuttl would immediately tell a substitute who played in that position to warm up, with one source saying: âThe lads do not know if heâs coming or going. It means it is difficult for the players to know where they stand.â
Players noted how Hasenhuttlâs body language on the touchline would appear negative more often than not, regularly throwing his hands up in the air rather than providing words of encouragement.
While there is a belief players did not down tools â shown in the final 20 minutes against Leeds United in August where they came from two goals down to salvage a draw â motivation suffered as Hasenhuttl was not felt to support some individuals during slumps in form.
Players would take note of how Hasenhuttl would do a lap of honour after a win, sometimes waiting until they had returned to the dressing room before receiving adulation from supporters. When Southampton lost, however, he would be the first down the tunnel. A source close to the dressing room joked that only James Ward-Prowse would send a complimentary message to Hasenhuttl if he was sacked â and that is only because âheâs a nice guyâ.
Multiple sources made light of the fact that the coaching dynamic largely centred on âRalphâs way or the highwayâ, although it is thought former first-team coach Fleming had his ear. Richard Kitzbichler became a de facto assistant manager, with his chief expertise lying in video analysis.
Upon signing a new four-year deal in June 2020, Hasenhuttl garnered notable autonomy, controlling the content within academy training sessions. The under-18s and the B team were introduced to his self-designed âSFC playbookâ and were made to align with Hasenhuttlâs high-pressing style. At the start of this season, the playbook was passed down to the next age group to mirror first-team sessions. His desire to grow all aspects of Southamptonâs footballing operation was admirable.
But when he opted to deviate away from his 4-2-2-2, tailoring the various pressing automatisms, it left youth-level coaches wondering if the core beliefs were waning and the knock-on effect it would have on the academy.
In mitigation, club sources accept Hasenhuttl had at times been handicapped by the support he received. Some members of his previous backroom team were judged to have been ineffective in smoothing over relationships between players and coaching staff, which contributed to the sense Hasenhuttl was being actively undermined.
The departure of assistant manager Danny Rohl to Bayern Munich in 2019 was viewed as a significant blow to the managerâs ability to implement his ideas. The pair joined Southampton at the same time and worked together for seven months, with Rohl predominately taking training sessions. One former player described Rohl as âRalphâs brainâ. Rohl suddenly departed only weeks before the 2019-20 campaign.
Furthermore, it was not overlooked by sources that Watson, the former goalkeeping and first-team coach responsible for crafting set-piece routines, was the one who made the heavily criticised move of asking Harry Kane to take corners when he worked with England.
Until Ruben Selles was recruited this summer, many thought Rohl had not been replaced at all, in turn creating a hole that damaged Hasenhuttlâs coaching set-up. Despite the managerâs best intentions in driving through his vision while keeping Southampton in the top flight, the nuances and execution of his system consequently suffered.
During pre-season, one player suggested they would rather Selles be in charge after he impressed in pre-season.
Southamptonâs bold recruitment drive in signing young talent is regarded as financially gratifying but precarious, given the clubâs lowly standing in the Premier League. In the summer, there were doubts if whether the first-team squad offered a sufficient environment to nurture youth, with concerns over a lack of experience in the dressing room.
Sources close to the first team, speaking anonymously, point out that only Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu were seen as known quantities in having the correct mindset to consistently perform at Premier League level. This has been attributed as a key reason for the teamâs culpability in throwing away leads regularly and imploding during games. Yet the counter-point is that you cannot expect to find consistency if you are so insistent on recruiting players at youth level â and reaffirmed the belief Southampton needed more maturity in the side, with Romeu leaving on deadline day.
If Hasenhuttl had managed to improve results at the start of this season then the strategy could have been a success with the squad inevitably increasing in value; the likes of Armel Bella-Kotchap, who has been called up to the Germany squad for the first time, and Romeo Lavia are still young with a high ceiling for improvement.
The rewarding, but risky conditions, would be a difficult job for any manager. And that is before considering Hasnehuttl was struggling to fill a hole in his side left by one of his bright new signings â Lavia â who had been absent for nearly two months due to a hamstring injury. Whether or not his replacement can have success with this new strategy in the transfer market remains to be seen.
In the past, Southampton have passed up the chance to sign players who have gone on to play for Englandâs top six clubs, with the recruitment policy becoming overcomplicated.
A case in point came only recently, when the club opted to sign a player of considerable inexperience but vast potential, despite having the option of pursuing an alternative target who had made more than 70 appearances in the Bundesliga.
Further experience could have helped the manager in counter-balancing his teamâs long-standing naiveness. Other players, such as Crystal Palace duo Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, were dismissed from recruitment shortlists.
Hasenhuttl went into the season without a striker, with Southampton failing in their efforts to sign PSV Eindhoven forward Cody Gakpo. Before a ball was kicked, there were concerns behind the scenes about where goals were going to come from. Che Adams blows hot and cold, while Armstrong is yet to make his mark. Sekou Mara was signed but he is viewed as a future talent. Hasenhuttl needed a player for the now, and there is no doubt that not adding to this department hamstrung the manager.
Hasenhuttlâs sacking brings the curtain down on a helter-skelter, highly-emotive spell. While he managed to keep a club on a shoestring budget in the Premier League, overachieving to a large extent, hitting top spot again seems more distant than ever.
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