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Kane or Townsend to be demanded by Saints if Spurs want Rodriguez in January

eddiebailey

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2004
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With a squad of players developed over a couple of seasons by...........Poch. How do you think Koeman would have fared if he had come to us I wonder.
Koeman has not had the benefit of Lambert, Lallana, Lovren, Shaw, Chambers or Rodriguez, so hardly Poch's team. Indeed that Koeman has integrated so many new players so quickly is one of his big plus points. I suspect that if we had bought the players Koeman bought we might be doing a bit better. But more than anything Soton fans attribute the improvement to more intelligent tactics and greater flexibility.
 

eddiebailey

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Oct 12, 2004
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So Koeman is the new flavour of the month everybody is queueing up to blow. Cool.

He is doing very well; Poch is doing very badly. Comparison is inevitable.

Koeman's CV is distinctly mixed, but at the moment I would take him as a more experienced, more flexible manager.

But the point is academic, as Poch is going nowhere.
 

wozzahotspurs

Active Member
Jan 19, 2007
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I would be very interested to see what Koeman could do with Townsend. I suspect he would look considerably better than he has done under AVB and Pochettino.

I would imagine Koeman is looking for somebody to polish boots get the lunch on etc and probably believes Townsend would be perfect since he lacks and intellegence in a football sense. Heard he makes a mean cheese & ham roll though. ;)
 

yido_number1

He'll always be magic
Jun 8, 2004
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At the moment I would swap JR for AT but I would be interested to see how Townsend matures over time. JR has a lot more composure and is a better technician but Andros has a raw ability that could be coached into a good player if he can get his head up and interact with other players (Highly optimistic).
 

2bearis2do

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Apr 22, 2006
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I would be very interested to see what Koeman could do with Townsend. I suspect he would look considerably better than he has done under AVB and Pochettino.
Have to agree Eddie.
Townsend has enormous potential - If played where he SHOULD be played.
He should be hugging that left -hand touchline and be made to practice crossing on the run a hundred a times a day.
Those are his strengths - play to them.
Neither AVB or MoPo see that - they all want this super integrated fab five up front - the result - they all cut inside and get in each others way.
 
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2bearis2do

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Apr 22, 2006
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With a squad of players developed over a couple of seasons by...........Poch. How do you think Koeman would have fared if he had come to us I wonder.
Southampton sold 5 first teamers in the summer - 5 key players : Shaw, Lallana, Lovren, Chambers and Lambert and have Rodriguez out all season.
Koeman had his work cut out and bought well.

We sold our one key player two summers ago and are still in a mess!
 

beats1

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2010
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Southampton sold 5 first teamers in the summer - 5 key players : Shaw, Lallana, Lovren, Chambers and Lambert and have Rodriguez out all season.
Koeman had his work cut out and bought well.

We sold our one key player two summers ago and are still in a mess!
I would say Chambers was never a key player at southampton as Clyne was first choice RB

I don't think they have brought well, they just brought 2 top players in Alderweld and Tadic(who I wished we signed rather than Chadli) and Koeman brought in someone who has always scored well under him and someone he trusts
 

eddiebailey

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2004
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I would say Chambers was never a key player at southampton as Clyne was first choice RB

I don't think they have brought well, they just brought 2 top players in Alderweld and Tadic(who I wished we signed rather than Chadli) and Koeman brought in someone who has always scored well under him and someone he trusts
Sometimes it is not about buying top players it is about buying players who do the job you want. Saints fans were not impressed with the prospect of Shane Long, but they recognise him now as integral to the way the team plays. That is buying well.
 

beats1

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2010
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Sometimes it is not about buying top players it is about buying players who do the job you want. Saints fans were not impressed with the prospect of Shane Long, but they recognise him now as integral to the way the team plays. That is buying well.
I totally agree but so far they have had an easy run in and it still a long way to go but those two players I mentioned imo are upgrade on what they have possibly Tadic is better than Rodriguez. The guy has always been a consistent assist machine

Whilst Long maybe a important player he didn't represent value and there were other options that may represented better value imo
 

slartibartfast

Grunge baby forever
Oct 21, 2012
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Sometimes it is not about buying top players it is about buying players who do the job you want. Saints fans were not impressed with the prospect of Shane Long, but they recognise him now as integral to the way the team plays. That is buying well.
Spot on.
And thats why a dof doesn't work imo.
You cant always get what you wa...ant but if ya try sometime, ya might find, ya get wot ya need lol.
 

Locotoro

Prince of Zamunda
Sep 2, 2004
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Huge experience and a cracking start in English football, playing more flexible, imaginative football than AVB or Poch have ever produced.
Koeman has had his ups and downs in management, but he has shown he is not a flash in the pan.

The challenge for him at Soton will be maintaining performances once injuries kick in, but I agree that I hope they do well, as they are a model of how a club should be run.

The thing many people don't consider when they judge a new manager's start with a team is the condition and state of the team that he has taken over.

We can see that actually regardless of whether Koeman is a good manager or not, he has taken over a side that was well drilled, fantastic work ethic, and achieved their highest league finish for many years. Koeman has used the majority of that squad, added to it and taken them forward. The same can be said of someone like Martinez at Everton. Moyes had a hard working defensively tight team with ability to ground out results. Martinez came along and used that solid base and added an improved attacking and passing ability, hence Everton are a much improved side.

You see the opposite with Moyes at United. The team were very direct, energetic and a team able to suffocate the opposition with constant movement and passing at speed. Moyes' tactics were far more defensive and United's giving the opposition more space negated their biggest strength.

In our case AVB took over from a team that was largely a counter attacking side and tried to change the style wholesale to a possession based team. Bale papered over the cracks but when he left it was all there to see. Poch is now taking over from, in polite terms, a team that lacked any identity or style whatsover beyond "go out there and do the job". If you combine that with the assessment we have mentally weak players, currently it would be fair to say that Poch has the considerably harder job on his hands.
 

eddiebailey

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2004
7,452
6,672


The thing many people don't consider when they judge a new manager's start with a team is the condition and state of the team that he has taken over.

We can see that actually regardless of whether Koeman is a good manager or not, he has taken over a side that was well drilled, fantastic work ethic, and achieved their highest league finish for many years. Koeman has used the majority of that squad, added to it and taken them forward. The same can be said of someone like Martinez at Everton. Moyes had a hard working defensively tight team with ability to ground out results. Martinez came along and used that solid base and added an improved attacking and passing ability, hence Everton are a much improved side.

You see the opposite with Moyes at United. The team were very direct, energetic and a team able to suffocate the opposition with constant movement and passing at speed. Moyes' tactics were far more defensive and United's giving the opposition more space negated their biggest strength.

In our case AVB took over from a team that was largely a counter attacking side and tried to change the style wholesale to a possession based team. Bale papered over the cracks but when he left it was all there to see. Poch is now taking over from, in polite terms, a team that lacked any identity or style whatsover beyond "go out there and do the job". If you combine that with the assessment we have mentally weak players, currently it would be fair to say that Poch has the considerably harder job on his hands.
Yes, except that Spurs finished above Southampton and Southampton have experienced by far the greater upheaveal. Also I think there is a lot of continuity in the approaches adopted by AVB, Tim and Poch. Tim is as much a believer in possession football, the high defensive line and pressing from the front as the other two, he just compromised his beliefs in order to achieve short term objectives (the short term being the only term that he had).
 
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