Southampton Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[Doctor Dinkey]

Dropped points to WBA today so only above us on Goal difference now

Aside from Man City we have a fairly favourable run in - although they too have a relatively "easy" run in on paper (Chelsea aside)

They're clearly favourites to come 5th but we're in with a chance - in truth Southampton have as much chance as us though and 7th still looks more likely than 5th with 6th being a heated race between us and the Saints

Yeah, pretty much agree with you. Liverpool will lose to Chelsea, but well have to at least beat man city next week to have a chance of making fifth.

 

[Shea]

If you have a spare tenner put it on Villa to beat Man City.
Today's result against Saints we would have been happy with a few weeks ago, given we all thought Burnley and Villa were points in the bag.
So, as in CP beat Citeh, Villa will do likewise!

Talking of Villa - I was just looking at the league table

Had we beat Tim's lads at the Lane the other week we'd have still been in with an outside shout of top four and they'd be in the relegation zone going in to today's match

 

[Syn_13]

You say 'Davies and Dier are incapable of producing in an attacking sense',
but didn't Dier supply the cross for the first goal and the through ball for Chadli's goal?

Dier doesn't try to get in behind the opposition full back often back, but I can accept to a point as he's not a natural full back. He's a centre back at heart. However, he does provide early balls and crosses from deep into the box. The first few didn't work, but as the game went on he picked his spot well and provided a couple of great crosses. It worked, so there's not much to complain about.

 

[guate]

The million dollar questions for me is who was responsible for last summers signings? Did Poch approve these signings?

I seem to remember just after the season started that Mauricio mentioned he would not be involved with any transfer dealings until he had a full season under his belt. If this were to be the case then our bean counter and his assistants are the ones that signed Fazio, Benji etc

 

[Mullers]

I seem to remember just after the season started that Mauricio mentioned he would not be involved with any transfer dealings until he had a full season under his belt. If this were to be the case then our bean counter and his assistants are the ones that signed Fazio, Benji etc

That would explain his diplomatic message to the board yesterday.

 

[yiddo23]

Talking of Villa - I was just looking at the league table

Had we beat Tim's lads at the Lane the other week we'd have still been in with an outside shout of top four and they'd be in the relegation zone going in to today's match

Ya but if Chelsea didn't win the CL we would have hazard, and maybe bale and nodric still

 

[Mullers]

So many signings spanning multiple windows - there are surely more than one person at fault

The most logical answer is that Levy is the common denominator. Rightly or wrongly I feel he must at least shoulder a great deal of the blame

I really just hope now we have new people in place to handle these affairs we will stop repeating these mistakes as frequently and start making more of the Modric/Bale/Berbatov type signings again

Everything depends on Levy, he can all the new people he wants, restructure our system but if he still doing the same old haggling and last minute transfer stuff, then it's all for nothing.
Off the top off my head as well as Poch commenting on our transfer system both AVB and Harry have done so as well.

 

[worcestersauce]

He decided to run into a Southampton player? Are you sure!... I have to watch that again.
When you trace that goal back Mason was chasing back because Vertonghen was out of position he got the ball then slipped however got the ball back to Davies who really did mess it all.

You will have to watch that again and you'll see that I am right.
I'm not launching an attack on Mason or particularly defending Davies but if people are attacking Davies then I think it's important to point out that he shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place.

 

[Shea]

Ya but if Chelsea didn't win the CL we would have hazard, and maybe bale and nodric still

I doubt we'd have any

But had we beat Villa they really would be in the relegation zone right now so it highlights what a big win that was for them (the point I was making)

 

[Mullers]

He may well be to blame - I'm sure he's at least partly to blame

Although its difficult to know without knowing what the extent of his involvement was in the scouting/recommending/signing of these players and who else had involvement and to which extent each were at fault

I don't know what goes on behind the scenes unfortunately - I only know that someone/s have made several very poor signings and I can only hope that we will no longer make such mistakes

Baldini is the scapegoat imo, Ian Bloomfield is head scout, perhaps the spotlight should fall on him. Most of the 2013 players were scouted before Baldini even got to the club, we made a bid for Soldado that failed in a previous window. There was Itk way before Baldini got there that Sherwood wanted us to buy Eriksen,

 

[shelfboy68]

Everything depends on Levy, he can all the new people he wants, restructure our system but if he still doing the same old haggling and last minute transfer stuff, then it's all for nothing.
Off the top off my head as well as Poch commenting on our transfer system both AVB and Harry have done so as well.

There has to be something in it as too many have said similar things but Im not holding out too much hope on things changing for next season imo.
The defence is a major area of concern that needs to be targeted mainly due to piss poor defending,although the system might not help this due to the fact we sit so High leaving us vunerable.
If my memory is correct southampton conceded quite a bit under poch last year but have been much better and tighter this season, so it would seem that the "philosophy" leaves us badly exposed at the back.

 

[Shea]

There has to be something in it as too many have said similar things but Im not holding out too much hope on things changing for next season imo.
The defence is a major area of concern that needs to be targeted mainly due to piss poor defending,although the system might not help this due to the fact we sit so High leaving us vunerable.
If my memory is correct southampton conceded quite a bit under poch last year but have been much better and tighter this season, so it would seem that the "philosophy" leaves us badly exposed at the back.

I know it's easy to be captain hindsight and Koeman is still very unproven as a manager but I can't help but think it would have been a master stroke from Levy had he had the foresight to take a chance on Koeman for us instead of robbing Southampton (like we tried to rob Villa of Benteke instead of recruiting such players before the likes of Villa do - our old system was working much better for us when we were the club given unproven gems the platform to become stars)

 

[shelfboy68]

I know it's easy to be captain hindsight and Koeman is still very unproven as a manager but I can't help but think it would have been a master stroke from Levy had he had the foresight to take a chance on Koeman for us instead of robbing Southampton (like we tried to rob Villa of Benteke instead of recruiting such players before the likes of Villa do - our old system was working much better for us when we were the club given unproven gems the platform to become stars)

Very true but i dont know if our defenders are any worse than say a club like southampton, whose players would probably look shit playing in our colours too.
I dont know why we didnt play a system this year which suited our limitations rather than play one which exposes it on such a regular basis, until he gets his so called players in that i feel was a bad mistake.

 

[double0]

You will have to watch that again and you'll see that I am right.
I'm not launching an attack on Mason or particularly defending Davies but if people are attacking Davies then I think it's important to point out that he shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place.

So we can use that same logic and say if Vertonghen had defended better Mason wouldn't of been put in that position to cracking back.

Whats your point....Davies mistake directly cost us a goal.

 

[jezz]

We need a true DM if we're to stick with 2 in the middle.
Or we need to change to 433.

 

[Japhet]

Very true but i dont know if our defenders are any worse than say a club like southampton, whose players would probably look shit playing in our colours too.
I dont know why we didnt play a system this year which suited our limitations rather than play one which exposes it on such a regular basis, until he gets his so called players in that i feel was a bad mistake.

We've spent the season seeing who works for us and who doesn't. There's no point at all playing a system that suits our limitations if we want to move forward with a solid plan. I'm hoping Poch has a clear goal in mind and now knows who he wants to keep, sell and bring in. It's not such a bad mistake if we can still be in the mix for a CL place whilst going through a season of assessment IMO.

 

[spursbhoy67]

Everything depends on Levy, he can all the new people he wants, restructure our system but if he still doing the same old haggling and last minute transfer stuff, then it's all for nothing.
Off the top off my head as well as Poch commenting on our transfer system both AVB and Harry have done so as well.

I have spoken to people who have dealt with DL and they say that when he negotiates he tries to do so in the best interests of the club and not the agent, the player or the selling club. We are a well run club because of him and there is no chance of us doing a Leeds, Southampton, Man City, Wolves, etc.

 

[Mullers]

I have spoken to people who have dealt with DL and they say that when he negotiates he tries to do so in the best interests of the club and not the agent, the player or the selling club. We are a well run club because of him and there is no chance of us doing a Leeds, Southampton, Man City, Wolves, etc.

Every chairman tries to do what is best for the club but that doesn't mean their actions are best for the club. Yes we are well run financially but the football side of it is not run as well as the financial side. When Poch has to speak out in the press like he did then the alarm bells start ringing. It's almost has if he hasn't been privy to or hasn't had much input into the football transfer strategy.

 

[only1waddle]

Baldini is the scapegoat imo, Ian Bloomfield is head scout, perhaps the spotlight should fall on him. Most of the 2013 players were scouted before Baldini even got to the club, we made a bid for Soldado that failed in a previous window. There was Itk way before Baldini got there that Sherwood wanted us to buy Eriksen,

I thought Broomfield went when AVB came in?
I'm not sure you can absolve Baldini without any evidence of his scouting and then blame Broomfield without evidence on who he scouted before he left.

 

[shelfboy68]

We've spent the season seeing who works for us and who doesn't. There's no point at all playing a system that suits our limitations if we want to move forward with a solid plan. I'm hoping Poch has a clear goal in mind and now knows who he wants to keep, sell and bring in. It's not such a bad mistake if we can still be in the mix for a CL place whilst going through a season of assessment IMO.

Not sure about solid plans i havent seen any evidence yet nor does it take a season to assess but its about opinions.
I think in regards to being in the mix we can thank our lucky stars for the emergence of kane and also the form of Lloris, without these two we would have been mid table or lower with the poor defensive unit we have.
But saying all that lets hope as you say poch has a plan for next year and more importantly he gets the backing to see this through, something we all agree on.