boosmanana

We have the fundamentals of a good team and well rounded squad for this division, 100%. It's not totally there, but I didn't say it was.

Agreed, and I hope it does. We've got the makings of a good team and a pretty well rounded squad but still need to recruit pretty urgently in some positions to match what we're trying to do.

People also need to consider that whilst they might not like Russell Martin and they might not look the style of football that his teams play (understandable to a degree on both ends), if we were to get rid of him this early into his job here, not only do the club have to fork out yet more compensation to get rid but you also make the position even less appealing for any prospective new manager. If you're employed at a club and you're approached to take over at Leicester, you're not taking it as there's little to no job security after that. If you're looking for work, you're likely to look for something that's going to keep you employed for a bit longer and not have such a reactionary negative fan base on your back from the moment you don't win your first game in charge.

We've not been great in either game so far and we've given up some really easy chances for the opposition to score without really making the same level of chances ourselves, that is concerning, yes. However, to use it as a reason to get rid of a manager (even if I don't want him myself) after 2 games, in which we've lost neither, is just silly at best.

What was the score in the Northampton game?

Agreed that this is of concern, we gave up some guilt edge chances through our own flaws/mistakes. It is just one game though, and hopefully it's something that becomes less of an issue as the season goes on providing we're able to replace those that don't fit.

We can indeed. Realistically, nobody in here (myself included) has an idea how this season will pan out. With the squad we've assembled thus far and the budget disparity between us and most other teams in this division, we SHOULD be going up automatically.

Coventry lost 17 games in the season that Frank Lampard joined in the November. In his first game after taking over they drew at home against Cardiff City who finished bottom of the table with only 3 losses more than them over the course of the season. They did very well to get to the playoffs that season and even better last season to go up as champions. Ipswich in their previous season were relegated from the Premier League, finishing below even us. Both Ipswich and Coventry then started last season without a win and both showed themselves to be "serious promotion contenders" as they got promoted despite their relatively slow start. We've had a relatively slow start, what's to say that we can't be a "serious promotion contender"? I've re-watched it and analysed it thoroughly. In patches we played some decent stuff but for the most part we were pretty poor and gave up some horrendous chances to a vastly inferior squad of players and we perhaps could and should have lost the game. I too have doubts as I did when it was first announced that he'd been employed as our manager, but I'm not instantly writing both him and the whole season off after a singular draw, regardless of the level of performance.

Either way you peddle it, factually, 4 out of the 6 teams that got promoted out of League One and the Championship last season did so with high possession stats.

8 out of the top 10 teams in the Premier League last season finished with more than 50% possession too. The outliers being Sunderland and Brentford.

I'm not comparing managers. I was responding to his blanket statement that "serious promotion contenders would have dispatched a newly promoted side easily", as you'd know if you read my reply to his post. You don't have to go back particularly far to argue that you can have a pretty underwhelming start to the season and still achieve something come the end of it, which was part of the point that I was making.

You didn't mention any of this though did you? You stated that a "serious promotion contender would have dispatched a newly promoted side easily", which is the point that I responded to. If you didn't mean that or didn't provide additional context to your statement, then that's not really on me to fish for anything else that you may or not have meant to say.

Yeah you're absolutely right. Ipswich were winless in their first 4 last season in the Championship after getting relegated the previous season. They drew away against a newly promoted side first game of the season rather than dispatching them easily. Not a serious promotion contender were they though? And would you believe it, Coventry City drew their first game of the season against a team that finished 21st in the Championship the season before. Again though, not a serious promotion contender.

Sold!

Yeah he won't play. We have 3 shit goalkeepers and he's the only one that's half decent with the ball at his feet 😂

Ravizzoli Joseph New New McFarlane Braybrooke Burns Alves Page Watson Bristric

Were you this way inclined when Ranieri took charge after losing his job at Greece upon losing to Faroe Islands, or did you perhaps put aside your hesitancy and give him a chance? Not comparing the 2 in a managerial sense, but you can't always judge someone on their previous job, especially their most recent one.

Again, it's been one game. Directing the irritation to those above i.e Rudkin and Top, absolutely on board with that as they've ****ed us over repeatedly for years. Directing it at someone who's been in charge for 2 competitive games and not lost, nah.

I know a couple of the staff that were before, during after he left and they both speak very highly of him. They're also long term Southampton fans prior to being employed by them and again, both speak very highly of him in that respect too.

It's been one game. But just to humour you, what are you doing or suggesting to do that would change both the present and future outlook of the club and it's trajectory?

That's not what I've said though is it? I've stated that it's brain dead to be writing a manager and whole season off and to be booing players after our first league game of the season just because we didn't win it and win it convincingly, which I fully stand by.

Does this make Nigel Pearson a bad manager because we improved after he left?

I've not made a comparison. I've stated that I enjoy watching possession based football when done right and that Spain are an example of that.

Maybe, but taking the word "attractive" out of the equation and it's all factual at least.

Matter of opinion I guess isn't it. You don't like possession football and that's your issue. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the likes of Pep's Barca, Pep's Man City, the Spanish National team over the last however many years and none of that is vaguely "anti-football", in my opinion of course. I've not enjoyed watching us at all since Enzo left, as we've not had any kind of cohesive gameplan and the players that we've had to watch have mostly displayed a disgusting lack of effort and application.