Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 362: Matchday Review: EMBARASSING against Hull
88 Plays10 days ago
Southampton – What else is there to say about that?
Follow us on social media:
Linktree - https://linktr.ee/dailysouthamptonpod
X - https://x.com/DailySaintsPod
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@dailysaintspod
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@DailySaintsPod
Instagram – https://www.instagtam.com/dailysaintspod
Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/gspnsouthampton.bsky.social
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572875812052
Our Sponsors
For advertising and sponsorship details or to learn more about the scale and demographics of our audience – email us - dailysaintspod@gmail.com
Copyright | 2026 | Daily Saints Pod | All Rights Reserved
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction by Greg and Zach
00:00:13
DailySaintsPod
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Saints pod. My name is Greg and as always today joined by my good friend and wonderful co-host Zach. And er I don't know, how do we how do we start talking about that?
00:00:28
DailySaintsPod
That was something right?
Are stats misleading in football?
00:00:31
Zak
do we start with our little bit of lost media where my wife didn't realise we were recording and said, well, often to win games, you need to score goals.
00:00:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:00:40
Zak
And that was off the back of us talking about how Tonda saying things like, well, you know, if you look at the stats, we we we we basically should have won the game, which I've also heard from Will Still, Russell Martin, Ivan Juric, Nathan Jones, basically any manager we've had.
00:00:57
DailySaintsPod
Nathan Jones. Don't forget, he was statistically the best manager in Europe. So, like...
00:01:05
Zak
Yeah, he doesn't have James Brady, though, does he? Anyway.
00:01:09
DailySaintsPod
don't know, mate.
00:01:09
DailySaintsPod
Look, let's...
Team lineup and defensive woes
00:01:11
DailySaintsPod
Let's try and start at the start because it's...
00:01:14
Zak
We have to
00:01:15
DailySaintsPod
Look, I mean, i feel like my text to you when we saw the team sheet summed it up pretty nicely because, i mean, that's the same team that they put out against Middlesbrough with just a slightly different goalkeeper.
00:01:27
Zak
to. Same team.
00:01:30
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:01:31
Zak
Well, as we've now learned, maybe it's not the problem. Like people, I've already seen people call him a Sunday league keeper, people saying he's rubbish. And I'm like, so I feel like at this point, it actually doesn't matter who we put between the goal posts, because if they can't, if you cannot have two defenders who are marking a player, stop a header from going into a goal, I don't, i don't know what else to say.
00:01:44
DailySaintsPod
I think.
00:01:54
Zak
It doesn't matter how tall you are or having Ryan Manning passing the ball back and misplacing that pass, being annoyed at Quasi and the goalkeeper for not collecting it, despite the fact that he gave it directly to an opposition player, and then not taking off Ryan Manning, but taking off Quasi. Like, it's insane. I can't write it.
00:02:15
DailySaintsPod
It's baffling.
00:02:15
Zak
I just, I don't know.
00:02:17
DailySaintsPod
don't know.
00:02:17
Zak
Is he one of the players that faced up to the to the crowd?
00:02:17
DailySaintsPod
I mean...
00:02:21
Zak
Or not? assuming not.
00:02:24
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. right let me Let me go back and check my list. I haven't got that far in in my notes yet.
00:02:28
Zak
i You said at the start and I've completely derailed it, but it's like, it's because i just, ugh.
00:02:28
DailySaintsPod
But... At the start. Yeah, that was it, right? like it's the same It's the same line-up. It's what we were expecting. And they came out, and and it looked like they lined up in a back four, which looked fresh and exciting.
00:02:43
DailySaintsPod
The thing I said to you, Taylor Harwood-Bennis is doing his best here to to to not be the problem.
00:02:49
Zak
It did.
00:02:50
DailySaintsPod
And it turns out, like, it doesn't matter because it doesn't matter if the goalkeeper is a problem or Taylor Harbour-Bellis is a problem because we clearly have so many problems in our squad the that that's the outcome, regardless of, you know.
Management and transfer failures
00:03:08
DailySaintsPod
and and the worst part is, as soon as I saw the team sheet, it's exactly what I saw coming. Like, it
00:03:16
Zak
just can't You just can't write it. I don't quite understand what is so fundamentally broken about our team. I don't understand. Yeah, okay, we managed this little six or seven game spell, which was really nice.
00:03:27
DailySaintsPod
Thank you.
00:03:30
Zak
But like there is something fundamentally in the water, in the DNA. i don't... i don't you know what What's our opinion on Sports Republic? we' We've shared it multiple times. I think harassing the CEO who takes care of the business side is a pretty dumb decision. I understand why. It's because people feel like they need to lash out at somebody.
00:03:49
Zak
But like ultimately... when you are trusting people who just keep throwing stuff under the bus, like Alfie Haas summed that up pretty well, right? don't know if you saw his series of tweets, Greg, where basically it was just like, yeah, they just keep trusting the wrong people they keep trying to tinker with things. and like you know us Us buying a bunch of players from the second tier of the Bundesliga just isn't working.
00:04:12
DailySaintsPod
yeah.
00:04:12
Zak
Alternatively, buying you know getting in managers that can... And you're right, like, well you're right in your point multiple times, so they made it impossible not to hire Eckert because of the the run he had.
00:04:23
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:04:24
Zak
But, like, and I think we we had a back and forth with Football Martin. I genuinely said, like, who would want to come here? And he's got plenty of managers. And I can can't name any, like, I can't think of any managers right now that would want to come here.
00:04:34
DailySaintsPod
I don't...
00:04:36
Zak
It's a poison challenge.
00:04:37
DailySaintsPod
last That's the problem we've put of the position we've put ourselves in, right? Like, not only managers, but also when like we're in the middle of a transfer window that, you know, could have been utilised to shore up our issues and our gaps.
00:04:48
Zak
Too late now.
00:04:49
DailySaintsPod
But, like you say, who who's going to want to come...
00:04:53
Zak
but the The biggest problem you've got as well is that like unless they get rid of this whole... And it's not just endemic to our
Disconnect in team management
00:04:58
Zak
club, right? You're looking at Blasno of Palace. The fact that they've come out and said, we're keeping you to the rest of the season after he literally said the word abandoned is insane.
00:05:07
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:05:07
Zak
you've you've had, you know, Maresca, Ameren, all these teams, like head coaches and managers that are basically unable to do anything because they are they are strangled by this the sporting director approach.
00:05:20
Zak
And like what we've discovered with Tonda now getting the job full time in and the sort of negative tactics and the inability for him to make any decisions about transfers and is that...
00:05:31
Zak
There's such a disconnect. And like you know we all had a lot of work like you know a lot of hope for Spurs, but it just seems to be that he's scouting the the second and first tier of the Bundesliga, and and that's kind of it.
00:05:46
Zak
And he was, you know, the whole squad planning is an art thing. And we haven't had like terrible players, but also they're not really great. And the wild thing is like seeing some of the opposition opinions of us, right?
00:05:58
Zak
and And whole being like, I don't understand because they they've invested loads. Like I'm surprised their fans feel this way. And it's so so hard to explain in like a simple way why, yeah, they've invested loads.
00:06:08
Zak
And yeah, they're quite good at the business side of things. But like, you see what our football is like? Have you seen where we we're at?
00:06:13
DailySaintsPod
But that's that's where a lot of the frustration stems from, right? Because because they've had the money to do what you know other teams are doing better.
00:06:24
DailySaintsPod
Like they've invested the money and there's just nothing to show for it. We're just in such an awful position.
00:06:27
Zak
I just don't think they're very good at running a football club. They're very good at, you know, expanding areas of a business and,
00:06:31
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:06:35
DailySaintsPod
And unfortunately they've put themselves in a position where they're running, what, five now? so
00:06:41
Zak
and they're not gonna And the thing is is, people are like, oh, we need to stop encouraging sell. And there's there's people criticizing people for like buying a new cup merch. Oh, I'm not going have another drink in the Dell. We're going do this big protest that we're never actually going to do.
00:06:53
Zak
And it's because like ultimately, they're not going sell unless they want to sell. And the problem that you've got is that until it becomes not profitable, which I think is going to get to a point where if we start dropping down leaks, it's going to become an issue for them.
00:07:05
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:07:06
Zak
which is ridiculous.
00:07:06
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:07:07
Zak
And, you know, it could be a lot worse. I think that some of the, some of the comments around like, oh, we'd be better if we were financially ruined are just insane.
00:07:17
DailySaintsPod
yes
00:07:18
Zak
I think that's the problem is it's like, it's just having that level of incompetency where you, you can't imagine like letting a business run like this, right? If if one whole section of the business, this reminds me like one of those like undercover boss things, right? Where like one guy's like, yeah, our business makes loads of money. And then he does like an undercover boss into a court the call center. He's like, what do you mean that occasionally the phone system goes down for like 30, 40 minutes a day? And they're like, yeah, it just happens. We just have to call our team and wait.
00:07:48
Zak
And he seems like dumbfounded. And I feel like surely that's got to be like it. Like surely you're looking at your investment and not, thinking, okay, it's going to become good. It's going to become good because this one guy interviewed well. And I feel like if you can't, after like nine, 10 different appointments, hire somebody that's good enough to like fix stuff, I don't, where do we go?
00:08:09
DailySaintsPod
it's it's baffling me.
00:08:09
Zak
Where do we go?
00:08:09
DailySaintsPod
And like, here's, here's the thing, right? And, and you're right.
00:08:12
Zak
what do we do
00:08:13
DailySaintsPod
Like the, the takes that I've seen of, oh, it was more forgivable under low because we had no money and we were financial ruin. and i'm like, well, we could have been in that position if we still had owners like that.
00:08:23
Zak
yeah you could You could have someone that's bad at business and also are terrible at running a football club.
00:08:23
DailySaintsPod
Right. But, but, But you know what I'm like, and I like to to try and take an objective line and try and look at a bigger picture and and sort of try and find the positives. But the the worrying reality that I've got to is that next season, if we don't get promoted, our parachute payments stop.
00:08:48
DailySaintsPod
We currently have the either the biggest or the second biggest wage bill in the league. And at that point, it becomes financially unsustainable. So, are we... I mean, look, even I, as the deepest set optimist that you know that I'd like to think that I am on this show... that I don't see a way we get promoted this season.
00:09:14
DailySaintsPod
And if we do get promoted this season, it's going to be a horrible next season. So, so what, we're just relying on the summer transfer window to suddenly like get a good football team?
00:09:26
DailySaintsPod
Because, done you know, what we played yesterday was supposedly our best 11.
00:09:30
Zak
It's so many factors.
00:09:32
DailySaintsPod
Like... like
00:09:34
Zak
It's so many factors that are problematic. It's like we talk about back four and back five and formation. We talk about the ability to have leaders on the pitch. We talk about dressing room, company you know, Tonda giving all of the greatest hits.
00:09:44
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:09:47
Zak
Oh, told them how it was. that it What matters is a reaction Wednesday. We were told that what mattered was a reaction today. We were told that all that matters off the Christmas period was winning at Middlesbrough.
00:09:53
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:09:57
Zak
it It doesn't matter. and it Again, like it doesn't matter what face you put in there, because as long as you've got a director of football that is dictating everything, the people that go into that position are basically just there to like shout extra loud at the players.
00:10:10
Zak
You've got
Defensive struggles and tactics
00:10:11
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:10:11
Zak
players that don't like to play in a certain way or just don't at this point know how to defend in the systems they're building.
00:10:17
Zak
There is like so many different blocks, and I don't know what you can do to fix it.
00:10:18
DailySaintsPod
Well,
00:10:21
Zak
I genuinely don't.
00:10:21
DailySaintsPod
I don't know. But what i will say is that my observation from this game is is very similar to from the Doncaster game, right? If look at those two goals, and I don't care if you're playing a back three, a back four, a back five, or a back nine. If Ryan Manning plays the perfect through ball to their striker, that's probably goal.
00:10:40
DailySaintsPod
And if you can't jump up and head a corner away... But that's not down to however many defenders you've so you know you're supposed to have in the formation. like That's just that however many defenders or attackers you've got on the pitch haven't defended that corner.
00:10:56
Zak
it was it It was marked by two players and it got past of the keeper.
00:10:56
DailySaintsPod
And, you know...
00:11:00
Zak
And again, like we've criticised McCarthy and you've criticised Pizzuni, but it genuinely feels like, you at the moment, you could have personnel, faceless personnel, zero to to eleven and like it doesn't matter.
00:11:11
Zak
You could have Mr Manager as the manager, it doesn't matter. You could have Sam Allardyce, you could have... like I think that there are things that need to change at a level that wants...
00:11:23
Zak
it's it's just nuts that we could be like a Premier League outfit and be where we are now. And it's so nuts to me that a couple of weeks ago we were talking about how we were absolutely flying and it was a wonderful little sticky plaster. And honestly, the only good point of like the last year and a half, right? You had that section and then, and then it's so weird because you were like, oh we all the places of the puzzle are finally me clicking that we saw under the whole with Will Stills regime. And then they've just, they've just stopped again.
00:11:50
Zak
And
00:11:51
DailySaintsPod
It's baffling.
00:11:52
Zak
Is it just because we're not that good?
00:11:52
DailySaintsPod
It's...
00:11:53
Zak
Are the players they bought bad? is it because they're not being able to play their natural positions?
00:11:56
DailySaintsPod
No.
00:11:57
Zak
Like there's so many questions.
00:11:58
DailySaintsPod
the It's not as... The problem is, right, it's not as... It's not as deep as that, right? We've talked lots about like psychology and mentalities and and positions, but the fact of the matter is that Tonda came in and he played a higher-paced, aggressive style of football, and that worked for a couple of weeks, right? And that got him you know enough wins to get over the line, and you know six wins in seven games whatever. Then he's like, right.
00:12:29
DailySaintsPod
But we're shipping goals for fun and we can only do this for, at best, 45 minutes and we can't do it across three games in a week. So this isn't going to work out in the long run. i need to shore up defensively. And then, well, how do we shore up defensively? Well, we slow the game down.
00:12:44
DailySaintsPod
Well, but now we've slowed the game down. We can't score goals. And it's like this eternal struggle. It's like, well... If we can't defend at high pace, we need to bring in defenders that can defend at high pace.
00:12:56
DailySaintsPod
And honestly, to me, that is the problem in our team, right?
00:13:01
Zak
Yeah.
00:13:01
DailySaintsPod
And it's down to the goalkeeper as well. And, and you know, Peretz, I mean, I don't want to judge him after two games. And I think that it was a bold decision to bring him in and send Baz out immediately.
00:13:17
DailySaintsPod
i don't see why we didn't bring Perez in correct in and have Baz as a number two for a while.
00:13:23
Zak
Well, we've we've shipped four goals in two games, right?
00:13:27
DailySaintsPod
It's just it's it's crazy. But when we play that fast attacking football that we want to see, our attackers score goals. We have attackers that want to do it. If you give Adam Armstrong four chances in a game,
00:13:44
DailySaintsPod
you can you would bet your you'd bet your last pound that he would score one of those four. right If you put Tom Fellows in a situation where he can run a a player one-on-one, nine times out of ten he is going to beat that player.
00:14:01
DailySaintsPod
And you know if ye then spend the entirety of your game watching Nathan Wood... bring the ball forward out of defense for 10 minutes, only to not really have a lot of movement in front of him in the middle of the park, or or just have all of the players completely man-marked because the system has been worked out.
00:14:23
DailySaintsPod
Because now they go, well, we don't need to...
00:14:24
Zak
I don't
00:14:27
DailySaintsPod
We don't need to press Southampton because that's what they want, because they want to move through the lines and come at us with pace. What we need is to just sit off and we'll let Nathan Wood have the ball and we'll just block everybody else and then he won't make a pass. And if we let him pass it around the back long enough, one of them will play us through. and lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. And it's...
00:14:50
DailySaintsPod
And then like there's no counter to that. There's no plan B. And then then although that this game we did bring on a plan b right? And we brought on Ross Stewart, which was fine. And he got his goal. He came on and did what he was supposed to do. And then as soon as he got his goal, it's sort of like there's another layer of the game because then Hull looked at that and went, oh, well, this is a big man in the box who can receive a cross. Well, let's just stick two defenders on him then. We just had no other plan around that. At that point, you're like, okay, great. They're marking Ross Stewart out of the game. That's our opportunity to get down the wings and get down the lines and find those gaps. it It's like, oh. But actually, we took our player who was good at doing that and making crosses off the pitch at the same time we brought Ross Stewart on.
00:15:35
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, thats Not only can I see that as madness, you could hear the entire stadium's reaction to that insanity.
00:15:46
DailySaintsPod
Probably our best player on the day, one of only, I think, three players who show you know who pulled them up by their boots and tried to move the game forward and move at pace and take the ball and move with it.
00:16:03
DailySaintsPod
right Because there was Leo who, once again, just got kicked out of the game. Fellows and Howard Bellis. They're the only three for me the that looked like they cared about moving the ball forward at any kind of pace.
00:16:18
DailySaintsPod
And I would say of all of it, Howard Bellis had the best shot and that's the upsetting part. LAUGHTER
00:16:25
Zak
That's just... It's just... It's the definition
Why repeat past mistakes?
00:16:30
Zak
of insanity. It's just doing the same thing over and over again. Hoping it will change.
00:16:33
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:16:34
Zak
The same cycles. The same... odd well, now all of our defenders are the only ones that get a shot in. They're the only ones that are going to get close. Tackers can't do nothing. The manager doesn't know what to do.
00:16:46
Zak
None of the managers ever have a plan B.
00:16:47
DailySaintsPod
And that's the...
00:16:48
Zak
None of them ever want to change formation because the players refuse to play in a formation that apparently doesn't fit the way that they want to play.
00:16:56
DailySaintsPod
and this is But this is the problem, right?
00:16:56
Zak
team
00:16:58
DailySaintsPod
Because... at And look, if you spend all week preparing for Plan A and then you don't manage to pull Plan A off because either the opposition see it come in or the players just done up to it, I mean...
00:17:13
DailySaintsPod
what can you do? how How is it that every other team in this league can seemingly adjust in the middle of a game to to see where the danger is and we can't? Like say, Ross Stewart, after he scored, completely marked out of the game.
00:17:28
DailySaintsPod
Every single ball that managed to make its way into the box to him, he had two 6'3 defenders stood next to him. There was absolutely nothing he could do. And, and you know, what do we do?
00:17:40
DailySaintsPod
Well, we still play Jay Robinson trying to run down the wing, which is not what his this not his strength, right?
00:17:47
Zak
sorry that we we brought archer super late thought what that was that was gonna help
00:17:47
DailySaintsPod
have nothing...
00:17:50
DailySaintsPod
I have absolutely nothing against Jay Robinson at all. and And I feel bad for him because because of the way that his substitution, the reaction it garnered. I speak for myself and I think I speak for most Saints fans. Nobody is booing the idea of bringing Jay Robinson on.
00:18:13
DailySaintsPod
But it's the idea of bringing on someone who's supposed to be receiving the crosses and taking off the only player that can put a cross in on the pitch. Because some of the crosses were a abysmal.
00:18:27
DailySaintsPod
Like, shocking. Like, I see better corners and crosses in my lads under eights game than I saw at St Mary's yesterday. right like He scored from a corner this week, and I can assure you, he did not learn that from having a season ticket as the Marys.
00:18:43
DailySaintsPod
like
00:18:47
Zak
Oh, man. I just don't know.
Impact of derby loss and management changes
00:18:50
Zak
don't know how I feel anymore about it. Like the fact that we've got a South Coast derby in under week is just the worst, worst time.
00:18:57
DailySaintsPod
that's That's the really tragic part, mate.
00:19:00
Zak
Well, like, this is how it goes, right? We either win it and it buys Tonda some time. We lose it. They decide to get him rid of him again. we have the third manager and in a year as the cycle continues.
00:19:14
Zak
We replace him with some generic person that Sporz picked out that's on Sporz's tick list. He doesn't then have enough time to bring in anybody in January. We reset and we go again next year.
00:19:26
Zak
And then what?
00:19:27
DailySaintsPod
another season wasted. It's just, yeah.
00:19:29
Zak
Another season wasted.
00:19:30
DailySaintsPod
that
00:19:30
Zak
Another bunch of players that had contracts renewed that shouldn't. A bunch of players that leave no transfer fee. A bunch of players that are still here that we don't want to be here. We've now got Rameu, who was too injured to play in the under-21s.
00:19:42
Zak
It's bizarre. Such a strange side in that one. Again, sentimentality, whatever. It's just... Yeah, I'm just so...
00:19:50
DailySaintsPod
and And here's the thing, right? like like People could go and on about Romeo and what he was going to bring on the pitch, but realistically speaking... I mean, my expectation was not that he was going to be like a 90-minute player for us.
00:20:04
Zak
No, but if you're supposed to be in the back back room should have run up, right?
00:20:04
DailySaintsPod
it's In theory, he's supposed to be bringing the mentality up, right?
00:20:09
DailySaintsPod
But here's here's what's scary about going to Fratton Park on Sunday, right? It's the third game in a three-game and seven-day period, which notoriously we are not good at.
00:20:21
DailySaintsPod
It is... it is a game where, you know, a team that has shown they have no mental fortitude and no strength of mind to come up against adversity is heading to our local rivals who, and let's face it,
00:20:40
DailySaintsPod
No one wants to go to Fratton Park. Even Pompey fans don't like Fratton Park, right? It is a dive. It is a shed. And if you think it's going to go there and they're not going to be hurled abuse at from 10 yards away, i mean...
00:20:58
DailySaintsPod
It just, it worries me, mate. And you're right. like you You alluded to it earlier, right? There's no accountability from the players. So you were talking about whether Manning was one of the ones that came over and faced the Northern end. And no, he was not. It was Harwood-Bellis. It was the the usual faces, mate. It was Harwood-Bellis, who, to be to his credit, had had one of his better games.
00:21:21
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:21:22
DailySaintsPod
Leo... Archer, who'd only been on the pitch for, what, three and a half minutes? And Jalert. Like, I just... Yeah.
00:21:32
DailySaintsPod
Nobody else came even remotely close to to dealing with that. And, know, I think that... I think that that's what they need to do. is I think that a lot of the... a lot of the...
00:21:50
DailySaintsPod
frustration and anguish of the fans, lot of it is eased if you face up to it and deal with it properly and go in stand in front of that end of fans and get booed for five minutes and hold your hands up and take that. you know We've heard from Tonda after the match that you know he was 45 minutes late his press conference or something stupid.
00:22:18
DailySaintsPod
because there are a lot of home truths in the dressing room. And I hope that that's true. And I hope that it's demonstrable come Wednesday that that something is.
00:22:28
DailySaintsPod
But, I mean, too little too late, isn't it?
00:22:29
Zak
Even if it is true, mate. How many managers have sat and given the home troops? It means nothing.
00:22:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:22:35
Zak
It doesn't matter.
00:22:36
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:22:36
Zak
They've had the hair dryer from Ivan Juric. They've had the conversation. They've had, you know, but we don't know what Will Steele was like behind the scenes, but they've had all of this before. It just doesn't make a difference.
00:22:47
Zak
And if they if they truly give a rat's ass, they would do something about it. Like, it's it's baffling. Like, we struggled massively to to get past Doncaster, a team that are languishing in the relegation zone of League One.
00:23:00
Zak
And then since just since like you know this this great sort of revival at the beginning of Tonda's reign, but it's like I just don't i don't care. There's no point getting to though the name of any manager anymore because we're going to end up having our 17th segment of of manager watch where we end up looking for a new manager. It doesn't matter.
00:23:21
Zak
but But for me, you're right. like You talk about leaders and and no one really having a dissenting opinion and and you know dumb decisions. like The whole Romero thing, yeah, it'd be great if he was behind the scenes maybe building him up for the South Coast derby.
00:23:32
Zak
How can he do that, mate, if he's with the under-21s? Just out interest.
00:23:35
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:23:36
Zak
So what's the point? What was the point of that story then?
00:23:38
DailySaintsPod
I agree.
00:23:39
Zak
youre in We're in January, we've brought in new keeper because maybe we can calm all the fans down who don't like Pizzou because statistically, Baz isn't the best.
00:23:39
DailySaintsPod
it's and It's insane.
00:23:46
Zak
But then Tonda defends him week in, week out because va repeat that's what we do. We have this culture of defending absolute mediocrity. And then now you've got a game where Baz keeps a clean sheet the first time.
00:23:59
Zak
Maybe in a system with defenders, you know, maybe it's because he wasn't tested. But we wouldn't have had all the scrutiny on him if he wasn't tested so bloody often. And that wouldn't be the case if we kept the ball away from our goal.
00:24:07
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:24:10
Zak
But we can't seem to be able to do that. It's just... I'd love to be... love to be like angry, but I'm getting to the point where i'm just like, this is just like the same cycle.
00:24:21
Zak
Week in, week out, year in, year out, month in, month out. We hate the Sports Republic, then we will get a win. like If we win the South Coast Derby, this goes away for a little bit, right? And we all know that.
00:24:31
Zak
And then people being like, why are we all like this? like Because a lot of people are not invested into the team as much as the the people that are diehard. When you're sat thinking about Saints, talking about Saints eight hours a day on Twitter and and like you know exchanging opinions on Reddit, that isn't the same as the average Saladdon fan.
00:24:48
Zak
Most of them go, they get annoyed, they go home.
00:24:49
DailySaintsPod
Mm-hmm.
00:24:51
Zak
They don't talk about it, they don't think about it until the next week. Oh, we've got to stop protesting. it's any other I'm sorry, but like John from Accounting isn't turning up to a protest on a Saturday. He's just not. So then where does the buck stop? Well, it will stop when either, you're right, we go down because financially it becomes unviable and they decide to sell us. All of a sudden, everyone collectively stops going and giving them money and enjoying the matchday experience that they've they've kind of had to put around the football, which is terrible. The football has to be sorted out or gets better and then everything goes on the up. There's just...
00:25:27
Zak
It's just apathy, mate. Like, I'm just so apathetic to it.
00:25:29
DailySaintsPod
Oh,
00:25:30
Zak
Like, you you were talking to me but over the weekend and we've been texting each other back and forth and speaking at the moment. I'm more interested what's going on in the NFL playoffs. the first year for years where it's not just been the same two teams.
00:25:41
Zak
And that's that awful because, like, you know, we do a daily podcast about Saints. So that's how I feel about it right now. It's just that, how am I meant to
00:25:49
DailySaintsPod
I get...
Apathy in the club's hierarchy
00:25:50
Zak
care?
00:25:51
Zak
Because like, no one else cares. The board don't care. The players don't care. The manager says he cares, but the manager does because the manager really wants to keep that job. But like, he doesn't really have much of say in that.
00:26:03
DailySaintsPod
But they they had a good week training behind them, mate. and if you know
00:26:05
Zak
Oh, who cares? Yeah.
00:26:07
DailySaintsPod
And statistically speaking, no
00:26:08
Zak
Oh, great. RXG's high. Woo. What RXG we have today? do you know what RXG was, mate? 2.68. That's great. Do you know what Hulse 0.62. It's just a pointless stat. It's all, it just all feels so bloody pointless. And I hate that.
00:26:25
Zak
I hate how, I hate how we just, you know, we I feel like we analyze more than any of them do at this point. One shot off target. They won a shot off target.
00:26:37
Zak
they they They basically, you can also just sum up the whole game, mate, as they took their chances and we were really wet in defense again. That could just be copy and paste it across all of the last 350-odd episodes we've got the Batcat, mate.
00:26:53
Zak
And that that's Sam Abdon. It doesn't matter what manager, doesn't matter. But one of the things that I will point out is that a lot of those players have remained the same. I've had so much of that cool spine since we were here.
00:27:03
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:27:05
Zak
And it's just, this is the problem. We think about all these things on a day in, day out, but you're right. Ultimately, like what my wife says is probably the most accurate summary, which is you need to score goals to win the game.
00:27:17
Zak
and it goes out of your goal, right?
00:27:17
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:27:19
Zak
Isn't that just like the point of the game?
00:27:19
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:27:20
Zak
Yeah. Yeah, just figure out a way to do it. Oh, we're trying our best. No, you're not. Because you're so tied to these rigid, ridiculous systems where you've decided that this is the best way to do it. You talk about, Greg, why you're like, oh, well, you know, but how are if the other teams managed to figure this shit out? Well, you see what happens is they bring in like a bunch of defensive players and switch things around and target players for the league. They don't just pick a profile of somebody that might be profitable and they might be able to sell later on and blah, blah, blah. It's just sort of slam your head against the wall because I feel like there's 100,000 people playing like football manager and a lot of them seem to be doing better than the actual team.
00:27:59
Zak
And you don't understand why. And it's when you realize that just because someone's rich, they're not intelligent. like that's That's how it feels, right? Like all these people that are supposedly like smart and have all these qualifications, just like in any job, it is a bunch of people who are absolutely winging it and hoping they don't get found out.
00:28:16
Zak
And the problem is, is constantly that they seem to be really good at selling themselves as we're going to make this incredible, like,
00:28:16
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:28:23
Zak
man city style like academy and we're going create this multi-club model it's going to be awesome and like just never pays out like that just maybe i'm just i'm just sad
00:28:37
DailySaintsPod
loveate I'm right there with you. I'm... I'm right there with you, mate, feeling it. i like the The prospect of of dragging myself out on a cold Wednesday night to watch us play the Blades on Wednesday is just...
00:28:42
Zak
i
00:28:49
Zak
We should be looking forward to the South Coast Army. It should be a thing we're discussing, a thing we're building. Yeah, okay, it's not now long it's no longer not the first one in a long time, right? But it is something that we should be looking forward to.
00:29:04
Zak
And just it's just upsetting. And like, you know, just I'm just getting to a point now where it's really, really hard to spend all of my free time watching them, watching this team play football because of it just doesn't seem to me ever get any better.
00:29:25
Zak
And I love Southampton Football Club. Well, ultimately, it's frustrating because of how much we love the club. Not to like... You know? I'm
00:29:36
DailySaintsPod
I'm right there with you.
00:29:37
Zak
just so tired greg
00:29:40
DailySaintsPod
It's it's horrible. It's tragic. And because we love the club, let's go and go do the full cycle all over again. Twice more this week.
00:29:53
Zak
muststy
00:29:54
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. yeah Well, yeah, mate. Look, that's all we've got time for today. butter But we'll be back tomorrow to to do it all again.
00:30:06
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:30:06
Zak
Maybe. Really, really, really depends if I've just, you know, some of my non-football friends greg tried to be like, can't you just switch team? had to I just looked at them like, no, that's not how this works.
00:30:21
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:30:22
Zak
At this point, I'd love to. But no, unfortunately, I'm tied into this club that hates me and hates all its fans for the rest of my life.
00:30:26
DailySaintsPod
Go.
00:30:30
DailySaintsPod
You can... Go and be an easily fair mate. They had a great result in their local derby this weekend. Yeah.
00:30:38
Zak
I'm aware I could barely walk around the town centre without bumping into police officer. That's the first time since I've lived at Eastleigh in the last like decade, I've seen more than police officer at time.
00:30:53
Zak
Look, it will be what it will It's just been, it's just really, really hard to be a Saints fan right now.
00:30:53
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:31:00
Zak
they they they they make it so painful. Right. and Yeah. I'd like to say it's the hope that kills us, Greg, but I just don't know if I have any hope left now.
00:31:11
Zak
I just think it kills me.
00:31:15
DailySaintsPod
The good news is, mate, it's all just character building, really.
00:31:18
Zak
I hope so.
00:31:18
DailySaintsPod
That's the that' the line we're going with. But look, thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Thank you, mate, for reliving that harrowing display yesterday with me.
00:31:29
DailySaintsPod
Like say, we will be back tomorrow to talk about more. But let let us know in the comments on the socials how you are feeling at the moment. What is the answer?
Engagement with the audience
00:31:51
DailySaintsPod
are Daily Saints Pod on X, Blue Sky, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, anywhere. Hit us up.
00:31:59
DailySaintsPod
We love hearing from you. Until tomorrow, though, everyone, have as wonderful of a day as you can, and we'll see you then.