Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Daily Southampton: Episode 130 - DISAPPOINTMENT vs Burnley
99 Plays21 days ago
Southampton – TIt was a horrible day at St Mary's as Saints got knocked out of the FA Cup. We discuss the match, and everything that has come out since..
Follow us on social media:
X - https://x.com/GSPNSouthampton/
Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/@gspnsouthampton
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@gspnsouthampton
Instagram – https://www.instagtam.com/gspnsouthampton
Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/gspnsouthampton.bsky.social
Sponsors and Advertising
Zencastr
Built for quality - Designed for growth
A new era for creation is here.
The only complete audio + video platform to get best-in-class recording, intuitive editing, AI-powered growth features, and top-tier distribution tools — all in one place.
Get started for free!
We highly recommend it!
Global Sports Podcast Network - Creating the world’s first network of 30-minute daily podcasts for the world’s biggest sporting export, the English Premier League.
For advertising and sponsorship details or to learn more about the scale and demographics of our audience – email Ken Davies, VP Business & Development at:
ken.davies@globalsportspodcastnetwork.com
www.globalsportspodcastnetwork.com
Copyright | 2024 | Global Sports Podcast Network | All Rights Reserved
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Game Reflection
00:00:09
Zak
Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. We are joining you today, day after our game against Burnley.
00:00:22
Zak
I am joined by my co-hosts as always. ah Oscar, how you doing mate?
00:00:28
Oscar
Yeah, I've recovered from yesterday, so not too bad.
00:00:31
Zak
Good, good, um'm you're not as mad as me about it still. Greg mate, how are you?
00:00:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah yeah um ah Yeah, I mean we truly found the circle come complete right ready to start the cycle again
00:00:47
Oscar
It just makes me think of, you know, the the South Park meme, that bit of optimism built from the Ipswich win, and it's gone.
00:00:48
Zak
yeah
00:00:55
Zak
And it's gone, yeah.
00:00:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:00:57
Zak
And it's gone. It's like, where is it, though? It's gone. You can never get it back. That's gone forever. ah Yeah, so enough pre-pre-ramble.
Game Attendance and Financial Impact
00:01:07
Zak
So obviously, we played Bandly at Home yesterday ah to a bumper crowd of about 15,000, which is really starting to show that their pricing structure is resulting in people voting with their wallets.
00:01:19
Zak
However, I still think that was...
00:01:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
You don't have to worry about it in the next round. It's not a decision.
00:01:22
Zak
Yeah, well,
00:01:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
um i
00:01:24
Zak
Well, yeah, now now they don't get the revenue at all because we're out. So it is what it is. um But positives, we get to focus on the league, right?
00:01:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yep.
00:01:36
Zak
Right, yeah, let's let's actually start um and and let's have a chat about about the game. And obviously you can tell from us, we were all frustrated, upset, disappointed, all those standard things. We got some talking points from before and after.
Lineup Analysis and McCarthy Debate
00:01:49
Zak
So let's start with the lineups. So we were told in the press conference that it would be a barely changed lineup because obviously they don't have a We don't have you know an extra game.
00:02:00
Oscar
Thank you.
00:02:01
Zak
This is just replacing the normal Premier League fixture. We had quite a bit of a but strange line-up with a centre back with two left backs and two right backs.
00:02:12
Zak
and ah Shall we say, deputy goalkeeper in where I'm at is I would prefer, I don't know, anyone else at this point, um especially after a hairy moment where you probably know the moment I'm thinking about where McCarthy corrected directly to a Burney player. And it was only by the fact that they're slightly worse than us sometimes that they did not score.
00:02:35
Zak
so Lineups, gentlemen. Oscar, I'll go to you first. What did you think? It wasn't hugely different, but also different enough that it felt weird.
00:02:45
Oscar
I just... why? I mean, it's not as if we have to prepare McCarthy for next season. He's not going to be playing next season. It's not as if we have to keep him happy. If if he ends up going, then he ends up going.
00:02:58
Oscar
It's really not the end of the world. I just don't... unless Ramsdale's picked up a knock again or or they thought we'll give
00:03:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean he was struggling last week at the end of the game with his hip right, it looked like he actually injured it in his knee slide ironically. So maybe it's it's just that and he's not quite fully fit from that.
00:03:15
Oscar
worth it to be fair.
00:03:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:03:18
Zak
Did Alcaraz have a game?
00:03:18
Oscar
Another Charlie Alcaraz, yeah.
00:03:20
Zak
Yeah, I'm just thinking, did he have a couple of games out after him? Stop knee sliding!
00:03:25
Oscar
Yeah.
00:03:26
Zak
like Like, it's bad enough the injuries so they pick up during the season. the fact They're back there now, enduring during celebration. um um By the way, that doesn't mean I want to get rid of inflammatory celebrations, which by the way, way is the most ridiculous thing I've heard of in recent times.
00:03:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
as long as the bit that's inflammatory isn't the muscles, right? Like you don't want...
00:03:43
Oscar
Yeah.
00:03:45
Zak
It's just, stop, you know, the fact that that annoyed me, we'll get to that maybe at another point. But ah yeah, it was a bit, it was a bit of a weird one. Like, I don't really understand why McCarthy was fired unless it was injury thing.
00:03:57
Zak
I don't know, considering who George is as a person so far, I don't know why he wouldn't have just said that, because it's not like he's going to keep firmly guessing.
00:04:04
Oscar
Yeah.
00:04:06
Zak
Like, it's it just seemed like a weird, unless it's the last minute thing, Ramsdale was like, yeah, I'm not really feeling it, which could well be.
Defensive Strategies and Criticisms
00:04:13
Zak
Who knows?
00:04:15
Oscar
And I know I sometimes do defend McCarthy, but how would Ramsdale have made the a difference in terms of the goal? I don't know if he, you know, ah I don't know that McCarthy could have done any more, but I think that Ramsdale might have been able to do something.
00:04:31
Zak
it's weird because I also think that if Ramsdale was in, maybe he could have commanded the defence slightly better than McCarthy because it's just... I don't know, like the whole goal from start to finish was just a bit wet, right? It shouldn't have gone in. It's another classic, like, oh, are we just letting the softest goal of the season? Except it's not. we We now have a montage of them, again, trying to get extra footage for that montage. um It was just frustrating, but at the same time, it it didn't help Djuric's case.
00:05:01
Zak
If we have centre backs, why he seemed to start to left backs into right backs and kind of leave Jan on his own in the middle.
00:05:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Also, the way round he played them was a bit baffling, right? Because Wellington seemed to slot in his left centre back, and then he played Manning his win back, whereas I think I would have probably done that the other way round.
00:05:13
Oscar
Yeah.
00:05:19
Zak
Well, yeah, especially where like, in my opinion, Wellington was one of the ones actually getting balls into the box. So it made sense to put him, he seems to have more of an attacking sort of, it's just, it just, it was just a bit weird. It seemed to be like we're going to try and play the strongest team. We're going to try and build off of the wind last week. So what I'm actually going to do is experiment in this cup. And that's, that's, it it was saying one thing and doing another again. And I thought we'd kind of moved past that.
00:05:44
Zak
with not having Martin as a manager anymore. And maybe, you know, and and some of the post-game sort of conversation around not, you know, what um what's the words I'm looking for?
00:05:56
Zak
The post-game conversation about how we played really well. And I'm like, what if we would have played if we played really well? We would have won. I can't deal with the dissonance there.
00:06:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
but also it's like even more baffling up front as well like we did a really good job of beating players and putting the ball in the box and then there was just no one there at any point ever because we didn't have a striker on the pitch yeah
00:06:14
Zak
nothing
00:06:17
Oscar
that's That's where I can understand like if you put Manning out at left wing backslash left wing, because he has got quite good delivery when he actually gets the ball in with his left foot. So aim for Onuachi, then it makes sense, not even on someone, not Fernandez.
00:06:32
Zak
It's just so bizarre. And then the fact that we started again all that without a stroke, is it because it worked last time in the Cup, but you've got Nathan Wood on the bench, which I don't know. Obviously we'll get to the post-game discussion towards the end of the of the show, right? And there's a few things I want to talk about, some pretty salty about
Fan Frustration and Performance Issues
00:06:51
Zak
it all. Because like again, this is another what another Saturday where I've given up so much of my time to just just be upset by the football club I love.
00:07:02
Zak
but I don't really feel that, but it's just like starting to get on me and I'm like, I shouldn't have to want to count down the league games that are left, right? That isn't how you should feel about it, but starting to...
00:07:09
Oscar
ah i actually I actually thought that yesterday ah was the most frustrating that I've been all season. That last five minutes, ah just I know we'll come to that later, but ah just so frustrating.
00:07:20
Zak
Joe! The hangover of Martin Bull.
00:07:22
Oscar
and
00:07:24
Zak
like I feel you, that last five minutes of just watching them where you're sat there, and like you can hear it in the crowd. The crowd were shouting, what are you doing? like You're passing it back between yourselves four to five times.
00:07:35
Zak
That isn't where the goal is. The goal is the other end. Yeah, it's lovely. Oh, everyone taking five minutes to pop and have a look at Raven Redmond because he's got a pitch. Wonderful. Don't care. Score a goal.
00:07:47
Zak
Try and do something. like This was such a good opportunity. to build on the win, but not only that, just build something with a little bit of positivity. And it was just squandered.
00:07:59
Zak
But, yeah, line-up was...
00:08:02
Oscar
I almost think he's he's trying to trying to create a new formation with one defender.
00:08:02
Zak
My opinion on line-up was weird.
00:08:09
Oscar
That's what he seems to have been doing for the last month.
00:08:10
Zak
It's so strange.
00:08:11
Oscar
He's just, let's leave Ben Narek there. I understand it's man to man and there's other centre backs are coming out and attacking the ball. But it just like literally yesterday was one centre back and then four full backs.
00:08:24
Oscar
Maybe it's a new or the return of the sweeper.
00:08:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, well, I mean, let's face it.
00:08:28
Zak
the new philosophy.
00:08:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
If it works, we could be calling him a football ingenious for this ridiculous notion of forget defenders. Let's just attack. ah But it didn't.
00:08:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
We didn't score.
00:08:40
Oscar
How many shots did we have in the second half?
00:08:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
i
00:08:43
Oscar
I'm not sure there was much attacking going on.
00:08:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
uh i think i think no uh it was definitely not hard yeah what is football
00:08:47
Oscar
Yeah. So it seems like it's forget defending and forget attacking at the moment.
00:08:53
Oscar
Yeah.
00:08:53
Zak
you hold the ball and this is this is the problem that we're going to have and this is the hangover of having a ridiculous possession based style of philosophy in the team.
00:09:03
Zak
is that if they're going to just do like You saw the the heritage quite unquote of Russell Martin yesterday with the holding the ball for absolutely ages, passing it around to one another But like again, ah some of this is to do with like this decision making when it comes to who was picked and who wasn't.
Zencastr Promotion
00:09:23
Zak
But it's just, we'll get into more of the actual game after a word from our partners at Sandcaster.
00:09:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
the global sports podcast network we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform and zencastr came out the clear winner with four k video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster.
Team Strategy and Positives?
00:09:54
Zak
So we are back. Obviously, we've we've discussed the lineups. We've discussed our thoughts on how weird it was. We've discussed some thoughts on the actual game a little bit. um So actually getting into the the meat and bones of the game, obviously, they had quite a few efforts that we managed to somehow defend quite early on. um We had Solomata at some point booked for simulation which I kind of feel like he just fell over. I don't think he really made too much of a meal of it but at the same time there were just a couple of events like that. We had a goal line clearance, we had McCarthy's ball out to
00:10:31
Zak
directly to Burnley, because apparently he can't pass it out or kick it out anymore. We had lots of moments that were just kind of um devastating and frustrating. So I guess to spin it around in Greg's remit, ah gents, are there any positives to take from that game? And the if the answer's none, that's fine. Just thought I'd ask the question. So, Oscar, and anything from that game that you could go, I thought this was OK.
00:11:00
Oscar
no Not that I can record myself. I listened to the first half because I was driving back from from where I was coming from and watched the second half. And yeah, I can't say there was can't say there was a huge amount of say second half, nothing. We didn't create anything. So not not masses to take from from me. And I always do try and look for something to take out of it.
00:11:26
Zak
Oh, it's unfortunately true. In your opinion, it's pretty much the same, Greg?
00:11:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, well, I mean that we we only conceded one, so that's something.
00:11:38
Zak
you're You're right. where they Maybe one centre back is how many goals. We'll have one goal scored per centre back. So if we only have one centre back, they can only score one goal. oh ah I'll say I think Wellington looks like he has the potential to be a good player um He's someone I'm surprised by as a signing that was kind of a pre contract agreement that we Didn't really think much about we didn't really think was gonna come good um I think that you know, he's managed to slot into the first team quite quickly and be quite good yeah, so like he's where I'm at is the
00:11:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:11:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:12:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
He cleared one off the line as well, didn't he?
00:12:19
Zak
It's like the small glimmers of good things, right? And I don't see him disappear in next season. So maybe we'll actually have like sort of a left wing, which won't be too bad in in Manning and him.
00:12:30
Zak
um
00:12:32
Oscar
To be fair, I thought Gromback looked fairly, a little bit more lively in that he tried to go forwards when he got the ball, when he came on.
00:12:38
Zak
He did.
00:12:40
Oscar
So that was a slight positive. He hasn't been tainted yet.
00:12:44
Zak
It's interesting, isn't it, that two of the new sightings that you know have played football to score goals are the ones that are trying to get the ball forward to score the goals. ah You can see, obviously, some of the frustration with even amongst the players themselves. You're you're going to wonder where these fractures start to so kind of appear. But it was um just a bit a bit weird. And like I don't think the substitutions did him any favors either. and And I mean that in the nicest possible way to bringing on you know when you bring on a one guy you obviously brought off dibbling and put on Paul in 67th minute I was like okay we finally got a striker on the field but I don't feel Paul did a huge amount of yeah yeah didn't really have as much of the service the second half was just dire there's no there's no other word around it but like when you bring it on you're swapping out sort of a defensive midfielder for a defensive midfielder in took off big lead swapped them out for small bone it's kind of like
00:13:39
Zak
ah okay it's kind of a like for like it wasn't really nothing really happened after that and then you're swapping out two of your attacking players with Archer and Grumbach getting on the field but so late in the day that it's you know poor Cameron Archer getting what four minutes to try and turn around and dot what what has been I just feel for some of them, I feel for Djuric because he must be looking at the absolute mess of this situation and ah not having no idea what to do with it. I feel for our new technical director that's come in and has probably gone to that game and gone.
00:14:11
Zak
What? This is what I've got to deal with and i I feel for anyone that thought that having these sort of philosophies in football was such a good idea because it's the it's the clear hangovers, right? And I know we keep banging on about it but it's because it's so prevalent.
00:14:30
Zak
ah greg Greg did his good run about it, but I still remember like harking back to our Wolves crossover. So you weren't around at this time, Oscar, but when we did the crossover with Wolves, they said that they still had a lot of the players in Wolves was, you know, under Gary Neale was still playing basically the way that Nuno played from so long ago, because they just didn't know how to play any other way. And it seems like we've kind of got some of that in our players still.
00:14:56
Zak
is this' just you know they can't they've They've been trained and to do something for such a way. We've learned to try and play a game such a specific way for so long. It's almost like you want to take them all off to a training camp for four weeks.
00:15:08
Zak
to just do Just go back to basics. like just Genuinely, it feels like that. ah Play people with the correct positions. A bigger formation.
00:15:15
Oscar
yeah it's almost like it's ingrained in them now they've done it they've done it they day in day out when master was there and when
00:15:16
Zak
like one
00:15:25
Oscar
when when panic stations set in, then they revert to it. That's their natural right. This is what we're going to do. We're going to keep the ball. We're going to knock it round. But Burnley were always going to put sit in a low block and say, right, come at us.
00:15:35
Oscar
like they used to do Like teams used to do to us when we were in the Premier League last time. And we had no answers to that.
00:15:42
Zak
Mmm.
00:15:42
Oscar
That was more on the hassle hooter when we were trying to play against the ball. And they're like, OK, well, you can have the ball because we know you're not going to damage us with it. And that's basically all Burnley did. we're going to let you sit there and then we just sort of pass the ball looking at them trying to get them to come out and they're like no we're quite happy sat in our little block you come and beat us which is why again then you bring on Onuachi to try and disrupt that a little bit but then we don't play it to him like even if he's not the best in the air he's still you know pushing seven foot tall just hit him see what happens cause some chaos not knock it around the back
00:16:13
Zak
something to hit with, right?
00:16:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:16:18
Oscar
and slowly, because if you knock it slowly round the back, they're just going to shuffle round and that's all they did. If you're going to do it, you've got to do it quick. But they didn't do that. And then, you know, it would be, oh, we'll knock it round, we'll knock it round, we'll go out the side, we'll lose it, they'll counter and they'll score, which is exactly what happened.
00:16:34
Zak
Yeah, I could really put it better than myself, to be honest. states It's just...
00:16:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:16:41
Oscar
ah
00:16:41
Zak
It's upsetting that like, you know, I will consider myself to be a massive amateur.
00:16:46
Zak
I know that you do some actual coaching. So you have more of a football mind, but it's like sometimes it feels like it's the basics, right? That's what the struggle is. Like if if if the layman and the not so layman, you know, you can see this, what is it?
00:17:01
Zak
why can't they and this is the most I think the most frustrating thing about this season so far and like you know it makes you it's the whole live by the sword die by the sword philosophy for Russell Martin it's like well yeah but you've not just died by the sword you've brought down everything else with you it's not just you that's died by the sword it now kind of feels like the whole club has had to kind of suffer with it as well and if it had worked it would have been great there you go like if it was going to work it was going to work but it didn't and it's not
00:17:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:17:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
it Turns out the sword was a hand grenade and that's...
00:17:27
Oscar
ah ah did
00:17:29
Oscar
Yeah, um on the side of it, I admire trying to do something different. And I do think, you know, would you rather be would you rather be a team that sort of stays up by the skin of their teeth every season, playing horrible football, a bit like Everton have been for the last however long, playing horrible football, just surviving on the last day.
00:17:49
Oscar
or trying to do something a bit different. okay Granted, it really hasn't worked this year. and And what my argument would be is when things aren't working, you do have to try and find a different way of doing it. And I think Martin did try and do that, but I think the damage unfortunately was done by that point.
00:18:04
Zak
Yeah, and and I agree with that.
00:18:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hm.
00:18:05
Oscar
like
00:18:05
Zak
And again, I think it was just trying to find a middle ground, right?
00:18:08
Zak
And you see that in games like the the Tottenham game, where like he tried to do something different. We were 4-0 down in 25 minutes. And then he reverted back to panic stations where we only shipped one more goal.
00:18:16
Oscar
Yeah.
00:18:20
Zak
And then, you know, unfortunately, that was it for him. It was the end of his career. And now we've got Djuric trying to do something. f And it will be very, very interesting because if if this new guy is in charge of the footballing side of things,
00:18:33
Zak
There are already people talking about replacing the manager, which is once again wild, but then also who knows at this point what the the
Management Critique and Team Identity
00:18:40
Zak
future plans are. I'm just hoping that they are going to start having future plans and stop this nonsense of...
00:18:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
I just don't know what people are expecting. like it's it's still We still have the same players. We've only bought in a couple of new players and not a huge amount of anything else in the transfer window. so
00:18:59
Oscar
I think what I'd say, though, is it's almost like we've gone from pillar to post. We've gone from having a rigid philosophy to, this is how we do it. Whatever else happens, this is how we're doing it. To now, I can't see any sort of philosophy at all. I think there's got to be a middle ground. The only thing I can see is that he's he's going with man-to-man marking, which which is interesting. um But let's be honest, how, I think, Mateta absolutely bullied Ben Aric and we were lucky that we got away with that one. I think Dalat,
00:19:27
Oscar
I'm not convinced it's necessarily working but I think there needs to be some sort of plan and that's what at least you got under under Ralph at least you knew what it was going to be and the Red Bull started play like at least you know what it's going to be and you know what your team's going to offer I'm not saying it has to be a certain philosophy and you can still adapt it but I just what what do what what do we look like under Urich like what defensively maybe we know but attacking wise I don't I couldn't answer that question
00:19:54
Zak
Does it almost feel, almost feels Ruben's fantasy, doesn't it? Where like, we had Hassen hootleball, Nathan Jones tried to change things, it was terrible.
00:20:01
Oscar
Hey.
00:20:06
Zak
We immediately reverted back to a proto-Nahassen hootleball. but Celis didn't really have much of his own sort of way to manage the team. And Juric is basically just trying to throw the kitchen sink at anything that maybe might work and maybe the players can do. um But yeah, I guess there's i guess the there's a difference between an identity and a philosophy around the way, you know, you can have identity, you can have styles of play, but you instead of being extremely rigid like Martin was. But I want to talk about, when we come back, some of the,
00:20:39
Zak
Post-match comments that I'm pretty sure both of you have heard, and I want to get what your thoughts are. And I can obviously share mine, because let's face it, I'm not exactly quite about my opinions. But that is after a word from our partners at the Global Sports Podcast Network.
00:20:54
Zak
The Global Sport Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasting with dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football and a daily Premier League wrap-up broadcasted in five different languages. This is your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts.
00:21:12
Zak
And we are back. So after a big old conversation about what has happened, what hasn't happened, what we're worried about when it goes to, when it comes to what being a Southampton player even means anymore. I saw someone tweet out about, I should remember when I think somebody asked the question about the Southampton way and Adam Blackboard didn't get a chance to ask it, the fans for him and it's kind of not a thing anymore. But part of that,
00:21:42
Zak
I thought was that we were a well-together, tight-knit group of players, you know, knowing that some of our eventual talents might leave.
Flynn Downs' Contract Controversy
00:21:50
Zak
What I didn't expect from this season was Flynn Downs, who has only just signed a long-term contract with us, um seemingly throwing his toys at the pram a little bit because he didn't get a move to Ipswich. So, gentlemen, let's start with Greg. what' you What's your opinion on it, mate?
00:22:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh mate, I think it's ridiculous. ah I mean, I would potentially have some sympathy for it if it were a big move to like, I don't know, like ah an Arsenal or a Liverpool or something. But Ipswich, like, ah they're gonna likely be down with us again next season. It just seems ridiculous. And I I think that it's just blows my mind. It's just I know there's no loyalty in football these days, but he literally signed six months ago.
00:22:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
like
00:22:41
Oscar
i't i yeah I don't know that maybe he just wants to go and it's not necessarily Ipswich.
00:22:41
Zak
Long time.
00:22:47
Oscar
I don't think anyone said that he definitely wanted to go to Ipswich, because you're right. What would be the point? How does that benefit his career? I mean, he wants to prove that he could play in the Premier League this year, right? i think that's I think he said that in the past.
00:22:59
Oscar
He hasn't proved that for one reason or another. So, you know, take your lumps. You're going to have to go back down to the championship and prove again, because he was our best player in the championship, in my opinion. um and vital to what we do didn't work in the Premier League okay maybe he's really close with Russell Martin and that's what's rumoured in which case fair enough but unfortunately that's football so I don't know that it can't be because he wants to go back to Ipswich. It must have just been that he doesn't like the manager, um or he doesn't get on with the manager and wants and a move. I just can't see a world in which he he's desperate to force it to Ipswich, personally, because I really don't see how he benefits. And I'm sure there was some needle towards the end of the season with them anyway. I think they booed him, am I right in thinking, at the end of the season. So you know I know that doesn't necessarily mean a huge amount.
00:23:48
Oscar
Yeah, I just think if you're a football player in general, um you know, and I work with a lot of young players and players that have played at a good level, I think it's just a general thing. You know, you just do things the right way.
00:24:01
Oscar
And if you don't do things the right way, eventually you'll get caught. And you know, you're seeing that. But unfortunately, it just seems to be that we're seeing that everywhere in football. And you know, Marcus Rashford bring being being a prime example, you know.
00:24:09
Zak
Yeah, it's not just us.
00:24:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
just crazy although I did see someone I did see someone on Facebook also say although this is the bloke that thought eating raw chicken livers was a good idea so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised
00:24:12
Oscar
Yeah, I think it's just the modern way
00:24:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:24:26
Zak
Yeah, I'm i'm with Jorsko. I don't think it's because he specifically wanted to go to Ipswich. I don't think it's specifically, I think he he wants to leave. I think that he's fallen out with Russ. My problem with a lot of this is that he, when he was taking loan deals, when he was at West Ham and he was taking a loan deal every other year, if it didn't work out, he could get recorded and go to a different club.
00:24:47
Zak
right And I think that that seems to be the philosophy that he's got in the back of his mind. It's like, well, you know of of I don't think he understands he signed a long-term contract with us, which means rain or shine. It doesn't just mean now we've had a bad season and you get to go and you don't like the manager anymore, so you get to go. Is it because he wanted to stay at West Ham? And Russell Martin is the thing that convinced him. And he just was convinced that they would play so great that they would do exactly what they did last season and somehow stay up this season.
00:25:14
Zak
Maybe. Stranger things have happened. Greg predicted us 12. He might have genuinely deluded himself into thinking and maybe he's annoyed we're getting frustrated because it hasn't worked out. You can see the two most frustrated players out on that pitch most of the time are him and Taylor Harwood-Bellis and that says a lot about the sort of youth of them, their age, the sort of world of football they're coming up in and people were criticising Bednarik yesterday for going and having a chat with Redmond after the game had finished.
Player Loyalty and Reputation
00:25:42
Zak
I'm like well he turned down a massive move because he's quite settled in Southampton, quite likes it, quite happy to play, fights for the club and he also had his diva moment where he went to Villa and look how it worked out for him.
00:25:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:25:53
Zak
He came back you know whereas now you've got
00:25:55
Oscar
like think yeah I think if you flip it, like look at Fernandes, look at the difference in the two. hes probably i mean but but Would you agree he's probably been our best player this season?
00:26:07
Oscar
I think he's certainly top three.
00:26:07
Zak
I would agree.
00:26:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:08
Zak
ah He's the one I don't want people to notice.
00:26:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
and um
00:26:11
Oscar
No, but has he been our folk?
00:26:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Maybe between him and Walker Peters.
00:26:15
Oscar
Yeah, but does he does he have a sulk on the pitch? No. does He puts in 100% every game. ah You don't hear any noise from him. um He must know that his future is elsewhere. But what what Downs has got to remember is that other clubs see this.
00:26:29
Oscar
And is he exactly going to be on the top of anyone's wish list at the moment?
00:26:30
Zak
Yeah.
00:26:35
Oscar
like Again, if he's having an unbelievable season, and like Fernandez, and he's had a good season, and this is the situation that I'm having to turn around and say no you can't leave, then fair enough.
00:26:46
Oscar
But unfortunately, he's struggling to get in the team. So realistically, who is going to be looking at him? i that Someone said to me about, or I saw on Twitter, I think it was, or X, about ah maybe we should go to West Ham and see if we can do a swap deal for Ward Prowse. I was like, well, obviously, some very educated opinions on X. A, Ward Prowse obviously wouldn't want to go to the Championship. But B, in what world does Flynn down to get anywhere near the West Ham team if Ward Prowse can't?
00:27:14
Oscar
they've already
00:27:14
Zak
it's
00:27:15
Oscar
decided he can't he can't make it in there.
00:27:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:18
Oscar
So, yeah, I don't need that.
00:27:18
Zak
Plus, I really ah really want us to stop that obsession with our ex-players.
00:27:21
Zak
It's so frustrating. yeah we We may as well just bring back the whole gang.
00:27:26
Oscar
To be
00:27:26
Zak
Bring back Wanyama. He's probably still around somewhere. Why don't we just bring back everyone?
00:27:30
Oscar
fair.
00:27:31
Zak
Rumeu. I love Yoshida. I'm not going to bring him back. but is The MLS is his level now. like That's where I'm at. Yeah, I think my opinion and the opinion that I tweet out that annoys me the most about these players throwing up a bus and trying to get a move and being annoyed that they don't get a move is that if they get a move, if they got a move in January, like Ben Barrett and Diaz and, you know, much like Adam Armstrong, and we end up being the worst team in Premier League history,
00:27:57
Zak
They were always going to be known as part of the worst team in Premier League history. That will be an accolade that is talked about as a, you know, like like when you say, oh, well, they they were part of the Leicester's, you know, Championship winning team or or Premier League winning team. They are going to be part of Southampton's like worst ever Premier League, you know, worst ever Premier League team of all time. If they put in the fight, stayed actually worked hard and we end up by some miracle staying up,
00:28:25
Zak
you know we could have we could have not had that accolade. That accolade stays with them regardless of if they move and run away from the situation or not. And that's kind of what like annoys me because they're the ones that had the opportunity to change it.
00:28:37
Zak
It's just baffling to me. And I understand you can call it the manager, but like when you've got players being paid thousands of pounds, or in a hissy fit because they aren't putting in the effort that their boss expects from them,
00:28:39
Oscar
Dude.
00:28:50
Zak
And then like you know it it getting out into the public about it because of the fact that our new manager in the nicest possible way, I don't think he really cares about their feelings as much as Martin does. And that partly is a good thing, right?
00:29:01
Zak
like You have to have a balance of those things in and management, not just football management, just like managing people in general is difficult. it's hard I've been a manager, hate it. I can barely control my own emotions, that alone other people's.
00:29:13
Zak
But like if you're going to do stuff like that with somebody who's as blunt and as honest as George, you should be like, yeah, for instance, like the team, because he's been bad and he's now thrown up a fuss about it.
00:29:24
Zak
And you're like, it's just upsetting.
00:29:26
Oscar
I think it's just modern footballers, I think they can't take they don't want criticism.
00:29:29
Zak
Yeah.
00:29:30
Oscar
I'm not saying downs in general, but generally modern footballers, they can't take criticism and this is the way they're at. Okay, well, if if you know it's not my fault as everyone else has let's deflect it and then we get a move and then we start again.
00:29:46
Oscar
I think it's gone are the days where they just knuckle down and get on with it, which is what I'm interested as to what happened with Adam adam Armstrong, because um I can't see him being one that would have thrown toys out the ground.
00:29:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:29:56
Zak
Not as much.
00:29:56
Oscar
He doesn't seem like that.
00:29:56
Zak
I feel like he had an opportunity to play every game because of a loan deal and probably went, yeah, I'll take it.
00:30:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:30:01
Oscar
Yeah.
00:30:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, I actually think Djuric came out and said that he was a professional right until the minute he got the move.
00:30:02
Zak
And he likely previously.
00:30:07
Zak
yeah
00:30:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
So which written and the fact that he would come out and say that and then a week later throw Flynn under the bus really says to me everything you need to know about the difference in attitude.
00:30:17
Zak
But also Armstrong's gone to under to play under a manager that he's known previously, a manager that trusts him, a manager that went in for him pretty quickly. And he paid him back already score the other day. You know, they they one who won two-one.
00:30:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:30:28
Zak
So says says ah you know it said it says a lot. and And, you know, maybe that is the case with some of the other managers. And we've we've discussed ah the state of the transfers. We've discussed the state of the club.
00:30:40
Zak
and you know how i think that we if they learn from the mistakes i personally think that it's not the end of the world that we're owned by people that seem to not really have a clue they're doing something about it we we need to allow time for that to happen and kick into gear probably not going to be this season unless something dramatic happens over the next 16 games but i think from my perspective the upsetting thing about this game is more the information that's come out after it that just goes fantastic you know you've got every single Saints fan screaming his name you know thinking he was joking when he was putting up the iron sign in front of us and then signed for us long term and now six months later he's trying to get out of dodge and it's like hey you know i know there's no loyalty in football but like it's so hard to how can you have kids who have favorite players anymore like how many play how many favorite players greg where
00:31:27
Zak
Or has your daughter had to go through who've left consistently?
00:31:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, ah her first favourite was Tino Libermano, so it's a considerably small subject.
00:31:32
Zak
There you go.
00:31:38
Zak
Yeah, but that maybe that is a symptom of of the modern game. And yeah, it's frustrating. But like um' kind of where I'm at is I would rather have a bunch of players that actually want to play for the team. And if a big move comes in the future, then happy days.
Player Performances and Transfers
00:31:51
Zak
Fernandez, i don't you know if he if he moves in the summer, You won't hear a peep from me. if I'll be wishing well. I'll be sad that he's gone. Even Carl Walker-Peters, a lot of people are cross batting, but he's never made any noise.
00:32:02
Zak
He's never not played. He's never not trained. He's never thrown up a fuss about it.
00:32:05
Oscar
That's it. That's why I don't understand players that do it because let your football do the talking and it seems to earn them. just everything is so much more positive with it you know how many players how many what's the the feeling of Ricky Lambert these days you know compared to some of the others that left at the same time Luke Shaw again I don't recall him making much noise he still comes back you know Redmond got a good a good ovation and he wasn't even particularly good for us like but these ones that force it or kick up a fuss they're the ones that you know people don't and I'm sure they don't really care to be honest but
00:32:29
Zak
Yeah.
00:32:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:32:38
Zak
out of back and forth with somebody on blue sky I'm still mad about like a Virgil van Dyke great player still mad about his little like tweet like Instagram picture of him sat on a private jet looking out the window looking all sad and it's just like great well you know and and then he's might be he might be conducting himself significantly better now because you know he's had that he's had his moment right same with Ben wreck like some of them have these moments and go on and you know mature from it I hope it's a learning experience I hope the reaction out of it is to do so well in training that he gets back in and he takes Ukechukri's place and he plays amazing for us and and that's that's what the result is. My worry is that isn't going to be what the result is. always And the other problem now is that on what could have been a morale building win on top of a win, back to back wins, doesn't matter if it's car you know cup or league, whatever, something positive to to build on has resulted in
00:33:34
Zak
something that was awful both to watch both to talk about and then off the back of that you then get questions about personnel and then we're finding out that half the players tried to leave either left or now are just not or complaining about not being able to leave and you're like huh just
00:33:52
Oscar
reality complaining because no one wanted them.
00:33:55
Zak
And this is, yeah, and that's and that's the thing. and And it's like, we've still got 16 games. Maybe it's not all bleak. Maybe it's not all doom and gloom. Maybe we'll get a few wins here and there. We don't have to worry about other competitions. Maybe Juric will find ah an 11 that he likes. He'll find a formation that he likes.
00:34:11
Zak
he'll stick to it maybe we'll start to see an identity again maybe he goes at the end of the season we pick a completely different manager and we start to develop something else um as long as we progress and survive as a football club and have something to I guess look forward to like I will be I guess content I'm not going to say happy yet because it's been a while since I felt hugely happy other than last weekend
00:34:38
Zak
We're not gonna finish 12th Greg. I'm really sorry. We're also not gonna win win win the FA Cup this year I'm really sorry to tell you we're also not gonna win the league, but we might we might not still get relegated
Future Prospects and Social Media Promotion
00:34:50
Zak
He says lying to himself and everyone listening Yeah, well well we don't know cities charges supposedly come out over the next few weeks so when they deducted like 90 points We'll sit 90
00:34:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
We might not finish 20th. That's the aim, right? We might finish 19th.
00:35:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. 19th. Yeah.
00:35:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
All right.
00:35:08
Zak
ah I'm really sorry that it's not been the the happiest of episodes it's gone significantly over ah than we expected it to but we had a lot to talk about and I think it's you know there's a lot of things that we all deeply care about the club and it's frustrating to watch these things happen you know, in front of our eyes and not have a way to talk about it.
00:35:31
Zak
But we do because that's why we do this podcast. So with that, everyone, we will be joining you for next week, ah where we will obviously will joining you tomorrow, where we'll try and, I guess, tactically break down this game, maybe.
00:35:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
It might be nicer to try and think about what tactics we could employ at the weekend to overcome Bournemouth.
00:35:46
Zak
Trying to figure out what the.
00:35:50
Zak
There you go! Whatever we fancy doing, if we don't want to talk about this game, let's talk about the ideal tactics we would use on the weekend. But either way, we'll be back tomorrow with ah more Southampton Talk. Thank you very much for listening. We're available on all the social media, so Facebook, Twitter, slash X. We are on the official GSPN YouTube channel if you fancy watching us in person.
00:36:15
Zak
There's a playlist there called The Daily Southampton. All of our podcasts get posted to that playlist. ah We are also on Instagram, Blue Sky, TikTok, anywhere else. Give us a like, give us a follow, give us a rating, all those wonderful things. Thank you very much for joining us for this bumper match review, and we will see you in the next one.