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Episode 177: Match Review - Aston Villa @ Home
70 Plays4 days ago
Southampton – 2 New Manager bounces this season, both ended up as a loss. We talk about it!
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Transcript
Introduction and Co-host Introduction
00:00:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. Today i am your host, Zach Ngofinch. I am joined by Oscar. How you doing, bud?
00:00:20
Oscar
Yeah, all good, thanks. All good.
00:00:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
We had pretty busy week last week. I didn't manage to catch you in any episodes because we had a lot of but weird crossover, but it was just pretty hectic week.
Southampton's Relegation and Management Changes
00:00:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Relegation finally confirmed, Juric out the Lallana as assistant.
00:00:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
There were lots on the cards for it to be a new manager bounce or something a bit exciting. But alas, we were we were beat by Villa 3-0. And I want to start by pointing out how I have consistently and seem to consistently underestimate Aston Villa.
00:00:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
This is like a personal thing, right? Well, I think that like in my head, there's still that team that came up from the championship like a year or two ago.
00:01:04
Oscar
Yeah.
00:01:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
And they're just they're just not that team anymore. And I think that they're... We'll get into it as we go on. But their subs bench kind of proved that they are just not that team anymore.
00:01:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
we are We are miles. The gulf between us and teams like Villa are just so, so, so, so massive. And that was kind of proven.
Underestimating Aston Villa
00:01:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
So i guess we'll start from the start, right? So if you had a chance to sort of look at the lineups...
00:01:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Anything kind of there jump out at you a little bit? We finally got the Archer tool pool we've always asked for. However, it just kind of felt like it wasn't the game for it because they didn't get to do anything, to be honest.
00:01:40
Oscar
No.
00:01:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
So, yeah, how did you feel about the lineup anyway?
00:01:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:01:56
Oscar
i agree with you. Like, like Villa, for me, I think was always going to be far far too much for us. I think I predicted we'd lose 2-1.
00:02:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:02:04
Oscar
I think you know the quality they've got, if you can bring on you know an England, all right, he's not a starter, but an England squad player off the bench, a striker, you know we would what would we give to have a striker like Watkins as our main player?
Squad Depth and Substitutions
00:02:17
Oscar
I know they're resting and rotating, but Their second XI is by far and away stronger than our for our best the best XI we could put out. So, you know, I'm not massively surprised.
00:02:31
Oscar
Is that the game to try, you know, two strikers? Maybe, maybe not. I mean, it seemed it seemed like we're a bit more solid, right?
00:02:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, but I don't know if that was if that was because the the back five all had players that actually play centre-back and left-back and right-back.
00:02:39
Oscar
For five minutes.
00:02:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Having P players play in their actual position meant that that we were solid. We were solid for 75 minutes. We didn't really look like there was going to be much, but... And obviously it all went downhill, but it really was a tale of Villa's substitutes because literally all three goals were scored by their substitutes.
00:03:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
There were obviously some incredible heroics from Aaron Ramsdale. i feel really bad for that sort of the the follow-up goal from the penalty the second time round because I don i think that they could have done better. But it's like when we're bringing off we're we're bringing on Ross Stewart, who has been out since October, and they're bringing on Ollie Watkins and Asensio, it's kind of like...
00:03:28
Oscar
Yeah.
00:03:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
What we, you know, it's it's just a completely different...
00:03:33
Oscar
And it's it's happened a few times. like We've got a massive squad, but actually outside of the first 11, very little, so very little quality, probably the words, very little Premier League quality.
00:03:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
just load that, that's all.
00:03:43
Oscar
And we we get worse.
00:03:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:03:45
Oscar
And Russell Martin, I think, mentioned it, and maybe Juric
Managerial Trajectories
00:03:48
Oscar
as well. We get worse when we make subs. And it was very evident in the Palace game. It was very evident yesterday. It was the first go after we'd made our subs, I believe.
00:03:59
Oscar
And, you know, and small bone just coming back from injury. Ross Stewart's just coming back from injury. Is that the time to throw them into a game again? Like, obviously, I'm not criticising, you Rusk and Lallana. They've been given an impossible job.
00:04:14
Oscar
I wonder what the reception would have been if that had been Juric that had done that. Yeah.
00:04:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
Interesting.
00:04:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I agree.
00:04:22
Oscar
But, you know, it's just, yeah, it goes, so I mentioned it to Craig last week, it shows how far we have come from a couple of years ago when we were around the same point with Villa when they sacked Gerrard, was it Gerrard or Paul Lambert or one or the other?
00:04:35
Oscar
they so I think it was Gerrard. They sacked Gerrard and we sacked Hatton-Hutu. And we've just, and since then, gone completely different directions. And, you know, I'm not, that's not a dig at, like, the our owners or, you know, saying, you know, we should have just gone out and got Unai Emery.
00:04:49
Oscar
Like, it's obviously not as simple as that. We are not Aston Villa.
00:04:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right.
00:04:52
Oscar
we We're not as big a club. We're the big one.
00:04:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
I feel like getting Nathan Jones, though, that wasn't...
00:04:57
Oscar
No.
00:04:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
that that was That was... We are trying to stay in the Premier League. We've been in the Premier League solidly for years. We decided to bring in a Championship manager from Luton.
00:05:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Luton didn't get promoted that season, but Luton currently aren't, and they're on their way down potentially to League One again. But like when you hear we are replacing this Premier League manager... who, yeah, he's lost a couple of nine nils, but also had that one win against Liverpool that he cried out, whatever.
00:05:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
The problem is is that when you are then replacing him because he his position has become untenable, and the best that you can come up with is like a guy from the Championship who immediately rattled everybody, what do you expect? And then since then, it's just been you know a lot of things. and as As you pointed out, though, it's just the gulf between the two of the teams. It's just absolutely immense. And that and that was completely...
Management Philosophy and European Competitions
00:05:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know, confounded on the Yeah.
00:05:47
Oscar
it's It's interesting like they come out and say there's anything they've learned from this because it is almost identical parallels from the last relegation. We sacked a manager that it wasn't necessarily universal popular universally popular that he had been sacked at the time.
00:06:02
Oscar
And now the question that's you know rising all around is, was it the right decision you know to sack Casanuto in the first place, to sack Martin in the first place? but I think, again, with both situations, ultimately, they'd lost the fans. so So it was the right decision. it's just the recruitment hasn't been good enough in terms of who they've brought in.
00:06:20
Oscar
So... such
00:06:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, it's interesting that we, although they've lost the fans, we're one of the few teams that have kind of stuck with that philosophy because you look at Tottenham keeping Postecoglou you look at Manchester United keeping Amorin.
00:06:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know And that is a situation where I think a lot of the time fans have turned quite quickly on those, you know especially especially with Spurs. Obviously, it'll be very, very different once we end up with the results of the Europa League, right? like if If they end up losing, we get knocked out, then I think probably, to be honest, at that point, Ange will probably leave and wants to leave. But it's interesting that like with our situation...
00:06:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I said to Greg, like, my my thoughts on it was kind of like, what was the point? And Greg was like, oh, we had to go through that journey. I'm like, did we? Like, because it kind of feels like we, you're right, we did exactly what we did relegation season, except we just did it a bit later, which meant that we also lost the entire January transfer window.
00:07:13
Oscar
Yeah.
00:07:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
But then there were, you know, some of that Russell Martin interview was very interesting where bits and pieces coming out like, you know the the fact that the club said relegation was a foregone conclusion, and you're like, what was the point of wasting all of the money on bit players then? You may as well have just kept exactly the same squad and added like Ramsdale, and then you know wouldn't have been much better, but also you wouldn't have lost all this money on players that aren't going stick around. There's just a... You're right. there's there's There's not a lot of faith, and they're struggling to return that faith. And I don't know whether Roll's the answer. I don't know Steve Cooper's the answer. I don't know
00:07:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
what the answer is.
Squad Limitations and Game Tactics
00:07:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
But nothing had laid bare the problems that we have more than that filler game, because it shows you with a completely different set of managers and they went for five at the back again and they tried to play two strikers. But we got 75 minutes in, we stuck in a lot longer than we usually would.
00:08:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
But then the scoreline once again didn't really reflect, it shouldn't have been 3-0.
00:08:12
Oscar
no
00:08:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
what are you going to That's just the way that we've been. And I just want to correct myself. As since he started, he didn't come on as a substitute. Malin came on and like you know all three substitutes managed to do like three substitutes managed to get goals. And as you said with us, like the most exciting substitute we had was probably Tyler Dibbling.
00:08:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that's the one that everyone's really, really hyped about. And then he's also getting a lot of flack for supposedly downing tools since Martin's come in. It's probably just that I think lot of the players around him, you can only do so... Can you imagine what the mentality of being told that you're worth £100 million in the season you first broken into the Premier League in probably the worst Premier League campaign history potentially ever? It's got to do a lot to you getting messed up in the head after a while. I don't think from a psychological perspective, I personally could take it.
00:08:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know Greg's cooking some stuff in the background about this kind of thing, but... That's the problem is that we we can talk about the team sheet over and over, but like ultimately the players that played, as you said, the starting XI...
00:09:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
There wasn't really, you know, who are youre going to bring on? who who the Who are the players that are going to make the difference out of all of the players we had on the bench? The answer is none of them, really. and and And you're right. and And that's the problem. And our best 11 is ultimately the entirety of our squad.
00:09:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we don't really even know if our best 11 is our best 11. Realistically, we've got a couple of peri-league quality players and the rest of them aren't. And that's just the harsh reality of it. But don't know, we'll get into the game, have a little bit of a conversation about what was essentially...
00:09:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
me being stressed for 75 minutes until finally they scored. but Because at least that way you're put out of the misery of, oh, we might actually make it nil-nil here. Once we've heard from our partners at Bionic.
00:10:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we are back. So obviously it couldn't have been like, i don't know. As I said, i I think I just consistently underestimate Aston Villa and that's entirely on me. So I had a 2-1 win.
00:10:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Greg always has some sort of ridiculous win planned. You were the only realistic one out of us.
00:10:50
Oscar
Yeah.
00:10:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I think it's it's kind of disappointing. We weren't even able to peg back nothing, but we just, we struggled to create against a team of that quality. And yeah, Yeah, it was just a it was a hard match to to watch. And then obviously once we once we gave away the penalty, it was kind of like, oh, here it is. I just assumed that we were they were going to score it. The fact we saved it stunned me.
00:11:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
But then that concentration was lapsed enough that they scored. And then, you know, the rest is history. Another another two goals piled on the end. Paul Ramsdale, he's thrown in some fantastic performances. I think, you know, it must be frustrating.
00:11:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I feel bad for Jan Bedrak, who is, who's, it was his birthday, his 250th appearance. And, you know, has he done? He gave away a penalty. And, that's,
00:11:37
Oscar
It's a tricky one with him. like I know there's been he's actually been getting a lot of love recently and and people have been mentioning him saying, you know, is is it going to be a similar situation to Romelu that we don't realise quite how valuable he was until he goes. Which, and to be fair, ironically against Villa as well, considering the whole situation that happened with that, I never thought he'd come back from that, if I'm honest.
00:11:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:11:57
Oscar
I think giving your fans, giving your own fans grief and turning on them is, especially in modern days, is tough. I know Kelvin Davis did it back in the day and he's still held as, you know, at least in my eyes, he's a club legend, but, fair play to And like, like he, he is, he is, he's been given, you know, he's been given a bad run of it recently as well. And not necessarily in terms of what he's been doing, but just the players around him. And, yeah, it's a tricky one. And I know, and know when we did the buy, sell, keep, um, keep,
00:12:32
Oscar
or sell, keep, release, or bench, whatever, that he's one that I would have said it was probably time to move on. And that's not actually a criticism of him. That is a, do you know what, he's done his stint. It's just, I think, time to move on for everyone now and time to sort of try and rebuild.
00:12:47
Oscar
But I don't think you can blame it on him. And, you know, again, even Jack Stevens, look, we know he at times isn't Premier League quality. Like, I think he can fit in and he can he can be a bit part player in it. Is he someone we need to be relying on? Probably not. He's a bit rash.
00:13:04
Oscar
But he, again, he offers something that we lack when he isn't playing. We just aren't good enough. And it's, it with the sports public situation, if that was always the case, which we more or less all knew anyway, we knew this was going to be difficult season and it was alluded to they might as well have just come out and said it.
00:13:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:13:22
Oscar
Said, look, like, we came up, we weren't ready to come up, we needed a year of consolidation, the championship, you're not going to say no to the money that comes with going up. It's going to be a bumpy ride next season.
00:13:33
Oscar
I know they alluded to it, you know, and probably from that time, Russell Martin was always going to be on borrowed time because... you know, as we've seen throughout, and I don't want to keep going back to him because, you know, ultimately I think it is part of the reason we've traded him.
00:13:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's the past as well now, though, isn't That's the problem. It's...
00:13:49
Oscar
Yeah.
00:13:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
but it
00:13:50
Oscar
But we we it was always likely to be the case. And it's not just us. It's the same for Villa. It's the same for Leicester. They've given it a bit more of a go. but again, we've we've gone over the reasons that I think there's a big difference between us and them. And I do think it probably is just an attacking player that...
00:14:06
Oscar
or someone to score goals. put on Our top goal scorer now barely got a sniff under Russell Martin. So, you know, it's this is one of those. I just, I think, again, yeah, they're just, they were all, it was always going to be a tough game. I think we've got to, think we've just got to look at it and realise if they're bringing on a player like Donja Marlin, who was starting for Borussia Dortmund last year as a sub,
00:14:31
Oscar
as one of their impact players. This is what it needs to say.
00:14:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's mad, isn't it?
00:14:34
Oscar
Champions League quality. And this is where I'm a bit like with
00:14:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's mad when we've got... mo
Premier League Challenges for New Teams
00:14:38
Oscar
with the Derby points record.
00:14:39
Oscar
Like, OK, you know, if we end up finishing below them, we end up finishing below them. Statistically, we are the worst team in history. But people, I think, have to understand how far the Premier League... I'm not necessarily talking about at the very top because I don't know how much better that is comparatively to what it used to be. Maybe, arguably, that's got slightly worse. But...
00:14:55
Oscar
in general, if teams like Aston Villa in seventh or, well, I'm not sure where Villa are now, but, you know, teams down to, what we saying, 15th, have got quality players in every position.
00:15:08
Oscar
You know, Wolves have got Cunha, Palace's front three are, you know, phenomenal. You know, Brighton have got a a good attacking forward, Jao Pedro, who like every single team, realistically, in that top 15. And then if you come up with financial fair play,
00:15:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes, I know this
00:15:25
Oscar
What can you do if you can't spend... The last team that were able to spend big when they came up were Forest. And since then, it's almost been every to every team that has come up is going straight back down.
00:15:36
Oscar
So, yeah.
00:15:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
the proper yo-yo. Like, you can't... Like, finding one or two good players, right? Which is basically what we've done in almost Dibling, who's more homegrown, but like Matias Fernandes and stuff. You find one or two, but that one or two cannot carry you to Premier League safety, especially the way that it was, like, many years back. Like, you know...
00:15:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
it doesn't seem to be that that can happen anymore. And you're right, financial fair play has a lot to answer for for stuff like that as well. Like the fact that a City can go out and spend 150 odd million in a January transfer window to the b to then clap their hands on like you know we what we would give to have 150 million, but then also it's convincing players to come here as well because then you've got the the real possibility that they'll go down.
00:16:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
and And then you've just got, in general, the as you pointed out, like we we probably would be good for some of the players that have been here long-term to leave, mainly because at this point, you're just going to have, don't know, like there's that almost stain, especially for Jan and Stephens and steven's the stuff. You've got the the relegation, you've been relegated twice, you've come up, you want to come up again.
00:16:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's going to be difficult. It's going to be hard. It might be in a completely different way. It might be in a completely different style. But like the fear that I have is, okay, we go down, we figure out a new manager. We saw our good staff for the championship. we win the championship again. What's the stopper happening it
Financial Fair Play and Club Competition
00:16:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
again?
00:16:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
What is there going to be to mitigate this? And is it going to be some, you know, it doesn't, we we've already seen realistically, it doesn't matter what manager we have in charge at this point. People talk about how role is the answer. i don't think it's that. I think it's, something is going to need to change, but I wonder where that change is going to come from.
00:17:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
And people are like, oh, look some clubs have done it before. What about the Brentfords and the Forests? And it's like, as you pointed out, like Forest spent so much, got fine for and like lost points. And it's like, you shouldn't have to break the rules to be able to like,
00:17:25
Oscar
to compete.
00:17:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
get a fair chance. That's insane.
00:17:27
Oscar
Yeah.
00:17:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
And you are going to end up with almost an established club.
00:17:28
Oscar
Yeah.
00:17:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
And, you know, you're looking at sort of who's at the bottom of the Premier League and you're looking at sort of what Manchester United as well and sort of Tottenham, which no one really expected at the beginning season. And the players they have, as you pointed out,
00:17:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
How are we to, when our best options off the bench are, you know, and I feel really you know bad, but happy for, you know, a sort of PL2 player, Jay Robinson, to get hit his debut.
00:17:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
But that's not the same as being able to bring off, like, ex-Champions League players.
00:18:01
Oscar
but You know, you would have thought it's something that they'd be trying to encourage in terms of bringing that quality of player through. But it the the way that they've, you know, and this is a whole other can of worms to open that I don't think, or another rabbit hole to go down.
00:18:19
Oscar
The whole point of financial fair play is to try and level the playing field. And all it's done is made it even harder.
00:18:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's leveled the playing field for the top clubs who are making the most money to be able to spend.
00:18:30
Oscar
Yeah. it's implemented a ceiling for these younger, these smaller clubs to actually be able to push.
00:18:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's just nuts, isn't it?
00:18:36
Oscar
And it's not just in the Premier League, it's the championship now, you know, how a team like, you know, I, I was, a team that I used to work for a team that were, were, uh, down the road.
00:18:48
Oscar
And, you know, such the conversation that, uh, that was had there when they were in league one was there's no point going up. This was, uh, this was a few years ago. There's no point going up because we will come straight back down. Like the cash is nice, but the championship now is, is obscene. The difference between the top and the bottom, like you look at these teams and then, and all that's going happen going keep going up and come back down and getting parachute payments.
00:19:11
Oscar
And all of a sudden the championship's going to have the same problem. And it's just going to be granted. It's a bit more competitive in the bottom half, but,
00:19:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
and That's the thing. And there's a game like a game like yesterday. is it's just It's just the... It truly shows you the differences.
00:19:25
Oscar
Yeah.
00:19:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's like, what are we supposed to do? Like, hope that... So realistically, now, a lot of the eggs are in the basket of spores to try and select... young players, scout players that aren't really known that end up being really good. But like you're going to have to do that with almost a full squad of players to be able to then get up into the Premier League and stay there. Because I don't know, you know, if we end up with, for example, a Leeds, a Burnley and a Sheffield United are all the ones that come back up next season. Are any of them staying realistically?
00:19:55
Oscar
No, I think it'll be interesting to see Burnley because of a very aggressive defensive. Like, this is part of my criticism of the situation with Russell Martin last year.
00:20:06
Oscar
we were always a leaky team. Our defence were more.
00:20:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, i yeah. I've got done over by 5-0 at least twice, once at the beginning of the season and at the end, so...
00:20:12
Oscar
yeah And... I've mentioned before about a house being built on sand. Like, it doesn't work. And Burnley... Burnley will be going up with pretty much the opposite. I'll be interested to see how they get on, but I don't ultimately see them having the quality. Same Sheffield. Leeds are probably the one.
00:20:33
Oscar
And again, it's that aggressive. It's the Ellen Rowe factor, but it's maybe the aggressive sort of counter. i'd like I can't pretend to know too much how Leeds play at the moment, but... given it's usually Leeds, it's usually the sort of the rock and roll football that we had promised from Juric that never really happened.
00:20:47
Oscar
But that aggressive counter-pressing. So is that the way to stay in the Premier League? Is it that playing against the ball, being defensively resolute, dogged, work hard and try and nick something and then just try desperately to stay up and then build on it and hope the three that go come up the next year the ones that go straight back down?
00:21:06
Oscar
but I don't know.
00:21:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's almost, this is like, this is how Greg's whole thing about let's bring back Big Sam is almost, let's just try and put in a philosophy in football that's like win no matter what, even if it's the most horrifically boring.
00:21:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
But the defence thing you say yeah say speaks a lot, but then all all I can see at that point is, okay, they have a really rigid defence and then they get run around the park like Villa did and then it ends up nil-nil.
00:21:18
Oscar
and
00:21:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then you have 30 games at nil-nil. And, you know, maybe that's enough points nowadays, especially with the state of the fact that currently the bottom three are 10 with us, 18 with Leicester, 21 with Ipswich.
00:21:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
um
00:21:47
Oscar
All of a sudden, you then kill the quality of the league, which is the one thing they're trying to prevent. They're trying to build it good as possible.
00:21:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Which is ironic, isn't it?
00:21:52
Oscar
Right.
00:21:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right. We'll have a little break. We'll hear from Zencaster. When we come back, we'll close in thoughts and maybe have a look to West Ham. And yeah.
00:22:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencastr came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone and AI editing that automatically removes all those uns and ours, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:22:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencastr.
Managerial Changes and Challenges Against West Ham
00:22:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we're back. So... Yeah, it wasn't the dream new manager bounce that everybody wanted, right? It was probably never going to be that way, let's face it.
00:22:34
Oscar
It was a 75-minute manager bounce.
00:22:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, yeah they there you go.
00:22:38
Oscar
Better than one time.
00:22:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
quite Classic us this season of where we've played for 65 minutes really well, and then if they scored about four or five goals in that period of time where we didn't, that's not our fault. if But hopefully they learned some stuff.
00:22:49
Oscar
up Worth noting, by the way. Yeah, worth noting some finish from Watkins.
00:22:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah. Like, don't get me wrong.
00:22:55
Oscar
Sometimes be just have to applaud.
00:22:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
That was such a good goal. And it was kind of like at that point, you're like, that's, again, some of the some of the small differences. And, you know, almost almost reminded me a little bit of that first Sulemana against Swansea, where it kind of came out of nowhere, somehow managed to get into a position and score from something that you didn't really expect it to do. But it is what it is. And...
00:23:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Can they take something out of that? Obviously, we're going up and now against bike's West Ham, which probably, if you look at the state of the table, is our most winnable game now up until the end of the season.
00:23:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Do we get something out of it at all? How do you feel after that performance coming up against West Ham?
00:23:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
or is it like Or is it just to roll the dice and see what comes out on Saturdays?
00:23:38
Oscar
to I
00:23:41
Oscar
i think it is. All these teams have got the quality to beat us, let's but let's be honest about it. is
00:23:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
I suppose they already have, haven't they? That's the problem, apart from everything.
00:23:48
Oscar
Yeah, that was our last manager bounce and we still managed to find a way to, we lost that one, didn't we? We lost 1-0.
00:23:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
You did. Yes, it was Boxing Day.
00:23:56
Oscar
Yeah, yeah. i
00:23:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
hi
00:23:58
Oscar
it's you know I was watching, a i wasn't but I was looking on YouTube for the yeah for the highlights to just have another watch back earlier and It came up, I just put Southampton FC in, it came up all the Sky Sports highlights and I just looked, loss, loss, loss.
00:24:12
Oscar
I just looked at the scores and like, this is...
00:24:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost. Yeah.
00:24:15
Oscar
But yeah, I mean, again, it's one of those, is it winnable? Yes. Do I think we could? Yes. Do I think we will? Probably not.
00:24:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
i
00:24:24
Oscar
Potter, you know, is a good manager. They've got good quality players. You know, the player that was our... top player by a mile when we went down last time, can't even get in their team.
00:24:36
Oscar
So, yeah it and you know, you'd still take it, you know, yeah.
00:24:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
yep Yep. They won a trophy not too long ago, European trophy, like it or not. Whether or not you think the the Conference League is a tin pot, which I kind of do. European Conference League is still a European trophy. They still won it.
00:24:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
They still have players like Jarred Bowen and, you know, Oh yeah, I'd take anything at this point.
00:24:53
Oscar
yeah
00:24:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'll take winning a game.
00:24:56
Oscar
I know I put it in the chat. watched back the highlights of the JPT trophy win the other day. And, you know, I'd go back and take that. Although I believe that Peterborough did a bit of an upset today, didn't they? And Birmingham couldn't even win that, could they?
00:25:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
i didn't i know I didn't see, but that's
00:25:10
Oscar
I think, last I looked, Peterborough were winning 2-0.
00:25:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
incredible.
00:25:15
Oscar
Yeah, they thought Peterborough won 2-0. So, Peterborough won the Johnson paint or whatever it's called now. was an EFL trophy.
00:25:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's the yes the English Football League trophy. That's why no one will ever win the Johnson Pace trophies.
00:25:24
Oscar
Not the same.
00:25:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Farmer Brightly, it's still the one that's sponsored by Papa John's. Or maybe it's changed at this point.
00:25:29
Oscar
I'm not sure.
00:25:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Who knows? Difficult to keep track of all the weird names they keep changing things to.
00:25:34
Oscar
Yeah.
00:25:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
but but yeah, it's it's it's difficult. i'm kind of in I'm kind of in the same boat. like Especially where we don't have players that seem to be able to do a 490.
00:25:39
Oscar
What's...
00:25:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think the reason that Paul was taken off was injury, which means that I imagine that he's going to struggle to get into the squad.
00:25:43
Oscar
No.
00:25:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
He already struggled to get into this squad, to be fair. No one he was going to play it. But it's just none of our players can seem to manage 90 either, which is the mad thing about it.
00:25:54
Oscar
No, again, I think that is symbolic of the way we were playing last year. You know, it's all very well and good.
00:25:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know.
00:26:01
Oscar
I'll put my hand up and say when I'm wrong, but I said early on last season when we started off with Russell Martin's start of football, I said, this really interesting.
00:26:11
Oscar
I will be very curious to see how it works in the Premier League because it's all very well and good doing against Sheffield Wednesday. It's another thing doing it against Man City. Like, it's
00:26:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah,
00:26:23
Oscar
but i don't know West Ham must be seeing this as a bit of a scouting mission, right? Because its by the sounds of things, they're going to try and buy a whole squad in the summer.
00:26:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
they're the ones that want... This is the thing I think I'm most baffled by is the amount of our players that are still linked.
00:26:36
Oscar
yeah
00:26:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
You know, what are they going to be like backup backup options? and but I mean, it's probably our better players, but then that leaves us in a position where, you know, our entire squad is stripped out and they need to rebuild it. And we're basically...
00:26:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
hedge in all of our bets in in this one guy. But, you know, as we've said about before, is it to do the ownership? Maybe they should have probably... The problem is, is it's it's like they should have done a better job the first time around to keep us in the league, right?
00:26:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's hindsight's a wonderful thing. At this point, all they can do is deal with what's being thrown in front of them. It's just that so much has changed since then. So much water under the bridge. The landscape has changed. You know, the amount...
00:27:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
each all the things that we've discussed so far today all something that they've had to deal with a lot more than they did they would have that season and
00:27:20
Oscar
Yeah.
Southampton's Financial Strategy and Future
00:27:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
they're probably kicking themselves but
00:27:23
Oscar
I think that's probably, that is probably the case. Like, look, people don't set up and try and do things with an intention to fail. I think there just probably needs to be a bit more clarity from them and say, look, like this is it.
00:27:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
my
00:27:32
Oscar
I know they've said it a couple of times and they've done a couple of fan forums and a lot of it's stuff that people won't want to hear, but sometimes the truth hurts. And I actually think, I know there's been a lot of backlash about, you know, the Saints pub and,
00:27:45
Oscar
and increasing prices around and, you know, wasting money on a pub rather than buying players. But, you know, ultimately the reason they're doing that is because they, they know that we need to be on a better footing for financially for, because of PSR to be able to compete in the Premier League.
00:28:03
Oscar
So they've got to build that infrastructure first, which is why, again, I don't think they wanted or expected to be promoted this year, but you're not going to turn down, you know,
00:28:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, that's why I said
00:28:12
Oscar
Profit if available and an opportunity to improve the squad. But then there's not point much point in doing it if you're then going to go up, buy a few, like, you know, talented players. If we go up, buy Mati Fernandez and sell him, all right, we'll probably get a profit on him.
00:28:26
Oscar
Is it going to help us in the long term? Maybe the cash will. But it would be nice if we could add a couple that would actually stick around through the Championship and then come up again, gradually rebuild stronger and stronger every season until you can compete.
00:28:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that's the thing is that how that, you know, and if we start going up and down, will it will be parachute payments. But i shout out to my friend, James Peach, because we we had a discussion last year and he seemed to think like he we had a quite early on in the season. It was like, do you think you've come up too early? And I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what's happened. He's like, I think you could have done with another year or two consolidating because the dip up and down and eventually there's going loss of parachute payments as well. And just...
00:29:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't know, the the the lack of plan. And it's like you get lucky and then all of a sudden it's like trying to deal with it. And then we've got rid of Russell Martin. would we have But as you pointed out, was it the answer long term? Probably not.
00:29:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
What else is the answer? Well, let's pick a random manager who's done well with a random team in the championship. Well, actually, no, we want a Premier League quality manager. Okay, well, which Premier League quality manager is available?
00:29:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
And like everyone, you know you can see it in the fandom itself, ripping each other, the fan base itself, ripping each other apart. No, that's a stupid idea. I think this is a ridiculous idea. Ultimately, we're not going to know.
00:29:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're just going to have to hope and trust that it doesn't end up in a complete shambles because we can see what happens when it does. If you look at Luton right now, like they're potentially going back down to League One after having Premier League.
00:29:45
Oscar
you
00:29:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
You had Ross Barkley there like last season. It's nuts to think about. So I guess the note of optimism, but I'll have to leave it on or otherwise I'll get shouted at by Craig. It could be worse. LAUGHTER
00:29:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Somehow. Somehow it could be worse. And where I'm at is that when we're at rock bottom, anything we can really see is it getting better. And if that means the entire squad is replaced and all of the players that come in do a better a job next season, if it means that we get managers that really care.
00:30:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
If all of a sudden we win any of the next couple of games and they give it to Rusk and Lallana, I originally thought that was an absolutely ludicrous idea. And then Greg said, you know, in the last pod, you were talking about how you think if they do all right, it's worth giving them the job. And you start to think about, well, how else do you How you form Premier League managers in this day and age?
00:30:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
Because you're not going to be getting them.
00:30:31
Oscar
well, this is it. Do
00:30:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
You're not going to be getting them. We're not going
00:30:35
Oscar
we want to go and get a mercenary that's going to leave within six months if he does well? Like, we need to but we need someone that's going to just going to sit in and be with us for the long haul.
00:30:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
be able to, you know...
00:30:44
Oscar
And, you know, after a few good years, and maybe it is another Hassan Uttel. Like, to be fair to he put everything into the club. didn't yeah I appreciate maybe he didn't do well enough that other clubs would maybe come sniffing. But the last thing we want, and we've been stung by it a lot recently,
00:30:57
Oscar
we keep hiring good hires. You know, I think Jason Wilcox was good. I think Joe Shields, for the record, when he was signed, was a was a good acquisition. And, you know, both of them within six months, you know, Joe Shields particular, maybe that was down to character, don't know.
00:31:12
Oscar
And Jason Wilcox have both been swept swept up by other top clubs. iss That's a testament.
00:31:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
when historically Pochettino, Koeman, you know, I still remember that day finding out Koeman went to Everton.
00:31:21
Oscar
Yeah.
00:31:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
Everton, absolutely devastating. And the club's been kind of on a down trajectory since then. And that says it all. So guess here's hoping for a better future. there's There's the positivity we'll end it on.
00:31:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
But Oscar, mate, it's been a pleasure.
00:31:35
Oscar
yeah
00:31:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Sorry that our new manager bounced to everybody was once again a loss, a pretty bad loss as well. But alas, it was Aston Villa and it turns out that I need to start learning. but They're not the Aston Villa of five years ago.
00:31:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you for everybody listening. We're all the social media as usual. Facebook, Twitter, Slash X, Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok, all the stuff that we say every episode week in, week out.
00:32:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
We'll be back tomorrow with something. I don't know if we want to really tactically discuss what happened. There wasn't really a huge amount, you know, other than the seven shots and the two not being on target. But if not, we'll figure something out. We usually do.
00:32:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
I don't feel like Rusk and Lallana can get fired. So that that was going to be an emergency manager episode, but there'll be something. in And until then, everybody, thank you for listening and goodbye.