I wonder what the odds are for Koeman to resign before the start of the season...
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To be fair, I think the Southampton Way, if it existed before, isn't there any more. You can't gut the team, get rid of the footballing people at the top and expect any kind of culture to pervade.
If it exists at all, it'll be the youth teamers who still have it. So maybe in around 5 years, we'll see it.
When they're in League One and we're nicking their starlets.
If it exists at all, it'll be the youth teamers who still have it. So maybe in around 5 years, we'll see it.
When they're in League One and we're nicking their starlets.
This is exactly what happened last time to them, they've been pumping out decent youngsters for years.
This article does a good job summing up how I feel about the situation.
http://www.espnfc.com.sg/blog/espn-...sadly-shows-submission-to-footballs-hierarchy
Quote from it
"What is troubling, though, is how the boundaries have shifted. Southampton will be told that their players wanted Champions League football, or the chance to win trophies. It is an age-old battle for smaller sides to persuade their stars that they can achieve those aims without moving, if only they have a little patience.
But the examples of Atletico and Dortmund suggest that, in reality, even that would not be enough. Luis and Costa had all that in Madrid, and so did Kagawa, Gotze and Lewandowski. They had all won titles. They had seen that they could be competitive in the Champions League. They all still left."
Sad but true. And with FFP, it seems that very little to can be done to beat this hierarchy.
http://www.espnfc.com.sg/blog/espn-...sadly-shows-submission-to-footballs-hierarchy
Quote from it
"What is troubling, though, is how the boundaries have shifted. Southampton will be told that their players wanted Champions League football, or the chance to win trophies. It is an age-old battle for smaller sides to persuade their stars that they can achieve those aims without moving, if only they have a little patience.
But the examples of Atletico and Dortmund suggest that, in reality, even that would not be enough. Luis and Costa had all that in Madrid, and so did Kagawa, Gotze and Lewandowski. They had all won titles. They had seen that they could be competitive in the Champions League. They all still left."
Sad but true. And with FFP, it seems that very little to can be done to beat this hierarchy.
This is a chilling statement.
The thing that really struck me yesterday is that even Man United can lose players to big clubs abroad. Cristiano Ronaldo wanted out and he left to go to Real Madrid - and I would say that the Spanish side are a bigger club than United. Talented kids get poached from their U8 side to play for a better team in the league above. That team gets more scouts watching games, so inevitably he gets signed up with a league Two academy. That academy then plays games against Championship academies and gets poached as a 15 year old. The player then plays numerous times in the Championship, impressing in an FA Cup tie against a mid-table Premier League team. 2/3 years as a regular starter and one of the top six clubs buys him and puts straight in the starting line up. 2 seasons down the line and he's ready to move to United.
It's been happening for years.
Football players want to be playing at the highest level possible (or earning the most money), as they have short careers and I can't really blame them. Southampton were always going to lose one or two of their best players; and for the amount that they got Shaw and Lallana, could have actually improved their squad afterwards. But losing so many players is pretty catastrophic, and those that were willing to stay will not be feeling the same way after seeing the rest of the team gutted.
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Salary cap will still favour the big clubs. NBA MLS both have caps, but the clubs agree on %deals on advertising and sponsorship deals. Clubs that have a big image will still be able to persuade players to join them. + unless FFP demands a cap all around europe, players will just leave to other leagues.
ochfacepalm:
Seems like it. I'm very surprised that Koeman has managed to get them on track so quickly! Still a lot of the season left, but it looks like they're going to do okay given all that's gone on this summer. Remarkable.
I guess when you compare them to Spurs (and now Liverpool) - we had huge expectations after buying so many players, but no-one expected Southampton to do well!
Well, you can only tip your hat...
Part of me hopes that the transition has been so easy because poch managed to establish a style of play that the players still there have managed to transition with the new man in charge
You're probably right. Koeman has obviously grown up with a possession-based game, with pressing high up the field. That's pretty much all they do in Holland!
They still have good young players like Schnderlin and that Ward-Prowse, their production line is strong and they already had a system and style of play, guess Koleman has jsut carried on. Southampton certainly put other teams to shame with how they develop players.
My mate works in the FA and recently spoke to some of the guys who work with Southampton's under 21's team, apparently the club have a playing philosophy which new managers are required to adhere to. We couldn't work out whether that was implemented with Adkins or it was around before him, but new managers are pretty much told how the team should play and then they're left to it. Would explain why the team seems to play similarly now as they did under Pochettino, and why the team hasn't struggled since the summer.
My gob has never been so smacked, I honestly thought that Southampton were in loads of trouble and were certainties for the drop. Sounds as if their system is based on the Ajax one, where all the teams (junior, youth, reserves) play the same formation, so progression tends to be seamless.