"The Line"

[Ossie's Cream]

You are a gent Ossie, and don't let anyone say otherwise.

I will tell my brother this later Joe, because the other day he called me a cunt.

 

[Joe Clash]

I will tell my brother this later Joe, because the other day he called me a cunt.

Ha ha - he's right.

 

[Ossie's Cream]

Ha ha - he's right.

You rotter. I am well confused now. Not sure if I am a gent or a cunt. I am going to Ask.Jeeves.

 

[Joe Clash]

You're cool.

 

[Joe Clash]

Lord, I've got to go out now. I wish I could stay in, and drink coffee with you lot. Fucking trains.

 

[Yorkshire_Spurs]

Cheers for this RD. Will be fun to see it change over the coming months.

I note incidentally, our points total is worse than last season. So much for progress! And no, I'm not interested in 'transition seasons', I've seen them too many times. Easy excuse for underachievement.

The points total is worse for the teams in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th compared to last season.

 

[Juicy Sushi]

I think the view of many people was that Southampton would do well not to get relegated his season after the loss of their key players from last season (with a couple of exceptions). In fact, 5 of the 11 journalists asked by the Mirror at the start of the season had Southampton to be relegated http://www.football365.com/mediawatch/9763482/The-Page-That-Will-Do-The-Dirty-Favours.

I didn't even mention the loss of their key defender (Lovren) or the injury to Jay Rodriguez. After Atkins sacking (15th place) and Poch's appointment (they finished 14th that season) the Southampton board backed Poch with more 'club record' signings (Wanyama and Osvaldo) and added Lovren so I think improvement would have been expected - maybe not as high as 8th, but certainly a decent mid-table finish.



France are miles away from getting Englands spot. The co-efficients are determined over 5 years of European competition performance and England are currently 2nd with the top 4 nations getting four spots in the CL. Germany is just behind England this season and Italy trail further behind. France will get nowhere near that additional spot as their league doesn't have depth yet - even Portugal is ahead in 4 of the last 5 seasons.

Weirdly I think we're broadly on the same page in that I'm optimistic still about Poch, but with a much more reserved standpoint on his achievements so far. The simple truth is that there is no empirical evidence to suggest Poch is the man to take us back into the top 4, but based on his performance in his full season at Southampton and a few signs throughout this season, there's enough there to say that he's worth sticking with for at least 1 more season.

I don't pay attention to clueless journalists though. Yes, everyone expected regression, but when you actually look at who they signed, they were actually upgrades. This was very much an situation where the pundits, who are generally ignorant about football outside the UK, were quite wrong.

An improvement may have been expected, but the reality remains that wage levels generally dictate finishing positions in England, and under Pochettino last year, the wages were in the bottom third of the table. I haven't seen what the wages for Soton look like this year, although it will likely be fairly similar I think.

I agree were are mostly on the same page, but I disagree with you on the idea that Pochettino can't take us into the top 4. There aren't many options other than him who present a more realistic choice, actually probably none. We need to stick with him for a lot longer than a year.

 

[yiddo2786]

Fuck off. At the monent Poch is worse than Ramos (because he won us a trophy) but better than Harry (because he got us to a final).

Harry took us to a final in less time in charge

 

[Yorkshire_Spurs]

...and i've seen a lipstick on a dog, but that's not the same thing either - sorry!

I have heard "Arsehole like Smaugs nostril" but I am not sure it is what you guys are looking for.

 

[1882]

You and 1882 seriously haven't heard the expression "putting lipstick on a pig" before? Feck me.

....putting a lipstick in a pig... now that I have heard of! (and seen on certain after hours channels!!)

 

[Juicy Sushi]

....putting a lipstick in a pig... now that I have heard of! (and seen on certain after hours channels!!)

*shudders*

 

[DevonLilywhite]

Seriously, shut the fuck up. All you harp on about is Sherwood's points tally. You're a bore. A repetitive senile bore.

Pochettino is 10x the manager Sherwood is, and always will be. Again, shut the fuck up.

I don't agree with Greaves357_bestever there but that was a bit harsh.

 

[SchmoodSpur2013]

I don't agree with Greaves357_bestever there but that was a bit harsh.

Don't worry, he can't see it. He's had me on ignore for about a year now. Hence me being a dick about it.

 

[Greaves357_bestever]

I don't agree with Greaves357_bestever there but that was a bit harsh.

Thanks for the moral support DL

 

[Anthony Beale]

Don't worry, he can't see it. He's had me on ignore for about a year now. Hence me being a dick about it.

For whats it worth Schmoody, i thought you went too easy on the old prick

 

[ArcspacE]

I don't agree with Greaves357_bestever there but that was a bit harsh.

He's a convicted Sherwood troll - no mercy

 

[Millbanks]

We have not had a good season.

You mad, son? in what is another transitional season (but hopefully under a manager who we will see play out his long term plan) we have seen far more positives than negatives.

Fuck me, if we'd have beaten Utd on the weekend, we'd all be waxing lyrical about how well we're doing, how great the team look, youth products, Harry Kane's cock size etc etc.

One loss and the hurt runs deep, but it doesn't define a season. If we string a few wins together, it will start to look rosy again.

Next year will be a lot easier when we don't have to worry about Europe in all likelihood. (Not because we are going to be worse than last year, but because the "top 4" have been so shit in Europe that they've dragged our co-efficient down so the Premier League will likely only have 3 entries in the Champion's League next year).

Was going to explain this isn't true but already been done. 2017 they reckon, IF Italian teams continue to do well.

All 6 of their sides still in Europe this season; Juventus, Napoli, Inter Milan, Torino, Roma & Fiorentina. Quite an achievement, actually!

I hadn't really thought about whether or not we'd get less than 4 CL berths. No, English sides haven't done too well this year, but I think that UEFA knows there is more money to be made by allowing 4 spots. I don't think that only 3 is happening.

It's maths based on results - not which league is more profitable. Otherwise the top 4 European leagues would have 8 spots each! :avblol:

 

[LLB Part Deux]

You mad, son? in what is another transitional season (but hopefully under a manager who we will see play out his long term plan) we have seen far more positives than negatives.

Fuck me, if we'd have beaten Utd on the weekend, we'd all be waxing lyrical about how well we're doing, how great the team look, youth products, Harry Kane's cock size etc etc.

Positives: Harry Kane, better team spirit, the emergance to first team status of Mason and Bentaleb, improvements from Rose (lets face it, the only way was up) and more consistency from Eriksen, made it to a cup final (without beating anyone decent), some good results against Chelsea and Woolwich.

Negatives: Terrible defensive record, reliant on goals in last 5 mins to sneak 1 goal wins, out of the FA Cup without facing anyone decent, out of Europe fairly early and only 2nd in our Europa League table, our high value purchases (Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho etc) utterly out of form. Beaten badly by Liverpool and Utd.

At the end of the day we're 7th, pretty much where we ought to be on merit. I can't see that as a positive when we've been consistently 4th or 5th in most of the last 5 years.

 

[Anthony Beale]

Positives: Harry Kane, better team spirit, the emergance to first team status of Mason and Bentaleb, improvements from Rose (lets face it, the only way was up) and more consistency from Eriksen, made it to a cup final (without beating anyone decent), some good results against Chelsea and Woolwich.

Negatives: Terrible defensive record, reliant on goals in last 5 mins to sneak 1 goal wins, out of the FA Cup without facing anyone decent, out of Europe fairly early and only 2nd in our Europa League table, our high value purchases (Lamela, Soldado, Paulinho etc) utterly out of form. Beaten badly by Liverpool and Utd.

At the end of the day we're 7th, pretty much where we ought to be on merit. I can't see that as a positive when we've been consistently 4th or 5th in most of the last 5 years.

Points vs Chelsea = 3
Points vs Woolwich = 4
points vs united = 1
points vs city = 0 (with a game still to play)
points vs liverpool = 0
points vs Southampton = 3 (with a game still to play)

Thats a pretty decent return against the teams above us. Far better than the last couple of seasons.
I take plenty of solace in the fact that, we can beat anyone in the league on our day and we have a great foundation to push on from.

also the season aint over for a while yet so talking about league places is almost meaningless.

 

[LLB Part Deux]

Points vs Chelsea = 3
Points vs Woolwich = 4
points vs united = 1
points vs city = 0 (with a game still to play)
points vs liverpool = 0
points vs Southampton = 3 (with a game still to play)

Thats a pretty decent return against the teams above us.

You do realise that's a haul of 11pts from 30 available right? It's not terrible but we've got a goal difference of +4, compared with +20's and +30's from teams above us.