FA Cup Season 21/22: Swansea v Southampton Match Thread

[Manselton Jack]

I'm starting believe Martin is out of depth.

Many of us said this early doors but were shouted down

You may be right, it's looking more & more like it unfortunately.
I can't see the Yanks paying him off anytime soon though so we're stuck with him for now & just have to hope he gets the message pdq.

 

[Swanjaxs]

Cooper jumped off a sinking ship, the squad was nowhere near good enough to even compete. He disassembled a footballing attacking team and turned them in a Monk mk.2 team."

But managed to get us to the playoffs and a play off final in his two seasons ...
Listen, I'm no fan of Cooper, but a bit of perspective, we are going nowhere fast at the moment.
"

Yes, but he had players that are a step above what we have now. Roberts, Gallagher, Guehi, Ayew, Brewster, Van Der Hoorn, even Mulder or Woodman is a step up on Hamer. There was a lot of quality in our side that has left.

I dont like the results, but what happens if we give someone else the job and the do the same results wise up to the summer? Do you sack them then too?

Who said anything about sacking Martin?
Far from it, but if your waiting for investment coming his way in this window then you might be disappointed.
More worrying is Martin's mantra of playing out from the back using players who simply haven't got the ability to do so, it's costing us goals at an alarming rate.

 

[sainthelens]

If the yanks give him fck all to spend, we'll still see if he's got anything about him. Every club will be in same kinda boat so let's see how good his contacts are plus who's doing the scouting.
We'll stay up I've no doubt ( by default if nothing else) but we are going backwards....even he must see that.
Needs addressing asap.

 

[A4Jack]

Starting to get a little more concerned by the game.

Something bad happened at Bournemouth and we've spiralled ever since. 16 goals in 7 games conceded since the start of that game and just a single win. Playing Rhys Williams when he clearly doesn't care says more about Martin than Williams, his head isn't with us. Same for Fulton, Dhanda etc etc. I thought Fulton was gone according to strong sources?

We could have been four down on that first twenty five minutes. I know we've had time off but this is really tough times and Martin needs to adapt quickly as the body language on many was poor.

When Martin came, I don't think anyone was expecting this purist football that he wants to achieve. Even the best have adapted since Martinez managed is in 2007-09 when we were quite radical in that sense. I'm not too sure whether his idea will ever work...

 

[The.Alpine.Shrew]

Rhys Williams looked so short of confidence i am sort of glad there were no fans in the ground. We are too slow of speed and thought. Twice we upped the tempo and we hot behind them and scored. Twice though in 2 hours of football.

 

[Fireboy]

Cullen is just not up to this level

A month from playing just might have made a difference, whereas soton last played less than two weeks ago.

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

Cullen is just not up to this level

A month from playing just might have made a difference, whereas soton last played less than two weeks ago.

Yes you are right, it will definitely of made a difference but I'm not basing my statement just off tonight's performance but all his other performances... Has he had enough game time to prove himself, probably not but we can only judge him on what we see if him on the pitch. End of the day it's just an opinion. Let's hope he proves me wrong, it won't have been the first time.

 

[Bryanswan]

Yes, but he had players that are a step above what we have now. Roberts, Gallagher, Guehi, Ayew, Brewster, Van Der Hoorn, even Mulder or Woodman is a step up on Hamer. There was a lot of quality in our side that has left.

I dont like the results, but what happens if we give someone else the job and the do the same results wise up to the summer? Do you sack them then too?

Who said anything about sacking Martin?
Far from it, but if your waiting for investment coming his way in this window then you might be disappointed.
More worrying is Martin's mantra of playing out from the back using players who simply haven't got the ability to do so, it's costing us goals at an alarming rate.

Well there are quite a few on here suggesting he is a fraud and that he shouldnt be in charge.

The second part is right, I dont think we have good enough centre halves in possesion or out of it most of the time. I think we have stumbled through the first half of the season with square pegs in round holes.

With astute additions that can be fixed. Provided we are actually backing the manager. Otherwise anyone in charge would be done for.

 

[LeonWasTheDog's]

Cullen is just not up to this level

A month from playing just might have made a difference, whereas soton last played less than two weeks ago.

It will, but we were just as reluctant to play with any forward intensity last time we saw them at the Liberty. I'm all for possession football, but they're boring me (sadly). It's a million miles from the purpose and penetration we used to see from Bobby Brown Shoes and Brendan's teams in this league. It's doing my head in when we break the lines and then stop and go backwards letting teams get set again. Pointless football far too often.

Oh well, he's working with some pretty poor players and only a few decent ones, so I suppose we can't expect too much.

 

[MajorR]

Been working and got home in time for the last period of ET.
Was disappointed that at 2-3 down and with a player advantage there was so much side to side and passing back, even in the last 5 mins. There were opportunities to get it wide but it rarely happened. At the very end, when it was all over and they were staring defeat in the face they should have started launching the ball upfield into the box and trying to force the game instead of stroking the ball around the middle of the park. It’s not pretty, but sometimes you need route 1 - it gives the opposition something to think about, puts the ball in the danger zone where it could go anywhere including the back of the net!!! Playing out from the keeper when you’ve got 2 mins left and a 100 yards to make up and players who won’t pass forward is mental. Defo need some pace too.

Got no issue with developing a style and pattern of play, but unless the team can mix things up they’ll be very easy to play against, the Swans are a Championship club not Brazil.

I don’t see Martin being able to make many changes to the playing squad in the short term, I suspect he needs to offload before he can bring players in and I can’t see many other teams wanting to any transfer fees for many of the current squad.

 

[Glyn1]

Here's a comment from a Southampton forum:

"As for Swansea, they’re everything that’s wrong with modern football and managers.. Tippy tappy mincing football. Why does nearly every manager think they’re Pep? Some of their passing out from the back was wonderful, but once they got out they passed it so slow and negative that it was all for nothing. No width, no urgency, pass pass pass."

Today I agree with that.

 

[Longlostjack]

Keep Dhanda. Play him as a 10 - we haven't got one. Williams can feck off back to Liverpool. Hope I never ever see him in a Swans shirt again. Tosser.

 

[Captain_Sham]

It just occurred to me what watching Williams lumbering back up the pitch after having given th ball away yet again. reminded me of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eza3J4EgEE8&t=4s

 

[Manselton Jack]

It just occurred to me what watching Williams lumbering back up the pitch after having given th ball away yet again. reminded me of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eza3J4EgEE8&t=4s

70's TV, great stuff

 

[PSumbler]

Here's a comment from a Southampton forum:

"As for Swansea, they’re everything that’s wrong with modern football and managers.. Tippy tappy mincing football. Why does nearly every manager think they’re Pep? Some of their passing out from the back was wonderful, but once they got out they passed it so slow and negative that it was all for nothing. No width, no urgency, pass pass pass."

Today I agree with that.

This is about right. We are forced to be quick at the back as we are often pressed and sometimes it looks brilliant (thats when we aren't committing defensive suicide and giving away free goals)

Once we get past the halfway line the opposition defenders just watch us passing aimlessly around the midfield knowing we don't have that killer pass in us. Once or twice a game we find it, once or twice a game is not going to win us many matches.

I like the way Martin wants to play the game but unfortunately we don't have the personnel to make it happen and that is why we keep giving away stupid goals and losing games.