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Shinguard 12:58 Sun Dec 4
Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

I saw a few signs even towards the end of last season as the team started conceding too many goals, 23 in the last 10 Prem games.

We needed to sign a top class full back and CB, instead the club sold Tomkins at 27 years old and kept 33 years old Collins which surprised many.

We needed a top class striker and failed to sign one. The least said about Zaza & Callieri the better, other signings look very ordinary bar Fernandes and Fletcher who are promising but inexperienced. Ayew will do well in time.

Overall the team just looks very disjointed and Bilic must hope that the injury problems start clearing up soon, Cresswell and Antonio were sorely missed.

gank 1:00 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

So far we haven't won many matches.

David L 1:04 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Not sure really

Sven Roeder 1:08 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Signed some of the most abysmal excuses for footballers that I have had the misfortune to see
Didn't address our weaknesses due to incompetence and penny pinching
Made a complete bollocks of the stadium move by entrusting it to a useless Tory tv personality who doesn't know the first thing about football and football fans
Had two directors who are interested in having the most seats in London and are football no-marks
Have a bunch of players who think having a decent season means you have made it and can coast along as though you have actually achieved something.
Have a manager who allows training not to be intense enough without caving a few skulls in with a baseball bat

dicksie3 1:08 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Do we have to go through this all again?!

a) Cheapskate wanker owners failing to back the manager properly in the summer transfer window

b) Our new signings being massive let-downs - but some of them were free transfers and desperate loan signings so what do you expect?

c) Bilic getting tactics/formations, starting-XIs, substitutions and pretty much everything all wrong this season

d) Woeful injury problems - but this is nothing new. Are our medical team competent enough? You do wonder why these issues keep happening

e) Our new stadium - of course this has also had a big impact. Surely though this excuse should have weared thin by now as we're almost halfway into the season now? I don't buy it any longer now anyway

theaxeman 1:12 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Our squad is weaker than last season, Song, Tomkins, Moses and even Emineke are better players than have come in, Nordshite, arbeloa, ayew and zaza. When they do play they aren't good enough and because of that those playing have no pressure on the shirt hence the lack of "intensity"

East Ham Bull 1:16 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Easier to ask, what has gone right this season

Answer - nothing. Not the move, player recruitment, pre season, the UEFA campaign, the way we play, the attitude of the players, the manager, the board......all of it has failed, under performed and failed to deliver as promised.

Coffee 1:19 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

The purpose of new signings is to improve the team.

An important, but often overlooked, effect is to give a lift to existing players. The knowledge that a club has brought in someone of genuine quality sends a message to the others that the status quo is not enough. It encourages all players to raise their game, aware that their place is not guaranteed.

This summer's signings added fat to the squad, not quality to the first team. What incentive did it give existing players to raise their game?

theaxeman 1:25 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

None coffee. Shockingly poor business done on the cheap

LeroysBoots 1:32 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Too many johnny foreigners that aren't really that good and when the chips are down they crumble

Thats one of many

Sven Roeder 1:40 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

You get the impression that players like Nordviedt & Feghouli were signed because they were free not because they were the right player.
It was obvious watching Zaza play for Italy against ROI in the Euros that he was totally unsuitable for British football.
Ayew was bought for no discernible role in our squad. I can't see where he plays in our system.
After yesterday we could maybe deploy him as a bouncy castle next to the squiggly sculpture as a pregame entertainment for kids.

LeroysBoots 1:43 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Too many players bought....the quantity over quality was done with Europa league in mind....yeah that worked

We took it for granted that we would pick up where we left off last year and everything would be great

Truth is last year we fell away badly

We desperately need to totally overhaul the role of Sullivan...we need a director of football....we need a model similar to thatbof Southampton.

We need to identify players as replacements for all of our current squad

Christ I could go on forever

Coffee 1:46 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Leroys, did you read that BBC article about Southampton's 'Black Box'?

Coffee 1:47 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

This is it, if you're interested. A good read, imo.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37954971

zico 1:56 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Simple. Last season we conceded too many (when have West Ham not conceded too many!) but we were 6th top scorers or something. This year we are still conceding but aren't outscoring teams.

Too many from last season underperforming plus a crap transfer window. Too many squad players who haven't added anything rather than two or three that would have improved the starting 11.

Sir Alf 4:01 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Best thread on here in terms of responses (although I have now just ruined it).

Everyone's response is correct. These are the reasons.

Complacency, not strengthening.

Someone Tweet Gold and remind him about his statement that "we will only bring in players that will improve the team"

We didnt and actually got rid of some that were better.
Bilic is of course partially to blame but poor recruitment is the root cause.

grasshopper 4:03 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

The main reason is gold and sullivan followed by billic and the players

Texas Iron 4:31 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

The Board

Bilic..

The Players

Bad Injury Record

The Athletics Bowl

You all know the detsils of the above...

, 4:36 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Sir Alf, who were the "some who are better" that we got rid of?

mallard 4:48 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Good article Coffee, I've Eddie B'd the Black Box paragraph






The magic of the black box

The black box might sound like something from a JK Rowling adventure but it is crucial to the club's success. It is a live database, fuelled by six analysts and has records of Saints players at every level, which are audited every six weeks to check whether they are hitting their targets.

But it is not just details of current Saints players that are stored in the black box - data is inputted into it from games across every major league.

Into it are loaded video clips, performance and statistical data, plus information about the character, personality and injury history of a player. When Reed discusses a potential signing with the manager he has a range of options, all of whom he knows will fit into the style the club wants.

"When you are trying to unearth potential that can be turned into excellence, you need lots of information," added Reed.

"Scouts can spot a player if they are looking at Gareth Bale - but to find a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, you need more detail."

Saints signed Hojbjerg, a 21-year-old Danish midfielder, from Bayern Munich in the summer on a five-year deal for a fee believed to be in the region of £13m.

The data in the black box helped inform them of the player's suitability for Southampton. They knew that Hojbjerg had been through an excellent academy system at Bayern, that he was bright academically and had bundles of skill and potential.

"Performance data allows us to say technically if he is what we are looking for," added Reed. "Physical information is not just high-intensity sprints. It is whether they are in high-level competition, how they hold the ball up, what the first touch is like."

A good example of how Saints' long-term thinking and attention to detail allowed them to overcome the loss of an important player revolves around the departure of defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama.

They signed the Kenya international from Celtic in 2013 and, according to Reed, he had opportunities to sign a new deal for two years.

"It was clear he was being advised not to. When those tell-tale signs started happening we began looking in the black box," said Reed.

"Potential replacements for Victor had to meet certain athletic and technical requirements. One of them was Oriol Romeu."

Southampton had started monitoring Romeu as a 19-year-old when he joined Chelsea from Barcelona. They kept feeding information into his profile during a loan spell at Valencia.

As Wanyama's future became uncertain, Southampton took an additional interest when Romeu joined Stuttgart on loan in 2014. Twelve months later, they approached Chelsea themselves, paying £5m for the player who has this season become Wanyama's replacement.

It had been the same with Lallana and Dusan Tadic. Tadic was in the system from 2010 because the club understood that Lallana was developing into the sort of player that other clubs might want to buy.

When Liverpool bought Lallana for £25m in 2014, Tadic was one of several replacements the Saints had been monitoring for years.

joe blob 4:53 Sun Dec 4
Re: Where and why has it gone wrong this season?

Expending too much energy on the fucking league cup hasn't helped much.

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