EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

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Kabalega
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EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by Kabalega »

This club used to have the perfect blueprint of how to scout and recruit.
And the team was playing sexy footie.
Clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal raided some of their key architects of that blueprint to copy it.


Just look at how many good managers have gone through Soton.

Did the club abandon the blueprint that worked so well for them?
Was funding pulled?

What’s going on here?
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”- Sun Tzu
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txj
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by txj »

They lost a lot of key personnel, their forward planning and patience.
The academy also declined as well as their recruitment.

For a selling team, losing players is not the issue as it should be part of the plan. But it's about timing and recruitment.

If the linkage between these 3 elements is severed then you will have problems.

Look across at Brighton and you'll see the contrast
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by Kabalega »

txj wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2023 8:45 pm They lost a lot of key personnel, their forward planning and patience.
The academy also declined as well as their recruitment.

For a selling team, losing players is not the issue as it should be part of the plan. But it's about timing and recruitment.

If the linkage between these 3 elements is severed then you will have problems.

Look across at Brighton and you'll see the contrast
I guess they should have added the architects of the blueprint all the way to the ownership as part of it too so they would have ready replacements in case of major talent raids.

It’s really sad to see. Lesson learned.
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”- Sun Tzu
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by wiseone »

This was Southampton’s team not too long ago:

Forster
Clyne-Lovren-Fonte-Shaw
Schneiderlin-Wanyama
Rodriguez-Lallana-Mane
Lambert

Look at where those players have played and the trophies they have won since leaving Southampton. Some have won the Champions League, EPL, Europa League, AFCON, and have played at the World Cup and European Championships. 🏆

No team can lose players of that quality and maintain their performance level.
Last edited by wiseone on Mon Feb 27, 2023 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by Kabalega »

wiseone wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 1:56 am This was Southampton’s team not too long ago:

Forster
Clyne-Lovren-Fonte-Shaw
Schneiderlin-Wanyama
Rodriguez-Lallana-Mane
Lambert

Look at where those players are today and the trophies they have won since leaving Southampton. Some have won the Champions League, EPL, Europa League, AFCON, and have played at the World Cup and European Championships. 🏆

No team can lose players of that quality and maintain their performance level.
You ignored the system that brought those players. Look at the coaches who went through Southampton. Even more impressive.

Their system was supposed to have 3 players and coaches lined up to replace any departures. It was so good that other clubs raided the architects to setup similar systems.

Which makes me wonder, where did the system fail?
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”- Sun Tzu
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by wiseone »

Kabalega, players of Sadio Mane’s quality do not grow on trees. 🌲 They could have lined up a list of 20 back-ups for Mane’s position and still would not have found a replacement as good as him - whatever their system.

It is not as if all of the world’s greatest young players dream of moving to the south coast of England to play for Southampton.
Last edited by wiseone on Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by Kabalega »

wiseone wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:33 am Kabalega, players of Sadie Mane’s quality do not grow on trees. 🌲 They could have lined up a list of 20 back-ups for Mane’s position and still would not have found a replacement as good as him - whatever their system.

It is not as if all of the world’s greatest young players dream of moving to the south coast of England to play for Southampton.
Hungry players from developing countries will relish playing in the EPL.
I think you were onto something with Mane’s talent though. Because, RB Salzburg went further in the CL so they would probably not sell a player like Mane to Soton.
The big teams are not waiting for the likes of Soton to test players before they swoop. They are bypassing them and their middleman tax, signing them young and loaning them out instead.
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by cchinukw »

Did Covid lockdown also have an impact?
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Re: EPL Fan Boys, What happened to Southampton?

Post by Kabalega »

cchinukw wrote: Thu Mar 02, 2023 11:19 pm Did Covid lockdown also have an impact?
Yeah but it affected other clubs too.
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”- Sun Tzu

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