04 Nov 2017 17:56:19
Just where do we go from here? Any suggestions anyone?

1.) 04 Nov 2017
04 Nov 2017 18:38:08
The championship.

2.) 04 Nov 2017
04 Nov 2017 21:16:58
Fortunately I think there are 3 teams worse than us. just the only worry is our stubbornness and could be our downfall.

3.) 04 Nov 2017
04 Nov 2017 22:14:55
Hi guys, I have just read luke osman's report which just about sums up how pitiful we are, the only saving grace is crystal palace, Everton, West ham, Swansea are marginally worse than we are. We all know how Burnley play yet we fall for it, how come they get 1 decent chance and score? . The Premier League table makes interesting reading Burnley 6th, Brighton7th, Watford 8th. I think MP ought to be brought in Monday am to explain his baffling decisions to the Board and explain how he is going to keep us up in detail and he should be told in no uncertain terms that what we are witnessing is not acceptable. VVD and Bertrand should be sold in January as neither are playing to their level and we invest the money if not in January then in the summer. This is even worse than last season and none of us thought that could happen, I would even contemplate bringing Allardyce in to keep us up for the season and even have a mass clear out Redmond, Tadic, Austin as for the most part they are overpaid oxygen thieves! I am so incensed that this has been allowed to happen and we need it sorted once and for all.

4.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 00:15:15
Hi Vintage I agree with your sentiments and to be honest I personally have been knocked down for not being a loyal supporter. I am very loyal and have been for well over 40 years but let's face it we are in a real mess. We need to sort this worrying situation out right now there is no option. The games we have coming up if we continue with the way we are playing will put us in the bottom three before Christmas. I am not being a doom and gloom merchant just being totally honest. We have had probably the easiest start to a PL season since we have been promoted and we have just totally been abysmal. One post said we play better against the top teams and will pick up points, just don't see it happening. Nice man but the wrong guy in charge along with his iffy management team. We need somebody to fix this and unfortunately I don't think that is Mauricio Pellegrini.

5.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 00:42:49
I agree with you Vintage Saint, maybe it's not the manager, it's the core team itself. We need a complete rebuild, a revamp. History seems to be repeating itself, we are playing the way we were the season we went down, not scoring, ineffective and devoid of heart. In all honestly, given our track record of managers, who on earth would want to come and manage us these days?

6.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 01:14:23
Hi Duke what really annoys me are that Burnley, Huddersfield and other teams have limited budgets, smaller crowds yet play better football, more determined, better organised, score more goals, concede fewer. Football is not rocket science, it's practice, organisation, discipline, fitness and a will to win and accept nothing less. Too few of our players possess this and are just going through the motions. I cannot believe there are no players in the Championship who are hungrier and are capable of stepping up to this level given the opportunity! It's time to stop pussy footing around and everyone players, coaching staff etc need to understand that this is totally unacceptable and things had better change and quick. If you get bonuses for winning then you need to start losing money for losing. For me I would have the players in for extra training and work their arses off, working on everything, as at the moment they are a shambles. If I had just bought SFC I would be hounding the board telling them I've just spent £220 million on a s--t team and I want positive results! . Footballers need to understand life is not all hello magazine and this is a results driven business and they need to perform. I wonder how many of them are sat in their big houses as pi--ed off as we all are, my bet not enough! I wouldn't mind if we lost but gave it everything but that is not the case, and we as fans all feel the same wretched and it ruins your weekend and the week ahead, Sorry about the venting guys but to lose is bad enough but to lose through stupidity and lack of effort is unforgiveable. all the best vs.

7.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 01:35:22
Hi 76
I think it's a combination of all these factors, too many of the players are in an obscenely well paid comfort zone and really don't care who they play for! SFC is fairly decent wages, nice area to live and managers, honestly there are not enough good ones foreign or homegrown most get found out lacking man management skills or lacking football nous. Just an aside we sold Jack Cork because he wasn't good enough! enough said. Anyway good to chat Regards vs.

8.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 09:10:28
If other managers can get less capable players performing to a better and more determined level than ours then the buck stops at the style of play. No vision at all and defend and keep possession at all costs, it is not working, obvious to us but not to the management team that are being paid mega bucks to put us through all this misery. How long do you leave it before the games up and we are fighting a relegation battle, I say that with a heavy heart but facts are facts. We need somebody at the club that can kick them up the arse and if that doesn't work bring the likes of Hesketh, McQueen, Sims, Targett etc. in, at least they'll bust a gut for you. I honestly think we have good players but somehow they have been coached to look very average. Les Reed has got a problem I just hope he mans up and deals with it swiftly.

9.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 09:57:10
I could repeat all that has been said before, but what's the point.
The most worrying thing of all is that the manager thinks we played well and he even used the word 'incisive'! Now we could be excused that what he meant to say was 'awful' but just in case you are reading this MP, Incisive means 'penetrating; cutting; biting; sharp; . '
As for the headline 'Saints hit by late sucker punch' . really?
They went for the win, we took Gabbi off .

10.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 10:30:40
It's a difficult situation. I thought that when we sacked Puel we would have been organised and already had a new manager lined up and they would have been hired almost instantly after we sacked Puel. But this wasn't the case, I don't know if it is Pellegrino and his blackground staff or whether it's the squad. We've hired Eric Black who was part of the coaching staff when Villa got relegated, so I don't see how he is what we need.
The problem is we've spent the best part of 6 years growing, becoming better and better achieving more and more season on season and now we're rapidly declining. We should look at bringing in new coaching staff that will help the squad develop, that will grow our youth players. This season is the first season we don't have the excuse that we've sold our best players, because we didn't.
The squad needs to seriously wake up, somethings got to give. I'd like a manager that is ruthless with the squad selection. I didn't watch the game yesterday but I can imagine the likes of Tadic, Redmond didn't have a good game. If I was in charge they'd be dropped.
It does make you wonder where we might be if Poch didn't leave. Look at what he's done with Spurs. He led us to eighth place without all of the expensive signings whilst developing youth players and it was great to watch the positive free flowing football.

11.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 11:12:49
I agree with my that is said above. In retrospect we should have sold VVD in the summer. His value now must have plummeted.

This is the trouble. Our core players are no longer hungry. Tadic, Redmond, Forster, Bertrand, Austin all past their best and going through the motions. Watford, Huddersfield, Brighton all have players sho have something to prove and ambition. Our core have nothing of the sort.
I think it was a mistake to employ MP. No dynamism there. No plan. Cannot lift our players. We should have had a clear out in the summer and our scouts should have done better.

We are on a relegation battle now. We need to act fast in January. We cannot rely on other teams staying worse than us.

Personally I would drop Forster. We can score and the opposition only need one or two shots on target to get a goal.

Some tough decisions need to be made beginning from now!

12.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 13:19:34
My next starting lineup. fitness dependant

Any Sunday league keeper in goal

Cedric stephens/ hoedt Maya McQueen

Lemina romeu Davis boufal

Gabbi sims.

13.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 13:21:16
We look like an absolute joke . teams must be rubbing their hands in glee home or away against saints . we are there for the taking . bring on man city at home I reckon we will ship 10.

14.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 13:32:28
I think les reed needs to shallow his pride and talk about bringing Ronald Koeman back to the club we played some of the best football under him. Most of the players he has worked with also he has made most of our best buys. Also he 4-3-3 simple yet effective witch suits the players we have no more of this lone striker crap because it ain't working.

15.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 14:24:05
Only problem there pony keeper is that we bought Pelle and Mane but we have blown our budget on more midfield players so there won't be any money available in January unless we sell Van Dyck which we should have done in the summer. We have a fleet of centre backs in the squad, sell him and buy a class forward and attacking midfielder. Just watched Crystal Palace and Tottenham and to be honest Palace were unlucky and that is the bottom of the league side. Zaha was amazing and the whole team gave it everything, I wouldn't be surprised if they finish above us come the end of the season which means you know where we are potentially going unless something happens now, we really are in big trouble guys.

16.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 15:37:45
Hi guys, you are absolutely right, my suggestion is I have just emailed Ralph Krueger at the club high lighting our concerns. I suggest we all do the same and bombard them with emails expressing our deep concerns if they fail to act then we can do no more but they cannot then say they were unaware. If we keep hitting them with constructive, balanced, arguments then hopefully some will hit home. Regards vs.

17.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 16:04:44
You’re all nuts. It sounds to me like a load of over the top reactionary tosh on the back of a loss to a team that you all thought we should easily beat. Firstly, Burnley were above us in the table and away, they have beaten Chelsea, drawn with Spurs, and drawn with Liverpool. Of course we knew how they’d play, as did the bigger sides who got turned over. We restricted them to 5 shots all game. They had one shot on target which was their goal and I would chalk this up as another goalkeeping error. Burnley only conceded one goal against both Liverpool and Tottenham so that tells us how hard they are to break down. Knowing this does not make them easier to play against and to think it does is nonsense VS.

Secondly on the Burnley front, let’s not forget that they came up under Dyche before and were equally well organised but they got relegated. He stayed on as manager, continued shaping the team, got promoted again and now he’s not only had a number of seasons to shape his squad and tactics but also has some very good experience managing his team. MP has had 11 games. Is it fair to compare the managers? I’m thinking not.

Finally VS, if you try to compare us to Burnley, Huddersfield etc and say they are better organised than we are, please feel free to explain this. Because they’re not. This again is on the back of us having over 60% possession in a game and reducing the opposition to one shot on target in 90 minutes. Yes, Burnley are very well organised defensively but that is how they play football. They have more success on the road than at home because away, they can sit behind the ball and soak up pressure. At home, they are iffy because they can’t play that way as away opposition is more defensive. Huddersfield are digging in and similarly proving hard to beat but are toothless going forwards. In fact VS, we appear to be far more like Huddersfield and Burnley than you give us credit for.

Do you really believe selling a number of our key players is the solution? Bertrand is not a passenger in games and was our most potent attacking force yesterday VS but you’re right, let's sell him in January along with VVD. Maybe, we should sell all of our first team, buy a handful from the Championship and mix them with our academy and bingo, revitalised second half of the season. Or does that sound ridiculous to anyone else? Changing manager? Forever1976 likens our current playing style to our relegation season (rubbish by the way) so maybe he’s stuck in 2005 when he also says we have a poor track record with managers and couldn’t attract a good one. We won 6 games in 2005 and have already won half that number with more to follow. We’ll be fine.

If you want to whinge about the hunger point, there may be an argument that newly promoted sides are hungrier which I won’t refute, but our only league target is to fight for 7th spot and hope we get into Europe which is not guaranteed. We’re in transition with a new manager and mid table seems more likely. Appetite could be an issue but I don’t think so. I’m sure everybody in the squad is as downbeat about the loss as we are. No, perhaps they’re not going on a website forum and ranting about the team, the individuals, the manager, the coaching staff or anything else they can think of, but as professionals, they probably feel pretty low. It’s easy to blame the players for lacking appetite and desire when they’re struggling, but did you see any of our players stroll off the pitch laughing and joking yesterday? Did you see any post-match interviews where they were relaxed and yawning their way through to the next training session?

Bring back Koeman? I take it you haven’t seen Everton play this season? Allardyce? He is sacked by every club he manages for a reason and you can’t on the one hand moan about our style of football whether we win or not, then say let’s get in Allardyce to keep us up. Why not stick with MP?

Yes, we sold Jack Cork who has largely played very well in the Championship and done a job in the prem, like Andrew Surman. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make VS but which of our best, starting midfielders would you drop and replace with Jack Cork?

For those who haven’t seen the game but have still decided to weigh in with speculative opinion on our performance (Rich) I can give you a bit more info. Yes Tadic had another poor one, as did Forster for letting in the goal and Gabbi was largely anonymous, but Redmond (VS also wants to sell him in January) looked like our best attacking player, setting up good chances for team mates and a couple of openings for himself. I know you won’t believe it Rich as it upsets your anti-Redmond view but he played well again. Boufal had one of his more frustrating games which will happen with a young player, especially against such a negative side denying him space and being physical against him. Sadly Austin and Long did little when they came on.

You can look at the tactical changes late in the game that helped Burnley nick the win but it was not negative tactics by MP. Sadly, Gabbi wasn’t in the game and Austin didn’t make a difference despite having more playing time. Long came on for Boufal and did nothing either. Is that the coach’s responsibility or the players coming on?

Saintjay, we already have a manager who has regularly rotated the starting line-up when players haven’t played well enough and we saw this again yesterday when he took off Gabbi and Boufal. The problem has been that those coming in have had little positive impact either. You can pine for Poch all you like, he got a better offer and ditched us, just like Koeman did. I’d rather have a manager for a longer time to make the squad and playing style his own over several seasons as both Poch and Koeman did before.

SaintDuke, I appreciate you are down in the dumps about supporting Saints and I think it’s unfair of anyone to suggest you are not a loyal fan but I do think you are a pessimist. Consider yourself the Eeyore of this forum if you like. You go on about facts being facts (without actually relying on any) but then you start saying how we could be in the bottom three by Christmas in light of our fixtures. You’re right, we have some tough games to come, but we also have to play Everton, Bournemouth and Huddersfield. Also, I presume you are relying on facts that see West Ham, Swansea, West Brom, Everton and Crystal Palace all faring better than us in that time frame? No. I didn’t think so.

18.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 16:53:09
Figo with the greatest of respect you can write page after page of synopsis but the fact is we are in a proper meltdown situation which started about 20 games ago. Just look at the stats, we can't score and don't seem to be able to show any signs of changing things to address this. We'll see where we are at Christmas . I truly want to be wrong about all this but it didn't happen last week and it is certainly not a transitional period . To me and can I be the only one that thinks this? that we are in serious trouble, to me it is obvious and no kind of instruction to calm down is going to make me feel differently. My opinion not yours and as I said I respect yours.

19.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 17:03:52
Just one other thing then I'll shut up 😄 The people that think we'll be just fine as there are worse teams below us please remember they have all played one or more of the top 6, we haven't.

20.) 05 Nov 2017
05 Nov 2017 19:14:08
Hi guys, it's good to see so many comments here a couple of interesting results here today Palace only losing 0 1 to Tottenham and Everton beating Watford 3 2 to whom we lost 0 2 at home. You can argue statistics all you like but the League table does not lie, we are incapable of keeping a clean sheet costing us valuable points against Brighton, Burnley, Newcastle, West Ham ( very nearly) . In the Premiership the margin between success and failure is very small and if you look at our points tally 13 points after 11 games is relegation zone. We are underachieving massively and how long do you give a new manager? We are too slow, we can't keep possession, we create too few genuine goal scoring opportunities. What is Pelligrinis footballing team style? All I see is a team that cannot keep a clean sheet, cannot score goals, is slow and ponderous going forward and unlikely to score when they go behind. You can quote statistics all you like, question how many will we lose by away to Liverpool? We will not get a result there! And if you think this gives me any pleasure moaning like this, it does not but we are underachieving and modern football managers and players are paid obscene amounts of money and too many of ours are going through the motions. If we get relegated who would take a cut in wages and fight to get us back up?
Not many, so make them earn their massive salaries and we will all be happy!

21.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 09:39:30
Dear Mr Figo, in reply to your 'For those who haven’t seen the game but have still decided to weigh in with speculative opinion on our performance (Rich) ' . I was there so wasn't speculating.
To answer your long, detailed and well written message .
Let's start with Redmond :-) I don't dislike him as a player and I am sure time spent with a good coach could improve him (i would add to that I am slightly concerned that his own opinion of his abilities is rather higher than how good he actually. The 'kick the bottle incident' when substituted sums that up, he was having a poor game but thought he wasn't) ok back to the story!
When he came on against WBA I thought it was the best I have seen him and again against Burnley he played well in his contribution to the attack.
In this modern day game, the attackers also need to do a lot of work chasing back and at time even defending. This is where the problem lies with Redmond and Tadic; they rarely chase back, especially when they lose the ball. This has definitely created some nervousness among bertrand and cedric, especially Bertrand. I have noticed that he is very hesitant to bomb forward like he used to. I also think both Redmond and Tadic are greedy players. Saints use to thrive off wing backs pushing forward, great crosses . our wing play is now so disjointed . very, very few combination plays between Redmond/ Tadic bertrand/ cedric. It's almost like, what's the point in bombing up the wing for a return pass when it's not coming. So yes REdmond is offering something into attack, he just needs to be coached into when is the best time to shoot, pass . and his positional play. Tadic . I am not so sure he is adding anything to the team these days, sadly.
One player who I think has improved beyond his previous standard is Steve Davis. He just seems to have upped his game even more. Dwelling much less, passing quicker, passing faster. In fact Romeo, Lemina and Davis make an absolutely top draw midfield.
.
our goalkeeper . I am not sure how bad he needs to be to be dropped.

To sum up . as one commentator said, the quality of football is LESS than the sum of the parts. That is totally contrary to the norm. I think we have some great players, I just don't think we are playing well as team.

And one more comment. Surely Mr Figaro, you felt something needed changing at half time? I was amazed we came out and hadn't changed thing . not even tweaked anything.

Come on You Reds.

22.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 11:43:15
Sorry Rich. I recall reading on one of the posts someone writing they had not seen the game but assumed x, y and z. I wrongly attributed that to you and can only apologise – there were a hell of a lot of posts and points to respond to so if I have wrongly attributed someone else’s comments to anyone else in my response, this apology extends to you.

23.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 11:46:08
Oh, and SaintDuke, when you say we haven't played a top six side I presume you're ignoring Man Utd.

24.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 13:28:55
I accept that, but I think you know what I meant. I did miss it so no excuses. However if you look at the sides below us they have well and truly percentage wise played a lot more of the top 6 . Bilic has lost his job today and they have played Spurs, Man City, Man U and Liverpool. If we had started with these fixtures I think we would be well and truly in the bottom three and MP would be gone.

25.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 13:41:40
Figo I am getting a bit confused with your apparent role on this site? It sort of comes over from your response to Rich when you say you have been struggling to respond to all the posts and were mistaken thinking he wasn't at the game as though we all need to respond to you as if you're one of the Eds. I am sure you don't mean to seem that authorative but it does feel a bit like that especially when you tell us we're all nuts and then proceed to individually tell us why we are overreacting, this is an opinion site, we are just all giving ours.

26.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 15:05:32
I think the brand of football is disheartening and must be felt around the club. Being realistic we have been overachieving year on year and we have a heightened expectation due to that. however this year and end of last year we have been massively under performing. I think the point sd is making is we have had the easiest fixtures since day one of the season and we are talking about teams that we should be beating. let alone letting them scare us and beat us in our own backyard! I made a comment about saints being stubborn and that possibly being our downfall. mp will continue to play this way. the board will continue to support him and the players will continue to say how great mp is and how unlucky we are. the end of the season will come and the same will happen. Someone needs to rattle a few cages and tell them wasters this isn't acceptable and isn't good enough. introduce some of the youth again and get some bloody grit. someone made the comment about southampton being like England. perfect description no one fears us and we think grinding a bore draw at home against a minnow team is a great result. (I know there are no minnow teams in prem but you get my drift)

27.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 15:56:47
Hi Duke, I totally agree with you, what bothers me so much is that the chances that we create, barely rate as chances at all, these players like Redmond, Tadic, Cedric, Bertrand have all been together for some time ie several seasons and yet we continue to make the same basic errors, Redmond when playing on the left consistently fails to track back and leaves Bertrand exposed, this was demonstrated on numerous occasions in the Newcastle match when Redmond lost the ball upfield and ran back tamely for 10-15 yards and then watched while Bertrand was left with 3 Newcastle players to contend with. We have all the players consistently failing to deliver an end product when they have made an opening and too often we see a speculative lob or cross into the area which the opposition cental defenders or keeper normally cope with comfortably. Manchester United in their prime under Ferguson did not do this if there was not a decent opening, they would keep the ball pass back and try again or move the ball to the other wing and try again, and again. Anything else is just going through the motions. Yes we don't have the best players in the League so we need to work harder and I don't see that, we do not have the levels of fitness as we did under Pochettino and it is no coincidence that Spurs are thriving under his management, look how much tracking back Harry Kane does, a free scoring centre forward, yes they are better players but he has taken them to their optimum, we should be doing that, if everyone played to their best every game, we would not be in this situation. Fortress St Marys is a myth, pundits and opponents still mouth publicly that this is a well run club, tough place to come, WAS is the operative word, not now . I want to see a siege mentality return, if we go a goal up we try to build on that but we do not concede! I want to see players throwing themselves in front of the ball, blocking shots literally ready to shed blood, what we have we hold if we are not careful we will end up like West Ham, a team barely going through the motions with relegation written all over them. All we ask of the team is they give everything out on the pitch and ok we will lose games but at least lose trying their utmost not just going through the motions. Regards vs.

28.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 16:46:50
VintageSaint .
Redmond when playing on the left consistently fails to track back and leaves Bertrand exposed, this was demonstrated on numerous occasions in the Newcastle match when Redmond lost the ball upfield and ran back tamely for 10-15 yards and then watched while Bertrand was left with 3 Newcastle players to contend with.

Totally agree! I have absolutely no doubt that teams have worked out our vulnerability and play to it. To be honest, it doesn't take too much watching of our matches to spot it! I think this is one of the main reasons that our wing backs are playing more cautiously; where once Tadic not tracking back could be covered by an alert midfielder, the opponents are filling the void left between back and Tadic/ Redmond, with several players . and we are then in the s***!
A huge amounts of our attacks were from the wings . and that is just not happening. I feel we could have Harry K in the box but without service, even he can't score .
I would stress again that I think Steve Davis MBE! has looked at Lemina coming in and thought, mmmmmm . I need to up my game if I want to keep my place. and he has! hugely .

29.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 18:21:35
SaintDuke, apologies if my response to Rich’s post caused any confusion or gave grounds for you to infer I have some alterior motive or a delusional superiority complex. Neither is accurate. I don’t consider myself or my opinion more important, better or more accurate than anyone else who posts on here. But it is my opinion and the whole purpose of this forum is for us to discuss our views.

My self-appointed role is, where I genuinely disagree with what someone has said, to give the counter-argument. That’s how debates and discussions work. Without it, you just have a group of people agreeing with each other so why bother posting your opinion at all, other than to type the words ‘yeah’, or ‘you’re right’ or ‘I agree’?

I responded to Rich’s post directly as I would anyone else who responds to me. He rightly took issue with a mistake in my post and Rich and I have had constructive forum discussions in the past so I wanted to be sure I corrected my mistake. I don’t expect or require anyone to respond to my posts. When I said there were a hell of a lot of posts to respond to (i. e that is me responding to posts, not me asking anyone to respond to mine) it’s because by that time there were a hell of a lot of posts on the forum, all varying degrees of negative, that I wanted to reply to in order to give the other side of the argument as I disagreed with each post in turn. Hope that clears it up.

30.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 18:37:58
Hi Rich, I agree with your post absolutely, I don't think teams need to suss us out, we don't represent much of a threat going forward, we are so slow and laboured that no team gets caught on the break by us! Nobody takes responsibility or will take risks, I expect to lose the ball in the opponents half just get it back asap and attack again!

It's a football malaise and we have a bad case of it, players like Mane, Lallana, Pelle, are exceptional players and we have not found suitable replacements and are suffering from their loss but that is what football managers get paid for. I remember an expression I was told people confuse activity with progress and that sums us up running around to no purpose or end result! Interestingly you mention Lemina coming into the side, I am sure he wonders what he signed up for. I will be interested in how we get on at Liverpool I think we will be lucky to lose 3-0 but I fear we will get a real hiding. Anyway good to chat Regards vs.

31.) 06 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 20:14:59
Not a problem Figo just don't call us all nuts for having opinions, just sounded a bit patronising that's all.

32.) 07 Nov 2017
06 Nov 2017 21:36:56
I think this little story by me kinda sums up what almost everyone is thinking . during the first half against Burnley I left my seat to go to the toilet . the first time in over 45 years of supporting Saints. What was the difference, I knew we would not score, I knew I would not miss one 'get up from my seat' moment.

I would be interested to know how many previous times Sean Dyche has gone two up front when away from home and drawing! It was so obvious that we were there for the taking! and take us they did!

But I repeat from an earlier post by me, the biggest worry was that MP changed absolutely nothing at half time. let's get the ball, let's interplay among ourselves for a few minutes, going nowhere . and then give it away or not get the cross in .

In fact he thought we played well and were unlucky . phew.

33.) 07 Nov 2017
07 Nov 2017 09:35:21
Hi Rich, I think that's the trouble when you lose 1-0 and have more of the possession and create more chances, you're automatically under the illusion that you were unlucky and that is how we have been losing most of our games and coming away with average draws. We have more possession and we create more chances but we don't convert them and you would argue that none of these are ever clearcut chances.
No player or manager wants to come out to the press after a 1-0 defeat and say we played shocking and deserved to lose.
And that is our main issue, we create half chances, our final ball into the box is poor or we play a good ball into an empty box. Gabs isn't a big striker so he won't be winning headers against most defenses. This is where we miss a player like Lambert, he used to peel away from the CB's and attack the full-back in the air. Similar to Murray's goal last week against us.
I agree with everyone's points about bringing in youth players. You look at Rashford when he plays for United and England, he plays with so much enthusiasm, chases everything down. This is what you would hope players like Sims and Mcqueen can bring to the squad.
People say that we have a good youth system, but the fact of the matter, we haven't had a regular first team starter from our academy since we sold Shaw. JWP hasn't been able to cement a starting place yet. I mean, the signings that we do make are always young players with lots of potential i. e Redmond, Boufal, Lemina.
You'd hope that the whole team would now knuckle down and focus without being told. It's all fun and games watching and reading the posts go up on social media of the team messing about and not looking serious in training when you're winning every game, but we're not.

34.) 07 Nov 2017
07 Nov 2017 14:00:55
What I don't understand chaps is why we don't press high up the pitch like we did under Poch. If Mope is supposed to be like Poch. If we win the ball high up we will get more chances and get the ball to Gabbo/ Tadic.
The build up play is so laboured it's painful to watch.
We need the players to gang up in 2s and 3s and press.
That way they build momentum and gets the crowd going.
Next game they need to study the video of our semi win v Liverpool.

35.) 07 Nov 2017
07 Nov 2017 14:00:55
What I don't understand chaps is why we don't press high up the pitch like we did under Poch. If Mope is supposed to be like Poch. If we win the ball high up we will get more chances and get the ball to Gabbo/ Tadic.
The build up play is so laboured it's painful to watch.
We need the players to gang up in 2s and 3s and press.
That way they build momentum and gets the crowd going.
Next game they need to study the video of our semi win v Liverpool.

36.) 07 Nov 2017
07 Nov 2017 16:49:59
Hi guys, I want to state and I think I feel as you do, we would all prefer to be playing attractive, attacking football winning games and everything in the garden was rosy, but we are not! We can quote possession figures all day long but possession without an end product ie goals, is meaningless! If you look at the best teams ie Man City, Spurs they are happy and comfortable moving the ball from their own half with their little triangles moving upfield at pace and interplaying between any players, they are all so well drilled and comfortable and every pass contributes there are no aimless passes and if they lose the ball, they hunt the opposition down in packs and retrieve the ball and go again. I'm sure everyone watched the Spurs vs Real Madrid game where Spurs outplayed Madrid at their own game, the first goal made by Kane chasing down the ball for a throw in and then Trippers instant pass for Alli to prod home, then Diers pass for Alli for the second, quick incisive football and Madrid had no answer. Those goals were created by hours of practice on the training ground and a rapport and empathy between the players. I have watched Saints play and I have only seen on a couple of occasions where we play this intricate passing game and that was against Newcastle and we didn't persist for very long. I cannot believe Tadic and Gabbiadini don't talk or practice how or where Gabbiadini wants the ball in the box, to feet? to space? how we are going to make and score our goals or don't they? . I am in the USA and didn't see the Burley game but I watched Everton vs Burnley earlier in the week and Burnley came away with same result at a similar time but for their goal Burnley strung together 32 passes to score that goal so it is not luck . There is a saying fail to prepare then prepare to fail and this sums up SFC. Reading MP's cv does not exactly set the world alight but comments made are that he is intelligent, thoughtful, meticulous, well prepared, all I can say is I hope this shows up soon because I am not seeing it at the moment. I see a team of strangers unwilling to take responsibility, offload the ball to a team mate and let him make a decision but more likely he has the same mindset and just move it along. Nobody in football can complain of being underpaid and the players, coaching staff all have a role to play they are in a results business and they are failing. A recent report stated that Saints have the 22nd highest value squad in World Football so despite the shortcomings we are massively underachieving compared to our competitors. I know comments have been made that we were unlucky, if this had happened, the harsh reality is we do not play in a way that creates enough quality chances and we defend so poorly that we concede too many soft goals. I am sure our new owner did not buy us to finish significantly lower then last year and presumably at his interview MP did not get the job by stating that our football would be dull, boring, aimless, disorganised and we will be in a relegation struggle. This is not a witch-hunt against the manager but his role is to manage and be proactive, to influence games in a positive, directed manner, to set up the team to compete and beat the opposition. Reading other reports I sense your frustration at the team selections and also the substitutions which seem baffling at best, I hope the Board see this urgency not necessarily to sack him but focus all the coaching staff and through them the players to get us back on track and back to winning ways. I do not expect us to win at Liverpool but a determined. competitive performance would perhaps reassure us that we are on the right track. Regards vs.

37.) 08 Nov 2017
08 Nov 2017 10:58:50
For the record, this is precisely the sort of post being made at the moment by a number of people that I have a problem with. Whilst I appreciate there is no agreement on the cause of the difficulties Saints are facing, this post echoes a number of others you’ve made VS that states there is an inherent problem from the ground up at Saints and every facet must be improved. I simply do not agree that the performances support this view. I’m not talking statistics here, I’m talking about actually watching the way we play football.

To say we are ill prepared for matches is utter nonsense. There are no professional football sides in the top tier who do not have dossiers, scouting reports and videos of upcoming oppositions to review and plan for their next match. There are no clubs who do not review the last match and highlight areas of improvement for the squad. You can always plan how the opposition set up and their strengths and weaknesses, but out on the field, it is the players’ responsibility to execute. Our issues are not preparation based.

Nor are they a result of well paid players going through the motions. If you see players struggling or moving the ball ponderously or with less attacking intent, it is more likely to do with confidence rather than a lack of interest in their profession. It seems to have been quickly forgotten that the team has struggled not just this season but for long spells of last. That affects your confidence as a player as much as it effects ours as fans. We know at the moment Saints struggle to score and when we do, one goal probably won’t be enough every game. That puts a lot of pressure on everyone and when things go wrong, it can quickly lead to a drop in confidence and form.

The other thing is, we are not terrible defensively. It remains one of our strengths as it always has. We have conceded fewer goals this season than the likes of Aresenal, Leicester, Liverpool, West Brom, Stoke, Everton and several others. We are joint 8th in the league for fewest goals conceded. A good number of our goals have come as a result of poor goalkeeping by FF and if his form was better or we tried someone else in goal, perhaps even this would improve, taking some pressure off the defence. I played principally as a defender and fully agree with the view that if your keeper is unreliable, it puts your defenders under greater pressure. Rather then holding discipline and knowing your keeper will clear up anything that gets by you, you worry more about making an error or being beaten by a good ball, so you instinctively drop a little deeper or overcommit in closing the opposition down, thus losing positional discipline and leaving little holes for teams to exploit.

The fear of conceding also places pressure on the strikers and that’s where our true problems lie; a lack of goals. 9 in 11 is pretty poor and rather than seeing problems everywhere from coaching, preparation and application of the players, the reality is if we scored more, everything would be much rosier. The club failed to invest in attacking players over the summer, presumably in part because they blamed last season’s lack of goals on Puel more than personnel. In addition, there was the on-going takeover saga which may have limited funds available to invest. I support the club’s stance on not taking on loan signings from rival clubs. Why improve someone else’s player or put them in the shop window for a bigger club to steal from under our nose. Lesson learned from Alderwiereld. But the reality is, we only have one striker at the club and that is Charlie Austin who, for whatever reason, cannot buy a game at the moment. Redmond, Long, Gabbiadini are all forwards but there is a clear difference in the skill set between a striker and a forward. Strikers are your natural goalscorers. That is their principal role. Forwards are attack minded players who are on to create as well as score. The problem when you don’t have a striker is you have no natural focal point for your attack as forwards are not as selfish and single-minded as strikers are in terms of getting in the box and scoring goals. You know the type; if you pass him the ball outside the box, he’ll pass it straight back to you but send you a little wide on purpose to encourage you not to shoot but to instead square or cross the ball back to him to tap in. We don’t have that type of selfish player without Austin in the side and I can only assume Austin is an injury concern or MP doesn’t want players with such a narrow skillset in the side.

I’ve had a look at Alex McCarthy in a little more detail and a couple of things surprised me. Firstly, I didn’t realise he was still quite young – 27. Also, after being Reading’s number one and playing well for them, he went to Palace and was basically a back-up keeper playing a handful of games over two seasons before joining us. Palace’s defence has never been the best so I take little from his performances there and think he could do very well for us. He is at least worth a shot with FF at such a low ebb. He really is a liability for us at the moment and if we cannot improve our goal scoring at the moment due to personnel, we could at least make a change to try and reduce the number of goals conceded. Perhaps then one goal would be enough.

Of course, the other suggestion is to play Austin as a natural striker at the same time. One thing that was annoying last season was the number of times Austin was played in a wide forward role. Not his game. Play him in the middle and feed him. With Gabbi, Redmond, Boufal, Long, Tadic, as options to play off and around him, it would give the attack a little more balance.

This has all been said before in posts earlier in the season but I think it bears repeating as with each passing game, it seems the panic, anger and finger pointing is wavering off target. I do not believe there are deep rooted problems at the club or in the side. If we can start to score more goals, results will improve. If Austin can’t play for some reason we haven’t been told, we have to bring someone in in January, as we did last year, who can hit the ground running and turn our season around.

38.) 08 Nov 2017
08 Nov 2017 14:16:48
Hi Figo. I couldn't agree any more with you about your FF comments. You look at the last 2 goals we've conceded, any first team premier league goalkeeper should be doing better and saving these. And because of that, that's four points we've lost and maybe there would be less negative discussions in this forum. I think the most depressing about the highlights that I've seen from Saturdays games are the chances we had at the opposing goal and Nick Pope made some outstanding saves for Burnley. And the depressing thing from watching those is wondering to yourself would FF save these, for example, Redmond's attempt where he cut inside and shot at the near post. Pope had to get down quickly to make the save and watching that back, it's the kind of save that I wouldn't imagine Forster would make in a game. And this screams an issue to me if players train against FF and are shooting at him all week. How many chances like that will they finish than any other PL GK would save and could that be a reason why we don't always finish chances because our attackers have become used to scoring with unrealistic shots in training. I may be wrong about this but it's just a thought.
I did think Alex McCarty was a good signing initially and am surprised with his lack of game time. I think he really does need to be considered. It's not just because FF concedes cheap goals, he seems to make a lot of mistakes. I think it was in the West Brom game he dropped a few simple catches. He's been failing at routine things.
As for our striking situation. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I don't think that MG is good enough to play as a lone striker. I think he would benefit from having a target man alongside him and that would Austin as he is our only target man. Maybe the reason for Austin not playing is down to MP's tactics and not wanting to play with a target man.

39.) 08 Nov 2017
08 Nov 2017 14:28:35
Figo I agree with most of what you have said but unfortunately managers and their staff are paid vast amounts of money to motivate players and instill confidence in them. Just like management outside of football if you are running a business and you have a manager in charge of a team of employees but they are not achieving satisfactory results you do two things. Firstly you give the manager a chance to work out why and if necessary get rid of individuals that he feels are holding the rest back but ultimately if things continue not improving after that process the company may believe a change in management may be required. In all walks of business life and football is a major one the facts are that being successful is the number one objective. Business is business and with there being ludicrous amounts of money involved it can and often does become ruthless.