Nordic Saint

Jose Fonte's Lille team won again and remain 2nd in the French league, looking very likely to qualify for the Champions League. Pied came on as sub for the last few minutes.

Lemina shouldn't be in there twice. One should be Romeu, who although nothing special, has proved that he is OK at this level.

Judging from our last two games, Jack Stephens has now become the best central defender we have. He and Hojbjerg are our standout players now. Although, some fans don't seem to like Bertrand, he is arguably the only player we have left good enough for a top six side. So, those three should be automatic selections. Cedric's height is a problem and the opposition exploit it by playing high crosses over him but he is still a classy player. Ings looked by far our best striker when he first arrived but a few months of SFC coaching seem to be reducing him to the same level as the rest of our strikers. In one pre-match warmup I saw Kelvin Davis coaching Charlie Austin how to shoot. That could explain a lot, What other team would be stupid enough to have three goalkeepers as first team coaches? But, still, Ings must retain some of his Liverpool quality and so should be picked ahead of Long, Austin and Gabbiadini. Talking of Gabbiadini, we seem to have acquired quite a few players in the Boufal mould, who show occasional flashes of brilliance and every now and then have a good game but most of the time have little impact. Lemina and Gabbiadini fall in to that category. So, as that is better than being mediocre all of the time, like many in our squad, they should be in too. We have two good goalkeepers. So, here we have the core of a team that should be good enough for the Premier League: Gunn/McCarthy Cedric Stephens Bertrand Lemina Gabbiadini Ings Lemina That leaves us three short and we are spoilt for choice when it comes to mediocre players, who are not really good enough at this level, to fill those positions. If we could place any faith in Ross Wilson or Mark Hughes to find decent players, we should try to shift as much of the dross as possible and bring in 2 or 3 good players in January if we want to stay up.

2015/16 63 pts 2016/17 46 pts 2017/18 36 pts 2018/19 28-32 pts ?? Koeman>Puel>Pellegrino>Hughes>

No, we are not. We are worse. After our opening 10 games last season, we had 13 points. This season, we have only 7. We haven't even scored a goal in any of our last 5 league games. We are much worse than last season.

End of.

One bright spot this season is Stephens becoming a real rock at the heart of our defence.

Unfortunately, Gao is not a very successful businessman, which is why his business is only worth a fraction of what it once was and why he had to borrow the money to buy the club. Wolves, on the other hand, really are owned by a successful businessman, who is one of the wealthiest men in China: a description which cannot be applied to Gao.

Our home games against them are usually entertaining and high scoring. You have to go back 14 years to find the last time we scored fewer than 2 goals at home to Newcastle. So, let's hope one or two of our strikers find their form in this game.

Great performance from Jack yesterday. Most of us thought we'ce concede goals at Bournemouth but the main reason we didn't was a big change in the centre of our defence. We often keep clean sheets when Stephens plays. It's noticeable how many of our best defensive performances he has featured in, including the 0-0 v Burnley, the 1-0 win at Brighton, and the 1-1 at Everton in the EFL Cup this season and the 0-0 draw at Man Utd and the 1-0 win at Swansea at the end of last season. He is developing into a very fine player. Hopefully, he will go on to become the replacement for Fonte and leader of our defence we've been looking for.

""Claude Puel defends his record as Leicester City manager and calls for patience following fan unrest" With only two wins in 12 Premier League games, Puel's position has come under scrutiny." Yes, Leicester fans have wanted him out almost since the day he arrived. These comments in the Leicester Mercury sum up their feelings: " In this Puel tenure its hard to see improvement....games are boring and turgid at times and we create very little. I think people would believe in him more if there were some signs of improvement or an end game in site. The endless passing side to side and back is just painful to watch. He lacks inspiration, baffles everyone with his team selections and substitutions." "It gives me no pleasure to say it but Puel needs to go. I don't think we can progress with him holding us back." "Just get rid of him, the fans hate him, the players hate him, and he is the most DE MOTIVATIONAL MANAGER i have ever heard, CHEERIO.................."

They're saying, "Shane Long is absolute garbage." We're never going to be able to sell him now. https://sportslens.com/fans-react-to-southampton-striker-shane-longs-display-for-republic-of-ireland/247887/

Oh yes she did. She charged the club 5% interest for loans, which had to be paid back to her in full before she pocketed £210 million from Gao for his 80% share in the club. Apart from the interest she gets on the money her father left her, that has been her main source of income. Almost nothing is left of the MALI group of companies she inherited from her father. Kat sells off or liquidates companies; she doesn't develop them and if she is 'royally minted' why did she want the £210 million from Gao?.

'Wesley Hoedt has hinted that the club’s issues at the back are down to Mark Hughes not doing enough work on it on the training pitch.' The 24-year-old said, via the Daily Echo: “In Italy they spend days on defending instead of moments of days." “That’s just the difference in culture. In Italy we did two or three extra training sessions a week only for the defensive unit.” The laziness which runs through the club from top to bottom, from tired old Les through Hughes and the coaches to the players, is a real problem. We need someone to introduce a culture of hard work back into the club.

Lander Sports Development's share price, which has been in steep decline for the last year, has now absolutely collapsed from a high of 21.33 yuan in 2015 to just 2.78 yuan today. Gao's main business is now in serious trouble and he will struggle to pay back the money he borrowed. Like Kat before him, his main source of income will now have to be Southampton Football Club because Lander has gone the same way as MALI.

The thing is we all know Hughes is going to be replaced at some stage this season. The exact timing of when it will happen will be influenced by how it will affect the club's image in the media as much as it will by results, which nobody really expects to improve much. Sacking several managers in a short space of time always gets a bad reaction from the media, unless it involves one of the big clubs, like Man Utd, Chelsea or Real Madrid, who are allowed to be ruthless in their pursuit of success. Clubs like Southampton are expected to suck it up and just live with the fact that they've got a cr@p manager.

I don't think that would do much good. Landersports are in even more trouble than we are, probably also as a result of "relying on 'failed shambolic mismanagement' that has cost ....millions of pounds."

If we had Darren Moore as manager but we haven't: we've got Mark Hughes or whatever useless manager Old Les replaces him with so we won't be topping the division. Another relegation struggle is more likely.

The first years back in the PL: Fonte Lallana Lambert The players who helped take us to 'the next level' Mane Wanyama van Dijk Fonte is incredibly underrated by Saints fans. He was very influential in our rise. He was our leader on the pitch. He helped lead us to our three top 8 finishes, Portugal to the European Championship and, currently, his Lille team to 2nd place in the French League.

I agree with you, Micky. There were at least 30,000 there. In fact, I've seen plenty of 30,000 gates at St Mary's with more empty seats than there were for the Chelsea game.

Pity it didn't happen then. It's going to take so much longer to repair the damage he's done. He has now got rid of just about everyone who was doing a good job.

You aren't very bright, are you?

The same people who laugh at the idea of a successful, young, up and coming manager like Darren Moore, are the usual suspects who were against the idea of Eddie Howe. They prefer the old, experienced failures like Pardew, Bruce, Moyes and Hughes and they are, of course, wrong. The chance to get Eddie Howe has passed. Darren Moore would be a great choice right now.

Well, they're not: they're a level above us nowadays.

We haven't won any of our last 4 games against Burnley so it's not much to imagine,is it?