qwertyell

McCarthy: 7 - calm presence. One very decent save from Brunt's free kick. I wonder if he could've come for one or both of the crosses that led to their goals. Maybe that's a Dave Watson thing... Cedric: 6 - worked the line up and down all day long. Can't cross to save his life. Bertrand: 6 - relatively solid, but a bit more petulant an indisciplined than usual. Lucky not to concede a penalty. Stephens: 6 - does some things really well, some adequately, some quite poorly. Easily outfoxed again from a corner to lose his man, who scored, and was possibly fortunate Burke tried to stay on his feet after having his ankle clipped going through on goal. But he defended quite well in general, won a few headers even and, of course, scored a great header. Hoedt: 6 - not dissimilar to Stephens. Mostly good (a cracking surging run leading to the free kick for our third goal), but didn't cover himself in glory on Rondon's headed goal. Neither of our CBs are good in the air (and nor is Yoshida, in reserve). It's an issue. Romeu: 5 - actually got outpaced by Gareth Barry at one point. I didn't think that was even possible. Combative as usual, but he still looks out of sorts to me. Lemina: 9 - a top 4 player in a bottom 4 showdown. He had it all going on: pace, power and drive going in both directions, and the technical ability to twist away from trouble. Foot like a traction engine too. Ward-Prowse: 7 - increasingly not a passenger. High work-rate, used the ball efficiently, a goal and an assist. Promising. Tadic: 7 - I thought he was engaged and proactive all day. Would've preferred to see him down the left and crossing more. Boufal: 6 - tried a lot. And most of it didn't come off. Great feet in tight quarters, but his hot-headedness came to the fore in a kick out at Nyom that thankfully went unpunished, and carried on like a pork chop over the Prowse FK. Carrillo: 6 - he did all right. Not 19 million quid's worth of all right, but when the alternative is non-footballer Shane Long, what can you do? Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Even before we flipped things on their head at the end of the half, I didn't think we were playing horribly. We were just punished for not switching on in the first five minutes, and lacking a bit of quality with the final ball. Lemina is a class apart. He won't last the summer regardless of what division we're in. More goals in this game. We're not solid at all at the back - particularly on set plays. But I don't think WBA are either. Pellegrino's last half time team talk at Saints? Better make it a good one. Next goal is crucial - if we don't go after it and try and hold the fort, we'll go under. Come on, Saints. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Think we'll need some kind of pace on the break, given that Carrillo is slower than coastal erosion, so I'd give Sims a whirl. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Nile Ranger and Mayuka both available. The dream ticket. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Should've sacked this imposter months ago. He hasn't got the slightest idea how to get anything out of an admittedly mediocre squad. Get rid of Les Reed and Ross Wilson while you're at it. What a waste of a beautiful kit. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Well, he still scored a header up against Van Dijk and Hoedt in the reverse fixture, so maybe don't preemptively scapegoat the kid. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Davis and Long? It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressingly predictable. Fun fact: the four most expensive signings in the history of the club can't make the starting XI in a must win match against a glorified Championship club. Tip o' the hat to the recruitment department, there. They haven't peed all that money from selling our best players up the wall in the slightest. Jesus. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Bertrand not in today's released training pics. But McQueen is. So there's probably a good chance of us fielding an actual left back at left back. Not that he's doing anything more than making up the numbers in training because the U23s played last night, also in the pics, the brilliantly named Will Smallbone. Smallbone? It is cold out... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Word. He's a gem. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

I think I read a similar rumour about Stephens looking to possibly move on a few weeks ago - maybe from the same poster. But the implication wasn't of some Billy Big Potatoes who thought he should be guaranteed to start for Saints every week - more that Stephens just wants to play and is prepared to drop down a division if it means getting his career properly underway. It goes by fast. At the time of the rumour, he'd gone from playing about 20 games in a row to not being in the match squad for three months while we kindly fattened up Van Dijk so he could hit the ground running for Liverpool. I don't think you can blame Stephens for becoming disillusioned - I imagine Les blew plenty of smoke up his arse when he signed a contract extension; to then find himself relegated to the U23s for three months while we indulged a player who didn't even want to be here is not exactly encouraging. I hope he stays. He's got plenty of room for improvement, but there's a good player in there. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

I guess like the Fulham game in the last round, we've managed to scrape a win in too unconvincing a fashion to actually take any confidence from it. And lost our only fit left back into the bargain. So that's super. Nice to be in hat, but midweek against Brighton is the game that really matters. Fail to win that, and the manager must go. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Should've been plan A the day Mane left. It'll be Robert Snodgrass. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Decent going forward, an accident waiting to happen defensively. I guess that's our good half out the way now and we'll just be grimly trying and failing to hang on to what we've got from here. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Wasn't Niasse player of the year in Russia when Everton spaffed a fortune on his useless ass? Perhaps the standard in Russia isn't all that clever... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Can we make a move on Angus Gunn? England u21 keeper. Top banana. Shouldn't be too difficult to persuade him that he'll never be number one at Man City for as long as Ederson's about. Maybe Pep can be tempted by a straight swap for Redmond... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Might have been a better idea to have held contingency meetings about Premier League football last summer... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Maybe they're coached to not use their hands. More innovative thinking. The Southampton Way. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

As with the home game earlier in the season, once Watford upped the pace and physicality, we were gutless and feeble. Arsenal-lite. The only difference between the two games is Watford took the first half to wake up properly. Clearly the manager has learned nothing in 23 games. Or maybe he's just an idiot. Flagrant handball for the equaliser, though. The referee's incompetence somewhat matched by McCarthy's over-polite challenge to a situation that was about 60/40 in his his favour if his heart had been in it. Beautiful scenes of tactical genius Pellegrino finally deciding that the 91st minute was the optimum moment to make a double attacking substitution... We're down. Might as well just enjoy the ride as the club are either powerless, indifferent or too delusional to do anything to reverse the trend. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

They absolutely ran amok against our feeble midfield in the reverse fixture. Watford had pace and power, which horribly exposed the limitations of Davis and Ward-Prowse on the day, and their speed on the counter attack left Romeu slowly chugging after shadows. It was embarrassing at times. If the manager goes with that combination in the middle of the park again, he should be sacked before kick off. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

The five pledges of relegation are on Ralph's desk ready for a final pass through his Asinine Business Cliches thesaurus and a spell checker before roll out. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

To be fair, he mostly played in midfield by that point in his career. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Good to know for future reference that we can grind out a result in the Championship... Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Push pineapple, shake a tree. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Wish he would. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

Then we undersold Van Dijk by about £60m. Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk