Dusic

If Gallagher isn't getting starts ahead of Long or Austin then its time to move him on.

Why, its one game?

Yes Obafemi has missed big chances, but it shows his movement is good to be in the positions to miss. I can hardly recall Long actually having chances to miss of late. That said, if any game suits Long then its one like this.

There is not a single positive thing that has been driven from this takeover - zero evidence that it 'takes us forward' as was promised at the time. The longer it goes without comment from Gao, the stranger it gets. A dark cloud over the club, no suprise its been poor on the pitch with such a lack of clarity off it.

Totally this. JWP over a long time has been moaned on here but I can't recall an overly negative reaction during a game that was anywhere near the humiliation Redmond must have felt at Wembley - and on other occassions.

What those moronic Saints fans did was very poor, regardless of anything else. Obviously low intelligence people but still.

Graziano Pelle had a slight case of this as well, although it was right at the start of his time here and wasn't as bad as what happened to NR either.

Is there a greater Saints example of a player turning their career around at Saints than Nathan Redmond? This time last year he wasn't even being picked in a squad of a truely dross team. Had just been booed off the pitch at an away game at Wembley which would have been totally shattering. This year he has been, without doubt, our player of the season and has largely been excellent in a below average team. Took the initiative this summer to get really sharp and focused when most modern players would just seek to move on. Really good attitude and is a leader of the team on the pitch. Without him and Hasenhuttl we would probably be where Fulham are now. Should we lock him up and stop him training because if he picks up an injury we are in trouble? To answer my own question, in recent times I can only think of Kelvin Davis, but I think Redmond had more factors against him. Can anyone recall others?

Looks like an Academy trip with a sprinkling of first team pros a.k.a our squad. Bertrand not there (yet) by the look of it, although hardly a suprise given what happened to his partner.

Whilst people will mention Burnley, Brighton, Palace, Newcastle I think its essentially between us and Cardiff for the final relegation spot. This week has been an absolute killer for us.

Newcastle playing well. Look decent. Wolves sluggish tonight.

Cardiff's two home games versus Watford and Everton will be key. We need their momentum to stall pretty quickly. Fulham and absolute must win for us. Lose or draw and we will need to beat either Arsenal, Spurs or United (at least).

Although it has changed a bit in the last 3 months, the OP is pretty much accurate I think. Yes Brighton are in poor form but they only Spurs who are decent until the last two games. I struggle to believe they will pick up less than 8 or 9 points before the end of the season. Burnley are in good form and don't look like going down. Something like 6th best form in the last 10 games (far better than us) Palace are not a poor side IMO and always score goals. If Hudds (100%) and Fulham (80%) are down then its between Cardiff, Saints and Newcastle. Newcastle are hard to predict but have a good Manager and may get a boost from Almiron. To have given Cardiff 25% of their points is possibly going to send us down. To be below such a limited side after this many games is gutting.

He is absolutely dreadful. Does nothing on the ball and today gave away the needless free kick that lead to their winner. For me a worse signing than Carillo, possibly the worst of the Reed era.

Not really IMO. He has got more out the squad so far than I thought was capable. Not his fault that some players aren't good enough nor that we struggle to sign players. If we stay up it will be entirely because of Hasenhuttl.

We had Shane Long starting and our three subs were Charlie Austin, Moi Anonymous and Sam Gallagher. None of those players are PL quality.

In the second part of the presser Ralph all but confirmed the back 5 will be the same. Said he has been happy with Stephens and Yoshida knows he won't automatically come back in. Assume the same with Bertrand from what he said.

He does in the penalty area. He won't need to press as Cardiff we play long anyway. Long is useless against deep lying defences as his touch is obviously dreadful. Gallgher isnt a genuine option to start such a big game. Austin a no brainer IMO.

I'm not an Austin fan, far from it. But in a game like this he is the best option to start IMO. We will have most of the ball, little space to run in behind and in the box Austin is far better than Long, Gallagher etc.

Ings is miles better than Austin. Besides, we clearly have to sign him so hopefully a full pre season helps him. If we had better backups then we could rest him for midweek games if that helps.

Hopefully and end of season rest and then a proper, full pre season (which he didnt have this year) would really help him. For £16m he is good value IMO. You don't get much for that and he is a quality player, plus clearly has a connection with the club. A bigger problem is the other strikers when he isnt available.

Bertrand is better than Targett whose joint best attribute (alongside his excellent crossing when stationary) is that he came through our Academy. We are in a relegation battle. Its pretty obvious Bertrand should play.

Correct. Was at that one also. So many good away days that season- not so much this game though. Remember Lallana's persistent groin injury forcing him off and then BWP equalising. If N'Guessan had started the game instead of being rested for Chamberlain then we would have won IMO. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9429089.stm

Typical January panic signing, a few days before deadline day in 2011. Signed on loan from Leicester with high hopes but in reality he was always going to be **** and wasn't anywhere near the level of our other attackers: Chamberlain, Lallana, Barnard & Jonno Quick. However, his debut was one to remember and arguably the highlight of his entire career. Away to Exeter, wearing the coveted 32 shirt, he hit the bar early on when it seemed easier to score and then scuffed a lovely cross for Lambert to equalise. Rickie then scored again in the 90th minute in front of an away end that was about 4 rows deep. One of my favourite away games, thanks in no small part to Dany N'Guessan. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9377234.stm He only played about 5 more games and ended his illustrious career in 2017 playing in Norway for IK Start.

IMO its not must win to stay up but it is must win if we want to somehow get into April in a relatively comfortable situation. We are in the middle of four games versus direct rivals and haven't won either of the first two. If we don't win then, given the respective fixtures in the next 5 or so, Cardiff will likely go ahead of us during that period. Its as big as the Huddersfield game in December IMO - and that totally changed the fortunes of both teams.