Dusic

We have to change something...

Without Cedric and Bertrand our line up looks bloody average.

Sims is a decent prospect but the way some are talking about him its like he is the next Walcott. Personally would be suprised if he is a PL player in 5 years time, and don't think he will make a telling first team impact this season.

You answered it yourself. Besides, we know with the upcoming games thst we will likely be more like 14th to 16th come the end of December. Of course we are currently in a relegation battle.

Based on what?

We don't buy success, we breed it* *Sometimes. And then sell it.

For such a big game you pick your best XI. For me that is: Forster Pied - VVD - Hoedt - Bertrand Lemina - Romeu Tadic - Davis - Boufal Austin

Tadic is pretty much the only creative player we have who produces assists on a semi regular basis. I get the frustration with him but IMO it would be utter madness to sell a proven PL creator in our current position, with no guarentee that a replacement would be as effective, let alone better.

I would say so, yes. Based on: - Only averaging a point per game after half a season - Only winning 4 of 18 games - Only wins coming against the poorest sides during some of their most difficult periods (West Ham - lucky win, Palace, WBA - needed a wonder goal, Everton - played at the perfect time) - Two of the next 3 are very tough so likely to be overtaken by some others - Harder home fixtures in the 2nd half of the season than the first - Supporter apathy and poor home atmosphere compared to some of the other strugglers

1. Sack Pellegrino and hope a new Manager gets more out of the squad 2. Spend in January to improve the team. If we did this, where would you strengthen? Up front is the main one but in quite a few areas it would cost a ****load to get better than what we have (on paper at least) 3. Trust that we have better players than many of the other teams near the bottom and will get enough points to be comfortable without a great deal of change 4. Don't be a wazza, we aren't in a relegation battle because we are 12th in the league - will be fine no matter what 5. I'm buzzing at the thought of relegation because we "get our club back"/some other nonsense about how much fun it is in the Championship (its bloody crap, half empty stadium rubbish unless you win most games like we did last time in which case any league seems great).

Keep because he is miles better than the other defenders we have and we are firmly in a relegation battle.

How Lemina isn't an automatic pick is beyond me.

After this round of matches I think our situation will be highlighted far more by the media, pundits, fans of other teams etc. Til now they just see us in 10th or 11th, but we know that we are bang in trouble.

Will be interesting to see when anyone, player, manager, club actually admits we are in a relegation battle. When we are annoyed that Watford end up losing to Palace it shows where we are...right in the mix. January will be interesting also as the others down there will definitely make moves.

Selling your best player in a relegation battle isn't a sound move.

He is a holding midfielder. Think we can file this under "bull****". We don't need more of those!

He is in that he keeps feeling the need to justify why they are where they are, i.e because of his perceived lack of spend. Whats our excuse for having won 4 from 16?

Its possible. Would rather not take the risk of finding out. Quite a few of the other sides have ganes against each other coming up and will defo pick up points so if we don't then its pretty obvious we will end up right down there. Our performances of late have been much better. Just a shame it hasnt got us the points we deserved as that means we are still in quite a precarious position. The likes of Hughes, Benitez, Hughton, Howe are coming under a bit of pressure but we have only a point or two more.

Certainly is. At the moment we have the same number of wins as most of the teams widely acknowledged to be in a relegation battle. With Palace winning, no teams are cut adrift. If we lose versus Chelsea, Spurs and United as expected then we need to get 4 points minimum from Leicester and Hudds to avoid being bottom 3 at the start of Jan I think.

Another poor result losing 4-2 at home after taking a 2-0 lead. Hard to see any of them making it IMO, which I guess is becoming the norm in the PL these days.

We are still in trouble given the tough fixtures to come and the fact no teams are really dead and buried yet.

The main articles worded it like this: Former*Southampton*FC retail worker Jonathan Coombs, 28, shouted "does your boyfriend know you’re here" and other foul-mouthed abuse at Brighton and Hove Albion fans, as he watched his team play away at at the American Express Community Stadium. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/southampton/15695114.Saints_club_shop_worker_banned_from_football_matches/ Former Southampton FC club shop worker Jonathan Coombs, 28, shouted “does your boyfriend know you’re here” and “f*** off you c***s” at Brighton and Hove Albion fans, as he watched his team play away at at the American Express Community Stadium.* http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/15694659.Southampton_FC_fan_given_football_banning_order_after_shouting_homophobic_abuse_at_Albion_fans/ They aren't going to print every chant but it appears there is more than just that one, which lots more fans were joining in with so why was this one person singled out? Similarly read this about the Leicester fans - again seemed to go beyond the generic chants hence the action taken on a couple of individuals: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/leicester-city-brighton-homophobia-abuse-arrests-home-fans-match-football-police-lgbt-anti-gay-a7904236.html If chants are homophobic and aggressive in nature then thats not fair game whatsoever.

There is a difference which is presumably why this one individual was picked out rather than about 1,000 other Saints fans. Lots of people seem to think he was banned for singing "Does your boyfriend know you're here?" which isn't really what the Echo and Argus articles suggest.

Hoedt is a better version of Hooiveld. Nice left foot, wins a high proportion of aerial duels, rather gangly and sometimes steuggles to sort his feet out in time. Tall but not overly powerful. Good player but as someone else said, closer to Yoshida level than VVD, which is why he wasn't a first choice for Lazio and why we were able to get him.

Easiest possible game as will likely be quite low in the PL table by then due to remaining fixtures of 2017.