Dusic

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.

Come the end of 2017 we will likely have a similar number of points to matches played which is probably good enough to avoid relegation but not do much more. Should be doing better.

That team was pretty obvious apart from Lemina, but he is coming back from injury.

The article says: 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. Nobody thinks he would have got a three yesr ban for just singing "does your boyfriend know you're here." It clearly went beyond that, hence first being identified out of the entire away end and then being given a banning order.

The Echo and Argus articles indicated more than just that generic comment. Presumably lots joined in with that so highly likely he was shouting worse, which significantly changes the situation.

Its not about being a drip, its easy to have a good atmosphere without homophobic chants in my opinion. I was at the game and didn't join in with that chant as I disagree with it and as someone who lives in Brighton find it tired and cliched. If you did chant it then thats up to you. There are various other instances of homophobic chants to Brighton fans where people have been punished, at Leicester especially - so there is a clear precedent. The article also alludes to there being a number of chants, not just the one printed, so the content of others may have been less tasteful. Hugo Schekter, who recently came out, specifically asked Saints fans ahead of this game not to sing those chants as they are homophobic and do cause offense. We have gay supporters who might have had to stand next to this person, and would have likely taken offense at his homophobic chants. It may not offend you, nor me, but clearly would cause offense to some on the grounds of their sexuality which is nothing to do with a football match, in my opinion. There are good, witty chants at football without getting near to homophobia. If people choose to do what they are told not to, then you open yourself up to the consequences. This guy made a poor decision. Don't see what is wrong with that?

They cover their mouths all the time and are trained to. The subs often do it, and loads do it after the game when cameras follow them around and they are talking to the opposition. Redmond did it on the bench during the Everton game when talking to someone, I think Austin. They, rightly, don't want private conversations being lip read by everyone. Nothing special about that. In fact you can see exactly why they do it regularly.

Can't see the problem with banning someone for something that is wrong and fans were warned not to do before the game. Quite simply, in this day and age, clubs don't want these types of people as supporters. They are trying to attract a different crowd. As an aside - what a pathetic, boring, generic chant anyway - hardly showing any humour or wit.

Good statement from Redmond on this, confirming he was just doing what his Manager asked for. Going back to the OP, which has been misinterpreted by some as being specifically about last nights game...do we think that maybe the reason Tadic and Redmond have struggled this season is because they have been given less license, similar to what Romeu said in the Echo. Under Pochettino, and also Koeman, we often played in a similar way against the top sides as we did against others and backed our ability. Fair enough doing what we did against City, absolutely the right decision. But against the likes of Stoke, Hudds, Brighton etc are the creative players being restricted?

Are Guardiola's comment a fair one - that we have some very talented players but don't let them off the leash to play? Of course last night the approach MP took was right and nearly got us a great result, but more generally? People have been slagging Redmond and Tadic for a while (Boufal only recently has been more influential but clearly had some disagreement with MP)...maybe the way they are asked to play just restricts them and takes the natural instinctiveness out of their game? Redmond is good one v one but this season especially seems too scared of losing the ball so doesn't try anything. Boufal's improvement has coincided with trying more...

Great effort, that. Manager got it spot on which bodes well.

Weird lineup. What happens when they score in the first 10mins? That team will just be pushed back. How the **** does Long still get starts? He has been absolutely awful for about a year.