Chez

New manager given the opportunity to bring in a couple of defenders in January is our only hope. Why on earth was Vestagaard signed if he is no better than what we have. Madness.

Its not about lack of effort, its lack of ability both on and off the park.

absolutely spot on.

as with Gabbi, a good preseason was totally ignored by Hughes and those players end up on the bench and all form is lost. I don't think he can see the wood for trees.

you are right. We bossed the game, but when we turn over possession it looks almost inevitable that we will concede. A new manager is important, but bloody hell do we need a CB, RB and some bloody athletes in the side to sure up that back four.

when he cant sell our squad of dead weights and has to pay a £120m wage bill with only a £40m parachute payment coming in he might change his mind.

its a terrible side. Its a terrible squad. Hughes is poor, but not sure who would keep us up with this lot. The summer signings get worse every year. Instead of strengthen, we seem to just get weaker. The more we spend the worse we get. And to think we are paying this shower of **** well over £100m a year. Well over. No one will sign any of these jokers next summer and we face financial ruin...again.

do not understand why this hasn't been used to this point. Maybe it the same reason as with Hughes not playing Gabiadini after a great preseason, the manager is ****ing clueless.

Can anyone tell me why we bought a big slow defender to sure up our back four against powerful strikers only to not play him against the exact type of centre forward that bullied us last year? I am not sure Vestagaard is up to much, but if there was one game you wanted him on the pitch this was it. Mitrovic bullied the **** out of us. He gets himself in the right position and then becomes an immovable object. Obviously he got on the end of things for his goals too, but for me leading the line is just as important. I have no doubts about Austin getting on the end of things, but **** me he wins nothing in the air and fails completely when ti comes to bully centre backs. If you are going to have striker that wins nothing in the air it may as well be Gabiadini. He looks sharp, offers good movement and should be played down the middle not out wide. We bought Elyounoussi to replace Tadic. Why is he not playing? Not good enough? Well why did we buy him then? Going forward we looked decent. Redmond was outstanding, winning tackles and beating players all day long. The biggest issue was the quality of crossing from the side as a whole. It got better as the game went on, but far far to may crosses were simply ****. At the back however it was a **** show. Cedric is just rubbish. His best asset of the game is stopping wingers, but he failed abysmally, not getting tight enough or doing enough. We all know his failings in the air, but if he is getting rings run round him then what does he offer. Not decent crossing thats for sure. I have little doubt people will say Target did alright, but he didn't do anything really, except for one decent cross all day. He can control a football and pass it, but in terms of supporting the attack he is so passive. He just jogs forward then passes it square. Get to the byeline FFS. Defensively he went missing for their first goal and his lack of pace was shown up dreadfully when Kamara just waltzed past him in the second half. Collectively the back four will have us relegated. It was woeful last season and its the same four/five players. They are so average. If a CB gets dragged out wide we are dead. Hoedt's error cost us the third goal. Overall he was not horrific, but he just has too many errors in him and for a big man does not dominate a striker. Bad combination. I am not sure who failed to mark Mitrovic, but Hoedt should be stuck to him like glue. McCarthy 8 - could not fault him for the goals and made one great save to stop it going to 3-1 shortly before we scored Cedric - 3 - cant head, cross and now stopping dribbles is an issue. Jesus. Hoedt - 3 too many headed goals against us. If he cant win a header why is he in the side? Some good and some bad distribution. Yoshida - 3 also has to take responsibility for the headed goals. Distribution left a lot to be desired. Targett - 4 takes the safe option all the time. Still slow as ****. Where the hell was he for the goals? That might be harsh, but I was hoping to see a player that has blossomed after his loan. He hasn't. He is still bang average. Great first touch and keeps the ball well, but that is pretty much it. Hojberg 7 - he and Mario dominated the midfield. Some very poor passes, but overall very good. The one question mark is when we get done on the break. Are either CM doing enough to protect the CBs? Lemina - 8 Excellent game. Everywhere and didn't lose the ball all day. Drove into space to make things happen. Armstrong 6 - Second goal is a beauty, and yes he scored two goals, but he was largely anonymous, which accounts for the middling mark. He moved about, but never seemed to get the ball. If you play in the hole then you need to run the game. It might that Fulham were so deep that there wasn't space. Gabiadini 6 - lots of movement, usually unfound, looked very sharp and was a problem when he came inside. Annoys the ****s out of me how he jumps for headers but gets underneath them. It looks like He isn't really trying to win them. Just going through the motion. Should have buried the chance in the first half. Not sure how he didn't score. Redmond 9 - not sure what more he could have done in the game. Obafemi - 7 - came on and made things happen. Looked sharp, but perhaps should have scored after a great first touch beat the defender. Ball was rising a bit. Fans were not happy as you would imagine. Boos when balls went astray after going behind the second and third time. Hoedt was booed after his error. Some fans cheered when Austin was subbed. Getting sacked in the morning sung by most Saints fans after final whistle. Austin 2 - did nothing and shortly before he was taken off it actually looked like he had given up. Just didn't even jump

There are a couple of nice pub/restaurants just on the other side of the Thames (Putney bridge) https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Duke's+Head/@51.4670557,-0.217024,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48760f0eaa001231:0x32c231a40c3ca2d1!8m2!3d51.4672107!4d-0.2170859

Adding my name to the list of wannatickets. Can go now after all. Will be in London on Saturday come what may, but can collect from Soton area this week. Enjoy the game chaps. A win here and the world will look a lot rosier.

seeing Erika Eleniak jump topless out of a giant birthday cake makes me 'ard. ;-)

got to wonder what Bagpuss wouldn't do for money. Hopefully the saggy faced **** will be required to share a bath with a great white whilst having to eat a **** sandwich.

I still don't understand why, after a decent preseason, he wasn't given the nod ahead of Austin at the start of the season. He looked to be in form and right back in the fold. Hughes, for no apparent reason, simply dropped our most in form striker. By the time he gets his chance that great form has gone. Madness.

Half decent cup team. Not all totally ****. Happy day.

why do we/they do it? Who do they think is interested in this pointless figure that neither represents how many have paid (as it includes complimentary tickets) or have actually attended (non-attending season ticket holders and any other non attendees)? does the club still make an announcement "Today's attendance is..."

"But Southampton are among those clubs who said there was no commercial gain from doing this as television money was the biggest source of income." If you were paying for an advertisement hoarding that was not on the TV side of the ground, then total attendance over the season might be a small factor in what you are willing to pay, although the chance of appearing on TV (there are so many cameras on all sides) and other media probably is a bigger factor.

"The Saints said their attendance for Chelsea's visit on 14 April was 31,764 but police figures show 6,945 fewer fans at St Mary's. There was also a difference of 6,799 (31,778 - 24,979) for the home game against south-coast rivals Bournemouth." that a hell of a lot of empty seats for those two games. I don't recall there being that many at either game. I wonder how are the council counted them or did SFC simply provide them with the figures, which they'd have.

dunno. None are what I would call dominant in the air. Maybe Yoshida was **** in games against Stoke, so Hughes has no confidence in him?

tough position. Benteke to mark one week,Walcott the next. And they need to be able to play out from the back.

how did we get away with Benteke not scoring the header from four yards out? I guess we earned that bit of luck today. Plenty of occasions it has gone the other way for us. Brilliant win. Just like last year it was slightly unexpected. Zaha injury helped...a lot, but we still had to play well and create chances. Very happy indeed. Proper spring in my step after that. I fear the worse for us this season, so every goal, every point and every win is incredibly precious. Early points will boost confidence and that can snowball into a decent season. Well, thats what I hope anyway. COYS.

Perhaps Hughes wants big (tall) centre backs that win more headers. He seemed to prioritise that facet of the game at Stoke

I don't understand why Gabi doesn't start. Looked great pre season, back to his sharpest and with confidence too. What am I missing?

post of the day for me

that's fair, but in a mediocre side that doesn't create much can we afford to carry a goalhanger? Great player to bring on when we are pressing for a goal, but we could do with a little more movement and pace.