Chez

I have never been Redmond's biggest fan, so feel in a good position to stand up for him. Yesterday he worked hard, tackled back, beating men, and he made things happen. You are right of course that end product is an issue, but he kept the ball and helped us work the ball into attacking positions. That is not to be ignored. We can get worse. A half decent back four and we'd win that game and others. The question I ask is would we have been worse withut him yesterday? A resounding yes. Compare him with Elyounoussi. The latter came on and looked useless. I agree we need better, but sadly he's the best we have...which shows just how far we have fallen.

Pick a pair from this horrible lot: Hoedt - slow, doesn't dominate the attacker, error prone, half decent with the ball Stephens - quick enough, lightweight in the air, doesn't dominate, error prone, decent on the ball Yoshida - just about quick enough, doesn't dominate in the air, half decent on the ball Bednerek - below average pace, average in the air, doesn't dominate, average on the ball Vestegaard - very slow, good in the air, error prone, average on the ball Never mind the average players at fullback supporting them and the midfield that leaves them exposed... The focus has been so much on the ability to pass out from the back, the actual art of defending has been overlooked. We are in a dogfight. We don't have the players we need to win the ugly games against the other poor side around us. We are ****ed IMO.

true, but the bull**** blackbox list of managers they have lined up for the next appointment was exposed when Hughes was appointed. The club doesn't seem to have a clue where it is going and thus the next appointment may well be another desperate appointment.

couple of relegations, a wage bill that takes us back into financial meltdown and valuing the club at a price someone (that isn't dodgy as ****) can actually afford...not quick mind.

Looked quite good when coming inside, but his poor tracking back left us exposed several times. For me he playing up the middle and a winger plays on the wing.

We have not adopted a pressing game for years now. Maybe you are right, maybe the managers dont feel the players are fit enough to do that, but more likely they just don't instruct them to do it or the players are sat too deep to try it. when we go through a poor spell everyone always points to lack of fitness. Our issue is not that, its that we have too many bang average players. A complete lack of quality throughout the whole squad. The Redmond break suggested to me that we didn't have players willing to bust a gut or the desire or maybe the inclination to burst through and score. Or maybe the ones that would normally try to get in the box were standing too deep when the break happened. I was looking for Gabbi to burst through and he didn't.

the chance I am referring to wasn't shown on MOTD, so I haven't had the chance to look at it again. Did he not just need to keep it down and it would have gone in? Thought he did well when he came on. Lively.

correct. So is there someone available that can turn this around and then see us develop and prosper over a longer period?

what a truely terrible set of CBs we have. We needed to solve this issue in the summer, but instead we spunked anther£15m on dross. Whoever was involved in this signing should be sacked. Scout, manager and anyone else that touched it.

should have absolutely buried it. MOTD didn't show the second Obefemi chance either. I wanted to see if he should have buried that too.

time to be put out to pasture

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.