Fitzhugh Fella

Since getting back from Israel I have been mulling the game and the team selection which involved leaving 4 first teamers at home and having untested players on the bench. I also wanted to start this thread before tomorrow's match. Hindsight is a wonderful thing etc I can't see the point of Southampton FC spending 9 months, scrapping like hell to qualify for the Europa League group stages only to prioritise the Premier League once the season starts. Personally I think a stronger team v Be'er Sheba would probably have earned all 3 points which would have put us in a very strong position. OK that would have lessened our chances away to Leicester but so what. Is a point at Leicester more important than a win in the Europa? I know some will say the Premier League must remain our bread and butter but if that is the case just what was the point of busting a gut to qualify for Europe in the first place. Be'er Sheba were there for the taking, but Puel was too negative (in my opinion). If the Leicester game was to decide who went down fair enough but it is one in 38 games and the season is yet young.

Could more use a decent centre-forward in my opinion. The gamble we too on relying on JayRod, with hindsight, looks costly.

Sitting in Tel Aviv airport reading the reports in the Jerusalem Post where their manager is claiming the result against a big club to be a very good one so it seems both sides would have settled for a point. Saints were incredibly light weight upfront which was disappointing after last Sunday, how we could have used a fit JayRod. I don't think I have ever been in a noisier stadium, everyone and I mean every one in the crowd joined in with singing and clapping and the acoustics meant the atmosphere was intimidating but never hostile. There was a little street bar on the corner outside and both sets of fans mingled just fine. Unfortunately it seems the vendor didn't have a liquor license because the law arrived and told him no more beer sales! Just as Steve Grant was about to get a drink too.

Am at the north end of the beach area in Tel Aviv and planning a beach bar crawl to the bus pick up point later this afternoon. Flew out of Luton yesterday morning at 7am with all the Solent team who were whisked through their own priority passport control while we had to queue for ages. Everyone we have met have been welcoming and friendly and on a quick glance life looks good for those who live here, but you can't help remembering that not very far from here there exists people living and being kept in extreme misery. Slightly disappointed no Austin, that tells me Puel is putting Sunday's game ahead of this one. As relegation is not likely I would prefer it if this game was given precedence. Right off to start that crawl to the Dolphinarium. I suppose I would take a draw tonight but a win would be nice, having come all this way.

And so he should - his salary of £3m and the grubby little git still wants to fiddle another 400,000. The FA screwed up giving him the job in the first place, he had dodgy history which they chose to ignore at their peril.

[quote name= There IS only ONE Dusan Tadic.[/quote] Phew!

Yea Maybe, I hope Puel can bring the best out of him because he has the talent

Yea great shimmy for his goal...pure class but he also missed two good chances and that is why he will never be a great. A better player would have scored 2 or 3 yesterday. And I don't think I am alone in being critical because it is obvious Puel gets frustrated too judging by some of the exchanges they have when Tadic is subbed. Said it many times but people don't listen, there is a very good player in the making but he is too inconsistent and sometimes too indecisive and I will stick to that view for the time being if that's alright by you.

Just back. Stadium was great if you like athletics and have a pair of binos in your back pocket. It was also a nightmare to walk to with the nearest tube 2 miles away, especially if you had just drunk 5 pints in Borough market. But West Ham were so poor it was like taking candy off young kids. It took us 40 mins to realise we were up against a bunch of pansies and from then on in it was easy. Should have scored more though, 5-0 was a truer reflection of our dominance. A good result to set us up for the Holy land

Interesting article in today's Guardian on Wenger's 20 years in charge. It investigates how many permanent managers the other clubs then (1996) in the premiership have had in the intervening years and us and Forest come up top with 17. I was going to name them to see if they were correct but I lost the will to live around Wotte. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/21/arsene-wenger-arsenal-1966-premier-league-rivals-where-are-they-now

You really are the the biggest smart arse on this forum. You never venture an original view, but then as soon as there is no doubt you swoop with your pathetic little gifs. You are a typical playground bully, never brave to post anything brave but so quick to take the **** out of those that do.

We have Leon Crouch to thank as the executives at the time were all for throwing our lot in with SIDU

Can't see Rodriguez playing 48 hours after a scan? Shame as it is the sort of game he could do with

Yes I would, considering a lot of his goals were scored when traveling at pace too.

A fit JayRod could be pretty crucial to our fate this season. Firing on all cylinders no reason he couldn't fire us to some success but this latest news I don't like the sound of. Very disappointing.

Agree, you can't start a home game without a goal scorer. Poor old Redmond, must be feeling down but he needs to work on his end product, plenty of energetic runs which fizzled out every time. Good to get 3 points but we were lucky Swansea had a poor afternoon. More shooting practice needed too!

Excellent post

As usual Turkish you are talking horse s**t. I do like the way we are run, it's the best its ever been in my lifetime I would say, so don't know why you should make that allegation. As for the manager if you can find one anti post of mine re Puel then please do. I am determined to give him time. I think the penalty incident says our players were not well briefed but perhaps the communication channels are not working yet. As for Tadic, no I don't like the way he plays. I don't like his petulance (if you watch towards the end of the 1st half when he pathetically feigns a back injury after barely being touched that is a perfect example of this weakness). I would get rid unless he buckles down and gives us some consistently and prolonged performances we know he is capable of. Sorry I thought this was a forum where different views are debated without you trying to pigeon hole every poster into one side or other. You really are a strange person at times.

No not really having just lashed out well over a grand to attend the three away games in Europe why would I want failure?

I am not his greatest fan I accept and one of the reasons I criticise him is his petulance which was just plain embarrassing last night. But I am honest enough to admit when on form he is an extremely creative outlet for us and is very skilful and worthy of being first name on the team sheet. However he is very erratic and because of that very frustrating. Last night he should have run the show being the ablest player on the park, but he was pretty anonymous. We need a raring-to-go Tadic this season showing his end of season form but it aint happening yet.

At one point appeared to be playing left wing which was bizarre. Needs to work on his fitness too, faded badly after a bright start.

My post was written before Austin's comments so he should shoulder some blame, but interestingly when the ref initially blew I saw JWP stride forward just before Austin grabbed the ball, so I am unsure Tadic was the designated taker. Yes it all ended on a positive note, thanks to Austin's nerve holding but the spectacle was like something you see in the playground and it went on far too long. Not something you would see under Pochetto's regime dare I suggest?

I am old enough to remember Mick Channon and Eric Martin once having a fight in the Archers Rd penalty area c 1970, but I have got to say the prolonged dispute between Tadic and Austin as to who took tonight's penalty was more embarrassing and the most unprofessional behaviour I have ever seen from Southampton players. Tadic was way out of line...his petulance went on and on and continued even after van Dijk tried to drag him away. I don't know why he should make such a scene, but the whole episode smacked of disorganisation, poor management and a ego out of control. How Austin kept his concentration I don't know but he took a great pen considering a colleague had undermined him so much beforehand. Tadic has great skill, but tonight he really let himself down and the club. Sorry I know there are plenty of Tadic lovers out there but for me his tantrum went way beyond acceptable limits.

You weren't watching though as they came back from 1-0 down

We haven't given him away, he is on loan. Watched him lead the line for Rovers at QPR yesterday and he had a fine game, scoring a nice header and having one cleared off the line. Playing alongside the experienced Danny Graham is doing him no harm and he has settled nicely. Also spoke to the asst manager who said he was v pleased with his progress.