Forester

Absolutely the result I expected so not too down. Thought young lad did well given opposition on debut, and Bednarek put countless great challenges in. Austin showed why people have lost faith in him, criminally poor when clean through. Everyone is quick to nail defenders or goalkeepers when they make mistakes, but cock ups like that at the other end are just as damaging. Looking at the bigger picture the realistic table was straight after the Wet Spam game when everyone had played everyone once. That showed us three points clear of drop zone on 15. We need to pick up ten more points in the second half of the season than the first to be comfortable and we can do that. Don’t be too distracted by this week’s results as it is so skewed dependent on who you are playing in these first two games of the second half. Positives under Ralph’s selections since arriving at the club for me have been Vest, Bedanek and Yoshi, along with Romeu. Get Bertrand back, resolve the right back slot and keep Ings fit and we should be ok I think. Worries are the right back or right wing back position and the fact that we now miss both Yoshi and Hoj for the next month (Yoshi after Chelsea game). Never easy doing business in January, trying to get rid of big wage earning underperforming players is tough and you have to pay over the odds for decent players. Was hoping we could get away with a quiet January but I think he has lost patience with several in the squad listening to him tonight so brace yourself for a busy window I think.

Yep I said the same on the way back to the car. When you come in during December and attempt to turn a team into a high tempo outfit you really don’t want lots of fixtures in a short time. We looked well short in fitness terms today. Would make quite a few changes for the City game. Fitness permitting I would go with Long and Obafemi up front as I think raw pace is the way to go against them. Tonight I thought the back three again did ok, we seem to have got out of the awful defensive individual errors which is encouraging. Targett put some brilliant crosses in, but then dropped some real howlers. Think Pellegrini showed his tactical nous tonight despite having lots of absentees. Ings looked shattered and we thought he should have been subbed at half time. Amazed to hear some questioning why he came off at all.

Trying not to be pedantic but if you have another read of what I said, it was “if he continues this form”. To answer your question, yes if Redmond week in week out matches his performances of recent games he is absolutely at that level. As I tried to draw out in my post, the difference now is actual delivery of goals and assists.

Enjoyed that! Great to revive the “swing your hats if you love the Saints” from Palace away under Koeman, brilliant scenes, and the Ralph festive song was great touch! He certainly enjoyed celebrating with the fans and I noted was keen to point to Obafemi in order to deflect the praise. On another day we could have scored five or six easily and always looked a real threat on the counter attach with pace. Back 3 looking like a proper defence now, I notice they are much tighter together positionally as an impenetrable three man team. Both Hoj and Romeo excellent, the latter much better than he was last week and fully justified his place instead of Lemina. But the standout player once again was Redmond, if he continues this form I believe he will get an England recall later in the season. Has been playing like Sterling without the end product, but certainly sorted that out today with goal and assist. Finally Ings is running at more than one goal per two games this season, very few have a better ratio than that in the PL.

#prayforHeisenburg Where is he?

Hugely enjoyable, stadium was really rocking at the end like the glory days. Excellent performances from The back 3, both wing backs, Hoj, Redmond and Ings and both strikers from the bench made an impact. Romeu looked short of match practice. As excellent a performance as this was, don’t overlook the difference having a fit strike force brings as we converted good moments into actual goals today. Looking forward already to the trip up north next week!

Utterly soaked in the stadium and then walking back to the car didn’t help the mood. But I think that was the worst quality top flight match I have seen since starting watching in 1987. The only other candidate would be the infamous Friday night match v Notts County under Branfoot that we won 1-0, and they were managed that day by........yep Neil Warnock! Today we were out fought by Cardiff who just hooked on forward balls, made sure they worked every throw in down the touch line until level with our area before launching it in. Awful to watch, and we created next to nothing in response. One more of a long list of poor goals to concede and while we had what looked a good penalty shout on Armstrong in truth Cardiff could have taken some of their other clear cut chances. While I understand the rationale for the sacking, as I said before I would have given Hughes until after the Wet Spam game and sacked him then if we had less than 15 or so points. This week we sacked our manager after the best performance of the season and then had two games in four days. Today we seemed uncertain of our approach which given how little time Ralph has had seemed an own goal. Still we are where we are and unless we curb the defensive mistakes we will go down. Feels like we need at least three defenders in January.

Left after 89 min so missed our goal! Played some good stuff, hit the woodwork twice and numerous chances. Davis excellent in getting our creativity going. However, regardless of what Ralph does to our attacking play we WILL go down unless he either can: 1. Coach defenders to actually defend, get touch tight and be aware of movement in the penalty area, or 2. Sign at least three new defenders in January You cannot be required to score three or four every week to take any points from the game. Shame really as between the two boxes we look good but points are not won or lost there

Enjoyed that, good team and formation selected by Hughes and encouraging that rather than fading away in second half we played some good stuff. Nothing has changed my view that Hughes should be given until after the Wet Spam game as a minimum which is the halfway point.

Fascinating viewpoint. Firstly he has never managed Ipswich, secondly you seemed to have omitted his time at Blackburn and Fulham for some reason? So, to paraphrase your own argument: Hughes took Blackburn to Europe before resigning, led Fulham to top half before resigning and led Stoke to three top 9 finishes, so.....”what makes anyone think he will be any different here”? Dont get me wrong, he is on thin ice but let’s make sure facts are accurate and that when someone has managed for twenty years we don’t just pick out the sackings

Yep agree. For all the excitement that Mane, Pelle and others gave us success was built in my opinion on Fonte, Lovren, Toby and VVD with big Vic, Spider or an inform Romeu in front of them. Massive downgrade in that department is costing us dearly

The pre match experience was as enjoyable as always on the banks of the Thames, remains one of my favourite away days out. And for the majority of the game we looked the better side creating more attacking moves, more chances etc. At the end of the day we should have scored more than two, with Gabbi’s right foot clearly not as reliable as his left. However what is obvious is that scoring twice away from home should always be enough to either draw or win a game. We looked very open defensively every time the counter attacked. If you exclude the Man City game, that hasn’t been a problem recently but it seemed we were intent on defending much higher up the pitch than normal which is commendable but you have to then be much more reactive when ply changes and we simply weren’t. Positives for me were Armstrong, Lamina and Hoj both going forward (albeit tactically see above comments) and Redmond. I thought Austin looked woeful again, both fullbacks were defensive liabilities and the centre backs could not work together as a unit. I have wanted to give Hughes until the halfway mark as a minimum but yesterday was the case study for Bug Sam which many people will hate, but he will deliver clean sheets. We would have won that game yesterday with him, or a similarly organised defensive coach. Painful thing for me is that we had one, and sacked him for finishing eighth and a cup final because of “entertainment”. We need eleven points from these six games to be on track for a point per match. That looks unrealistic and I think the point of departure may be if we fail to win at Cardiff. I would be very sad to see Hughes go as despite the stats he did a great job at the back end of last season given the fixture list nd circumstances of stoppage time goals by opponents. I for one did not enjoy the “you are getting sacked in the morning’ chants by a section of our fans yesterday.

Friend has had to drop out for this and he had bought one adult and one concession ticket, along with two coach seats from St Mary’s. Please contact Roy if you re interested on 07872 523781

A few on here including Ings but I can’t imagine he will recover from a hamstring strain in two weeks. We have loads of games coming up in December it would be madness to risk a rupture. Suggest: Alex Cedric, Yoshi, Hoedt, Targett PEH, Romeu, Lamina Gabbi, Austin, Redmond 4-3-3 in possession, 4-5-1 out of possession

You must not point out tiny details like this. It’s way too hard for many on here to think through. Leave them alone

Stats can be very easily manipulated to highlight a particular perspective, but in my opinion the earliest time to make a proper assessment is once we have played everyone in the league, and that means after the Wet Spam game on Dec 27th. Anyone who expected us to go from 17th and less than 40 points last season to be a candidate for top 8 is deluded, given summer recruitment. Between now and then we play Fulham, Cardiff and Udders as well as the Wet Spam game. If he takes ten points from those games, which I accept seems unlikely but not impossible, then things will feel very different and I would expect that would see us around 12th or so which would represent modest but useful progress. If he doesn’t then I think he and we are in real trouble. It is likely he will have to do without Long and Ings during that period which given our squad is not an easy ask.

Thought we deserved the lead at half time, but in truth Watford outplayed us in second half. Felt like we were clinging on for ages, and just invited them on to us. Positives for me were the whole back four plus Alex, Lemina and Gabby. Personally didn’t feel impressed by Armstrong unlike some on here. We need 12 points from these seven games coming up, doesn’t look likely

In football memories and patience spans are all too short. In my opinion he did a very good job until May 2017, and no one can deny four top 8 consecutive finishes is strong evidence. Thereafter it has been a disaster but its possible to be both pleased he has gone but say thanks and well done for the good work in earlier years.

Before replying to this, can I sat that i would give Hughes until Boxing Day match when we will have played everyone once and would not be pulling the trigger just yet. However Saint Billy calls Big Sam a “failure”. You may not like him, but lets examine the facts of his PL career: - took Bolton to Europe in consecutive seasons - was sacked early in Newcastle, who went on to be relegated - took Wet Spam up and kept them in PL for two seasons - took over at doomed Sunderland and kept them up. Took the England job - took over at doomed Palace and kept them up. Resigned in the summer - took over at Everton who looked the worst PL team ever to visit St Marys facing relation and finished 8th This sort of sloppy comment reminds me of people who still say Puel was a failure. We finished 8th and a cup final. Just look at us now?

Sorry meant to say “on Boxing Day”

What a ludicrous comment to make. In WGS’s last season (he resigned at the turn of the new year from memory) we were 4th in the Premier League driving up to play Fulham at QPR’s ground. How on earth is 4th in the Premier League “awful”??? Blimey you must have thought Puel was a disaster finishing 8th and a cup final!

A nine hour round trip to see your team beat 6-1 is pretty tough. Only consolation is a good stadium to visit and a truly outstanding team on view. First the positives ...and bizarrely there were some, and that is in the second half we genuinely created some chances and played at times some good attacking stuff. We stretched them at times with pace and if we had more clinical finishing would have scored three goals which should always be enough to win a game. In that sense 6-1 is cruel. However, the first 15 mins was as unacceptable as Wet Spam or Newcastle away last year. Awful body language, inability to get a challenge in and I feared after 3-0 down it could become an absolute rugby score. Hate to dig individuals out but our international full backs aren’t delivering I am afraid. No competition for places with Credric but I would drop one of my favourite players of recent years and that is Bertrand. His commitment in that awaful opening period was a disgrace. I would not pull the trigger on Hughes just yet, would like to see where we are at halfway stage with eight more games needing us to have 13 more points. That looks a tough ask right now though

The only three games I have missed in league and cup this season have all finished 0-0! Blimey! So am going on MOTD and catching up with family that were there. Looked like we had more than enough chances to win and ridiculous number of shots, albeit too few on target. Only positive, which is a real one rather than a synthetic one I think, is that I said a few weeks back when we were regularly shipping 2 or 3 goals a match that we would get nowhere until we start chalking up clean sheets. We are doing that and am sure if this continues we will pick up points. Fine margins in football, Brighton have just won three games 1-0 on the spin. I maintain that for a team that finished 17th with less than 40 points something like 12th is reasonable progress and I still think Hughes will achieve that this season. One thing that hasn’t been discussed much is that we have decent depth to our squad, in fact one of the problems is that there is not much difference between our first and second choice 11. Be interesting to see how some of the other mid table teams fare as the injuries and suspensions kick in during the winter. Wolves made their first change in any match yesterday for example!

Some folk need to grow a pair and calm down. Hughes did great job in keeping us up against the odds when it looked too late. We should as an absolute minimum wait until we have played everyone once to get some proper perspective. A team finishing 17th that then the next season finishes say 12th is decent progress. We are yet to play any of the relegation candidates. If we don’t win either of our next two home games then that will be concerning but I think we will. The key is to target 20 points at the halfway mark, so 14 more from the next 10 games. Then push on from there. Yesterday is a decent point, can remember us being badly beaten down there under Koeman to a much weaker Bournemouth team.

I agree. I have offered a view on here before that there are three categories: - supporters, who get on the road to watch the team (fully accepting some cant afford to) - followers, who don’t but want the best for the team - customers, who believe its the same as any other transaction. They will walk away of the product doesn’t meet their needs and have no more affiliation it seems than one washing powered brand versus another one. The Premier League, which in many ways is fab, has encouraged a growth in the latter. And of course online there is the mixture of trolls and closet Pompey fans on here for a wind up which taker up disproportionate air time