coalman

And why wouldn't they for the easiest away fixture of the season.

You make him sound like Jack Stephens. He's been here for three years. We've been relegated twice and promoted once. We're somewhere around our 7th manager and 3rd DOF. Before he joined we had fuck all money yet managed to comfortably beat relegation the previous two seasons. It's unclear how much he is involved right now but he was front and centre during a number of disastrous transfer windows. As people have said he's still CEO and Dragan's right hand man in football matters. He also recruited Spors and, let's face it, his recruitment record stands out for all the wrong reasons. We've gone from a side that briefly topped the Premier League under Ralph to 5th bottom of the Championship under his guidance. We've got a huge squad with no functional striker, goalkeeper or defence and we've spent 100s of millions getting there. He might help grannies across the road and be a nice bloke to have a chat with but he's clearly not up to running our football club in any capacity.

I'm struggling to pick a best and worst team for entirely opposite and very predictable reasons. Bravo Sport Republic.

I feel we need one of those rarest days when the sun shines on a dog's ass for SR to hire a decent manager as opposed to the utter dog's ass they're going to make of it. Again.

I sincerely hope we're not about "keeping things ticking over". We got lucky playing badly against QPR. Playing as badly again is unlikely to continue yielding the same results. The last thing we need is continuity.

If we think about what we need from a new manager. 1. Coach some defensive solidity into our current defenders and keeper. 2. Have a functioning midfield. 3. Transition from defence to attack. 4. Preside over a bloated squad which needs to be trimmed. 5. Deal with players who don't have a good work ethic, don't want to be here or generally feel they should be in charge. 6. Provide some stability for players who've had too many managers recently. 7. Stand up to whatever nonsense Rasmus is trying to manage from behind the scenes. No sane human would take on that job (for point 7 alone). But trying to fix 1-6 with your hands tied? No fucking way. The next manager appointment doesn't matter until we can provide an environment they have even the barest chance of succeeding in. Finding someone that is both talented and blood minded enough to get the job done would be a miracle. You need someone willing to come in and be a complete wanker from day one whilst bringing everyone along for the journey. The only miracles Sport Republic are capable of is spending Dragan's money as wastefully as possible.

After a dominant 2-1 victory over form club QPR you can expect Tonda to be riding high. Time to roll out the changes and show his job credentials. Expect to see Damion Downs start in the regulation SR 9-0-1.

Of course. Sports Republic would never do something like that.

You don't need to do interviews when you can watch the prospective manager "Masterclass" on YouTube and have spreadsheets.

Sport Republic appear to be exceptional in identifying and recruiting people capable of spouting football platitudes in the face of reality.

The trouble with Manning is he is a full back who wants to be a midfielder. He naturally gravitates to the middle of the park leaving a gaping hole at left back. So there are times where he's productive at the other end of the pitch but we can't rely on him to hold down his side defensively.

Sooner or later you're going to have shots going in. There are games earlier this season where we didn't score what we deserved. Today we scored what we didn't deserve. It's telling we didn't really create anything clear cut. The reason we had to defend so much was we invited the pressure. Because we carry no threat. We have no out ball. Our midfielders aren't set up to turn into space as they're in our penalty area. Our attackers can't hold up the ball. Our defenders lump it forward or play a succession of soul sapping short passes before lumping it forward. There's no transition between defence and attack. And then our press is so aimless as to be non existent so whenever the other team gets the ball they're going to get to the edge of our area largely unbothered. If we continually set our team up to make it a game of attack vs defence we're not going anywhere fast.

Surely sticking with the same structure that has proven incapable of bringing in points is some form of madness? I get that Tonda had no time to make significant changes but it was telling that the rotten core of the team were back in business. QPR can rightly feel they should've walked away with 3 points there.

It's not often a football match is that one sided with the winning side having so little of the play. All our problems were on full display for the same reasons they've been there for the last few years. If anything that was an even more disjointed performance than under Still.

Let's invite all the pressure

He's the embodiment of this Southampton side, that's for sure.

- Slowest playing defenders - CHECK - Slowest ball playing defenders - CHECK - Crisp packet wristed goalkeeper - CHECK - No height up front for crosses - CHECK - Adam Armstrong through the middle - CHECK - Winger out of position in defence - CHECK - Midfield set to be overrun - CHECK It seems that whoever is in charge we're able to continue doing the same things that brought us so many records in the last year and a bit.

Jack and THB back so maximum ball watching and slow passing potential. Armstrong on his own up front. Fellows at right back. Light in midfield again. At least Eckert appears to be doing his job as the continuity candidate. Same formation. Same players. What is the actual fucking point of having a Saints manager if all we do is the same thing over and over again.

It's a tough ask for someone new to come in and maintain the standards we've been blessed by in recent times. Expect an even more disjointed effort. Lallana to be caretaker by Monday.

I guess we'll always have Wrexham at home.

This is all since we appointed Spors. Clearly Ankersen wasn't the problem and needs to be given more authority over the new manager hire..... Said no one ever.

SR "hold my beer"

We're getting worse by the week.

Lots of strong words in the lead up to this. The only problem is we're really good at talking about playing football and awful at actually playing it. On the basis of which I fully expect... More kick and run with everyone defending running aimlessly towards the ball. Then, on the off chance we have any momentum, a series of substitutions mid way through the second half that firmly put Preston on top to finish out the game in style. #southamptonWay

Playing with a back 5 doesn't seem to make us harder to score against than a back 4. If our defenders aren't up to it playing more of them seems like the wrong choice. I'd rather play more in midfield and make it harder to move the ball through us. Right now we get overrun in midfield too easily and then our not-up-to-the-job defenders have to deal with it. Then we have fewer options to pass out of defence and just wind up hoofing it up field.