BallBoy

His record indicates that he is some sort of Bobby Moore.

I say play him in the final. He has experience and pedigree. He can handle it. He has a week to gel with his team mates who are all international defenders. Tough on Stephens but he has a good future ahead of him.

I believe Caceres will play this weekend as long as he is fit and available. He has the pedigree and the experience to come straight in and will represent less of a risk than Stephens or even Yoshida. Gabbiadini came straight in so I think Cacaras will too. I hope so.

Keegan made the front pages and first item on the teatime news. Can't think of any others who did that.

This wasn't rotation. It was capitulation. I really wonder if Wenger and Puel had an "understanding". You take the EFL Cup. We take the FA Cup!

Gardos not even on the bench! Please don't let Yoshi or Stephens get injured.

Amazing. 4 pages in half an hour! This has made me even more depressed.

I have just seen the highlights and I have to say that I cannot remember giving away 2 such poor goals. Lewis showed his inexperience by miscontrolling a back pass, chasing a ball that was going away from goal and then needlessly clattering the forward. I feel for him but it was a catalogue of errors in the space of 5 seconds. The equaliser was just ridiculous. On 92 minutes, holding a 2-1 lead, how is a player allowed the freedom of our 6 yard box! This result does require some perspective. It is not the end of the world but it does our confidence no good at a time when we needed to push on. We could, and should, have won this. We have put ourselves under needless pressure.

When are we going to start looking forward to the Norwich game?

I think some of the posts in this thread are on the hysterical side and could only follow a heavy defeat. I do, however, agree, that FF has not recently been the rock that very nearly became England's Number 1. His kicking has been very poor and he sometimes appears static. I am not an ITK but I have heard from a source close to his family that FF is not fit and should not really be playing. If that is correct then I think the current situation is one of pragmatism by the club. We currently have no viable alternatives. Having said that, I don't think his performances have been bad. Just not up to his normal standard.

So we are going to get a proper, red blooded cup tie at home to, hopefully, see us through. Tonight we all feel rubbish but this should be a cracking game with a cracking atmosphere. The permutations are mind boggling but we have to go for the win. Really looking forward to it.

We need to stop being surprised by results like this. It is becoming normal now.

Totally agree with this. I was screaming at the screen. Very unusual for Prowsey to make such a poor choice.

I am 50 years a fan and I consider myself to be very blessed to be a Southampton lad and a Southampton fan. I don't think I could be described as a fair weather fan. I have been there through thick and thin. Sadly, I too, am struggling to maintain the same level of enthusiasm as in previous years. I agree that our achievements in recent years have been phenomenal and I rejoice in that. So what is missing this year? Soul and excitement. In years past we have always had exciting players who lift the spirits. Terry Paine, Ron Davies, Peter Osgood, Kevin Keegan, Wallace brothers, Alan Shearer, Matt Le Tissier, Marian Pahars, Rickie Lambert, Sadio Mane to name but a few. I don't see any players now in that sort of category and the spark is gone. Add to that a manager who sends me to sleep and I am struggling. I hope that Boufal will provide that spark. He looks promising if we can just get him on the pitch and keep him there. I too hoped we could kick on this year. The reality is that we are weaker. I will always be a Southampton fan but there is a void at the moment.

I appreciate that there is a language barrier but he must be boring the players to death.

I envy those who can feel relaxed about our summer transfer dealings. I accept that we are in a wonderful position and we are still punching above our weight. I do not see us as being relegation threatened just yet. However, the simple fact is that we have sold, and not replaced, two players who have scored 12-20 goals each in recent seasons. Rodriguez and Austin are fantastic players but if we are relying on them to be fit enough to score that many goals then, in my opinion, we are taking a massive risk. I hope I am wrong. We have a net gain of about £30million pounds on our transfer dealings so far, plus TV money. Is this what Koeman meant by showing ambition?

In all my years of watching football I don't think I have witnessed a more abject performance. I have seen Saints play worse but this was the cream of English talent. Individually and collectively just awful.

In previous responses people have questioned my conclusions and how I reach them. Fair enough. Unless we are genuinely "in the know" then we are all just using informed guesswork. In my job I have to disseminate information and then make decisions. Some of that information is correct and some is simply false. I have no way of knowing which is which unless there is actual evidence available. What I can do though, is look at the information and the evidence, if available, and try to figure out what conclusions "fit" the best. In the current scenario with my beloved football club I have come to the following conclusions: 1) Koeman was "nudged" aside because he no longer fit with Southampton way. He wanted us to be "ambitious". 2) Koeman did not think our current crop of youngsters are good enough to be blooded in the upper reaches of the Premier League. 3) We have now been in discussions with several candidates, including Manuel Pellegrini. 4) We have decided that Claude Puel is a better fit. The above are just my conclusions based on the drip feed of information available to us. It is also my opinion that all of this constitutes a cheaper option and could therefore be interpreted as unambitious. I am not in favour of throwing money at the club to buy success. However, neither do I want us to be approaching the new season with no Wanyama, no Mane, no Pelle and an untested manager but money in the bank. I repeat, that I could be wrong and hope I am wrong. Les Reed has been instrumental in all of our recent success. I am happy to give him credit for that. However, I just wonder if we have now reached a stage where we need to adapt the plan. If we fail because we did not adapt then he should take responsibility. I doubt that he will. All speculation but based on facts and a gut feel for the situation at my club.

In our working lives I suspect that we have all seen senior managers like Les Reed. They are very good at taking credit when things go well but go missing when things do not go well. They ride on the backs of the staff who actually get the results. I have no doubt that Reed is a very capable, intelligent man but I think his luck will run out eventually. Unfortunately that means the club will suffer. So I hope I am wrong but my gut feeling is that we are unlikely to progress from where we are now as long as we are relying on the academy continuing to produce as it has in the past. Koeman was realistic enough to deduce that the tap has run dry for the moment. Unless we suddenly produce another golden generation then the "Southampton (Reed) Way" cannot take us forward. It looks as though we have rejected Pellegrini in favour of Puel because he "ticks the (Reed) boxes". That is a massive gamble. As a fan I hope it works and Reed lives another day. I just can't see it.

I hope the rumour that we have put a £40 million price tag on him is untrue. Cortese had the right idea on this. If we wanted to keep a player then they were not for sale. Full stop. I think if we do sell (for any price) then it just proves RK to be correct. We (the club) lack ambition.

Nice message. All the more appreciated because he clearly wrote it himself. Nice tribute to Jose.

It all seems pretty nailed on now. There needs to be a clause in the compensation deal prohibiting any sale of Saint's players to Everton within the next 12 months.

I think Koeman gave the biggest clue to all this at the end of the season and before his contract talks commenced. He said that Saints needed to "show ambition" or words to that effect. I don't think this is a done deal yet but it is looking ominous. I would find it very sad and even a little humiliating if we lost Koeman because we were not ambitious enough. The sad thing is that he is probably right. We are showing ourselves to be below the level that we should be aspiring to.

Stuart Ripley deserves a mention.

Clasie?