Saint_clark

Caleta-Car and Walker-Peters are the same ages as Bednarek and Maitland-Niles respectively?

I'm working nights at the moment so maybe I'm just a bit groggy, but there was a question in his post match conference that I'm sure didn't make any sense? "Wins for Bournemouth and Everton today, if you'd lost you'd have been 7 points from safety, as it ended up you're only 2..." That...doesn't add up surely? Someone tell me I'm not losing it. Nevermind the fact we're actually 3 points from safety and if we lost we'd have been 6...

I remember when we got relegated in 05 we had a quality reserve side then, too. Blackstock and Best up top, Crainie and Mills solid at the back, Griffitt a maestro in midfield.

I thought Ankersen insinuated that our under 21 group was crap at the moment?

There is good potential in the team we've put together at the moment and I think we need to be firm with the players even if we do go down that we won't be letting anyone go that we don't want to.

Meanwhile, his inclusion of JWP was just an excuse to talk about Chelsea... "If anyone is going to pull Southampton out of their current situation it's Ward-Prowse. Championship football is out of the question for the likes of him, he is far too good for that level. The Saints showed real grit against Chelsea and Ward-Prowse his quality. So Chelsea have spent over £600m in the transfer window and had to turn to a 20-year-old unknown in David Datro Fofana to provide them with the goals they desperately need. Is this a joke? I said last week I wasn't sure if owner Todd Boehly knew what he was doing. I'm now asking the same question of manager Graham Potter. The apprehension in the air at Stamford Bridge against Southampton was penetrating. We all know it can't go on like this."

Indeed. The guy has more playing time in the month of the World Cup than he does in the month he's been in the Premier League. Ditto the Champions League. He's gone from playing in those two competitions to playing in our reserves...I would imagine he was settling in just fine until that happened.

It's not "just in case" though is it, we all KNOW he's going to make an almighty cock up again and probably soon. Why wait until that happens to drop him? Why not cash in your chips while you're up instead of betting it all on red for the second time running?

So Jones saw us playing well in the first half and ensured we played worse in the second rather than admitting he was wrong?

6 minutes in a league sub appearance, 64 minutes in the league cup, written off.

"I'll do you all" he claims, whilst out of breath from just shouting.

It makes you wonder what the hell was said in his interview, if he even had one. Him playing non-league football continues the David Brent analogy for me - in that christmas special when he went on the speed dating show to try and cling to a little bit of fame.

You're both right. He's referring to the moment just before the Perraud block where the ball comes down our right flank in the air and ABK goes to head it, completely messing it up and letting Havertz in.

I agree, the abuse he got at times was way over the top. But he doesn't help himself when he would be defending a player/the club on here and then you'd see him on twitter criticising a player/the club for the exact same thing. It comes across as just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing.

Fitzhugh is right to be cautious, it is only one game. What the performance, attitude and general aura around the players and fans means though is that Selles has bought himself more time to prove his worth, and eased the pressure on the board to find a replacement - we all know there isn't a huge pool of talent to choose from now, so if Selles is doing the job then we don't need to dive into it just yet.

I get the don't change a winning side thing, but with Bednarek we all know it is just a matter of time before his next cock up and us wanting him dropped, so why not pre-empt that by replacing him with better players now.

What's interesting is it seems the entire fanbase is united behind him already, even before the game, in a way that never happened under Jones. When we sacked Ralph all a lot of us wanted was a manager that would give us a bit of belief and unite us in our support - and we got the worst possible candidate for that. Maybe Selles can be the delayed option to give us a bit of belief and unity.

Love it. Reminds me of "Sparky Marky Hughes...gonna keep us up, then he'll win the cup" though.

What's the rest of that chant then? "I just don't think you understand...he's Martin Semmens man"?

Ruben Selles has absolutely flung to the top of the favourites list, 4/7 now. I got on it at 12/1 thankfully.

*MLG alert* Well, you can. He also kept a clean sheet at home to Man City but as there wasn't a single shot on target and therefore not a single save made, it's difficult to praise him too much for that one.

Yep, as Samba says. I've been probably his most vocal critic but today he did well. One good save near the end from a freekick and one earlier in the game which I sadly missed but was told about, as well as claiming a couple of crosses which he has up until now fumbled. Keep it up.

I'm going to vote for Bazunu, not because he was the best player but because it's the first game this season i've seen him make a save I didn't expect him to make and catch a cross that wasn't straight at him. Hopefully he continues to improve - and sharpish!

Real shame about the results around us. Spurs and United win tomorrow please to keep things congested at the bottom.

Amazing. Start building something Saints. Shame Mara couldn't make it 2-0 at the end, no idea why he chose to pass when he had a clear sight of goal. Could really do with a Spurs and United win tomorrow to keep the teams above within touching distance.