Professor

Fans at every club that is thought to be under-performing always turn on the manager, so those Saints' fans doing that are only acting the way others do elsewhere. But it isn't the manager who is out on the pitch. It wasn't the manager who blazed a golden chance over the bar against Man City, it was Tadic. The manager wasn't one of the Saints' defenders in the box who failed to get to the ball from the corner and allowed Kompany to get the crucial first goal. Managers are judged on how well players perform. We have good players, some excellent players but they can make mistakes at key moments. Even world class players make mistakes, but less of them. Clubs in the top 6 have complete squads of world class players and so make fewer mistakes. It really is too easy just to blame the manager.

Even though WBA lost this weekend leaving the 4-point gap the same, we've now got one less match to catch them and little prospect of anything from the next game at Chelsea. With both Watford and Stoke taking 3 points, staying in the top half could be more of a challenge than moving up a place. On current form I can't see us getting anything from the Liverpool, Arsenal or Man U games either and sadly, I'm beginning to think we will end up at 11th, 12th or worse.

Looks a good side; for me, only Van Djik and Romeu are missing from what looks to me our strongest XI. Hojbjerg instead of Classie must have been a close call after the stunning goal last week but Pierre-Emile played well against West Brom. Gabi has every chance of getting the ball past Bravo.

The report that Pulis has paid the £3.77m to Crystal Palace that the High Court decided he wasn't entitled to, plus something like £2m in legal cost, suggests that the fans handing over their money to the football clubs probably don't appreciate just how far the people involved in football have become from those of us who follow the game. The players are continuing to pull up the ladder behind them, clearly unconcerned that the money they stuff in their bank accounts comes from hardworking ordinary people. I've never paid a Sky or BT subscription but I do pay the overpriced cost for admission to matches which is out of all proportion to what was charged 20 or 30 years ago..

Being Anti-Lawrenson, which I admit I am, I just can't help biting at every negative comment he makes ahead of our matches. Is there an Anti-Lawrenson's Anonymous that could help or some other way of getting off the drug? I've gone from wanting Saints to win to absolutely CRAVING a win now....

Pleased to see that Stephen Davis has recovered from injury and will be surprised if 'Davo' isn't in the starting line-up but with Hojbjerg and Claisie having played well at The Hawthorns, it's not an easy decision for the Manager. My guess is that Pierre-Emile will lose out to Davis with Jordy keeping his place after that excellent goal.

I don't enjoy Lawrenson on TV, whilst as a 'football expert' I'm not sure what he's done since he stopped playing to justify the description, except to talk about football. If that makes him an expert, everyone on here is equally qualified. But having now seen his predictions coming so close to reflecting Saints' actual finishing positions in the table suppose he has to be given some credit where credit is due. Perhaps he's not smug, self-important and boring after all.

I do agree, except he should HAVE stopped. One can't 'OF' anything because 'of' is not an action.

Sorry James but it is completely misleading to pick two unrelated events and attempt to a draw a correlation that simply doesn't exist. If it's any consolation though, the answer to your question is you weren't the only one to make the same mistake.

When Long is on the field he's a constant threat to the opposition but we've all seen that in front of goal, he's struggling to hit the target. Other strikers have suffered goal droughts before. Even when Gabbiadini is back, hopefully he'll still get his chance to get through this period and carry on making a strong contribution to the team. The way he plays, the goals will come.

According to one press report Gabbiadini was considered for the West Brom game but failed a late fitness test. Could be positive news for the Man City game.

Still mixed feelings about Koeman at Everton because he misled us about his commitment to the club when his real commitment was to his bank account but he wasn't honest enough to admit it. Can't help thinking we might have had a better season if he had stayed but on the other hand I like Claude's approach to using the young players. Today a win for Everton feels better for Saints as it keeps Leicester still 4 points behind us. Although we have a game or two in hand on the teams around us, having three games to come against clubs that are in the top 4 means we do need the competition to drop points.

A clean sheet and Dave Merrington having Jack Stephens as his MotM. Stephens playing every minute of every game since VVD was injured has turned him into a thoroughly reliable Premier league CB. Nervy finish but by then the team on the field was quite a way off of our best XI. Hard to understand whgat has hapenede to Long's scoring ability. Still a valuable player but strikers do need goals. On the BBC website, Lawrenson was reliable as always, reliable in predicting a Saints' defeat and reliably being wrong.

In August 2012, JWP played in Saints' first match on the club's return to the Premier League, away to the reigning champions, Man City. He was 17 years old. Not the debut of a player who will fail to make the grade.

Can't understand why Caceres hasn't had even 5 minutes on the pitch. In fact he should have had more than that. Putting him on the bench indicates that he would come on in the event of an injury to Stephens or Yoshida but if that happens he will have had no previous first team experience at all. Surely he should be readied for the possibility of playing by having some game time.

I usually have a lot of sympathy with Alpine's posts but can't agree with the criticism of Les Reed. Players agitate for a move when they know they can earn more money and win trophies elsewhere and their contract with Southampton can't prevent them leaving. If players were kept until contracts expired, the club would have no funds for replacements. We have sold some exceptionally expensive players for fees we could not have paid ourselves but replacement with full internationals such as Van Dijk, Bertrand, Gagbbiadini, Redmond, Boufal, etc. suggests we aren't shopping in the bargain basement. The reality is we can't spend £25-£50 million on one player as a handful of clubs can, which is the way things are in the Premier League. It's another matter to ask whether Claude is getting the best out of the talented players we have and I imagine Les Reed has that question constantly in mind. As long as Les thinks the answer to that is positive, Claude will be doing as well as can be expected the manager's position will be safe.

Good points - whether the penalty was correctly given or not, it was missed and the defence delivered a clean sheet. Better than at Watford where we ended up with 3 points. JRod appeared to be back on form. Another good performance by Davis. One point better than zero ✅✅. Points on Wed night will soon make us forget Saturday.

It's too easy to write negative descriptions of our players after a disappointing result but a draw, that shoul rightly have been a defeat doesn't mean players of international status, such as Davis, JWP, Tadic, Boufal, JRod, Long are crap, rubbish, shyte or any of other abuse hurled at them by a few a few fans whose only experience of top level football is to sit on the sidelines. Chelsea lost today against a club threatened with relegation but that doesn't mean their players are suddenly useless. There is something wrong with our team because logically as this group of players should be achieving better results. It's Claud Puel's job, with his staff, to work out why this is happening. So far he's suggested that many of the squad away on international duty had something to do with it, but that isn't all that convincing so let's hope he gives the match a more detailed examination before drawing Nigel's 'Blue Line'.

More than just the result of single game depends on decisions being as accurate as possible because these days there is far more money riding on trophies and league positions than once was the case. In the days when a second division side like Southampton could beat a first division side like Man U in the FA Cup Final the gulf between the top and second tier was closer, including the financial standing of clubs at both levels and the rewards for the players. You only have to look at the internationals in our cup winning side to see that. Being denied the EFL Cup due at least in part to the official's error over the disallowed opening goal has denied Saints a place in European competition next year and therefore a lot of money. Even being one place down in the final league table has a cost. Human error can't be eliminated but surely if the technology is available, it should be used to get more correct outcomes.

I wonder if 4 front players is enough as there may be times when the manager wants to play 2 strikers. The 4 named are supplemented by using wingers such as Redmond and Sims, but Gallagher is a true striker. I suppose the real question is whether the coaches believe he can make the grade for a regular place in a Premier League side. It would be a shame to see him go to Villa in case he helps them to promotion next season and ends up playing in the Prem against us.

It's still hard to see the Cherries as a rival although I probably would start to worry if they finished above us in the table. I'm pleased to see them in the Prem, having never thought it could be possible. I wish them well and hope to see them mid-table in May but just assume they can't possibly win against us. That would be turning the World upside down and just will not happen. I'd like at least a 2-goasl advantage just to keep them in their place.

Not sure this can be right as the report seems clear that he was told he would not be offered a professional contract at Arsenal. More likely our assessment of his promise is different to theirs. If he turns out to be of professional standard it will be Arsenal's mistake to have let him go but Saints have also made similar mistakes in the past, as have most clubs. This isn't a case of taking another club's cast off, but of possibly seeing potential that another club has missed.

I don't think many people read anything into his predictions but because he is set up as an 'expert' it's fun seeing how often he is wrong. Quite often, the non-football person predicting with him actually does better. Very much liked Alpine's calculation that overall Lawrenson's predictions would have Saints just above the relegation zone instead of in the top half. He might feel embarrassed at times but he still gets paid so I don't suppose he cares.

Noticed Lawrenson predicting another Saints' defeat this weekend after saying that Southampton are a 'difficult' team to predict. That looks like an admission that he often gets predictions wrong and this is his excuse. His approach seems to be to always go for the 'Big Club' so that he should benefit from the law of averages. In his assessment he mentions Harry Kane, who isn't playing but fails to mention Gabbiadini who is. The BBC call him their football 'expert' which I suppose is fair enough as he is one who follows the game and is employed by them, but there are plenty of other 'experts'. I like the idea of the prediction contest but it's a shame they don't pitch their expert against other football people so the competition could be more meaningful.

Factually correct but misleading as that would suggest the sales were voluntary. I'm not sure there have been sales which the club could have successfully resisted when faced with players wanting to leave for more money and determined not to extend their contracts. Had we told any player he couldn't leave what sort of sparkling performances would he have put in as his transfer value ran down to zero? Lambert may have been the exception but not sure there is anyone else.