RobM

Why not? What is your opinion based on?

Yes, actually, he has said a few positive things in the pre-match build up. During the game he has given his opinion on how he would have handled this game and who he would have played where. In other words, he commentated. Perhaps the problem is you, you're clearly only hearing what you want to hear.

I love the irony in your less than subtle suggestion that this NEW RECRUIT won't be busy because we wont be RECRUITING anybody.

If the jist is skewing facts and inventing stories to support an opinion of someone, we get it. I don't want to see JP back in the team, I've been open about that for a long time. But NA's comments on the OS suggest he will at least talk with him and see where his heads at. I can only imagine if JP says he wants to be involved again, wants to work for and with the team, will put in the effort and show patience, NA will give him the chance to prove that. If that is the case, I'll support it, I'm a Saints fan.

Agree entirely, set out to win, almost a training game for the first team without Lambert to get used to each other.

Doble. He has played a few times already and looked a decent prospect, certainly worthy of further chances and cup game starts. We need another striker, one capable of starting immediately in the NPC.

Definitely do not sell, not even for £10m. It would destroy our chances of promotion this season and ultimately cost us more than it would make us, given our then extended stay in the NPC. Our game is utterly reliant on Lambert, we're lost without him and even when he isn't available, we try and play as if he was still there. We don't play to the strength of whoever replaces him, we ask them to play like Lambert does. To change all of that in the second half of the season would set us back a long way, it would take a long time to learn a new game. Keeping Lambert and adding additional quality where needed could see us promoted, that's worth a lot more than £10m.

I know it's easy to be an armchair expert, but IMO after Rickie got sent off, we should have left DC up front on his own, brought on Holmes to have Holmes (LM), Lallana (AM) and Guly (RM) supporting DC in attack. Holmes has looked decent in the few brief spells we've seen him recently.

Football fans or not, that's a cold-hearted and sickening thing to chant. I've had a moan about our own fans getting on our players back, but I truly believe no Saints supported would sink to such disgusting levels.

I agree with your point entirely, but I suspect owning Southampton has cost them an awful lot more than £15m. Considering the investment in Staplewood, investment in the team and paying off debt I would imagine the actual cost would be somewhat higher. But I do agree, even with a decent investment in Jan they would see a tasty profit should they sell. Let's hope it's a moot point though

Half a stadium

It's a 90 minute game, not a 50 minute game. For half of the game you're description is correct. The other half, it isn't and we were poor. Once we lost Lambert we didn't know what to do, players didn't know how to find each other, we imploded. For sure a crap Ref made our lives much harder, but surely that's the sort of pressure and challenges you face as a professional football team? We didn't cope, we only had a Plan A today and once that was spoilt, we were poor. Let's be honest, we've had plenty of decisions go our way which have been unfair to the opposition - a penalty against Brighton at St.Marys being a bloody good example - so we can't say we haven't experienced crap refereeing before.

The OP makes some valid points, so fair play, we are far too reliant on Lambert. Congratulations also on reaching 13th in the league, you're doing very well this season, you should be able to stay up this season at this rate

If we end up 15th or 16th I'll call you a genius and admit you were pretty much spot-on. In fact, PM me your address in that event and I'll send you a big bunch of flowers with Genius written on the card

It's very 'Brighton' to start blaming the Ref' for our poor performance.

17th is not about right. You will be proven very wrong.

Indeed, we sounded good. I made this comment in the match thread, but it seems as though we rely on RL so much we have no idea what to do when he isn't around. When he left, everyone seemed to be looking around wondering where others were. It was the same when he was injured before, we tried to play as if he was there and couldn't. We rely on RL far too much, it's not healthy.

It's a very good point and worth remembering. This is a bad, bad period, but the season isn't over and were still at the top. Just as a bad spell could see us drop a few places, a good spell could see us right back in it again.

You should try listening to the match before shouting your mouth, Guly isn't on the pitch. Shows how desperate you are to criticise him.

It's as if so much of our play relies on RL, we have no idea what to do when he isn't around. It sounds as if we were just looking around wondering what to do after he got sent off. Far too much reliance on him.

It doesn't pain you at all, you've used every possible opportunity recently, often many times in the same thread. You love it, you're enjoying this. If you weren't, you wouldn't do it so much, so often. This is a bad period for us, no doubt about it. But we're at the start of the Jan transfer window so have every opportunity to put it right. If we're still saying the same things at the start of Feb, I'll be amazed.

It's never too early for that!

Our current squad has lead us to and kept us at the top of the table, so I don't share your urgency. We've only just started the second half of the season, there is plenty of time to go.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy

Forte can do that job to a point, with his pace and finishing. His all-round game isn't superb I admit, but as an impact player he can do a job. We also have Fox and Holmes for different wide options. It's not as good as I'd like, but it's not terrible either. I'm sure there are teams around us who would love those options