SNSUN

Agree with a back four as we need an extra attacking player, but not sure we'll get it. Either: McCarthy Valery Bednarek Vestergaard Bertrand Hojbjerg Romeu JWP Armstrong Redmond Austin in a 4-3-3/4-2-2-2 McCarthy Bednarek Yoshida Vestergaard Valery Hojbjerg Romeu Bertrand Armstrong Redmond Austin in a 3-4-3. I look at our available strikers and immobile as he is, I still think Austin is our best source of goals. This is simply a must win, and Fulham won't believe they're down yet, so they'll come out fighting. Win and they're as good as down with Huddersfield - then we only need to be better than one other team...if that's possible.

I thought Master Bates had been at it with the Bewb pics again...

This is a huge game lost but let's get some perspective: still winnable games to come. It's obvious that Hasenhuttl was banking on us just staying up and little more this season - well Huddersfield are down, and it's looking like Fulham will join them, so really anyone up to Palace is in a relegation battle. Our performances do need to improve though or it could well be us for the third spot. We'll lose to Arsenal IMO, but the Fulham game is now MASSIVE. Safety is the only important thing for the rest of this season - ignore mid-table, I think that's beyond us now, but safety would at least mean we can go into the summer transfer window ready to cut the dead wood out of this team and sign players more to Hasenhuttl's image.

If we are going to survive this season, and we ARE in the relegation battle if we lose this, IMO we need to trust the youngsters in attack. Sims, Gallagher and Obafemi when he's back all need to be trusted, and all can offer something different. Even Johnson has pace and can cross a ball. Without Ings, of the senior players we are left with a near immobile Austin, a rarely goal scoring Long, and a pretty crap Elyounoussi. Really, attacking wise only Armstrong and Redmond offer us any threat. I think we can survive, but we need points on the board sooner rather than later, and dropping some here against our relegation rivals is not a great start.

Two goals so far for Che, another few million on his price tag. Harlee Dean, once of this parish, has Birmingham's 3rd. I look forward to our attacking recruitment in the summer, survival permitting...

Well I was wrong in a 50:50 punt, but it does beg the question, where is the pilot, and did he bail? RIP Emiliano.

Two little wins, two little tiny wins against Cardiff and Fulham, and we can leave February on 30 points and looking up not down. But we're Saints. We don't do things the easy way. While I've predicted 3 points against both, I'm just as confident in our ability to **** it up. We can only hope there's enough Hasenhuttl effect left to counteract our "Saintsness". Cardiff have the Sala effect too, they'll be well up for this game. IMO a draw is not good enough for us. Yoshida and Hojbjerg back will be huge defensively, but the question is, do we have enough in attack to score the goals without Ings? We we will see.

I think this will be a good bonding session, especially for the youngsters who may have felt left out in the past due to not being involved with the senior team. May the airline bring them all back in one piece. (Too soon?)

Not that I know much about anything (but this thread has been interesting reading by the Professionals, thanks) but I'd guess that the body belongs to Ibbotson. I'd assume he was doing all he could as the plane hit the water, so wouldn't have had time to react or get out his seat. Sala meanwhile may have been unseatbelted and trying to get a life vest on or just panicking. All speculation of course, but the fact those cushions were found in Northern France means there was either a door open or the fuselage or the plane was ripped open, and logic would dictate than anyone not in a seatbelt would have been washed away. Anyway that's my detective work, probably all wrong, but seemingly feasible. The other body may still be in there and they just can't see it's yet, but I feel it's possible they'll never find the other body. Which IMO would be Salas.

Still bang on prediction but could have been so much better today. IMO 4 wins and a couple of draws and we will be safe. Until they scored today, we were only 3 wins and a couple of draws away from safety... And I still think we can get two wins from the next 3 games...although the Ings injury is worrying.

****ing ****ity ****. That's the penalty he didn't give then earlier. We were 3 wins away of being safe there. Need 4 again.

Fulham, Burnley, Newcastle and Palace all improving in recent weeks, which makes it more difficult to judge. Especially as we only managed a draw against Palace and have Burnley and Fulham to come presently. I think Huddersfield are down although surely they'll improve at some point, Cardiff probably won't have enough in the tank, then there is one spot to fight to avoid. We could feasibly be down there but under Hasenhuttl it's unlikely, but we need another 4 wins from somewhere. Fulham can score goals but their defence may go against them. Tough to call the third spot, but wishful thinking has me going for Burnley.

That proves it - faith in the youth. Irrespective of our financial situation, (assuming we didn't bring anyone in due to having rubbish players on high wages hence the trimming of the wage bill), this is the Academy's chance to shine. Only time will tell if Valery is a capable right wing back, if Jones becomes our 5th choice centre back, if Slattery can get game time in central midfield, if Johnson or Sims can be the attacking players and pace I feel we lack, or if Obafemi and Gallagher can get a look in beyond Austin (who I guess we're stuck with and could be frozen out?) and Long. I do feel we lack experienced pace up front, but Sims, Johnson and Obafemi have that, so I'm not too concerned - I'm especially pleased we didn't loan Sims out again as I think he could add something to a Hasenhuttl team. As for Valery as first choice? That's the one I feel we needed a signing for. Still, Wan-Bissaka and Alexander-Arnold came out of their academies for their clubs, so maybe we should have faith in Valery. I can't see Huddersfield staying up now, and I think Cardiff won't have enough for the season, so really there is only one relegation spot we need to concern ourselves with IMO, and as long as we can maintain the progress we have under Ralph, we will be fine - and this transfer window won't feel so wasted.

Tottenham Hotspur: "We're the best team financially, we didn't sign anyone for two whole windows!" Southampton FC: "Hold my beer..." IF, and it's a big IF, we keep Hasenhuttl in the summer, and IF we are still in the Premier League (which I hope and pray we will be), then the summer window should be very exciting. If we lose Hasenhuttl, or if we end up in the Championship trying to outbid Portsmouth for players, it will SUCK.

How late did we sign Ings? There's still hope.

Not a great game to mark my first visit to St Mary's of the season, but ultimately a decent point. I cheered when Zaha got sent off, from the other end of the ground where I was it looked like he'd raised his hands. After seeing the replay on MOTD just now, JWP wound him up like a kipper. Anyway that'll be a long suspension for him, all the better for us. Terrible first half, better second. McCarthy 5 - not impressed. He was poor at corners and didn't look comfortable. Made one save that I remember. Bednarek 6 - another clearance off the line, didn't overly stand out but solid. Stephens 6 - Should have been sent off for that tackle. Brought the ball forward well and made one important tackle when he was the last man standing, but some passes went astray. Vestergaard 7 - Made a couple of interceptions and decent long passes but can be as bad as he can be good. Valery 7 - Up against Zaha, didn't look out of place. Needs to be better in attack though, even first time balls. I do hope we sign a right back today, Valery should be decent back up not first choice...yet. Hojbjerg 6 - Less effective after his booking but good engine and was getting his foot in. JWP 7 - Not very effective in midfield especially first half but actually improved when he moved to the right. He's not a quick player but he was finding space (that was being ignored) can cross the ball, and was in the right place to score. Romeu 8 - my MOTM. Good passing and pestering the Palace players. Dropped deeper late on when we had only 3 defenders on the pitch. Targett 6 - has no pace to beat a player, and was defensively suspect getting caught up the the pitch at times. But is improving from past games, good cross for the goal. Decent back up for Bertrand. Redmond 6 - Was trying but they nullified his threat. Need another pacy attacking player for when it's not his day. Ings 6 - Tried hard but was isolated. Has class though, and manufactured a shot for himself. As for the subs, Armstrong improved us when he came on, Elyounoussi offered little but for one or two neat touches, and Slattery did little. I think Hasenhuttl went too defensive for this one, in the first half we were crying out for Armstrong. 3 midfielders is good away from home, but need more attacking impetus at home. (Although it is tricky to decide which of the three to drop currently.) Also I don't mind the patient build up from the back unlike some of the people around me, but in the second half JWP found loads of space that wasn't being used. Lastly about Palace... they have some really big units in their team! Sakho, Kouyate, Ayew, Zaha and Wan Bissaka are all beasts. I did think, on paper, they were the better team, and should be higher in table, but they didn't do much to prove that to me yesterday. They were good on the attack but largely it was nothing our defence couldn't handle. Oh, and I quite liked the light show!

Digne sent off for Everton, opening for Huddersfield that. A few results could go against us tonight - wake up Utd.

Personally want Fulham, Burnley, Cardiff, Huddersfield and Newcastle to lose tonight. Then we can put daylight between us and Palace tomorrow with a win, and the gap between us and the relegation places increases. Yes, I see what people are saying when they'd rather have Fulham beat Brighton, as Brighton are catchable, but I personally would rather get away from the relegation zone soon as possible, meaning we can try some youngsters from the comfort of mid table safety at the tail end of the season. (Plus we could probably catch Brighton anyway!)

It seems that each of our youngsters have posters on here that do or don't rate them, and I was wondering which youngster had the most/fewest supporters on here. (While we should support ALL our players, it does seem like we could be relying on the young players a lot for the rest of this season to cover the first teamers. (In Hasenhuttl we trust.)) So, the list of youngsters reads: Lewis, Valery, Ramsey, Jones, Slattery, Hesketh, Sims, Johnson, Barnes, Gallagher, Obafemi and if you want you can include McQueen and Reed in this for the purposes of argument, or others that I've omitted such as those even younger that could find a way in to first team recognition, or even more experienced players like Targett and Ward-Prowse. I do think it's a hard question, as it depends on how much you have seen of each player. I've probably seen the most of Sims out of that lot, and I rate his pace and directness, although the loan to Reading perhaps could have been more successful. I do think he can be an asset for us, especially as beyond Redmond, Armstrong and the ineffectual Elyounoussi, we lack attacking midfield players. Valery is the player we will no doubt see the most of unless we bring in a right back - his red card worries me in terms of his attitude, but posters on this board were calling for him to play as early as the start of last season, so he must have something about him. Also I'd love to find out if Gallagher could do anything given a run of games. Who do you rate/not rate amongst the youngsters?

Palace home - 30 Jan Burnley away- 2 Feb Cardiff home - 9 Feb Arsenal away - 24 Feb Fulham home - 27 Feb I think these 5 fixtures could make or break our season. We are easily good enough under Hasenhuttl to pick up 12 points from those games, and bearing in mind we beat Arsenal shortly before Christmas at St Mary's, when we've been better on the road last calendar year, there's no reason we couldn't pick up all 15 points. But let's be serious, no team is going to roll over for us, so we have to be at our best, and hope we can steer clear from any more suspensions and injuries. We're now on 22 points - I'd guess that 36 will probably be enough for survival this year, and the total may even be lower. Even if we can get 10 points from these games, we will virtually be safe and looking up the table. I think we will get 8, a point against Palace (who are unpredictable) and Burnley (whose own form has been good lately apart from their cup exit), wins against Cardiff (feel sorry for them really but they lack the quality) and Fulham (who I still think will improve but their defence leaks worse than my Thermos flask that I use for work), and Arsenal will get their revenge against us at the Emirates. That puts us on 30 points, and we should have a fairly comfortable end to the season. Any fewer than 7 points from these games, and we will be in the relegation battle.

This is the first game of the season for me, now that my daughter is over 7 months she can finally stay with my scatty parents through the night without us worrying. Looking forward to another three points! Surely we will do better than the last Palace game I saw, the 3-0 loss at Selhurst under Poortvliet when Kuqi ripped us to shreds.

No VAR this game, and it’s been very entertaining. I cheered at the winner and woke my little girl up. Everton put out a full strength team too, they really wanted this cup. Their season could fizzle out badly under Silva.

This would leave our striking options as Ings, Long, Obafemi, Gallagher and Barnes. As ineffectual as Austin is in Hasenhuttl's pressing game, surely this would mean bringing in a new striker or attacking player...? I'm all for trusting the youth but we'd be praying Ings stays fit for the next 4 months if we stay in a relegation battle.

Will Yoshida, Stephens, Bednarek, Vestergaard +1 youth (Jones/Ramsey?) be enough for the rest of the season? Or do we think we will definitely see an incoming centre back? Surely if we continue to play 3 at the back we need another CB. (We’ve obviously been looking from the Mepham links...) As for Hoedt, it’s obvious Hasenhuttl didn’t rate him from the word go, so no loss really.

Apparently confirmed by ITV, Sala was on board the missing plane. Hope they’re all found alive and well, but I fear otherwise...