Cabrone

Chelsea won that by accident, they looked like they were happy with a loss until Giroud came on and scored. We promptly collapsed and they took the points. You could see it happening just as soon as their first goal went in. We are mentally weak. Not Sparky's fault, he's turning the ship around hasn't got enough time to save us. I'd go hail Mary for the rest of the season, Charlie and Shane up front, Gabbi on the bench, Sims on for all remaining games and gut the worthless defence down to 3 CBs. Bertie in left mid. The defence is pointless so why bother. If we go down then at least we go down in a hail of goals. Sack Reed and Kruger for gross incompetence. This is 100% their fault. If only the chairman could be sacked too. Useless the lot of them.

Not a world beater and we got our pants pulled down over the fee but that's not his fault. Played correctly he's a useful option IMO.

We are sending ourselves down, no one else.

I think it's around 8/9 points needed which feels like a chasm. The board pulled the rip cord criminally late. With another 6-10 games I think Sparky could have pulled it off. How is it that pretty much every fan could see what the board couldn't?? Come season's end heads meed to roll. The biggest self inflicted screw up I've seen in my time watching this club.

I think we'll put up some fight this time but still lose 3-1.

If Mark Hughes has seen enough by the end of the season I'd have Chris Wilder. He (or any other decent manager for that matter) would only come though if the club demonstrated that it wanted to get out ASAP and that may be a bit of a problem.

That's alright Dusan you just buy yourself another Ferrari on this week's wages, that should cheer you up.

Can't see us bouncing back straight away, the current trajectory is still very much down and it would take a while to adjust the culture back to winning. Best we could hope for is at least 1 season of stability and then an attack on promotion if we had righted the ship by then. It's much easier to stay up than get out of the champ but then you'd need players that actually give a damn......

It currently feels like 04/05 in so much as if we escape it will only be because there are 3 worse teams, not because we have the balls to dig ourselves out of this. Also think it would have to be a record low points survival threshold for us to escape. Maybe 33? Gut feeling is 2 from Stoke, us, Hudders and if they implode maybe Swansea?? Still think Palace have the firepower to get themselves out of it. I wouldn't be putting any money on us surviving.

Hughes comes in, asks the players if they are up for it and this is the response he gets. Bitterly disappointing, not so much with losing rather the limp reaction to our situation. For the first time it feels like relegation is coming, the club pulled the rip cord far too late. I don't want to see Reed at the club anymore.

I think Ian Dowie deserves a mountain all to himself.

That's a combination I've been waiting all season to see, certainly would be our most potent. 1 up front will neuter us possibly unless that 1 is Charlie and I doubt he'll be thrown in straight away. I personally don't think defence is going to get us out of this hole so 442 for me, 2 up front will get the best out of our attack and we'll just have to try and outscore the opposition.

Cup. Chelski was always unlikely for points anyway. We could end up losing the league game, then get a bit of momentum in between and ambush them in the cup. Hope so.

I don't mind 1 up front provided it delivers but It depends on what players you have and I don't think we have the players for it. With the players we have I prefer 442, Long is useless alone but becomes a useful player with a goal scoring partner and Gabbi really needs confidence after the dismal way he was treated. Not sure where Carillo fits TBH, he's not terrible but is down the pecking order for me. The only player who can function as a lone spearhead is Charlie but its a moot point if he's perpetually injured. I also just personally like to see 2 strikers carrying a threat, gives the oppo something to worry about. Anyway Sparky will pick what he sees fit.

Me too, time for fans to resurrect this one at every game...........

We started off as a frightened Pellegrino team and finished as an attacking Hughes team. This may be the turning point. In the cup semi, fans giving it their all, 2 up front, 2 goals and most importantly we may have found our mojo again. Brilliant. Long and Gabbi up front next game (assuming Charlie is injured).

2 up front - hallelujah - Hughes has shown more bravery in 1 lineup than the other guy did all season. Come on Saints we can do this!!!

I never had a problem with him up to this season but he has been shown to have a fatal flaw, that he's far too slow to respond when the house is on fire. I wouldn't be bothered if he walked away tbh.

It's a very decent record, I get the feeling that things went a bit stale at Stoke and wasn't QPR under Flavio Briatore\Bernie Ecclestone\Tony Fernandez a bit of basket case club around the time he was there? I think because he's been around a while and is not a shiny new manager + he has inevitably got one or two blemishes in his CV that fans have a downer on him but when you look at his complete stats he's been a good manager.

Yes that's what I finally want to see too. If Hughes sets us up for attacking football we can finally see how good the players are. I've not criticised them atall this season because the manager has been so appalling but now it really is time to step up to the plate. I'm in the 'the players are good enough' camp but I guess we'll see over the next 9 games. All the best to sparky, if he can get our mojo back, avoid relegation and get at least to the cup semis then he will have done a fantastic job in my books.

The Echo article sums it up, this is no time to experiment - we need a proven manager and we don't have a lot of options. If Silva isn't coming then Hughes is the next best fit for what we need right now. My biggest concern about him is his motivational qualities, he comes across as pretty dour when the team badly needs an injection of energy after the Mopey reign. That said, Hughes does have a solid prem record so I can see the logic. Like most others not my first choice but when you're dipping in the bins you can't afford to turn your nose up at opportunities. Whoever comes I wish them the best of luck.

Right now we just want an attacking motivator till the end of the season, whoever comes in has to have an instant impact. I'd go for Silva as a short term option, if he does well then talk about extending over the summer. I also like Chris Wilder - he'd certainly know his way round the champ if we do go down but he'd be a real gamble to keep us in the prem.

He handled himself well. Other than that he was so bad I began to wonder if he was deliberately trying to sabotage the club. He had zero ability for flexible thinking, had no idea about players best positions, had no idea about which players to pick and which to drop, continuously chopped and changed in a seemingly random pattern not allowing players to settle, had an utterly bizarre fearful attitude to winning, had no interest in scoring, was obsessed with possession football even though he could see game after game that it was a failed philosophy. The worst manager in my 40 years of watching this club. Made Branfoot look like a decent manager.

Makes you wonder, you couldn't have done a better job at destroying what the club has built up over the last 7 years If you tried. The chairman isn't exactly whiter than white. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3431770/premier-league-u-turn-200m-southampton-gao-lisheng/ Relegation and a fire sale to come? Let's see.

If we went down I wonder how much the owner would get from a fire sale. He's already had VVD money, does he want us to go down so he can flog off most of the players and recoup his debts? Play the kids in the champ and start again? Probably not but nothing is making a lot of sense at the moment.