Cabrone

If Austin's fit then play him and try him up front with Gabbi. Charlie has been ignored all season and needs match practice right now - provided he's fit enough. We'll probably lose anyway so I'd like us to give new combinations a go.

As has been said by many of us on here ad nauseum - play a proven goalscorer in Charlie Austin and guess what - you score goals. Cannot for the life of me understand why it's taken this manager so long to figure this out. I'd also like to see Gabbi positioned in a free role just behind Charlie - I really think they could click. We don't have a bad set of players, just a manager that has thwarted our attack for too long. Today shows it. As for Everton you'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh. We play them in the 2nd to last match - would love it if we relegated them.

Everton aren't great but we're worse. With this manager we may as well have a traffic cone up front. Shaping up to be a cracker of a game, 0-2.

It's all relative wherever you are. If your team is on the up any league is good fun. Our last season in the Championship was awesome - but then we did win it didn't we . Leeds (a) particularly sticks in the memory, KD was a brick wall that evening.

Worrying if that's what he's identified as the real problem. How is Gabbi supposed to score when he has no service? As for Charlie, well he's not even picked. When he has been regularly picked when has he failed to deliver? Long I would let go, he genuinely can't score. Instead of scapegoating our forwards get rid of the one dimensional MP and bring in a manager that believes in attacking football. If our players still fail under a guy that is willing to try different formations and personnel then I will join the 'players aren't good enough' bandwagon. We may be relegated by then and they'll go anyway. At the moment though they get a pass because the current manager is incompetent to a point of madness.

What an absolute joke. Right now based on form I'd say we were bottom 3, most of the teams who will be our relegation rivals at least look like they can score whereas we cannot. Palace certainly look better than us, so do Bournemouth. This manager has destroyed the team, he's dismantled our scoring threat by continuously ignoring our best goal scorers which in turn has destroyed morale throughout the rest of the team. Had Charlie Austin been played earlier (as Puel did to be fair to him) up front with Gabbi we'd be nowhere near where we are now IMO (and I don't give a toss if he doesn't run around like a headless chicken just as long as he scores). He needs a run of games!!!! MP goes into games not thinking about how to win but how to not concede. Winning doesn't even seem to come into his head. Yet again he started with 1 up front and the guy who was up there hasn't scored in months. From the 1st second he was broadcasting to everyone that he wasn't the slightest bit interested in winning, his ambition was 0-0. When will it sink into his thick head that this isn't working? It's sucking the life out of everyone. Over the course of the season you can see that the players heads have dropped and I don't blame them, it must be sapping having to play for a manager that has no intention of scoring goals. All the blabbering on here about the team not being good enough - it is good enough but it is being strangled by the worst manager we've had since Branfoot. TBH I've been wanting him out for a month now, it was looking pretty obvious back in Oct that he hasn't got a clue. Why are we wasting vital matches with this dead man walking? Even if the new guy lost the next 6 at least they'd be able to take stock before the Jan transfer window. Personally I'd like to see a British manager with a positive approach but TBH I'm starting to think that even no manager is better than this guy, he's toxic.

The only way I could see this guy's style having any chance of succeeding is to buy a top quality goal scoring no 9 which would cost a small fortune. Cannot see SFC doing that so why delay getting rid - his negativity is strangling the team. We couldn't do any worse if he wasn't there.

Exactly, we've had 2 good goal scorers available to us since game 1 but if the manager either doesn't pick them or set the team up to service them then guess what - no goals. The argument for a no 9 is a good one and if we could get a Pelle replacement then fantastic but that's another debate - the squad we have right now has goals in it.

The more likely candidates are WBA (if Pulis stays) + Swansea. As for Palace, I suspect that have got too many good players to not be able to pull out of their nosedive. But honestly it could be any one from 7th down, all it takes is a bad run and loss of confidence and you're in the danger zone. SFC shouldn't be anywhere near bottom 3 with our current squad but if MP stays wedded to current tactics then he may pull us right down there too.

100% agree with you, give Charlie Austin a good run with Gabbi and see what he can do. If he fails then fair enough. It's really unfortunate that injuries have blighted his time with us because when he's been picked he's done the business. Shane Long on the other hand hasn't but still seems to magically get chances. Unfortunately this plum of a manager insists on locking him out and consequently we keep on firing blanks. Had he been picked from the start of the season I think we would have picked up a lot more points than we have but Mr negative is fixated on 1 up front. If he goes I wouldn't blame him and I'm sure he'll score wherever he goes too. He's a natural finisher and they aren't easy to come by, not unless you want to spend piles of cash.

I liked him and if a club could get the same form from him as he had with us I'd say it was a good piece of business. Best of luck Jack.

Yes I'd have him back, did a great job for us. Can't see it though, have we ever re-hired a previous manager?

The players haven't exactly covered themselves in glory but they are having to operate in a straightjacket that is anti attacking football. The blame for that must lie at MP's door. Last Saturday was a good example. Burnley came for a point and set up their defensive stall ready to repel what they thought would be our attacks, we were the home team after all? However as the game went on they realised that we were wedded to risk averse football and were no real threat so they put 2 up front and knocked us out. Our manager just sat there, glued to his defensive mantra, no tactical changes, no attacking gamble with 2 up front - nothing. I could just about live with his ultra cautious mentality if it was getting results but it isn't is it? The players are not completely free of blame but they are not that bad, certainly much better than many on here think (Gabbi should be sniffing around the Azzuri for heaven's sakes) but MP and\or others are strangling us to death. I'd give the manager the benefit of the doubt if I thought he was trying things, attempting to work out the puzzle but this guy isn't. If plan A doesn't work then he's out of ideas.

Whoever it is can we please have some attacking football for a change. Don't dislike Allardyce and I think he would keep us up but I don't really think he's a fit for us - I'd welcome Koeman back, thought he did a great job for us and can do another or even Nigel Adkins, at least we'd see some positive football. Personally I'd like a UK manager this time and Eddie Howe or Chris Wilder would be my targets. One thing is for sure, if the consensus is that MP isn't up to it then he needs to go ASAP to give the next person as much time as possible to put things right. Delaying only increases the pressure on the next guy.

If this guy says there is every chance we'll be relegated. All the excuses about the quality of the players when in reality what we are suffering from is a negative and one dimensional manager who is utterly incapable of breaking out of his mental straightjacket. Time after time after time he's being shown that 1 up front is not working but refuses to try other combinations. His negativity has seeped into the team and heads are down. If we had a positive manager IMO you'd see performances change almost immediately and players that are being written off would gain confidence and start looking decent again. Someone on this thread had a pop at Austin looking disinterested, well it's hardly surprising when he sees such poor attacking performances week after week yet cannot get a run. He's probably as despondent as the rest of us. I'd get rid of MP right now, we are playing boring football and sinking every week. We need as much time as possible to undo the damage.

Said it a couple of weeks ago and have been thinking it for the last month, this guy is out of his depth, a rabbit caught in the headlights. I think it would be a kind mercy to let him go now and give Saints as much time as possible to repair the damage. He's wrecking morale and confidence. I do not subscribe to the theory that our players aren't good enough, that's just an excuse for dismal negative management. Sure we're not champs league but those players are way better than our performances suggest. If we had a manager with a positive mentality you'd see a big change in performances almost immediately. If MP has absolutely no interest in playing entertaining football then why wait?

Best of luck to him at Leicester, will be interesting to see how they do. Not our problem anymore.

Did a good job for us when Poch scarpered and destabilised us. Guided us to decent positions playing some good football. I'd have him back, a lot better than the current clueless incumbent.

We played some good positive stuff in the first half and fashioned some decent chances, just a shame that we didn't have a real finisher on the pitch to end the moves. Still it was at least positive. 2nd half we flagged but never really looked in trouble. - Use the wings more, I want to see Bertrand and Cedric bombing up those wings - Speed up, far too pedestrian and gave West Brom lots of time to organise, less tippy tappy and more direct balls forward - VVD had a good game, looks like the rust is falling off - We are crying out for a finisher - Long needs to be swapped for Austin. A match fit Charlie would have got one or two tonight (given a proper run) IMO. What he lacks in running he tends to make up in intelligent positioning. - Boufal needs to be picked, he has some magic about him and scored a fantastic goal. Redmond on the bench. Totally understand Boufal's reaction, he's frustrated (like the rest of us). This manager is pretty clueless, the last two games he's been dug out via individual brilliance rather than good team play. Without Austin we have no end product. It's a win though and I'll take that. Finally I'm glad I'm not a West Brom fan - they were a joke, total anti-football. Had they played with positivity they could have won it. Someone needs to tell Pulis that football is supposed to be entertainment. Felt sorry for their travelling support.

Hilarious revisionist stuff being spouted on here about Puel. Somehow he seems to have become a half decent manager because he's better than the current guy (and I do agree that he was better than this bloke), like eating half a **** sandwich is better than eating a whole one. He bored the pants off everyone and if he was here right now we'd be in the same position as we are, next to no goals and failing to get points. Oh, and like the current guy I don't subscribe to the excuse that he had a bad set of players - he just didn't manage them particularly well - chopping and changing and being overly cautious. Our 6 of our last 7 home games without a goal, yeah inspired leadership. If he goes to Leicester at least their insomniacs will be able to come off their meds I guess.

Disagree, I don't think it is that bad a bunch of players. Sure they aren't top 4 but with a decent manager they are mid/upper mid table standard. The whole 'players aren't up to it' is just an excuse for **** poor management. We have a striker in Gabbi who - on form - would be sniffing around the Azzuri IMO, another striker in Austin who is lethal in the box given the service - and it's up to the manager to work out how to give him that service. A midfielder from Juve who we all agree looks class, another DM who last season was great for us, a LEFT winger (not right or central) in Tadic who has the skill to make things happen, another skilful AM in Boufal and a defensive unit that is at least solid and at best fairly stingy. We have decent players - what we don't have is a manager that knows who the underperformers are and how to make them work together as a team with the end product of goals. Maybe he's too rooted in a Spanish style of play and simply can't change.

Eddie Howe Or If you want to take a bit more of a punt then ex Saints trainee Chris Wilder who replaced Nigel Atkins at Sheff Utd

I think he's on track to be removed by Xmas but frankly I think we'd be better off getting rid of him now. It just isn't working, his stubborn insistence on 1 up front and sticking with players who cannot score has really corroded confidence and I don't see any attempt to try out other formations and alternative players. Austin has been all but discarded which is crazy when we hardly ever score. He's out of his depth, we are sinking, players confidence is shot and crucially I see no attempt at change...........so why wait?

If this was ever going to take off I wonder if Barca, Rangers and Celtic would have to start in league 2 and work their way up? Also if you are going to go full international how about a Dublin team, pretty sure they'd get huge support. Pompey vs Barca would be worth a trip for a giggle (obviously in the Barca end)..........20 nil to Barca?

Couldn't agree more. Give him a run with Gabbi, provide some service and that goal drought will end. Couldn't care less if he doesn't run like a headless chicken, he scores goals. He must be so hacked off right now watching our inept striking performances. I'd also play Long TBH but out wide where he can use his pace to run hard at defences and disrupt, that's what he's good at - not goal scoring.