Cabrone

The manager has to take most of the blame for how we are at the moment, he sets the tone and strategy and we are boring as hell. Yes we lack scoring strikers which may not be Puel's fault but that shouldn't stop us from still being positive and driving forward. We have a manager whose instincts are ultra defensive and who constantly chops and changes the team. It's a recipe for heads to drop and morale to go down. Box to box midfielder + a goal scoring striker are a real need but they aren't cheap and I don't think we'll pay overinflated prices for them, rather we'll muddle through to the end of the season. We should be OK but we are negative and look to be going in the wrong direction - it wouldn't take too much to get into a squeaky bum situation and if we did where would the goals come from? Puel isn't the right fit, we need someone more positive. The football is crushingly boring and a negative air pervades.

Me too, if we had a decent box to box midfielder that would make a huge difference. We have some good defensive midfielders but we play too many. No one is looking to get forward and create thus starving the attack of opportunities. A top drawer striker would be good but I think the problem is more to do with the service and support from midfield.

The guy uninspires me, we needed to go for their throats on Thursday but instead played a timid defensive style. They gained confidence as the game went on and we got suckered, you could feel it coming. We all know that we lack fire power but still, Puel sent that team out to get a 0-0 and it backfired. Far too negative - especially considering that we were in a group with 3 mediocre teams. We ****ed the Europa up the wall and that grates. I don't think he picks and chooses his games well, some matches you can play percentage football, put up a wall and hope to get a point or nick 3 but Thursday was not one of them. 'Just enough' turned out to be not enough. I also disagree that we have a team that is where it should be, no - we are underperforming because we are playing dull defensive football. Pack the mid with defensive players and guess what, no one runs into the box, players like Redmond lose outlets and goals stop. Puel has forgotten that you need to score goals. If he walked I wouldn't be bothered.

Yes, we all know that we don't have much cutting edge but that doesn't excuse the performance last night. It was pathetic. If you go out with a negative mindset, playing purely to avoid conceding then chances are you'll get suckered and guess what happened. We should have been at them from the kick off, pressurizing their defence and forcing mistakes. Had we done that I think through sheer force of will that someone would have eventually scored and they would have crumbled. Even if we had gone out at least we could have held our heads up high. This group had 3 extremely mediocre teams in it but our utter negativity meant that we treated them as if we were playing Barcelona. Puel seems to have a 'just enough' mindset which is wrong, last night was crying out for a full blooded performance but Puel thought we could scrape through with the minimum of effort - didn't quite work out did it. Just want to say about Redmond that the guy has got attacking ability and can cause problems but he needs some kind of support around him, what's the point of playing him if no one is going to make those runs into the box? Maybe if Puel didn't pack the midfield with defensive minded players Redmond would do a lot better. I like him and think he can be a real weapon but not with a manager as negative as ours.

Won at Arse, lost today. I'd have taken that beforehand. I'll swap a mediocre league campaign for a good run in the cups.

Nice one, now let's go and win it. Desperately hoping that Clippety rests the entire Pool team but can't really see it. Yes, they are a good team but so are we when we have our heads screwed on so I think it's going to be tight. That cupboard is looking far too bare, time to get some rewards for the amazing progress this club has made since 2009. Same again in the Europa please, if we take it seriously I can't see why we can't go a long way.

Strongest team, let's go all out for some silverware - the cupboard isn't exactly groaning.

3 away games, no goals, 2 defeats and a draw against 3 teams who I think we could have taken 6 points off. That's what happens when the manager picks negative teams - you get negative performances, hugely frustrating stuff. Sparta were championship standard but we didn't have the guile or desire to put them away. Attack was ponderous and the crossing when it came was poor. Sparta defence had all the time in the world to regroup. Finishing was blunt and midfield seemed to be rigidly stuck in a defensive mindset. Clasie was anonymous, Ward Prowse and Holjberg were ineffective, Long and JRod were blunt, Martina's crossing was poor - TBH the only player that came out of this with any credit was McQueen who continues to look a good left back. This endless passing in non threatening areas is only fine if it has some end product, ours had none. Even Fraser looked wobbly with a few flappy saves. At least we have another chance but if we do end up going through we aren't going to last long if we play away from home like we have in these 3 games. Feel sorry for the fans who have paid out to watch this stuff. Not good enough, not by a long way.

The best CBs I've seen since starting watching Saints are Dave Watson, Mark Wright, Deano, Killer, Toby and VvD. Of those Killer, Toby and VvD are my favourites - Killer was the destroyer, Toby was the reader and VvD is the ball carrier. I've been lucky to see all of them.

Wasn't the greatest performance TBH but we stuck at it and got our rewards. 1 more win should do it. Inter really look quite ordinary, was expecting a lot more from them.

Great point and 1 more than most teams will get up there this season. Boufal showing signs of being a very good player, looking forward to him really getting used to the team and the league. Great defending as usual, credit to the players and manager.

Put Charlie on for Long and I think we can take the 3 points. Inter really are not up to much - can't believe I've just said that.

That banner says 'You are not a man, you are not a captain, you are a ****ty villain'. Typical Italians sitting on the fence. If any Milan fans are looking at this forum: buana fortuna....ma vinceremo noi!!! e Saint continueranno a marciare per la vittoria

Last 7 games - 5 wins, 2 draws, scored 12 conceded 1. That's some run of form. This team looks full of winners and is playing with some real fluidity and purpose. Fair do's to Puel - I wasn't sure about his style and how it would affect the team but it seems to have been adopted quickly. Next 5 games are really going to test our metal, Citeh(a), Chelsea(h), Inter (h +a) and S'lund but the way we are playing we should fear no one. We've also got Boufal to come in, happy days.

Martina getting a few negative comments, I thought he was fine and put some decent balls in. It wasn't his fault that the centre forwards weren't on the end of them - he did his job. We never looked overrun at a ground where plenty have come away with their tails between their legs. 2nd half we were the better team without really cutting through them. Draw away and win at home will see us comfortably through - I'm happy with that.

Defending was adequate, passing was OK but toothless up front. That said I can't believe Virgil's miss, one of the worst misses I've seen in a while, other than that he's utter class. Romeu was good. Martina put a few decent crosses in but where were the forwards? Long doesn't look like he wants to score. IMO Charlie would have won that for us. Forget the performance, it was a decent point at a tricky place and we're on top without conceding a goal. Pretty pleased TBH.

Corruption in football? Well I never. Good journalism for a change. Don't worry - we'll be back to Kim Kardashian's boobs in a day or two.

Yes but like fans expectations it's all relative. When we were league 1 our expectations were much lower, spending £1M on Lambert was a buzz, now we're prem we expect a lot more. Some fans turned their noses up at a £9M player like Pelle. It's the same with earning more money. Initially it's a buzz but then you get the big house, the flash car, the wife wants more clothes, jewellery etc and before you know it you're sucked into that lifestyle and you want more money. Plus you start mixing with people who earn similar amounts and what you earn doesn't seem so much anymore. Some people are more greedy than others but most of us are relative creatures to some degree.

After 5 goals in 4 games I think Charlie has made his case to the manager now. Just glad that we have one of the prem's best finishers in our team, what did he cost - £4M??? That could turn out to be a ridiculously good piece of business. Rest of the team were great too, vvd is some player. He won't be here next season so enjoy him while you can. Onwards we go.

No coincidence that as soon as Puel starts playing a known goal scorer up front the team has an attacking focal point, the goals start going in and confidence rises as momentum gains. We should play either Long or Redmond along Austin, both look like they could have a productive relationship with him - they tee it up and Charlie knocks it in. Starting to look a half decent team now.

Let's hope Charlie Austin is finally starting to force himself into Puel's plans. 2 games, 3 goals and it looks like he's on a bit of a roll. He does seem to have some odd critics on here, do they want us to score goals or not? If you don't pick Austin then who else is going to step up to the plate? JRod? Maybe. Redmond? Long? I don't think so. Also so what if he's only lasting 40 mins? If he sticks one or two in the net in that time and blows out then sub him for someone who runs a lot. We've got lots of then but only 1 natural finisher. Also if you pick Austin regularly his fitness and sharpness should improve. I'd build around him, feed his strengths and the goals will flow.

Austin up front with Long for me, they compliment each other so play them. Goals please.

If you don't play Austin who else is going to score the goals? I haven't seen any evidence from any other player except maybe JRod but I still think he has a way to go yet and even then I still don't see him as a 15-20 goal a season striker. Pick Austin and work to his strengths, I don't care if he's 'blowing' after 45 minutes if by that time he's stuck the ball in the back of the net a couple of times. Sub him and close the gate. Goals win games, not endless running with no end product.

Best thing about this game is that it should show Puel to select Austin up top. If he'd done that from day 1 we'd be doing a lot better in the prem. Also good to see him taking the penalty, that's what I want to see from he centre forward. Surprised at the Sparta performance, didn't really turn up but 3 points will do nicely.