BARCELONASAINT

One of the most worrying things for me is our substitutes! Most teams seem to make them and instantly look better but the opposite is true with us. At present when our midfield are flagging we have Romeu and Aribo who i am sorry but both offer nothing. Bragg i like but he's very young and is not an equal replacement for Jander or Flynn Downes. We badly need Shea Charles back! Wingers we have Robinson who is no replacement for Scienza, Azaz or Fellows, he's still very raw and Ryan pass the ball backwards Fraser, i need say no more. Upfront we are really struggling once Armstrong has run his legs off, Damion Downs awful, Ross Stewart needs a miracle of biblical proportions to ever have a meaningful contribution and Archer who has yet to find any form. Goalkeepers....well i'm not even going there its so divisive Defenders, well on paper we should have good defenders for this division but most of them look crap to be honest and it does not seem to matter who starts the game and who comes on, they all appear much of a muchness....there is not a single leader amongst the defence. When was the last time anyone remembers our bench making a positive impact??

The one i don't understand is Matsuki not featuring. TE was glowing in his praise of how Matsuki is the model professional and raises the bar in training with his commitment. Now give me that every day of the week over a half arsed Aribo!!

If we realistically hope to achieve promotion this season then these are games where only 3 points will suffice!

I'm in the minority here but i firmly believe we need a commanding no nonsense CB that will command the defence and help our weak minded defenders from conceding so many chances!

Pompey V Arsenal 🤣

Doncaster struggling in Div 1, we should have more than enough to beat them, what could possibly go wrong!

Reminded me of this!

So we bought him for roughly £9 Million. Given the way he has absolutely torn up this league i wonder what his valuation is now. I have no doubt he could compete in the Premier League and although i would hate to see him go, more than any other player that has left in recent times, I can't see him being here next season unless we get promoted. He is without doubt the most exciting player we have had for many many seasons!!!

yes he is still ours and i believe he is very close to being ready to be included in match day squads

This will be where we see are we capable of holding onto a winning position

DO NOT PUT BLOODY ARIBO ON!!!

Remember seeing him walking into the old Southampton nick at the civic centre with his solicitor. Seemed quite surreal at the time!

And so the writing off a new manager begins! Personally i'm prepared to give the guy a chance. Irrespective of how shit the teams were that we have beaten since TE took control it still amounts to victories when we have previously struggled to get anything against even worse teams. The players appear to be playing for him and no one can argue that we have picked up points we would not have done with WS still in charge. I would love to know which managers are out their, available and would actually come here and GUARANTEED to make us a promotion chasing side!

In many respects the club are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't in respects to appointing TE. If they don't a section of the fans will say he won 4/5 games, the players were playing for him and we look a much better team than a month ago. Players have publicly come out giving their backing to the guy etc If we do a section of the fans will say, lazy appointment, no ambition, massive risk, the club don't know what they are doing, cheap skates etc Every managerial appointment is a risk and to be honest i don't see many currently out there and available (that would come to Saints!) that could do any better.

Their subs made a difference, ours made us worse. I never want to see Aribo again. This was not the right game to bring on Romeu!

apparently went over to Flynn Downs house for a meal during the week.......

Leo will be massively missed but this is a chance to show we can win games without our Messi

Believe me not having to stress through a second 45 minutes is much better for my heart. I will happily take Saints playing like world beaters for the first 45 minutes and then and nice gentle second 45 minutes every day of the week.🤣

I think it very much depends how he is used tactically. I wouldn't expect him to be running up and down the field chasing players around. Hopefully its CM role to break up play, to be a leader and give this team a vocal leader on the pitch. I obviously follow all of Barca's games and no one was more delighted to see Romeu play for Barca than me. He benefitted from a much slower league and a team that largely dominated possession against all opposition. If i remember correctly he only made one 90 minute appearance, the rest he was brought off or subbed on. The Championship is a very tough league and i sincerely hope Romeu can make a difference still.

If Saints beat Millwall on Saturday i would argue TE is more deserving of manager of the month than Lampard because of what TE walked into! Lampards Coventry were already a confident winning side, Saints were an absolute mess and if we win Saturday TE will have put us from zero's to playoff contenders in the space of 5 games!

I cannot remember the last time i felt so good about watching Saints. The last 2 games of attacking football invoked memories of bygone Saints sides, the teams of the 80's that attacked with flair. At last for me their is a player that i would happily pay to watch and that is Leo Scienza, he is an absolute joy to watch and i don't think I have smiled so much watching him since MLT graced our team. Last nights game was the real test for me to see if the players were 110% behind TE and they responded in such positive fashion that it is really difficult to see past Eckart getting the job. Please please just continue with this brand of football because it's a joy to watch and at last we have our club back!

Well that puts paid to conspiracy theories that Stephens is undroppable!

I will be very surprised if Leicester are as generous in their defending as Charlton were, they still have some very good experienced players. I'm expecting a very different game and they will target our useless defence and swing crosses into the box knowing that Stephens just goes missing. This might just be a bump back down to earth after Saturdays totally unexpected performance.

Shoutout to Bragg, the lad did very well and you could see at the end of the game the seasoned pro's were delighted for him. 2 very young central midfielders and both were excellent.

poor defending giving a free header, no blame on Baz for that despite some already willing to blame him ffs