BARCELONASAINT

It feels to me that this club is finished in regards to being a serious potential Premier League side within the next 2 seasons with Sports Republic as owners. They have had a long enough run at trying to be decent owners but they make the same mistakes over and over and over again. They learn absolutely nothing. Really poor manager selections Really poor people in positions where player recruitment is Far too many shit signings and the renewing of player contracts where the players concerned should have been shown the door Signing players for this multi club thing that has no benefit to Saints Insisting the club plays one brand off football (it has to be a club directive, far too many recent managers have all played the same) For me the future looks bleak.

I felt really sorry for leo who came over to the fans at the end of the game and all he got was one guy absolutely hurling abuse at him. I get emotions were high, fans had travelled bloody miles in the freezing cold to see such a shower of shit BUT to give the one player who has shown any spark all season so much abuse is just wrong. Leo didn't have a great game and one could argue he left the player that scored their first all alone but that does not warrant the abuse hurled at Leo. The video clip is on Twitter

I honestly don't think anyone is seriously surprised by the thumping yesterday, it has been a long time coming and someone was eventually going to take their chances against us. I said at halftime yesterday we were so open and so it continued in the second half. It is easy to pick on one player and lay all the blame at his feet but this just is not correct. The issues start in midfield, we give the ball away far too much, Flynn Downs is so guilty of this. Our defence is absolutely all over the place, how the fuck does Ryan Manning get a game? Our CB's are weak, THB, Statue JS just spend games bitching, Wood after last seasons exploits has been so disappointing, Fellows is not a wing back, just wtf is going on with playing players out of position? In possession we give the ball away to easily and in defence we absolutely fail to do the basics. I personally think TE is in danger of destroying SCienza's confidence with his bizzare subs and asking him to play inside so much. Anyone with any sense knows this season is gone and if we are not careful we will be looking anxiously over our shoulders!

Totally agree about Quarshie and have been saying for a while he is the ONE defender i do rate in this Saints team.

The positive i will take from that first half performance was at least it more entertaining than the last few games. Negatives, we are very open and making a very injury hit opposition look pretty good. Scienza has obviously been asked to tuck in more but that takes away his attacking creativity, he has to be wide and free to receive the ball where he can run at players. Is Tonda fucking around with tactics and trying to make players something they are not!!

I'm sure as youngsters many of us had it drilled into us by managers we played for at kids, youth and senior level that the best form of defence is to attack and that is certainly how i grew up playing the game. I just don't understand this horrible crab like football that barely gets beyond the halfway line because we are so slow to release the ball to our wingers and attacking minded players. If this is what the modern game has become then you can bloody well keep it Saints but you are going to lose many fans if you persist in playing this shit. I now find myself changing channels to watch the darts or something else that is just more entertaining!

I started watching the game with the Millwall commentary team because i hate having to listen to Jo Tessem who i sometimes think must be a secret skate because he rarely has anything good or positive to say about the team or players (the last few weeks he has a point). However the second half i changed channel to watch the Southampton stream with Tessem commentating. Like most on here he is pretty scathing of Baz every week despite Adam Blackmore trying to stand up for Baz. Anyway regarding Baz save yesterday, once Tessem had seen multiple replays of the save he could not stop gushing over what a brilliant save it was. Fair play to him because i fully expected a similar remark to many on here that refuse to give Baz any credit. The lad has many flaws to his game and as a former keeper myself i scrutinise everything he does but yesterday he won us the point.

i'm assuming you are talking about our absent defenders?

I'm sorry but the guy is so completely out of his depth it's embarrassing. Shame on you Sports Republic for yet another masterclass in fuck ups!!

fucking hell, Leo off????

At the moment i would rather be watching one of my wifes shit programmes housewifes of Beverley Hills!! Fuck me how to send your fans to sleep with 45 minutes of absolute dross

Our defending is abysmal

It baffles me so much why manager after manager keeps playing the same defensive unit that concedes every bloody game.....but silly me it is actually quite simple. Sports Republic don't want to pay out on "clean sheet" bonuses. They must have saved a fortune the last 3 seasons!

no matter how shit he performs Stephens the statue keeps his place and more depressingly the captains armband when he is bloody useless as a defender and a captain

I would say every home game between now and the end of the season is a "must win game" IF the club honestly have ambitions in making the playoffs. I just want to be entertained rather than the utter crap we have gone back to recently.

How the fuck Jack "I'm a complete statue" Stephens starts and is rewarded by being the captain despite his complete inept defending is beyond me. Just wtf is going on!

The honeymoon period for Tonda is well and truly over. Tonight will be another evening of frustration and pain for all Saints fans as the viewing public on Sky will see a very poor Birmingham destroy our utter shit back line. They will watch a manager who is clearly not his own man and is playing a rigid formation the board are telling him to play (that can be the only reason that successive managers have refused to change) They will watch Tonda take off our most creative attacking players because he is carefully managing their minutes whilst failing to manage a bloody win. They will watch him bring on players that immediately make the team weaker and make the opposition look world class in a matter of minutes. 4-1 Birmingham

I love the guy, he has been excellent for Southampton in the past but that's exactly it....the past! I warned everyone that having watched him regularly playing in Spain that his legs had gone and i've seen nothing so far to suggest he can do anything on the pitch to help at the moment. It's actually embarrassing watching him get the nod ahead of Bragg.

You would expect him to be good at crosses!

We were absolutely abysmal at the back yesterday, the entire backline is appalling and nothing will change. We need a new keeper and a new defence but there is no way that is happening in the transfer window. At the very best we can hope a new keeper comes in and an experienced commanding centre back. Our bench is weak and virtually every change we make makes us weaker. Tonda's changes yesterday were indefensible, i have no idea what the hell he was thinking. Oxford were there to be taken and he took off our best creative players and replaced them with absolute dross, the only player that came on that came out with any credit was Robinson. Tonda showed he is totally out of his league against Coventry and again yesterday. I just cannot see how we make the playoffs with such an awful defence and a manager who seems as stubborn as previous managers when it comes to playing the same system and playing defensive liabilities!

Have a great Christmas all Saints fans. We may have differing opinions sometimes but at the end of the day we all bleed red and white.

There is a player in Quarshie, i really like him. Yes he is raw and has a lot to learn but i think he could go on to be a very decent defender.

We have to move the ball much quicker out of defence and to Fellows and Scienza If we are going to be better than Saturday. Watching THB on Saturday was akin to watching paint dry. Almost everything he did was sideways or backwards, only in the last 10/15 minutes did he appear to try and be forward thinking!

I have stated that Baz needs replacing and a goal keeper is a must in the transfer window if we are to have any chance of the playoffs BUT i am equal in stating our defence is utter crap and week in week out prove how utterly incompetent they are. We badly need an experienced wise head in that back line that will dominate and lead our weak minded defenders. The only defender that we currently have that i think could go on to have a top career is Quarsie. He is raw but already has more of a football brain than any of our other defenders

so you actually avoided answering the question.