SaintBobby

It does look like Puel is going. A bit harsh in my view. I'd probably rate this season as 6 or 7 out of 10. Probably 7 if we do finish in 8th spot. But if he's losing the dressing room, that is more important than the growing, but low end, fan unrest. I'd take Silva in a heartbeat. I know previous appointments have been long odds outsiders, but it's not obvious to me that is a defined strategy. Just because Puel and Poch were largely unknown to the bookies doesn't mean the next manager will be.

Saints were actually guaranteed a top half finish before a ball was kicked in the Leicester v Spurs match. Hate to contradict MLG, but the 0-0 draw with Man Utd was sufficient to guarantee we finished in the top ten (barring perhaps an insane GD swing). It would be great to finish 8th and a decent achievement. But hard to celebrate too much. Our first season going backwards in the league. The gap to 7th is huge - let alone the top four. If we go backwards in terms of points next season as much as we did this season, we would be heading for near-certain relegation next year.

Wasn't David Hirst another record flop?

Really good win, especially with so many of our top players missing.

You were making a reasonable point until this highlighted bit.

The OP is right. It's feeble and dire. The only defence can be that they need to move from this slightly tacky and crap stage in order to get to some NFL-nirvana land, in which the Red Arrows fly over the stadium every time we score and Beyoncé does the half time entertainment with a special effects show costing millions. If we can't get to the top of that mountain (and I'm not even sure I'd want to), we shouldn't be ****ing around in the foothills.

Isn't the whole thing about getting more cash out of the current fans? I'm a season ticket holder from London. I spend a lot of money in Southampton, but not that much at St Mary's. I probably spend £1,000 a year on staying at the Premier Inn or Jury's Inn just down the road (about 12 overnights a season), about £2,000 a year on food/drink in Southampton (c25 matches at anywhere from £25-£200 a pop). The club takes hardly any of this £3K per annum (maybe 10% max of the food/drink stuff). Ok, readily accept that I'm not a typical fan - either in location or expenditure. But if those gas towers were converted into somewhere I could eat, drink and stay overnight, and owned by SFC, the club would get a lot, lot more money out of me every year,

Gabbiadini/Tadic? Ok...a no. 9 and a no.10...but maybe?

He's just behind Kane, by 1% when I voted.

Good or bad? I say very, very good. But open to other thoughts.

Good win. We seem to have moved from having a solid defence and toothless attack a few months ago, to having an awesome attack and a porous defence.

Get in

A game of inches. The amazing effort makes defeat harder to take.

Of course we didn't "throw the game". But any squad rotation strategy means, basically by definition, you're putting out a side that isn't maximising your chance of winning. We did that in spades in the Arsenal FA Cup game. The EFL Cup final might actually be the first game where Puel is going to field the strongest team he possibly can. He is not going to rest anyone or "take a look" at a fringe player.

As has been pointed out, 40 points is almost always enough. In fact, a point a game is almost always enough. At the moment, the bottom clubs are averaging less than a point a game. I'd guess 35 or 36 is enough this season.

Can't decide if I want Leicester to drop or not. Probably yes because of Vardy injuring Virgil. I went for Leicester, Palace and Sunderland.

Weirdest transfer (or non transfer) ever. Massive player. Apparent family tragedy. Huge need for a CB at Saints. And we can't even be bothered to get his beyond a 15 page thread. I'm bracing myself for some idiot asking "Has Skacel signed yet?" and thinking it's funny. But no one can even be arsed to be that lame. Weak.

Brighton, Poole Town and Cowes FC. Basically as many southern teams as possible.

Christ, this is the most tedious, self-important post-match thread ever.

Big fan of Tadic, but I'm not yet persuaded he is our best no.10. Mainly because I don't trust him to finish chances from 6-10 yards out, so the central position is a bit wasted on him. I'd keep him on the left.

The club should only send out emails when we win. Easy solution. Sigh.

We're going to win this. Please, God.

I'm beginning to think it's possible that we won't get relegated this season.

I hope we get this over the line. Will cheer me up a lot.

Am I alone in being okay with us selling JRod for £10m and buying Gabbiadini for £14m? Sure, I'd like to have both. But if I can only have one, I'm kind of cool with it.