Saint Charlie

Poor really. Not much more to say. Spurs were not all that great and Gazza didnt have to make many saves. Can't bury our heads in the sand - we are poor in defence and attack at the moment and in if it doesn't change we could get relegated. Too many poor performances but Cedric doesn't really know how to defend the back post and our central midfield is slow, ponderous and lacking any drive. Poor summer business ultimately telling.

Definitely in a relegation fight for now at least.

Summer business the biggest problem for us I think. Tried to be too clever and it hasn't worked.

Started well today then faded. Still nowhere near whats needed or what I expected. Physically not up to PL speed or power sadly.

Hope we go back to the 4-2-3-1 and out best lineup (GK apart): Gazza Cedric--Fonte--VvD--Bertrand Clasie--Wanyama -------Davis--------- Tadic----------Mane ----------Pelle--------

Don't really get the Everton stuff against Batman seeing as: 1. They kept their best players 2. They look very good this season 3. They are much better than us when we were superior last season Surely he has just been proven right unless I missed something?

Also worth considering that most teams currently below us will strengthen in January, especially Newcastle, Villa and Bournemouth whilst Chelsea will surely pick up more points soon. Hopefully we can win one of the next two home games and start looking upwards but you are spot on that complacency in the PL can be the start of your downfall.

Didn't look anywhere near ready to impacting games at PL level to me. Obvious talent but not better at this stage than any options we have in the first team squad.

Last year the team in 7th (Saints) had 19 more points and 7 more wins than the team in 14th (Leicester). That is quite a lot I think. Fair enough we lost a couple of excellent players but that shouldn't be an acceptable excuse for finishing lower midtable if that is where we end up (12th-15th).

But if we only beat the sides below we will come nowhere near where we want to be! To be nearly halfway through and having our best victory against a 14th placed side is pretty underwhelming and not going to get a top 10 finish if thats maintained.

I don't think you are understanding it correctly. All that matters IS getting points. So if you can't beat the top 1e like we haven't so far then you are restricting the amount of points you can get. To be higher in the league you need to be able to beat higher teams and therefore win more games, gaining more points. At the same time as you say it keeps those teams lower. So its a concern we haven't beaten anyone above 13th and is basically why we are where we are in the table. So it does matter who you can beat. Its simple, surely?

Its pretty obvious. We haven't been very good this season and have only beaten other not good/worse teams which is why we find ourselves below lots of other sides that we wers above last year. You say it doesn't matter who we beat which is sort of true. But if you cannot beat anyone from the top 10 then you massively restrict the number of points you can gain and where you will finish in the table. If we maintain the current record over the second half of the season then we will end up staying up by a few points but being far from comfortable.

True but thats not the point of the thread.

Not sure I agree about Tadic. In the Villa game for example he put a couple of chances on a plate for teammates and is consistently a creator of good opportunities. Those players are never going to be the most consistent or they would be amongst the best in the world. Also disagree that we rely on Pelle, Mane and Long. I wouldn't trust Long to take any chance let alone end up reliant upon him. Do agree that we can be slow to build up though and it benefits counter attack opponents, especially as our central midfield is very slow to turn and get back. One of the biggest attributes we miss about Morgan was his stamina and agility.

Koeman is also a melt who is trevoring himself and should remember what things were like 7 years ago when he hadn't even heard of Southampton.

Not playing at RB though. Hasn't for ages.

Think Stekelenburg is still out injured. Be interesting what RK would have decided if he were fit. But hopefully the home crowd will get behind a fit Gassarniga.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/17/premier-league-transfers-summer-signings-club-by-club?CMP=share_btn_tw Guardian view of all summer signings across the PL. Saints have a low average of 5.4/10 15th of the 20 PL sides.

Would probably consider Caulker as a front sweeper for this one, covering the width of the pitch in front of the back four like Frazer Richardson used to. ------------------Stek-------------- Cedric---Fonte--VVD--Bertrand >>>>>>>>> ------------Davis----Ramirez--------- Juanmi--------Seager--------Mane

He is obviously going to be available because they don't want him. But neither do Saints.

Yeah pretty pointless talking about a player we have no interest in!

But as a free agent in the summer why would he moved now? He will have loads of options in June and lots of teams willing to pay him a fortune. No brainer to stay at QPR and leave on a free.

We aren't in for Townsend...

#DurmanLogic

Sky say we aren't interested in Townsend. Villa and Newcastle want him on loan.