saintant

Need to come straight out of the blocks and get in their faces. Start slow as we have done in first two games and it will be more of the same. Hughes needs to get them fired up from the first kick.

Didn't take long

No point playing 3 centre backs unless you have the players to do it and they are well drilled. Seems to me we end up with a back five as we get outnumbered in midfield plus we have two holding midfielders so including the goalkeeper that's 8 players with defensive mindset! The two wingbacks must be prepared to motor up and down the pitch, the centre backs need to be aware how and when to provide cover and the two defensive misfielders can't rigidly sit in front of the defence. It's a recipe for zero creativity so won't result in many victories in my opinion.

Ok Doddisalegend, bad choice of words...I meant to say you try to find a system and team that works. Hughes continued with a system/team that was not working pre-season and then selected it for the first game. Makes no sense to me.

This is my point. The whole idea of pre-season is to sort out your favoured team and formation yet we started the game evidently without a clue on either. That is very poor management.

I am amazed that Mark Hughes and his coaches all of who will be incredibly well paid have allowed us to drift through and virtually waste pre-season persisting with three at the back. The clamour from the majority of fans has been loud and clear - they neither believe in this system nor want to see it employed. Yet we spent an hour of the first game of the season toiling away with three at the back and in the process making a fairly ordinary Burnley side look good - during this time we could easily have been out of the game had their finishing been better and McCarthy not done his job. The minute we switched formation there was a sea-change and everyone seemed to know their jobs and we were on top and could have won the game. We have potentially dropped two very valuable points as surely we might well have won this game had we not started with three at the back. Hopefully lessons have been learned although I know the Stoke fans claim Hughes was stubborn and stuck to this horrible formation even when it was obviously not working. I just don't think we have the players to get to grips with this system but I fear Hughes might continue the experiment in the belief that he can make it work. If so he could be in for a rude awakening.

Swansea average less than a goal a game at home. Even if we lost 7-0 tomorrow they'd still have to win by 3 clear goals.

Doh! I slightly messed up the maths there

Seems some on here haven't grasped the potential damage Everton's late goal did. The harsh fact is that the extra two points would have meant a draw at Swansea would have been enough for us barring a massive swing in goal difference on the final day of the season.

How much longer will the FA turn a blind eye to the blatant bias referees show towards the top sides - it is tantamount to cheating. There have been two highly controversial decisions in our last two games against Chelsea and no surprise that both went in their favour. I said before the game today that we would get nothing from the officials because the media and FA will be desperate for the final to be the Mourinho versus his ex club show.

Hughes proved today that he is not the brightest when it comes to tactics. Team selection was abject and handed the initiative to Chelsea. Why play two up top and weaken the midfield if you are going to play defensively - it made no sense. We didn't look like a football team until he finally woke up and brought on Redmond and Tadic who at least gave Chelsea something to worry about. How he sat and watched Lemina for that first 45 minutes when his body language and plodding performance made it seem he didn't want to play is beyond me - did not one of the coaching staff notice that he gave absolutely no effort whatsoever? Amazing that he came out for the second half and was allowed to continue in the same vein. On the positive side we did do better once Hughes finally made the changes and were unlucky not least with the mystery foul on the keeper, Redmond's effort that goalie knew nothing about and the shot against the post. Overall though Chelsea deserved it on the day.

Only just into 4 pages to this thread so far after yesterday's complete shambles shows that the general apathy at the club is spreading to the fans. Who can blame them after the shabby treatment they've received in the past few seasons. Greed at the highest level is one of the factors that has led us to the brink of dropping into the Championship. It smacks of asset stripping. I fear we are on the verge of sinking like we did in 2003 after the FA Cup Final. The club may find it difficult to shift season tickets next time. A very sad and rapid decline which was wholly avoidable. Time for a mass clear out of the leeches who are sucking the life blood from our great club. They know who they are - no need to name them.

For all his aggression shown on the pitch as a player I don't think Hughes is the type to be tough enough on the players as a manager. One of his ex players came out and said he was always happy to express his anger to the match officials but too nice in the dressing room. This shower needs someone like Neil Warnock laying into them. They have had life too easy and been allowed to get away with a couldn't care less attitude which disrespects Southampton FC and the fans. Time for Hughes to show us what he's made of and read the riot act to the lot of them. For the remaining games the fans will want to see every player run himself into the ground and sweat blood for the cause. They are paid fortunes and it's now time for them to put in a shift and start earning it. Not convinced it'll happen.

Unprofessional pre-season training led to a team that was always going to struggle to compete at this level. If you shirk fitness training you get found out when it comes to matches. Too late to rectify that now. Oh for the professionalism of Pochettino's training regime. Lazy bunch of overpaid underworked skivers.

Well, if he thinks a draw is as good as a win it is hardly surprising that we have drawn more games than any other team in the division. By his logic we should be somewhere near the top of the table. All those draws just emphasise the fact that he is a very negative coach who prefers to be defensive rather than offensive. Look where that tactic has got us. We should be going all out to win games and not so concerned about losing. He is not brave enough as a manager.

For a team to capitulate as often as we do in the second half there has to be serious concerns about the fitness of the players. Ok negative tactics and poor use of subs doesn't help but under Pochetinno we were fitter than most and that helps when the going gets tough and you come under the cosh. If players are not fully fit they'll be running on empty in the last quarter of games and I'm convinced that is one of our biggest problems. No excuses for not being as fit as possible.

Standard of refs is poor. I know people say these things even themselves out over a season but recently that's potentially 4 crucial points we've been done out of if you accept that Ashley Young should have conceded a penalty for his offence that was dealt with retrospectively.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Van Dyke transfer money is being held back or any signings will be made on the basis that we expect to be relegated. Not sure the owners are going to risk big money signings and wages at this stage. If we manage to scrape out of it they might loosen the purse strings but as things stand I'm not expecting any marquee signings.

I fear that this squad of players is not fit enough, fast enough, powerful enough or athletic enough to do anything other than struggle feebly at this level. And I haven't even commented on the lack of skill.

Thought he was meant to be a future England captain.

EFL Final line up. Happy with that.

Fraser Cedric Stephens Yoshi Bertie Romeu Davis JWP Tadic Redmond Gabbi

Don't understand why we don't play the line up from the EFL Cup Final. It worked a treat, we played some great football and were very unfortunate to lose. Gabbi was on fire because he had support rather than in recent games where Puel thinks he'll somehow shine by being stuck up front on his own. Just don't get Puel's thinking.

Must be missing something - haven't seen a single post complaining about getting a point against Liverpool.

Nothing to do with whether I like or dislike Puel. My beef was against his team selection and tactics and the poor standard of our football today. Just my opinion and sorry if it differs from yours. Merely giving an honest appraisal on what I saw. Ok we got a point which was clearly the result CP wanted but I wasn't impressed with the way we went about it. Had Milner scored the penalty I'm sure much more flak would have headed in Claude's direction for setting up so negatively.