derry

What a load of rubbish. I watched every game Boufal played for us and being sent out on loan reflected his usual level of underperformance. Redmond I hated with a vengeance, he was awful and his attitude sucked. This year he is having a go, taking people on and doing his best, Boufal didn't look as though he was ever that bothered. As for nationality, who cares, I don't. As a retired airline captain, I travelled the world and found arseholes and nice people wherever I went.

Thank goodness for that. Hopefully no more 50% of passes made in our half whilst inviting the opposition to sit back in numbers and snuff us out then hitting us on the break. Hopefully it will be what it says on the tin. Lose the ball, swarm in and get it back in 10 secs and get it forward quickly. Get the overload quickly. that's my type of football. Man City keep the ball but win it back quickly but last night they didn't half look vulnerable with Watford swarming all over them and getting the ball in quickly forcing City to defend desperately for the last ten minutes. I think there are going to be some falling by the wayside. I can see the press being in your face not Wenger style, float about ten yards from the opponent. Davis and JWP in particular being poor tacklers and pressers could be the first.

What, after he's tried to beat the same player for the third time. The goal against WBA was outstanding, the goal against Sunderland was classic but we saw far too much stand around spectating. I often thought it's a good job they don't have pockets in the shorts. For £17m we got nothing like the value out of him, a cameo player. If he had pace he never took on players directly. At least Redmond is taking people on, going at defenders and getting stuck in rather than passing back to the full back. He looks like he has finally got the message, It's a shame his shot was in the middle of the goal allowing De Gea to save. either side it was in the net. Need more shooting like that.

How many from open play? Both took free kicks and penalties.

It's not just Hughes. Last season we were dead and buried in March but Hughes came in and faced initially top of the table teams and we struggled for points but we did enough to stay up. Credit to him for that. This season we brought in more players. Ings looks a decent signing but he was a no brainer and didn't need a black box to identify because he wanted to come home and besides prove a point after being released as a kid. My feeling is that Les Reed was the main problem. Boufal, Carillo, Elyanoussi, Vestergaard, etc all players that lacked pace. Apart from Long, Redmond we are a very slow team. Buying a cheap lightweight small right back was ridiculous. Apart from the number of crosses that hit nobody because he never looks up I've lost count of the number of goals that are given away on his post as bigger players pull off onto him. Reed seemed to love the bull**** that was generated by the spin doctors, the Southampton way, We march on, the black box etc, how did that work out. Slow players and two managers that were so negative it completely changed how we played. Poor game, 40% possession won, great game 70% possession and lost. trouble was most of the possession was keep ball in the back five. It's a fundamental fact, slow players can't live in the Premier. We even buy a ponderous 6' 6" centre back that can't jump and doesn't dominate in the air. Hughes was let down in the summer. Armstrong was good but didn't need the black box he was well known to most people who keep an eye on Celtic. In future we have to make it a must that players recruited are quick as defenders or attackers and at least in midfield have good acceleration and change of pace and can see a pass. We have too many that ignore the runners and pass sideways and backwards. The criteria has to be players that risk the killer pass, if the ball is lost then swarm all over the opposition in numbers and get it back. That's how Poch played, that was the Southampton way, hopefully that's how Hasenhuttl sees it too. Puel, Pellegrino and Hughes played the way they knew, not the developed Southampton way under Poch. Koeman did it his way but he brought in the players that worked, Mane, Pelle and Tadic etc. Reed bragged about the Southampton way but that was rubbish. Each manager he signed up didn't suit or buy into the philosophy. Consequently we ended up within two years of flawed recruitment with a team messed about with no style, philosophy or pace. Let's get back to Pace, Press, and high tempo. Then never take on another manager who doesn't fit that. That was Reed's problem, lots of spin but the actions proved otherwise.

Only Lamina has 5 and a one match suspension. Hojbjerg and Soares have 4. Bertrand has 5 but has served his suspension. Personally if Bertrand comes back I'd keep Valery and leave Soares out as he has been defensively poor. as for the free kick, lightning won't strike twice. Hughes said he was surprised because in practice he isn't very good, like his crossing. In any case Targett should be clear by then.

Yoshida had the chance to tackle for both goals. For the first he was shrugged off by Rashford Shoulder to shoulder, a stupid decision he should have block tackled the ball. Second goal he pulled out again and let Rashford get his cross past him. Both Stephens and Vestergaard need a kick in the pants. Both of them on occasions needed to rapidly get back goalside but chose to watch and do nothing. A defender has to assume that his colleague will be beaten and get back to cover, rather than assume it's all going to be alright. Hojbjerg too many times as did others make too many five yard passes mostly causing us to lose the ball as play tightened up. Hojbjerg also needs a kick in the pants, when one of the forwards especially Armstrong makes a run he has to get the ball up to them immediately rather than check out and ignore the runs. Lamina has good skills but as with Hojbjerg he has to drive into the box. Valery deserves another go, a lovely crunching tackle. I hope Bertrand is fit which will give us more on the left. Cedric did his best in a strange position but is a poor defender. Great free kick. Redmond showed the way with tempo and running at defenders, gave Obefemi the ball to lay off for Armstrong's special goal across De Gea. Armstrong looks a good player. Ings will improve things with him. All in all an encouraging display, cut out the errors, get ruthless and don't dwell on the ball in our last third, if in doubt hit the corners. Better in the second half and consideration to the three centre backs who haven't had any game time for a while until last Tuesday. They need time to bed in and get used to the pace etc. There is a platform to move forward. McCarthy, what the hell was that air shot. As for McTominey holding on to him. He should have gripped his arm and rolled hard across him probably dislocating his arm. probably got a free kick. Having said that the useless Kevin Friend should have booked him immediately as he was blocking the keeper. Fellaini should have gone for the multiple use of his arm and hand across the opponents face.

I only saw the second half. Until Davis came on we were pressing the life out of them. Davis immediately failed to press hard and Lamina looked as though he took the opportunity to copy Davis. Saints right side with Valery and Stephens looked very solid. Cedric lost his man yet again although he was on his wrong side. When are they going to put their foot through close in chances. The first ten penalties showed the keeper would have little chance. Gabbiadini on Saturday missed a sitter half hit just like his penalty. Obefemi tonight looking for a tap in, just hit it. The back five were fine, the three midfielders put in a good shift, Redmond has got the bit between his teeth,unlucky to hit the bar, even unluckier for the disallowed goal, pushed by two players got through and a ricochet hit his arm and rebounded How the hell he was going to avoid that nobody knows. Obefemi worked hard , showed good strength and pace but very raw.

They do regularly.

Cedric is having a mare of a season. Defensively he is poor. He is by far the weakest link not least because he is small. Sessegnon did him up like a kipper before crossing for the second goal. Mitrovic pulled onto him at the back post (I've lost count of the times that happens and often ends in a goal) and he promptly lost him because he wasn't watching the ball as he was facing the wrong way. He is an awful defender and his delivery wouldn't do justice to a Roman catapult. Give Stephens or Bednarek a go at right back both are defensively better than Cedric and we won't miss his awful crossing. Again and again Fulham ran through an empty midfield and carved up our outnumbered central defenders. Lamina is pleasing to the eye but what did he create? He needs to make those mazy dribbles further up the field if he plays. I think Romeu and Hojbjerg would be a more solid central midfield. Armstrong as he showed today and for Scotland this week is a good player. Play him in front of Romeu and Hojbjerg with Gabbiadini or Lamina and Redmond either side behind Ings. Time to give Vestergaard another go with Yoshida. We were mugged today again.

For the first time in 13 years I've missed three games deliberately for various reasons. Puel and Pellegrino sucked the life out of the team and we are still trying to get over it.

Maybe but he dived in and the ball came off him. He deliberately tried to play the ball and block Austin. It wasn't accidental that the ball hit him.

I saw the deflection but couldn't understand why, even if Yoshida had headed the ball in, which he didn't, he couldn't be offside as it was a defender who touched the ball after Austin hit the shot. If the ruling was the goal was disallowed because Yoshida, in an offside position touched the ball it wouldn't matter because an opponent touched the ball after Austin hit the shot. If a Watford player hypothetically say played a back pass to a Saints player in an offside position and he smashed it past the keeper it would be a goal. The officials obviously missed that deflection, then the linesman in a worse position than the referee was allowed to influence an inexperienced referee in only his fourth Premier game to disallow a good goal on the grounds that Yoshida touched the ball which the linesman couldn't possibly have seen as the ball was a yard his side of Yoshida. they made a total mess up of the whole situation and should be dropped from the Premier official's roster.

JWP initially had loads of space but booted it anywhere, got no elevation and the deflection set up Cholevas with Cedric blocking like a frightened pussy turned his back and deflected past McCarthy. Against Brighton JWP pushed Duffy in the 92nd minute in front of the referee. He is the liability. If Hughes was at fault it was having JWP on and Romeu not in the squad. the referee saw the penalty shout and didn't give it. The referee gave the goal when he was in an ideal position but new to the Premier this season let the linesman, poorly positioned and further away help him to disallow a good goal. I'm not a fan of Mark Hughes but he came in when we were as good as down and helped to keep us up against all the odds. He deserves a fair go. Without the referee and JWP we would be four points better off and feeling a bit better about things. JWP is still with us for a reason, he isn't good enough. Armstrong looks better than Elyanoussi and taking him off for JWP was crass. There are no circumstances where I can see a place for JWP. Hojbjerg gave the ball away or was caught in possession far too often. Lemina is a good player but he is not solid enough to play with Hojbjerg as a middle two and both wander off leaving a big hole in front of the back four. The central defenders were left exposed far too often. Hoedt and Yoshida were decent enough. We are in a worrying position and Hughes has to get the team right. The team has to be tighter in midfield and get the ball to the forwards quickly. A lot of the time we are too methodical and slow. When the forwards make runs we should be getting the ball up to them rather than recycling backwards.

First goal JWP as he does, tackled like a weakling and presented the ball to Aguero. Sterling on Hoedt's shoulder was off side and interfering. Second goal Lamina couldn't be arsed to fill in and spectated allowing the gap to be exploited. Fourth goal, the weak Soares robbed on the goal line should have put his foot through it. Poor decision making. We were better in the second half. JWP was put in to do a job which he didn't even remotely do. Armstrong and Obafemi looked useful when they came on. Great ball from Bertrand for Ings. There is a team in there somewhere. McCarthy had little chance, Soares is ok on the ball but defends poorly. Stephens was ok, Hoedt both good and bad. He is very weak on his right side. Bertrand was exposed by the quick passing and lack of help from Lamina. Hojbjerg caught in possession too often. Lamina looked good at times but doesn't like doing the hard yards. Ings and Long worked their socks off against a defence that hadn't conceded a goal in ten games. Our tackling is physically weak. I lost count of the times we challenged for the ball weakly and City players took the ball. It's about time our player blocking the ball, gets his head and shoulder and all his weight over the ball and cleans out the opponent by tackling strongly. Dangling a foot doesn't cut it. We were not bad attacking in the second half against possibly the best team in Europe. Against lesser teams I think we will do alright. Shame we were caught on the break and few of the players busted a gut to get back goal side and help out.

Against City he got on the wrong side of the attacker. He may be learning this season but he had a problem connecting the ball with the attacker, often losing sight of one or both through ball watching or being caught on the wrong side of the attacker. He was caught several times last season by opponents attacking the ball and getting caught underneath both the ball and the opponent. He's not the only one, Yoshida and Vestergaard have been caught out. Zonal marking at set pieces doesn't help. Defenders have to attack the ball.

I'm not interested in a debate about whether the fans or the management are more right. However, a point I would like to make especially about our current defenders. Soares is a great defender as long as nobody puts the ball over head height. I've lost count of the goals conceded at the right hand post with players pulling off onto Soares. With set pieces producing so many goals buying little players for the back four is stupidity. We then buy tall central defenders including a near 6-7" centre back. OK so far but then we see the tallest man in the Premier amongst others outjumped, in fact not getting off the ground. My feeling is that the zonal marking of space and grappling with opponents isn't working because some opponents attack the cross. Personally I would like to see our best headers attack the cross at the front, middle and back post whilst other players man mark or zonal defend and grapple etc. I think we aren't seeing the best of our players because they are uncomfortable just zonal defending which isn't working. It's all very well picking players but we need to get the optimum out of their strengths which I don't think we do.

JWP certainly had an assist this season, shame it was a push in the back on Duffy to give Murray the penalty against Brighton. IMO provided a realistic offer for him is forthcoming we should allow him to leave. that would be better for him to get regular football, however I can't see him holding down a starting place in the Premier, and us. To put things in perspective, as he takes the corners and free kicks when on the pitch, of course he is going to improve his statistics but what does he provide from play, mostly not a lot.

When I heard the team announced, I pretty much went along with it. Then came the subs, no Romeu, no Armstrong. What the hell were Davis and JWP going to do, well we got the answer to that, did Davis touch the ball? and JWP's push in the back decided the game. No Gallagher, no Stephens. Gunn, Yoshida, Gabbiadini, Austin and Targett were logical but Davis and JWP smacks of currying favour. The substitutes were critical once we conceded the first goal. Rather than put on an attacker that is physically incapable of playing on his own and poses a threat we needed a physical presence with him. For me, Gallagher for Long, Gabbiadini or Austin for Ings. Targett would have been a better replacement for Elanoussi but the combative Romeu would have been a better bet strengthening the midfield even Yoshida into a back three. I keep trying to make allowances for Hoedt but I'm getting the impression he is an arrogant fool that thinks he is a lot better than he is. The number of reverse passes that either don't go to the target or worse to the opposition is too high for this league as for his Cruyff turn, ridiculous. He needs to cut out the showboating and his diving in and selling himself. I personally would prefer Yoshida. Leaving the stadium I had the feeling of being mugged by the stupidity of some of our players. Redmond had no need to dive in and give a marginal foul, what was wrong with holding tight and offering the line as the only way forward. The free kick was poorly defended. why on earth we had to keep such a high line allowing the in swinger to put us in trouble. Defending deeper would have deprived Knockaert of the space and allowed our defenders to face the ball. Alternatively hold the high line and Brighton were offside as they all lined up goal side of our line. The corner was defendable until JWP stuck his arm into Duffy's back. JWP always defends like that it's the way he plays, always diving in and mostly missing, this time it lost us the game. The management and the stupidity of a few players lost us this game. 2-0 up and twenty five minutes left it should have been all over. Two physically weak substitutions opened the door for Brighton instead of three strong substitutions getting the job done.

We have a major weakness which is a legacy from Puel and Pellegrino. Almost every time a forward player makes a run the player with the ball invariable plays it sideways or backwards ignoring the run. Need to start passing in front of the runner and busting a gut to get up in support, a fundamental change for most of our players.

That's a big statement on a brilliant 17/18 year old that hasn't put a foot wrong yet against a player that failed abysmally at MU, gave up on an England international career and is resurrecting his career as star man at mediocre Palace. Still I'll bow to your expertise.

If Long was on our right in front of Bednerek he is quick enough to catch Zaha. Sessegnon didn't cause Bednerek too many problems.

I'm quite disillusioned with Soares. Apart from his obvious lack of height, resulting in him being unable to win the ball in the air and being picked off by opponents, he seems to be in a world of his own when it comes to decision making. His crossing lacks perception and accuracy as he just puts his foot through it. Stephens, from the reports from last night was poor at right back. He may eventually have to settle for being a holding midfielder provided he steps up his tempo and cuts out the ball watching. Having said that, last season Bednerek was solid against Fulham at right back, maybe he could step up and hold down a defensive right back position as long as we are playing 4-4-2 without wing backs. If we go 4-4-2 on Saturday, Bednerek, Yoshida, Vestergaard and Bertrand make a solid back four. Hojbjerg played with good intensity on Saturday and served his one match ban last night, so I would pair him with Lemina because Lemina and Romeu just don't play well as a pair. We lack pace and consequently movement with Austin and Gabbiadini so to start I'd like to see Gallagher up front with Ings playing off him. Continuing in that vein Redmond left with Long on the right of midfield where he could match Zaha's pace and close him down. Having said that I can see close to last Saturday's starting line up with maybe Yoshida (hopefully) paired with Vestergaard. Elyanoussi shows good touches but needs to step up his tempo so maybe a place for Austin or Armstrong (not wide) but not necessarily 4-4-2.

Weird on Saints Player, Commentary low key but caption comes up 0-1 Austin (88), after about a minute the commentary reaches the goal. Same with full time. Certainly eases the tension. Gallagher up top gave us better movement, Redmond and Austin added to that. Two off the line. Gunn sounded solid, the CBs OK. Now get Yoshida back into the League team. Elyanoussi sounded off the pace and needs to step up a notch. Armstrong out wide isn't working as he is as far as I know a natural 10.

I'm surprised. Last year ManiaHD or Sportsmania went off the air at the end of the season. Consequently I lost a couple of months subscription. The reception was average and only worked adequately using a VPN. I researched and decided on Ruya XL on Kodi. I have been absolutely delighted to date with the HD quality and coverage. Far superior to ManiaHD. It is however more expensive but a lot cheaper if the same thing happens again and streaming stops.