derry

How are things with you now Bill? A very good synopsis. playing one footed players on their wrong side is adding to the problem.

Playing players where they are not comfortable makes them worse. If all the players were in their natural positions playing in a shape that they were comfortable with would make the team much more fluent and speed up the attacking.

The striker needs support so we need to play two up front. Redmond and Tadic mostly on their wrong sides were hopeless, slowed it down, came back across the field all the time, never got to the bye line or managed to pick out an attacker with their scuffed crosses mostly short at defenders, despite having a lot of the ball. Just allowed the defence to mass. How we played against Liverpool. It's time JWP was permanently binned. Can't Run, beat a man, tackle, shoot or head, his mythical delivery rarely ever troubles defences, his passing is just negative. Hojbjerg was poor and tentative early on but the longer the game went on the better he got, there is a good player in there we need to get him playing. Long had one of his most competent games up front on his own and worked hard but no support, a striker short and no proper service. Romeu was solid but gave away several needless free kicks, however he had a decent game. The back four was solid but Yoshida didn't look as confident as he was on Wednesday. It looked like a set piece was the only thing that could trouble us except for a break in the last fifteen minutes with VVD staying up front. The tempo was much better but the set up just looks all wrong. 11 goals from play in 21 league games says it all. We need to get another attacker into midfield with both Long and Rodriguez up front, two defensive midfielders is enough. Tadic and Redmond could play with Rodriguez behind Long but only if they play on their natural sides. Rodriguez looks stronger as he gets more game time.

1 hour before.

No chance of that, instead of playing Long up front supported by Rodriguez, Redmond on the right and Tadic on the left we will probably end up with the non scoring midfield, Romeu, Davis and Clasie in front of the back four with the non scoring Redmond on the left and Tadic on the right with an isolated Rodriguez up front. Even at his best Rodriguez never performed well as the front man but either came in off the left or combined with Lambert and Lallana. I just hope I'm wrong and Puel will pull a high tempo, hard pressing rabbit out of the hat. Logic tells me it isn't going to happen. I've pretty much reached the stage that I don't really know why I'm still going, as I just don't enjoy the negative, sterile dross being played this season apart from a couple of matches where we deviated from the norm.

Tickets on sale to ST holders from 1900 tonight. Usual cheapies, concessions £10. Kingsland closed at the moment so ST seat not reserved. I've ordered mine.

Forster, Soares, Fonte, VVD, Bertrand, Romeu, Clasie, Redmond, Rodriguez, Tadic, Long. 4-2-3-1, no way it'll happen.

Eventually it'll dawn on somebody it might be worth playing Rodriguez and Long. five players in front of the back four can't buy a goal yet we only play one striker mostly not down the middle. Again although I didn't see it but listened to the commentary trying to defend a lead with everybody back is a nonsense as it's impossible to clear the ball.

It doesn't matter what Reed says except in the short term, If we go out of the cups, don't satisfy the crowd with both style and results, the atmosphere at SMS will become increasingly toxic. The booing at the end of the WBA game is just a small example of the lid coming off the powder keg of supporter discontent. Puel has to change or he won't survive especially if Kat, Krueger and Reed get booed.

Nothing on the club site and he's training normally in the gallery.

Not wrong about the midfield, lack of goals or the team selection. I don't think Fonte needs to undermine the manager, Puel is doing a pretty good job with his tactics. The scary thing in the second half of the season everybody knows our limitations and we may well pay a heavy price for our limitations and tactics. If Fonte is having a go about it he's spot on. We need a big change PDQ.

To put rotation in perspective, Christmas 1946, 25th Barnsley A 4-4, 26th Barnsley H 1-1, 28th Newport County H 5-1. No flying or motorways, probably train/coach. Used 13 players, 9 played in every game on heavy pitches with a heavy leather ball and in leather boots, no substitutes and players played full game. We used 18 players and only Romeu and Forster played all three.

I personally will cut him some slack. He and VVD who is exceptional are amongst the best pair of centre backs in the league. Fonte has lapses especially with his delays in passing and then dropping somebody in it. Yoshida is worse and is always only a slip away from a goal. Swansea made a mistake letting Williams go, look where they are. Lots of teams have paid enormous sums for failures and bench players at centre back. We have Gardos and Yoshida that really aren't good enough to be the regular centre backs albeit internationals. Yoshida and Fonte aren't a good pair but Yoshida gets by playing with VVD but not with Fonte. There is a massive upheaval in the pipeline by just reading the signs. We need our best players to stabilize the situation. There is no guarantee any player we bring in, probably from abroad will be a total replacement immediately. I don't think we should entertain letting anybody leave in January even if we bring in a replacement. We need to bring in a goal scorer for midfield and a striker, strengthen not weaken.

Puel arrives, immediately changes a successful team, introduces a new system coupled with excessive rotation, which doesn't work either, brings in 4-3-3 with one striker, we manage to only score eleven goals from play in twenty league games, now lost three successive games, so that obviously doesn't work. Now the captain wants to leave amidst numerous rumours of discontent in the club which puts us in a dangerous position. This sort of scenario in a club can quickly result in a collapse of confidence and morale leading to a tumble down the league. For me it needed a manager to come in and build on the successful early months of 2016 not change completely, seemingly alienating players and fans with the sterile, negative toothless football no self respecting manager would try and justify. Yet Puel doesn't seem to be aware how close to the Premier league cliff edge we are playing his way.

The way Puel immediately changed how a successful team played and more importantly were comfortable playing to the diamond which he rapidly had to change to 4-3-3 which isn't working either especially with his team selection, excessive rotation, etc has put him at odds with supporters and set himself up for a massive fall unless successful. The players have every right to have a row with the coaching staff if they sense failure and don't believe in the coach. If there isn't change he has to go.

We don't play like a team just a collection of individuals picked on the day. There just isn't any chemistry in the play just going through the motions. WBA 68% possession one shot on target, a header from a corner, lost 2-1 just sums it up. Hitting the back of the stand doesn't count.

It's Puel who picks the team and the way we play. Coming in without any Premier experience and fundamentally changing the way the successful 2015/16 team played especially after the second half winning run was just stupid. He should have been building on that not fundamentally changing. It could have been justified if we were playing well and scoring regularly but 11 goals from play with only one forward including Stone's back pass is disgraceful. Puel has had 29 competitive games and the better players are now showing the disillusionment they are feeling, playing weakened teams week in week out is wearing. Either Puel plays the way that suits the players including more than one striker at a time or he goes. If he continues as he is and the results fail to improve much, the confidence will collapse with both the team and supporters. It's a vicious circle then he will have to be sacked.

It's an error to think that rotation saves legs, in one way it does but losing regularly, not being able to score goals and feeling the confidence draining away going behind, then having to unsuccessfully chase the game has far more effect. If teams are playing well there is the added confidence, will to win and players wanting to play. I get the feeling through never fielding the strongest team and letting it gel has worn away the will of the best players, always having to suffer regularly a team including squad players that are just not good enough and weaken the team. Our best players will not want to stay they will leave, struggling is not the program they bought into when they signed, especially when they clearly can see the change that would put this right even if the manager won't. Redmond is a winger and will not get goals regularly and shouldn't be masquerading as a striker, Long and Rodriguez should both play up front together with maybe Sims. Playing Tadic, Boufal and Redmond as attackers won't get goals. The back four is good, Romeu is also, the other two midfielders whoever they are give us nothing in an attacking sense. If Puel wants to play 4-3-3 he needs to play at least one attacker in midfield, Better still get an attacking midfielder, and/or change the system.

If we bring in players to suit this system it will empty the stadium PDQ.

Isn't that a fact!!!

Against WBA, 68% possession and one shot on target. WBA 32% possession three shots on target won 2-1. It's what you do with it not how long you keep it.

No we wouldn't, as he would only play one of them.

I think one of our big problems is that our team has been dismantled. The manager is to blame he broke a fundamental rule when he joined us. If it isn't broke don't fix it. A man who apart from European competitions had never played or managed anywhere but the mediocre French league, had no experience of the Premier but chose to impose a radical change to a relatively successful team that just didn't suit the way we have played for a number of years. We have always said that the best team was still a number of players short of being able to challenge the top teams yet with that deficiency in the numbers of quality players we made six to nine changes and played further weakened sides week after week still trying to adapt to fundamental playing philosophy. It is obvious Puel hasn't got it in him to change so either we live with the sub standard football in the inflexible straightjacket imposed by him and the inevitable consequences or he has to go. A major problem is the simplistic slow negative across and back football with only one proper forward has now been worked out and is being leapt on by the opponents. Of course the players aren't happy, this isn't what they signed up to but they are having to suffer the straightjacket and the consequent results and disappointments. If Puel and his staff aren't on borrowed time now they soon will be unless they adopt a different way of playing. Stop rotating, pick the best sides available and get out of this rut and that doesn't mean Redmond and JWP playing.

I don't care who is at fault but this is just about the most dismal, disjointed, dispirited, sterile, football played by a Saints team. 11 goals from play in 19 games says it all. Either Puel changes the way we play to high tempo pressing football or we should change Puel. The supporters were unhappy yesterday and unless the team does something to lift the crowd it won't be long before they turn on the manager and the team. That won't be pleasant but it may get a response when the board come under fire because listening yesterday it isn't far away.

Bringing on Rodriguez then moving Long out wide left and JWP replacing Martina, chasing the game, not a lot of common sense there. Against Spurs again chasing the game three changes like for like changed nothing. Saving legs meant nothing at that point. Wholesale changes time and again and Long is saying the players are still struggling trying to play the managers way, no wonder. Changing the way a successful team played and making it worse is far from common sense. The diamond was dire the 4-3-3 with one striker is just as bad. 11 goals from play in 19 matches is disgraceful with the players available.