Halo Stickman

Yeah, that just about sums up my feelings on the situation. Now that I've seen Saints play under Pellegrino, and also read about his managerial style at previous clubs, it seems incredible that the club thought he would be an upgrade on Puel.

From the very limited evidence I've seen £19 million does seem a gamble; however, if Carrillo helps us get the 18 or so points we need to stay up then it will have been more than justified. Granted there's an element of risk attached to most transfers; nevertheless, it's a real shame we've got ourselves in a position where we're forced to take such a gamble. As for Gallagher, I reckon it's impossible to say whether he could do a similar job; but, perhaps, there's a lesson to be learned from tying players up on season-long loans.

A good combative performance that lifted the crowd and brought hope for the future. The three draws against Arsenal, Man Utd and Spurs, plus our performance at Man City, shows we can get results against the top sides; but, as everyone knows, it's our inept displays against the so-called lesser teams that have left us in this relegation struggle. Right now it feels like the Brighton match is the one that will shape this season's final destiny; I reckon, results-wise, it's our most important match for several seasons. I would like to see the same starting eleven as yesterday with the exception of Long for Gabbiadini and Yoshida for Stephens. Back to yesterday: Bertrand my MOTM, just ahead of PEH, JWP and Tadic.

Not totally convinced by Silva, but we're in a situation where probably only a change of manager will lift the negative atmosphere around our club – not to mention the dire performances! – and, on that basis, I reckon he could be the best of the realistic choices available. A good performance and result today would cloud the issue, though.

Agree. I can't imagine many even half-decent players – let alone decent players like Walcott –looking to reignite their Premier League careers, having us as their first-choice in our current precarious predicament. On top of that, there's still the possibility that the board may finally get round to sacking Pellegrino – like you say, probably far too late now – all of which adds up to more uncertainty for any potential signing to have to consider.

Pellegrino tactically out-thought by the opposition manager yet again. There's only one place we're heading under this bloke; he's so out of his depth it's embarrassing. Can't imagine too many decent players wanting to join us in this ****ing state.

Glad to see the back of him. All these spoilt, sulking, money-grabbing prima-donnas masquerading as professional footballers are killing my love for the game. Well, that, and the ****e football we're having to pay good money to endure.

Yet another embarrassingly inept performance so far

In 50 years of supporting Saints it's hard to recall a more dismal home performance.

Would have taken a point at half-time after that disappointing first-half performance. Thought we looked pretty good for much of the second half, and it's a relief to see Forster, Romeu, VVD, Bertrand and Tadic performing much better than they did earlier in the season. Agree with Simon3737 (above) that Boufal and Bertrand seem to be forming a good understanding and effective partnership.

Absolutely gutted. But massive credit to Pellegrino and the players for the last two matches.

Much better performance by Saints, albeit against very poor opposition. I thought we played some very nice stuff at times, with good individual performances throughout the team. PEH was excellent and deserves a starting place on that display.

That's very good

If more of our players had displayed Yoshida's passion, loyalty and commitment and less of the self-absorbed attitude of the prime donnas then Saints would be in a far better place right now. I could find it easier to accept VVD being in the team and Yoshida on the bench if the latter had been playing poorly, but, as others have already said, the regular run of games have shown him to be a very solid performer.

I am obviously not party to exactly what went on over the summer but if there was any way we could have sold him for anything over £50 million – even to f****** Liverpool – then we should have done that and reinvested the money to strengthen the team in areas that needed strengthening. I don't care how good he is on his day; to see someone pulling on our shirt who has made it so blatantly obvious that he doesn't want to be here is extremely galling, and I hate to think what message it sends out to the players who have been dropped to accommodate him.

For a manager to be performing this badly with what I still think is a pretty decent squad means he has to go. In truth, I haven't really seen anything from day one that has persuaded me he was a good choice – definite black mark for Les Reed or whoever it was that made the decision to employ him.

Dawson might not be the most naturally gifted of players but he's a great all-round competitor. Really hope he does well over the next few days; although, of course, the downside of that might be that Hampshire get to see less of him over the coming years. Mind you, I suppose he's unlikely to become England's main spinner during our English summer so perhaps that won't be the case.

Lol. Let's hope he doesn't go there on a Saturday night. Regarding Coles, trouble seems to follow him around and he does blow hot and cold. Nevertheless, on his day, he's a very capable performer.

He was a loanee for a month or so at the end of one season but then we signed him permanently for the next season, IIRC Windows.

6 wickets already for Matt Coles. It was interesting to hear Kevin James saying on commentary that Dale Benkenstein stated the other day that one of his biggest regrets during his time at Hampshire was having to let Coles return to Kent. Does anyone know the full story why we let him return?

Cheers Weston – interesting insight. I imagine the atmosphere around the club must be fairly gloomy what with the poor results, wretched form of some of the senior players, injuries, Carberry's illness and now DB's departure. The emergence of the likes of Alsop and McManus gives hope for the future but it would be good to get a couple of decent results this week in the one day cup to lift the spirits a bit.

Cheers Weston. Nice to get info from someone close to the team. I like Dawson's combativeness; I really hope things go well for him opening this season; but, at the moment, still not sure whether it wouldn't be better to have him at five. It will be interesting to see who makes way for Briggs, especially if Wheal performs well.

Yes, what Le Tiss said about Hoddle was very interesting, although perhaps not that surprising. I would like to have heard his opinions on Venables as well. Great watch.

I was fortunate enough to be at Taunton for most of that innings - Adams and Carbs making hay in the sunshine, breaking some sort of record for the second wicket, IIRC. Not enough to prevent us getting relegated a week or so later, though. Anyway, back to this game - we should have enough runs now not to lose from here, especially with the weather forecast. Hopefully, I'm not going to regret typing that in a day or two.

Have a virtual beer on me, Bletch.