doddisalegend

I won't be at this one as my nipper is playing in his own cup final at the same time. I imagine I'll spend matchday checking for updates on my phone in a relaxed manner ..unless city go three up early Is Yoshida allowed to play this one? 90 minutes of Hoedt and Stephens could well allow city to score 10....

Massive upgrade of the squad need imo (but I realise it won't get one). Up front I really wouldn't be bothered if we get rid of all four of our strikers the only one I rate is Austin but he spends more time injured than playing. I want a proper old school CF with strength to hold the ball up with his back to goal and bully defenders at the far post. and someone with genuine pace and skill. Of the attacking midfielders I only really want to keep Tadic and see Sims get more opportunities. Redmond doesn't contribute enough, Davis is to old and past it and Boufal can go **** himself. Holding/defensive/central midfielders I only really rate Lemina and Romeu (though both have had stinkers this season) I wouldn't miss HoJ or JWP at all Defensively I'd like to see how Jan develops, Hodet can **** off and Stephens and Yoshi aren't really good enough first choices. Full backs need more competition and Bertrand will be off anyway (and no Targett is not the answer). Goal keepers McCarthy as first choice is fine by me Forster can do one. Manager wise Hughes has done enough to get a crack at the job full time next season.

I'll say one thing you don't get this kind of adreline rush finishing 8th the last few games have been effing torture

Well we aren't going to have any CBs left for the man city game..

Getting totally over run in midfield only central midfielder on the bench is JWP though..

Jesus we sound ****e on solent our players sound like a mistake ridden mess we can't even seem to manage the simple stuff.

The fact of the matter is winning is entertaining I stand by the idea that any league is fun and entertaining as long as your team is doing well in it. Winning promotion from league 1 is going to more fun than scraping 17th in the PL despite what the media would like people to think. Obviously you want your team to be doing well in the top league if possible. I agree with the premise of the article though that not being in the PL can somehow make following you team less fun is bollix.

Pretty much this. It seems the modern PL era players are never to blame these days it must be harder than ever to manage all these millionaire snowflakes...

Unlikely that we will keep a clean sheet even with three at the back and two holding midfielders we've struggled to do that.

Its amazing given the sheer amount of evidence over the last two seasons that a) our attacking players are generally **** poor b) our defence is very fragile that people are still expecting us to play full throttle attacking football. It only took Hughes a couple of games to work this out and so he has given us a chance of staying up by (ironically) going pretty negative and defensive and its worked.

I'm sure some ITK suggested Ralph was the member in the board room fighting MoPes corner when others wanted him out....can't seem to find the post know though.

Players have been shooting themselves in the foot all season nothing changed today.....

Interesting piece on the Sunderland take over on the BBC and their finances https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44005205 The news comes as Sunderland published annual accounts showing the club's debt rose to £125.7m. Financial details of Donald's purchase of the club have not been revealed but it is understood Short has agreed to clear the debt in order to push through the sale. The accounts to 31 July 2017 cover Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League. They suffered a second successive relegation this season as they finished bottom of the Championship and will play in the third tier of English football for only the second time in their history next season. Turnover rose by £18.3m to £126.4m thanks to the new Premier League TV deal. Sunderland also revealed their highest paid director - understood to be chief executive Martin Bain - received £1.24m. The club reported a pre-tax loss of £9.9m, a figure which was helped by the £25m sale of England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to Everton.

It would cost us more to buy another LB at that price. Bertrand is as good as gone this summer (regardless of the league) so it seems unlikely we will sell Targett unless the fee is big. If we go down I imagine Targett will become 1st choice at LB.

My heart tells me the Bournemouth game was a turning point and we will do enough to scrape survival. My head tells me the Bournemouth game is just prolonging the inevitable...

But very unlikely if we go down.

It's to simplistic to just make it all about the managers. We are in the position we are in today due to a combination of issues that have accumulated into a perfect **** storm of which poor manager recruitment is just one element.

Its not racist it's xenophobic. It's still a pretty stupid comment though considering most of the top managers and players in the PL are from other countries the idea that you need a British manager who speaks proper English, and has to teach all the foreign players speak proper English, to get the best out of a team is laughable...

Should be a perfect fit for us then

Have you actually seen our defence play this season? We are having to set up ultra defensive, every game, because Hughes has identified just how **** poor our CBs are if you think he is going to throw caution to the wind and try and out play Man city (especially if we only need a draw to stay up) you are going to be very disappointed.

Not sure I agree with a lot of that.

That is because our defence is so fragile we certainly look a bit better going forward Hughes is making us play a bit more direct which has helped. But there is no getting away from the fact our defensive players are not up to scratch hence the five at the back, two DM approach (and even then we are vulnerable) our best few seasons in the PL where built on a solid defensive foundation that has gone missing the last two seasons. Yesterday was great but we still have to nurse this defence through three more games which is a big ask.

Police presence was hilarious yesterday they were every where from the train station to the stadium. The ones in the Itchen north had batons and riot helmets FFS. Someone must have said derby

There really isn't. We where pretty poor against West Ham and West brom both wins felt more lucky than great wins. Everton was good but Everton where really, really poor that day. Nothing else sticks out in my mind.

They certainly where my nipper said to me after that he couldn't stop his legs shaking those last few minutes It just felt like all the saints fans where expecting us to **** it up in the last few minutes the relief at the whistle was something else. Best game at SMS this season.