StrangelyBrown

4 times better than RM at the moment...

It does beg the question of who signs all this off?? We have a ridiculous number of bang average wide attacking players - for instance rather than spunking wages on cornet and BBD couldn't we have just bought one better player (and overpaid a bit to secure them)??

Wait until we get smashed by city, there will be more than enough scar tissue going round to make up for the lack so far

Good to see #4 of Russ' 10 Russball commandments getting a run out again. It's one of my favourites along with #2 "trust the process"

The most important thing to RM is RM. Part of this is making sure he's defined by his philosophy and not by his results, presumably because he hope to do what Vincent Kompany has done. Presumably staying in this league isn't important to SR otherwise they would have acted already. After the next 3 games we'll be sufficiently adrift that it will take a miracle to stay up - at this point SR might as well persist with RM until the end of the season and we can continue to enjoy his self promoting twaddle.

It would be great if everyone on the podcast didn't have the same diplomatic and cautious opinions on everything - there's no real debate about anything just a whole lot of agreement and fence sitting

I'm genuinely interested in what you think is going to change that is going to make it worth persisting with RM?

RM fuck off now please

I can't understand why sulemana is on the bench. He wasnt good enough in the championship - I can't see him suddenly being good enough to help us in the PL

Interesting that in his press conference he mentioned being really proud of the team in the second half against arsenal where we stopped being competitive and lost the game... Beggars belief

Irrespective of my feeling that RM is the wrong man for the job, I hope we win - lose and this is really bleak....

Where Man city are concerned it isn't just about the quality of their players, there is a fundamental difference between our style and theirs - they can (and do) vary it up and go long and also move the ball forward at pace - we avoid doimg either at almost all costs and it makes us so predictable.

The alternative is hope that RM finds a way to win, which frankly isn't going to happen frequently enough taking big risks around our penalty area... Making a change is at least trying something rather than accepting the inevitable

That is by far the most sensible line up and therefore the least likely to come out of Russ' magic selection tombola.

I heard something interesting yesterday on a podcast - I think they hit the nail on the head. Talking about Kieran McKenna the comment was that he's starting to be successful at Ipswich because he always puts the needs of the club first rather than his own philosophy. Whereas other managers such as Kompany and now Russell Martin put their own reputation first and blindly stick to their philosophy hoping that even if they are unsuccessful they will be known for their philosophy and it will enable them to go on to something better. This certainly fits with RMs comments about the journey he and his disciples have been on. Sadly, RM isn't about Southampton Football Club he is about Russell Martin.

But we all know that "must pick" isn't a setting on the RM forward line tombola....

At least we didn't get dicked and we learned that Ryan Manning isn't our saviour after all. So still a complete waste of everyone's time. We're not going to win if we give the ball away in stupid positions so we're not going to win playing Russball which in the PL relies on us having players who are good enough not to make mistakes against the very best players. I just don't get why we continue to do the same things over and over again without learning that it doesnt work...

I clearly don't understand this football thing if Ryan "a bit too shit for the championship" Manning is our saviour.

I'm hoping that RM will have a change of heart and play a pragmatic counter attack based on 4-2-3-1: Ramsdale KWP ABK Harwood-Bellis Taylor Downes Lallana Dibling Fernandes Archer Stewart And that we give it a damn good go and keep playing to the very end.

To get anything out of this game requires pragmatism and acceptance that we aren't good enough to try and keep possession against some of the very best players in the Premier League.... By the looks of things Russ is still going to be here so undoubtedly we'll try and play Russball. We're going to get royally spanked. What a waste of everyone's time.

"we discussed no tactics at half time" - sums it up 100%. He's literally taken no ownership for the the way we set-up and has put it all on a lack of character from the players. Just an idea, but perhaps the players didn't have any belief because we were set up to lose from the start? RM is starting to show Nathan Jones levels of delusion.

Bye bye Russ you fucking helmet

Fucking clueless team selection and no change in the way we are playing since we conceded. RM really is a helmet sometimes

I'm not sure you can put Derby's downfall to simply getting relegated with the lowest points total - they were a club with financial problems that went through the very core of the club combined with woeful management at a club level.

I thought there were some positive signs today and we could easily have come away with a win if only Archer was playing with a bit of confidence. Lallana's role baffled me a bit - he clearly doesn't have the legs to cover yards he was expected to and gave the ball away cheaply a few times in deeper positions, but on the flip side gave us some much needed experience and creativity that we missed as soon as he went off. RM needs to work out how to fit him into the team so that he doesn't need to run around so much and can orchestrate things. The subs were my major frustration - why bring on players who have already fallen short this season to try and see out the game. Armstrong and BBD are nowhere near good enough. Aribo did nothing in the short time he was on the pitch. Archer and Stewart both look like they need some game time to build confidence, but the league is unforgiving and I suspect their confidence will be shot after today. Dibling and Fernandez both look quality - I just hope we'll get to enjoy them for longer than this season!