S-Clarke

It's probably a combination of fitness and confidence to be honest. They look out on their feet to me, exhausted both physically and mentally. Some of their passing was panicked and we dallied on the ball too often.

Bit of a South Coast clown show at the moment, it has to be said. I wonder what will happen in the next instalment of the Solent circus?

Minamino is a frustrating one, clearly technically gifted and seems intelligent, but he looks so out of his comfort zone. It all happens too quickly around him and by the time he's realised what's going on, he's either been dispossessed or had his pass cut out. This was a common theme of his Liverpool spell as well and why he barley played there. Shame really, but not much good news there for Liverpool either. I think they should just cash in on him and let him have a career in a league much more suited to appreciate his technical ability.

I'd use the term controlled rather than dominated tbh. They controlled the tempo and kept us playing at a distance. We didn't force it at all, but they had full control over this game and fully deserved the win.

I thought I'd have a look on the Fulham forums on their views of this weekend, unsurprisngly they were rooting for us to win. They seem to feel that this weekend may have been the one that's done it for them. They don't even seem to have us in the equation. We've still got something in us to scrape at least another 4 points from our remaining games. That'll be enough, and that would still be truly abject form wise. Those points on the board early doors are like a blessing now.

I'm sure the deluded few believe they deserve someone of his standing though! They'll wake up one day.

Bednarek is an oddity, isn't he. When he's on form I think he's a decent, solid, no nonsense centre back. He's nothing spectacular and he's never going to be playing in the CL, but he's decent. However, when he's off form then christ on a bike he's beyond bad. Not just a little bit bad, but it's like he forgets how to play football, forgets how to defend, loses his head. He is a proper liability for us right now, bad enough that I'd drop him.

People were proclaiming Gao was a good owner back in November, his hands off approach is why we are now successful. He was pivotal in bringing Ralph etc. He's not as bad as is made out, we would be worse off with x or y etc. There were some posts about it but I can't be arsed to find them. But he's a shit owner, the worst in our history and he's destroying us. Absolutely invisible, a non-entity. Worthless. Whilst he is around, and taking the proud name of Southampton through his stink, then we are always going to be close to entering oblivion. We cannot continue to operate this self defeating sell-before-you-can-do-anything approach, that will only end one way and he can kiss goodbye to his fucking money then. I haven't absolved the manager of blame, I haven't said he's perfect. I'm just saying there is more to our form than just the manager. He got us over achieving massively and that's why I think it's unfair that he's automatically 'shown the door' when the going gets tough and the true form of some of these 'players' comes to the fore. The bigger picture is that this group of players is absolutely fucking terrible, he hasn't had the scope to add to the squad and improve the depth, thus the owner is killing us. Ralph did wonders to make us as competitive as he did during 2020, the form horse with this lot is losing and relegation battles.

Maybe if we get lucky with ownership. If we're stuck with Gao then sadly we will be in the Championship sooner rather than later, it feels inevitable.

He's responsible for player recruitment within a very, very limited scope. He's hardly had any scope to mould his side here, so I don't think that can be labelled at him. Player selection is pretty much what he can put out on a pitch any given Saturday, there's nothing beyond the 11. But he's not perfect. He's too slow to react to opposition changes and he is a bit to fixated on the way we play, however that alone isn't the reason we are struggling as bad as we are. It's a perfect storm of injures, no squad, shit mix up of players who dump and run when the going gets tough, no investment and congested fixtures. It's all coincided to create the worst second half of the season I can ever remember us having. Ralph made a very interesting point after the last 9-0 defeat, he was questioned what our response will be to that. ''We were a shit team back then, a shit team. We're much better now'. I think he himself has also been a bit blindsided by some of these players, we are still a shit team and he's been polishing a turd. Maybe he's giving them as much faith as we have been. History tell us that the manager will often take the hit for these sort of runs, but I truly believe there is much more at play than just the manager in my opinion. I'll stand by my view and I appreciate other's don't feel the same. I just wish some fans would take a pause for a second and look at the bigger picture rather than attributing our poor form just to the managers 'tactics'.

We're very lightweight through the middle without him, aren't we. I can't remember Diallo or JWP making any tackles. Both good on the ball they may be, but they're not very aggressive. A couple of nice guys.

No, it's not a sign. But we've managed to make an art out of doing it wrong. It's impossible to not agree that we are terribly run. We are as in a big of a mess off the field than I can remember since our championship youth team days.

What I'd say is a lot of that is down to confidence, players not being brave enough in possession and not being brave enough to make the movement out of possession, it's all very risk adverse. They play safe because they are petrified of making mistakes, I'm sure of it. The manager will tell them to be patient and probe, for sure, but he will be telling to be brave when they spot an opening. Our problem is that we're not brave enough and the players aren't making the right movement out of possession, and if they do, we're not confident enough to play it. This squad hugely overachieved, like ridiculously overachieved, it's not fair to bash Ralph because we're not pushing for Top 8 - because no one would have this team pushing for top 8. The fact he even had us thinking about it with this group shows you what a job he's done, in my opinion. He seems to a victim of his own success.

I think a lot is put on tactics generally, tactics provide a foundation but alone they are not the only reason you win or lose football matches. The players should be professional enough to adept to different tactics during a game, of which I'm sure they're told about. We changed formation twice today for example. The problem is we have a poor mix, some good individual quality but not a good mix of people. There are no leaders, no one with any real character. So once the going gets tough, there's no one in the group to give them a shake and tell them to sort it out. They are all mentally shot. The manager must be pulling his hair out as I'm sure he's not purposely telling them to go out and not have shots on goal, or to miss headers and not defend in front of the box. They are just on the floor confidence wise and have no one to call them out. Would be nice to have someone like Fonte out there, he wouldn't take this shit.

I can't be arsed to argue anymore, tired of it all. I just know there are much deeper problems at this club than the manager.

Anyone who is known is out of our reach. So, no one.

Sadly I think short-terimism will win and he will leave. Whilst the toxic ingrained deeper problems within the club are swept under the carpet once more.

I'd love to know who people feel can replace him? For me, there are two issues before the manager - but the manager will often become the fall guy. Those problems will continue no matter who is in charge. 1 - Ownership. The guy is a joke. 2 - Players - they are a bunch of losers. The manager is his own worst enemy as he raised expectations by overachieving with this group, but football is all about quick fixes sadly and the manager is the qickest fix so that's clearly what will happen sooner rather than later. Not that it should.

I wouldn't go anywhere near him with a new contract. I appreciate his efforts for us, he has done us a good service over numerous years. But, he's done. His legs have gone, his pace is gone. He is next to useless for us. Sadly, I don't think we can lose him as we'd lose him for free. Therefore we'd have no scope to replace him, so we'd be a bit screwed. I think we will have to keep him by default.

That second half was a true, true disgrace. An absolute mess. This group of 'professionals' need to have a long hard look in the mirrors, as they are all utter fails. Losers, the lot of them. Absolute complete losers.

It's a fairly even game in my eyes, but it's concerning how many clear cut chances Brighton have had - mainly created by our mistakes or lapses in concentration. We have also looked threatening to a degree, but not as much as Brighton imo. 1-1 is fair, but it's there for either team to step it up. Brighton looked to be stepping it up based on the end of the 1st half.

He hasn't been great. The saves he's made are the basic I'd expect from any professional goal keeper. The goal he did concede highlighted his enormous weakness and why we need to do better than him.

Why would you do that? Would hand the game to Brighton in the middle.

Is he available for free?

Quite a fair score line I'd say, two very similar football teams. Play good football, make some nice movements, but also prone to calamity mistakes on a consistent basis. Started the game asleep, but we did pick it up after they scored and did react. Half time came at a good time because Brighton were starting to dominate again. So, two even teams, but I'd say Brighton have created the most clear cut/gilt edged chances - we keep giving them opportunities. Absolutely diabolical from Forster and Bertrand on their goal.