Saint Fan CaM

OK. That’s it. I am now officially in the MP out group. He left our four most expensive players on the bench for the first half, went with the same formation and players at home from the start, knowing full well that this plan has not worked against teams like Brighton. He doesn’t know his best 11 and there is a clear deficiency in coaching attacking moves - we look thoroughly disorganised despite the fact we have some good players. We are going down with the clown....hate saying it, but last night we looked just like a relegation scrapping team. He’s got to go and the big dilemma is who would replace him?

My biggest fear is that we will sign someone like Carrillo and Promes, but ultimately either our system or EPL footie doesn’t suit them. Of course this is always a gamble for any team, but we need fire power to score goals to win games to get points. The next biggest issue is our form...it’s rock bottom and for quite some months I’ve seen nothing to suggest anything has or will change. Not felt this concerned since pre-Markus days about the future of the club.

Nice memories. Did your Mum catch you with those beers?!

Well this is a significant gamble on a mediocre goal scorer and one that cannot hit a hefty strike. A box poacher type player that seems ok in the air which we are short of. We also need a Promes type guy so hoping that will happen too. Long has shown he can be a very good provider so we may see him as a wide player perhaps? Can see Redmond fading away and eventually returning to his level in L1.

Les seems to like a thrilling game of chicken...waiting to see who blinks first before ensuring he gets his 5th choice player. Seriously, this is starting to look either negligent or incompetent or both.

Wonder what odds you’d get for Saints not signing a new player in this window? Pretty poor I would imagine.

Got to say, it’s hard to disagree with that logic. What many will tell you is said potential incomings will not give a fig about a minority of protesting fans because the money will be the deciding factor and anyway, if they’re good enough (and most Prem players think they are) to change the fortunes of their new team, then it’s an opportunity to be a hero and earn them a lucrative deal to a top 6 club (read Liverpool) in a season or two.

Seems those who think the games remaining will be enough to get us out of trouble. The problem with that is two fold - teams above us are actually on better form and so will likely win or draw...so they stay above us, and, then when you consider how we’ve been over the last 10-20 games it doesn’t take a genius to predict we haven’t got a win in us. Pretty bleak picture really. Now add to that the fact we don’t have a squad of sufficient quality to put up a convincing fight and a Board not able to bring in new heads that are an improvement and even if they do, it’s probably too late. Add into the mix a poorly appointed manager...a panic appointment of a man who had previously not proven himself in any substantive way. A man who surprise, surprise has had connections with Liverpool - yep, funny how that clubs name is woven into aspects of the demise of what was an excellent club setup with so much potential. The prognosis is not good...more chance of going down than staying up unless significant action is taken. That means change of football strategy AND 2-3 decent new attacking heads. Personally I don’t think either of those things are going to happen.

Move on. They want £30m - we’re not in that league!

Sorry, but until I hear the majority of SMS get behind the Team and the Manager in a deafening roar of support for at least the first 80 minutes of a game, I don’t think protests are effective or indeed even warranted. It is ultimately Les Reeds responsibility to either sack him or back him with a decent strike force. Protesting during a game is self-defeating and just contributing to our downfall. As others have reflected, this is so much like the Lowe days...militant supporters trying to oust the Board, the Manager etc, and doing nothing really effective to arrest the slip downwards.

Remember the notorious Leeds game when they cam back from 3-0 down to win the game? I know...it hurt a lot. But what I remember most of all was their supporters incessant chant...”we’re going to win...we’re going to win...” on and on. It got to our players and the Saints faithful in a way I’m not sure I’d ever seen/heard before. It won them the game and crushed us to the point where the memory lives on. So my point here is this. If the supporters give EVERYTHING we’ve got during the game in a positive way, maybe, just maybe, it might make a difference. And if it doesn’t well surely that gives the Board even MORE reason to sit up and take notice. Maybe even enough of a reason to sack the ‘clown’? Just saying.

Even though Pellegrino appears out of his depth, I’m not so certain the answer definitely lies in his sack. I’m not confident a new manager has enough time to turn this pretty dire situation around unless 3-4 experienced Prem players are appointed...preferably not loans. But that will not happen...financially the club are against the ropes despite the supposed £75m from the VVD sale (never was going to be near that). Based on the fact that we’ve played essentially the same style for more than 2 seasons, but pre-Puel with much higher quality, my feeling is that an enhancement in quality in our strike force may well be enough to get us out of trouble. Let face it, a couple of wins would completely change the face of our place in the table, the atmosphere in SMS and most importantly might restore much of the self-belief that seems vacant from the squad right now. Now, having said all that, if Pellegrino has lost the changing room then all bets are off. Les won’t sack him IMO, so even with new signings whatever managerial nouse he may have will likely be completely lost on the players. Not only that, but my honest opinion is that Dear old Les has too much of an influence in football matters, also meaning that a new manager will have little or no effect...he will revert to “the Southampton (Les) Way” and ultimately fail with this unbalanced, Championship level squad. PS: gives no pleasure doing the “told you so” thing, but I’ve been saying for months that our forward line is Championship quality and not good enough. How many goals? How many wins? Sad times...

What happened was one of their players cheated and was allowed to get away with it...pure and simple. The fans are at least partly if not significantly responsible for the teams good form.

Fixed it for you. I do wonder sometimes about the mentality of certain Saints fans...other clubs fans would get behind the team and manager when the chips are down but what do we do...boo and chant “you don’t know what you’re doing”! Talk about self-fulfilling prophesy...

Can’t see anything else other than a heavy loss, toxic atmosphere and no action from Reed and Co. Spurs away support will sing our only song and intimidate the Northam faithful with “Oh when the Saints go marching down”. In short it’s going to be miserable day I fear - shocking that it was less than two seasons ago that I went to games like this thinking we had a good chance of winning. Such is the decline in management of the first team element of the club. Thanks Les.

Cannot see us winning this so either 1-1 or a disastrous 2-1. Lose and its looking very bleak.

Can’t stand the heat get out the kitchen. Reed has drained the club dry and appointed poorly in Puel and MP after driving away our best manager for years. He’s lived off the legacy set up by Marcus and Cortese and over the last 4 years allowed excellent back room staff to leave and not replaced players of equal quality and/or in the right positions. He is fast becoming the new Lowe in creating the toxic atmosphere around the club. Perhaps he’s been steered by Katerina and Krueger, who knows...but he cannot dodge the bullet in the part he’s played. The plot has been lost big time and time has run out to turn it around, baring a minor miracle (a win). Lose today and the life rafts will need to be prepared!

Shocking that we’ve not signed a goal scorer at this point in the season. I truly think we’re strong candidates for the drop now thanks to the creeping ineptitude of the transfer committee (Les et al). We’ve sold all our best assets on and off the field, we’re an unfashionable club and us going down would make great news for many in the media. You can see the headlines... “Saints fall, rise and fall...again”.

As others have said, I would love to see him in a Saints shirt...he knows how to shoot and score. If his head is in the right place he could be really good for us and we could put him back on the Prem map. Big fly in the ointment I suspect is with Reed and his son not being able to get this over the line (assuming there’s any truth in it)...there’s just not the competency in our recruitment now it seems. Love to be proven wrong mind.

You would hope better than Redmond I guess.

You have mentioned Targett, but could add a bunch of other names (e.g. JWP) to the list. It does make you realise the level at which these players need to reach/attain to see first team football...pretty remarkable. However, there are commercial differences within club strategy that determine whether they make it at Prem level or otherwise - at Saints the sell-on value would make a huge difference for example.

Ineacho or Walcott? The former would likely be a better investment and play more. The latter would provide a huge lift for the fans and his name would sell lots of merch. Either could score the type of goals we’re not currently scoring and both have footballing brain. One would cost around 2/3rds of the other...guess which one Les would favour?

Sorted for you...lol

Ask how many times he’s played a game and you’ll find an answer. For me this is a clear indication of what happens when a consistent team is not put out....players are not ‘match fit’ and not in tune with each other’s game. JWP on the hand has looked better because he’s had the game starts.