Saint Fan CaM

The connection to the £175m of transfer deals to Liverpool is complete then. Les and son have a vested interest it seems. And “small club” Southampton slowly whither away.

Doesn’t matter how you dress it - we’re performing like a relegation bound club. Yes the substitution of Hojburg was daft...MP is way in over his head. But good ol Les will let it drift...can’t sack his old Liverpool mate can he? Pretty much had enough of the club being run by amateurs who are happy to fleece me of £100’s without suitable investment.

Good performance by the team - PEH my MOTM as he was excellent all over the pitch. Defence solid - McCarthy impressed me and should keep the gloves. Once again, despite a good performance by Boufal and much running by Long, we can't score. It's clear to me, if we had 2 really decent forwards alongside Boufal we would be closer to 7th place than 17th. Need to get those new signings in Les.

Would be very careful what you wish for. I don’t think Les has had a great couple of years, but the manner in which KL cut the club loose to the Chinese ‘mystery owners’ (we hear nothing from them regarding plans to improve the club) should surely suggest we need some form of stability at Board level. We need a better squad and better team management/coaching right now more than anything - now is not the time to make this change.

This. All the way.

I’ve resisted a manager out stance, but this is just terrible. I don’t entirely blame the Manager because Reed has royally screwed up by buying such poor quality in Redmond and Long (for example) AND appointing the wrong manager AGAIN. If this doesn’t end up in significant changes in January I’ll be amazed.

We need at least two players who know how to shoot, preferably from more than 5 yards out.

Just get rid. We have perfectly good CBs in Yoshi, Stephens and Hoedt. VVDs positioning is markedly worse (perhaps deliberately sloppy) and he’s probably a bad egg in the changing room. We need the reinvestment in an attacking midfielder to oust Redmond and a proper 20 goal striker.

If he’s been given the boot, then perhaps Weds game performance was the ‘senior’ players letting Reed know what they think about it? Nothing would surprise me now.

I foresee a hammering. Will be glad to see a reaction and any kind of positive result, but can’t see that happening.

PEH was superb...my MOTM. Stephens was superb...very assured. Forster looked good...getting his mojo back. Redmond was awful - again. Tadic was better 1st half bit faded significantly in the 2nd half. MoPe needs to be more aware of what's happening to his players. Overall a really entertaining game.

Do you know what - VVD is not all that much is he? Not doing much to impress any potential suitors that's for sure. And Redmond loses the ball once again giving the impetus back to City. What the hell does this player offer us? Get one of the U-23's into the side FFS.

Oh dear Redmond is so, so sh*te. Just has no concept of where a team-mate is so just runs into dead-ends. Even Hojberg holds up play better than Redmond.

LOL - that made me spit me drink out! Superb comedy moment. Back to the game - we're actually looking OK. Very happy Hojberg has been given the opportunity to shine again, but Redmond and Long FFS?!?

Sell...his head is still elsewhere and the Money is calling him. Need to re-invest.

Superb feel good factor style win. Hojburg was simple sensational...covered a massive amount of ground, tackled with conviction, spread play around with superb range of passing and generally bossed midfield...a mature performance beyond his age. Thought JWP, Cedric and Hoedt we’re both much better too. Boufal is starting to show some very promising signs of being more than just a 128 trick pony. Subs were perfect too. What were the key differences in today’s tactics and team set-up? 1. No Redmond, 2. We moved the ball quicker...in fact many attacks involved several single touch moves. 3. Austin looked fitter and more mobile so he found space. HOWEVER! We should get too carried away....this was a really awful Everton side...worst we’ve seen at SMS this season IMO. I commented that we needed a big GD to compensate for the arse tear we will suffer a the hands of City.

Nail on head. Top post.

Maybe, but who else is there? Dear Les has bled the squad dry of decent quality attacking players...bet if MoPe had Mane and Pelle it would be a totally different story.

If MoPe is to be sacked right after the Everton game is the best time. We’re expected to lose against City so the pressure will be off the new Mgt team. Personally I don’t think it’s about him though, more about the dross in the forward line.

Don't be naive- Reed will never allow that...it's all part of the Southampton Way. Which is no bad strategy if you've got decent players to execute it. Reed has allowed the squad to become so weakened only major surgery on it will turn things around. Sacking MoPe will achieve nothing other than save Les Reeds face temporarily - until the next manager finds he's inherited a bunch of sub-standard players.

Can’t believe Les would appoint Black even in a caretaker role. If he did it would signal to me that he has lost any sense and focus that he may have had. It would also be a very red rag to supporters and would seriously make me question renewal of my ST...I can’t bear to watch the club do a “Lowe” again.

You mean the one that had a fully fit Austin? Austin is finished at this level and in fact probably was when we signed him if truth be known. We did it on the cheap again thinking he would be able to fill Pelle’s boots (what a joke)! And anyway even if he was fit he would need sympathetic and capable attacking players around him. We have Redmond Tadic and Long - all of them no better than mid-table Championship level and worse than that they don’t work well together.

It's NOT the time to dismiss a manager while he has to work with bang average players like Long, Austin, Redmond and Tadic and Forster. Having said that, his swapping around of the CB's is strange. I also think VVD is a bad apple and Eric Black needs to be shipped out...he's like some kind of bad stink that won't go away.

Let’s not forget that other teams in the upper half of the Prem are always looking to improve. We’ve not done that....in fact we’ve gone backwards in terms of forward line quality. Long Austin and Redmond are all too damn comfortable playing their Championship level (at best) brand of football.

And we’ve scored how many across the entire front line? Plus you cannot underestimate the effect a seasoned player with international credentials (and a decent football brain) can have on his younger peers.