Saint Pete

This new deal's not to be sniffed at.

Maybe 1 perm and 1 loan could be the plan if Gardos goes as well? Not much point in gardos staying if still not being considered at the moment? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Martin Atkinson. At least it's not the same ref from first leg!

Good performance today, but it's one game against a woefully out of fom team, let's not get carried away! Yoshi is a good centre back, no arguments from me on that. But he's still not as good as Fonte at his peak and we still need to sign another quality centre back if we want to maintain our league position of the last couple of seasons. I agree Fonte factor had become unsettling so he probably had to go, but he does need replacing.

Or Davis. Presume still injured? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

That plan worked out well against Beer Sheva didn't it?

I think most accept it is probably the right time for Fonte to go if that's what he wants. But even if Fonte was declining, if we are not going to weaken compared with last season, we need to find a player capable of playing at fonte's peak not a declining version. Do you honestly think Yoshida can do that consistently? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Very much agree. I think Yoshida has always been a great option as first backup CB who will come in and do a pretty solid job for a few games at a time. But I don't buy that he has suddenly massively improved and is now ready to do the kind of job Fonte has done for us. If we don't replace Jose properly, we will be significantly weakened at the back.

Has been a truly excellent player for us, the common thread in the most solid defences that I can remember as a Saints fan. Despite the usual bad mouthing of any player who chooses to leave us, he's still a fine player who will do a good job at West Ham I'm sure. But we move on and I have faith the club are not stupid enough to think we have adequate replacements for him already and have something lined up. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Disappointed Rodriguez benched again. Feel he needs a proper consistent run of starts. Otherwise, team much as expected.

Well done Saints. Great effort. Yes, we could have had more, but let's be honest, we would all have taken 1-0 at kick off! Key in second leg must be to look to score, play for 0-0 and we will lose. We counter attacked well today at times though and that gives hope for us to grab a goal at Anfield. Hope we can be more positive now for Burnley and carry some confidence into that game, especially Redmond. Would like to see minimal changes, then rest them in Norwich game. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Wow, useless with the ball! Amazing that he made so many appearances for us then. I remember his performances somewhat differently to you. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

And was sent out on loan.

Romeu only played once for Barca and played less for Chelsea than Morgan did for Man U so not sure your point is that relevant! Romeu's a decent player who gives his all but Morgan's a class above in my opinion.

Currently has Bournemouth (FFS!) above us in the premier league. Just saying.

No chance he'd have had them scoring the 3 goals first though!

I don't know, but I would say 19 games isn't long enough to say he is not capable of adapting his tactics to the premier league.

This is the bottom line. Saints are a frustrating watch at the moment, but it would be a massive and unnecessary overreaction to remove the manager at this point. I think Puel needs to be more flexible in his tactics and scale back the rotation, but he also needs support from the club to bring more quality in.

JWP should take if fit. If not I would go with Bertrand. Strikes a good ball and has good temperament. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

4 goals scored in last 8 prem games says it all. Not unlucky, not a one-off. Has to be down to our tactical approach. Surely we should have sacrificed a midfielder during second half rather than like for like subs given our dominance?

Southampton 4 Arsenal 0. Dec 26 2015. Not all that far back?

Disagree completely. I thought from the start that it would be the wrong tactic if we played not to concede rather than going for the win, so not hindsight. The point of the game was to get through, full stop! The way we went about it failed to achieve that. If we now aren't confident enough to attack the mighty Beer Sheva at home, it's not a great sign of things to come. Our tactics in this game put ourselves in the position where 1 mistake late in the game would see us go out and so it proved.

If Boufal is fit I would go with -------------Forster----------- Cedric Fonte Virgil Bertrand ------------Romeu----------- ---------Davis--JWP-------- Boufal-----------------Tadic -------------Long------------- If Boufal not fit enough to start, McQueen instead, did well at Arsenal in more advanced role.

I agree some of the criticism is over the top, but the tactics WERE badly wrong in this game. We needed to play at a higher tempo in the first half, press Beer Sheva and push for the first goal,which would have put us in a stronger position for rest of match. Instead, we sat off them for much of first half, let them settle into the game and created virtually nothing. The lack of pressing was clearly a tactic so Puel has to take the blame for this one. Beer Sheva are not Barcelona, we ought to be good enough to back ourselves to play positively and beat them rather than cautiously settling for 0-0, and leaving ourselves open to losing out through 1 mistake late in the game. Tadic's comments pretty much said approach was wrong in 1st half. I think Puel had a good start as manager and agree it's good to see him backing the likes of Sims and McQueen but we do seem to have lost our way in recent weeks going forward. We have only scored 3 times in last 6 games in league so we are not just talking about a one off bad game. Part of the problem is a drop in quality of our attacking options since last season (not Puel's fault) but I think we need to vary our tactics more to get the best out of the players we do have. Need to be more positive and get more pace in our passing. Hopefully Tadic coming back will help.

The poor goals we gave away will take the headlines today, but the more worrying issue is the way the goals have dried up at the other end in the league. Only 3 goals scored in the last 6 league games, not good enough by a long way. Change of tactics/formation required?