saintsmike25

Again Targett set up Mane for the chance and almost scores with a 30 yarder. What's he been drinking?

Credit where it is due, great goal and Targett has looked very good tonight and composed. He looks stronger and more confident than he's been previously and that cross typified his performance so far. Great finish by Long too. Just what we needed.

Unless results improve drastically Koeman will be walking. This form simply cannot continue without being dragged into a relegation battle. We might have dominated but if we can't defend it means nothing. Looks as if it was a game where we should have spanked them 4-0, but got mugged due to errors. Not Koeman's fault but there's players in that side who are far too comfortable.

We always were according to you..

In fairness to Mane, if anyone has ever been to Africa you'll notice time keeping doesn't exist. I think Mane is a laid back joker sort of character. Unlike Wanyama who seems to act like a big baby.

We're playing okay, Long, Claisie, Martina playing well. Wanyama/VGD not good at all!

He's 20, remember players improve and confidence plays a huge part in that. Many wrote off Kane when he started games for Spurs, Gallagher has potential it's just a case of if he can take his chances and improve technically.

Simple answer is no, subs,editors, news editors and the editor does. Journalists write the story.

No we're facing the fact we are a poor mid table side. I don't think relegation will happen but we've hit a ceiling and come crashing down. In some ways a clear out of unmotivated players would be great for the club. So Wanyama/Pelle can f*** off, then we need to get rid of the likes of Yoshida and play with youth as lets face it they can't do any worse than him at right back. VVD and Fonte both had poor games, but they'll get better. Tadic looks lazy and he always starts brightly and fades badly. Mane looks like he'll be off, lets face it he's too good for us. I'm disappointed Koeman hasn't bothered with any young players and stuck the same fading team week in week out. What is disappointing me is he's so lazy about the whole thing, he looks ****ed off, not by the results but by the fact he is here, when he wants to be elsewhere. If we can get rid of this deadwood in the team and reinvest in hungry players then we'll be fine this season, and if we can actually start introducing some youngsters to the team again it's only going to serve us well going forward. However, what will most likely happen is we'll not do anything and stagnate.

It happens that we hit a mid-season blip and lack confidence, worryingly it's the lack of killer edge that has disappointed me. Mane/Pelle both not on form. Tadic/Bertrand have been bright sparks, JWP has had good corners but he's far too defensive. He should be higher up the pitch with Davis, especially as we have Wanyama on. Cedric has played well and got down the line. It's simply we've played well without scoring and lost concentration.. I'd change a couple of things, I'd swap Pelle for Mane upfront and stick Long//Juanmi on, I don't think we're getting any joy from crosses and we need a quick striker like Mane to get in behind. Right now we can't get him in the game. I'd also consider swapping JWP for Clasie and have him playing a more attacking direct game..

Only you.

Meh, that defeat against L'pool has knocked us for six confidence wise. We should be putting Villa away but somehow end up 1-0 down.

My worry is we are taking too long to make a pass/take a shot and it is letting Stoke set themselves and that's when we're easier to defend against, Tadic/Davis need to be more decisive and just go with their instinct. I'd sub Long for Mane and possibly bring on JWP for Claisie for his set piece delivery... but we're likely to have Yoshida instead due to the injury to Cedric.

I said we may lose this one, Stoke are a decent side who have some potentially world class players on their day i.e Bojan and Shakiri and decent players like Adam/Arnoutovic you have to be wary with their style they break very quickly.

You can see why Koeman prefers Mane/Tadic over Juanmi and Ramirez. Their quality is just a class apart, Tadic has the craft and end product and Mane is the whole package with speed and unpredictability.

Juanmi has shown some nice touches,Ramirez needs to do more and put his stamp on the game. We're playing far too 'safe'.

Understandably given the changed line up we lack the fluency. In the long-run it will be good for Gaston/Juanmi we have to bed them in somehow. Targett again looks a worry defensively he dives in far too easily. And Yoshida couldn't deliver a pizza let alone a cross.

Alpine represents all our inner cynics about Saints, he does say what we think but hate to think. Sometimes that is needed, however i'd like if he enjoyed supporting Saints a bit more. He can make it sound like a depressing thing to be.

Least we won't inflict our hoofball on BT Sports viewers anymore.. Awful all round, Koeman needs to sort this lot out, the defence isn't the problem it is the damn passing/creativeness/hoofball no wonder Pelle looks so miserable it seems we've forgotten how to enjoy playing football. It's a much deeper problem all we are is functional and average is all departments, we'll never get rolled over but we don't look like ever taking the game to anyone. The incisiveness has gone and frankly I'd rather go out looking to score than to eek out lucky draws. Koeman is having his first crisis and needs to raise the levels all round. This performance was what was deserved after he put out a defensive line up. Sadly the problems will take alot of time to solve, we have players wanting to leave and morale has sunk, we all know Wanyama/Mane are going to go and we'll be in for a tough season, it's whether the 'kids' and the likes of Targett/JWP and even Reed etc will step up to the plate when the going gets tough. Think it'll be us finishing 14th this season.

Don't usually moan and whine, but jesus christ, if our players can't get themselves up for this game and attempt to attack then what hope do we have. Koeman signed our exit by playing 3 CB's, in a game where we need goals. Jay Rod clearly isn't fit and the three MF's aren't supporting well enough.

Just what we needed, that'll force us to up our game and score. The defensive formation brought that upon ourselves, Pelle is looking good as is JWP, shame Jay Rod/Targett and Fonte all look shaky. Our MF is so defensive! we need Juanmi on.

A few sub par performances and suddenly our season depends on signing Van Dijk. Fickle Saints fans I think, I think an attacking minded CM would have been much more important, someone who can score goals from the middle of the park. As it is, Wanyama/Davis/JWP/Reed/Claisie are all unlikely to offer that.

Don't be too hard on the team, much better defensivily it kind of shows our reliance on Mane that our attacking threat went when he went off. Shane Long tries hard but when he's not firing he's pretty awful to watch. Targett looked better but once again got skinned a few times. Wanyama had a mixed game, it's not the defence that worries me, our creativeness and zip in our attack isn't there. We didn't create one good chance, I think Pelle needs to be benched. The way he reacted when he was subbed after having a ****-poor game, shows he expects to start every game - well why not try Jay Rod up with Juanmi and rest Pelle and Mane, glad Koeman changed the system now he just needs to tweak the starting XI. The game was crying out for someone like Tadic who could play link balls to the strikers. Sadly our most 'creative' player was probably Davis! Hopefully now Koeman appears to have sorted the defensive side he'll get them working on off the ball movement and passing in midweek as lumping it towards Pelle should never be plan A,B and C.

This was always going to be a battle, so far we have coped well with Watford's pace compared to the Everton game. The only worrying factor is we are relying on Targett and Cedric to provide the outlet on the wings when we go forward and sadly, they haven't provided many crosses, well Targett hasn't. Wanyama/Davis/Romeu are all doing well but we need one of them to break more often. As for Caulker he has had a mixed game at least he's made some decent challenges and an important intervention to stop Watford going 1-0 up. Majorly disappointed with Pelle who is having one of those I can't be arsed games.

Mane looks like he's being targetted by Watford.