saintsmike25

Lol what a farce.

Awful start, lots of hoofing and nerves and we were punished. Newcastle clearly more ready for this game.

Only gripe - i'd rather Sims than Tadic. Otherwise solid team and better set pieces from JWP.

I think the fact we already gained a point from them at Old Trafford might answer your question..

We would have got at least a point against Man Utd, Palace threw it away. Those vital draws could be all-important, we just have to keep picking up points.

Bet everyone thinks they want all of Palace's players, as they're so much better than us, tbh if this was Saints people on here would have a field day "FFS poor subs, negative tactics, defending constantly" Man Utd have been awful tonight. Yet still managed to pull back from 2-0 down, if i was a Palace fan i'd be fuming. They sat back and it's cost them.

At least we're in the game. However Bertrand/Cedric not playing that well, so we're camped inside our half and under pressure. Hoedt/Stephens coping well but can sense a mistake isn't far away. Romeu looks clumsy, Lemina classy, Carillo has had no service. Tadic had a decent shot but sloppy in possesion, Redmond slows us down on the left, keeps cutting in and not doing anything. Burnley - limited but not having to break a sweat to look the more dominant team.

Decent display, a bit disappointing we're not going in for the kill.. A couple of issues Redmond has no left foot and keeps cutting back to side foot a predictable cross into Mcauley/Heghazi - him and Tadic need to swap wings, i'd rather JWP central, he isn't crossing from wide positions. Haul off Carillo, can see him getting a red, nasty needless elbow at the end of the half. Hoedt is playing well, Holjberg/Lemina dominating the MF, Cedric and Bertrand also doing well, Stephens looks very composed. WBA playing badly, we're not playing as well as the 3-2 - seem to be lacking confidence in the final third.

Dean Richards...

I like many wish the manager was sacked - but he sent out strong teams against Fulham/Watford and was slaughtered for it on here. Now if he sends a "rotated" side he'll also get lambasted? This is a free hit and if he plays his strongest side and we're left with injuries to key players, then that is the risk. There's also the fact that there's a 25-man squad, so there's some rotation needed to keep players happy, there's also rightly many calling for younger players to be played more often - Hesketh/Sims/McQueen/Valery/ etc! As for those comparing us to Man City - Man City do rotate the players, even Aguero doesn't get in the side every game! although there a couple of main stays Fernandinho/De Bruyne tend to play more than most.. what we need is a couple of those (currently that's Hoedt/Bertrand/Cedric)

Ah well, Man Utd should be far better with their quality. Playing an injured Pogba has cost them dear. As for Smalling diving... it was a weird sort of justice.

Everyone will be crying after Liverpool scythe through us later.. but it's the games against Bmouth/West Ham/Stoke/Newcastle that are the key to our survival. We'll be lucky to get a point today. Mo Salah is good enough to score 3/4 against us and not even be on top form.

Just done another predictor - had us winning two more games and drawing some more, we went down on 35 points. I factored in the "shock" results in a few rounds, so i.e Brighton, Watford, WBA, Swansea etc winning against bigger teams. But saying that we could easily pick up points in the games necessary, i was pessimistic and basing it on earlier form shown this season. In reality if we beat Stoke/Bournemouth and also pick up points against the likes of Leicester, Newcastle, Swansea, (or even win a couple of those games) we will be safe. The Liverpool game is a "free hit" we're expected to lose, but if we can pick up a point i'll be delighted. One factor that helps us is that we are starting to score goals and look a danger when we're on our game. I.E Watford and West Brom games, and we're also capable of producing good performances and points against bigger sides (Man City, Spurs, Arsenal) The teams who will be involved are Swansea, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Palace, West Ham, Watford (one freak result but still freefalling), Stoke, Brighton I think the three worse teams than us are Newcastle, Huddersfield and West Brom.

LEMINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Start as we mean to go on.. Pellegrino might as well start packing.

Other than PEH over Romeu (Romeu has been sh** this season) I like that team, Tadic/Boufal in the same lineup however is problematic, both have to ensure they work harder when not in possesion. JWP might be more central which could be a weak point as i liked him on the right as his delivery and threat is far greater. Carillo needs to ensure he links well, even floating balls into the box to him will be ineffective against West Brom's tall XI - we need to get in behind and provide runners, Carillo should simply be the man to ensure we dominate in WBA half. Key threat from us will be from Bertrand and Cedric, when they both play we are a far greater team, that will be where our best chance of a win will come from.

Stupid penalty to concede, but our awful line up with poor attacking options... blame is on Pellegrino.

Swansea have had the expected upturn in form and fully deserved to beat Arsenal. But saying that we should have smashed Arsenal - they are not good this season, we could beat them at the Emirates, our rivals are improving but so are we this will be tight. I expect us to pick the form up this and next month.

Lol people wetting themselves over West Ham VS Palace. Both sides will be safe.

West Brom have some strikers, Jay Rod, Sturridge etc - but what else do they have? name me one excellent player that is really that big of a threat. They had a superb result against Liverpool but let's face it if Liverpool aren't firing they can be easy to "get at" and despite having VVD they are very open at the back under Klopp. The window isn't over yet and right now what we need is another centre back and full back cover, and potentially a wide man.

Just a note, i saw a few Watford players go over to their fans after the game - didn't quite know what it was about but it certainly didn't look like a pleasant chat! https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jan/27/southampton-watford-fa-cup-match-report But the article states that the fans negativity had riled the players, i know there was talk of protests etc but this is why we have to be careful that we don't turn to apathetic and support the team.

I was at the Huddersfield game and Wolves game, so i know when we play well and badly. Huddersfield we were truly woeful, and Wolves we simply should have lost 4-1 they battered us. But this as a performance was very good and i didn't think we were defensive, we had far more chances. Watford had 2-3 shots all game. It was hardly backs to the wall and pressure, yes they had a cross in the last minute but that is often the case when at 1-0! the other team will try to put on pressure. There are some good signs that the team (as a whole) is improving and there's spirit and fight there, if we do beat Brighton and i expect us to i can see us starting to turn the form round. We're not a awful side, we're just a side who has lacked confidence and belief and has been affected by infighting for weeks on end. But you can tell the players are playing for the manager and performances have picked up over the last three games.

Here's a summary from someone who was at the game. We played very well in spells and SHOULD have won that game 4-0 - yes seriously. Watford barely threatened our goal we had them under control, although they were clearly a much bigger side in terms of physical height/weight, despite that we were clearly better in all other aspects of our game. Stephens was excellent all game, well taken rebound, composed at the back, good distribution and coped well with a big strike force - my joint MOM McCarthy - decent distribution and had one good save to make. Can't really say more than that. Hoedt - Solid game, never looked troubled at any stage. Bertrand - excellent when he was on he linked well with Boufal Cedric - What a game he had, was up and down and always offering a threat and decent crosses in and should have scored twice. Joint MOM. Holberg - WHAT A SHOT - very unlucky not to score, was his usual self, breaking play up and offering an outlet, he also showed a nastier side to his game and left his foot in - but again you can't drop him for Lemina he's consistant these days. Good performance. Davis - Some decent link-up play but clearly the weak link in midfield, he struggled to impose himself and offer anything especially second half his legs went, think we should get rid in the Summer. Romeu - Fairly solid, but he's constantly playing 6/10 games or 5/10 games, looks half the player he was last season. Tadic - Very good game, didn't roll around in agony and some very good crosses, looked a threat and was creative, his form is improving. Boufal - some lovely touches and dribbles is clearly our best player, at one stage he brought a ball down on a dime that was sublime but managed to roulette out of play. He is who we should build around, i'd like to see him be a bit more greedy at times he just needs to decide what he wants to do earlier, so if he feints and cuts in then have a shot (all one movement) - but he does one thing and then thinks TOO much, he is much better when it's natural like the dribble where he should have had a penalty. Good performance, but by his standards he could do better especially when facing up defenders. Long - Frustrating player... worked so hard and did so many things well but his end product was so poor, the chance he created for Cedric came from a shocking touch, and when picked out by Tadic his shot/cross was just strange, i think he'll look much better in a 4-4-2 with Carillo. Subs Pied - looked uncomfortable! especially when he came on yet almost created a goal at left back for Cedric, very one-footed and doesn't look fit. Yoshida - i understood the substitition was to counter the threat of the heavyweight boxer upfront in Okaka who was a unit, we went to a 5 at the back (negative some say - but it worked and we defended well) Carillo - hard to say, he touched the ball three times, he is slow as you'd expect. Needs time to adapt, had no crosses his way other than a late FK - but he went in against the keeper which is good. Overall, the Bertrand injury basically messed us up (what has happened to McQueen??) - i'd have liked to see Carillo start, as for Lemina etc, we have some disgrunted players who can't get game time who on paper should be better than they are, but i think the manager is keeping the players who show the best attitude, we were in control and Watford didn't threaten us it was a good performance and the disappointing thing was we just lack cutting edge to kill off games. But anyone moaning at that needs to wake up. Win - tick Clean sheet - tick Solid defensive display - tick Chances created - tick

Had a look at the highlight reel of him and his goals. One thing that does show in each goal he scores he shows excellent movement - looks like the sort of striker who thrives on byline crosses, seems very quick to react to rebounds and scores strikers goals. I expect his touch and other aspects of his game to be far worse than Pelle, but his "in the box" movement is exactly what we're missing with Gab/Long who don't gamble at all. I'll say it gently, he isn't what we want but he's what we might need to start scoring the easy chances that we're missing constantly.

I've closed the table now but 18th had 33/34 points. It was very tight down there, but people forget that other teams have some hard games coming up. I was very pessimistic, and currently as fans we can't see Saints winning games, so had i have been more optimistic we'd easily be 40+ points. I've gone on current form (lots of draws) Key games for us will be Stoke at home/Newcastle away - i have us drawing both - if we were to win both we're safe (if we pick up points in other games). The one bright spot is we're starting games well and getting leads, it's just holding onto them. But a win brings confidence and we have ability to compete with bigger teams (like Arsenal/Man Utd/Tottenham) and were unlucky against Man City, simply put we have a good bunch of players who now recognise the situation and with some additions (yes there will be some late January) we will be a better attacking outfit. Key to our season is Cedric/Bertrand fitness and them being available - as they are arguably better than most full backs outside top four.