saintsmike25

Could see us drawing most of those! i think we'll draw against some big teams as well, - ah i think we had one other victory (can't remember which game) This was our points total: Southampton FC 38 7 16 15 42:59 -17 37

Just done a predictor - i had us drawing a few games and losing others and only beating Bournemouth and Brighton - yet we still stayed up, Brighton, Swansea, Huddersfield go down in my predictor, Newcastle and West Ham get drawn into it, and i was a bit too kind to Watford who are in freefall. I think people forget that victories seriously see us rise up - as our goal difference is superior to many teams around us. I think our ability to pick up draws in tough games might be the key, but i can also see our form picking up and other teams dipping. Again, the Brighton game and West Brom game will define our season and we need 3 points (a win in either game) to help us. But what i reckon will happen is a draw in both games - which isn't enough.

I think everyone would have taken a point before the game. Think our quality is there at times, and Ofa looked more threat than Gabbi, better movement in last 20 than Gabbi showed all game!

It will be a mixture of Spurs improving and our fitness meaning we drop back - not just tactics, but Spurs are a fitter side and have more options on the bench. Who knows - at least we're not 2-0 down early like we were at Wembley.

Stephens to blame for Kane header, he let Kane get the run on him and gave up leaving Gabb the only one jumping with him. This is again a good performance and i can't fault the effort but looking at it - we need to replace VVD, as Stephens/Yoshida/Hoedt is rubbish strength in depth and we need a leader, none of them are that. Gabb hasn't really played that well, but he may well nick a goal. Tadic has been good in spells but i think this game suits Boufal more (although Tadic gives away the ball less) Referee is awful, dembele has been getting away without being carded yet more than four fouls? Bertrand/Cedric our best players, Lemina looks fitter, JWP looking very good some great crosses and delivery. Spurs look subpar - but we got closer to Alli/Kane this time out, they look shaky at the back especially the space left behind Aurier and Davidson Sanchez looks suspect. I would take a point but feel Spurs will score a couple more.

You idiots - Stoke would have won with Hughes in charge, the win had nothing to do with change of manager..

This is completely counter-productive, we'll make an already terrible situation worse, when our players need our support we turn the place into a toxic mess. Then what if the new manager fails to get the players going - then what more protests? People are certain a new manager will mean we will avoid relegation, it's not as easy as that. The players and attitude of the players and complacancy at the club is the issue, i don't blame Pellegrino for inheriting a squad of comfortable long-contracted under-performing whining babies who argue on the pitch. The truth is the dressing room is toxic, the players are not getting on, and it shows on the pitch. VVD was an outcast and hated by teammates, and Redmond is turning into that now, as is Bertrand. Relegation and rebuild is the only way forward - as with this squad unless we have a real clear out rebuild managers will inherit the same problems.

He inherited a squad of internationals and premiership players, however he also inherited the lazy attitude of the players of 90% are all looking for a move away and take the club for granted and its position. Unsurprisingly they've failed to perform, Pellegrino has failed to inspire and the board have failed to communicate or act.

Lol goodbye MOPO.

JWP is better than Davis, Davis has become a sub-standard championship player who needs to be released (at some point) i'd much rather Lemina but hey maybe he's still injured.

I was thinking about this - if we go in 1-1 at half time we're likely to win. However 1-0 up our natural habit under Mopo is to sit back which you simply can't do against Watford - eventually something will fall in the box. I dunno, i think it'll be an exciting game and while i rate our players above Watford's the simple fact is they're a side willing to take risks and i can't see us being comfortable even if we're 2-0 up, 3-2 Watford win and Mopo's final game..

I'm simply suggesting that there's many sticks to beat Les Reed with - but when it comes to a decision that Theo Walcott will make regardless of how much £££ Les offers, is down to the player and there's not much we can do or Les can do to change that. To suggest it's his fault that a player won't come here is simply wrong, players want to go to successful clubs and ideally not those who could be in the Championship. Especially players who are at top clubs and are looking at the next stages of their career, and still have ambitions to play for England. As for Les Reed going, i agree and so do many fans but you have to be realistic as unless the owner gets involved Les Reed will be here regardless of unpopularity from fans on here, we have no say in what happens so you're p**ing into the wind!.

Seriously Alpine, would you join Saints if you were Theo for a permanent contract? Have some perspective, we're likely to go down and we're likely to not afford the wages he is on - thus meaning he does not view the club as a long-term prospect in its current state. The only way he would join us is on loan - so we were ALWAYS likely to be pipped to the post by a better positioned and richer club like Everton! So no Les didn't mess that up - but it was ALWAYS the likely scenario due to where we are at. Players don't want to be joining a club fighting relegation!

The issue is wages not price of players - we would break the clubs wage structure if we sign any of the high profile players we're linked to and that means more players (who are underperforming) asking for a pay rise, there may well be match-top earner clauses. We won't see Theo, but what we might see is signings from further down the food chain or unknowns.

Could quite easily be an upturn in form, the argument is managers should be given time to shape their ideas to see better results. But the issue is in this day and age managers are simply told by fans and no doubt owners that results must be instant and the short term view of managers in football is something we're all guilty of, simply put i'd like to see us with the same manager who builds a team (even if results mean relegation) and stays on if he is trying to build something more than a temporary winning side, and if we are to have a "Southampton way" the continuity needs to be to stay with a manager even if results are poor. But when the performances are awful and there's no clear idea of what the manager is trying to do this has led to the calls of MP being sacked, it's not like he's trying new things or trying to play youngsters or a certain style, i don't really think HE knows what he's doing in the long-run from game to game - and he has been unwilling to try youngsters. I'd happily go down with another manager who at least is building something - even if it means one step back to go forward in the long run.

Boufal just needs to bloody shoot.

A few things - we look slightly better on the ball today than against Palace, Shane Long clearly looks much sharper than in previous weeks and was unlucky to have a goal disallowed. Our best player is either JWP/Boufal (after flourishing after a shaky start) - Romeu looks better today. Bertrand seems less miserable than usual. Davis having a mare. Negatives: Still slow to react to clear danger/balls in the box/curved runs - Stephens looks a bit off-the-pace and lacks concentration today. Still, we are playing a strong side against Fulham who are fairly poor - as they only have one way of playing (keep ball and trying little one-twos and through balls) - this game is crying out for us to stick on Gabb instead of Davis and press them high up the pitch to get a second goal. Brighton/Watford etc will be a completely different proposition - still at least we're winning *****il the traditional second half drop deep and fade away... inevitable Pellegrino tactic happens)

Please can we flog Steven Davis he slows us down so much, looks very one-paced.

Words fail me. The fans do not care whether Lees Reed or Kruger go for a mass bowling session/lunch/orgy or whatever with the players - we want to know what will you do about Pellegrino and will you buy any players in this window, how is progress going in that regard? FFS, i couldn't care less if Kruger and the players eat curry together.

Vote with your feet don't buy any tickets and then don't renew season tickets. The management has been awful and has to change but i think the players do too. And January isn't the time for that, i just want us to sell most of this team and overhaul it completely. If the players don't care lets rebuild with ones that do. I'll take relegation if it means change in the long run.

I'm a complete defeatist - don't invest any of the money in Janaury on mercenary players, play the U23 for the rest of the season, get rid of the other crap in our club (Tadic, Redmond, JWP, etc) - change the manager, have a real clear out of the crap and rebuild in the Championship with a team based around youthful talent. The issue is we're a crap side managed by an even worse manager, with too many players who are clearly not bothered and just looking for their next move. I think relegation will be the wake up call we need, if we stay up it'll be more of the same.

First things first. Clearly this interview is to deflect pressure on Mopo, and to stop the questions about his future, because what is evidently clear is the club hasn't got another manager lined up. Mopo, was probably a long-term appointment that was done after it was clear that the board and Puel weren't a match in terms of culture, while our rivals can bring in a "Big Sam" or a Pardew or a tried and tested manager that many fans want - this isn't what Southampton do whether we like it or not, the club has certain ways of doing things and the manager has to be fitted with that culture. Secondly this interview clearly shows us that the VVD situation was a failed experiment that we tried to keep a player who was unhappy at the club to appease the fans. This was a huge failure, and time and time again it never works as much as you want it to player power is always going to win as team spirit/togetherness is far more important than one whingebag who is ruining the mood of the camp, and this will no doubt mean that the other miserable players who are eyeing moves away from Southampton will be sold before it EVER gets to this situation again. In today's modern game agent power and money matched with the ambition of players means we can't keep those who are performers. We as fans have to realise we are a small club, and yes i agree with Ralph on that, we're traditionally relegation strugglers who have had golden times in the past three seasons in the Premiership and our comeback down comes as other Premiership teams up their game and improve and the top six simply pull away. The only thing we can do to improve commercially is to sell out games regularly which we're not doing due to the current discontent at the club and among fans - then the board can look at either expanding St Mary's or building a new stadium which will improve our long-term revenue. I believe there's a huge amount of money that is being saved for this at some point, and more that will be used if we are to go down, the club is built on the sustainability strategy which means players are sold and the club always makes a profit from this, this is why the club is happy to spend £30m on world-class training facilities instead of a world-class striker. More worryingly what hasn't been mentioned in his interview is what of the Academy and the U23 teams, the fact that the current crop of our first XI are underperforming should pave the way for youngsters being given a chance here and there, if they perform well we can sell them for inflated fees - but this hasn't happened. What has happened is our experienced players who are at the stage where they are probably not going to do that much better than Saints, but won't improve that much beyond there level look far less hungry and bothered - this is down to the management and the lack of competition for places. Arguably only Bertrand/Cedric and perhaps in future Holjberg/Lemina/Boufal will be able to get their "big money move". But the likes of Yoshida, Romeu, Tadic, Long, JWP, Redmond, Forster, and arguably Jack Stephens, Gabiaddini, Davis are all at the same level and I don't think have the talent to improve. This season we should have had Gallagher back from his loan, Valery should have been tried at right back, Josh Sims should be given a run out when he's fit and Hesketh can do better than JWP/Davis with a run of games, what about Alfie Jones and some of the other so-called prospects - the reason Bale/Shaw did so well is because we tried them and didn't let them rot in our U23 system. What is disappointing is that the long-term future of the so-called Southampton Way doesn't seem to be there anymore, and our journeymen players who are very average (if not poor) Premiership players aren't being replaced by homegrown talent.

Lol the players have that "Oh crap we're going to get drubbed" body language about them. You can just tell they're scared of another hammering.

I'm going with a 3-1 Man Utd win, we might threaten occassionally but the pace and power of Lukaku and co and Pogba running past the likes of JWP and straight at Yoshida will be a nightmare to deal with. Jack Stephens has to be 100 times better than the **** show he put up against Spurs. Boufal HAS to support Long, and Tadic i wish wasn't playing but what is the alternative? Redmond? This is where we need young hungry players from our u23 ready to step up. Frankly I'd rather get beaten with a bunch of hungry youngsters who will learn and can only improve than journeymen who have been at the club too long and have gone stale like Tadic. I think we could put in a surprise performance or play well for 30 mins and then get sucker punched which drains all the confidence out of this team, the Spurs game and Leicester game showed what this team is made of and that is glass like confidence which shatters, we're easy meat for any team that has the ability to hit us on the break and run straight at us. Especially with how Pellegrino has us playing. We don't press and when we do rarely press it's messy and uncordinated and leaves us open. I like to think this is Pellegrino's last game and Reed has already told him as much and he's told him to give some "bit part players" like McQueen/McCarthy and Long a start at Old Trafford.

I can understand this selection. He's gone with players who will stay in January. Like it or not, Gab is probably off in January back to Italy, he hasn't settled down well and has struggled with the language and lifestyle. Lemina looked awful against Spurs, he's still injured and needs more time so he's being rested today. Targett also picked up a knock against Spurs, so he's being replaced by McQueen who is itching for first team football. I think this team has been put out to appease players and show he is "thinking of the squad", but come the end of January the team will look far different with the new acquisitions that are due to come in.