LuckyNumber7

So so predictable. I've been very supportive of Ralph but after that I'm edging towards the Ralph out camp. Sick to the back teeth of these second half abominations and throwing away leads, which renders any good work in the first half meaningless. That said, JWP shoulders the majority of the blame for that one. Utterly brainless. So pissed off.

I do think Ralph got the tactics wrong as we gave them far too much space in the middle of the park, so the back three were constantly faced by Liverpool forwards bombing at them with little resistance. It's great having three forwards but if you've got no-one to feed the ball to them it's pointless, and we were just overrun in that first half. However realistically we would have got humped regardless of formation as Liverpool are just on another planet to us right now, we have to expect these results every now and then. The two upcoming home games are far more important and we need to be looking at taking at least four points from those. As for positives I thought under the circumstances Lyanco looked pretty good again, certainly our best defender on the day. Bednarek is truly dire and should be relegated to fourth choice once Jack is back from injury. We had our moments in attack and were a bit unlucky not to score, and Broja looked a menace again. We're just lacking that quality end product.

Really poor second half (again)! Tbh I think we really missed Redmond and Stu and even Djenepo as playing Diallo further forward didn't really work. Problem then was Theo was our only 'ten' on the bench and sadly he's just not up to it any more. McCarthy really poor for both goals. No-one played well, nice goal from Che aside. Bad day at the office

Around 3 years ago I delivered to Paul Williams who was still living in Bassett. Unfortunately he was a bit distracted at the time so didn't get chance to chat with him. No idea if he still lives there.

Absolutely agree, it's revisionism to say prices weren't already stupidly inflated at that time. Mane had proven himself to be an excellent PL forward and I remember at the time feeling peed off at the fee and thinking Liverpool had got a bargain. Nothing has changed my mind since.

Koeman did an excellent job, but unlike Ralph he was able to largely build his own squad from the moment he arrived thanks to the sales generated that summer. Yes we sold some very good players, but he was given most if not all that money to sign the players he wanted, which he did very well. Until this past summer, Ralph had only been able to sign a handful of players in three years, whilst being stuck with a squad of highly paid players on long contracts who weren't good enough and nobody else wanted. They have both been/are good managers for us but in very different context and circumstances.

He's actually got 3 in 3 as he's scored in the last two PL2 games, as well as last night!

I'm a bit uneasy about the complacency/over confidence about this game. Although our general play has been good this season, we don't score nearly enough goals to warrant being too confident of winning any match. Norwich will have their tails up on the back of their first win and a new manager in place, this just feels like the kind of game we f up. Yes it would be nice to hammer someone but I'd take another 1-0 win all day and keep the momentum going. Think it will be tight either way.

We sure do make it hard for ourselves! We need to be better in the second half of games. Relieved more than anything. Romeu MOTM for me and Moi very good too, especially first half. Impressed with Lyanco again, I'd have him in over Bednarek any day. Well done Arma on a cracking goal, hopefully he can go on a run now. COYR!

I've stayed there recently and parked just round the corner on South Front. All day parking for a fiver and as said above, if you buy a ticket the night before you don't have to get up early the next morning as charging only applies 8am to 6pm.

Rome wasn't built in a day though. Look at Man City when their takeover happened, one of their first appointments was Mark Hughes and it took them several years to be challenging seriously at the top. Regardless of money they are unlikely to attract top stars right away and will have to build gradually. I think Howe is a solid appointment and I'm sure his remit for this season is simply to stay up.

All those who were saying we were wrong to get rid of Targett have gone very quiet. Never looked a good PL defender to me, tries hard but his lack of pace really hurts him. Still think we did brilliantly to get £15M.

I am by no means his biggest fan, but he has been good the last few games. Today he and KWP linked up really well on the left, especially in the first half where most of our chances were created and Watford just couldn't cope. Faded a bit in the second but was still good at picking the ball up deep and driving us forward, didn't see him stopping and checking back today as he so often has in the past. You have to give credit where it's due.

Great feeling to get the three points, although we did make it a bit hard for ourselves in the second half by which time we should have been out of sight. Feel sorry for Armstrong A, did everything right today but score. Didn't miss any sitters and mostly crafted the chances for himself but was just inches out on a few occasions. Probably his best all round performance so far and I think the goals will come. MOTM between KWP and Redmond for me, signs in recent weeks that Redders is finding his form again. There were no bad performances but shout out to McCarthy for that fantastic save, looked destined to be an equaliser. The lack of goals aside, we are starting to look like a good team this season, with decent depth and options too. Don't think we'll pull up any trees but I'm increasingly confident we'll have enough to stay up at least. We're playing some good football.

Gutted to lose like that but what an excellent performance against a top team. Tactically spot on from Ralph and everyone put in a shift. Special mention though for Lyanco. Considering we've been told by the experts on here who have never seen him play that he is awful I thought he was outstanding. Pace, strength, positioning, composure and plenty of passion. Just going on that one display he looks far ahead of Bednarek already. Still the end product letting us down a bit but if we play like that for the majority of the season we will be fine. Big if.

And Spurs

I'm surprised that while the same players as usual get pelters, Bednarek continues to almost escape any criticism. Theo wasn't great but also wasn't as bad as people have made out and that chance he missed was far from easy. Redders missed a sitter but has been one of our better players recently. Bednarek has been terrible for a long while now and his defending on the second goal was pathetic, frankly. The biggest mistake the club made in the summer was not signing a starting CB to partner Salisu. Anyway my first game since March 2020 and on the whole enjoyed it, but frustrating not to win.

He's a legend, responsible for my most enjoyable years as a Saints fan. Yes he had some good players but that is no guarantee of success. They were also young at the time and still developing (Lambert aside). I'm surprised it's not worked out for him since leaving Saints but it in no way tarnishes his achievements with us. Would love to see him back at the club in some capacity.

Scored at Newcastle too, don't know about assists. He's certainly improved and been decent so far, looks a lot more confident. But to say he's been stunning just wrong. I don't believe for a second that Arsenal are interested in him, then again they did sign Cedric!

That's the most comfortable I can remember feeling at 1-0 in front, especially given our record at holding onto a lead. Leeds really were dire with their key players out, but you can only beat what's in front of you. Salisu was MOTM, dominant performance aside from his brainfart in the second half. Broja, Moi, Romeu and Diallo all very good too. I'm a big critic of Redmond but he had a very good game, so credit where it's due. Still worried about the lack of goals but Broja definitely offers something different, I expect to see him starting more often than not now.

Glad to see Broja starting, but Redmond again ffs.

The commentator was Sam Matterface. 'Nuff said.

Not saying I advocate signing Pelle, but he (and Parma) were in Serie A last season and got relegated (he only joined them in February). Long's goals came while he was on loan at Bournemouth in the Championship.

I have been to many major cities and don't remember many having an approach similar to The Avenue/Common leading directly into the city centre. Often my first opinion on entering other towns and cities is that it is indeed a bit of a shithole. Not saying other cities don't have nice areas of course. As for the city centre, until fairly recently I lived in town and I do agree parts of it are a mess, especially around Bargate and East Street. However things are slowly improving and if not for covid the new Bargate development would be well on the way now which will open up that section of the old walls and be a vast improvement. As mentioned there are the extensive central parks and the new West Quay building set by the walls is very good. When I was living in town I used to enjoy going for morning walks around the old town. Yes it's no Monaco and parts of the centre are scruffy and need work, but a lot of it is really quite pleasant and for a smaller/mid size city I think it holds up pretty well.

It's a shame so many feel the need to trash Southampton. Of course it's far from perfect but has a lot going for it too. I've spent a fair bit of time up north, particularly in Leeds and I would hate to live there personally. Never been to Newcastle so won't comment but I'm sure it has it's fair share of 'chicken shops' etc! The weather alone would be enough to put me off though. I've been living away from Soton now for nearly two years and cannot wait to move back, it's just home. The central parks, the Common, New Forest, even enjoyed Weston Shore and Netley Abbey on a recent visit! And there are loads of nice beaches nearby with the added bonus that it's not always bloody freezing! Agree on the whole though that this country is a dump compared to many others. It's the money that attracts players.