Lallana's Left Peg

There is such a lack of belief. They may be motivated, but there is no belief. Squad seems quite fragmented to me. They might get on at a personal level, but when too many of your team mates either want to leave or are just not very good it does create a certain level of apathy.

Any insight into what the strategy will be this summer? Whilst I think there are a number of players that should move on our recent recruitment recorded is so poor I'm more inclined to think we'll replace with even worse players than we are improve the team and squad.

He seemed ok to me, but I think he was a little hesitant on the ball as playing in a central two if he lost it then there wouldn't really be any cover for him. Don't think there is much more to be said beyond what already has been. First half was atrocious - got outfought and players looked a little confused in possession at times. Second half they had a bit of belief and we grew into the game. If Hughes wants to play two up top we're gonna need to find a way to do that whilst protecting the central defenders who too often get outmuscled by other players - and combine that with a less than desirable win rate in the air then it's something we really need to consider moving forward. That said, we may just have to win games 3-2 with some newfound attacking verve.

They probably drew up the pledges and realised the club aren't compliant with any of them.

I thought that was a decent performance overall, but our lack of any clue in the final third (ability and coaching) could send us down.

The team isn't great but he's not getting the best out of them and he just cannot impact a game positively for us with a substitution which renders the subs bench absolutely useless

It's not that it was a bad performance. But a defensive mistake (basic things) screwed us over again and we just never had any belief in the final third despite some positive and incisive approach play. Basically the degradation in quality of the team is finally starting to really do us harm. Don't get me wrong, this team would be doing better under a competent manager, but he can't be blamed for a lack of quality. Lack of quality + poor Manager = relegation zone in mid-Feb unfortunately. No-one at the club appears to care though.

On that basis could the players not get a rest at the clubs choosing over Christmas?

I see your point but if we have a two week rest over Christmas that means we have cram in something like at least 4 games elsewhere in the season which creates a higher density of games in other periods of the season which increases the chances of injury and definitely increases fatigue in that period. How much that two week break they had three months ago matters at that point I am not sure. Maybe if all Christmas games were played before the winter break then I would see the benefit but I don't see how the schedule could accommodate it unless teams dropped out of the league cup.

How does a winter break benefit teams when they still have to play the same amount of games over the course of a season?

It says we still have some way to go, but I'd expect that. The confidence came back to the team in parts and that seems to be very important to us.

First twenty minutes when the ball was bouncing off him every time he went near it I was wondering what on earth we spent £20m on. But fair play to him his movement in the box is great and he gives defenders plenty to think about when the ball is in the air. Is that a £20m player? Probably not. But has a bit of what we're missing and thats important to us.

Nothing too much - it was just a combination of playing a terrible side and us playing our better players in each position whilst having a player up front who won his fair share in the air and had the instincts to be in the right positions in the box. First twenty and last twenty were bad, but inbetween we took advantage of playing a poor team that had plenty of their better players injured. I'm not ****ing over us winning, but the truth is that we didn't do much differently at all. We maybe moved the ball quicker a few times to be fair, but that may be it.

I have no issue with JWP on the right. He's been our best player for over a month and he has the delivery that a striker with the right instincts will feast on. The issue is that the supporting midfielder from the middle three needs to add an extra body in the box for the crosses so the striker isn't marked by three people when the ball comes in. If its one of our attacking midfielders (Boufal) then we need two very mobile players behind him to cover the ground - any two from Lemina, Romeu or Hojbjerg. Davis is well out of form and needs to be dropped so the above is doable if we want to go for it a bit.

If the club are signing a replacement it is a sign they are willing to do business. Unfortunately these things always seem to drag on unless the buyer appears to overpay or the seller desperately needs the money.

Latest club fed Telegraph article acknowledges that Walcott had issues with our precarious league position: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/01/17/southampton-look-conclude-quick-deal-monacos-argentinian-striker/

It was Jordi Amat last year

I doubt any of us know the full story. Here is a list of things I don't think helped though (some of it is speculated on my part): Uncertainty around the takeover An awful record of briefing the press about things we then fail to deliver Appointment of a Manager that simply has not worked out Focus on many things outside the club leaving things inside the club to lose focus and attention Below average recruitment All have contributed towards the state of our club and our on pitch performances. You can probably place blame across many individuals. These things happen, some are more avoidable than others, but what concerns me most is the general lack of action to resolve any of it.

His briefed article on Friday stating that because hes had success before he can't be the reason we aren't doing well now is utter arrogance. Mistakes have been made. I think we'd all accept mistakes can be made and no-one gets everything right. But to refuse to accept you have made a mistake and see the world burn around you is first class idiocy.

Obviously the equaliser should not have stood. But the second half performance was an absolute disgrace, and the lack of reaction from the Manager is every reason why he should go. If you cannot deal when a team changes its tactics then you are in a world of trouble. Watford did nothing special but commit men forward and lump it up to them. When we were crying out for some pace on the break we sat back and saw our team crumble under the pressure and make no mistake, we were lucky not to lose that game. Then to react to the goal but making the double sub with 2 minutes left - absolutely baffling. Mental.

I would imagine, despite Watford not being in the greatest of form, the fact their manager instills confidence in his team and encourages them to express themselves and take risks will mean they will overcome a team scared to death of the football at the moment and one which will not attack with any confidence. However, it'll be the final nail in the coffin for our Manager, albetit far too late as we head for relegation. Looking at the remaining fixture list is absolutely terrifying.

That doesn't matter at all, because the remainder of the money is guaranteed (well, aside from the £5m of add-ons) so we can happily structure deals in the same way and spend more than £17m this window ourselves.

Remember when Les promised us Fonte would be replaced then on transfer deadline day we made a loan move for Jordi Amat

For a 17 year old I think he is brilliant. Plays like a senior pro and made some runs off the ball on Saturday that if he had been found would have put in him great positions. I remember seeing one outside-in run that left Bedernak looking like a lost schoolboy.

Doesn't make sense that we haven't managed to get at least one in yet - if the decision to sell VVD was made around the time of the Huddersfield game and the deal with Liverpool was sorted a few days after, what have the recruitment team been doing in the meantime? Surely one of the reasons to sell VVD was to enable us to make moves ourselves? Or was he sold independent of us having an idea that we could get anyone in?