HarvSFC

Negative result, but a lot of positives from tonight. There was a bigger picture to tonight also. An embarrassing performance and result may have put off any prospective manager's and after the first half I feared the worst. However, the second half was much improved and may have helped convince some that there is actually something to work with. I know a lot have written off this season and it is looking bleak, but isn't mathematically over yet and Hasenhuttl took over with one win in 15 and kept us up, so it isn't entirely impossible having played one game extra and any manager worth their salt may feel they can get a tune out of this side. Even so, the players showed they have fight tonight and there is a good mentality still within the side, rather than a broken one that you would expect from a side rooted to the bottom. Regarding the play in the second half, it was nice to see us put in early crosses to try and catch the opposition defence out. Too often over the past year we've avoided this tactic and attempted to pass it through the back line. KWP's a poor crosser, but Sugawara isn't and we need to utilise that skill, which we haven't as of yet. Football is also largely about momentum and the momentum is constantly changing in a game. Too often this season I've seen us fail to take advantage of a momentum shift, we don't keep the tempo up, we kill the game with slow passing between our defence and goalkeeper and instead invite pressure unnecessarily on our defence. Tonight, when the momentum was on our side, it was good to see us keep the tempo up and take the game to Liverpool, causing them issues, specifically with the good save from Kelleher after Archer's shot, the air shot from Onuachu in the box after an early Sulemana cross and the potential red card from Quansah. Many games this season we've failed to create chances and been feeding off scraps. Tonight we created at least three good chances with Archer adding to that with his well taken goal, which he did all by himself. If we go down, go down with performances like tonight, rather than the shit slow ball we've seen up till now.

Really nice goal that. Maybe there is a striker in there if we play to his strengths.

When we have the ball at the back, the opposition swarm us and force a mistake. Watch Archer when the opposition backline is playing it out. It's infuriating, might as well be playing with 10. He's marking space.

Logic would suggest you can't fix fitness during a season. However, they are elite athletes (believe it or not) and people have already brought the Adkins to Poch example. While, we've also seen the transition from Hughes to Hasenhuttl mid-season. It was well reported that training got a bit lax under Hughes and you could see it in the players on the pitch. I think there was a bit of noise around Ings at the time who went from Klopp's intense training sessions, to our relaxed version. Then Hasenhuttl came in and we went from 1 win 16 to beating Arsenal 3-2 in 11 days following his takeover. On the manager front, I shouldn't be surprised but still am that Sky are reporting that we weren't actively looking for a manager before Tottenham smashed us to bits. It shouldn't be true, but considering Wolves, who sacked O'Neil on the same day have all but confirmed their new manager, while there isn't anything really concrete for us yet suggests that it is. This is another slight on SR. We had 1 win in 15 before Sunday and had been thrashed by Chelsea they week before. They should have at least had a contingency plan. We used to be ahead of the game. Whether that was just Les Reed blowing smoke up his arse, I don't know. But he did run a very successful Southampton side for a handful of years. Meanwhile, under SR. We've seen no replacement for Nathan Jones, we saw Ankersen need to step in when Shields got picked up by Chelsea and had to wait for the following summer for Wilcox to takeover. Then, again, Wilcox' departure wasn't a surprise and we replaced him from within and it's now showing poorly. Still haven't replaced the set-piece coach. They thought they could go into a season with Alex McCarthy as number one, and then it became apparent after Newcastle, the first game that we couldn't and the January before last we really needed Onuachu and Sulemana in before the deadline day, if they were going to be any good. SR just always seem two steps too slow. On the names linked today, I'm not too thrilled with Corberan. Generally, I want us to avoid another Championship manager after the last two and go a bit more adventurous. Unearthing another Pochettino, or Iraola from Europe. Although, SR probably don't have the resources to identify one of those and we'll end up with another Pellegrino. But, I'm just not wowed by Corberan. A choice out of Corberan or Rohl and I'd go with Rohl because he's worked at bigger club sides and national sides than us previously. Similar to McKenna at Ipswich and got a Sheffield Wednesday side, who had the worst start to a season in Championship history to survival and now 9th in the league. While, Corberan has West Brom in 8th now and in the play-offs last season, they have only won two of our their last 14 in the league. He also flopped at Olympiakos after walking out on Huddersfield. How do you only win 2 out of 11 matches at Olympiakos?

Bournemouth had 29 shots this evening. Imagine that!

It's a shame the way it ended, as ultimately he did get us promoted and give us the great experience of West Brom and Leeds in the play-offs. However, there were also plenty of red flags during the last year, which were only magnified more in the Premier League this season, which are also quite disappointing. However, SR are also massively at fault. The thing that worries me about SR are the contracts. We're spending big money on transfer fees for a lot of players, but we aren't paying Premier League money in terms of wages. Since taking over we've seen Adams and Armstrong turn down new deals and walk away on frees. The same is currently happening with KWP and Dibling. Our successful youth team has also been decimated as we aren't matching other clubs. Doyle, Morgan, Miles, Gomes Rodriguez and even Dibling have all left the club, albeit we were lucky that Dibling couldn't settle at Chelsea and he came back. But, we couldn't even match Lyon in wages for Gomes Rodriguez. Then you have the summer. It has been well reported that Liam Delap was once again our main striker target, but Ipswich offered him more money than we were willing to. Matt O'Riley was also Martin's top transfer target, but we weren't willing to pay for him, instead choosing to spend the £25m it would have taken on Wood, Brereton-Diaz and Archer. I was impressed that the club managed to secure Downes quite early, although his fall off this season has been another issue. I was also very excited when we signed Ramsdale, albeit that was a bit of a panic signing when it was realised that McCarthy wasn't good enough to be the Premier League, another thing the fans knew months before the club realised. And, although it wasn't exciting at the time, Fernandes has proven to be a bit of a gem. Whoever discovered him needs to be made our chief recruiter. But, that's three signings from 13 that proved to be good, not including THB as he was an obligation. According to the BBC we spent £103m in the summer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c74lgnwepvvo We could've signed Ramsdale, O'Riley, Delap, Downes and a £20m+ plus centre-back who I don't know and I think our team would have been serviceable, with KWP, one of THB/Bednarek, Manning, Aribo, Dibling and possibly Edozie/Sulemana playing around them. Left wing was the hardest position to fill there, but we could have used a loan spot to cover that. The others can at least play in the Premier League. So, I think Martin can use the excuse that those at the top let him down a bit over the summer. However, with that said, I also think there's a Premier League team in there with Ramsdale, KWP, Fernandes and Dibling the four key players and play to the strengths of A. Armstrong, Archer or Onuachu up top. Armstrong and Archer thrive off time and space. Armstrong's runs are crap and more often than not he's offside, but he does need to be released early, like Archer and both are useless up top with their backs to goals, which Martin's tactics were forcing them to do. While we all also know Onuachu's strengths and how Martinball doesn't get the best out of those. So, he does also deserve a lot of criticism for not being more pragmatic with the team at his disposal, like he did in the play-offs. And with all that said and done, I really hope whichever team Martin goes to next can afford both Jack Stephens and Will Smallbone. May they never be guaranteed starters for Southampton Football Club ever again.

My expectations were low, but that was absolutely abysmal. From minute one. I said after the Chelsea game that our players don't look to make tackles, they back off and off and then the attacker finds themselves in our box and gets a shot at goal. It happened from minute one tonight. The fourth goal especially, watch how Udogie and Son just move up the pitch unchallenged before Sarr eases through the box. We're abysmal on the ball and we're fucking tragic off the ball. Hasenhuttl managed to pick up an unfit Saints side after Hughes mid-season and get them fit, while Pochettino made the Saints side he took over fitter in the season with his double training sessions, so it is still possible to get this side running again, but it is going to be one hell of a job. All those Martin defenders who said our squad isn't good enough. Our squad is better than Rangers' and they gave Spurs one hell of a game on Thursday evening, they were managed well and exploited their weaknesses during the game, but don't have the quality to see out a win. Martin's just spent the week blowing smoke up Ange's arse, while stating he won't deviate from his own methods. Sulemana was picked out of the tombola this week and didn't even get quarter of an hour! I'm just hoping and praying that Martin's gone before Smallbone and Stephens become available again, as things can actually get worse than this. This football's shit, everything about the club is below standards at the moment. Changes need to be made now, even if it is months too late... Better late than never.

Lots of empty seats at Brighton. This is supposed to be their big match.

Nothing preventing this being played at 12/12:30 today. Not even relegation will help with kick off times this time around with the new Sky+ matches for the Championship.

Aston Villa have kept two clean sheets in the league this season. You just have to actually get shots in against them.

What an ambitionless shadow of a club we have become. If Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford can do it, then we can. But, we're so below standard in multiple areas.

He still has a few defenders on Twitter, far more than on here, who you would believe support Martin over the club. Their argument is that he'll be good for us next season in the Championship... We've played two Championship clubs this season, conceded 5 and needed two Bree wonder goals to get through them. They weren't automatic promotion sides Leeds or Sheffield United either, they were 21st placed Cardiff and 15th placed Stoke. We're going to have a weaker squad next season... Oh, and we finished 4th in a three horse race last season. Coming back up isn't a formality, look at Luton, who have stuck with Edwards and the same thing happened to us with Redknapp in 05-06.

Lurch in goal. We know he's got a number of weaknesses, getting down to shots and distribution. Issue is, will we actually test the goalkeeper, or press him when he's on the ball? Tottenham also leave a lot of space when they all move forward. Will we exploit that, or allow them to get back into position as our centre-backs and goalkeepers pass between themselves before giving Son the ball.

Arsenal have 71% possession, Fulham pick up the ball, send Raul Jimenez through, scores, 1-0. Criminal in the eyes of Russell Martin, but actually quite effective.

Can't be a majority owner of two clubs in the same European competition. Why Bloom had to sell shares at Union Saint-Gilloise. Ankersen's repeatedly said that Goztepe are the number one club for SR. He's heavily involved there, being their president. I said in the summer that it was weird that we didn't have anyone from SR at the fans forum, only their employees, so we don't actually know what their goal is. However, this season is giving a feeling that we're not a priority. We're the money club of the model. We're the one that will bring in the most due to the Premier League and so far we've been used to sign three players for Goztepe, plus that one who went there in the Alcaraz deal, who we don't own. While, it looks like Goztepe are the club who they can make a success in football. It takes far fewer resources to be successful in Turkey than it does in England. I'm sure Goztepe also sacked their manager last season despite being in the promotion places, while we can't shake one of the worst manager's in Premier League history And, on the topic of Ankersen, he said this a couple of weeks back: "I also think it is important to have a style of play that the fans and the community behind the club like. I think Göztepe fans like this type of football. They like action. I think they don't want to watch a classical music concert every week, they want to go to a rock'n'roll concert. And we offer them rock'n'roll at the stadium." Well, your other club, Southampton fans do not like the style of play being served up every week. It's shite.

0 shots on target, just like against Wolves, despite all the possession. No excuses for that. He's got to go.

It's very strange. No forward planning was made regarding Martin's appointment last season. There needs to be a level of context to understand what tactical setup would be best suited to a club of our size. Just to let Ankersen know, it isn't total football. We're never going to be able to outplay Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, even Bournemouth these days. Because, we don't have the resources to do so and therefore aren't able to attract the level of player needed to outplay a De Bruyne in the centre of the pitch. But, what we could have done is outworked a lot of teams with pressing tactics. On occasion hard work beats talent, but at the moment we're trying to play a talented style against teams with greater talent than us and that's why we're losing every week. Although I was bored of this style last season. We got fortunate on a few occasions against much weaker squads with late goals. Watching Bournemouth is also quite annoying. They made a left field appointment, that was criticised by many when they replaced a successful manager at the time in O'Neil with a relatively unknown Iraola at the time. However, the people who are paid to make the decisions at Bournemouth clearly did their homework, they didn't just settle for staying in the Premier League, although Martin Semmens would say they should feel fortunate just to be up here. No, they wanted to go higher and now they're sitting in 9th after beating Tottenham. It's a very comparable situation to when we replaced Adkins with Pochettino and there are hundreds of managers out there who are better than Martin. Who, exactly, I don't know, but I'm not paid to know. But, Sports Republic just appoint managers from Luton and Swansea. Recruit players who won't ask for too much in wages (barring Ramsdale) and accept that we're relegated, when no other Premier League club would accept so. A lot of the Martin defenders keep pointing to next season being better also. We'll likely be up against Ipswich again, a possibly established club in Wolves or Palace, or Leicester again and then going up to the Championship is potentially the bankrolled Wrexham and Birmingham. Oh, and we won't have Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Stuart Armstrong, or Adams next season either and with those players Martin was only able to achieve 4th place. So, who knows where he would finish with a weaker 11.

I agree. Our work off the ball is also horrendous, it isn't just on the ball where we're making mistakes. For whatever reason we don't put pressure on players on the ball, giving them a lot of time and space, which you can't do at Premier League level as they can all pick out a pass. Alongside this, when opposition players run forward, we either go for a tactical shirt pull, resulting in a yellow, hence the disciplinary issues, or our defence will just back off and back off until the opposition finds themself in our box and with a shooting opportunity. Examples of this from last night (purely off the highlights) were when Palmer hit the post. Joao Felix had all the time in the world to pick Palmer out. Madueke's goal. Manning just kept back off him, scared to go near him, give him distance, he shoots, he scores. Felix's big miss in the second half, Palmer received the ball in our box, goes wide, has two Saints shirts marking space around him, but not threatening to go near him and he's then able to pick out an unmarked Felix in a good position. Sancho's last goal, slightly harsh, but again Wood doesn't make any movement towards the player, or the ball, giving Sancho time and space in our own box. Has to be tactical instructions also, as Martin's never had a good goals against record in his managerial career. Can't believe he was a defender during his playing days.

I think any player who picks up two red cards in the same season should be banned from professional football for life. And so should their manager and club owner for paying their wages.

Indeed. Two of the top five passers in the league are Bednarek and Harwood-Bellis... And they haven't played every week this season. All the football is being played in our half of the pitch. Most teams in the league play out from the back now, Chelsea did tonight. But, you don't see teams giving away the goals that we do. It would be a hell of a lot better if the footballers were in the middle of the pitch, rather than our last line of defence. This isn't a Kompany/Maresca situation either, which I think the board are clinging to. Yes, they were both known for playing attractive football. But, they also got their big jobs from walking the Championship with both Burnley and Leicester. Martin had a good Championship side, and he took it to fourth with a relegation battling goals against tally. The fans turned for the first time tonight, anyway. Wasn't quite a Jones situation, but the sounds of "you're getting sacked in the morning" will have been noticed. Whether we actually do something for a change will be another story.

Shame that Guardiola coached out the fun and spontaneity of Grealish's game. If Dibling makes it to that level, the same could happen to him.

Maresca's Leicester side schooled us for 180 minutes last season and he seems to have got Chelsea in their groove now too. Ah well, we can all but hope.

The transfer window closed.

Terminate the loans of Ugochukwu and Cornet in January and get some actual loans that benefit the starting eleven. Probably easier to agree a termination with Chelsea, as they should be wanting him to get more minutes than what he has been. West Ham probably just grateful to have Cornet off the wage bill, and like with Holgate last January will need another club to come in for him for any movement. Evan Ferguson's available, apparently.

Chris Wilder has two league titles, a runners-up finish in the Championship (beating Bielsa Leeds and Aston Villa) and took Sheffield United to 9th in the Premier League in their first season back. He had them 5th after 12 games following 12 years out of the top flight. As opposed to our 1. He probably earned another go this season after the mess that Heckingbottom left. Martin, on the other hand hadn't finished any higher than 10th in League One, or the Championship before he arrived here. Nathan Jones has a better CV and currently Ruben Selles is outperforming his League One record with a Reading side that doesn't have any funds. Martin had a 37.5% win rate at MK Dons across 80 games. Selles has 42.11% across 76. Martin has very little to show for his five years in management so far other than getting a good Championship squad to 4th place and a play-off finish without really threatening the automatic places. You'd think conceding just two goals fewer than relegated Birmingham, who had Wayne Rooney for much of the season would also ring alarm bells. But, here we are with the worst goal difference in the Premier League by 5 goals. 8 worse than 19th Crystal Palace. There were plenty of question marks regarding last season and this season has been dreadful. Yet, some still support him. Where's the want to see us actually compete in the league again. All well and good playing alright for spells against Liverpool, Arsenal and City, but we still finished with 0 points and the points lost from winning positions was the stat used to beat Hasenhuttl with.