Hodgey

This is time for in the trenches players - so that immediately means Redmond, Tadic , Gabbiadini, Boufal and Hoet are out - all mentally weak. After that you need to stop the goals against given we are clearly not suddenly going to be free scoring - so 2 defensive midfielders as a minimum. No point playing 2 up front for no other reason than we don’t have two decent cfs. Set pieces will be our best route to goals so work on that so they at least don’t mean we concede at the other end. That gives you something like McCarthy Cedric Yoshida Stephens Bertrand Rom Davis JWP Lemina McQueen Austin No they won’t stay up (Stephens, Cedric and McQueen not good enough, Davis and Austin too knackered) but at least they’ll put up a fight. Sims off the bench at 65 for a bit of pace.

I don’t get MoPe at all. When I saw the team sheet it made sense - Carrillo is supposed to be good in the air - so get quick wingers bombing against their slow defence and give him something to attack - to those who watched the game (I couldn’t) did that happen ? Looking at the 1st half stats either it didn’t or the crosses went nowhere near Carrillo. I get the impression that MoPe thinks that possession will win games - which is why he hates losing a midfielder as it naturally makes it harder to retain the ball. What I don’t get is why this far into the season he hasn’t twigged that it doesn’t work. We’re in a total mess now - ironically the only home game I can see us winning is City - but it may be too late by then. Means we will need to win one or two away from home - Swans and West Ham games we cannot lose. Still don’t think he has the first clue who he should play and where in attack. At the moment seems to be Carrillo, Tadic and Redmond (although he wants to play the latter two on the wrong wings). Think JWP was harshly treated - was the one player making things happen and had one bad game and dropped. Tadic and Redmond back in favour for no apparent reason.. yes Redmond has played better last 2 games - but hardly set the world alight. As for Tadic - he still hasn’t found out what any saints fan has know for 2 seasons. Play him on the left or don’t play him at all.

Quite surprised some are considering dropping JWP. Think he has been involved in pretty much half our goals so far this year !

I’d play the 1st team - tell them this is a free hit so play with freedom and attack - with recent events at WBA, and the fact they will not be prioritising this, it is a chance to build some confidence. Performances post Watford and Fulham suggest this makes a difference. It would frankly be mad to do anything else (I get the injury argument - but I can’t recall a saints team doing well after 2 weeks off)

On the which players would you have from relegation rivals question. Well any of their cbs and gk for a start - id also take Murray, Crouch, Abraham, Ayew and Mounie instead of our strikers (bar Austin). Which perhaps explains why we don’t score enough and concede too many. Rest of the team are decent - but then i’d also swop our manager with any Prem rival (and top 10 champs)

It’s all utterly bizarre. He’s obviously a nice bloke and in his head is playing exciting possession football - but he’s easily the weakest manager in the Prem and will take us down. It would take a monumental attitude shift for us to stay up - my only hope is that Austin will come back from injury as he’s the kind of angry player who would give a damn - but with his 20mil mate and 1 upfront even if fit he’s only going to come on for 20m and Austin isn’t an impact player. We need to sack him now - but we won’t. Being honest I’m more concerned that we will keep him even if we go down - logic has long gone out of the window here so I wouldn’t rule out another lost season next year with someone coming in Christmas time to save us from going down again. Real shame to throw away 5 yrs work like this....

Do they mean made a prem appearance this season ? Ward Prowse Stephens ? McQueen Targett Obefemi Gazzaniga ?

So for me it's 3 buckets. bucket 1 would leave, bucket 2 would stay as they are not good enough for Prem / cheaper equivalent options, bucket 3 would be capable for the Champ 1) Players who Prem/bigger teams would want - Boufal, Tadic, Gabiaddini, Lemina, Austin, Bertrand, Cedric, JWP, Romeu (probably get c £130m for that lot so Gao will be able to clear his debts) 2) Players we'd like to get rid of (high wages / lower ability) but nobody would want - Davis, Long, Forster, Claise, Hoet, Redmond, Carillo (before anyone starts - this assumes he has no effect on our team hence why we are going down and MoPe is fired, if he proves capable then hopefully we'll stay up anyway). Gardos, Pied and Taylor would be in this bucket but I'm assuming their contracts will not be renewed (although with our lot who knows) 3) Everyone else - including loanee returns So with that we would be looking at something like the below - so we would pretty much need to replace our flanks McCarthy New/Valery Stephens Hoet McQueen Redmond Davis Hoijberg Simms/New Carillo Long Subs from: Targett, Forster, Yoshi, Bedenark, Gallagher, Reed, Claise, other nippers The fact there are so many players in bucket 1 speaks volumes for how much we have messed this up....Also wouldn't be surprised if Stephens is targeted if he keeps playing / scoring

Well done MoPe - good line up and getting the team used to playing with each other - is that the second time this season we’ve had the same back 5 in consecutive games ??. Winning breeds confidence and this is a great chance with much less pressure

Play strongest team so they can build momentum and partnerships. This is not the time for messing around and resting players - didn’t do Hughes much good at Stoke did it ?. Win on sat and it’s suddenly 1 loss in 6, plus an actual home win to get the fans onside. I went to Fulham - we could have played a reserve side there but we didn’t, JWP grew in confidence and it almost launched us onto a great win at Watford.

So when Silva became Hull manager last January he up ended taking them down but with a record of 8 wins 3 draws and 11 losses - basically he couldn't undo the terrible starting position. If he could replicate that then we would be safe by some margin. There is certainly evidence that he hits teams running - his record overall is extremely good apart from Watford - but even that started with a bang. Seems a no brainer to me - can re-evaluate in the Summer - assuming he keeps us up (which on those facts looks likely) even if we decide to go a different direction in the summer both parties win....

Hmm lots of safe square balls, unnecessary second touch of the ball and passes back to the keeper - wonder where he learnt that.

He may be excellent - but he’s not going to hit the ground running, and I doubt he’ll last 90m until he plays a few games. Got to hope that by late Feb when we have some crucial fixtures he is up to speed. Our record on buying understudies for class players abroad isn’t great though. Also for me means MoPe is staying which is a much greater concern. Is this fella going to give the players and fans the lift clearly needed ? Let’s hope so...

Some odd comments. On the way back now - support was excellent and it was a good day out. We beat a decent team away from home but frankly this looked out level. Should have won by 2 goals but again some dreadful finishing. I was worried by Bedenak but he actually played well against Fulhans supposed best player (who was very quiet). Slightly confused by the booing of the Hoijberg for Lemina sub - yes he was playing well ( But not brilliant) but it was a like for like sub and you could argue it makes sense to save energy for Watford. Agree that he def and Aron looked untroubled but we were so ultra defensive against inferior opposition that should be a given. Long and gab I didn't look like scoring which is a bigger concern. Good win but we will go down if MOPe stays

Mistake we made is buying Hoet and that Polish fella - pooling that cash / wages to buy a better cb would have been the thing to do. We now need to do this anyway and will have 3 average and one poor cb alongside which is too many. Also playing the same pairing for a few games may help their play.

Merry Christmas all - day to forget about football for me - thankfully unlike in the usa Saints can't put me in a bad mood today (they and England can do that tomorrow !).

I'm utterly amazed at the confidence on here. There is one extremely lucky win Vs Hammers between us and the relegation zone - which btw was an additional home game the other teams haven't had. Yes our squad shouldn't be in a relegation battle - but they are. Even if they beat Udders (which I think they will just about do) they will lose the next 2 and it's hard to see where the next win comes from with this manager. I hope I'm a Bedwetter and you lot are right but I'd be amazed if we keep MoPe And are not battling relegation.

Apologies if posted elsewhere but Zanka is buying every Udders fan who goes to saints a free beer. It's going to cost him £8k but he is buying legend status for that. This is the togetherness we will be facing on Sat and frankly I could never see any of our players replicating such a gesture. Still hope they lose but Udders are a team to be admired..

He was poor - but no worse than Romeu and Lemina. All 3 looked like they were playing in custard filled wellies. Mind you that is still no excuse for the dreadful defending by our two cbs..

I find it astonishing that people can't spot a goalscorer - this is the kind of nonsense that FIFA and Sky have drummed into people - if you are not quick you can't cut it in the Prem. Utter garbage - football is about reading the game and speed over 5 or 10 yards. biggest change for me has been Bertrand suddenly attacking down the wing - he now knows that if he puts a decent ball in We may score, whereas before you could see his attitude was why bother busting a gut and getting out of position for a cross straight to a centre backs head !!!

We really need a win here. This can be the turning point for MoPe - show us something, even if we draw yet the players give everything and there is some idea of where we are trying to get to - I'll happily give him more time. However any more fair served up so far will be the end if him. Sadly I think no matter what he tries to do now it will be down to player power - if they want him out there will be more half arsed fair. I'd like to see him be bold and drop anyone who isn't 'on the bus' - let's face it we have a bloated squad with few stars so if he's going out he needs to do it his way and make a point.

Didn't see the 1st half but the second was sadly all too familiar - no pace or power in that team. Hojberg and JWP couldn't impose themselves at all, our £12m cb pairing were slow and our keeper looked average at best. Of the kids Tella looked the best but nowhere near 1st team, Hesketh flitted in and out of the game. Their no 10 was the best player on the pitch by far - caused all sorts of problems. On the plus side - we've definately got the teams playing the same style through the levels....

Actually being live on TV is our one saving grace - Brighton/Newcastle = draws, Palace/WBA = Wins.

He has to go as we are rapidly approaching half way and not a single think suggests improvement, yet there are a lot of signs of steadily getting worse. Bus squad is the 8th most expensive in the league - and there is definitely talent there. Nobody believes we can score anymore - fans and players. I don't believe a single player on the pitch today thought we would get anything out of the game when we went 1-0 down, I don't even think Liverpool played that well - they definitely had another gear. And not testing a poor defence and gk is unforgivable. Problem is who do we get in ?, and if we do find someone decent will they be forced to play this style and formation ? Will they have to work with Black and Watson ?. I think some on this board are in denial on a relegation battle - WBA will get rid of Puel and like us actually have some very good players (and willing to spend cash), Palace are improving and have Benteke to return, Everton will turn it around with that squad once they find a semi competent manager. The 3 who have come up look solid enough and all have good managers. So that leaves Swansea who look as poor as us and West Ham who will buy their way out of trouble as they got a free stadium. Worrying times

We need Allardyce in. He's the only one I can see who we know will turn this round and will do things his own way so we can be clear the fault isn't Reed or Black etc. Yes the football isn't great - but come on, it's better than the tripe served up these past 2 seasons - and it produces results. And now please - 2 weeks head start due to international break. Shame really - if they had pulled their finger out and got the Watford manager (or appt him instead of Puel originally) we wouldn't be in this position. Of course the issue will be that Reed will want a yes man...