Saint86

If defending wasn't effective, teams wouldn't bother using it as a valid tactic. All teams struggle to break down teams that park the bus. Thats why we have the expression "park the bus". But outside of that, we can't score more than once against teams that are wide bloody open. Thats the real concern. Puel needs to go sadly. Its not going to improve. Not without spending big money and that means that the manager is not good enough of getting the most out of the players we have. Has to go IMHO; we are just wasting time and going backwards. One lower half table finish will undo most of the reputation we've gained in the last couple of seasons.

I think the opposite of many Remainers but at least I rarely label them as such in public. I also often do my best to engage or help them out; unless of course they are of the particularly vociferous kind which are devoutly pro-corbyn / pro-farren. Those numbskulls are lost to the world and are a damning sign of our education system along with the idiots that can't pronounce the letter "t" through either stupidity or ignorance. But then it's all just personal views and opinions and we have to remember that whilst the left would oppress free speech, the rest of us uphold it as a fundamental pillar of freedom and democracy.

that made me lol in the office

We loaned one to Blackburn.

I think we would be doing better with Adkins at the helm. Puel has no idea how to attack in the premier league.

Add a decent goalkeeper to that and you a top 6 eleven - when all in their prime. Boruc Shaw, Lovren, Chambers, Clyne Lallana Morgan Wanyama Mane Lambert Pelle

The real fans are out in the real world. Everyone who over reacts on here or some other form of social media is just a numpty with no place to state their opinions in the real world. Every fan I know knows that the club has been poorly manged since the summer. Its not wrist slitting or being negative its a simple and blindingly obvious fact. Just scroll back to the summer threads and its the general opinion on here then. And simply put, its the tactics and inability to attack effectively. On top of that we have a board that rip up and unsettle the team/management every summer - be it to pocket some cash or because of ego's at the top. Regardless. The clubs ambition has been undermined since Poch and Cortese left. Every key staff member or player from that era has been removed from the club after Fonte. Thats fine when you bring success in like Koeman, but its clear now that that appointment was more luck than skill. I don't want to dislike Puel, but these players are clearly good enough and we never look like scoring. You can say he should be backed (and in fairness he hasn't been)... But he is either happy with what he has (and is out of his depth), or he is a yes man. That should worry us more, because it means he'll keep his job and that the board have no intention of spending money.

Everton 4 - 0 Man City....

Good lord, we're hanging on at burnley for a 1-0 loss. How far have we fallen. Its the same players as the last few years, there is no excuse for this ****. 1 cup win (which should have been a lot better, i.e 3-0) and the clappers think they can say "told you so" to the rest of us. Fact is, today is what saints are these days.

Have we had a shot since they scored? This is a joke, and the apologists / clappers are just as bad as our tactics. God ****ing awful

Lowe did a good job for saints all in all (with hindsight and on balance). He got us the ground - without which we would never have been taken over as an "attractive investment". He also pumped money into and really established the academy into the force it is today. He also secured us european football. It all went wrong in the end and the fall out wasn't nice... but he wasn't that bad a chairman in truth. Especially when you consider what else we could have had.

Its hard to finish when we will have 1 player in the box. I'll come back to West Brom as an example. When it was 0-0 in their first half, long had the ball in the corner flag. The entire west brom team was in 2 banks across their box, our entire outfield team was in their half.... and we had no players in the west brom box for long to cross to. So after working the ball into the corner flag, and getting himself a crossing opportunity, there was no one challenging in the box, no movement, no runs etc. Totally pointless attacking with that outlook - We just leave ourselves open to soft counter attacks.

**Neil Swarbrick takes Steven Davis' hand. Neil Swarbrick: "Steve, I love you so much, will you marry me?" **Lallana throws himself to the floor in jealousy, desperate for attention **Oriol looks on in concentration, deciding where is best to plant his studs Steven davis: "hang on neil, let me just kick this *****, Nivea Boy, in the face!" **Davis winds up that want of a right foot of his.......

Much better last night. Encouraging! Hard to vote on MOTM, I thought they were all very good. Maybe Tadic had the last impact of any of them but was still good. Sadly I think we needed to get 2 or 3 really. Have to take opportunities like that. Its nicely poised up for Anfield and we have certainly got a real chance. 50/50 I'd say.

Well this is a mature post. So we aren't allowed to be pessimistic about a game then? Or if you ever doubt that saints will win a game you should delete your forum account, tear up your season ticket and never come back. Southampton are not for you.

I'll lowest finish since our first season back in the prem. On the back of 3 consecutive record finishes with a young and developing squad, and on the back of record tv monies for consecutive years, the 6th lowest wage to turnover ratio in the last set of accounts and being top of the net transfer spend for that period. Can't really see any excuse for us to drop to that position in the table whilst playing the dire football we are - a poor year all in all. Fortunately I think we'll match Poch's second season. Simple truth is that we've had 2 of the best managers in england, as well as most of a top 4 team, leave saints in the last few years. And its all because the board's ambition is to sit in mid table and turn a profit.

Nor does it change the fact that when Les Reed speaks to the press about one of our players (in relation to transfer business), said player is invariably sold.

Surely a better comparison of rotation would be number of players used as a league table of every club... Now if you wouldn't mind doing one of those for us

Reed is a lying bar steward.

Have a ticket, but its 5 hours round trip travel and day off work, plus travel etc. Would you guys still go?

Yeah, to a much stronger Norwich. Rofl. Honestly, what a pointless comparison. Why are you defending how terrible we are... we are appalling. And its very worrying because if we have a bad season we cease to become the team striving forward thats a perfect "showcase club"... and instead become an aston villa / swansea / leeds / newcastle - a club that flirted with europe, declined and well... ended up where exactly?!?!?

Honestly. Les Reed and Claude Puel are driving this club into the ground. Its horrendous now. Both need to go ASAP.

So lets go through this; standard patern. A couple of days before the big story breaks informal club sources leak that the player in question has been a bad boy. Then its announced that they're leaving with a nice bit of PR spin. Fans turn on said player and back board and we get another ignominious end to a distinguished saints career and club servant. We've not seen this before have we? Very hard to believe a single thing the club say when it comes to club vs player disputes anymore. There is no smoke without fire and it's simply very unlikely that every single player that leaves saints is a bad bloke who cares nothing for the fans/club/city and only wants to shaft us for money. But then that is what the club want the fans to think.

The last of the Cortese old guard. He wanted a 1 year contract extension. Has been desperate to play in europe and denied the chance; and thats been done for two reasons; unsettle him, and make him marketable. No smoke without fire, not every player is a bad'un, and Fonte has been forced out and is moving for the good of whats left in his career. He even hands in a transfer request (unlike all the others who throw a wobbly, go on strike and our fans demand they be a man about it) - and still the fans turn on him. Unreal. How can people not see the wood for the trees on this.

Long hasn't done anything wrong other than to be mentioned on here in the same sentence as saying its a guess. He has also praised Puel in an interview. When you are going to spread unsettling rumours, try not to do it about loyal players.