Wes Tender

For much of that match we shaded it as the better team, especially in the second half after the first two substitutions. A shame that McQueen replaced Bertrand, who was presumably carrying a knock, or it would have been good to have seen Gabbiadini on. This is the second time playing Citeh this season where they been unable to beat us until virtually the last kick of the match, so as they are the record breaking Champions of the division, that is no mean feat. I can't fault Hughes' tactics today, or the team spirit from all of the players, who really put in a shift. What might have been had we not delayed so long in getting shot of the clown.

Hughes has done enough to warrant having a chance as our manager next season, because in our position when he came in, I don't think that many would have expected almost any available manager to be capable of turning us around. On paper we have a squad that shouldn't have been fighting to avoid relegation, but poor management by the clown had leached us points from poor tactics and inability to motivate the players into believing in themselves and their abilities. Hughes wouldn't be my first choice starting with a clean slate at the beginning of the new season (barring the most major last day upset in PL history today) but based on what he has achieved in such a short time, he must be given the opportunity to show what he can achieve for us given a summer of recruitment of some new blood and a full pre-season of training and match preparation. In all departments there have been noticeable improvements in the team and the squad. Players who were seen to be lacking in desire and effort have suddenly turned in honest performances and praised Hughes for the way that he has changed attitudes in the dressing room. Tactically we have become less predictable and have appeared to be capable of employing the best strategy to get a result from the team we are playing. Matches under his management have become more entertaining than the boring negative dross served up to us by Puel and the clown. Sometimes it happens that a particular manager whose career has taken a dip elsewhere, suddenly finds that they are a good fit at another club; the right man at the right place and the right time. We have had that here several times in the past couple of decades. Having been disappointed initially for us to have appointed the manager of the club immediately below us in the relegation zone, I am starting to think that Hughes might be another Southampton manager in that mould.

I see what you did there.

See my post earlier, with some great lengthy you tube highlights of the match

The extra time added on to extra time against City which allowed Stirling to score.

Since Sunderland went down and Stoke have followed them this season, at least there are two fewer red and white striped kits

Agree with most of this, although I still think Long could be an asset from the bench and could contribute something in a partnership up top. As more of a squad player, he is worth keeping another season imo

Don't worry; McCarthy is in between the sticks, so nobody is going score many goals against him, not even City

I share the feelings of nervousness equating almost to physical sickness last night. I also agree with the Wimbledon match being fantastic, when we took what? 40 coaches up and took over South Norwood. Great atmosphere. But nothing quite beat sitting at the Dell on the last day of the season listening to the radio for the scores in other matches that could send you down. Another good memory was against Newcastle 0-1 down almost into injury time, our supporters flooding out, only to miss goals by Le Tiss, Flash Gordon and Shipperley in a three or four minute spell. If I remember correctly, it ruined Newcastle's chances at the top and just about kept us alive at the bottom. Also the Norwich match away when the scores went up for both teams and we won in injury time 4-5 having been 3-1 down. The hat-trick by Le Tiss and the Monkou winner with virtually the last action of the match

I have his name on the back of my shirt which I bought when the new one came out. Unfortunately he has only played a handful of times because the clown wouldn't play two strikers and didn't play Gabbiadini until he had lost his confidence and so wasn't chosen anyway. I will be very happy to wear the shirt on Sunday and would love him to stay and see what Sparky can do with him. But if his wife is homesick, even if Hughes could pursuade him that he has a future here under him, I still think that he would opt to go back to Italy, which is a great shame. A good player ruined by incompetent management.

Yes, both called Mauricio, both Argentinians, both former internationals, both former CBs, even similar surnames, both managed Spanish minor clubs with a degree of success. But the mistake we made, was getting Pellegrino and not Pellegrini.

And of course, when we played Citeh on their home ground, it took them until the sixth minute of 5 minutes added time for Stirling to score the winner, deep in Manchester local "Fergie time"

Never in any doubt

Although the two best chances fell to us via Austin, it must be said that Swansea have been the more industrious team when it comes to pressing and harrying. Tadic is working hard, and Austin has done his bit tracking back. Redmond had two chances to put through a killer pass to Austin, but on each occasion his touch has been far too heavy. Why can't he do that properly? The defence is worrying, because we have the worst record in the PL for defending crosses and this is being exploited by Swansea. Effectively we are without Yoshida, our most experienced CB, and have the still fairly raw Stephens who isn't good in the air, the mistake prone Hoedt and the only recently introduced, but fairly solid Bednarek. I am not filled with confidence. McCarthy on the other hand is a rock, thankfully. Romeu is walking on eggshells with his yellow. I think that at some stage, Long would give us extra pace and intent, which might tip the ballance in our favour.

A very brave performance from Saints, who were quite definitely the better team and deserved the three points. Before the whistle even blew for the kick-off, I had some tredidation that somehow Mr Moss would contrive through his incompetence to have some negative influence on us and so it proved. Apart from the free kick awarded against Bertrand that wasn't, and the allowance for it to be taken well forward from where the alleged foul occurred, there was the first yellow card against Yoshida that wasn't, and the amount of extra time that robbed us of two points. So well done, Moss, you have excelled yourself once again. The BT commentary thought that the first half was a dull affair, but Saints had been dominant for much of it and Everton didn't carry much threat. We had showed some serious intent to get behind them and as well as the incompetent referee, the linesman on our left was also poor with two decisions. He flagged Austin offside from a superb ball from Hojbjerg, when he was miles onside. Austin would have been through into the area without the false call. Later on towards half time, Lemina had done really well getting forward, to suffer another poor decision from that linesman. The passing and movement in the first half was good from us and we had the possession without too much goal threat. When Lemina went off at half time, I thought that Redmond was too lightweight as a replacment and Everton began to win more of the midfield. But Redmond scored a cracking goal from a good cross from Cedric that made his introduction look inspired. Cedric's crossing into the box had been poor until then, but that one was on a plate for Redmond, who apparently scored his first PL goal via a header. The other substitutions looked solid enough Tadic for J W-P and then Long on for Austin. Having gained the lead, we played with belief and purpose and even when Yoshida was red carded for what again didn't look that bad a challenge, we were backs against the wall, but disciplined. Hoedt made a poor tackle on Coleman and Baines stepped up for the free kick in exactly the place that the commentators thought was right up his street. The kick was a good one, but McCarthy produced a fabulous save and it looked as if it might be our first win against Everton at Goodison for 21 years. Having been so unlucky to concede so late in the game (just like against Man City/Stirling) it was a kick in the teeth and the players must feel demoralised. Now we have to pick ourselves up and beat Swansea on Tuesday. Their run in the last few matches hasn't been good and Bournemouth did us a massive favour today. We are weakened though without Yoshida and presumably Lemina too. Is Romeu going to be absent too because of the number of yellows he has? If we are without those three, it is worrying indeed. But we know what we have to do and it is in our hands. At least the team spirit has improved under Hughes compared to that shown under the clown.

Yes, it is bizarre, especially as he was a Liverpool player once. Didn't they train robustly when he was there? It isn't as if he came here with no experience of the division at all.

I agree. Redmond should be out on the right. Bertrand had established a very good understanding with Tadic on the left previously and got further forward on the overlap with him and often played good one-twos into the box with him. There was hardly any of that with Redmond, although of course that didn't stop Tadic having a great game up the middle.

I also said that earlier. One of the most annoying things earlier in the season was Tadic getting into shooting positions and not pulling the trigger himself. His recent goals have demonstrated his ability and even if a shot is parried by the keeper, or takes a deflection off a defender, it has been a superior option to him passing to one of our inept strikers, who either put the shot high or wide, or get closed down before they can shoot. If Hughes has been responsible for persuading him to have a go then good for him. Now Tadic's confidence must be boosted to the extent that he will feel inclined to do it at every opportunity, which will give defences an additional headache.

Thank God Swansea lost to Chelski. 0-1, Fabregas 4 minutes.

Well, that was never dull. Although we were very tentative in the first half, we were given a boost by Tadic's goal, but hit with a sucker-punch just before half time. But how much better it was to concede before half time than after, as Hughes was able to give them a lift and some encouragement. In the second half, we showed some real fight and spirit. Hughes got the substitutions spot on, I thought. He strengthened the midfield with Hojbjerg, Long provided the pace and never say attitude that compensates for his inability to tuck the ball into the net, but he does at least tie up a defence, and provide the pace to track back against a team that hits you on the break. In the past couple of games, it has seemed that there were a couple of players who gave the appearance that they weren't that bothered to give there all. One of those was Lemina. Well, what a performance he put in today. If he can replicate that in the last three games, we stand a chance. Bertrand was the other one who I thought hadn't given his all, and today he wasn't bad. He has been at his best with Tadic in front of him and Redmond should have been out on the right. But Tadic was able to get more central and had a great match, could have had a hat trick. Too many times this season, he has seemed scared to shoot, and has passed square when the chance was his. Today, his shooting was top drawer. I wonder whether Hughes has encouraged him to have a go? No doubt his confidence will have received a boost and I hope that he keeps it up for the next three matches. Lastly, but certainly not least, massive praise for the man between the sticks. What an incredible performance from him. That one right at the end kept us the three points and was a worldy save. Man of the match today could easily go to three players, McCarthy, Lemina or Tadic. It was a bit backs against the wall for the last ten minutes, and Bournemouth are the division's late goal specialists, but we persevered and for once deserved on balance to get all three points. I'd forgotten what it felt like to walk away from St Mary's after a win. When was the last one?

Red and Gold

There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting two up front, providing that they are given some service. Nothing at all wrong with Hughes' formation on paper either, either five at the back when defending, or five in the middle when in possession going forward. Where it all fell down, is because Bertrand and Cedric never ventured far enough forward to stretch the midfield and provide any forward threat to put balls into the area for Long and Austin to attack. Also one or other of the midfield three should have been an attacking midfielder, but it was hard to identify whether any of them was, judging from their performances. If the plan from the beginning was to sit back and stifle Chelski, then what was the point in starting with two up top? Long at least offered the opportunity of a ball over the top, but that then relied on him either having the ability to make some use of it, or to hold it up until Austin got into the box in support. I don't think that Long and Austin is the right combination anyway. Austin/Gabbiadini would provide more threat, but they have not had any time to work up a partnership and Gabbiadini doesn't seem to have the confidence, having had it knocked out of him. Rodgriguez has shown that he would have been better, but we will have the opportunity of seeing how Gallagher fares next season. Carillo presumably is deemed not to be good enough to even make the bench, but the second division bench might be his level.

This is the attitude that Pellegrino had, which resulted in no wins for a record run of poor results which was the worst in our history. There is nothing wrong with two up top, especially late on in a game you need to win, providing that one or both of those strikers are prepared to track back and aid the midfield. Simultaneously to adding the second striker, you also strengthen the defence or midfield too.

So when we are fighting for survival in the division having left it far too late to replace the manager, who on earth would think it a good idea when it eventually happens, to replace the manager with the one who was sacked by one of only two teams below us? Was it because there is typically a new manager bounce which results in better performances from players wishing to impress the new manager? Did the fact that Hughes had never been relegated as a manager influence the decision, so that it was deemed infeasible that he would relegate us? We will be his first relegation, as would Stoke have been had they not sacked him. Typically having put in a decent shift against two glory teams, but having capitulated and lost the matches when we had a real chance of points, we threw away the really decent opportunity of gaining points against a lesser team, because we just didn't have the nerve, the desire, or the tactical ability to win. Hughes' substitutions threw away that chance. Despite a scrappy, boring first half when we gave away the ball from clumsy passing or half-hearted tackling, the defence at least was resolute and stood firm. Leicester's danger men were Vardy and Mahrez and we kept them quiet, reducing them to the ball over the top to Vardy, relying on his pace. Effectively we had countered that by having Long up top, and when he was substituted for Austin, we lost the pace threat. Most on here, and the commentators, thought that Long and Austin should have been up top together. Long, although tired, still had the pace and the heart to track back to midfield and cover breaks by them. The attack would have added further menace had Simms also come on, as he is both more attack-minded and with a better footballing brain than Redmond. But still, when we are in the Championship next season, we will hopefully get in a manager who is capable of inspiring the remaining players, once we have lost those who think that they are too good for us. A manager who will take us back to basics, recognising that a successful team is built with a strong spine from top to bottom. When we were promoted in successive seasons, a major factor was that the teams comprised of several players who had previously captained their former clubs and had good leadership qualities. Currently we are lacking any such players, which is why we cannot lift our heads when we go behind in a match, or put in a sustained effort when we have the chance to win late on, like last night.

Toon Saint That really was a masterly summary of events.