Wes Tender

Talking about Chelski cheating at moving the ball forward for free kicks, I remember Willian moving the ball forward several yards last year and scoring from that free kick. Had it been taken at the correct place, it would have been virtually impossible to have scored from there. Most teams try and gain some advantage from doing this, or taking throw-ins from much further forward. We are either naive or too honest to do much of this ourselves and had we been more cynical, we might have gained a few more points from it. I don't condone it, but if others do it, why shouldn't we?

I most certainly was around, having been a ST holder for 25 years. When you say that none of those things happened, that isn't strictly true. Granted that under Lowe he didn't lower the ST prices, but then again, one wouldn't have expected him too, it being Lowe. As you say, things didn't really begin to look up until Liebherr bought us. But then again, the situation in PL football has also changed since then with even more matches being rescheduled for TV, PL season ticket prices much higher, more foreign players, etc. If we go down and ticket prices don't decrease, then the ST sales will plummet. We will suffer fewer fixture changes because TV will be less interested in us unless we are playing the glory teams in a cup match. We will be inclined to go back to signing more British players and relying more on our academy players and we will win more matches than we have this season.

Klingons on the starboard bow?

It is somehow incredibly fitting that it is called the black box. The black box on an aircraft identifies what caused a fatal crash. In this case, it appears that it was the black box itself which caused the fatal crash. The reality of course is that the success of our so called black box is dependent not only on the information it provides, but on how it is interpreted, which is where human error proves it fallible. Arguably the major error in signing on Pellegrino as manager outweighs any of the successes.

Had that nearly £100 milllion worth of talent played yesterday, the score would have been much worse.

I'm quite looking forward to the season in the second division in August. We might actually play some more entertaining football with reasonable frequency and actually win some matches at home. The STs will be cheaper and more matches will be played at 3pm on a Saturday, instead of at 12.30 or 5.50, or on a Sunday. I won't miss playing the glory teams with the referee bias that is shown to them, or the dirty cheating foreign mercenaries that play for them. If any of our mercenaries want to f*ck off and play elsewhere, then good riddance. Any who want to stay and show some pride in wearing the shirt here, then you're welcome. With luck, the board will have a clear out, too, as the appointment of the last two managers and the failure to sack the most incompetent one on our entire history of the club in time to give us a chance of survival in the PL demonstrates clearly that they are incompetent and a liability. Yes, it was great when we had Adkins, Pochettino and Koeman and played attractive attacking football and feared no team in the PL. But frankly, I preferred the progress we made from the lower divisions under Adkins to what we have had these past two seasons. "The Southampton Way" finished many months ago and "We march on" is just a joke. Regarding today, the 45 minutes of the first half was really very good, but the capitulation in that 10 minutes of madness was all the more galling as a result. But what do we expect when the board failed to replace the linchpins of our defence or the strikers who actually scored more than a handful of goals a season? Hughes is better than Pellegrino, but when all is said and done, we replaced the worst manager in our history with the one who was sacked by the team below us, with no time to make a difference. Apparently Hughes has never had a team relegated that he managed, so we will be the first. The whole season is a giant f*ck-up, and I'd rather that we started again in the second division and got back to basics. As for the referee, I read somewhere from some Chelsea fans that Mike Dean always favours them and so it proved, the bent incompetent tw*t.

Thanks for posting that, Ant. I attended that AGM and it was fascinating to be reminded of it chapter and verse. That time when Lowe came back to running the club with the quisling Wilde were probably the darkest days in the club's history.

Exactly what I saw too. What a shame that there wasn't video evidence to back it up at the time during the game. I don't recall them analysing the possibility of a push on MOTD. What a c*nt Wilshere is, what with his cheating by holding players back by tugging at their shirts too.

We were the better team for much of that match. Had we managed a draw, it wouldn't have raised too many eyebrows. Marriner didn't do us any favours, but then he never does, especially when we play a glory team. He ought to have sent Wilshere off too, the cheating little turd. Stephens has been a liability in defence, so thank God that Yoshida is back, although we can't play three at the back now. Altogether a much better performance from the team and a real rarity with both strikers scoring. Hopefully Long's confidence will be boosted so that he goes on a mini-run in the final matches. Good to see that Austin is still a natural poacher, even when not fully match fit. Simms is worth a run out for the extra dimension he gives us. With Lemina back, we should be able to shore up the midfield to give greater cover for the defence, although it is abundantly clear that it has been the inaction of the board in not signing replacements for Fonte and then V-VD that has contributed to the situaion we find ourselves in now; that and the criminal lack of action regarding not getting rid of the clown in the New Year.

Of course he had to stick out his leg to try and defelect the ball. He doesn't have eyes in the back his head to know where McCarthy was. It was just unlucky that the ball deflected off him.

It isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that we could win this, even from a goal behind. Arsenal's defence doesn't look any better than ours. We have been much better than against West Ham, not that that is very difficult. I'm pleased to have Yoshida back to give us a back three, with five with the wing backs. A pity that Lemina isn't available, or the midfield would have been very solid indeed. At some stage, we will need to take off Tadic or Ward-Prowse for Austin/Gabbiadini, especially if Long is not 100%.

Is Long a Centre Forward? How often does he score goals? I'd much rather have him out there than Redmond or Tadic, as he has more pace and determination than both of them combined. I'm with Derry on this, the midfield was exposed by having smaller weak players like Redmond and Tadic unsupported by Bertrand and Cedric pressing forward and offering an outlet out wide for the diagonal balls. Me, I'd have Romeu, Lemina and Hojbjerg together as a midfield three, but one could be substituted for a player with a bit of flare like Tadic or Bouffal, or indeed Sim, but not two of them together.

West Ham had two up front at the start until Antonio went off. We have played virtually the entire season with just one up front until the game is lost, and that has been partly why we have failed to score many goals, as the striker has been isolated. Having two up top doesn't have to mean that the team is weakened in midfield, any more than having three at the back means that the defence is weakened. Three at the back invariably means with two wing backs, therefore five at the back and then either four or preferably five in midfield when in possession and pressing forward. In any event, two up top doesn't preclude one or both of the strikers dropping back to assist the midfield, whilst simultaneously requiring defenders to be kept back to contain them.

When we are down next season, there will be a lot of the show ponies leaving and good riddance to them. We can replace them with players who give a damn, are proud to wear the shirt and give their all for the team and club. If Hughes is worth his salt, he will ditch the players in this match for the rest of the season who didn't give their all, as we have no hope at all of avoiding relegation if we continue to play like that again. Bring back Ward-Prowse, give Romeu another chance, maybe McQueen, Yoshida. Ditch Tadic and Redmond, probably Hoedt. Continue with Austin and Gabbiadini with Long out wide behind them. On paper we ought to have enough talent to be better than three other teams, but we don't have the team spirit or the belief to win matches against the teams around us. Had we sacked the clown in the New Year, we stood a chance of turning things around with a wider choice of managers available and the ability to bring in players in the transfer window capable of shoring up a defence at one end and scoring goals at the other. As we now have the manager who was sacked by the club below us in charge, we have hampered our chances badly. Maybe we can get Adkins back in as manager next season.

We are absolutely totally sh*t. I don't expect to hear commentators saying that West Ham want it more and have greater commitment. What is Redmond doing on the left and Tadic on the right? I thought that what was what made Pellegrino such an imbecile. Why are we playing 4-4-2? It has allowed West Ham to dominate the midfield and get the ball forward to Arnautovic, who has been devastating. Doesn't Hughes remember his strengths and how to counter them? Get Redmond and Tadic off the pitch and replace them with somebody with more balls and more strength. Long would be a better option than Redmond, and at least give some fight. Now that Yoshida is back, I wold have liked 5 across the back with Betrand and Cedric as wing backs. We could have had Romeu, Lemina and Hojbjerg across the middle, still allowing two up top. Several players have been really poor, misplaced sloppy passes, second to the ball, lacking in desire. We are going down and Hughes hasn't enough time to do anything about it, because they left the clown in place far too long.

Maybe the figures included ST holders who could not attend.

The amalfi coast is on my hit list !! Looks great. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I've been to Vancouver and Toronto, New England (all 6 states), Los Angeles, Florida, Seattle, Thailand, Hong Kong, about a dozen Greek Islands, Tunisia, much of Europe. But I'm with you, Italy is outstanding. I've done (several times for many of the following) Venice, Rome, Florence, Trieste, Sienna, Bologne, Turin, Milan, Amalfi coast, Sorrento, Neapolitan Riviera, Italian Lakes, Riviera del fiori, Sicily(3). Out of all of them though, there is nowhere else that matches the Neapolitan Riviera for sights, scenic beauty, culture, architecture and history. The list includes Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Capri, etc. Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius and Rome is also doable in a day trip too.

A really poor first half, but looking almost like our old selves in the second half. I'm not sure why we were so bad in the first half, whether it was the residue of Pellegrinoitis, a poor pitch, the cold swirly wind, or a confident Wigan playing on their home turf (or lack of it) and determined to get in our faces. The commentators were rightly full of praise for Wigan's spirited and gutsy performance and thought that a neutral observer would have thought them the PL side. A succession of corners went their way and it was riding our luck expecting that eventually one wouldn't sneak in. They were also a boot lace away from contact with the ball on a couple of wicked crosses in front of goal. But that is the FA Cup all over, how the minnow can beat the best team in the land in one match having been under the cosh for most of it but keeping a clean sheet, and yet then dominate another PL team at the bottom end of the table for half of the match and yet concede two goals to them. It is the same situation in the semi-final and final, that the other three teams are much better than us, but we could still win the cup if we turn up on the day and lady luck smiles on us in two matches. Again, who knows why we played so much better in the second half? Hughes' half time inspirational talk? Tightening up our formation, identifying our weakenesses and theirs and addressing both? Wigan increasingly tired? Wind in our favour? Whatever it was, it certainly produced a much more positive performance from us and we then looked to be the PL team, controlling the game, stepping up the pressure and winning a succession of corners ourselves. Typically for us, both of our goals fell to players who had not scored for the club before, a full back and a midfielder. Our strikers hardly ever score because Pellegrino never played two together often enough, and it was nice to see Hughes start with two up top. Gabbiadini is still short of confidence, but showed some nice movement and intent. Carillo didn't look like a threat at any time, but there is time for either him or Long to spend time playing together in training to form an understanding of each others' game. Hojbjerg's goal was bundled in affair, full marks for determination. Cedric's was a thing of real beauty, a very skillful and well finished solo effort from the left side. I'm quite happy to get Chelsea instead of United or Spurs. There was a comedy moment when the draw was made, when they showed us in the draw as number 4, Wigan or Southampton. Then the daffy lass summarised us as playing Spurs, wasn't it?

It doesn't matter whether Gabbiadini has his face to goal or his back. At his most confident, he can score either way. All he needs is decent service and a partner to feed off in or around the box with him.

A premature ejaculation.

Where did I claim that my vision of Brexit was always Canada+++ ? Show me. Read my post above again. It only says that it looks as if we might end up with a Canada +++ deal, it doesn't in any way infer that I claimed that was what we would get. Please confirm in unambiguous language that you will honour the bet that we agreed on, to pay £50 to a charity if we do not go down the route of a Norway style deal.

In my opinion our strongest strategy was indeed playing Bertrand and Cedric as wing backs. We were effective often with Tadic/Boufal overlapping Bertrand on the left and Redmond should play on the right, overlapping Cedric. Our problem has been that if the ball has been played into the box from a fast break forward out wide, that there have not been the players in the box in sufficient numbers to capitalise. We need two strikers in there, or if not, one striker and a player with quick feet and a good shot on him, like Sims. I do hope that we have seen the last of this possession at all costs boring football, with the ball passed sideways and backwards until the opposition defence is back in numbers and impregnable. If it is Hughes, it would be nice to see whether he can eradicate this from our game and get us to press forward in numbers and with pace. Let's see what Gabbiadini can do with some service, maybe even Carillo, or both together please.

I agree, what a position to find ourselves in. The blame lies with Les Reed for appointing a manager totally out of his depth and then not having the balls to admit that he had cocked it up and bring in somebody sooner when there was still a better selection of candidates and a January transfer window available to bring in the players to plug the gaps in the squad. If we survive in the PL, then effectively we start next season with a clean slate and can go back to the drawing board, hopefully learning from the mistakes we made these past two seasons.

I've only just bothered to look back to see whether you had responded to my post. Are you trying to wriggle out of the bet, with this waffle about why you felt sure that we would go for the Norway option? It very much looks like Canada +++, but I'll wait until it is finalised before I call you out on honouring the bet; if you are honourable, that is.

Hughes taking up knitting? Now there's a mental picture that will be difficult to shake off! But why wouldn't he have kept an eye on us these past several weeks? Once he had lost his job at Stoke in the New Year, then surely he would have been casting an eye over other clubs who might potentially sack their manager, in order to bone up on what he might say at an interview if he was invited to comment on how he would go about turning around that club's fortunes. Most on here were calling for Pochettino's head by the New Year, so as other clubs near the relegation zone appointed replacement managers, the field narrowed as to the clubs that might become available and the managers who might take them over. I would be surprised if Hughes hadn't considered the possibility of managing us in the event of us sacking Pellegrino, and accordingly made provision for it by doing a bit of research into us, our players and where we were going wrong.