Wes Tender

Managers are the same as other professionals in that there are good ones, average ones and poor ones. Change the manager and even if we get an average one we are ahead of the game. But there is the possibility that we might find another good one like Pochettino. I'm pretty sure there aren't that many out there as bad as Pellegrino.

You're the prat, if you believe that you speak for anybody else by stating that most would have accepted a draw against Watford before the match, especially in the form that they are in, which was almost the same as ours. We had players returning from injury, they had players absent. They were there for the taking had we had a manager with any tactical nous. As you've watched Saints for 60 years, how many managers have we had in that time as clueless as Pellegrino?

Speak for yourself. I wouldn't have taken it before the game and I doubt that many others would have too.

Bloody typical! Lemina should have been brought on immediately Watford started to dominate possession and had us on the rack, getting their goals as a result. We took back control for a period when he did come on. Watford put on the big guns up front who muscled us off the ball and had our defence under the cosh. Pellegrino should have countered with fresh legs and a strategy to keep the ball more to run down the clock. But by the time MOTD has been shown, now everybody will know that Watford scored their equaliser illegally, so we lose two points as a result of incompetent refereeing. If they aren't going to introduce video evidence, then perhaps they should disallow the goal retrospectively instead. But regardless of that, if Pellegrino can't produce a strategy to hold a two goal lead, then the sooner we say goodbye to him the better.

Well, no need to look for a striker in the window; we have James Ward-Prowse. A good performance first half, especially when we had the confidence boost from our first goal. McCarthy acquitted himself well with a good save and two good takes from inward strikes. Defence much tighter with Cedric and Hoedt back. A fantastic strike from Hoedt almost scoring when he saw Gomez off his line. Midfield commanding with Romeu decent and Hojbjerg very good again. Long having a good game, typically fighting for every half chance and causing panic with his pace. Bertrand effective getting up the left and Cedric up the right. Bertrand putting in some some crosses. Tadic has been showing the skill he possesses and looks up for it. Provided that we continue playing like this, three points should be in the bag. But I know better than to count my chickens when Pellegrino has shown some poor tactical ability when we let a goal in and pressure builds.

Your New Year's resolution to try and be a less obnoxious person didn't last long, did it?

At least we won't have to beat Arsenal in the final now

We're the PL team with the expensive players and yet the possession figures would have suggested that Fulham were. A really scrappy game, but thank God that we held out. I heard loud a clear our chant against Pellegrino "you don't know what you're doing" when he took Hojbjerg off, but at least it was a like for like for Lemina. Gabbiadini is so far out of sorts from lack of match time that he skyed his shot at an open goal. I would have had him on instead of Redmond, who didn't do much when he came on.

So far so good. Fulham have looked dangerous at times, our defence shaky. We ought to have had a penalty. A good shot into the goal from Long when he was a fraction offside. Boufal is a handful.

Yet another match begins without two strikers up front. No ambition, no idea, no threat.

Luka Modric, surely?

I noted that the match commentators said that he purred like a Rolls Royce in his movement across the pitch. Of course, he never played like that for us, or the same pundits would have made the same observations about him then, wouldn't they? It's marvellous how much better a player becomes the instant they put on a glory team shirt.

What sort of argument is that? Of course you would watch the entire match on TV as a neutral, as it wouldn't matter to you who won. However, if the match was worse entertainment than watching paint dry, then it would be understandable if one switched over the channel and watched something else. If you were watching your own team on the box, then the inclination would be to watch it all regardless of how ****e it was, because you have spent very little or nothing on the match and don't even have to leave the comfort of your own sofa. But if one had spent a lot of money to get to the match, maybe travelled a long distance, sacrificed the chance to be there by missing some other important engagement, then the choice is totally yours as to whether you leave early or watch the dismal dross until the final whistle. I didn't leave early, as I felt the need to boo loudly when the whistle blew. Call me an improper fan if you like, but there comes a point when one feels that if you really love your club, then action needs to be taken to save it from relegation. That time for action is now.

I agree with everything you say until the last paragraph. Anybody who pays their hard earned cash to watch us play/not play is perfectly entitled to express their dissatisfaction at a poor performance in whatever way they see fit. Staying right up to the final whistle and cheering on the team regardless of the sh*t performance of the players not giving 100% is a great comfort to the Board, who will be encouraged to do nothing to fix things. Fans streaming out of the stadium en masse before the end of the match, falling attendance figures and half ST sales, loud booing at the final whistle are far more likely to get the message across that Pellegrino needs to be replaced. It should be a comfort to the real fans though that when we are in the second division, most of those Sky groupies and tourists will have buggered off. The tourists can make a short trip to watch Bournemouth or Brighton playing the glory teams instead.

Of course, V-VD has only just left, so we can't expect a transformation in the team immediately. It will take a few more games and pep talks from Krueger, the great motivational speaker until the team spirit returns and then we will be unbeatable. The first sign ofn this turnaround happened earlier than expected when Long scored. Seriously though, Pellegrino must go before he gets us relegated and if Krueger and the board aren't prepared to countenance the drastic action that is required, then perhaps it is time to get on their backs with organised protests. Had Long been a decent striker, he could have had a brace before a minute and a half. The match was a tale of two halves, when having scored, we dominated possession and frustrated Palace. But not having scored again when we had the momentum, Hodgson had time for a tactical assessment of how they could turn the match and he made a change immediately the second half began. As time wore on, Palace came more into it, gained more possession, won more of the 50/50 balls in midfield and gradually pinned us further into our own half. It was only a matter of time until they equalised and having done so, their heads were up and ours went down. Hodgson made two tactical substitutions before Pellegrino even made his first and having seen that our midfield was being overrun, Pellegrino decided to weaken it still further by taking off Hojbjerg for Davis. From that moment on Palace could have scored even more. It was a pleasant surprise to see both Gabbiadini and Long up front together, but the match was already lost by the time he did it. Why it never occurs to him that the time to have two strikers up front at home is from the first whistle, I don't know. Quite why Lemina wasn't played, or why Hoedt didn't start is beyond me. If this clown gets us relegated, I don't think that I could be bothered continuing to watch this dross that his teams serve up in the league below. If the football we play is at least entertaining and full of commitment, then fair enough. But it hasn't been since the end of last season, and I've pretty well had enough of it.

I believe that we do actually have a squad of players that ought to be capable of getting us to just outside of the top six clubs in the PL. If we are not anywhere near that, whose fault is it? Is it down to some bad vibes brought about by the V-VD situation, or is it the fault of the manager? If the football we are playing is turgid at the moment, is that the fault of the players or the manager? When we are scoring less than a goal a match, whose fault is that? Should we have bought in better strikers in the summer, should we have started Austin earlier, why has Gabbiadini become so ineffective, why can't we for once play two strikers together? Whose fault is that lot? And if our chairman calls us a small club, how are we going to convince players that this is a good club to come to? Oh, silly question, they can come here, play well for a couple of years and then go to Liverpool. It is really appropriate that we are playing Crystal Palace tonight. They were a team seemingly cut loose at the bottom of the table, almost certainly doomed to relegation. Now with a manager who knows his stuff, they will overtake us if they beat us tonight and we will be swapping places with them soon as the club falling though the floor. And in the process, they are playing entertaining, attacking football, something that we used to do.

It's a shame that we sold V-VD to Scousehampton, but at £75 million we pulled their pants down once more and the price was far too high for us to be able to dismiss it. With luck it will soon become clear as it did with Lovren, that how well he plays will have something to do with who is beside him or in front of him. Also it would be great if either Hoedt proves to be as good as him, or we unearth another gem to replace him. We've done this several times before, so no reason why we shouldn't continue to do it again.

It's the point I made earlier. Despite the excuses made for United that they looked jaded, they still have a depth of player quality that we could only dream about. And it isn't too fanciful to claim the possibility that had we had those absentees playing, we might have actually beaten that United team today (well without Forster and Redmond, obviously )

Benteke?

We played with our reserve keeper, without our first choice left and right backs and CB and without our main striker. And on the balance of play during the 90 minutes, we were often the side carrying the greater threat and desire. This result was totally unexpected following on from the Spurs debacle, but when there were many players who didn't seem up to putting in a shift against them, tonight it would be almost churlish to pick a single player out as having put in less than 100% effort into getting that result.

So far so good. We've given pretty well as good as we've got. Man U's finishing in the final third has been as bad as ours. We're playing much more as a unit than we did against Spurs and the players give the impression that they care. Boufal impresses so far. I would still like to see Gabbiadini up top with Long.

On paper the squad we have already even without V-VD, ought to be plenty good enough to survive without being relegated. However, that relies on us getting a successful striker or two and a CB replacement in the January transfer window and not selling the likes of Bertrand. Even then, it is patently obvious that Pellegrino has neither the tactical ability, nor the motivational qualities to succeed, almost regardless of the abilities of the players he is likely to have at his disposal. Pellegrino isn't suddenly going to become a competent PL manager even with the astute expenditure of the V-VD monies on quality replacement players where there are weaknesses in the team.

Isn't there a poll for Pellegrino, stay or go? Maybe I missed it.

Are Spurs better than Man City? It took them until 6 seconds past full time and added on time to beat us. For all that we were torn apart by Spurs, having Van-Dijk, Bertrand and Cedric alongside Hoedt and Yoshida might have made a difference. Unlucky not to have our first choice full backs, but Van-Dijk might have kept out Kane for one or more of his goals and might also have done something about the Son and Ali goals too. I'm quite amazed that we scored two without Austin and those goals not being from a striker. Nearly had one courtesy of Rose too. Bertrand is a far better player than him.

Are the five Spurs goals enough ammunition for the board to sack Pellegrino? I do hope so. When we first announced that we were signing him, I thought that they were talking of the other one, the silver fox that managed City. What a pity that it wasn't him instead of Mauricio P, Mk11, (but nowhere near in the same class), ex-international Argentinian CB. It was nostalgic watching the original and best Mauricio demolish us with his trademark high press that used to entertain us so much.