kitch

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/17560871.southampton-defender-maya-yoshida-turned-down-a-summer-move/?fbclid=IwAR3rgluT-viS09W3VGovcQjzts-_hdi537dtwPEezLipMNyLE5UeAFTY78s The Saudi rumour was true, it seems.

Listened to some of the earlier ones yesterday in the car. Kept me awake on the A34 slog back down here!

This. Gallagher was totally starved of service, and I think grew frustrated as time went on. Early doors, he was winning most aerial battles and holding up the ball quite well, but as the match progressed he looked a little bit despondent. It's his first game back in god knows how long, so let's not write him off yet.

Funny how we all see things differently! I was there, and I thought he did well all things considered. Didn't need bailing out too often, won some headers etc. OK so he's not going to be a starter for years to come, but I think the foundations are there. Didn't make many runs down the wing, but then we seemed to be playing through the middle anyway. For me it was Tyreke Johnson who looked out of his depth, and I'm guessing Ralph thought so too, hence why he was hauled off.

Just got back from the game. I have one question: What is he for?

Thought he deserved a thread of his own after tonight. Decent performance. Twice he's been asked to cover two different positions, and twice he's done well. No worse than Valery IMO. One for the future, for sure.

Exactly what my 9yr old said to me. There was no difference. If Valery dived, then it was the best dive I've ever seen.

I thought he lived in Otterbourne/Hursley area?

The version I saw on FB was: Kruger went to Europe, To buy an apple strudel, Instead he got a gaffer, His name is Hasenhuttl

You know, I had no idea of this, and I've seen that Facebook page. I hate hunting personally (unless they're going to eat what they've shot, but they aren't). So yeah, I hope the club drop UA. Genuinely. No point boycotting the products as such, but informing the club that many fans don't sit well with it might not be a bad idea. Sorry, I know I'm supposed to chip in with some casual sarcasm and keyboard-warrior etiquette...

Yeah, I did. I can either say he's slow, immobile and normally in poor positions, or I can say all that but at least know that he gives a ****. One is better than the other, and given the apparent lack of ****s seeming to be being given by the majority of the team at the moment, I'd class it as a positive. You have to dig deep to find positives these days, you see.

Can't pin that one on the ref too much. Yes, if the goal had been allowed we'd likely have won, but the fact we're fighting over such fine margins shows what a mess we are at the moment. Watford were on the receiving end of some shocking decisions too. Positives: Gabbi - Industrious. Looked game for it and put in a shift. Austin - Looked REALLY bothered at the end. Shows he cares. Hoedt - Cruyf turn went down well with my kids! Yoshi - Good to see him back, though a couple of rickets. Lemina looked fired up again. Didn't get beat. Negatives: Cedric's defending. Redmond back to being ineffective and moaning again. Ings' injury. Hojbjerg's play-acting and sloppy performance. Conceding from a 1 goal lead AGAIN. A draw won't be enough to move Hughes on, and that bugs me because long term he is absolutely not the man for this job. They won't sack him off the back of that, though. They'll blame the officials, but Watford should have had a pen (and would have scored it) and could have gone on to win the game. They also had a lot of poor decisions and generally we were the ones 'cheating' most of the time. Success looks decent. Could use someone like him!

He's gone!

Agreed.

Singling out Cedric does seem a bit odd. He's by no means the worst offender out there. I'd say only Ings, Yoshi, Bednarek, McCarthy and sometimes PEH look fussed. None of the others seem to care too much, at least not on the surface.

He was great directly after, to be fair. It was about a year later that he suddenly started struggling.

I would imagine his head isn't in a good place. Speculation, of course, but he doesn't seem the mercenary type to me, where money is everything. I could be totally wrong, obviously. I don't know the bloke, or his situation. He did become a liability, and IMO he does need to get a move even if only on loan. Enough years left to kick start his career again, and he'll do a club a good turn in the future if he knuckles down. Sad situation really, though hard to sympathise too much with someone earning 50k+ a week for keeping fit, while most of us scrimp by!

His decision making in the 2nd half was worrying, like he and Bertrand are on different wavelengths, but for the first half I thought he was really positive. One of the few players you got out of your seat over went he went on a run. Showed good feet too. There's a cracking player in there somewhere.

Honestly, I think we'll go down. A draw tonight against Swansea, and then a beating by Citeh while Swansea go on to beat Stoke.

Not to mention the fact Austin has scored against them in the last two games.

In a way, you could level our current plight at Everton. They lure Koeman away, the boat gets rocked, Puel comes in and everything that happened since, happened from that moment.

I would say it's got to be Austin, though even he would probably feel a knob for accepting any award for anything any of the players did this season (so far, anyway). PEH suddenly started to shine like the player we all know he can be, but in the last month has been shyte again (perhaps excluding Wigan). No idea what goes on with him. McCarthy's done fairly well, having been thrown into a team to replace a bona-fide no.1 starter who'd been shipping goals behind a crap defence. Quite a lot of pressure there, and he could have done much worse. Not saying he's been outstanding, like a Nick Pope situation, but he's done what he needed to do in a fairly toxic atmosphere. The rest are made up of players who've been injured/not given a chance, such as JWP, Gabbi, Sims, Davis, Yoshida etc., or players who've just been shyte (consistent or otherwise) on the whole, such as Tadic, Redmond, Boufal, Lemina, Forster, Cedric, Bertrand etc. God, what a depressing season it's been! Is it over yet?

Watched on the telly. Thought PEH had stood out from the start. Tenacious, ready to battle and try and win the ball at all costs. He's safe with it, too, a bit like JWP. He's not going to set the world alight with skills or a blistering run, but when he's got the ball, and he's being hussled, he's generally assured in possession, before playing simple passes back out of danger. PEH was my MoM, and I don't think he was as bad as people are making out in the first out (well, relatively speaking, seeing as they were all ****). McCarthy also looking confident. If FF had been in goal, he wouldn't have come for those crosses, and if someone like Grigg is waiting, it would porbably have been toe-poked into the net. McCarthy cemented as no.1 at the moment, IMO. Thought Cedric started very poorly, and other than the goal didn't do very much. Bertrand and Boufal's progress was being stifled by Wigan's RB, so didn't get to see them get going. Lemina did OK. Flashes of his class. What I couldn't figure out, is why Redmond was on the left (a right footed player), and Tadic (a left footed player) on the right. Both of them attacking at a snail's pace, and always having to cut back inside. At least with Tadic you've got some confidence in him that he'll still deliver the ball, but not Redmond. That said, I think Redmond deserves another go now. There's a good player in there, and he's quick. Get his confidence back up, convince him to actually take on a man and use his pace, and I think he could be an important player again. Stick him on the right with Gabbi up top, Boufal or JWP in the centre, Tadic on the left.

We can but hope.