saintwbu

It's astonishing that having gone 12 games without a win, and being 25 games in with only 23 points, we are STILL not more than a win from safety. Honestly think it's going to need about 36 points to be safe this year at the rate everyone is going, if that! The players need the fans behind them for 90 minutes, last night you could see the hesitancy because they didn't want to misplace a pass and receive 30,000 groans. But that absolutely will not happen whilst Pellegrino is still here. If a new manager walked through the door tomorrow, St Mary's would be rocking for his first game, and the bar is set so low that it really wouldn't even have to be anyone spectacular to achieve such a reaction! The board are in the easiest possible position right now, like it honestly could not be any worse than it is right now, all they have to do is bin off a manager that absolutely nobody wants, and replace him with someone who has even 5% of the tactical nous of an average Premier League manager. They can get the fans back on side at the drop of a hat, just ****ing do it you absolute ****ing idiots.

We put in so many crosses in the first half everyone just knew that we’d stop as soon as he came on, and lo and behold we did just that.

Was quite impressed with him to be honest, on a very bleak night. Was surprised how little he won in the air but he was up against two beasts in Dunk and Duffy to be fair.

I think most people want him gone, but if they're anything like me they've probably realised that he's here to stay unless something goes drastically wrong (one might think going from 8th to 18th is 'drastically wrong' but apparently not) so may as well just get on with it.

I'm not sure a release clause technically counts as 'for sale', to be fair.

They're troll accounts those ones

Presumably he means he showed her a picture of Promes off google or similar, in order to clarify whether or not the guy they’d just seen was actually him?

Always very good on the ball but I often worry about his decision making and his choice of when to keep simple and when to try something more adventurous. However Dembele wouldnt have had any impact whatsoever if that ****ing idiot Kevin Friend could do his job. 6 times Dembele fouled one of our CM’s as they attempted to break, if he’d have been booked for the second one like he should’ve been, he’d have been treading on eggshells for the best part of an hour.

Get Promes and Slimani in pleeeeeeeeeease. Slimani has really got something to offer, but how do you fit a big target man into a side with Jamie Vardy in it, he just doesn’t suit them at all but would be brilliant here I think, given our tendency to cross. I’ve only seen Promes play once and it was for Holland (against Hungary or Bulgaria maybe?) pretty sure he set up two headed goals, I remember thinking i’d love us to sign him that day.

Redmond and Tadic particularly, Romeu, Davis, Hojbjerg (as good as he has been), JWP, Cedric, Bertrand. Every single player in the team has the responsibility of supplying the strikers at some time or another, but watching Gabbi make a run and then someone like Redmond take a second touch instead of passing it, meaning his third touch would be a pass to a now offside Gabbi is one of the most infuriating things to see on a football pitch. Play the ball first time for once, it's a skill taught to 5 year olds, yes it may end up with a bad pass but i'd rather 50 bad passes and 50 good passes, than 100 completely pointless sideways ones.

You're right. Whilst he's at it why doesn't he start picking up the ball in his own half and beating 8 players like Messi would, if he's that intelligent. Just adapt ffs.

Absolutely this. I can’t remember another Saints player so badly wasted by his teammates. Gabbi is an intelligent centre forward, Shane Long makes one straight run through the middle, whereas Gabbi will make 2 or 3 in one passage of play hoping his teammates find him, but they very rarely do. I remember watching Austin against Sunderland last year and it was the same, he kept getting flagged offside and everyone around me was moaning, when the reality was that he made his run perfectly but him and Gabbi are the type of players that need the pass instantly, otherwise that split second of quick thinking results in them running offside. The players behind them are so scared of giving the ball away that they just don’t take the risk, and Gabbi as a result is starved of anything that remotely resembles good service.

He sits on the bench because of Falcao, one of the best centre forwards in the world. He only needs to score goals against the likes of Brighton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Swansea, West Brom. He doesn’t need to be a world beater. It’s disappointing he’s the best we can muster up, but he looks and sounds completely different to anything we have at the moment which in my opinion is very important, we need a physical presence. If he takes the likes of Tadic and Boufal and Long up another gear because he causes defenders more problems than they currently do, then it’s fine by me. I have wanted Pellegrino gone since Brighton away (possibly even earlier), but if we’re going to keep the guy at least allow him to pick some players that he thinks will suit whatever his system is (i don’t know what it is, i’m not even sure he does) to give us a fighting chance of staying up.

Bong's done an interview on French tv whilst doing some punditry, discussing the incident. Not sure how that works with an ongoing investigation. He claims Jay said things which cannot be repeated on TV (or he doesn't have anything to repeat) and that there was no room for the gesture Jay made (you stink) in football as it's racist. Few suggestions on social media that the gesture Jay made is regarded as racist in other cultures, but obviously presumably not something Jay would be aware of. The incident occurred after Bong getting in Jay's face so it really does look like he was doing a 'get out my face your breath stinks' type of thing but of course only the two players know for sure what was said. Find it very hard to believe Jay Rodriguez would racially abuse another player, and even more hard to believe that he would use the phrase "you're black and you stink", which frankly as well as being deplorable is also quite infantile. Of course if he did say such a thing, he deserves whatever he gets. Also, Bong is the player who got kicked in the ******** twice by Lukaku. Maybe he's just a bit of a *****.

Cedric could definitely be improved upon, I wouldn't be against his departure

The first half should give us all hope that our team is good enough to survive, easily. The second half should confirm to us that it won’t if this manager remains in charge. not a chance.

Burnley aren’t a side i’d have down as creating a great deal of chances, they don’t try to, and it works. Everton have just gone two or three games without a shot on target haven’t they? So a bit of a skewed stat. The Watford one is a surprise, mind. But we definitely don’t create anywhere near enough, last season I felt like we could blame a goalless game on a player missing a sitter most weeks. This season we don’t even miss.

Barkley's price will also probably double as soon as he signs that contract too, so good business really.

Exactly. We don't necessarily need a prolific goalscorer, as long as he can bring goals out of everybody else, like Pelle and Lambert always used to. On Tuesday against Palace we got desperate and started lumping it long, but had absolutely no aerial presence so it was a waste of time. Our goal struggles the last two seasons have been our only two seasons in this era without a big front man, it's not a coincidence.

Both

Both absolutely **** sides, will be a crime if we come below either of them

Thought JWP was very good yesterday, always looking for the ball and keeping us moving. His pass for Long’s shot was something we’ve lacked all season, a midfielder spotting a run early and picking out the right pass rather than dithering.

Targett, having actually played well the last two games, is dropped for McQueen, a make shift left back who hasn’t started a game all season. It’s all good fun.

I get the impression he is a nice lad, I just think he's a bottler, and that then transfers into blaming others when things don't go right. Maybe psychologically he's just not cut out for top level football and will never fulfil the potential that he must have.

Against Huddersfield we managed to break from their corner's 3 or 4 times in the second half, but our lack of pace just meant we slowed everything down and allowed them to get back into position and then we're left passing it round in their half looking for a gap that we never find. Teams don't fear us on the counter attack. Walcott would bring exactly what we need, pure pace and directness. He is of course not all we need, I too would love Giroud like most on here, he's fantastic and again would be a great alternative for us, but Walcott would be a great signing in my opinion. I also think it'd bring a big lift to everyone, not just because it's Theo, but because it'd signal a different approach from the club by signing a player for now rather than for what he'll be worth in two years. Get him in!!