mrfahaji

Sims is direct with his running, he actually beats players one-on-one, that's sometimes what you need in tit-for-tat games. Boufal does the same. It's not the team I'd have picked but I don't have a huge problem with the personnel if they are played in the right positions and we play the right style. However, I'm pretty sure Redmond will be left and Tadic will be central. Which hasn't worked ALL SEASON. We shall see, but first impressions suggest the manager hasn't learnt and will never learn. Stubborn or clueless, you decide, but the result is the same.

That's exactly what I thought when he went to Tottenham. I know it's harder to justify it at Madrid, but who's to say he wouldn't sign the young superstars and mould them instead of signing players who had made it already. (Admittedly he'd still have to figure out a way to get Ronaldo, Ramos etc to fit in)

Yep. A lot of things that fans either knew at the start of the season, or realised after a few weeks, he still doesn't seem to have cottoned on to. Not sure if it's being stubborn or being clueless, but neither is good news for us.

1. We are growing 2. We are drawing lots of games and draws are as good as wins 3. We are dominating periods of matches, sometimes up to 10 minutes 4. A relegation battle is more exciting for the fans 5. There are still loads of games to go (just not quite as loads as there were a few weeks ago)

I don't remember the supporters demanding Puel to be sacked and replaced by someone with an even more defensive mindset?

I reckon Pellegrino is aiming to stay up on goal difference so he can feel vindicated about his cautious approach.

How important are the away fixtures vs Newcastle, West Ham & Swansea?! Teams within a win of us at the moment. A win could be crucial, but a loss could be curtains. No doubt Pellegrino will focus on the latter, but failing to win any of them would be pretty disastrous too.

Not saying we should have another poll, but if we did it would be better to have 3 (or more?) options - "sack him now", "hope for the best and sack him at end of season" and "keep the faith". Would at least give an ideal option for those people who don't rate but don't feel there's much we can do about it now.

I think Lord D is just suggesting a reasonable set of circumstances for why Reed hasn't sacked the manager. He's not saying he agrees with it. Most people are incredulous that he is still employed - in fact many of them were concerned a few weeks or months into the season - but that doesn't mean there is a conspiracy. It just means the board are judging the scenario differently, and only time will tell whether they have got it a) incredibly correct (we survive, maybe win the cup, and Pellegrino goes on to be a brilliant manager for us), b) wrong, where we narrowly escape relegation and can appoint a better manager from a range of options in the summer or c) catastrophically wrong, and we are relegated.

You know that cliche "when you're away from home, you want to silence the crowd"? Well if you could design a performance to do so, it would probably be Pellegrino's style. Only trouble is, he does it at home.

I think these are the main reasons. I also think the board are a bit caught up with the "appreciating asset" type view of running things (which is fine in general but only to a point), and shelling out ££ for compensation to MP and then more to a new guy who has little to no resale value goes against the grain. I reckon 2 and 3 are almost merged. I get the sense Reed isn't especially bright and has believed his own hype (or interpreted hype about the club as personal praise) and sees himself as a bit of a football guru. Pellegrino fits, or tows the line, in respect of Reed's footballing vision and therefore sacking him would throw doubts on either his recruitment or his philosophy, both of which Reed seems very (albeit wrongly) proud of, and reluctant to change. Admittedly, I have added a sprinkling of 'conspiracy theory' to your points, but don't think it's far fetched.

Interesting that that's how it's measured, certainly means it's not a reliable stat. However, what would be the best way to measure it? Aerial duels which have gone to a teammate? Is that not as much about the players around them? I think, as Graffito alludes to, although the exact stat is unrealiable, there will probably be a strong positive correlation between duels won and possession retained through aerial duels. Would you agree? Trying to think of a scenario where a striker could be a 'nuisance' to defenders but never actually contribute, compared to a player being generally weak but effective on the rare occasions he gets to the ball first. Perhaps that would be the distinction (for Football Manager players) between 'Jumping' and 'Heading'. But they are often complementary.

He might not be great but don't think you can accuse him of being overweight.

Presumably the bookies aren't basing it on anything other than betting patterns. 7/2 probably reflects that the general public look at Southampton and think "they've got some good players, and they're only a couple of wins from safety, I'm sure they'll get them". At 8/1 we were worth a bet, but we hardly look like relegation certainties. It's only the fans who watch every week who really know the sort of trouble we're in.

Hard to win a penalty when you never get the ball or players into the opposition box.

This. Although it also wouldn't surprise me if they worked harder in training than we do.

Did you follow the link and read the comments on the Leicester forum? That's what my comment referred to, I didn't just pluck it out of thin air.

I assumed he meant that because we scored in the last minute a draw feels like a win, and that it was slightly lost in translation. You could be right, though. It is also entirely possible, given how he sets the team up, that he genuinely thinks a draw is as good as a win. It would certainly explain a few things!

That's quite interesting, it puts pay to the theory that it was the players holding us back rather than the manager. Obviously Puel is still light years ahead of Pellegrino though.

I could've told them what to expect. After seeing a few snippets here and there, thought maybe a change of scenery had rejuvenated him, but maybe not. Probably in the same way that anyone watching his goals vs Bournemouth last year might have assumed he was back to his best.

A fair enough opinion, but ultimately we got a point today because of that. Not sure who else would have scored that chance. Tadic had an opportunity to show why he is the right man to play as the central attacking midfielder, but he didn't take it. Although I thought his effort in the first half was decent, only great cover/block by Mee prevented the goal.

Agree with most of what you say, but I'm not sure saying someone's confidence being shot is about them and not the manager. It's a bit of a chicken & egg admittedly, but if I spent the game having to chase lost causes or trying to bring down balls out the sky against towering centre halves*, before eventually being dropped and giving 5 minute cameos at the end of a game where the team needs a goal, my confidence would be pretty low too! * I realise that he has also been found wanting in scenarios where he should do better, but I feel like more often that not our gameplan has meant he is something of an isolated forward.

The issue with the subs is that a lot of people will deem it as evidence these players should be starting. Of course you can always look at the other side of the coin with these things. He does deserve credit for making the subs, but it felt more like "we're losing, throw on some forwards" kind of change to me. I know that you might say that's my choice or my bias to view it that way, but I don't feel as though the subs played better because of the state of the game or the timing of the change, I felt like they did so because they are better players (or that they players that came off had been poor).

The thing that's 'wrong with us' is that this was a winnable game on paper and on the field (it's not like Burnley played well). And the team looked as if it was playing for a 0-0. Sometimes you have off days, but it looks like the team are playing that way in EVERY game. So it's clearly the instruction from the manager. So yes, some people are disappointed that at a crucial time in the season, when we have a match we should be trying to pick up 3 points in, we showed very little attacking intent. And it wasn't even good enough to keep a clean sheet. We were also TERRIBLE all game. Did you watch it? Was I happy when Gabbiadini scored? Of course. Did I think it was a deserved point or the equaliser had been coming? Not in the slightest.

Are you predicting what Pellegrino will say? I was complaining that with a few minutes to go it looked like we didn't even care (even though I don't actually believe that, I think rather that there was no instruction/cohesion etc). We had a chance presented to us unexpectedly, and the players involved showed enough composure & desire to get a goal. At no other point in the entire game was there evidence of us showing character, apart from the fact that we didn't crumble and conceded 3 or 4 goals.