mrfahaji

And there we all were thinking Pellegrino would need a couple more poor results for Les to get rid of him... p1ssing off JWP could be the last mistake he ever makes at St Mary's!

Not sure about that - not sure why P1 isn't available on Fulham's website but presumably P2 is being sold on the basis of it being a 'mixed' section? Otherwise how do you buy a neutral ticket if not on the Fulham website?!

Fair points, but presumably on that basis you could just say "whoever is in the bottom 3 after 19/20 games will go down"? We are currently ahead of 9 other teams, surely they are all looking like relegation certs as well? I'm playing Devil's Advocate simply on the bit in bold. I have been doubtful about Pellegrino for some time and am worried about how we will fare this season. I couldn't actually believe we were 11th when I checked the table earlier in the week, but the teams at the bottom are getting closer all the time.

I'm wondering if Romeu is better as a single DM, with two players ahead of him, rather than playing as part of a "double pivot". Feels like he shoulders the burden of being the defensive shield well, but when he has to share that role he struggles to impose himself so much. Obviously there's only a subtle difference between a 1-2 and a 2-1 shape, but maybe Lemina and Hojbjerg (or whoever we play, but they would currently be my choice) should have a bit more license to get forward, run about (ha) and drop in when needed.

Oh man, come off it...!

What sort of reaction did Puel get btw? Didn't see any mention of it anywhere.

Sorry for replying to an old post, but was reading through the match thread and no-one else had picked up on these matches. No doubt the Arsenal result was awful, but 3 days prior to that game we had reached a cup final. Sure, it was awful watching, but it was a cup game, and anyone moaning that we didn't take the cup seriously 3 days after reaching a cup final is a moron. The West Ham wasn't nearly as bad as some made out, we had chances and they barely had any, but were either unlucky or victims of having a turd goalkeeper, depending on your viewpoint. Palace we started well but lost it once Forster made his horror swipe. We also played pretty well in the first half against Spurs, we had Redmond sent off on 57 mins and they scored 2 goals in the last 5 minutes. I'm not a revisionist, Puel's tenure was not a success and there were plenty of matches which left you feeling despondent, but actually there weren't that many individual league games you can point to and say "that was an all round terrible display" - away in Prague was the worst we played all season in my opinion. When I look back at last season's fixtures I'm amazed at how many games I think "poor result, but" and can remember something positive or unlucky about the match. What did for Puel was that we were consistently underwhelming, always looking over our shoulder at the relegation battle, and always waiting for that "shackles off" performance that should have made an appearance once or twice post-cup final but never did. Pellegrino is also suffering from this feeling of things never quite clicking, but now we only seem to be good for the odd 15 minute spell, and the general boundaries seem to have been shifted down - our best performances aren't as good, and our worst performances are taking it to whole new depths.

Sounds about right, then against Huddersfield we'll play sh1t and only draw or maybe even lose.

When I got the tickets for this my thoughts were "just enjoy the day, try not to care when we get thrashed", but over the last couple of weeks I'd started to wonder if we could nick something. Firmly back to my original thoughts now!

Worse than Watford? Wow, that was the worst PL game I can remember for many a year, so to top (or bottom) that...

You should start a thread about it. Or about something.

Missed this one (after missing Everton and first 10 minutes of Arsenal, it seems as though this time at least this was a good one to miss...) Anyone give a recap of what went wrong? I thought the team looked good - arguably our strongest lineup, though would have been nice to see Hojbjerg instead of Davis. It seems like those championing MP and calling out the "morons" for wanting him sacked are now silent, while the "Pellegrino Out" and "new manager" threads are out in full force! Predictable... I'd almost be pleased for Claude if it wasn't so worrying for Saints. I thought this game would be a good marker of where we are, given we have seen signs of improvement recently without picking up the points we've deserved. That marker is now not looking very encouraging!

Ah right that's interesting. I was wondering how a team can get 19 points from their first 7 games and then take 3 from their next 8... The first half would point to a manager who at least has an idea what he's doing, but if his downfall was tactical predictability that is a concern. But at least it is a decent option if we were to act.

If he wants to be starting, he should be doing extra training on heading the ball. Though apparently (as per the thread on Shearer/Dementia programme) teams don't practise that anymore. More the pity, as that's Stephens' biggest weakness. Positioning is a bit iffy, but that is something that experience will help with. Other than that I think he's excellent, it's just a shame that a pairing of Yoshida & Stephens is susceptible to an aerial bombardment. I'd always be worried the opposition would only need a half decent ball into the box and it would be a goal.

Could be, but why wouldn't that be on sale on Fulham's website? I thought all the non-away section of the Putney End was neutral, though could be wrong on that.

Options are P4-P7, though P4 looks pretty sold out already. I'm in a bit of a dilemma... I'm a member, so might get chance to buy in the Saints end, but was thinking of buying three tickets and taking the missus. But that means waiting to general sale as would need all 3 together. So, do I wait and hope it goes to general sale, or go for 3 tickets in the neutral end when they become available...? I'm thinking the latter is probably the safest option! On Fulham site, currently only block P2 available, perhaps P3 is being saved in case Southampton want to take up a larger allocation?

Also with the lack of 3pm kick offs. Hard to sell a football paper at 7pm on a Saturday night when there have only been 3 top flight matches earlier that day, and obviously less chance of the local team being in action too.

As well as getting Saints news, it also had write ups of the Tyro League results. Written by Derek Hawkins I think, you could always find various players & teams scoring a nap-hand, a brace or a baker's dozen. I used to love looking at all the results, scorers & league tables on the back page. With SAINTS, POMPEY and CHERRIES bolded in their respective divisions - and for my entire childhood, in that order!

But you rate everyone as highly as Davis!

Wow, he said that?! I guess Saints fans aren’t neutral, but I think a lot of people are sick of the media love in for them. Anyone connected to Liverpool is delusional about how great and popular they are though. If I had a PL league table based on how much I like the clubs, Liverpool & Everton would be bottom two. Spurs and City not far behind, mind.

Definitely more signs of improvement lately, but seeing Redmond start on the left again today really makes me wonder what he sees and what he’s learning... I thought/hoped that Boufal’s form and the fact that against Bournemouth he (NR) did ok and set up a goal from the right might be enough for the penny to drop with Pellegrino. Tadic has been doing better not being on the right, but Redmond stays on the left and continues to do the same sh1t.

Yeah too right. I thought Madley was ok actually, but couldn’t help wonder whether if Arsenal were on the break after 4m05s of additional time, would he have blown up for full time...?

Yoshida’s challenge didn’t prevent Lacazette getting a shot away, in fact I think the ball was out of play when there was eventually contact. I’m not saying there wasn’t a case, but I think a desperate block in the penalty area which ends up clattering into the forward after the shot, compared to a tackle on the forward that takes them out while the ball is still live, isn’t as blatant as you’ll see all season, in my opinion

When it was 1-0 and we had a number of chances to make it more, I was going to write in the match thread, but didn’t want to jinx it, “watch us draw 1-1, everyone will say “we played well” and “a point vs Arsenal is decent””. A draw feels very disappointing, yet somehow inevitable. It makes Leicester another big game for us.