mrfahaji

So if he does well with Brighton this year in the Premier League, that's irrelevant because his previous stint in the PL didn't go well? I wouldn't be an advocate of Chris Hughton coming here tbh, but I'm not sure your argument stacks up logically.

If we played in such a manner that we created chances for our strikers, maybe they would score more goals.

People equating our lack of goals to a lack of 'good strikers' are missing the point. Gabbiadini and Austin are both capable of scoring goals (even if Austin's all round play is debatable). There is a possible case that we should sign a 'big number 9' type who might do better from crosses or hold up the ball better, but other than that I really don't think signing a new centre forward is the way to cure our scoring ills.

Exactly this. I thought all goalkeepers were "shot stoppers" but we seem to have found one who isn't, and then isn't blessed with a multitude of other skills to make up for it. His sheer size makes it all the more difficult to believe, and to accept, his lack of presence when dealing with crosses as well.

I agree, although I've thought that about Stoke for a couple of seasons and they continue to have a knack of getting unexpected results. Whether that will continue indefinitely who knows. My point was mainly about how other teams/fans probably view Saints' chances of going down, but that they're probably unaware of how comparably easy our fixtures have been. Let's not forget that not only have we not played many of the best teams, but we have also played 7 of our 11 matches at home.

Our ridiculously easy start is what sets us apart from the other clubs around us. I look at Leicester and Stoke and think "it's not inconceivable they could get dragged into it, but they haven't done terribly so far, and with their squad I expect them to be fine", and I imagine that's what others think about Southampton. I don't know the exact fixture lists of all the others by I doubt any have had it as 'easy on paper' as we have so far.

Indeed. Shurlock mentioned him in the 'Next manager' thread actually. I knew he had done a brilliant job but didn't realise quite how impressive! I guess there's always the question mark of how well his experience and ability would translate to a Premier League club with players who seemingly pick and choose who they want to play for, but I'd certainly rather take a chance on Potter than some of the other suggestions being thrown up on that other thread.

As an isolated match, this game wasn't that bad. The trouble is, we play that way in virtually every game, that's why it's so frustrating. Seeing that Vokes header go in had a sense of inevitability about it, and after about an hour it seemed like we just weren't going to score because our only tactic wasn't working particularly well.

Thanks. I can't figure out every chance here, I certainly don't recall us having that many shots from the left corner of the box, but I know one of the central ones was Bertrand's header, think we had another header from in there too. I agree it wasn't our worst performance by far - that must be Watford, which I hope we never get near ever again. Sure, we were a little unlucky that Burnley scored from their one opportunity, but such is life with a goalkeeper who takes twice as long to react as everyone else. The problem is we didn't create many chances that you would expect to score from. Yes, if we have enough pot shots from 20 yards you'd expect one or two to go in eventually, but not sure that's what we should be gunning for. As the saying goes, you make your own luck, and we don't play in a way that helps that.

That made me feel a bit nauseous.

I'd also note that people are critical of Austin for 'not being fit', but when he's come on for the last few minutes recently I've thought he's lacked sharpness rather than pure fitness. Sloppy control, misplaced passes are a result of not playing regularly. I can understand that people don't rate him, but not sure that his struggles of late have been down to fitness.

I think this is the crux of the issue, we don't have a "big number 9", but we play as if we do! Surely it makes more sense to adapt the way we play than to give up on our current strikers (including Gabbiadini, who is clearly a good player and goalscorer) and look for someone new.

True, but because we do that so infrequently I'm not sure how reliably you can say "that points to our problem". If we kept getting to the byline and kept messing up the crosses, or if we kept putting the ball into good areas and no-one was attacking it, that would clearly be the issue. But we don't do it enough.

Fair enough, but it's still a reasonable way to play the game. I think the term "anti-football", even if it is recognised, is unfair if it's just about teams organising themselves to be hard to beat. Defending is as much part of the game as attacking. Would I want to watch West Brom every week? No, but if teams routinely set up like that against us and take points home with them, we are the ones doing something wrong. Had we spent Saturday peppering the Burnley goal with shots and been camped out in their area only to be denied by last-ditch blocks, poor finishing and some lucky deflections, I'd write it off as a unlucky result. But that wasn't the case at all. First half wasn't too bad, not scintillating but not bad. Second half was awful. Over the course of the game I'm not sure we created a single chance for a striker in the box? Even though Burnley only had one notable chance, it was still the best chance of the game, even if that owes to Vokes being good in the air, they still delivered the right ball at the right time. Our best moment was when Bertrand played a one-two with Redmond and drilled it low across, but it was too close to the keeper. That rare time we got behind the defence and we nearly score. Funny that.

You're right, it's definitely not our fault when all these evil teams out there play anti-football. How dare they come to St Mary's and make it difficult for us! They clearly had no intention of even trying to win the game. Oh wait, they did. Funny, I always thought defending was part of the game as well, but now apparently it's "ANTI" football.

Not really. It shows that no-one in the game played particularly well (Burnley played well as a team but no stand out individuals) and Pope made a couple of good saves. Good saves from Redmond and Yoshida spring to mind, neither of which I would class as “good chances”, unless we’re banking on someone screaming in a 25 yard volley every week. So anyway, what were some of those good chances?

This. I think it’s fair to say that it’s easier to be more than the sum of your parts if your individuals are limited. You can focus of being organised and having a solid defensive game plan. If you have better players, you are expected to do more with them than just defend. However, you’re still right, and we should be looking a lot better with the players we have.

For all those people saying that we were unlucky and “did everything but put the ball in the net”, can you please point out what all those good chances were? I can’t remember any clear cut chances. All this talk of playing two up front solving our problems is nonsense.

Even though I can see why people think Bertrand looks a bit half-ar$ed, the fact is he's not the only one. Most of the team look like they can't really be bothered. I think that's more to do with how they've been told to play, and maybe because they're demotivated or not inspired, rather than because they have actively decided to down tools.

I was thinking about what would happen to our team if we were relegated. Obviously a long way to turn things round yet of course, but how many of our players would immediately seek to leave, and how many of those players would find good (i.e. better than relegation scrappers) clubs to join and how many of those players would we as supporters say "clearly they are far too good to be playing the Championship"? Cedric, Bertrand, van Dijk, Romeu, Lemina and Gabbiadini all fit that description. Ignoring the players that could at least fit a couple of the categories above (Yoshida, Tadic, Boufal), that still leaves us 6 top quality players that the top clubs would look at (I'll admit that I'm not sure Cedric warrants being in that group, but he probably would be). With that amount of talent (how many other teams outside the top 6 could say this?), there is either a problem behind the scenes or a problem with the coaching/tactics. Both of these come down to the manager and coaching staff, although the first one could be an issue that stems from the board as well. My only question is whether we give Pellegrino some time against the top sides in case his tactics/approach ends up working well against them. But I do find it concerning that he seems to think everything is working well and we've just been unlucky.

Although I agree with most of this, I’m not clear on your initial point. I thought you were going to say MOTD flattered us, and then you say that we were better than usual and that some of our efforts weren’t shown. I thought we were ok first half, a 6/10 performance. Room for improvement but also some encouraging signs. But we’ve had too many games like that this season, and we nearly always seem to get worse in the second half. Anyone who thinks we were the better team yesterday doesn’t understand football. The game went exactly to Burnley’s plan, as it did when Watford visited. In the same way that we did last year in several away performances. Sure, we had a few half chances, but as the home side that’s always likely to happen. Did we have a single “good” chance?

Good shout, although am always a little wary of managers having success at one club, particularly a small team in a small foreign league (don’t get me wrong, it also makes his achievements more impressive, just a question of how transferable his abilities would be) The suggestions on here generally highlight the limitations of thought. It seems most people struggle to think of anyone other than Allardyce or someone who has already managed us. I love Adkins, but seriously...?!

Have to agree, hard to single out individuals as being below par, the whole team just looked out of ideas. And that's been the case for most of the season, we've probably had 3 or 4 good entire halves all campaign.

I wouldn't be disappointed to see Pellegrino shown the door, but would not want Allardyce or Koeman. There must be better alternatives out there.

Southampton 2017/18: Play OK first half, never brilliant but always with a few moments of "that was encouraging" thrown in to give fans hope. 8 outfield players play a 6/10, one plays slightly better and one plays slightly worse. There's a sense that we are the better team but not by much. Take a step backwards in the second half, by about 65 minutes look totally out of ideas and it now looks like the other team have us, and the game, sussed. Keep doing the same things but keep fingers crossed that a defensive mistake or moment of individual brilliance gives us a chance to score whilst also hoping that Forster does not have to move his feet to make a save, else we will concede and lose the game. End the game wondering why you spent your Saturday afternoon watching that rubbish. Repeat for pretty much every game.