ButtikonSaint

An honest, hard working man who, clearly loved the club and, with backing, could get us to play attractive, high-tempo football. So thanks Ralph for your time and dedication. Sadly, since the 4-0 away to Villa in March, we've been simply trash. Why the slump? RH, yeah - lost it ... but critically the players (past and present) and the board (past and present) share a lot of that responsibility too. Time to move on and back the new man... Let's hope he can get something out of that team. COYS

Not surprised by the defeat - we're straw-weight up front, slow in midfield and inexperienced in defense. Have been behind RH since he took over and unsure what another manager could do with that team but there comes a time when a change is needed to try and jolt these players. Has to be now. Let's hope for a renewal of ideas and attitude in the winter break and the luckiest of dips in the transfer market - we need it.

We were physical, had attitude and sometimes nasty, we also scored a really good technical goal - Fantastic. That was a good second half with Stu getting into the groove and Lyanco raising the roof - good end to the week 🙂 COYS

Got to be happy with that. Aribo a bit anonymous, wondering if an old fashion number 10 free role behind the 2 strikers would suits him better (although I think that's the perfect role for Stu). Defensively pretty sound. DCC, Salisu and Lyanco did well. Perraud is a pit bull. Hope KWP is ok. Che and Arma need to start the next 5 games together up front to really build on that partnership. Loved the last 10mins Tiki-taka.

Decent first half but once again lethargic and clueless second half. Sadly, we're missing an old calm (bold) head in midfield. As much as I admire JWP, he's not a midfield general. Lavia might be back soon but at just 18 yo, it would be unfair to expect too much from him. We don't score enough so a striker is top prio but in our situation I'd look for some steel and presence in midfield

Unlucky to concede, don't think it was much of a foul by Diallo Not the same intensity as against chelsea but so far this season we're better chasing the game. Worth maybe moving to a 4222 with Mara or Stu on for Diallo who's now on a yellow

ouch... Thought the aim of refreshing the team this summer was to ensure the past didn't repeat itself... at least a draw for our "new look" team?

RH noted that young players may need some rest following Lavia's injury.... wondering if ABK could be benched for Lyanco. Stu in for Lavia would be my only change from last Tuesday. The 4x late transfer window guys seem to have something about them that complement our team. DCC: International experience (world cup finalist after all), calmness and physicality AMN: PL know-how, positional flexibility Sam: speed, directness, a bit of height to the forward line up and hopefully goals Juan: natural and probably cultured left footer, Jordi Alba like? looking forward to today's game COYS

lol I also had ABK in a couple of my FM20/21 saints saves ... we won everything, every year for about 10 years running

Totally impressed by that starting eleven... Thought Diallo and Moj were off it for the first 20mins or so but they really grew into the game Che and Arma worked their socks off and so happy for Arma Bazunu, Salisu, JWP, KWP, Perraud : good perf all round Lavia & ABK : just ...wow.. did we get 2 (future) world class players in the summer? Great stuff... COYS !!

CHELEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

bizarre to say the least: I'm pretty sure I use to wipe my feet on similar Japanese wave carpets back in the late 70s.

Yeah agree on that one, goalkeeper kit really is a looker...

Find the whole white back a bit strange and a betting sponsor depressing but overall decent and a nice change ... Wonder if the away kit will have stripes

I love my Saints for more than 40 years ... I religiously do my best to catch all games... I'm in Switzerland so most of it on the radio, Solent via the OS is a god sent for us far away, or Sky (in German but surprising amount of Saints games each seasons) but I honestly and sadly didn't have the will or strength to do so the the last four /five games... I did listen in to Dave Merrington's speech at half time vs Liverpool and today's pre-match send off. Shed a tear but then switched off... just like this team did since the Arsenal game Many congrats to our Saints Women, what a team, what champions... See you all late-summer... with hopefully a lot of changes and a fresh start...

Isn't it a bit too late in the season for reserve psychology from our dear RH?

Nearly as desperate as some seasons past with probably many more lows and meh performance especially with the squad at hand... We need get something against Brentford

Rather typical half by the Saints... As likely to score as to concede but we got the opener, good header by Ori, and have something to defend. We seem on it today so if we score next, I can see us scoring a few more especially once Broja, S. Amstrong and (maybe) A. Amstrong come in... COYS

Missed the first half... lucky me... we looked like a decent team in the second half, could have scored a few more. JWP take a bow.

why not listen to Solent ....fully biased commentary there too

What a difference a week makes... compact, physical, concentrated players, good team selection, big win.... Well done boys... 🙂 COYS

The team can perform, we've seen it this season... and fair enough Chelsea are what they are but, man, these results really mess up my mood and weekend.

Another shocking performance... so many in the past few years. No redeeming back story with this one... we just got plain and simple thrashed ouch

good point away from home... tough and physical... We didn't play great but getting back on track. COYS

fully agree - no shame in losing to City, decent effort by the boys against a billion and more made up team. Would have been good for A.Armstong to have got his goal, he needs one to go in soon. We're not too far away and hope our season doesn't peter out.