kyle04

It'll be interesting to see how our "attack" fares against the worst defense in the league. I'm not optimistic, we'll get chances but expect to miss them. Sessegnon could have a good day against our leaden-footed defenders, especially as the game progresses and our players tire. I'm rapidly losing all hope for this team when the best we can manage is one good half of football against the likes of BHA and Watford, and embarrassing surrender against the big boys. We are there for the taking and Fulham will know it.

If you analyse where all the money originates from, it's Robin Hood in reverse, although that the PL is a vastly successful (financially) organization now no doubt he will feel entitled to his money. Bill Gates aside, it would be refreshing for the obscenely wealthy to give a little back now and then but it rarely seems to happen. Many players "earn" 5M+ each year, including some 3rd choice goalkeepers or so I hear. What do they do with all the money, seriously ?. Just another greedy pig at the trough....

BFS said he considered himself a genius, and he's spot on. Gets appointed to desperate clubs. Fails - gets f*****d off with substantial payout, Succeeds - ditto. Easy money with a fraction of the work contracted to. His nett hourly rate must be up there with Bill Gates.

Aside from the "serves them all right" attitude, relegation would be a major blow to the club. True - the PL is an insane circus . It's difficult to think of any other organization where so much money is spent on so little real achievement (maybe the cold war arms race or Michael Jacksons attempt at a pixie nose....). Look at Leeds or Sheffield Wed, quite big clubs that have been languishing in the championship for many years now. This will be us if we go down. No more fireworks at SMS...

I think it's a fundamental lack of confidence throughout the team, borne out of 1 1/4 seasons of getting stuffed most games. The players have little belief in the tactics or each other it seems. Our attempt at the high press v City was a shambles, no cohesion, no leaders on the pitch. Based on this season if some of our players are waiting for the call from a bigger club they're dreaming. If MH is a remote figure on the training ground one must assume there's very little man management going on in general, which is the difference between a good manager and a mediocrity which Hughes clearly is. Also the fitness levels are not what they should be, which above all else, in inexcusable. So we have a team of unmotivated, poorly organized, unfit players. It's little wonder many fans are becoming apathetic.

3 certainties I reckon : 1) Watford 0-2 defeat, followed by Fulham 0-0. 2) Hughes keeps his job. 3) We are going down. The psychological effect of this hammering is hard to overestimate, assuming the players still give a f*** which at the moment is debatable. It's only one game against superior opposition but I think we've hit a new low today. Still , at least we'll be first on MOTD !

6 conceded is a rarity in any professional league, my reaction is understated I'd say....

...Possibly the biggest drubbing in the PL this season. Well done "Saints", an utter embarrassment to the sport....

Stones off for Kompany, must have been getting too cold....

Makes you wonder what our players do all week, certainly not practicing football thats for f***ing sure... Get off the golf course and your PS4's and do your vastly overpaid job. The travelling fans probably shelled out a nearly weeks wages , factoring on the ale and pies, to watch this. Hughes will get away with this because it's Citeh and Cedric might have been fouled for the 4th. MC will coast the 2nd half , Ederson will do a crossword or two, JWP will get sent off after 70 mins...

As Einstein put it : "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results"

"The document also has a list of potential ownership stakes by the individual clubs in the joint European Super League company, with Real Madrid holding 18.77%, Barcelona 17.61% and Manchester United 12.58%." UEFA are dead against this and with good reason. It's quite sinister really and follows the trend in the world today of a few giant all powerful organizations controlling many aspects of our lives. I didn't tell Google they could film my house and post it online. I'm a little surprised that even the infinitely greedy bigger clubs would contemplate this. Without genuine competition football will lose one fundamental aspect that makes it so appealing. It's becoming increasing unlikely these days but a "smaller" club can beat a bigger one and give the fans a day to remember. But generally the bigger clubs mentioned in the proposal all thrive in the current warped system anyway. Maybe because Man Utd aren't guaranteed CL qualifiers any more....

Agree with this to some extent. The Wolves bandwagon has stalled, Palace and Burnley are struggling, looks like it could be 3 from 8 or 9. West Ham, Leicester, Everton all safe I think. Watford and Bompey will be OK they are solid sides. We desperately need a striker soon, we have no-one who can make things happen, like a Zaha or Arnoutovic. 0-0 draws will not keep us up....

Well were up against one of the best footballing sides in the world, so I fear 2 halves similar to the Chelsea 1st half, backs to the wall while their playmakers take the p**s. I think McCarthy will have back ache after the final whistle, we'll create one chance which we will fluff. It's a no win situation for MH, if we try and press higher up the pitch they'll play through us and score. If we sit back they'll score eventually, 20 minutes in say. We won't be able to keep the ball because they will swarm all over us so I predict league one long hoof stuff from us, but with the deadly Long as target man we may have a chance.....

Our buy low sell high policy has run out of steam. The cupboard is now bare. Great while it lasted, we made a lot of money. Then we wasted it. The irony is if our newer signings had been successful they would be sold at some point soon. The predatory top 6 clubs just asset strip the rest, even league champions Leicester couldn't keep their best players (I'm surprised Vardy is still there). I know it's easy to blame the system when your team is failing, but we are a victim of the PL global top 6 brand, mere also-rans or cannon fodder to the greedy elite. If you don't replace what you let go, and no club can do that forever, and when the youth system fails to produce (we are not alone there) , well, thats where we are now. It'll never happen but I wonder what a truely great manager could do with what players we have..

This. Our defense is showing signs of more solidity (relatively), the clean sheet v Bompey away is a positive (Bompey average nearly 2 goals per game), Newcastle weren't arsed but still didn't get a sniff. Our attack lacks so many elements its little wonder at our lamentable goal tally. At least we are creating chances which is a positive, but our decision making and finishing are woeful (I think Mo's non pass to Austin v Newcastle sums it up, although Charlie probably would have shanked it wide). I would normally give MH the benefit but the continual selection of Austin is quite simply baffling. We need to take a gamble and buy a forward in January, if we don't we will be relegated simple as that.

Fair enough, but we've never gone down the 30-35m player route and up until recently have got lucky generally. Carillo, Armstrong, Vest have as yet failed. Ings was a good signing. I accept that in the 10-15m bracket it's a bit of a lottery. It's a little frustrating when academy players with potential are ignored for untried and costly newcomers though. If our experts deem these academy players not good enough why in their great wisdom are we signing players of similar lack of talent ? To a trained eye it can't be that difficult surely ? Maybe it is. I remember when Clough signed Trevor Francis (1st £1m player etc), kept him on the bench for a short while to keep hid feet on the ground. Ours kept there cos we f****ed up. Oh dear...

Agree but it's a fact of life now. If any player is offered a vast signing-on fee and treble the wages do you expect them to stay out of some sense of loyalty. The standard agent-speak excuse of wanting to play in the CL is largely b******s and any player who quotes this is a total c**t. Careers are short and nests need feathering, so thanks for the leg up SFC see you later....

The level of despair here is quite depressing, but not entirely unjustified. The PL is a massive global product centred on the elite. One thing is certain - nothing will change. The world in general is as polarized in terms wealth, relatively, as it has ever been. The celebs and top sportsmen spend more on a watch than we privileged western Europeans earn in 4 years, it's sick and they are c***s for doing it. The PL is no different from any avaricious, morally bankrupt big organization. So keep buying the shirts, the SKY/BT sports packages, the tickets and the half time lager - it's all going to a good cause !

Agree. To break it down, lets assume we will get nothing from the remaining 10 games v top 6. Pessimistic but plausable, I know it's a funny old game but .... That leaves 20 games to get at least 30 odd points I reckon, 6 wins and 12 draws say minimum. It's do-able, we only won 7 last season. Our GD may well be worse as we're getting spanked by the big boys which we managed to largely avoid last season (-19 overall compared to -8 already). I think we can do it, but as many have alluded to, to what end, another struggle the season after ? As the great Mr Strummer put it, should we stay or should we go....

I think Gao was sold on the idea of buying a top 10 PL club, which we were 3 years running, which equals easy money. I run a small business but if I had, or could borrow £100m a football club would be the last thing I'd plough it into. No disrespect to SFC but the guy must be a f****** idiot, and clearly knows nothing about football. There are only around 7 clubs you would say are permanent fixtures in the PL (top 6 + Everton?), the rest could get relegated at any time, including us. These things go in cycles, we've had our purple patch and now we're on the decline, for how long who knows. I think we'll survive this season though....

I recall stories of Shilton having to be carried to a taxi from the Malthouse on many friday nights before a home game....

I think the first half was telling, inasmuch as Hughes spent most of it yelling to the players to "get up" or "get out". He could see we were too deep and penned in for most of the half. So what was the game plan then ? Either sit deep, defend and break, or press higher and try and stop them playing. He clearly wasn't happy so I would assume the sit deep system was not the plan given to the players. We really didn't engage the Chelsea players until they were 10 yards from our area. So the team either didn't do as instructed (or were incapable), or the plan was sit deep, then Hughes realized it looked too dangerous and tried to change throughout the half. Having said that second half was much better and despite the humiliating scoreline at least some cause for optimism against lesser teams (of which there are many not as good as Chelsea). I think up front at least the key partnership is Redmond and Ings, who are showing some signs of a good understanding. Gabbi did OK and offers more than Long or Austin (put together !). Who knows if we had scored first the result may have been a lot different as Chelsea would have felt under pressure ....

Couldn't generally fault the effort, and we created enough chances to have got on the scoresheet. 0-3 a little harsh despite Chelsea dominating posession. Can't really fault Hoedts attitude, just his judgement at times. He is trying hard but is making costly mistakes nearly every game, and as a defender its spotlighted more. Ings missed from 3 yards, Bertie had a good chance. We just couldn't cope with the movement of Hazard and Willian, and when we had the ball couldn't keep it for long. Next 2 games crucial, lose those and I think MH is on thin ice.

Hoedt lucky there....