Topcat

I now expect Hughes to be sacked by Reed to save Reed's job. Gao will require someone to take the blame for this awful start and Hughes is going to be the fall guy. If instead Gao fires Reed, then we can have the hope that things will eventually get better.

One thing is clear. With the England Manager watching yesterday's match, Bertrand is not getting a recall to the England side for a long long time.

He had to borrow the £200m to buy 80% of the Club. Not really wealthy. Just able to get a large mortgage secured on an asset worth several hundred millions .... providing it is in the Premiership.

Only a "good business" if we stay in the Premiership.

True. They would look at the poor quality of the purchases and the Academy players and look elsewhere for something better. All we would attract are failures desperate for another chance in the Prem.

The best chance of getting fundamental change is to remove REED. That should start with protests, banners and song calling for it. If after 2 home games it fails then change the name to Gao.

We are told that transfer decisions are decided by Reed, Wilson and Hughes. Does Hughes have a veto or is he probably just 1 vote of 3 votes? If Hughes really really wanted the summer purchases, he would be playing them week after week. Today his starting 11 had none of the summer purchases and 1 Loan (Ings).

The team from last season needed a substantial injection of better players. In today's starting 11 = 0 Players had been bought in the summer. 0 Players added from the youth setup. 1 Player (Ings) on a loan arranged on the last day of the Transfers. This Club has made poor purchases of players and has failed to supply players from the youth setup capable of playing in the Prem.

If we are two or more points above the relegation zone on Januay 3rd, then we are probably staying up. 11 games to Jan 3rd. 6 vs "top 6". Other 5 games include 3 away to relegation rivals Cardiff, Fulham and Huddersfield. Just two chances to win at home in 2018, Watford and West Ham. We had 20 points after 21 games last season (3 above relegation zone). This season, probably need to get to 20+ points by 3rd Jan, which is 13+ more. It is only 4 wins from that group...........

Where Krueger is falling down, is in not firing Reed after 3+ years of inadequate purchases of players and the mismanagement of player contracts. But Krueger lacks any experience of what a well managed player setup would look like. Hint to Krueger, it is not Saints!

This sums up the core problem.

Reed is part of the triumvirate that decide who comes in within the money allocated. £40m+ spent in the summer and £20m+ in the January time and the only regular starter from that £60m+is a loan player (Ings). The other 2 in the deciding group both report to Reed and are appointed by him. So it is really controlled by Reed.

Summed up as "Without some level of change Saints will eventually go down, if not this season then next." "Poor transfer windows." Accurate about our situation.

Correct. Our actual position flatters us due to the easy fixtures played so far. A similar situation last season which hit us in December when playing more challenging fixtures. Problem is does Gao or Kreuger understand this. Reed is probably hiding the reality.

Part of the problem is the failure by Reed to move on aging players such as Davis. Add to that the failure by Reed to move on players such as Forster that have no future at Saints as soon as his replacement proved to be better. Each summer is the time to move on players that are coming towards the end of their Premiership careers and Saints, under Reed, are too slow at doing this. It is similar to the last time we were relegated from the premiership when we had an aging squad of players that were past their best.

If you are right then they should not be back in the squad this season and should have been shipped out.

Bertrand cannot make it into the England side as a back up.

Bring in Gallagher for Austin. Bring in Targett for Bertrand the jogger.

Agreed.

Newcastle and Fulham have the resources to spend in the next transfer round and avoid relegation. Huddersfield and Cardiff are worse than us but might pull together a few wins. Burnley have had a tougher schedule than us and yet have a point more. Now that they are out of european games, their thin resources will be less stretched. Us with Huddersfield and Cardiff to go.

Good points. We have no players that top 6 sides want.... They clearly have a better eye than Les Reed.

Players in our squad over 30 are unable to hold their place and probably should have been replaced for younger and better players. Shane Long 32 in Jan Steve Davis 31 in Jan Yoshida 30 Charlie Austin 29 with recurring fitness problems

Very interesting. If any loans are tied into a minimum share price, he could be in a massive financial difficulty.

But if a couple of those teams get better or buy in better talent then we are f**ked.

Good point. Nice to have a transfer success.