nmp

Bugger - all my careful formatting has been screwed - OK imagine neat columns for the 17 to go list and the 12 to go list, along with the Home and Away lists as well ie. Fulham (Home Game) - Win / Aresnal (Away Game) - Lose - you get the picture.

24 Hours after essentially losing it and despairing of the last two games, I’m left wondering what the chances are for the remaining twelve games. Many will think I’m mad but I made a prediction spreadsheet with 17 games to go of the teams that I thought would be in the battle against relegation. Brighton, Burnley, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Huddersfield, Newcastle and Southampton. I looked at every match they had coming up, the current points they already had and made a win/lose/draw prediction to arrive at a predicted points tally come the end of the season. As the results have come in I’ve amended the predicted results with the actual results and the spreadsheet has calculated the gains and losses to take these into account and come up with a revised points estimate assuming that the rest of the predictions hold true. Below is what I originally came up with and how it’s now looking with 12 to go! With 17 Matches To Go With 12 Matches To Go Crystal Palace 44 Crystal Palace 42 Brighton 43 Brighton 37 Saints 38 Burnley 35 Newcastle 29 Saints 35 Burnley 28 Newcastle 32 Cardiff 25 Cardiff 28 Fulham 23 Fulham 24 Huddersfield 15 Huddersfield 15 For what it’s worth my predictions on the remaining Saints games are shown below - even i don't have time to share the whole spredsheet - I'm sad enough as it is Home 10 Points Away 3 Points Fulham Win Arsenal Lose Tottenham Lose Man United Lose Liverpool Lose Watford Draw Wolves Draw Brighton Draw Bournemouth Win Newcastle Draw Huddersfield Win West Ham* Lose • Originally had this down as a draw but now think we might lose it Obviously it’s very subjective and so much can change but this is how I maintain hope now that we have RH in charge, despite the loss to Cardiff and and two weeks of nothing happening! Anyway hope it brings comfort to some and the rest of you can pour scorn on me if you want to - who knows RH might get more than this out of them? BTW – As soon as Burnley signed Crouch I just knew he would do something to hurt us and as the picture shows, the penalty shouldn’t have been awarded - he's holding Stephens down by grabbing his shirt in the small of his back. Stephens is forced off balance and arches backwards – hand comes flying up and hey presto a penalty! https://ronaldo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GettyImages-1092889872-696x452.jpg Crouch the cheat strikes again!

Go to Hell

Have always hated Giroud and knew we would lose as soon as he started warming up - cost us with a plus 7 minute sucker punch at Arsenal and then they sell him to Chelsea and you know it’s going to happen again - hope he suffers a career ending injury or worse!

To a point yes - but they have had the life and enthusiasm sucked out of them for months by the clueless tactics and ineptitude of this clown of a manager who if (as I have been saying since November last year) had been sacked, could have been replaced by someone who could have got them motivated and playing to their potential. Again, as I have said before - refusing to sell VVD to Liverpool and then doing it anyway caused so much trouble and distraction that by 'winning' the moral victory all Reed and Kruger actually did was throw away our ability to stop the rot early and bring on a slide in form and motivation that resulted in no-one wanting to come here, when we eventually got the transfer money! Now we are down to hoping that there are 3 teams that do worse than us from now until the end of the season - whatever the case MP has to go because my grandmother could do better than him - and she's dead! YES I KNOW I POSTED THIS EARLIER BUT FORGOT TO SAY- that the Stoke game and this one were probably our most realistic chances of points and now the chance has gone - yes I am hoping MP is sacked and that just maybe a change of manager is enough to keep us up but I'm pretty sure it's too late

To a point yes - but they have had the life and enthusiasm sucked out of them for months by the clueless tactics and ineptitude of this clown of a manager who if (as I have been saying since November last year) had been sacked, could have been replaced by someone who could have got them motivated and playing to their potential. Again, as I have said before - refusing to sell VVD to Liverpool and then doing it anyway caused so much trouble and distraction that by 'winning' the moral victory all Reed and Kruger actually did was throw away our ability to stop the rot early and bring on a slide in form and motivation that resulted in no-one wanting to come here, when we eventually got the transfer money! Now we are down to hoping that there are 3 teams that do worse than us from now until the end of the season - whatever the case MP has to go because my grandmother could do better than him - and she's dead!

This has been coming for months - utterly predictable and completely avoidable if the board were prepared to act. We 'stand firm' against Liverpool's 'illegal" approach for VVD and then we allow him to play and help destroy us by his negativity before we then sell him to them anyway and get no replacements. Then we spend an entire month chasing shadows - do nothing to get rid of a clueless inept manager and gamble on other teams being worse than us in order to keep us up! Well that worked well didn't it - now there isn't a class manager in the world who would want to come in even if we did get rid of this clown and all those years of steady growth and building have been chucked away in the space of 4 months! We are in all likelihood down and I'm ashamed of how we appear to the rest of the footballing world - it's a joke!!!!!!!!!! If I was the owner I would have sacked MP myself before Christmas and certainly at half time today - he doesn't deserve the title of manager.

This has been coming for months - utterly predictable and completely avoidable if the board were prepared to act. We 'stand firm' against Liverpool's 'illegal" approach for VVD and then we allow him to play and help destroy us by his negativity before we then sell him to them anyway and get no replacements. Then we spend an entire month chasing shadows - do nothing to get rid of a clueless inept manager and gamble on other teams being worse than us in order to keep us up! Well that worked well didn't it - now there isn't a class manager in the world who would want to come in even if we did get rid of this clown and all those years of steady growth and building have been chucked away in the space of 4 months! We are in all likelihood down and I'm ashamed of how we appear to the rest of the footballing world - it's a joke!!!!!!!!!! If I was the owner I would have sacked MP myself before Christmas and certainly at half time today - he doesn't deserve the title of manager.

Useless Useless Useless - again the opposition change to 4 4 2 and he doesn't react - we sit back just like with Palace and same old story - you cannot do this game after game after game - I have had enough - MP is not a manager and he MUST BE SACKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm often an optimist although my previous rants on here concerning agent power (RK & VVD being tempted away by the same agent), poor tactics and inept management have not always gone down well. However after last night, I woke up this morning with the feeling that just possibly 17th might end up being the lowest we will find ourselves this season. So a few questions for you all to mull over. 1. If (and it's a big if) action is taken immediately to replace MP, who in my opinion is way out of his depth and may well have 'lost the dressing room', then even at this stage, the right man with the right approach could possibly re-juvenate the existing players and at least keep us up? 2. I don't think its right to run onto the pitch and blame the players - again we come down to the manager who dictates the style and tactics and my 'feel' for the situation is that the majority of the players are as fed up as we are? 3. Given points 1 & 2 above - with 2 or 3 wise additions to the squad, then some of our more 'difficult home games' and the rest of the seasons fixtures could potentially see a turn around back to mid-table, ready to build again in August? 4. For those of you who appreciate symmetry, is the last person to ruin the club (Rupert Lowe) or as his initials identify him 'RL' now being followed and copied by someone with the initials LR 5. If the manager is sacked (as he should be) - who is out there and available who could do a job for us - yes and I even mean the Prodigal Son - RK? Lets all hope that the new owner can work it out double quick time - force the replacement(s) required in the management team and recover the situation - otherwise 17th could become 20th! Happy New Year?

So we 'stand firm' in the summer and then Sell Out now whilst allowing a player and his agent get their way AND cost us morale, points and half a dozen league positions in the process! I cannot see that Reed can claim any integrity after this and the club has been made to look toothless after all their self-righteous posturing - anywhere BUT Liverpool and preferably abroad would have been acceptable even for 50m or 60m in the summer - then invest and build at that point. This way, despite the extra cash we still cow-tail to the bully clubs and have had the season ruined. Unless there is a miracle in our other transfers we will be unable to recover to the level of development and growth that we had attained before Koeman got poached (using the same agent) and we started employing managers who are not up to the job. I have wished most of our previous players well in the past even if I disagreed with their moves but as far as VVD is concerned I am so angry that I hope he crashes and burns with a ruined career before the season ends. Getting to the point where I wonder what the point is supporting the team or following the supposed sport anymore!

BTW - forgot to add to my comments earlier - Kane would not have broken Shearers record if Spurs were playing any other team than us today!!!!!!!!!

Let's see - when was this game lost? Before we started - OK it is my opinion but here are my main thoughts about where it has been going wrong for the last season and a half. 1. Agent Power - Koeman and Van Dyke (both the same agent) sucked away (1 actually and 1 already mentally) and therefore the team distracted from building on the clubs 8 successive seasons of development and improvement before the season started. 2. Long-term Lack of Wisdom/Foresight from the Board - Puel without relevant experience was never going to succeed with his management style until he learnt the hard way - guess what - he has learnt but at Saint's expense - so what do they do but repeat the same mistake over again with this bloke who is clueless and inept. 3. Keeping Van Dyke in the summer when he was already gone in his head was madness - he should have been shipped out to anywhere other than Liverpool or even the Premiership at a reasonable price and the money invested in players that were committed to wanting to wear the shirt. 4. Playing Van Dyke over this season - again Madness! He has not only cost us goals but the team/mood is defeat orientated - if they were going to keep him then let him warm the subs bench in the reserves as a punishment and then get rid. I'm sorry as many of you may disagree and write this off as a rant but these are the things that I have been thinking and saying for 18 months because I could see the way it could unfold and have seen all the good work of the past few years pretty much thrown away. I am in despair about our situation and can only hope that the new owner will not accept this state of affairs - act now and get a manager in who can get the best out of the squad, move out the players who are not turning up and fill three key positions. We need someone who 'gets' the Southampton way and is more astute in his tactics - otherwise we are down and everything the club has achieved prior to 18 months ago will have been for nothing!

Not been on here for a long time - probably 2nd half of last season when I was saying we could be in real trouble with Puel, we were not scoring and could not see a very bright future. Got criticised but stand by my comments that 8th flattered us and we were only there as a result of other teams slipping up. Really wanted Puel to go and had hopes for the new man - however not enough was done in over the summer - we should have unloaded VVD to anyone other than Liverpool when it all blew up - preferably a European team and used the money to strengthen, especially up front. Now it appears we are no further forward if you'll excuse the pun and I just don't get the tactics - why play Gabby alone up front? I think that we are in real trouble and need to find a manager who has got what it takes to understand how to get the best out of the players he's got available - have not felt this discouraged about the slide away from previous consecutive seasons of growth and progress as I have over the past 18 months

Not having a go at the team at all - just frustrated as I have been all season at the manager - I have never had any faith in him and don't believe he is right for us even if we had won. Our route here was far from being emphatic, apart maybe from the way we played against Liverpool at St Mary's and I am still worried about the rest of the season - however I would love to be proved wrong and judging from the way the team played today that could be a real possibility - but as I said I am still worried and entitled to an opinion.

Gutted but somewhat expected - great to come back from 2 down and the disallowed goal should have stood. However even if Gabby was a bit tired why take him off when on a hat trick in a cup final with just minutes to go cos he would have kept going no matter what - adrenaline would have seen to that - worse still why take off Tadic when he had run them ragged and caused so many problems. Sorry but I am still of the opinion (as I have been all season) that CP's tactics are not good enough, he isn't going to deliver success to us and has to go.

I believe it was on one of the pundit pages during last couple of days of the transfer window (Possibly Danny Mills) stating he had heard that Jay Rod was unhappy and looking at the exit. Also inferred something similar about another unidentified player - could just be the rumour mill but other things like this have come to pass?

Having witnessed a sustained season on season improvement and sensible growth over the past 7 years despite comings and goings we have now lost the plot. Yes Reed may have to bear some responsibility but this manager is not working and is totally out of his league. His tactics are inept, his rotation theory does not work and IMO he cannot communicate effectively. All the previous good work is being undone and if he is so great (as some seem to infer) and it's not his fault then we are in this position - why did the club captain want away, why are other players rumoured to be wanting to leave and why is he not getting anywhere near the potential from the squad? We certainly have enough decent players to fit into a consistent system that yields some reasonable results, even taking into account some injuries but where is the system, where is the commitment, the team spirit and the desire to perform not just for themselves or the fans but for the manager? I'm sorry but I have lost hope with this shambolic set up at the moment and really think we are in deep deep trouble - Puel should have gone weeks ago - 4 or 5 wins in the EFL (2 or 3 of them 1-0 and rather fortunate) does not equal a success. We need a change if we are to even survive this season - please dispense with this clueless idiot and at least get someone in who appears to care, wants to win and can at least inspire some confidence for the players and fans alike!

As I have said before - average 1 goal a game, poor tactics, no settled team - rotation/resting not working by any stretch of the imagination - we don't look like being able to beat anyone at the moment and haven't done for ages. Forget the EFL experience cos we basically scrapped through and IMO not convincing - yes maybe Les Reed has caused some problems but the manager is simply not good enough - whats the point of having even 95% possession if you cannot score and cannot win. Puel OUT !!!!!!!!!!

Yes I'm annoyed and judging by other comments on the forum with good reason - respect the fact that you don't agree but still feel for the young keeper at the weekend who was I'm afraid 'out of his league' albeit with little protection - what will that kind of experience do for his confidence. After the last 2 seasons of growth and progress I am watching us slide away and decline and no matter what anyone says - at the moment I have no faith that CP can turn it around and by now it's probably too late - we should have been consolidating a top 8 position. Lets all hope that he proves me wrong.

PUEL OUT OUT OUT !!!!!!!! - Its been ****ing obvious all season that he doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't command respect from the players or inspire them and STILL DOESN'T KNOW HIS BEST 11. I'm sorry but as I have said before 1 goal a game and coming in on the 3rd round to ride our luck in 4 or 5 games to reach the EFL final at wembley does not make him a good manager. He proved that by his disrespectful and inept handling of the Arsenal game where he probably destroyed the confidence and maybe careers of a couple of our youngsters and rested players (more ****ing rotation) which obviously has not worked tonight and will not work in the future. We sign a 5 month loanee goalkeeper and a striker who cannot make the 1st team in Italy and we are supposed to be encouraged !!!!!!! The only transfer this month should have been clueless Puel out and someone who gives a damn and can do the job in. I am at one of my lowest points ever in 50 plus years of supporting this club and quite frankly ashamed at whats going on.

Have to agree - he doesn't inspire confidence at all & players don't seem to respect his tactics - if they did why would the club captain want to leave although I am aware of other comments made on this subject or possible reasons for that. My concern is that we are losing all the momentum of the past few seasons of growth - 19 goals in 21 league matches is simply not good enough for a team that should have been consolidating their position as a (on average) top 8 place outfit? We need to find a way to stop selling too many of our good players and maintain a stronger long term core - almost all of the decent players that have left us in recent years chasing more success, money etc have not flourished as they might have hoped and I'm afraid that in CP I don't believe that we have a manager that knows his best team or has the tactical awareness or has the teams respect that makes then want to go out and perform for him. Put that together with what I am worried is a lack of wisdom as far as the buy/sell policy and long term strategy of the club is concerned and for me the writing is clearly now on the wall. We need a target man who can hold the ball up and bring in other players, a defence partnership that has confidence in each other (Fonte now has to go) and a manager who can stop the decline! Yes the Liverpool result was nice but not convincing because we simply don't take advantage of possession and ...........................SCORE GOALS!!

Well not surprised to be honest - 20 games played - goals for = 19 which is less than 1 a game and if you take out the 3 against Bournemouth it doesn't look good - joint 3rd worst in the league. Yes I know its been a tough schedule but CP doesn't inspire confidence and doesn't know what his best eleven are by a long way - the answer to the question of 'where do we go from here' is down!

Haven't had much to say on the forum for some time and was not at the game today but for me Puel was always a worry. To be fair I had some concerns about RK when he first arrived and happily was proved wrong - however I just don't feel the same about this guy. He seems lost and out of touch with the club/fans ethos and I'm tending to agree with some of the comments about the players losing confidence in him and his approach. If we are not careful then we will continue to decline and the only way I see things improving is either a change in some of the 'on the pitch' personnel that will suit his tactics or (and I'm not usually a fan of changing managers too soon) a different man at the helm. If I'm right then believe we have created lots of chances this season and have the most crosses into the opposition box of any team in the league - however whats the point in that if you don't have a target man to aim at. In this league playing too much possession football and not being able to mix up your style of attack can leave you toothless in front of goal and that is how we are coming across - some change urgently needed because the mix and balance that we currently have is wrong!