Dusic

Its the PL pondering to TV. Chelsea won't want to be playing Thursday either.

When he left he hadn't been in the team for a while, and has largely been poor in China. Mane is the one we miss most, the one we nowhere near adequately replaced.

I don't think its a question of liking or disliking. Its actually quite simple: you can't score goals if you aren't on the pitch. Its easy to say, "If Austin was always fit he would score 25 goals in a season" or "He is our best striker" etc but the facts are that he has been at Saints across 3 separate seasons and has had major/fairly major injuries in all of those seasons. Is he reliable at scoring goals when playing? Yes Is he reliable at being fit enough to play regular PL football? No Does that matter when judging him? Absolutely

Anyone who isn't asking serious questions about the takeover is a floundering Hooiveld (og) IMO.

One of the best assets of the Southampton Soilers IMO. Leadership beacon.

Considering us and Chelsea play against each other at 12.30 on the Saturday then playing Thursday is crap and simply because of TV as it could have been on the Tuesday or Wednesday.

This game is our chance. Win and we stay up IMO.

Probably none of those will ever start a PL game.

Wigan played very well but it was a cup tie. They gradually took off misfielders and put on strikers which gave us much more space. In regulation play they often exploited our midfield two but just didn't have the quality to really capitalise, but PL teams will. Not sure its relevant that it was Gabbi and Carrillo. I remember Koeman playing Austin and Long together at Bournemouth and they were hopeless as a pair because neither has any technical quality. In fact, Long isn't the answer to any question when it comes to goalscoring.

Lovren - this will be unpopular but huge upgrade on what we had before (Hooiveld) and facilitated Alderweireld and VVD joining later on. Brilliant signing for what we paid and the impact he had Wanyama - another huge upgrade and so key to how we played Mane - brilliant signing But if we are talking single best since being back in the PL then Pochettino totally changed the perception of the club and was by a distance the best addition. Telling that barely anyone has named a player who still plays for us.

Difference was: - Playing tired L1 opposition who threw a lot of players forward towards the end leaving space to exploit. - Playing against a team of inferior quality more generally which is different to much of the rest of the season - Probably better prepared or focused under Hughes - Took some of our chances Difference wasn't: - Having two up front (as that was the same in the first half when we were woeful).

Depends on the league games before we play Chelsea, but overall staying up is the main factor. Our realistic chances of winning the cup are slim, but you never know.

So, the vocal section of the fanbase who have been calling for two strikers got their wish yesterday and for the first 45 minutes we played as poorly as we have all season, barely creating a single chance. To add to that, we were absolutely bossed in central midfield where Hojbjerg and Lemina were overrun and often left looking for a pass with nobody anywhere near them. Do similar against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, City (and probably others in the PL) and we would have been hammered, especially as our two centre backs look like they need all the protection they can get. Second half we were much better, but none of our chances really occured because we had two strikers on the pitch. Will be interesting to see how Hughes goes in the PL, especially with so many away games but IMO with two strikers plus two wide players who don't track back very well we could be left very exposed against better players. Afterall, the only teams in the PL who play with two are either a.) the extremely direct teams who don't care about having 30% possession (see Burnley) or the very good teams who dominate anyway (Spurs, sometimes City). Certainly for me its a myth that this is the only way to be able to improve our attack. We definitely missed the extra midfielder yesterday for large parts.

Dire first half, up there with anything this season, really poor. Second was good though, against tiring opposition who pushed forward. Most PL sides would have battered us first half. Still not sure that two strikers really helped us and certainly most PL sides would expose us through the middle. Wembley though, good stuff!

Hopefully we can hit the channels and get their back four facing their own goal.

The home atmosphere is crap and some players do get a hell of a lot more stick than others so little surprise they have noticed it and don't especially love playing there.

Seconded.

Don't mind him, just doesn't play enough minutes for what we pay him.

Now Cheltenham is over he canconcentrate on his day job.

West Ham game is massive. Lose that and they are safe I think, leaving the nunber of catchable teams very low. Hudds have good fixtures for now, then tougher. Palace the reverse. Ultimately I think Hudds are more likely to drop than Palace, but they do have very winnable games. Our record against the teams around us is crap this season and I think to stay up we have to beat West Ham and Swansea.

Thats why Palace will stay up easily.

With Head Boy Wilson wearing one of Reedo's cast off suits. Comedy duo.

Good interview. He is a solid, safe pair of hands for what is likely to be a fruitless task anyway, especially if we lose vs West Ham which is an absolutely huge game. If they win, they are safe pretty much and the number of teams we can catch would start being drastically reduced. For balance, interesting comments from Mark Schwarzer: http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/11290386/mark-hughes-out-of-his-comfort-zone-inspiring-southampton-says-mark-schwarzer

Solid appointment at a stage where few would be interested. Note that Reed nor Krueger have made a single comment on either Pellegrino nor Hughes via the website. Pretty spineless leadership.

Still thinking we will be fine, pal?