Fitzhugh Fella

Can I pompously agree with you? I am a big fan of Romeu and think he is an intelligent player both off and on the pitch. Indispensable already and to think Chelsea let him through their fingers! hope I don't sound too pompous, by adding, Puel is quietly impressing me. Still early days but he has made a really solid start.

Good point under all the circumstances. I thought Boufal looked promising. Still think we should have signed an out and out forward. Austin's lack of pace was particularly noticeable today and his one reasonable chance he hit straight at the keeper which is frustrating. Romeu immense even after being booked. Thought McQueen did well too Starting to get over the pain of the San Siro and the players did well to lift themselves. Puel deserves some credit also.

I would like to claim the record for a beer in Milan. 35 € in the Duomo. A round of 4 came to €140.

That's a bit presumptuous to state. We finished last night with three forwards all firing not on full cylinders and a young thrusting forward who has pace could have opened the door. All this goes to prove our squad is undercooked for the task that we face.

At Linate now, everything seems to be running normally

With 3 unfit forwards on show at the San Siro tonight the thought crossed my mind how Sam could have done a job for us out here.

We travelled with 3 forwards none of who were fully fit or match fit and that is why we didn't score. Just like Beersheba that game was winnable but our squad is just not deep enough.

Agree but would mention scoring goals for a struggling team is a lot harder.

Summer 2018. V popular with the Rovers fans apparently and really enjoying his football

I honestly think we should play our strongest team and go for an historic win which should see us qualify. We can then go to City expecting to lose but so what, a defeat there is nothing new and will be forgotten by the following game.

Lots of chickens being counted on here, which is always a worry when it comes to Saints.

There were some Israelis on the coaches from Tel Aviv to the game but they were Saints fans, other than them I saw no other 'locals' in our end.

Who said there was a problem, I was merely highlighting with a tad more ambition it could have been 6 points which would have given us more leeway v Milan?

I agree entirely but I guess the argument will only be settled once the season is over or at least the Milan games are over. I still can't see the point of expanding so much energy to get into the EL only to downgrade its importance to a 1in 38 Premier league outing. Something not reported but the Be'er Sheva players were so chuffed with their 0-0 draw against us they went on a lap of honour. It was a tad embarrassing but fair play to the Saints fans (we were kept behind for 15 minutes) when the Israeli team approached our end everyone applauded them much to their bemusement. That sent a signal to me that perhaps Puel had given them too much respect and Thursday night was a missed opportunity.

Yes I understand what you are saying but with two games v Milan coming up we potentially spurned a good opportunity in Israel. Only time will tell if Puel made the right call but, I repeat, after spending 9 months of blood sweat and tears to qualify for the Europa League and then to send out a weakened team when 3 points were attainable, begs my question - is an away game at Leicester more important than a winnable Europa Group game? If win tomorrow and v Milan away and I might be persuaded you and Claude have got it right.

Since getting back from Israel I have been mulling the game and the team selection which involved leaving 4 first teamers at home and having untested players on the bench. I also wanted to start this thread before tomorrow's match. Hindsight is a wonderful thing etc I can't see the point of Southampton FC spending 9 months, scrapping like hell to qualify for the Europa League group stages only to prioritise the Premier League once the season starts. Personally I think a stronger team v Be'er Sheba would probably have earned all 3 points which would have put us in a very strong position. OK that would have lessened our chances away to Leicester but so what. Is a point at Leicester more important than a win in the Europa? I know some will say the Premier League must remain our bread and butter but if that is the case just what was the point of busting a gut to qualify for Europe in the first place. Be'er Sheba were there for the taking, but Puel was too negative (in my opinion). If the Leicester game was to decide who went down fair enough but it is one in 38 games and the season is yet young.

Could more use a decent centre-forward in my opinion. The gamble we too on relying on JayRod, with hindsight, looks costly.

Sitting in Tel Aviv airport reading the reports in the Jerusalem Post where their manager is claiming the result against a big club to be a very good one so it seems both sides would have settled for a point. Saints were incredibly light weight upfront which was disappointing after last Sunday, how we could have used a fit JayRod. I don't think I have ever been in a noisier stadium, everyone and I mean every one in the crowd joined in with singing and clapping and the acoustics meant the atmosphere was intimidating but never hostile. There was a little street bar on the corner outside and both sets of fans mingled just fine. Unfortunately it seems the vendor didn't have a liquor license because the law arrived and told him no more beer sales! Just as Steve Grant was about to get a drink too.

Am at the north end of the beach area in Tel Aviv and planning a beach bar crawl to the bus pick up point later this afternoon. Flew out of Luton yesterday morning at 7am with all the Solent team who were whisked through their own priority passport control while we had to queue for ages. Everyone we have met have been welcoming and friendly and on a quick glance life looks good for those who live here, but you can't help remembering that not very far from here there exists people living and being kept in extreme misery. Slightly disappointed no Austin, that tells me Puel is putting Sunday's game ahead of this one. As relegation is not likely I would prefer it if this game was given precedence. Right off to start that crawl to the Dolphinarium. I suppose I would take a draw tonight but a win would be nice, having come all this way.

And so he should - his salary of £3m and the grubby little git still wants to fiddle another 400,000. The FA screwed up giving him the job in the first place, he had dodgy history which they chose to ignore at their peril.

[quote name= There IS only ONE Dusan Tadic.[/quote] Phew!

Yea Maybe, I hope Puel can bring the best out of him because he has the talent

Yea great shimmy for his goal...pure class but he also missed two good chances and that is why he will never be a great. A better player would have scored 2 or 3 yesterday. And I don't think I am alone in being critical because it is obvious Puel gets frustrated too judging by some of the exchanges they have when Tadic is subbed. Said it many times but people don't listen, there is a very good player in the making but he is too inconsistent and sometimes too indecisive and I will stick to that view for the time being if that's alright by you.

Just back. Stadium was great if you like athletics and have a pair of binos in your back pocket. It was also a nightmare to walk to with the nearest tube 2 miles away, especially if you had just drunk 5 pints in Borough market. But West Ham were so poor it was like taking candy off young kids. It took us 40 mins to realise we were up against a bunch of pansies and from then on in it was easy. Should have scored more though, 5-0 was a truer reflection of our dominance. A good result to set us up for the Holy land

Interesting article in today's Guardian on Wenger's 20 years in charge. It investigates how many permanent managers the other clubs then (1996) in the premiership have had in the intervening years and us and Forest come up top with 17. I was going to name them to see if they were correct but I lost the will to live around Wotte. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/21/arsene-wenger-arsenal-1966-premier-league-rivals-where-are-they-now