Nemi

Forget trying to stay up, let’s try and score a goal in open play before the season ends.

A Premier League team should be putting at least 3 past a League 2 team, so those penalties should have been irrelevant anyway

The amount of times Lyanco and DCC have refused to play an easy pass and just play it between themselves - it’s like they’re more interested in touching the ball than winning

What’s worse for Saints is that they take 5 mins checking for a clear offside and then just add on a minute or two

Everyone slating Aribo, but he’s the only player trying to make himself an option in between the lines

Still can’t score from open play though

The big problem is that the majority of our attacking mids are incapable of passing the ball and just run into dead-ends non-stop. Armstrong and Elyounoussi probably produced the worst attacking midfielder display I've ever seen at the weekend, but this is a problem that's persisted basically ever since Tadic left. Even Sulemana I'm not convinced by - he seems to have the same problem, all pace and dribbling and no end product. I'd give him a chance for now as at least he seems to make defenders worry, but he needs to start putting some chances away too. For all the criticism our strikers get no wonder we've had failure after failure recently, the attacking mids just get the ball and dribble it into the corner. None of them are capable of any link-up play, we've brought winger after winger / attacking mid after attack mid who just dribble and don't do anything else. The ball never gets anywhere near the strikers and when it does its a hopeful punt from defence. Their also never stood in the right-place to receive the ball - TBF Walcott is not too bad in this regard, he does get into decent positions but of course the problem is the rest of his game has gone to pot. Finally we have a player in Lavia who can break the lines and ultimately its pointless - are their any teams in the league who have attacking mids and wingers with such little output in goals or assists? Hopefully Alcaraz can address this to an extent. I'd probably go GK KWP - DCC - Salisu - Perraud Lavia JWP - Alcaraz Sulemana (though maybe Aribo could get another chance as at least he's popped up with a couple of goals) Onuachu - Adams But really its still square pegs in round holes. What a mess our recruitment has been. All that money spent and all we have is a load of pace and no substance - when we've been crying out for a attacker who can play with just a touch or two.

Yep he is great at dribbling, he's a very decent player, but he's not unreplaceable. Our crapness in attack is a two-way street of poor strikers and poor service. Ultimately, I think KWP could improve his final ball and release it quicker and more decisively: we have plenty in the squad now who can dribble but have nothing to show for it. If he's unhappy and wants to leave, then let him go and bring in someone who may not be as good at dribbling but is a better passer because our team desperately lacks it.

It's not necessarily his lack of assists, he just doesn't get the ball in the box enough for me - I'm all for a wing-back getting forwards and being good at dribbling but he needs to show some willingness to get the ball into dangerous positions at the end of it all. You also can't assist if you not getting the ball into the right areas. Again I'm not calling him bad, he's good, but he's not irreplaceable and he needs to improve in this area if he's going to be competing for England caps as people claim he should be.

Just looked. In 76 appearances for Saints he has 2 goals and 4 assists. His last assists two being a tackle on Connor Gallagher and a square pass to Elyounoussi. Like I said, I'm not calling him bad but that's hardly the record of someone irreplaceable, no?

Call me crazy, as I know he's pretty highly rated here, but I wouldn't be that bothered if we lost him. Good player, but no end product and holds the ball too long like too many on our books - can't even remember the last time he put a cross in honestly, let alone getting an assist. Plenty out there who may be a bit less flashy, but are just as, if not more productive than KWP.

Unfairly criticised just because he had a poor game v Lincoln but I think we’re a better team with him in it. Also think he’s unfairly criticised due to his relaxed demeanour - it was like people were wanting him to burst into tears when he makes a mistake - when a player with a cool head is what we’ve been lacking.

My view from being at the game today was that we were decent. Nothing we could really blame the manager for, we were actually working as a group this time but we just didn’t have the quality in the end ball. We just need someone with a bit of incision up top who will gamble a bit with their movement (there was one cross in particular today later in the first half where both Adams and Armstrong were on their heels) and that would be a big help. We also need someone who takes responsibility and actually had a shot from time to time too. Quite a few occasions in the second half where there was a good opportunity for a shot and no one took it on. Even when we play ok, we are still miles of the likes of Brighton in terms of sheer quality. They always passed at the right time and took a touch at the right time. We as a squad just don’t have that level of good decision making on the pitch which really makes the difference. Saying that though I though Aribo and AMN for all their critics had a good game today along side JWP. They both battled well and showed a good level of physically - it was the first time for a while we didn’t seem to get totally bullied in midfield. They were trying to make things happen too, it just didn’t seem to register with other players at times.

If he valued his own career, he'd stay where he is. He's in a team who look well coached, he's getting good minutes and good experience. Anyone who thinks one single player will solve the issue at Saints are deluded. We can barely get the ball into the oppositions half and when we do its a hopeful punt over the back line - what people are expecting Nathan Tella to do with that level of service, god knows.

End of the day the line-up was irrelevant v Brighton - Saints had 16 different players on the pitch in that 90 mins and none of them moved for each other, none of them worked as a team, there was no link-up and our only chances came from a few dribbles. Doesn't matter who Saints play if they don't start moving and helping each other, making themselves available for a pass and releasing the ball quickly and decisively we're just gonna keep having 11 individuals out on the pitch who don't stand a chance in hell because we can't expect individuals to make things happen. What was most worrying from Brighton is that no-one wanted the ball. Everyone was hiding. The starting line-up for Fulham should be the 11 who are most willing receive a pass and move around. Probably won't get us a win, because then there is the overall lack of quality, but Saints need to start actually playing football again, at the very least. Ultimately its a game of movement, and I can't see Saints winning another game this season if they remain so static.

Wtf they were playing at spending all summer trying to sign Delap - judging by tonight's game (and his scoring record this season) he can't hack the Championship, let alone being a marquee signing for a PL club. SR fast becoming a bigger shambles than we were under Gao.

That's from last season

I actually find it embarrassing watching the way we defend. We've been a complete shambles defensively for too long and there's no sign of anything changing. I can't think of a team that as looked as stretched as we do when the other team has the ball. And why do we constantly have our defenders over committing for challenges they're never going to win? Newcastle didn't even the to try - for goal one and goal three we literally presented them with a three-on-one overload and then a six-on-three overload because our defenders have gone walkabouts trying to win impossible challenges and our midfield is no-where near the defence. I've also never seen a team play with such large gaps between defence and midfield, its mental how much space we leave open. Teams literally don't even have to try against us, we just open up for them. And for everyone blaming the keeper, what are you expecting from a young lad who has that complete shambles ahead of him. Of course he doesn't look confident - no keeper would with those tactics. It frustrating because we aren't even that bad on the ball. Forget a new striker for the moment - it was a complete disaster not to get one, and utter negligence - but in the meantime we should have picked up at least a few more points by just coaching our players to maintain the defensive shape in a game. At least the we could have had some sort of solid foundation to build on in the January transfer window, but at this rate, we'll be too far gone to save. Instead, I guess we'll experiment with five at the back again, weaken the midfield, all while ignoring the gaping obvious issue, which is probably what will happen next week if Hassenhuttl is still there.

Wtf are the CBs doing? In what world is it a good idea for both of them to charge out a balls they'll never win and leave the full-back 3-on-1? Maybe it isn't just a Bednarek problem because this happens every single game.

A Premier League midfielder should be able to pick the ball up in this position, with that amount of space, turn and play it forward. The fact that he goes back to Lyanco who is under pressure from Zaha - who then gets tackled and they score the winner - is pretty incredible. The thing I find surprising is people are just saying this is something from just this season. I’ve been saying for ages now that for all his ability he was no composure whatsoever. If he’s put under pressure, or he’s facing backwards he panics. And he’s always playing it safe. For someone with all that ability, he can only get assists in the same manner, and that’s swinging in balls for the right handside - or set-pieces. In my opinion if he plays, he plays in a position where he can pick up the ball facing forwards. That’s why Lavia has papered over the cracks so far because he can play on the half-turn so JWP doesn’t have to. But he’s never got over that problem that’s hung over him as a youth - he’s not a DM and he’s not an AM. For me, if he plays, he plays on the right of a midfield three with Lavia as the pivot. Unfortunately for JWP, we have a manager who plays him in a position which exposes his weaknesses.

Stick him in a three slightly more advanced and we’ve seen there’s a good player in there (as we did against Brentford last season). Stick him in a two and he’s a disaster. Yet we play him in a two every time and except a different result. He’s not a DM and never will be.

I’ve been saying for years that JWP shouldn’t be a consistently starting PL player, I glad some people are now starting to realise that too.

The main problem is why does he always start with the wrong line-up. We’re literally having to change things in what seems like every game just to give us a chance. He gets the wrong starting line-up every time. No wonder we’re so in the shit when we only give ourselves 45 mins max every game. I have no idea what he is thinking with some of his line-ups. Why do we persist with Lyanco who was an absolute liability v Arsenal (the defending for that blocked Jesus chance was some of the worst I’ve seen in top flight football), but somehow he gets away with it because he’s a ‘character’. And he costs us a goal today. And we legally shoehorn him in just to play 5atb again which rarely ever works for us against a team we really should be looking to try and give them a run for their money. And why do we always persist with playing two in midfield every game, and constantly sacrifice control to the opposition. And especially why do we pair Diallo and JWP together in that two when we’ve seen consistently that it ends up in disaster every single time. I actually feel quite sorry for Diallo because almost everyone can see except somehow Ralph that he isn’t and out and out DM and he isn’t able to play in just a two. Rather than play to our players strengths, we play to their weaknesses every time. It’s no wonder so many talents go downhill so quickly at St Mary’s. He makes the same mistakes in choosing his line-up every single week and somehow expects something to change. That’s why he needs to go and go soon because he is totally out of ideas and this is coming from one his most staunch defenders in recent times.

I think I’m correct in saying without free-kicks or penalties it’s 1 goal and 2 assists. And those two assists were the crosses against Spurs. He has absolutely no penetration in his passing whatsoever. He can only do one thing well and it’s not something that’s particularly useful for a CM. Being exceptional at set-pieces doesn’t make up for a midfield that didn’t and still doesn’t protect its defence and slows down the play in attack. He’s been a fundamental part of us regressing as a club.

The 4222 seems to work best but we still have to play at such high intensity to make it work. That’s why we always start so well and then drop so many points because we never seem to be able to key it up for the full 90. Today was the inverse of our usual trend. Started with a more defensive formation playing less energy before rescuing a point with a high intensity period at the end. Question is whether or not this season we’ll be able to do a whole match with the energy level required for 4222 and hold onto the points by the end.