BARCELONASAINT

I'm very happy with this one and very surprised we have got our man......can only think we have promised him funds

we lose again

right now you could tell me Arsne Wenger was in the running for the job and i wouldn't be excited......nothing about Saints excites me anymore, the whole club is thoroughly depressing!

I don't think there will be a **** storm on here if we lose.....I think we are way past that....I am resigned to the fact our owner and board are crap and don't give a **** and have employed a complete moron as a manager. I have now got to the stage where i totally expect us to lose every game we play.

Newcastle, Cardiff and Saints. We are just awful and if we are incapable of beating a very poor Newcastle at home then we deserve to go down. The last 3 seasons have been awful as a Saints fan. I just don't look forward to us playing anymore.

personally think we are far too cautious and nervous playing at home.....can see us losing this 1-0

easy 3 points......for Bournemouth!

I really hate Klippety Klopp and the Liverpool team.....but my god they are excellent....brilliant game of football last night. If Liverpool can be bothered they will destroy us.

where does it say this??

Gabbi every day of the week

can't see anything but a loss, 2-0 Palarse........like some other posters I have actually taken to betting on Saints losing which is a sad state of affairs....plus side I have made some money!

Absolutely this!!!

If we start as badly as we have the last 2 games the game will be over by half time. At the moment i am struggling to see a win for us.

Probably deserved the job for keeping us up and i'm certainly not going to ask for his head 2 games in.....after 10 games maybe that opinion will change. Did i personally want as our manager? NO Do I think he is a decent manager? NO Do I think he is capable off getting the best out of this squad? NO I want him to be successful because if he is not that means we are losing matches and i'm a Saints and I want us to win games. I don't want him to lose games just so we can sack another manager.

Thank god for McCarthy....we are a shambles at the back and this is against the likes of Burnley. Pluses so far McCarthy, Armstrong, Uncle Fester and Lemina

Hope the boys can hit the floor running this afternoon and we get the perfect start to the season. TBH i am not at all confident for the coming season. I think our defence is made of glass and our midfield offer little protection. I don't think confidence is running particularly high at all but i'm hoping that a win in our first match of the season will change that. C'mon Saints!!

My head is telling me to keep calm and pre-season means nothing and to ignore the abject performances and our invisible defence. However my heart is telling me Hughes doesn't have a clue when it comes to coaching defenders and nothing has improved from last season. I really really hope i'm wrong but I think we will lose Sunday because having watched the pre-season games I can see no improvement and some players actually look to have got worse which to me is a damming indictment about Hughes as a manager and motivator. Please don't get me wrong, i'm not bashing the club or Hughes that's not my style.....this is my honest opinion of how I see things and it frightens me.

I'm stuck at work with only the benefit of reading the comments on here so difficult to judge how things really are. However I was at the game on Wednesday and was really concerned at how poor our defence was and it appears the same is being said again today. I'm not going to say this is disastrous but I do honestly believe we are in for a terrible season because I do not believe we have done anything to address our defensive frailties. The best sides are built on a strong defence and we have one made of glass.

went to the game tonight and obviously delighted with the great turn around. However had that been a Premiership game we would have been dead and buried by H/T. WE ARE ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING AT THE BACK....I hope the new lad comes good but i'm not convinced he is any better than what we already have. In what was a very poor first half the players that stood out for me were Armstrong, Gabbi and Bertrand. Second half was so much better but lets be honest here we were playing a very ordinary Celta Vigo....but credit where credit is due the players that played in that second half put in a shift and were rewarded. Great cross for the first goal and Austin did what he does so well......if he keeps fit and we provide the service he will score goals. We need to keep Targett based on tonights performance. Was really pleased for Armstrong when he scored because he had a busy game and could be a really good player for us. I have said it from day one that Gabbi is the most intelligent of our strikers and he looked very good tonight. Long was just bloody awful, Romeu and Davis were ponderous. I really want MoEly to be that jewel in our crown and he did show some nice touches and finished the rebound well but overall I was disappointed in what i saw of him.....but it is early days and he is bedding in. All in all great comeback and plenty of positives.....but i'm still massively concerned when teams attack us.

what a goal by Slattery!!!

I know the friendlies so far have been all about fitness and Mark Hughes getting a real feel for the squad but i for one am worried. I've seen nothing so far from these friendlies that tells me things will be different from last season. We put 2 past an extremely poor Dijon.......not exactly inspiring stuff! I look at our current squad and look at who i would fear as an opposition player.......at the moment i see nothing that would worry me. I'm going Wednesday night and really hope i see something that will make me feel a bit positive about the new season.

when Ings signed for Liverpool there was a firm offer on the table from Saints also. Ings has a straight decision to make between us and them.....however it was not a simple decision at the time because Ings is particularly close to his sister and her kids who live here in Hampshire and because of reasons i won't go into and are personal Ings was really torn which to choose. I happened to just be in the right place at the right time back then to get this first hand info and it was just a question of luck with my job. I said it back then and i will say it again now.....I believe there is far too much baggage involving Ings for us to take a punt on him without even taking into account his in juries!!!

I've thought about this for quite along time before posting my thoughts. Like many on here there were times during the last 2 seasons that i would have happily seen the back off Tadic....looked uninterested, no stomach for the fight and seemed to start every game no matter how ineffective he had been for weeks on end. However there is no disputing that on his day he is brilliant and the one genuine creative player we have.....the only player that POTENTIALLY comes close is Boufal and i'm convinced he does not have the temperament for the Premiership. So why are we allegedly selling him? Not sure anyone on here knows the real answer to that and it is just speculation that the club has decided to cash in on the player. However it could easily be that Tadic has expressed a desire to move on and his heart is no longer in it. Personally i'm not against him going and i honestly believe he has lost his mojo and wants a fresh challenge. If Saints can make a profit on him i will be happy but i would want the money invested a replacement. I do think some fans are way too quick in assuming it is always the club just trying to make a fast buck and that players never want to go.....I think the last few seasons have shown that when a player decides it's time to move on NOTHING can stop it......and please don't even go there with the Van **** saga.

I honestly hope he stays and Hughes recognises he is the most gifted of all our strikers. If we can once again play attacking football with good service to Gabby in the box he will score a hatful. He has been utterly wasted by the previous idiot of a manager.

i really wasn't sure who i wanted to win the game.....i hate them both. However my hatred for Liverpool shone through and it wasn't long before i was cheering FIRST SALAH going off and then the keeper being more generous than Santa Claus. Full credit to Bale though......i said to my Liverpool supporting mate 2 hours before kick off "If Bale plays you will lose, he been on fire"....hey presto!