Rich102

Chelsea are obscenely good. Draw would be a great result.

2 assists for JWP.

Except he is, and it's crazy to expect a 20 year old still to carry a team whose confidence is shot to pieces.

I've plenty of confidence in Koeman, but I get the sense he and others had forgotten how weak a squad they had inherited. We have a system that is dependent on 11 players all being on form - and no plan B if that's not the case. If there is one positive (and this is a stretch) it's that the need for major strengthening in January is glaringly obvious. At least I feel like a Saints fan again.

Major work required in January.

Beyond a joke.

Jesus christ why are we hitting it long against a L1 defence, and with no height up front.

Some mistakes are obv worse than others. We've had a horror run of late. No point denying it.

Forster error vs Villa Injuries vs Arsenal Fonte error vs Utd Forster error vs Utd Defensive error vs Burnely. God it's been a painful few weeks.

Difficult half - didn't realise what a horrible team Burnley were, and it's awful luck to be playing them with Clattenberg as ref. We haven't looked too bad. A bit jittery at the back but generally in control. Pelle's won a lot in the air - but Mane and Tadic are letting us down again. Shout out for Steven Davis who's been impeccable in a Xavi style role. One of our best signings of the last few years IMO.

Never a booking for Mane - God, Clattenberg has it in for us.

Challenge on Hesketh was a disgrace.

Even by Allen's standards this is an astonishingly meaningless paragraph. "The handiwork of Reggie’s paternal granddad and an avid Reds follower, much to the frustration of his Pompey-supporting parents and, of course, Fulcher." Also is the 'Sondinlo' thing funny in a way I'm not getting? Seems like the penny is starting to drop (insert own Splash! joke here) regarding the amateurishness of their set-up. Pretty sure some folk on here red-flagged the Sondico partnership at the time, but to be honest all the Cassandra moments in this thread just merge into one giant WE TOLD YOU SO...

Yea, this. You can't budget for losing 3 players in a game due to injury. Horrible to lose it so late but it's no reflection on the team who were every bit Arsenal's equal until that point.

Why is Michael Owen victim blaming Tadic for having his ankle stamped on?

What are you talking about - he's been on 20 minutes and in that time nearly got caught in possession as last man, fell over clearing a cross and gave the ball to Welbeck and lost Welbeck from a free-kick. I've nothing against him (he's a decent mid-table CB), but he's a clear weak link here.

Good half. Tadic needs to do more. Pelle should have done better but is playing fine - has barely had any service the last 3 games. Yoshida is an accident waiting to happen though. There's just no way we gain more from moving Alderweireld into midfield than we lose from having Yoshi at CB.

Hugely disappointing but: - Played a top team who were clearly up for it - Lost our best player and had to shuffle back 4 - Key players had a shocker (Tadic esp) We were totally naive at the end and should have kept the score down. But other than that this was just an inevitable return to the real world. No need to blow it out of proportion - every London based journo in the country will do that for us.

Blatent booking. Inexplicable refereeing today.

We look nervous which is to be expected sadly. Wouldn't change anything at half-time - a draw would be a great result and if we can nick a Villa-esque goal through Mane or (later) Long that'd be great. Feel bad for Tadic and Pelle - both are sub-par today, but it's also not their kind of game. Both very good players, but probably showing why they aren't world-class players (yet).

Unbelievable decision!

I hate Villa so much

Something I've been thinking for a bit is how much we've benefited from having three exceptional managers in a row (with largely the same group of players). This is very crude, but for all Adkins' faults he did an amazing job of changing the mentality of the club - from losers to winners, and from negativity to positivity, and all this growth mindset stuff. Then Pochettino (for all his faults too) instilled a lot more grit in the team (i've never see us so hard to beat in all my years), as well as bringing on the pressing and positional game that made us a nightmare to play against. Now we've got Koeman who's probably freed us up a bit from the Pochettino style - and taken us another level confidence and squad wise. There really aren't many teams who've had this period of stability and growth that we've had (even with Cortese/MoPo leaving the wider strategy of the club stayed the same) so I think a lot of what we're seeing today is a product of the last 5 or 6 years, rather than the summer. The mental strength the squad has developed is unbelievable - the way we turned the screw against Sunderland was a good example - the Saints I grew up watching would either have a) Been Sunderland and fallen to pieces, or b) Taken our foot off the gas at 3 or 4-0. But the way we went for the kill shows the mentality we've got at the moment. It's no coincidence that for about 3 seasons almost everyone we've played has been having an 'off-day' according to their fans. The squad we have at the moment is exceptional, but we've been mentally out-competing most teams for a few years now and that's the difference for me. We won't finish second obviously - but with the coaching, the squad and the playing style we've got I honestly think we can break into the top 6 if injuries go our way. Then you add in the academy and the long-term financial commitment and I don't think there's many clubs that look as healthy in the long term either.

Pretty sure most of that was tongue in cheek. We've been miles better.

Get in there! Well deserved