Lallana's Left Peg

Don't bank on it. Anyone signed in the last few years who has come in and looked good has been dragged down to a pathetic level of crapness within half a dozen games, I've no doubt it would happen to academy graduates too.

That half had a bit of everything which has showed why we have been so bad the last few seasons. Insipid defending, allowing the opposition to do what they want whilst we believe just having numbers back is enough - check Lots of money spent in the summer but only one player good enough to get in the team - check Clueless in possession either keeping the ball all doing things with purpose - check No leadership - check No organisation at the back and players arguing with each other - check Square pegs in round holes - check Giving up lots of shooting opportunities - check Probably some more but I can't be bothered thinking too hard. This is so painful to watch.

I'm not a fan of solely judging things on stats, but there isn't much to choose between them over their Premier League career: https://www.premierleague.com/players/4617/James-Ward-Prowse/stats https://www.premierleague.com/players/3811/Nathan-Redmond/stats And it's quite clear in games that Redmond influences them far more than JWP. His pace, even if not used to his personal advantage, creates space for others and impacts the game. JWP is a different player altogether, so we're not comparing the same sort of player, but Redmond is needed in the team more than JWP.

I'm with you on that. Owner who only cares about a presence in a league, and leadership who are either lacking or have their hands tied behind their back. I think this is the norm for now. At least all the BS about ambition will stop I suppose.

I don't think it matters who we stick out there at the moment. 4 wins in 32 league games (or something like that), the entire squad lacks leadership and confidence. When the going gets tough, this lot crumble very quickly. It's two years of negativity and backwards momentum that is hard to stop. Whilst players have to stand up and be counted, I'm leaning more towards shocking leadership in the club and poor recruitment being more responsible for our downfall than any individual manager or player.

Well that's sort of the same at most clubs isn't it. It's entirely normal for clubs to have 50/50 records in the transfer market, our purple patch wasn't luck but nor was it a viable model for sustainable success. The quality of the squad has got worse the last three seasons, no doubt, but when you luck at the depth and the quality of player we have its far better than at least half the teams in this division so then it comes down to coaching and management.

I agree with this its just the inevitability of how teams will score against us now. We're not making them work hard for it. As well as we can play when you know just a simple percentage cross into the box, or a set piece, causes havoc then its a massive issue. The Brighton game set this game up perfectly - the team are clearly back to square one confidence wise - on the ball as individuals and in each other - and so we go away to a team and give away the sort of goals that relegation fighters do.

The complete lack of goal threat in that team is staggering. Think last season when we went to Man City it was the same - although we did manage to score that day. Ignoring the lack of ability in front of goal, I don't think that team will know how to keep possession either, or break with any understanding. It's going to be a long afternoon.

That might be to do with the fact they cost £50m and are far better than the players we sign. Also there is no other league like ours in the world - the pace and physicality is unrivaled. There are loads of players with the strength and speed to adapt that don't have the ability to shine, alternatively there are loads of players with the ability but lack of physical capability. Sure fire hits with both are out of our price range and signed by the big clubs. Anyone coming into this league from abroad has the same challenge.

I completely agree with this. If buying good players and selling them on for a profit was easy everyone would do it. The truth is we hit a purple spell of recruitment (not luck by any means) and are paying the price for not being able to sustain it. Don't get me wrong, avoidable mistakes have been made along the way, but to throw crap at us for not being able to do something no-one has ever done in history is pathetic. Most of all it just shows a lack of insight into the club and at worst football in general.

Fair enough - I'm just going on the highlights where it looked like Palace had a load of chances to score and McCarthy made decent saves. Many of them seemed to be post-penalty miss.

I wasn't there, but the highlights showed that Palace had a lot of decent chances. It's not lucky to have a good keeper, but I don't think we'd want to see him tested as much as he was on a regular basis. This is a Palace side without their best player as well. I appreciate showing a lot more attacking intent in the lineup will contribute towards that, but there will be some games we play like we did on Saturday and comfortably lose - we'll have to take the ups and downs with that.

If we hadn't spent much in the summer and declared we were giving the youngsters who have gone on loan a chance people would have had a meltdown. The issue people have is that we are spending too much money on players that are not working out which then creates the problem because we compare them to the kids and think they could contribute (which is a fair thing to do). Had we signed players who turned out to be very good no-one would care about the kids going on loan because we'd be saying we're at a level too good for them now. But you don't know when you sign a player whether or not he is going to work out and you aren't going to sign a player for £15m and then sit him on the bench while you give the kids a go. Gallagher and Targett look like they could contribute this season and they are still at the club. We know McQueen could contribute but he's third in line so a loan move makes sense. Reed is interesting - I think he'd do well in a team that is doing very well but he plays in such an important position I don't think he should start for us right now at all. Sims is the only one I'm iffy on - but he's only away until January.

The fact we have been able to do this while the club strictly operates on an 'invest what we earn' policy shows how successful we've been for nearly 10 years. The big weakness in the model - and any other - is that the moment you start buying players that turn into duds it all comes tumbling down very quickly. We've spent too much money on players who are simply not good enough.

Well he may have a better idea after two games than he does after one - which would be better than still not knowing.

Jermaine Wright got a load of grief too.

Both those would make him a better defender by default, but it wouldn't eliminate the mistakes or silly fouls. I think he loses his head too much and it affects his decision making and concentration, which are both fundamental pieces to defending these days, even moreso in a struggling team. If he could strip the emotion from his game then he may be better, but right now he costs us too often.

Vestergaard Yoshida Stephens Hoedt Bednarek Hoedt may be our best defender on the ball but his mistakes undermine that part of his game. He appears to lose focus and concentration which is criminal in the modern game.

Was training with the first team today, whereas Sims wasn't. Not that it doesn't mean he won't leave of course.

Don't really like the uncertainty around our best team or formation. Kind of leads me to think the Manager isn't sure either, which is an awful situation to be in.

Not that I disagree with the point you're making, but you did ask for it - Charlie Austin.

Thought it was quite good, some questions that fans wanted to ask had been asked and you were never going to get the sort of answers you wanted. Thought Blackmore gave Reed a great chance to defend himself at times and Reed didn't really take advantage of it enough. I often change my mind of whether or not Reed is doing a good job, but I suspect the last year was a wake up call for him. His answer as to why we'll never have a 100k a week player is concerning when the likes of Crystal Palace and others around us surely now have. While its understandable for the club to believe in what they are doing because it worked in the past, the standard of our competition is getting better and they are moving the benchmark of what good players cost and get paid. If Saints do not, we will not be successful.

I think we have a huge wage bill when you look at the size of the squad and fact players like Stephens and Targett on on 40-50k a week. I think we sink revenue from transfer fees into the wage bill as well as transfer fees for incoming players.

Alot more attacking intent, but sadly a distinct lack of quality and cohesion. Gabbi making loads of runs that players do not have the vision to pick out and its doing my head in. Undone by quality in the final third that we don't have, other than that we're doing ok. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Loathe to move on one of our own and he has a sweet left foot but he's always been done by pace and the Prem gets faster each year. Assuming Bertrand stays, McQueen is a capable backup (even if not as good as Targett) and the £15m goes towards strengthening other areas then its a good 'opportunity' sale.