CylonKing

Actually think our tactics to begin with were spot on. Leicester barely threatened our goal in the whole match, particularly in the first half. Taking off JWP and Long destroyed everything good we were doing at the time and meant we had nothing at the front to scare Leicester. I would've personally took off Tadic and brought on either Redmond or Sims and then sacrificed Romeu for Austin with 10 to go. Think Hughes played for the point last night when most of us would've rather we'd gone for it towards the end instead of sitting back and settling. In the circumstances, I think Hughes was the right appointment at the time but we need someone new next year. Someone with the right level of knowledge for the division we're going to be in. How about Ian Holloway? ;-)

Great evening in Leicester involving lots of drink. Boring as hell match to watch but exciting in terms of nerves and the hope eating away at you. Thought Yoshi and Hojberg were excellent - Yoshi marshaling the defence, talking and directing the players around him, as you would expect a captain to do...oh! Hojberg did lose the ball a couple of times but usually trying to go forward or to do something different to the norm. He looks up and tries to pass forward, covers very well and looks a class player in my opinion. Thought JWP was also looking good and was unlucky to be substituted for Davis, who did nothing at all. Tadic was woeful and should've been the first player taken off, completely invisible for most of the match. Long was very good, chasing down, pinning Leicester back a bit. Taking him off for Austin was a huge mistake. Austin did nothing for us at all apart from a very tame shot on target that the keeper had no trouble with at all. Also thought that Bertrand and Cedric looked out of sorts and barely ventured forward down the wings at all. Think they'd been told to hold back by the manager so that we had more than enough cover for when we eventually lost the ball. On this evidence I think it is looking pretty poor for us in terms of staying up. Still, that hope is eating away there!

Sorry folks. The loss on Saturday was my fault. On 65 minutes I popped to the kitchen to grab a celebratory beer while listening to the match. If I didn't get a premature beer, all would've been fine. It won't happen again.

Don't worry folks. I'm going to this game and I've not seen us once lose live this season yet. Admittedly I've only been to the WBA games. Still, it is a 100% record.

You are quite right Saint86. Les was wrong to sack Puel if it was due to fan\player pressure if he believed he was the right man for the job. We'll never know whether there was something else that was the reason though, but likely that Les bowed to outside influences. Which in turn, led to us hanging on too long to Pellegrino as getting rid too soon cost us a decent manager previously and the board\Les were too scared to make the same mistake again. I think Puel only had one issue last year in terms of squad and that was the loss of both Fonte and van Di ck. Had we replaced Fonte properly and VD stayed injury free, I think the defensive spine would've held and we would've attacked more, making the end to last season more entertaining for the fans. So yes, another of Les's faults is that he's not effectively replaced our defensive line... and still hasn't.

Not sure this is fair as Puel is proving to be a much better manager than people gave him credit for. Yes, our performances at the tail end of last year weren't great, but he still had a successful season with us. I personally think that the only managerial mistake Les has made is this season; a) in appointing Pellegrino (who lots of fans wanted) and b) not acting sooner to rectify the mistake, but I understand that the club wanted to give the manager time to try and sort it out. I don't like the hiring and firing that now goes on in the football leagues. I like loyalty and stability, but that is my personal opinion.

Looking forward to watching this on the Beeb with a couple of beers. Think it'll be an easy win... which way, I'm not going to say! ;-)

Whilst I'm not enamored by the appointment I think he is our best option available to us on short notice. If he can get the fitness levels up and instill some passion and drive whilst retaining the players respect I think he'll do well. If he does keep us up, no reason why he shouldn't be given the job longer term either. I see parallels with the Strachan appointment many years ago; a manager sacked from another team with a reputation of doing well for a few seasons before falling away a little, coming in to a struggling team and getting us back to basics, look how well that turned out last time so I'm optimistic that we may see some improvements over the coming games.

1. Alex McCarthy 2. Mario Lemina 3. A beautiful home shirt that was 50% off recently 4. The FA Cup run 5. Only lost 1 in 10 of our last competitive games

I personally think that the club feel they have the right man after doing the due diligence in the summer and appointing him. I think they feel that the VVD saga has undermined the manager and they feel he needs to be given a fair crack of the whip and do not want to be the club that panics and gets rid at the first sign on trouble. I think the club believe that stability is the key to moving forward and want to move away from the last few seasons of managers leaving after a season or 2. I understand the sentiment and actually think it is the right thing to do, if you have the right manager in charge. The big question is, do we have the right person in charge of the team? I want to believe that we do however as nothing is changing in the way we play and we are not seeing much progression I seriously doubt it. I really do not believe there is anything sinister or underhanded going on at the club in terms of relegation and a fire-sale to clear debt or recoup monies.

I think it is a very important point that nta786 has made. It should be the VAR ref highlighting to the referee any decisions and not the on-pitch ref requesting something to be looked at again. That would mean only the key decisions would stop the game and only if an offence had occurred. The game would flow much, much better in that instance.

I have seen him play live twice now (once as a sub) against West Brom, so not the best benchmark, but from what I have seen I think he has been a decent buy. He has won a lot of headers from balls pumped forward, the main problem being that he is so isolated and no one is willing to take a chance on running onto a flick on that the ball usually goes to an opposition player. Last Saturday he flicked a brilliant ball on from a goal kick between 2 defenders but the 'supporting' player didn't move. Any kind of run towards the ball would've resulted in a chance. He has also got into goal scoring positions and either been unlucky in that the opposition have got a last ditch deflection or our ball into the box has not been good enough. When he has had a chance, it has been on target and forced a good save from the keeper. His movement is very intelligent and he is a handful for defenders. In the box, he looks very dangerous to me and I can see him getting a few poacher type goals in the next few matches. He also has good vision, as proven by the good assist for Tadic, who very nearly fluffed up the chance as the ball bounced off his foot and onto his knee but luckily he managed to retrieve the ball and score a good goal. I personally think Guido will be like Pelle for us and will be a good signing, from what I've seen so far.

Forgot to mention, when chanting 'Oh, Alex McCarthy', it does sound a little like 'Oh, Alex the Donkey'. :-)

Ohhhh, what a good thread idea! Manager: Has to be WGS. As someone else has pointed out, he got our team to be the fittest in the league and we benefited from it with lots and lots of late goals. Also, always value for money in interviews and a firm fan favourite. Was gutted when it was announced he was going for health reasons. Niemi: My wife would kill me if I didn't pick him as one of the four. Probably the best keeper to pull on the Saints shirt in my supporting days. Everything you could want in a keeper, did the basics perfectly and hardly ever made mistakes....Fratton Park the exception. Made saves that he had no right to make, great reactions and had a real air of authority and respect about him. No nonsense player. M. Svensson: Would shore up our defense and be the perfect foil for either Stephens or Hoedt as the ball player of the 2. Great vision, wonderful tackler and such a tough player with pace. Would score his share of goals as well. Pahars: Clinical finishing, pace and a joy to watch. Pahars at his peak was one of the best players in the league. Le Tissier: How could you not? The BEST player to ever grace the top division in England (in my opinion). Had the skill and vision to set-up goals and score them. There is no way you couldn't include him to be honest. As someone else has already said, build the team round him and off you go.

Was at the game, thought we looked comfortable for the most part and deserved the 2 goal lead. Thought no one was at fault for their goal, McCarthy was still getting back into position when the first time shot was taken, which took EVERYONE by surprise. McCarthy MOM and did keep us in the game, but I felt that we were playing very much within ourselves and had another gear to move to. I always expect us to step up our game and we just don't seem to. I'm also annoyed with our complete lack of urgency at thrown ins. Why do Bertrand or Cedric HAVE to take them. Slows our game down so much when with a bit of speed and thought, we could be in on goal. Just no urgency at all from us. Overall though, I'm happy with the result and enjoyed the match and day in Brum.

Yep, got 2 tickets this morning in A3, which is now nearly sold out. A6 is now available. Looking forward to this, should be another good game.

As you leave New Street Station (Grand Central), the metro to Wolverhampton leaves from right outside the entrance and goes to The Hawthorns. Saves the time spent walking to Snow Hill for the train. You can pay on the metro and you get a match day return, cost £3.20. We also had no issues getting the metro back at all. Away fans go a different route to home fans but meet up again at the metro stop. Away fans are not directed away from the metro, just a different route. Finally, another recommendation for the Wellington. An absolute gem of a pub with some very special ales on tap. If you have the time, you can't go far wrong. Also, if you do find yourself near Snow Hill, The Old Contemptible's is also a very good pub.

First match for a long, long time. What a match as well. Thought we were pretty comfortable for the majority of the game. Lemina undoubtedly the best player on the pitch but I thought pretty much all our players did very well. No one really had a poor game and it was obvious that we were very much up for the fight. Couldn't really see there 2nd goal but after watching the highlights, I think it was just a well worked goal from a wonderful cross from Dawson, not much anyone could do about that. Thought the support for us was excellent, even the 'Getting sacked in the morning' before we equalised was done more in jest than with any real venom. Felt like the fans were really behind the team. Carillo looked a handful and without an excellent Foster save or blocked cross, could've also got on the score sheet. Pleased to see Boufal show some passion, turn on the fans but then acknowledge that he was wrong with a wave and a smile and that the fans responded to that. Also good to see the players come over and give their shirts away, which Hoedt started. Thought Long did very well when he came on but gets no support from the officials. There was one tackle he made by the touchline where he won the ball cleanly, turned away and was in towards goal when the ref blew for a foul against him. It was obvious that he won the ball fairly and it was a harsh decision. Obviously wouldn't have ended in a goal ;-) but it did put us back under a little pressure. As for the header, well, he should've at least got it on target. Overall, one of the best Saints performances that I've had the pleasure of seeing live. A really entertaining match and a decent send off for big Cyrille. See you all in 2 weeks time to do it all again! :-)

Well, can't really complain with West Brom as I should be able to go to the match, but out of all the midlands teams still in the Cup, it has to be the team that we're playing 2 weeks before. Would've much preferred a different ground, someone we've not played for a while, like Coventry or Notts County. Oh well, another excuse for a Balti after the match I suppose.

From a purely personal point of view, I would like any of the following away as then I'll be able to get to the match: West Brom, Leicester, Birmingham (if they get through), Notts County (if they get through, this would be perfect as I can walk to the ground), Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry or Sheffield United In fact, out of the 6 or 7 matches I've seen us play the above sides in recent years, I'm yet to see us get a win. A couple of draws but no wins. That's depressing! Here's hoping we get a win at West Brom on Saturday. At least I've got the promise of a Balti in Birmingham City Centre after the match to look forward to regardless of the result.

That video link doesn't show him at his best. Just watched some more and he looks pretty good to me, some decent assists, excellent header of the ball and seems to be in the right place at the right time to hit the target. Might not be a bad option. Looks like he can bully defenders and bring other players into the game. All depends on getting players in and around him and providing the right service. Could be a gem!

Glad to see him go first of all, but disappointed that it's to Liverpool after the hoo-haa in the summer. If he was not for sale, then he should've been not for sale for at least the season. The fact that he's barely tried and was back to sulking again and he has got his wish after all, just makes this a really sad situation. Surely Liverpool should now be charged by the Premier League\F.A for tapping up as that is what started this whole sorry state of affairs to begin with? It has had a purely negative affect on our club which could end up with us being relegated. As for van **** himself, I hope it all falls through for him and his stock collapses and he ends up in the reserves, rotting somewhere. Had the chance to keep his mouth shut, be a professional and do everything behind the scenes like an adult. Calling him a child does kids everywhere a disservice. A horrible, horrible footballer who I hope absolutely fails in whatever he does. Pr*ck.

Yep, that would be perfect for me as well.

Actually think this is our best line-up for this match. Yes, it is defensive but at least it is different. Think we may sneak a result tonight.

Thank you, thank you. I said give PEH a chance and he delivered, but you know what, f*ck that, I'm just pleased for a Saints win. We march on! Xx