Daft Kerplunk

Ralph has had a bad few this season but I can’t imagine he’s helped out by a poor selection of coaches in Kelvin Davies, Craig Fleming and Dave Watson around him, and also a fitness coach who doesn’t seem to have made a positive difference. Giving jobs to the boys is fine unless they are not good enough. Ralph is clearly missing Rohl, the others are not good enough to make the step up and Ross Wilson needs to make a change to correct this, if only to make up for his key role in the bad transfers over the last few years.

Thanks, Matt Le Tissier posted it so was wondering why. Glad to have an ITK answer

Anyone know why Marian Pahars, a club legend who has coached at a decent level and apparently really wanted to be part of the club again was turned down for a coaches job at the club and a coach from Bristol City was chosen instead?

Whether you believe it is up to you.

Just imagine if you can, that I know this because somebody I know works at the club and is well informed. Imagine.

Gao’s plans for Southampton FC are to use the club as a way into getting property developments in the city. The people (board) who work for the club are here in Southampton and can meet with the council chiefs, council chiefs want to work with the football club and politically the club’s status in the city helps open doors. The money made will go back to China and not to develop the football club. Kat could have sold to other investors who would genuinely have improved us but she wanted the money. Owning a football club is a mere vehicle for bigger more lucrative activity.

Dreadful performance. Total lack of character to get a goal back then throw it away. Questions need to be asked at all levels behind the scenes. Where is the leadership coming from to get us through this relegation battle?

If he genuinely believed we had a good squad following the January transfer window then that view was not ideal.

One for the stattos but what’s the English top-flight record for points lost from winning positions? I wonder if we are close to it.

Out of those listed above, Jones, Slattery and Obafemi have a chance of having a premier league career but those are still touch and go.

So once Austin goes, Bertrand could be the last of the ones we can get rid of where we have a replacement already playing. He might also be among those like Austin, Cedric, Hoedt, Gabbi who doesn’t fit with the new regime where there are no Billy big b0ll0cks allowed and commitment to the team is 100% required.

Refs have a hard job but **** me that was a sh!t performance by the man in the middle. He needs to look in the mirror

Lack of quality depth in the squad was exposed tonight. We were exposed physically too, any team will now see that if you get after us and bully us then we can’t currently cope. Players still adapting the extra physical work so a lull was to be expected. We have to beat the teams around us as we probably won’t get much out of the top 12 as shown today unless Ralph gets a decent transfer budget in January.

Team spirit, collective responsibility, working hard to play, confidence in not being fearful. He’s a leader who focuses on the right things as it stands at the moment. Long may it continue

The best thing about Les, and his mate Martin Hunter going seems to be that the first team manager is once again the most important football person at the football club. The owners deciding Les needed to go may have had an unforeseen yet significant impact.

Told there was serious surprise at this promotion. Davis chose Fleming ahead of Radhi for the first team and nobody knew why apparently. He has a rep as a bit of a bully, long ball into the channels as well, so maybe as long as stays away from tactics, the stronger than necessary approach will work at first team level.

Sounded very good. Looks like the players will be required to up the intensity significantly. Makes you wonder if wee Ross might come good now Les has gone.

Plenty of clubs appoint managers/head coaches without having football people making the decisions. Saints do however have Ross Wilson still in post and he would have been integral in this decision.

Crocker was more responsible for the Saints academy graduates like Shaw, Lallana etc. than Les (who oversaw the lowering of the level of the academy) so he’s a better shout for the job.

You’ve got the business as usual line from Ralph then you’ve got owners who won’t be happy with our current situation. Watch this space... Radhi and Kelv in charge Sunday?

Focus on the league

And Ralph and Martin Semmens for selling us to dogsh!t owners. Give yourself a pat on the back, then FO

Thanks Les and Kat

From the club’s posts about their sport science conference, isn’t someone called Mo Gimpel the man at the top of the performance science pile? Surely player fitness will be top of his priorities. Poch and Koeman had their own fitness experts who understood the game, maybe the current set up is just not delivering and the same broom that swept Les and Martin Hunter away will be chasing some of these others to the bin.

We can complain about the disallowed goal but they had a clear penalty which could have taken them to 1-1 at which point we have utterly crumbled. Coaching, fitness, mentality is all wrong and a large number of people are being paid big numbers to be all over that.