mrfahaji

Do you have any more details though? They were dismayed at the instructions, but what were they?

Ohhhhh right, I kept reading it over and over thinking "I must be reading this wrong..."

JPT 2010?

Maybe Dalek has that as well, but he predicts us for relegation every year and mentions the prospect of going down virtually every week. It can be more funny than annoying if you don't take him seriously though...

It would be nice to get a few more details about what was said, else it all seems a bit vague, but you shouldn't dismiss people's posts just because they have a negative slant. (unless they are people who only post negative things of course. Not sure if Norm is one of those...)

With the possible exception of Aston Villa last season, there's no such thing as dross in the Premier League. Hull and Sunderland come close, but if Burnley and West Ham were poor against us that's partly due to how we played. Chelsea's last five league games have been 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 2-0, 5-0. Hardly embarrassing that we struggled to create much against them. "Relying" on an own goal - who's to say we wouldn't have continued pressing and scored a second if that hadn't gone in? Your concern about the lack of firepower from our midfield is a legitimate one, but you don't make your case very well. Your anti-Davis agenda is also so constant and predictable that it rivals Dalek's relegation fears or ALWAYS_SFC's relentless swiping of other posters!

Bl00dy Dave Watkins. If Dave Watkins is still at the club after the international break I will not be happy!

It's also a bad mix with complacency when you're playing Hull. After the away tie in Milan we had to go to the Etihad, definitely a tougher set of circumstances. When you're up against Man City the players know they can't afford to be anything other 100%, whereas going 1-0 up against lowly Hull, you can see how subconciously they might have taken their foot off the gas, and as a result lost the concentration levels required.

He wrote that at the start of the season. Though it's still a befuddling decision even back then!

Infuriating result, a weekend that makes me hate football. However, despite several people claiming we should be winning easily on the build up thread, there's no such thing. Doesn't mean we are destined for relegation... On the flip side, even though the win against Inter was great, our performance wasn't particularly convincing, and it's not a huge surprise that with the policy of squad rotation we're going to slip up from time to time. It doesn't mean the policy is wrong, just that it's inevitable we will either be tired or understrengthed in certain games. Just gutting that we took the lead and then failed to see out the game against a side who are clearly one of, if not the weakest team in the division.

New Forest Steve, your words to me were "Mr Fahaji, you are an idiot"! And the extent of my stressing was "My main concern is that the players lose interest but the club are too stubborn to get a different manager in, then we really are in trouble. A win might help lift the mood and general commitment in the camp." I don't think that's OTT given that I had the info the players weren't happy (I wasn't guessing), and we had two points from our first four games. Most of my concern was a "if things don't improve soon" take. Obviously we won at Swansea and from then we haven't looked back. By the same token, I was extremely concerned about the way we were playing last Christmas - I wondered whether we would ever get another point! It didn't mean I thought Koeman was rubbish, or that we should sack him, but obviously we couldn't have continued to perform like that for weeks and months. Again, we turned it round and any worries in hindsight looked silly, but most people will recall just how dreadful that period of time was.

I was one of the people who posted about that, and the reason I did was because it was true. Maybe the reason the players weren't happy was because they weren't used to it, and until we starting winning (which we duly did against Swansea), also weren't seeing the results from it. I didn't write Puel off, but passed on information that I had and said that it concerned me, and that I hoped we would turn things round. I recall some people just slagging me off at the time, but I had no agenda against the manager.

Fitness wise maybe, but still think there are question marks over his adapting to the Premier League. Admittedly, he's not going to get that by not playing, just think he needs to be used as far forward as possible so that when he gives the ball away it doesn't leave us exposed.

This! How there were 5 minutes of injury time at the San Siro and 4 at St Mary's is mindboggling!

Not sure the fans at the game should be basing what songs to sing around Radio Solent's coverage timetable.

Was always making himself available for the ball, particularly for McQueen. Was looking for forward passes but also kept possession well. Showed tenacity, put himself about. Defended well and I remember one good clearance he made when under pressure. Generally pretty good deliveries as well, which while I don't think should be used to excuse poor overall play, are unquestionably a good weapon to have when he's in the side. I'll be the first to say "JWP did nothing, WHAT A SURPRISE!", but he was our best midfielder yesterday.

Going off on a tangent a bit, but as you mention "playing to the whistle", there was one point in the second half our players appealed that the ball had gone out for a throw (along with a few thousand supporters). It wasn't given, and we all stood about while Inter played on and nearly scored.

Haha, I remember that throw in too. Agree on Martina, he never seems to do anything with purpose. You could see Hojbjerg, Redmond and a few others looking for a pass but Martina half-heartedly running into an area blocked off by a couple of defenders, or in some cases being reluctant to get forward at all. Having said that, there was no excuse for some of Hojbjerg's passes!

On the scale of "passion", how many points does lighting a flare earn you? Someone who lights one must necessarily be more passionate than anyone who doesn't, right?

Funnily enough I wondered the opposite - whenever I stream games I find Ward-Prowse to be very frustrating and generally poor. Thought he was good in the San Siro (though should have scored), and last night he was excellent. I thought perhaps he is the sort of player you appreciate more when you see them live! But it sounds like actually, he just happened to have two good games against Inter. Signs of encouragement though.

The funny thing is, at the start of the season the impressive thing about Hojbjerg was that he never gave the ball away. Yesterday he probably gave it to an Inter player more than he did to his own team! Having seen some of his excellent performances I'm hopeful and confident that he will rediscover some good form. Plus he still has time on his side to develop his game. There are one or two others in the squad I've never really seen that kind of performance from and hence less sure of them ever being good enough.

As poor as Hull are, it's a long trip up there straight after a Europa game, and we'll still have to be on our game to win. Squad rotation is sensible, using Premier League games to give someone currently well below par (i.e. Rodriguez) a run out is a recipe for disaster. Would prefer to play Boufal up front instead of Rodriguez, then IF we get a decent lead bring on Jay for Tadic and drop Boufal back. My thinking is that Boufal is capable of beating his man and creating something from nothing, but he's currently too much of a risk to play deeper as he has a tendency to lose the ball and expose us on the break. If he's going to lose it, let him lose it in the opposition's third.

Just back from the game. Makes up (maybe not fully) for not seeing us score in the san siro. A few thoughts on individual players: - What makes VVD a potential world star is that when the chips are down, he stands tall and does something about it. Whether it's defensively or hauling himself up front to make something happen, tonight isn't the first game he's performed heroics. - Yoshida is a good defender, it's a shame he is prone to lapses otherwise we'd have a third quality CB. - I felt McQueen could have been tighter for their goal, but overall he impressed me. Lots of good decision making and sound defending, considering he was a winger until recently (nearly had the best autocorrect oversight ever then when it changed winger to woman). - JWP my motm simply because VVD always plays well whereas normally I think JwP is poor. Thought he was also good in Milan - always offering support, good range of support and showing a level of tenacity that has been missing for a while. - Rodriguez has lost it. Austin wasn't particularly amazing when he came on yet his mere presence changed the game for us. Partly credit to him, but also partly because J-Rod is no longer a spritely forward who can terrorise defences. - I like Hojbjerg, thought he was class at the start of the season, and definitely prefer him to clasie, but tonight he was woeful. How anyone can put him in a bracket with VVd and JwP is beyond me. Yes, he made some purposeful runs at times but he must have made more stray passes than everyone else put together (and that's saying something considering we weren't great tonight!) I'd add the caveat that playing alongside Martina can't be easy, Cuco is always so hesitant in everything he does - must be hard to know whether he's coming or going when trying to play him the ball! - Tadic wasn't at his best but without him I'm not sure we'd create a chance ever again... Need to get Boufal up to speed asap.

No mention of all the gamesmanship from inter to delay the penalty? Felt like about 10 mins before he actually took the penalty.