mrfahaji

But we would still, in my opinion, have gone down if Pellegrino had stayed. You might think that "anyone else" could have saved us, and that perhaps Hughes should have done even better, but we needed an immediate appointment to breathe life back into the squad and prevent relegation. That's what he did.

But I wasn't talking about the last 14 games, I was talking about the last 2, which are the games he has received most credit for. I've never been a huge fan of Redmond tbh, but I'm not going to refuse to acknowledge that he's playing well because it doesn't fit with how I felt about him earlier in the season (or especially last season).

No, boo him and hope that we lose

But people don't care whether he happened to touch the ball last before someone else kicked it in the goal - they are watching the games (not just reviewing the assist column afterwards) and are encouraged with his recent performances after more than a season of him being terrible. If Ward-Prowse came into the team and started playing like Redmond has, people would be giving him credit regardless of the number of assists he'd managed to get in that time. If you want to focus on statistics, perhaps 'Key Passes' is more telling - i.e. the final pass leading to a shot on goal - because it's not really his fault if the next guy misses, is it? Most players (including Redmond normally) get 1 a game. Against Man Utd, Redmond had 3, bettered only by Marcus Rashford. Against Fulham, Redmond had 3, joint best on the pitch alongside Targett.

Not necessarily anything wrong with highlighting his lack of goals and assists, but to single out Armstrong's strike as a stick to beat him with is laughable. Only someone who doesn't grasp the game beyond the realms of their fantasy football team would dispute that Redmond played a significant (at least as significant as Obafemi) role in that goal.

10 green bottles: Hasenhuttl, pressing left and right Hasenhuttl, wearing red and white And if Hasenhuttl ends up being sh1te Then Saints and Hasenhuttl, going down without a fight

deleted because I didn't realise I'd posted here instead of in the song thread!

I wasn't laughing in a "you're so negative" way (which I know is the usual tone on here). I'd be inclined to agree - and that's before I knew Lemina & Hojbjerg were both suspended! In fact, I don't do match betting and would never want to bet against Saints but this is a game I'm pretty certain of losing. It just made me chuckle that the idea of us being the luckiest side in the world would only just be good enough for a draw... can just see the headlines "Southampton caught in match fixing scandal... and still only drew", lol. Not only does it show our current plight, but also the level of competitiveness in the PL, because it's not the only game this season I've felt that way.

Agree, although I think the disdain for RB Leipzig in Germany is because of the Red Bull link. Not necessarily because they are new kids on the block upsetting the big clubs (though no doubt they get more scrutiny from certain people because of it), but more because it feels like a corporate project rather than a community club. Not saying they're right, and as you point out it would be much worse if they did it by outspending everyone else like City have (the lack of denunciation they receive for that still boggles me).

I love that our current state means that getting all the luck in the world still only means sneaking a draw

Goa gain surely?! (assuming you meant Goa and not Gao)

Feel quite different to how I did when Pellegrino finally went. Then I just couldn't wait to see the back of him, every day I hoped I would wake up to the news he had been sacked. On balance I agree with the sacking - though it does rather depend on who we replace him with - but I do feel that in recent weeks (since Reed left, but who knows if that is a coincidence) we have actually been better and been a bit unlucky. As someone who detests the Premier League, I'm also more concerned with how enjoyable it is to watch us play rather than our position in the league table, and I've come away from matches thinking "I enjoyed that", at least for some parts of the game. Defensive issues were always a concern about Hughes, and so it came to pass. But another thing I flagged up in the summer was how Stoke always seemed to start the season badly under him, and how we couldn't afford to do the same with our favourable fixture list. I don't think Hughes was sacked on the back of the last few games. It was because those games suddenly became more about the result than the performance, because we'd messed up the start of the season so badly.

Agree with all this. I don't think Puel was a bad manager, but after Koeman we were about as attractive a club to manage as we're ever likely to be. I'm sure we could have hired a manager of proven calibre, but the Puel choice felt like we believed our own hype, the board showing how clever they were by making a left-field appointment, as well as wanting more of a 'yes man' and not wanting to pay a big salary. It wasn't so much that Puel was a bad manager, but more the opportunity cost in terms of what else we could have had (by the same token, appointing Puel now wouldn't be as bad). Sorry kwsaint, we're still off-topic...

I was considerably ahead of the game. Unfortunately I don't think there's any way of reviving this one. (I'm not usually one for talking about bets, but given the circumstances...)

Notts County have an Oxlade-Chamberlain in the side. Probably no relation.

Is it possible that the club are seeking out possible replacements and as yet haven't found a good one? I think Hughes should be replaced - though I do think he has been a bit unlucky in some respects - but I don't want him sacked and replaced with 'anybody', because a) that might not stop us going down and b) even if we survive under someone like David Moyes, we'll only be in this position again next season. Unfortunately I think the most likely scenario is the club cannot (or won't) find a good manager who is willing to join for the wages we are prepared to offer. In my opinion the biggest mistake Reed & co made was not making an exception to their "profit making" principles when it came to the manager.

I think it was more that he didn't look ready when Vardy & Mendy struck the ball. Difficult, because it might have put them off and then he'd be labelled a master of mind games or whatever, but when it doesn't work you look a bit silly.

Hit the crossbar twice, miss an open goal, have a (apparently) perfectly good goal disallowed by VAR and ended up losing in sudden death in a penalty shoot out. Is it possible to just forfeit a season?

Cheers!

Where are people watching the game?!

How much of that is determined by the players at his disposal though? Granted, he clearly doesn't prioritise possession football in the way that someone like Brendan Rodgers does, but I don't know enough about Dyche's history to say that he is definitely a 'percentages' man like Allardyce or Pulis (who I think we would agree, tend to get their teams to play a certain way regardless of their players - even though Allardyce doesn't necessarily do away with flair players).

Thanks - once I posted it I did think "hmmm that looks much longer than I expected, doubt anyone will read". Ha. Agree about the defence - it's like they all make little mistakes here and there, or aren't quite good enough in certain areas - each one is forgivable and wouldn't necessarily be costly, but when you add them all together it is the difference between winning and losing.

Funny that Armstrong scored a strike in that warm up that was almost identical to his second goal.

And it's not like you can say that's because we were always defending. Most of the game we seemed to be in the ascendency.

Fair - I've just looked in the other Hughes related thread where Chez says that relegation will be a financial disaster for us. I don't want us to do a Sunderland, I think relegation from the Championship was the worst season I can remember as a Saints fan! But equally the idea that we should all be desperate to stay in the league for financial reasons is what's wrong with football and Saints at the moment...