mrfahaji

Haha, this! One of the best bits too

Jesus christ, you'd like to think the club might be a bit more humble about the situation after (probably) surviving by the skin of their teeth. Note that it mentions the relationship between Pellegrino & key players as the reason why he had to go. Not the fcking performances or results then?!

With Pellegrino we had a defensive mindset, but weren't actually any good at defending.

I didn't want Hughes in January, for the same reason I wouldn't have wanted Allardyce in October. a) I didn't like him, b) thought the appointment would be uninspiring and while his record was ok, in the longer term I couldn't see how he would get the club back to an exciting top half table team. By the time Pellegrino finally left, I was happy enough with Hughes, because there were barely any other options for someone to come in straight away. I stopped thinking about the long term because we just had to stay up, whatever it took. Since his arrival Hughes has impressed me a lot. Puzzled me with his West Ham team selection, but after that he did rectify it. It's not just that he got the players playing for the shirt and for eachother, but he's shown a lot more than his previously dour demeanour suggested he would. I believe he has earned the chance to keep the job for next season, regardless of whether there are other possible candidates out there (I always liked Jokanovic, for example, so would like Fulham to be promoted so at least I can say to myself that he wouldn't be an option anyway). Stoke fans are rather bitter about him, but he had 2 good and 1 ok season there before. He managed to improve their style of play dramatically without sacrificing results. It seems their biggest issue is his transfers. On one hand I would like to see Les Reed leave, and a better chief scout come in. But I would prefer us to retain the 'structure' where the manager doesn't decide all the transfers*, which should protect us a little against Hughes' transfer blunders. But who is responsible for this being the case? Reed? Can we guarantee that if Reed goes someone better equipped will come in and do a similar, but better job? I hope so. The other thing is that Stoke always started the season badly under him. They usually turned it round, but it is a concern. Is it because they were always bedding in new players, or because they weren't fit or focused enough? * not even sure the extent of which this is true - I mean, Guido Carrillo - but I'm assuming for the sake of argument it is!

It's equally as ridiculous to include Hodgson in that list. And Pulis for that matter!

We might end up staying up on Goal Difference. And there's only one man to thank for our good GD - Mr "draw is as good as a win" Pellegrino!

I think that's partly right. I think he would have perhaps made a striker-for-defender swap at some point, but later in the game. Bednarek getting injured forced his hand. I imagine his thinking was that a) we might have to go for it at some point, so why not now? and b) if I bring on a defender, I only have 1 more sub to make later. So while the timing may have ended up being somewhat fateful/fortuitous, Hughes still had to make the call and he went for it, I don't think it was 'out of his hands'. It was a call Pellegrino would never have made.

There have been a few games this season where he hasn't looked too bad. He was taken off at HT away at Chelsea but I thought he had done ok. At Wigan he obviously missed a penalty (though great save) and a sitter, but he was also making good runs and looked a threat. Unfortunately there have also been a few games where he has looked disinterested or lost, but hopefully Hughes can convince him to stay and play a bigger part next season.

Great result but I’m still annoyed that we only got a “worthless” point against Leicester...

And because there is so much money coming into the league, and there's no restriction on how much big clubs can spend (since FFP doesn't seem to affect them), if they do have a bit of a blip as they did in the Leicester season, they just come back with a vengeance, spend even more money and make sure to downtread the pretenders harder than ever before. In my opinion, legitimate things to miss in the PL are the overall quality of football and players, and also to be sad that all our progress and building over the last few years will suddenly be written off and we'll be starting again. "What happens next?" in terms of ownership and our financial position is obviously a concern, because we know next to nothing about Mr Gao, and the only bits we do know hardly inspire confidence! "Winning more games" is a dangerous comfort. It's certainly possible but not necessarily true. We could end up languishing around midtable like Ipswich, flirting with relegation like Forest, or just doing an all-out Sunderland. But what I do like about the Championship is that, although there are still 'big' and 'small' clubs, like Leeds/Villa vs Burton/Brentford, it still feels like everyone is kind of in the same boat. Everyone has a chance. And all the fans are somewhat alike. You don't choose to be a fan of Hull City or Reading because you want bragging rights or because you like the fact they've just signed a world famous player. And if you do get a 'tourist' at the game, chances are they actually understand football the way we do as Saints fans, and they probably have a more interesting story to tell than those guys in the office who supported Liverpool "even when they weren't very good". And finally, the thing I would miss least about the Premier League will be being an afterthought in conversation, an also-ran, a club who are there to make up the numbers, and whose existence is either an inconvenience or a patsy to the top 6 and the media circus that surrounds them. United, Liverpool and City are the worst. Non stop drivel taking the headlines and screen time when there could be some actual football stories worth writing about. On the way back from Wigan we couldn't even find a radio station reviewing the game because they were too busy discussing something Antonio Conte or Jose Mourinho said in a press conference last week. It just summed it up. The Premier League has gone so far down the 'entertainment' road that it has forgotten that first and foremost it is meant to be a sport. Despite my clear dislike for the Premier League though, I will only be using these last two paragraphs as a consolation if we go down, rather than a reason to be excited. The overarching feeling will be one of dismay, mainly caused by our failure to sack Pellegrino earlier and avoid this mess. But also because as soon as you get into the lower divisions the aim becomes... to get promotion back to the awful place you've just been so happy to be released from! And if you do manage to get promotion, you're then facing a real battle trying to stay up in your first season or two. It's very rare for a team to bounce back and be stronger for it, unless you've half-planned for it as Burnley did.

If they were our most important matches in the last few years, the outcome of those games doesn't bode particularly well!

Whooooosh :mcinnes:

They also have a salary cap (I think?), which makes things much more interesting.

Yep, at this moment in time he seems to be doing a good job, but I think it suggests we should be wary of hailing him the new messiah even if he keeps us up.

Yep, pretty much. It's the only feasible business model for sustainable, consistent, success. But obviously it has to be implemented correctly. And the manager is the most important role of the lot. Unfortunately, because you rarely turn a profit on a manager - and even if you do, it's never a huge one - it feels this is an area that we have wrongly applied the same logic to and skimped on (or try to be 'clever' with) and it has backfired.

Presumably you could have stopped there?

Only if we stay up I’d have thought, in which case I’d imagine Hughes will still be here. I’d like Fulham to be in the same division as us for an away game within walking distance of my house, especially with the neutral end meaning we can take the whole end.

If we hadn't have got a point yesterday, then we could have beaten Swansea and yet still finish below them due to final day results (i.e. us losing to City and them beating Stoke). Now it would require a crazy (not impossible given the fixtures) couple of results. You're right in that it hasn't made much difference to how we should approach Tuesday, but it has made a difference to the final day IF we are able to beat Swansea.

I'm not sure winning at Goodison Park would be classed as "sh1t", but there we go.

Also a real shame that we aren't here talking about Alex McCarthy saving us another 3 vital points. His stop from Baines' free kick was probably better than last week's vs Ryan Fraser. Forster certainly wouldn't have saved it.

Yes, that's why I fully expected at least another 30 seconds (rather than some people wondering where 'all the extra time' came from). How often do you see there being stoppages in injury time and the ref not adding on the full amount though? That's why I thought surely he would blow once they had that cross that eluded everyone. Know doubt he would have done had Bertrand cleared it down the line instead of straight back to them.

I fully expected there be at least another 30 seconds added, didn't surprise me it went to 95. But once the ball went over the top I thought he'd blow up. God knows why Bertrand didn't launch it into the stands. I was hoping for a point at Goodison, but a win would have put us on the brink of safety. So it's gutting to lose that in the fashion we did. I worry about the effect on morale. Hoping Hughes can channel it into something positive.

First yellow was utterly stupid. Not sure he deserved one for it, but still crazy for a CB to be challenging so far up the pitch.

Classic example of why Redmond on the left frustrates so many of us just then. Crowd of defenders central, space on outside, yet still comes inside. Just take it onto your left foot now and again man!

Turned it on moments after we scored, managed to see the replay. Maybe it ended up as a good cross because Cedric didn't have to think about it too much!