Southampton manager Mark Hughes told BBC Match of the Day: "We showed Chelsea too much respect and allowed their players time and space. We needed to get closer, to force them back but we never did that. We could all see that! Is it not the managers job to do something about it?
Did we really deserve six yellow cards and them, none at all? You can't blame players for standing off when every little bit of contact is being penalised?
I have to agree with this to some extent but it is interesting that, with the exception of Ings, the acquisitions made in the close season, assumedly with Hughes approval, did not feature today. I am not sure where the problem lies because today's tine up featured the same players available to Pelligrino who performed so poorly last season. The new recruits have underwhelmed so far with the exception of Ings and it seems odd to supposedly "improve" an under-performing team with squad players. We actually look less threatening that last year when we had Tadic. I would also have to say that some on here have argued that football is no longer about entertainment. I don't agree and would add that I was quite bored today with the match as a spectacle and both the performance and the result were so predictable. There was no way that either could have been any different. I want to turn up at St Marys and see Saints take the game to someone and put them to the sword or at least make a good fist of trying. They might have well just have given Chelsea the three points. At the beginning of the season I heard Matt Le Tissier express his enthusiasm for McDonald but I don't feel he has lived up to the expectations. The other two signings look lightweight although I appreciate it is still early days with both. I accept that there have been positives this season. PEH looks to have come on in particular and I think Redmond looks sharper than he has in the past. However I just feel that we have too many journey-men players in this team and a manager who is struggling both who to select and understanding what formation suites our style of play best. In the past we would have taken the game to a team like Chelsea. Today we rolled over for the first twenty minutes and , at best, looked to be holding our own for spells of about a quarter of an hour. It wasn't all bad but it wasn't especially positive either. Our best answer to Chelsea was to constantly foul Hazard who took a lot of unfair punishment from Saints players who were chasing shadows. It felt like we had accepted we couldn't grab the three points before a ball had been kicked. For me, the problems are fundamental. There are no winners in this team. We don't make the most of our chances and we cannot play at pace for long period in a match. In short, we never look dangerous - except when we are defending !! I would have expected Chelsea to be difficult yet I would have expected more of a fight. It was a total mismatch and I felt they totally outclassed us. It looked like a training game or one of those FA cup ties where the opponents are miles apart in ability. I really think that the poor home performance over the last few seasons requires radical action, root and branch. Les Reed and the directors need to consider their position and we must look carefully at why our transfer business has been so mediocre. Of the recent signings during the course of the last three seasons I think I would base a new squad around the likes of PEH and Ings. I have seen precious little to make me think that the others are of the calibre to push us up the table. I always thought that Hughes had been brought in to steady the ship. It will be interesting to see whether he actually can achieve this albeit I would never have anticipated that he would have been seen as anything more than a safe pair of hands brought in to a club where he would get the maximum amount of support required.
Oh dear me Have just got home from the game.......I find it difficult to believe I have been watching professional footballers. At corners why oh why were we bringing every player into the penalty area??? Gabbi or Ings needed at least to be on the halfway line making two of their defenders stay back. It also means that any defended loose ball coming out of the area could be picked by them!!! Some of our players really don't have a clue what to do to defend.......Several times Chelsea were on the attack with up to 4 Chelsea players without one of Saints players being even near them. Other times there were 4 Chelsea players attacking a wing position with only one Saints player opposing. It seemed too many saints players at times didn't react off the ball or could read the game. I'm sorry Sparky but you need to coach the players better movement off the ball or we're definitely going to be cannon fodder for an awful lot of teams this season. Playing like we are is likely to get us relegated for sure!! Another two losses this month Sparky, you will be out of a job post haste by the end of October if not sooner.
I really don’t see us as being safe after today's performance. I don’t see on another day us putting away those chances, I think we will continue to be awful in front of goal all season.
Radio Solent produced some statistics this afternoon which looked at performances over the course of 2018 and the suggestion was that we have not really improved this year. I agree in some part that there are worst teams than Saints such as Cardiff, Huddersfield, Fulham and Newcastle. However, with the money spent and received, I feel we should have much higher expectations yet alone the absence of entertainment value during home matches.
It remains very leaderless out there. This has been the case for some itme. Everyone is trying but nobody takes control. It is no coincidence we havent beaten the top sides for so long.
Cahill, Drinkwater, Loftus-Cheek, Moses, Christensen. There's quite a few fringe players in that Chelsea squad who I'd be interested in.
Away to Bmouth will be a difficult test. I doubt many, if any, Bmouth fans will be going to that one not expecting three points. Not winning at home to Newcastle would be a huge negative result, no question. But I'm not sure Hughes' position should be threatened should we lose to Bmouth. (In any event, it's probably a meaningless debate. If we waited until March to sack MP last season, we're hardly going to get rid of Hughes in October this season.)
Yeah eight league games don't tell you a lot and two of them have been against Liverpool and Chelsea. Our build ups are not as painfully slow and rigid as they were this time last season and we have at least played some football.
I think we waited so long as we thought we were too good to go down and it was just a matter of time before we’d pick up some results. Surely they can’t be that naieve again this year
I’m gonna be frank. I didn’t enjoy today, firstly due to a cold and secondly because the atmosphere was flat. Other than that, with a bit more confidence in front of goal we could have pushed Chelsea a bit more. All we needed was a goal, and I think the atmosphere would have picked up and got behind the team.
