The only issue is, we have to start Gabbi right? As he's the greatest striker we've ever had or something...
Does captain really matter? It’s just the guy who does the coin toss and chats to the ref. Anyone can pipe up in the huddle, changing room or on the pitch to motivate the players
I dont think we have anyone that is captain material. Nobody has stepped up in that respect on the pitch. That is part of the problem.
Only if we’re still 18th at the final whistle of the season. True it may be done before that but still 7 games to go!! That’s assuming other clubs want to buy players who demonstrate on a weekly basis, almost, that winning and trying like hell to win is for others.
I think JWP had stepped up, was playing close to his best football and was getting goals and assists before he got dropped again. He'll give us effort, energy and passion which is already more than half the team recently. Plus even if we're creating **** all from open play, we suddenly become far more threatening at set pieces with him on the pitch. He's got to play, and I'd make him captain too.
There are some sensible statements here. Austin definitely seemed passionate when interviewing on radio Solent on Saturday and I concur that JWP needs to be playing. A lot of the problem this season has it's roots in Davis being out and Romeu not being very good. They have been solid in past seasons but I feel both have underperformed this time around. A lot of been made of the misfiring strikers but the lack of creativity and steel in the midfield has been a worry.
I've read most of the comments/observations in this thread, but I haven't noticed anything about Mark Hughes coming out late for the second half on Saturday. This may not have been noticeable/mentioned on the TV coverage, so maybe no-one else is aware of it. I was at the match on Saturday, and to take my mind off the game, I looked over to our Technical Area, to see what MH was doing. There was someone else in the Tech Area after half time (I was too far away to be sure of who it was), and eventually MH turned up about 5 minutes after the start of the second half. Of course, he may have needed to change his suit and wipe the blood off the walls of the changing room...
I agree about JWP coming in. Prior to West Ham, I was advocating a diamond midfield of Romeu sitting behind, and Boufal sitting in front, of Lemina and PEH. But after these last two league games, I think Lemina has to be dropped - in which case I have JWP alongside PEH. Romeu needs to come back in. Redmond never should have come back in. And if yet another manager isn't going to play Tadic on the left, then he too needs to be dropped.
If the team were ever going to step up, then Saturday was the day. Relegation rival and a change of manager. Losing was always possible, but the manner of losing is the issue. I know that theoretically we could save ourselves....there are several clubs equally poor....and the teams in the past may have girded their loins and ground something out. But I can't see this team winning a game.....and this is nothing to do with the quality of the opposition....we just can't win a game. We are where we are because, despite having a reasonable though unbalanced squad, we are gutless. And I never thought I'd ever say something like that about my beloved Saints....we are a team that over-perform...not underperform. They couldn't even give Mark Hughes a crumb to work with.
I would rather the players stopped putting out these stupid statements and started to put the effort in on the pitch, they are really getting to me. Words are cheap and mean nothing without the actual dead
Absolutely agree and I do wish the club would stop trotting out players crap statements between games, SFC keep all other relevant information in-house. Just let the staff rip into these spineless players in private and tell them to do their talking on the pitch, if they can't man-up for a crucial relegation match just drop them.....Mark Noble is universally disliked by most football fans but I'd love to have no-nonsense player like him here now.
