Dan is in ranting mood, but he still keeps a clear head to put things into some sort of perspective.

Now some will disagree with what I have to say, that’s fine but I think that there will be a handful that agree with my points.

As I write this I have just finished listening to Radio Solent’s commentary of Southampton’s game away to Everton and old manager Ronald Koeman. Final score? Three bloody nil. Dissapointment, anger, frustration etc. are all emotions that I’m feeling right now and I’m sure those who made the long trip up to Liverpool feel more negative emotion. The only thing consistent in the club at the moment is Adam Blackmore and Dave Merrington’s commentary which is always a high quality, enjoyable broadcast and that’s when we lose like that!

Just to feel better about our recent rut, a rant about Southampton Football Club will make me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. However, I feel that something has to be said!

To start off with, I had no problem accepting the fact that there was no way that, even if Koeman had stayed, that we were going to have an eight consecutive “better season” after finishing sixth in the Premier League with a record 63 points. As the table shows now, those who will finish in the top six is practically decided.

BUT! That doesn’t mean that a club who strive on doing things better and improving year on year, that have a wonderful recruitment service should stop doing those things, which during this season, I haven’t felt present.

Big names were linked with the managerial job like Manuel Pellegrini, Frank De Boer and Unai Emery but as fans we should’ve trusted the board when they appointed a Frenchman nobody had heard of. They’ve signed plenty of players who have been real successes that nobody had heard of before.

The problem I had in the Summer was that we weren’t nearly as prepared as we should’ve been for a more hectic season with the Europa League coming into play.
We sold a very talented and crucial goal scoring winger, a crucial goal scoring striker and fans favourite and a solid midfielder who was almost always present at the back (of course there was Juanmi but let’s not worry too much about him!)

We replaced them with a winger who hasn’t lived up to expectations and, in my opinion, has been a little bit overrated recently, a young prospect of a midfielder but isn’t yet the real deal, a back- up right-back, a back-up goalkeeper, an ancient goalkeeper and a very talented and hopeful winger/attacking midfielder.

The only signing that has been a success so far is Boufal but he still hasn’t lived up to the qualities of Sadio Mane yet but looks like he could. However, there was a big, big void left, a crucial goal scorer. Yes, you can argue that Charlie Austin was that signing but joined six months earlier however, he has had injury problems and despite being our top-scorer still after being out for a month, he missed more chances than scored.

No wonder we can’t seem to score goals, it really is embarrassing when your team have scored fewer goals in the league this season than they have played games.

The main reason that Claude Puel was hired was because of his experience in Europe; to be fair to the man he got Lyon to the semi-finals of the Champions League. I don’t know how much he actually had that was useful because we were knocked out at the group stage thanks to a team from bloody Israel when we could’ve easily won the group if we had scored a goal away from home! He failed at the main thing that he was brought in for, very questionable.

I can’t blame him for our league form though, he’s brand new to English football which is the toughest, most competitive in the world. However, he was so keen on a 4-4-2 diamond formation and eventually it started to work, with the team playing some gorgeous ticki-tacka football.

Then results came which was great! Now, he’s for some reason swapped to a 4-3-3 and it isn’t as attractive and also isn’t working. Losing three on the bounce for the first time in two years isn’t a proud moment. What was the point?

I do think he can be a great manager for this club and it was always going to be a season of change and we weren’t going to meet or exceed the levels (in the league that is) that we did last season. But questions have to be asked when the board didn’t sign good enough replacements for each of those players, a prolific goal scorer particularly comes to mind and the manager that they brought in, when they could’ve brought in a bigger name, doesn’t achieve the goal that he was brought in to achieve. Ok, he’s given debuts to McQueen, Hesketh, Stephens and Sims but there is so much rotation and over half way through the season I’m not convinced that he knows his best starting eleven.

So, I hope we can make a signing or two in January that will make up for this goal drought, especially with a once-in-a-blue-moon semi- final vs Liverpool that means a lot to the fans and hopefully the club/players/staff. If we don’t then as fans we can’t expect this season to get much better.

Photo: Action Images

vanmans added 10:55 - Jan 3 Well said Dan a really good verdict. He is completely out of there depth in the premier league and this rotation system is crap. I said at the start of the season that he would get us relegated buy not buying strikers.
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landerwal added 13:44 - Jan 3 I know it might not be a popular opinion but I don't think the rotation policy or purchasing of a recognized forward are our main problem. Rotation of the team has given us greater depth with young players coming through and all players getting playing time. In past with a rigid selection of the team a few injuries or suspensions completely upset the apple cart with players coming in the team with little or no playing time . Our three forwards are proven goal scorers yet get an awful service and this is down to tactics. We are so slow in getting into the opposition half. By the time we've got there the defence is organised and we are reduced to hopeful crosses that that defenders or the goalie deal with easily. It's no coincidence that our only two goals in the last three matches have been from corners not open play. We need to moving the ball quickly forward instead of sideways or back to Forster otherwise things will only worse.

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lotus added 14:57 - Jan 3 I do believe that this manger should be fired unless he will come with a plan to by strikers and stop rotating players.every child could understand that not buying strikers would be costly but not the Frenchman. Pitty
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StRipper added 19:31 - Jan 3 I'm quite surprised that most fans are blaming Puel so much more than the board. For me, most of our problems fundamentally depend on a lack of quality signings. No doubt rotation has exacerbated our problems but on the other hand, rotation was probably the reason we beat Bournemouth? Gareth Rogers squarely carries the can for me. He's the man at the top, he's the one who releases the budget for transfers, and the reason we haven't signed a striker is inevitably because Saints are refusing stubbornly to overspend on players. Sounds like the logic of an accountant to me when you can ignore the imperative to effectively replace players after happily pocketing the cash from their sales. Stand up Gareth, this has got your hallmark all over it, or are you looking to get a hatrick of awards for financial prudence?

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Bettwsresident added 20:32 - Jan 3 we were beaten by an excellent Tottenham side...had to play a tough west brom (a game we really should have got something out of) and then had to change as we played 2 days later...3 games in 117hrs! I cant see why Ryan was on the bench and then was even more flabbergasted when he didn't come on and play CB putting yosh in place of Cedric. Saying that we were not bad for 70 mins...Jay rod looked lively, but the chance that fell to Redmond was telling, clean through, golden opportunity, blasted at the keeper. Had that gone in I think we would have won....grrrrrrrrrrrr It is tough being a saints fan, but those with longer memories will remember the 90's and early 00's. The dell was a fabulous place, but 10th was nosebleed material! I am reserving judgement until next wednesday, I am coming across from Wales for the game...COYR's!

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SanMarco added 13:43 - Jan 4 As Saints fans we always seem to be facing 'transitions' and 'turning points' - perhaps that's a metaphor for life itself! I do though feel that what happens in this transfer window will be looked back on as a key moment in our current history. If the concerns raised so many times by so many of us are not at least partially addressed then we will know/have confirmed something very significant about the owner's plans/priorities. The reason that so many of us are so despondent/angry is simply that virtually all of our problems were clearly foreseen by just about everyone!! If the board quietly accept they were complacent in the summer and put things right this month then me might have a decent second half to the league season, anything else and I predict trouble ahead.

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garethhartwell added 15:03 - Jan 4 I'm also very frustrated and have started to wonder whether Claude Puel is the right man for the job (especially given it seemed to be tactical failures that caused our early exit from the Europa League which was meant to be his strong point). On the other hand I think we need to recognise that Saints have been hugely successful because of the role of Les Reed. This means that our 'manager' is actually a head coach and not the main person buying and selling players and looking after the longer term strategy. Which is probably why Pelligrini et al wouldn't have been interested once he understood this. And I think the rotation policy is fine in itself and it's important to give the young players a chance when they show they are ready. But I think the issue is that in some positions there aren't enough good players to rotate (especially striker).

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