Saints defeat at West Bromwich Albion was marred by appalling abuse handed out to certain individuals in the Saints team.

Whether some supporters think that screaming "Pelle you are a F***** p****" at the top of their voices is going to achieve anything I am not certain, however i do know that it is not "supporting" the team.

On Saturday at West Brom Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic were the subject of some vile abuse from their own supporters, their crime being being unable to score against another football team.

Now I can understand the frustrations of some supporters but whatever the reason for Pelle's inability to score at present and Tadic's struggling to find the form he did in the first half of the season Im pretty sure that they were not doing it deliberately.

In fairness to them neither hid, both looked desperate to get a goal and get their confidence back, players like Pelle and Tadic rely on that and at the moment its not there, but in football sometimes it comes back unexpectedly, a lucky goal and suddenly its there.

But some of our own supporters baffled me on Saturday, I understand their right to not rate a player or feel that he is playing badly, but there is a time and a place to express that disatisfaction and it is not in the middle of a game that we are trying to win.

The ironic thing is that we are not battling relegation we are playing for European football, this hasnt been a season of discontent, this has been shaping up to be our best season since the mid 80's and both Pelle and Tadic have played a big part in that happening, whatever they are doing now without their efforts in the first half of the season we would not be where we are now, it was only six weeks ago when both players combined to set up and score the winner at Manchester United, some people have short memories.

A week or so ago much of the talk before the Liverpool game was about not letting the abuse that was going to be thrown at Lambert, Lallana & Lovren get out of hand and affect our chances of winning that game, well some need to consider that abusing players still at the club also affects things, it is harder for a team to play when the crowd is on its back, if its behind you then it can carry you along and keep you going, Pelle and Tadic need support now not abuse, do we want them to do well or would some people prefer them to continue to misfire in front of goal and see us drop down the table.

Personally I want the former, I dont care who is playing for Saints I want them to do well, I like anyone have those that I feel are not good enough, but I always respect that they are trying their best and although I may express an opinion on them on here on the message board or in the pub, when they are playing for the club I want nothing more than for them to do well.

I have seen some tough times at this club over the past couple of decades, but even when we were going down to League One we never abused the players to this level, indeed I found it ironic against Liverpool that Adam Lallana a player who stayed loyal to Saints when we did go down to the third tier when it would have been easier for him to walk away had thousands of people screaming Judas/Traitor at him, given that our average gate then was some 10,000 lower than now he perhaps may have wondered where they all where in Saints time of need.

On Tuesday we play Crystal Palace, we need a win, but we also need everyone behind the team to achieve that win, over the years it sometimes needs something lucky to happen, it might be a deflected own goal in the last minute for a 1-0 win, it might be a stunning strike in the first minute that leads to a comfortable win, but something needs to change, there will be a far better chance of it happening in the last minute or indeed the 30th, 47th, 60th or any time you care to mention if the crowd are supporting the team rather than screaming abuse at certain players.

Photo: Action Images

kchick242 added 10:21 - Mar 2 I agree with what you are saying and certainly do not intend to criticise super Ron with this opinion but I think Tadic is a lot more effective playing on the left wing with Bertrand supporting and overlapping him and Pelle needs to stay higher up the pitch and be able to drift in from the right onto Tadic's crosses. Just feel Tadic gets moved out of his best position to make space for other more recent signings, but as you say with out Pelle and Tadic our season would be a lot different to what it is and we could well of been battling relegation we should be proud of what the team has achieved.

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SalisburySaint added 10:33 - Mar 2 totally agree Nick It's frustrating that certain players aren't playing well, but to give them the grief they received ion Saturday is unacceptable most supporters tried to get behind the team, but tw*ts like the bloke in the row in front cheered when Pelle missed chance near the end. it seems the bigger the away turnout the more bell ends you get in attendance, that I suppose is the downside of the Premier league. the support I find is often more vociferous when we have 1,000 diehards rather than 3,000 and the support at Sheffield where we had over 4,000 was the worst I've experienced in years

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HoveSaint added 10:33 - Mar 2 Nice sentiment - but it wont stop the abuse that some fans who feel they need to vent at a game or down the local, its just footy. I can remember being at the Dell for the opening game of the season (also against West Brom) and a numpty next to me giving Channon a right earful. Even after he scored a couple he had the nerve to say that he was the one that got him moving!

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andyandrew added 10:39 - Mar 2 I wholeheartedly agree with the article. I get so frustrated with fans whinging and moaning during games. Please try and shout encouragement and save the criticism for the walk home from the game. In the same vein can people stop leaving before the end of games, it just shows that you do not actually support the team if beating the traffic is more important!! If you are going to leave then please don't come in the first place

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montecristo added 11:02 - Mar 2 I cant help but agree I watched the game via vídeo link and it is obvious that there is a confidence crisis runnning throughout the team at the moment. We really need somebody to come in and give the team some confidence Rodriguez in last season s form for instance. Saints buildup, based on posession is far too slow WBA had all the time in the world to get back and defend. Dont blame Pelle, blame the system as it is at the moment he needs to pay further forward and the ball needs to be released into the final third much quicker. The opposition have us sussed, we need to change things and play with more pace.Dont worry about losing possession, close down get it back and start again but with much quicker movement. Stop passing the ball sideways and back its infuriating!!

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BlackRod added 11:09 - Mar 2 For weeks the reason suggested here for Pelle's lack of goals is that he is not playing as far forward as he did at the start of the season. If so isn't the answer to simply put him back to where he was?
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stmichael added 11:22 - Mar 2 To be honest Nick I don't think a handful of individuals shouting abuse at players is worthy of an article. If the whole stand had stood up as one and chanted it or even 100 then maybe. But individuals!? the only way either player will even know it happened is if they read this article which actually just might damage their confidence so this is counter productive. We have scored 1 goal in 5 games of course fans are going to be frustrated. I didn't go but the support sounded good on the radio and the numbers were obviously good too. As for Pelle he hasn't scored or remotely looked like scoring for 10 games. He has had good chances so it has fook all to do with systems. If I was him I would be very grateful that despite his struggles the crowd have very much stuck by him ( apart from a few indivuduals!!).

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SanMarco added 11:43 - Mar 2 Of course all clubs have these people and I like to think that Saints do not have more than their 'fair share'. I believe that a lot of these people have serious rage/anger/psychological issues and the sad thing is that the football will never help them. International matches are the worst of all and it is definitely foreign/non-white players that are the favourite targets - so the rage at the 'other' who they blame for their problems is a big part of it. I find it bad enough when it is directed at opposition players but doing it at your own side in the hearing of hundreds of your 'fellow' fans just shows what problems these individuals have. Imagine what they are like at the end of the evening when they have got a (further) ten pints inside themselves. I suppose it is better they take it out on millionaire footballers (who they can't touch) than on passers-by in the street or neighbours etc but I expect a lot of them do that as well...

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SaintDownUnder added 12:10 - Mar 2 I suspect those retards shouting abuse weren't around when we were in league one a few years back. There is a bizarre sense of expectation this season that those who have followed saints for years manage to keep in check. Yes results over the last month haven't been in line with the season to date, but both Tadic and Pelle have been a massive part of our improvement this season, how fickle do you have to be to turn on the pair if their form drops? We've bounced back from poor spells and we will again. We have 11 games to play and although we have trips to city and Chelsea the other 9 games are extremely winnable. You watch Tadic will set up Pelle and those same retards will be singing their names. If you can't enjoy this season then you really don't have any sense of perspective whatsoever. We march on.

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simmo400 added 09:33 - Mar 3 All part of the game. Has always happened and always will. Its not one game of frustration it has been many in a row so tension builds up. These players get huge wages now and supporters want a return on the money they pay to watch these milliionares who struggle to cross the ball, shoot, head......etc. So its up to the Players to improve as the fans will always be there to moan or hopefully cheer.

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BaselSaint added 15:45 - Mar 3 They're Pissed off, most likely pissed up and they pay big money week in week out. No excuse for the abuse though.
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