this magazine should know better than to escalate tabloid rumours unsettling fans and players.Shame on you Niick

I just wish this club would have some stability for once. It feels like every time we make forward progress we end up taking a few steps back.

I've got to say I'm in agreement with the 'braver' posters who commented on the previous article and dared to suggest that not all blame can be laid at Puel's feet. I think they're probably right and that it's a combination of factors and people, and had Tadic not missed that penalty then the feeling (from fans at least) would be a little different right now.

It is much more concerning that there seem to "problems" behind the scenes. It does smack of Leicester and Ranieri, but then at least the latter won a title against all odds. I don't want to dwell on that though as it's past tense. A perfect storm in a freak season is certainly not one to benchmark where we should be as a club.

I am genuinely worried for this club right now. I'm not saying I can take season ticket holders who throw their toys out of the pram seriously because they are not satisfied with a mid table finish (how did these people get through our inglorious years?!), especially with many also asking why don't we expand the capacity of the ground!! That said I think there is a real grievance if we sell out to the Chinese. A complete turnover of the board, management and players would leave me wondering what on earth I would be expecting to see next season. It would make the "meltdowns" of previous seasons seem like accidentally leaving a light on overnight.

I guess we're all putting a lot of faith in Kat making the right decision on behalf of us all because we need to put things right next season and restore some faith that we're all in this together.

The bottom line with Puel is that all the regular posters on here are passionate about SFC and he appears oblivious to what the supporters want from the team. It's not all about winning every week, even Chelsea with their player assets misfire sometimes, but concerns about the style of play and the prospect of not only trying to retain our best players but attract new talent to take us forward. The fact that no other team in the league has been or will be linked with taking Puel and Black as their management team speaks volumes. I didn't want Poch or RK to walk away because they are guys with ambition and passion capable of motivating players not demotivating them, even though RK may not have been too keen on some of the younger talent at the club. Supposedly the club has a list of potentially available managers on the radar and we can only trust that the likes of Moyes, Pardew and Hodgson aren't on it. Time to act because, If the likes of Ranieri can lose his job at Leicester as did Mourinho at Chelsea, I see no reason why Puel and Black should keep their jobs when our team has lost it's direction.

I would always support the idea of a manager having at least 18 months. However our boring defensive style of play which often puts us under unnecessary pressure and CP complete lack of tactical awareness in the Bournemouth and Hull games have made up my mind that he has to go. If he stays and proves that Tadic and Boufel can play in the same team without weakening the midfield then I will eat my mate Pete's hat.

Firstly as saintpp says we should know better to esculate tabloid rumours, however the fact is they are out there so if i ignore them it doesnt mean that they wont go away.

I have stuck up for Puel all season and i still believe that as some point out that he hasnt had the best of luck and there are many things that werent in his power such as injuries etc.

I dont think too many will feel that this has been a season of playing well, its amazing that we are where we are and have done what we have done given the inconsistency and failure to win three games in a row.

Puel has not performed to the best of his ability, the real issue now if the rumours are true and we know some are because they have been public then the manager has lost some key players in the dressing room and it is hard to come back from that

Well said saintpp.All we have had just lately from Nick is a relentless torrent of negative posts about how the central defence is not good enough and now how the manager is going to be sacked based on unsubstantiated newspaper reports.

Journalists make a living out of selling copy.What is in their copy does not have to be true or factual, just take a look at the dross people are supposed to believe written in the "Currant Bun"and the "Daily Fail" as examples.

Why do everybody presume we are going to end up top 10 were only 3 points from 16th games in hand Arsenal man united with Liverpool away next

To be fair to Nick, who puts in an enormous amount of time keeping this forum going, is he only supposed to post only substantiated facts? If so we would all be complaining that everything he wrote was already common knowledge because it had gone through the rumour stages for weeks and he was lazy for not picking up on it. Whilst I agree that becoming an outlet for non-stories is not in line with what we want to read I also believe there is sufficient conjecture surrounding Puel's future to merit comment. Of course I also happen to believe that the central defence isn't good enough and neither are the management team and, on balance, I think that is a fact.

The last 5 games are crucial for CP, particularly if the club changes owner. Saturday was unacceptable but followed good away performances. If he has lost the players he will have to go. Bertrand and Redmond were noticeably poor at the weekend

I use the TUI to hear about stuff like this. I can use my brain to assess how credible I think it is. Nick is reporting 'rumours' and tabloid reports but he clearly states he is doing that. I would never go near comics like the Star or the Daily Smell so he is doing me a service.

I was fascinated by bstokesaint's use of the word 'braver' to refer to those posters who say current issues are not all Puel's fault. I just assumed we all accepted that and were discussing whether he should stay. Managers get the plaudits when things go well and carry the can when they don't. If he has 'lost the dressing room' and key players are demanding he go then there has to be only one outcome. Of course it doesn't absolve others of responsibility but 'c'est la vie' as Claude himself would say.

I think this letter in the Daily Echo sums up our situation perfectly . The first rumblings of discontent appeared in these posts many months ago ; most were treated with disdain as diehard optimists continued to point to our league position and the EFL cup run. On the face of it, logical enough. What the optimists brushed over was the dreadful, ponderous football that we were playing. Now those initial rumblings have grown into an avalanche as we slip slowly down the table and show absolutely no evidence that we have a plan, a strategy, a playing identity. I honestly feel that we are now one of the most boring teams in the league; that follows 5 seasons of continuing progress, at times, exhilarating football and vibrancy that were a joy to watch. Of course, losing key players to injury or in transfers does not help but NA, MP and RK all had to deal with the same issues. When RK arrived, the squad had been utterly devastated - far worse than on CP's arrival. So the blame, harsh to say maybe, lies entirely at Puel's door and if our club wishes to re-engage the fans and regain credibility there is only one course of action. Eradicate the problem and replace: in simple terms, CP and his minions must go!

The biggest fear the board has is that our best players will ask to leave in the summer. It sounds like Puel is losing or has lost the dressing room, with many players unhappy with his man management and tactics. Therefore he has to go and the club will take action as soon as they've got a top class replacement. This will happen, it’s inevitable.
Puel is not as good as Poch or Koeman was, and for the club to keep moving forward we need a top class manager which Puel definitely isn't. He did fantastically well to get us to the League Cup final and we put in a heroic performance in that game but apart from that the season has been very poor. OK, so we lost Mane and Pelle and their replacements weren't as good, and Puel has only had 2nd rate centre backs in the last few months, but there are so many gripes against Puel this season:
• Boring football
• Lack of attacking threat
• Unnecessary rotation of players
• Ignoring form in team selection
• Putting out under strength teams in the Europa League
• Terrible interviews and communication
• Constant failure to positively change games with substitutions and tactics
It’s no wonder the team has had enough. By the time players like Tadic and Redmond receive the ball the opposition have 10 men behind the ball. It’s all too slow and predictable.
We can’t have another summer when we lose players like Van Dyke and Bertrand. The only way to keep them now is to get rid of Puel and bring in a top class manager who these players want to play for. They need to act quickly because these players might have already made up their mind.

You have to have the dressing room before you can lose it. We need someone who commands the respect (fear) of the players.

I am not laying all the blame at Puel's feet as REEDYREEDOREEDZ points out, after Poch and Koeman, we needed manager with star quality to push us up the league, bring media attention to the club and attract talented players. The board refused to do t his.

Look how many of the big names that were available turned down the idea out of hand before the club even spoke to them! It seem Puel was the only one who would take the job and put up with our disastrous transfer policy.

Maybe he has found it hard to settle in England and wants out, but I still would have liked a bit of emotion in interviews and fury in the dressing room after lousy efforts on the field.

Petedoors and reedy SPOT ON the scales are tipping on puel out all my mates I sit with were 50/50 with a couple die hard puel fans now all have them have turned if we end up 15/16th in league that is a massive step back forget EFL final even championship teams make the final of that league is our priority

I do not think Puel deserves another season because there have been too many completely inept performances at St Mary's over the whole season. But who was it who left him without a decent goalscorer until January, and with no decent centre backs after Xmas? That wasn't his fault.

I must admit, having been supportive of Puel in a 'give him time' kind of way, I've lost patience with him and feel he has to go for us to progress once more. The one positive this season has been the EFL Cup final - a great day out for the club on the big stage - but for me there have been too many negatives this season for Puel to continue. 9th in the league isn't bad, but as noted by other posters, we have a very tough run-in and this could so easily turn into 15th in a heartbeat.

Main Puel negatives for me are as follows:
- Not picking on form - why on earth is Fraser still in the team? Puel bought in an exciting, up-and-coming goalkeeper, only to keep him on the bench when his only competition is playing horrifically. Inexcusable. FF needs a kick up the backside if he's to rediscover last season's form.
- Lack of authority - Tadic speaks out in the press about too frequently getting subbed (merited, he was playing poorly). Lo and behold, Puel has given him 90 minutes in every game since. We saw Koeman discipline Mane twice - this is the kind of manager we need. One who commands authority and doesn't take that kind of rubbish from his players. Tadic should have been dropped and told he'll only regain his place and get 90 minutes if he proves he deserves it.
- Boring football - I just don't get exciting watching Saints any more. We've scored 17 goals all season at home. Even had Tadic scored his penalty (why is he still taking them?) on Saturday, it was a horrendous performance. We create so few chances these days that I don't even think the blame for this can be laid at the feet of the strikers - Gabbiadini was subbed again at the weekend after an ineffective game. He didn't have any chances though. Puel's style is all sideways and build up with very little end product.
- Charisma - maybe a harsh one here, but I even found Pochettino more entertaining in his pre/post match press conferences, and he was talking though an interpreter! He just doesn't excite me - I long to have a manager again who is passionate and gives the impression he loves the club. I don't even care if it's fake passion like that of Koeman.

Please Ms. Liebherr - act fast and get Marco Silva in.

Saints failure to score against a Hull team with the worst away top flight form in 2016/17 has left Saints having scored just 17 times in 16 home league games. .
The lowest Saints have scored in their entire Football League/Premier League history was in 1991/92 when Ian Branfoot’s men mustered just 17 in 21 games. Perhaps Claude Puel is the new Ian Branfoot.
Puel now believes his side could be better off playing against top six sides but what happened when we played Chelsea a Man City . We let in 7 goals.

CP lost the fans some time ago, now he's lost the players. Hopefully next he will lose himself & leave along with Black.

On Reedy's and Arthurfane's points on charisma and interviews I do wonder if Puel would have been better off using MoPo's interpreter strategy. MoPo's English was far better than Puel's but the use of an interpreter, although much mocked, did get his message across in the media and also gave him time to think (as he heard each question twice). CP has come across badly due to his lack of English. Give him his due for trying but let's be honest we don't understand him so why would the players - even if they do have the Jean Paul Sartre of the footballing world Eric Black to help....

Not good enough this season, needs to do better next season. (Mid table finish isn't the issue - finishing with less than 45 points and no wins against the top 7 is. Especially when combined with poor Europa League campaign.)

When people are rallying to get rid of the board then I'll start taking the PuelOut cries more seriously. At the moment getting rid of Puel alone isn't going to solve the wider problems facing Southampton FC. Some people have touch upon the wider issues with our failure to attract a better of calibre of managers last summer? but not enough. Why were Benitez, Pelligrini and even Eddie Howe not interested?!

Let's not forget Puel was brought in by Les Reed and co and given high praise for being a coach that has a hands on approach with senior players during training and developing youth. Where is Les Reed now? What has he said since those appalling performances?

There's such little accountability with Les it beggars belief. His situation is a win, win. I've never heard calls for him or other members of the management team to resign. Till this day no one is crystal clear why RK left. Instead like he did with Fonte he's using hearsay to distort the true events that lead to both departures.

I don't rate Puel but at the same time he's a reflection of our leadership who I rate even worse!

We need to stop this short-sightness and start focusing on the bigger issues which have stifled our club's development over the last 3 years....THE BOARD!

Overall I doubt that Ms. Puel has convinced the board, the squad or the fans that he's right for us. He came with a half-decent reputation but, let's be honest, we are all bored to death. I go to St Mary's hoping, rather than expecting, to see some goals. We certainly haveb the talent but it simply isn't gelling. I wonder if Rafael Benitez might fancy the warmer climes of Southampton and the players we have already over the cold, grim north and a Newcastle squad that will certainly struggle next season? Just speculation, of course.

Right with you there halftimeorange! It would be nice to see Saints "swoop" in and "unsettle" the talent on another team for a change!

For the past two or three seasons many of us had hoped that close season rumours of manager changes were simply rumours but they turned out not to be.

This year I for one really hope that they are true!

Fingers crossed, our recent history suggests that these are probably leaks rather than rumours - unattributable of course.

Get him out before he does anymore damage.

9th place is only 3 points above 16th. If it stays the same it only because other teams below us have lost or drawn as well. They are bad as well which does not make us good. This season has seen a lot of awful games, bad substitutions, and terrible team selections. Make no bones about it Puel has created confusion and players are not playing for him. These are good players who have had poor seasons. How the board could put up with that for another season, I do not know, because the fans have had enough. Bring back attacking football and ENTERTAINMENT, I think they have forgotten that.