It was a mixed day for Saints after the other Premier League scores came in, but Stoke's win saw us enter the drop zone, this needs to be the catalyst that sparks the revival, rather than drag things down.

If Saints board have had their heads buried in the sand about the way that the results have been dragging us down over the past three months then surely they cannot ignore the fact that we are now in the relegation zone for the first time in over five years.

Stoke's win over Huddersfield saw them leapfrog us into the safety spot fourth from bottom although ironically that keeps the Yorkshire side in our sights and should we by some miracle beat Spurs tomorrow then we would jump over them and into 14th spot and only two points off the top 10.

But that win looks far from being acheivable at the moment and our season at the moment is one not of a squad being short on quality but one short of leadership.

Indeed we have conceded four last minute goals that have cost us dearly, Stoke away, Arsenal at home and Manchester City and Watford also away, those four goals alone have cost us 6 points, which if we had held on and kept would now see us in comfortaby in 10th place and six points above Stoke who would still be in the bottom 3.

But we did not hang on in the final minute for those points and this is down to poor leadership in each of those games.

Today needs to be the catalyst to spark the revival, from the boards perspective that means taking a long hard look at the performance of the manager over the last four months, the fact that we have gained only two wins in the Premier League in that period is nothing short of disgusting and at any other club the manager would have already gone.

The board need to accept they have made an error and replace him, a win against Spurs might be a stay of execution, but the reality is that he has had more than enough chances, to be blunt with the quality of the team and the little he is etting out of it, we would be better putting a fan in charge, he would probably fared no worse.

The team and the supporter base need a boost, Palace, Stoke, West Brom have all replaced their manager and seen a burst of points on the board, we need to do that ourselves and i do not think Mauricio Pellegrino is the man to do it.

From the supporters perspective it will be very easy to turn this into a crisis which sucks us down, we need to focus on what we want as fans and that is the club to stay up, this is a time that a football club needs it's supporters, this is not happy clapping it is the reality of "supporting" a football club, anyone can go to Cup Finals etc, but it takes true supporters to get behind the team when it needs them and become the 12th man.

Yes perhaps some will moan they are not getting value for money etc, but that isn't what being a supporter is all about, it is about at crucial times putting your own personal gripes to one side for a while and being focused on what aim, it is now not about Mauricio Pellegrino it is about Southampton Football Club, you are either with it or you should stay away and not be against it !

B*llocks to all this We March On propoganda that is just words, we now need actions, in my 46 years of attending I have seen many us and downs, it may surprise some to learn that this is far from being the worst, the club needs it's supporters more than at any time in the last 9 years, are you a SUPPORTER ? or merely a follower !

Photo: Action Images

law101 added 17:32 - Jan 20 Who are we going to replace the manager with? Would we want a Paul Lambert? Any managers that are any good will be in work now. Any new manager would be another Pellegrino I fear! Having said that I rate Sanches Flores... could be a succeed where Stoke failed with that one? Did well at Watford and prem experience would only help him!
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underweststand added 17:36 - Jan 20 Just get someone who can speak English coherently and whose club experience is based on managing teams who like to attack and score goals . Anything else... will be a bonus !
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1970 added 17:52 - Jan 20 the sad part of all this is we started to build something over several seasons that enabled us to compete in the cups and the top half of the league but the club have only been interested in skimming the goodness with no end in sight, I don't see us getting anything against spuds or much from our next four games so the question is after all this so called investment in the team/squad how can freshly promoted teams Huddersfield, Newcastle and brighton be above us, I'm not being arrogant but I think with the money spent and the money brought in we are a laughing stock to those in the know, fingers crossed for tomorrow coyr

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Boxingman75 added 17:57 - Jan 20 Seriously , this is a joke pellegrino should be gone by now , we are in this situation because of his lack of leadership and his crap defensive minded team formation , we are lucky to have the points we have to be honest , take away boufals wonder goal we were never going to win that game with out that goal , Newcastle gave us a point we a pointless shove in the back of long when ball was going for goalkicker , crystal palace away 2 amazing saves from Forster and bentekes woefully bad misses and west ham gave us 2 penalty's yes they were penalty's but both needless and one in last minute , so we could be 4 or 5 points worse than we are , the board are a joke , gao obviously bought club to hide money from Chinese authorities and no other reason , under 23s under 18s all gone backwards in last 2 years , we are in serious trouble , they must act now , even kelvin Davis can pick a better side than this clown so there's no excuse of there's no one out there , and blaming van dijk is pathetic , they didn't have to play him or let him anywhere near the 1st team if they didn't want too , so that argument is complete horseshit . love the team , hate the board at present , ÇOYR

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SaintBrock added 18:21 - Jan 20 Why is it Nick I never get into your crowd shot pictures? Anyway it's Day 20 today Nick, you missed Day 19 so get typing now, don't miss Day 20 as well and let them off the hook.
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montecristo added 18:34 - Jan 20 my sad feeling is that the club is having its future dictated to it by an apathetic board whose only agenda this season has been to pay off Liebherr and support their new owner who took Liebherrs place purely on borrowed money. In that context given that the Chinese are unable to export funds from their home land you have to conclude that if they are to pay off the massive 200 million loan they took on it will have to come from player sales. In normal circumstances this inept manager would have been sacked long ago which merely underlines the fact that the board has no intention to invest further in the club this year and are prepared to allow the club to drop back a division. I also suspect it would suit them down to the ground to be relegated as then their top players will leave for good money enabling Gao to pay off his loan. Please remember that he was deemed to be unsuitable for ownership of the club by the premier league who then changed their minds on appeal. that would indicate to me some sort of plan to repay the 200 million having been approved by the league and therefore what im saying is probably not far from the truth. Walcott for instance was never anything other than a loan prospect. Saints would not spend 20 m on somebody 28 nearly 29 years old .It will be a lot cheaper for Gao to finance player purchase in the championship having paid off his loan into the bargain .Football issues dont really come into the present scenario at all.

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ChristchurchSaint added 19:18 - Jan 20 Sadly I think that this is the beginning of the end of our tenure in the PL. Perhaps I am being cynical, but I am more concerned as to why our new owner is more interested with the state of the stadium and his proposal to consider purchasing land around the stadium. Is he looking at a long term project to develop the whole area where the stadium/football club becomes a smaller part of the jigsaw? The football becomes a means of providing a regular income, but is a starting block for something more substantial. Hopefully I have totally got this wrong, but my fear is that we will go into free fall, and end up where we were 9 years ago or even worse.

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aceofthebase added 19:22 - Jan 20 I agree with one sentence Nick. Put any fan in charge and we would get the same results and that is because this crowd of players are not good enough. They failed Puel and they have failed MP.
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IWOZTHERE added 19:23 - Jan 20 Yes montechristo 'sad' and angry because this was predictable from the time the board took their hands off the wheel when they were pre-occupied in the Summer. Nice little 'earners' for individual board members I suggest. Their mistakes will cost us dearly, I doubt they'll shed a tear.
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petesmaterob added 19:27 - Jan 20 I have always been a defender of Les Reed and the management team but on this occasion I do not think they have done due diligence on MP. Whoever they were looking at to replace CP (I still believe it was the right decision) surely the criteria should have been that his teams were hardworking, pressing up the field, with good levels of fitness and to have a good understanding of when and how to best use substitutions. I agree with Nick in that I think the squad is not being managed effectively, motivated to play the right way and actually look unfit in the second half. Pete thinks we are a couple of players short which is probably also not helping but for me our problems are on the field and created by the manager. I have been around long enough to follow the Saints through all the ups and downs so I do not expect too much or even compete with the top six but I expect us to be well organised, fit and playing as a team (at least CP got all those things right even if it was dire to watch).

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StRipper added 19:38 - Jan 20 Spot on Montecristo. It feels true and there is nothing that indicates it isn't. We're not going to sign anyone, bar to keep up appearances and blunten can anger
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saintmark1976 added 20:22 - Jan 20 Well put Montecristo. It's exactly what I have been thinking ever since K L decided she did not wish to continue to own the club and certain others appeared on the scene. This seasons Premiership place and T V appearance money plus a further relegation parachute payment together with the VVD transfer fee will, I suggest, exceed the money that has been borrowed to purchase the club. Result? debt free owners with a debt free stadium and additional land upon which it is situated. Yes, the club will be in the Championship but hey who cares? After all it's only business and we all know that sentiment should never be allowed to effect a deal.

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halftimeorange added 20:25 - Jan 20 I can see a relatively empty St Mary's for the remainder of the season. I'm sad that we are struggling but I'm truly annoyed that there is nothing at all coming from the board and it really does look as though the club is going to be allowed to drift down into the Championship. Why, at least, is there no fighting talk, no "we hate this as much as you do and we're going to get us out of this hole"? It's obvious that, unlike the players at say, Bournemouth or West Ham, who keep going and battle whatever the score, our lot seem dispirited and confused. The worry is that if we see no effort to address this decline when, unlike the last time we went down, there are people at the club who can do something about it, fans will turn their backs on Saints in their thousands. It will be interesting to see if we are in the bottom three or conceivably in 20th spot whether the club expects us to fork out our ST money before our fixtures are fulfilled. Do you want to watch Championship football at, in my case £738 or watch EPL football on Sky or Virgin for £15 a month, have the best seat at Eastleigh with lunch and see 20 good shows at The Mayflower. It makes one wonder if football is the priority for the board because they surely can't believe we fans have no alternatives when it comes to spending our hard-earned cash but that's how it appears to me.

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StRipper added 20:52 - Jan 20 If it is true about Gao wanting to prioritise clearing his debts at the cost of relegation. He's going to have a bit of a wake up call trying to then get the club back in the EPL with a fan base that has lost belief and wants him out. And he'd need to be back in the EPL to make such a strategy pay off
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skiptonsaint added 20:55 - Jan 20 I really hope the fightback starts tomorrow and we sign the two good attacking players we have been linked with But this feels like a very different scenario than when we all went to dellhurst park and the other escapes. We were the small underdog team then and we had leaders and a fighting spirit Now we are almost a big story with our 9th highest wage bill and recent success and I just don't feel the same fight from the fans. Maybe it is seeing our best players sold time and time again, especially the VVD one being so recent that has made it feel like death by a thousand cuts. I'll be there tomorrow and I'll sing etc but i really feel we need an old pro like Fonte who could come and galvanise us and lift us in the run in. But I don't know who that is Very worried

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ChristchurchSaint added 21:32 - Jan 20 StRipper: totally agree with all you say. The other viewpoint: has GAO thought about the fact that his £200 million investment will shrink rapidly if we go down. 80% values the club at around £250 mill, what will that value drop too if we go down? If it goes down to £200 million, his £200mill share is only worth £160 mill. All seems strange to me.
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TeamCortese added 23:46 - Jan 20 This is what I said to A1079 two years ago regarding VW's loyalty when there was speculation surrounding him wanting a move to Tottenham: "A1079: While I agree with you to a certain extent. My response is: why does he want to move in the first place? Why are we not hearing constant speculation about Everton midfielders like Ross Barkley angling for a move? Tottenham finished 2 places above us last season and Arsenal finished 4 places ahead of us. If they are paying better wages and offering a higher calibre of competitions then our board has to respond with an alternative. They could for example tell the player they are planning to expand the stadium and are aiming for Champions League spots in the next couple of years. They could also offer our best players better deals and try and build the team around them. That's common sense. But at the moment we're cashing in on our best players and now our manager is saying to the press it's inevitable we'll lose our best assets. What does that signal to the players and the fans? This topic should be addressing the board not the player. Players's have always been seen as disposable assets. They also know their career has a certain shelf-life and to be quite frank they're not going to spend their entire career at one club unless it meets their ambition. It is the role of the board to meet those ambitions. Otherwise the player is well in his rights to move on." People (like Nick) were saying back then that the problem wasn't board but was instead the players angling for more money. And in truth they were partly right. However, since I made that comment we've completely regressed as a club. Tell me who's now defending the board? The only person doing so is manager because he knows he should have been sacked ages ago! (see article below): http://sport.bt.com/football/saints-boss-pellegrino-defends-clubs-recruitment-po THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE CONSTANTLY SELLING YOUR BEST PLAYERS AND NOT SHOWING ANY AMBITION. YOU GET SPINELESS MANAGERS LIKE PELLEGRINO AND YES MEN LIKE LES REED. WE'VE BECOME A COMPLETE LAUGHING STOCK TO THE REST OF THE EPL! Nick can we for once agree that the problem for the last 4-5 years (since the departure of Nicola Cortese) has been our owner Katerina Liebherr. She made it abundantly clear she wasn't interested in this football club yet she continued to plunder the hard work put in by Nicola Cortese et al and inadvertently benefitted from an in-form manager (at the time) being Ronald Koeman after Cortese left. Now she's further exacerbated our problems by most likely selling to the highest bidder (Mr Gao) who clearly has no interest as well. If anything montecristo is probably right. He must be using us to launder money. She's a cancer to this football club and the sooner she leaves with her yes men (Les Reed, Ralph Krueger and co) the better. I've hard enough of this b*llocks! These lot are destroying our beloved football club.

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kingolaf added 23:58 - Jan 20 Ridiculous suggesting relegation is the best way for Gao when premiership to revenue is so lucrative. Doesn't make any sense. I think we're all expecting a tonking tomorrow, I reckon Pellegrino will be sacked tomorrow night.
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kingolaf added 00:03 - Jan 21 Sorry, to revenue.
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kingolaf added 00:04 - Jan 21 Bloody auto correction, tv revenue!
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DellHero added 00:14 - Jan 21 As I’ve been saying on the forum, it’s an orchestrated drop to make a killing on the relegation odds of 40/1 at the start of the season. Place syndicate bets globally (unnoticed) and who cares if the value of the club drops on relegation. The gamblers in the east will have made a killing. The only way to explain the way the club is being run is if it’s a plan to put us down.

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schatfield added 01:00 - Jan 21 nice one nick, way to get the fans pumped up for the big game tomorrow....ending your article with the crowd must be the 12th man after saying how crap our manager is, will surely get them cheering in this game.
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AmericanSaint added 07:09 - Jan 21 All - I understand the frustration Saints fans have. I think there is lots of blame to go around. I think MP has made some bad/poor choices on the selection of players, but the players have also let him down by not playing to their potential/standards (too many to name). Next, we have been unlucky too in a few games. Next, while we are in the bottom 3, the distance to #10 spot in 3 wins, so the end is not set in stone. There is time left. Also, the way I have been watching WBA, BHA, NCU and Swansea, there are teams who are also in free-fall. As it has been all of last year and this year, we can't score and until we fix that, we will hover in/around the relegation zone till the end of season. Final note - Totts today will be tough. If as long as we fight and put a good showing, i think we will be alright. After this game, we have several very winnable games and must win as they are the teasm around us. If we do that we will be ok. I am going to keep the faith and beleive that we will struggle but make it in the end. I hope the rest of you will do the same. COYR

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A_Saint_in_Stoke added 07:46 - Jan 21 Agreed - we would be better putting a fan in charge, he would do a better job. Isn't it very sad to read all the above comments - us fans NEED some kind of lift. The most cost-effective solution would be to change the manager until the end of the season - someone who has mam to man and leadership skills.
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underweststand added 08:35 - Jan 21 A lot of viewpoints up until this part of the thread. TRUE - some of MP's selections have upset people, but he has been trying to test everyone we have on the books, but negative results cloud the issue of "who's best " and a succession of players have been injured of late.? TRUE - our "strike force" has failed again - precisely as it did at the back end of last season and MP has only inherited the problem that CP had then. Many people were happy /glad to see JayRod get a move , (a win-win situation for everyone ,we said), but who could have forseen the goal drought would continue to affect the team afterwards? TRUE - MP isn't very demonstrative, but is (probably) doing the best with the squad he's got. MP may have made his mistakes, but they are not nearly as bad as those made by some of the men representing the club - on the pitch. FAKE NEWS - sorry Team Cortese, but your life-long love affair with Nicola C. isn't correct It is true that his management skills as Chairman did a vast amount of good , dragging the club into the 21st Century Prem. World..... but the truth stops there. For someone who (on his own admission) knew little or nothing about football totally disregarded all " English " advice /experience and chose to "invest borrowed money " on imported players at highly-overated prices. Ramirez might have been good -in someone's team - but not with Saints at 65 K /week. His decision to allow Pochettino to buy Osvaldo ( a player with a bad temperament and a worse disciplinary record) was nothing short of criminal, and the cost of those two catastrophic buys cost Saints c. £50 million (fees and wages) plus interest on borrowed money to buy them in the first place If you doubt this, remember that the majority of players in the "2012 promotion squad" cost less than either one of the Ramirez/Osvaldo fees. QUOTE: by Alan Pardew (from Cortese) ...Do you really want to spend £1 million on a 27 year old CF? ....(that b.t.w....was Rickie Lambert). Cortese was v.g at Administration, but should have left the "footballing side" to others who knew that area much better. I rest my case.

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