Was this the start of a new era or the ending of the old one, with Ivan Juric sat in the stands, no one was quite sure, but by the end of the game the travelling Saints supporters went home in a happier mood than they have felt for most of the games so far this season.

There were no real surprises in the starting line, except the return of Aaron Ramsdale after his time out with a broken finger, although some would have felt that Cameron Archer should have started.

This was never going to be an easy game, Fulham are a tough side to beat, but it was clear from the start that this was a Southampton team with a different attitude to the one that had collapsed against Spurs 7 days earlier, most of the players might have been the same, but you could see that from now on it is going to be about keeping things tight at the back and pressing hard.

Saints fans will need to be patient though, after the start to this season, it was never going to be as easy as just clicking your fingers and hey presto everything is great again, so this game was always going to be about starting first and foremost with the aim not to concede and then building from there.

Ivan Juric might not have been picking the team and running the game, but you felt that he would have talked to his new team and given them the game plan going forward.

The possession game seems to have gone or at least watered down a little and when it was needed we were not afraid to put our foot through the ball.

For once we were not playing keep ball our 43% possession in this match has to be one of the lowest levels since the start of last season, so the first half was without too much incident.

At half time Tyler Dibling went off and on came Cameron Archer, this seemed a strange change, but you could see that having got through the first 45 minutes all square we were going to try and impose ourselves a little more.

But as I mentioned earlier, this was not going to be an easy task against a big & strong Fulham side who seemed to tower over us, but we had the spirit to roll our sleeves up and fight.

That being the case just before the hour mark off came Joe Aribo and on came Big Les Ugochukwu, who offered a strong presence in the centre of the midfield and looked the part, making you wonder why Russell Martin virtually ignored him.

There were few real chances for either side, although Fulham had the best and it needed a great save from Aaron Ramsdale to keep the sides level.

Saints grew into the game and looked for a late winner with what looked from the away section to be a stone wall penalty, but the referee who throughout the game seemed to give Saints nothing, waved the claims away.

So the main aim from this game was to get through it with something, obviously 3 points was desperately needed, but as mentioned sometimes you can't just turn things around easily, especially when you consider the draconian way Russell Martin imposed his playing style on the team.

But we showed enough in this game to give the hope that we can turn this season around and win a few games, no one is claiming we are a good side, but I don't think we are any worse than many of the teams just above us.

Sadly I think that we have thrown away too many points now and staying up is going to be just too much to be able to do, leaving Martin in place for the previous 6 games at least now looks to be a major mistake by the Saints board.

All we can do now is build for the future and see what happens, but at least if Ivan Juric's first words as Southampton manager claimed, we will show fight and that is something that has been sorely missed at times.

So this game achieved it's first objectives, we kept a clean sheet, we were determined and organised and we had the spirit, sadly though every game we fail to win is a step nearer relegation and a game less to close the gap between us and safety.

All Photos Via Reuters

underweststand added 10:37 - Dec 23 less possession against a team with strong attacking ethic and who might have scored except for Ramsdale's efforts. Good to see some Saints attacks and ventures into last third. One point well-deserved, but the Fulham boss will see it as a game lost, I'm sure. I was not overly surprised (Nick) at subbing of Dibling at HT. He has worked his socks off for the last 3 months and often been the standout player but he is still only 18, and the tough Fulham full back didn't give him the time of day and he was outclassed quite often. He is still a fine talent, but should not be pressed into a 90 minute stretch every game, especially over the busy Christmas / New Year period. Might show up well versus WHam on Boxing Day. Others who showed up well include Wood who is beginning to look the real deal. Jan. B took to the captain's role well, and Fernandes took a lot of punishment (often unpunished by a weak referee) and Ugochukwa looked a bit raw, but was not afraid to get in and mix it up a bit. Why did Simon Rusk wait so long to sub. on Onuachu as Adam Armstrong was hardly in the game.

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IanRC added 10:45 - Dec 23 Agree with most of that Underweststand although I would still like to see Sulemana on with Onachu. Actually although the ref was again biased, the foul was just outside the penalty area I think. Some good signs and much more fight, such a shame SR didn't sack the arrogant one much earlier. We are going to have a plethora of good defenders with ABK not frozen out too now.

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templarinexile added 12:47 - Dec 23 We may have some decent options with defenders, but certainly not with attackers. One of AA's attributes was pace - but he doesn't seem able to cut it in the PL. Jury is out on CA but he needs to be paired alongside a bigger, stronger presence. The tactic (if it was intended as such) of Ramsdale hitting goal kicks straight out of play, or in the general direction of Aribo just went to prove that we don't have a single player capable of winning the ball or holding it up front. Or do we?

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Mattsgrandad added 14:10 - Dec 23 Not playing out from the back stopped the pressure on the back four but a good ball winning midfielder is needed to gain control. Downes is a fair player but appears too lightweight for the premiership and I have lost count of the times he has been booked for pulling back his opponent. Let give tall Paul a good run with a fast partner to feed off him. I honestly think we might just escape from this position if the squad keep the faith with each other and listen to Ivan.

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JoeEgg added 14:34 - Dec 23 Despite having completed almost half the season, I'm still hopeful that we haven't yet realised and identified all our players with the quality and aptitude for the Premier League. Too much time has been wasted on the likes of Stephens, Smallbone and Armstrong. Hopefully the new manager can find in our squad stronger choices with maybe Onachu and Bella-Kotchap just two examples. to start us off. I can only re-iterate what I believe is the massive damage RM has been allowed to inflict on our Premier League prospects, and like others here, wish Ivan 'all the best'- he has some task to perform!!

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SaintPaulVW added 16:19 - Dec 23 Great change in attitude. Struggle to see why Downes was booked for a completely fair challenge. Think we are down really but just hope Ivan can put enough fight in us to beat Wolves record even if it takes another 6 nil nils. With Ramsdale back the 3 CBs looks solid and should stay together now with ABK having to fight his way in if he wants to play. Still think Dias deserves a shot playing in the middle rather than stuck out on the left. Dibling needs to be rested now and again. Livramento was overplayed and spent a season injured. Be great if we could get something from next 3 games. COYR

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davidargyll added 16:42 - Dec 23 My first visit to Craven Cottage, i was right at the top of the new stand, which was a good view, when i could see! Christ it was a pain because so many people just would not sit down and were moving all the time! Certainly not my experience at SMS! In so far as the game was concerned, we were lucky in H1 but we did defend well. And in H2 we played much better and a draw was a fair result even if Fulham fans around me were suggesting it was 2 points dropped for them. Individually, Downes I think deserves a serious kick up the arse, because he struts about thinking he owns the place but made several cock ups at least one of which nearly led to a goal. Tyler D is a great player but LBH is very lightweight and gets bundled off the ball far to easily; he needs to grow some balls! Ramsdale is class! Enough said. As is our new skipper Jan. The rest did at least played like a team, and not a load of own-feet-shooters! Moreover, despite our shortcomings, you did get the feeling that we have definitely turned the corner. Could we get out of it? Well our odds have shortened to 1/16! Which just might be worth laying…

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halftimeorange added 18:09 - Dec 23 I thought this was a far more spirited performance than of late and Wood showed real grit and probably warranted being in the team much earlier this season. Hopefully it won't take our new boss too long to sort out the defensive mess left by RM but, he needs to spend more time on midfield and attack. We don't create many chances these days and when we do there is not the personnel up front to regularly stick them away. Adam Armstrong is patently struggling at this level, Tyler Dibling looked fatigued against Fulham and Tall Paul, Cameron Archer and Sulemana were hardly tried in tandem by the previous regime so we don't know what they might achieve. More interesting times ahead than those most recently gone. I wish my fellow contributors o this site season's greetings.

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YosemiteSaint added 02:12 - Dec 24 There have been players who oughtn't have been in the side—which means they were keeping out players who ought to have been. (This is of course an obvious point, although it was clearly lost on Russell Martin.) Here's hoping some of those are brought in from the cold and we build on the restored energy.
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