Hard to argue with any of that. There is a contagion around St Marys and Pellegrino is a big part of the mess. Quite rightly, you point out the needless mass changes to the side - Hojbjerg and Stephens had great at the weekend; nowhere to be seen tonight. Tadic left on tonight despite a practically invisible role and Boufal (who at least tried things and contested) hauled off on the hour. What has happened to Lemina?

Two bright spots for me tonight - the wag who posed the question as Leicester went 3-0 up...."can you sack a Manager at half time"? And your headline Nick...Puel Harbour sinks Saints as Shinji Okasaki leads the way.

Up till tonight had thought need to support the manager after tonight he needs to go seems clueless

Les Reed must go before he gets us relegated. He's wasted tens of millions of the club's money whilst weakening the academy, the first team squad and the coaching staff.

Diabolical,Disappointed,Disarray,Disaster,Dysfunctional,
Defenseless and to think that they actually get paid a ton of money for this rubbish, other than that l am speechless.

Shïte . What's happen to the improvement in recent games. he's blown it.

The players are looking dejected . The fans even more so.

What his around comes around and bites you in the äss

*goes

There is an irony in supporters calling for the manager’s head after a game against our previous sacked manager (who fans villified), but hey.
Puel seems to be doing ok now.

For me, the problem runs deeper. Before the game I heard a lot of fans saying that we’re on a level with Leicester, but honestly how many of their players would you swap for ours?
Based on the last 12 months I’d say: VVD for Morgan (based on talent, not attitude), Bertrand for Chilwell (maybe), er... that’s it

Well we all were screaming for crisp attacking football from Puel!!
Well its fair to say we got it now!!

Can't disagree with this assessment, although I think we need to balance it a bit - and reflect on where we are as a team.

Like it or not Puel has got Leicester absolutely flying again. 21 points from last 9 games or something. He's managed to quickly spark the same performances from (mostly) the same players who won the EPL.

There is irony all over that. Most notably that Leicester have been able to keep most of their title winning players. Saints on the other hand haemorrhage players every summer. It hasn't made for a stable platform. The other irony is that Puel has openly said his experience at Saints enabled him to hit the ground running and he's capitalised on simply tweaking and recharging a consistent base of players.

Puel is a good manager. He might even become an excellent manager if he continues as is; that's what Saints probably saw in him. But he lacked EPL experience and inherited a Saints side that lost more players in the summer and had to deal with all of that whilst navigating the Europa draw.

Whilst that is all in the past, it meant Saints met a resurgent Leicester last night. Puel knew the weaknesses; he had the same problems last year, and he exploited them with a revitalised squad.

So we have to factor in that we met an in form team last night.

Turning to MP, there are lots of similarities to Puel: no experience of EPL. Whilst Saints (infamously) didn't lose its star players last summer, that came at a cost to squad stability.

There is another irony in that previous seasons Saints have suffered from having a small squad: we would play really well but then falter when a key player or two become crocked. We bolstered the squad in line with Europa but we are still very new in experience regarding how to keep a larger squad of players happy. This I believe was foremost on Puels mind (hence the rotations) and it seems to be on MP's mind too. Trouble is, it hasn't worked for both of them.

We have to remember this isn't MP's squad: it's unlikely he had time to get involved with any serious scouting in the summer. He's therefore playing with players who may not fully fit his style. The conundrum is: do you try and force players to change styles, or do you try something new? I genuinely believe he's stuck between the two whilst wanting to ensure he has the backing of the squad. As a result he keeps trying new things in order to please everybody and it's not working.

Again very similar to Puel's experience. But what I have seen is more glimmers of hope than under Puel: the Everton, City and Arsenal performances showed that. But MP is still learning; and I think he needs to now think carefully about the rotation and how it just doesn't work in EPL unless you are a top side.

I really do think MP has the potential to do great things at Saints. But it won't happen tomorrow: in fact it might take a season or two. And that's where Saints fans come in. We should have patience and allow MP to find his feet. He may even have to remove a few players to make his mark (Tadic and VVD spring to mind). Hopefully Les will give him some cash in January and MP can start to make his own mark at the club. If it fails after that, then there's no excuses.

Manager tinkering with the team again cannot understand how two of our best players Stephens and Hojbjerg were dropped. When I played if I played well I stayed in the team it builds confidence now you play well and know you can still be dropped don’t make sense. Our managers seem to be trying to be to clever or is there somebody else pulling the strings

nick i hoped you claped mr puel after the game finished

We should have acted last month during the international break and got a temporary manager in. Said it a million times, when the team stops playing for the manager there's no turning back. Look at the 4 teams we've beaten in 18 games (bottom four fodder) 3 have acted and changed their managers and have rebuilt that fragile team spirit (through back to basics stuff) and climbed. We got a proper wet fish slap in the face last night.

Meanwhile, over in Switzerland all that can be heard is the money being counted. "Kerching".

On a slightly side note, can anyone tell me WHY Tadic starts every game. He must be Messi in training because for the majority of the time I dont think he is good enough. He has his moments but goes missing alot in games. Obviously last night was about the whole squad but I am puzzled by Tadic

That was a horror show. The performance that I saw (I left after Leicester’s 4th goal went in) was littered with individual mistakes. Something must have gone on behind the scenes before the game for so many players to be so lacking in focus and effort. It looked like the players were making a statement ‘We got Puel sacked and we can do the same to you, Pellegrino’. Don’t blame Pellegrino for last night. That was down to the players. They should hang their heads in shame. As they say ‘They don’t deserve to wear the shirt’. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t understand fans getting on the backs of their players. Now I do.

since 1885 one thing missing INVESTMENT

Was a really poor performance. The manager has to take most of the blame. You should put out your strongest team available, and dont be worrying what games are coming up. How could he confine PEH and Jack to the bench after their performance againt Arsenal, and not even get on. Although he had a few saves Forester wasn't great for some of the goals., time for him to have a rest. I think CP must have had a good chuckle after the game> Did he learn a lesson at Saints as I dont think there were many changes from the Leicester team that played the weekend ?

Pellegrino made the point after the game that the changes he made were to bring in experienced players, and that's right - Cedric, Davies, Lemina, Boufel - and the question is did they let him down or was he wrong to change so many? Cedric and Lemina are both coming back from injury and it might have been expected that they would be rusty. Davies just looked shell-shocked and Boufel...well, I have always been a Boufel fan but the words of Phil Neville were ringing in my ears as I watched him. Did he beat one player yesterday? - I don't think so...

We were playing a very good team on fantastic form and there was no way we were going to compete with so many players off their game. I can't help but think that Hojbjerg would have made a huge difference. For the majority of the game we put Leicester under absolutely no pressure.

Interesting to look at the Prem table now. We are 11th - 4 points away from 10th and 4 points above second bottom. We are top (just) of a very tight Premier League 'B' Section. January transfer window can't come soon enough.

I'm amazed at how good Leicester have been under Puel. They're playing some great stuff. Saints didn't play anything like that under him. Its as though he's taken time out of the game and totally reassessed his style. If only he could've done that at Saints! Taken the summer off and come back with a new attacking style, and be able to motivate the players!

Based on how bad we were 2nd half of last season, and let's not forget how bad we were, Puel had to be sacked. There were no signs of change.
Maybe it took the experience of him being sacked for not scoring any goals that made him change.
Or maybe it was having Stephens and Yoshida at the back that forced him to go ultra defensive in the 2nd half of last season.
Or maybe it was Les Reed dictating that Saints should play a possession based game. Who knows.

Anyway, Saints need to have a clear out. There are clearly players there who don't want to be there and its poisonous. Team spirit seems to fluctuate week on week. Saints didn't turn up last night, for whatever reason.
Keeping Van Dyke we thought at the time was the right thing to do but it has back fired. He's been playing at 80% at best and Pellegrino has kept playing him. Imagine what that does to everyone else's motivation, especially if you've been training hard giving 100% only to be dropped and seeing other players who don't give 100% being picked!

Pellegrino needs to now pick the team based on who's going to be up for it and battle away for 90 minutes and not give up. I question the attitude of players like Tadic and Redmond. Tadic dives and goes down easy and argues with officials and complains to his teammates. Redmond is petulant, he'll do something wrong and then look to blame someone else, he needs to man up, take responsibility and produce an end product.
We're 4 points off of the relegation zone and that means we're in a relegation battle until we are at least 10 points clear. If you haven't got team spirit in a relegation battle then you're doomed.

I am speechless after that wretched performance so am unable to comment.

One thing I will say: The main conclusion drawn by many is that last night proves that the problem last season WAS NOT Puel, it goes a lot deeper and higher than that. I find it hard to disagree. Many taking this view then conclude that last night proves that Pellegrino IS the problem. This doesn't follow logically. The logical conclusion is that we still have the same problem as last season and it is NOT the manager.

Despite the 4 against Everton we still have the same essential problems - Yoshi now has as many league goals from open play as Redmond, Long, Boufal and Tadic combined. If our defensive play collapses like it did last night then we WILL go down. Let's hope it was a one off - defend like that against Chelsea and...........

Claude Puel didn't get much credit with us and now he's getting too much at Leicester. Before he came they were already playing really well but not getting the results they deserved (which happens a lot in the prem). They've now got their tails up mainly due to increased confidence momentum. Most teams would have struggled against them last night, especially with 2 games a week.

I think we started well enough but things went tits up quickly once they started scoring. Another major factor was the weather and pitch conditions.

For me, the main problem with MP is his substitutions. It was obvious the formation wasn't right and we should've changed something quickly. Maybe matched their 3 at the back. Also the fact that Charlie et Cédric played 90 minutes when we're playing away at Chelsea (who've had an extra days rest) on Saturday. Let's hope he learns from these mistakes sharpish or it could ruin his reputation.

I don't think we're at the stage where MP has definitely failed and needs replacing. I would like to see some of the backroom staff changed, in particular Black. If we sit on our laurels, then I'd like the new owner to find a replacement for Reed whose record is no longer good enough to protect him. I'd prefer that to gambling on yet another new manager at this stage.

Two steps forwards and one gigantic leap backwards. I judge these things against the yardstick of a horrible cold wet night in Sheffield three years ago under Koeman, which was the worst performance since we returned to the Premier League, and by that measure, last night was 95% in its awfulness. It is hard to say where the blame lies, and Pint Sized's thoughtful analysis makes this clear, because on the one hand we were playing an in-form team but against this, we have been on an improving curve over the last few games and should have done so much better.

There was clearly not much of a game plan (a managerial fault) but if there was, the players didn't stick to it, but much more than this, none of them seemed prepared to make the effort to win the game. Passes were lazy and inaccurate, Boufal continues to attempt to beat the same player three times over, closing down was virtually non-existent and apart from a few flashes of effort from Bertrand down the wing and a decent header from Yoshida leading to the goal, there seemed to be a collective amnesia about the objective of the game.

I'm afraid I don't have a suggested solution other than a massive bollocking for the entire team and the manager.

A very embarrassing evening for Southampton football club and us fans. Puel is clearly not rubbish and we need to be careful what we wish for. I was happy to give MP more time but this performance was very worrying. The players were not interested last night. They certainly did not want to prove anything to Puel. The club should be looking for an alternative to MP that is available but not replace him yet. We were so close to beating Arsenal last Sunday - such a contrast.

As I mentioned earlier I think something happened in the days leading up to the game. What could that have been to have caused such a collective meltdown in terms of focus and effort? I think it’s common knowledge that Saints have had an unwritten agreement with both existing and new players that they’ll be allowed to leave if a big club comes in for them as long as we have lined up a replacement. Following the Arsenal game did Mr. Gao inform the players that the ‘agreement’ would no longer be honoured? I wonder.

No problem at all, we can always get Sam Allardyce in January and then regroup in the summer.

Oh....