Hughes Out Now............. Surely????????

Today's game was heralded as a 'must win' game by both managers as the first 'El Sackio' of the season took place as the two bottom clubs in the Premier League went head to head. Rumours were that if one of the managers lost then they would be be-headed and relieved of their duties...... let's see how this one panned out.

We were lucky enough to have little Jack and our Portsmouth fan friend John join us in the Loft today and both were bringing lucky omens. Jack has never seen QPR lose and John has never seen Southampton win, the other statistic in our favour was that there has not been a draw in a game between these two sides in over 84 years. Everything was pointing towards a positive result, but for who??
Jack, John and myself made our way into the ground just past 2pm, after we had said hello to Lofty and Jenson, Jenson is celebrating a birthday so there's no doubt he'll have a sore head in the morning, hopefully nothing else will be sore!! Jenson, Lofty and Jess all went to enjoy a pre-match beer in the Springbok with Kevin Gallen and then ended up having to queue up for over 15minutes to get in the ground, luckily they missed nothing! Sam and Luke arrived in W12 early to do some Christmas shopping and then met up with Lorna before enjoying a few beverages before the game and they too also got caught in the queue and ended up missing the first 10 minutes of the game.

Hughes named an unchanged side from the side that lost at Stoke last week....... predictable really!

Well I'm going to say very little about this game because it's just very frustrating.

Southampton went 1-0 up with a carbon copy of every goal we concede from a set piece, for some reason Faurlin was left to mark Ricky Lambert and his initial header was blocked on the line by Traore but Lambert was first to react (as you would expect) and he followed up with a header from two yards out and received a   kick in the head by Diakite for his efforts.
Rangers' continued to be out fought and Southampton got the second goal they deserved just before half time. Puncheon was left with acres of space after the R's failed to clear following a Southampton breakaway. Puncheon hit a great effort from the left side of the box, leaving Cesar with no chance. Poor defending again, but that's what happens when you are the best prepared team in the league and leave nothing to chance.............oh that's why we haven't won all year!! Sorry I'm playing the usual Mark Hughes press conference that we hear every week that is full of the same b@llsh!t that we are expected to buy and believe.

The second half begun with Jamie Mackie replacing Faurlin. For me this was completely wrong as Granero had a much worse first half despite being played well out of position on the right wing.
The energy and urgency of Mackie certainly helped the R's and soon grabbed a consolation goal as Hoilett somehow ghosted in front of the Southampton goalkeeper and headed home Taarabt's cross.
It was back to the usual and showing no fight at all, with the exception of Ryan Nelsen, Samba Diakite, Adel Taarabt and Jamie Mackie. This led to Southampton regaining control of the game and they got a third goal with ten minutes to go. I didn't see how the goal occurred and all I know is that Anton Ferdinand was credited with an own goal.

I'm going to take no credit away from Southampton, they got what they deserved today and showed a lot of heart and passion on the field today. I'm also glad that the nonsense of the Nigel Adkins sack talk will slowly disappear because he deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with the Saints over the last two years. Saints fans were excellent today and have remained fully behind their manager, they deserve to do well and I'm looking forward to going back to St Mary's next year as we have enjoyed some good away days down there with their friendly fans. I wish them all the best until that day.

Man of the Match was a pretty easy one today, with only Taarabt, Diakite, Mackie and Nelsen worthy of any kind of mention. The majority vote today going to Ryan Nelsen from the gang.

Well what can I say about today?? A lot to be honest!
Firstly we hear the same rubbish from Mark Hughes before and after every game. He always says that we are the well organised in training and how great the team spirit and belief is with what they are working towards yet every Saturday we see the same sh!t, same mistakes and a bunch of players that do not look like they are fighting for each other. The fight and determination that we showed in the last two months of last season has disappeared and for me it looks like the players are no longer playing for the manager. The heads are dropping quickly and there is no belief in what the manager is trying to get them to do.
Secondly we have no plan b. We have one plan and have no other way of playing, there is a lack of variety and the movement in the team is the worst that it has been since we had Mark Hateley up front. We have lost a dimension in our play with the lack of pace and movement and we really look like a team that has no real direction or any idea of how we are going to win games. Defensively we make the same mistakes every week, I really do wonder what happens in training and how actually plan for games because for me there is no real structure in our play and what I have witnessed today is the worst performance in many years......... bring back George Santos, at least he actually cared and put some effort in despite his limited ability.
We then hear that Shaun Wright-Phillips has spoken out to a fan saying that the team are losing because the fans do not support the team................ I'm sorry SWP, who was laughing when Southampton scored the third goal??? Show that you care and actually put a performance in you under performing twat! You cannot say that we do not support the team, if that's your honest opinion then p!ss off back to Chelsea!!!!!!!

Hughes really has lost the plot and the confidence of the fans. The players do not seem to be behind him and are pretty clueless as to what they need to do on the pitch for him.
Now is not a time for excuses, we have a wealth of talented players and unfortunately from the minute the 25 man squad was named we all knew what we were lacking, attacking options! Only three strikers named, two of them injury prone and with Johnson now out for the season it leaves us with Zamora that has fallen out of love with football and happy to pick up his weekly fortune for the remainder of his contract. Why did we not name DJ Campbell and keep Helguson? At least they offer something different and they score goals, something we are struggling to do!! Instead we have been left with Hogan Ephraim and Shaun Derry (despite Derry's fight and enthusiasm) and are left lacking in the goals department.

Now is the time to go. Let's appoint a manager that will get the team playing for one another, finally have a set of tactics that will help them win a game and grow in confidence and once and for all get a bloody win in the league!!
Us as fans deserve better and so do our owners Tony Fernandes and Amit Bhatia. I do not agree with the twitter rants they get and criticism that comes their way, it's needs to remain respectful and some dignity kept by the supporters. Yes say that Hughes needs to be sacked but do not call them names that they are not, these are people that care about our club and actually do listen to the fans. Although I do not believe they will sack Hughes yet, I still know they have the clubs interests at heart. The day for Hughes to go will come, hopefully sooner rather than later!!

That's all for now!

Lofty will return next week with his report after our (if Hughes is in charge) thrashing at Old Trafford, or excellent draw (if Redknapp is at the helm).

Keep the faith!!!!