LaptopSaint

I watched him closely against Man City and Chelsea - so he was up against Sterling then Sane, followed by Hazard and Alonso in the second game. The thing that impressed me most was that he didn't seem over-awed in the slightest, and wasn't afraid to stick his foot in when he needed to. When he came on against City the man inside him was 18 year old Kayne Ramsay. Valery still needs to be more decisive going forward, but we saw a couple of flashes of that at the Bridge. Lot to learn but a great prospect. Keep 'em coming Ralph...

This. Still had a decent day out, and it was good to see another young academy product with pace on the field. Confident we'll survive this season and already looking forward to a Hasenhuttl team next August after a full pre-season.

Agree with everything he said.

Wingbacks. I have to say Matt Targett frustrates the hell out of me. Valery was pretty exposed tonight against both Anderson and Cresswell, but he's learning. That cross at the end slightly summed up his night though. Need Bertie and Cedric back if they're both on the bus. Mario I love but I don't know what was with him tonight - maybe he hasn't quite understood the new system yet, and he kept giving it away. Will be good to see PEH back. Redmond still needs support because he scares defenders but he had one of those days when nothing quite come off apart from punching the ball into the net for our goal. The penalty denied followed by breakaway and clinical finish was tough to take but West Ham were the better side and deserved to win. Lots for Ralph to think about and get done - but I'm confident the second half of the season will be much better than the first. COYR

Love the Pahars one. That was some day. Also Beattie’s cupped ear and, of course, Bobby’s toothy cup-winning grin...

What is all this utter nonsense? We are literally three points from safety with 22 games to go. Chill the **** out.

I want to buy Upamecano, mainly for the endless song possibilities. None of which we'll ever sing. Show me the way to Upamecano...

Anyone who wouldn’t want Bertrand over Targett after witnessing the Cardiff game needs stronger meds. Bertie and Redmond at least look like they’ve got some idea of how to work together to get dangerous balls into the box.

Anyone know if we can recall Boufal in January? He’d fit Ralph’s system I reckon and he has more skill in his little toe than most of the rest of the squad combine. 4-2-2-2? Macca Cedric-New CB-New CB-Bertie PEH-Lemina Redmond-Boufal Ings-Gabbi Bench: Gunn, New CB, Valery, Romeu, Armstrong, Long, Obafemi

So the only bright spot was Ralph coming over at the end and applauding is and making clear with a series of Austrian hand gestures that he was as embarrassed as we were by our shambolic sh1tshow of a defence. He got a decent round of applause. Matt Targett? How did he stay on at half time? Only coz Valery had a yellow I guess. Vestergaard? Gah. One of the reasons we kept giving it away was that they’d clearly been told to get it forward more quickly. Lemina was class as usual, Redmond had the odd run, but we lost to a team that would struggle to be mid table in the Championship without troubling the keeper. Conditions were awful but we were worse. Still think Ralph can turn it round though - got a feeling about him. Let’s hope they let him pick a couple of players he wants in January, and that we sell 4 or 5 even if sell them cheap. Looking forward to Huddersfield.

Awful atmosphere everywhere but the away end. Glad that Ralph heard us. Time to pay some back. COYR

Probably the worst stadium atmosphere i’ve ever seen in the Premier League. At least we had a laugh in the away end. We played like a team waiting for a new manager. Should’ve scored at least one more but Spurs stopped playing after our third basic defensive mistake. A step backwards from Fulham and Man U for me. All yours Ralph. COYR.

How different life could've been... From the BBC: Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino on facing his previous club: "I care a lot for Southampton... I have spoken with my family and I think it was one of the better periods in my life. "We found some amazing people there, an amazing town and they provided us with everything to make us feel at home. "They have the tools to lift [themselves] from [their] situation but tomorrow we compete and we need to win the three points."

I'm looking forward to it. It'll be p1ssing it down, and with luck we'll get a point. Spurs will be knackered after Chelsea, Inter and Arsenal with Barca coming up in a week's time. One thing though - can we get a song going for Nathan Redmond? He's played his socks off in the last few games, and he seems to thrive on encouragement. I'd suggest the Leroy Sane song Man City have.... Nathan, oh Nathan Redmond goes down the wing for me Doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo etc

On the way back. Should have won. Didn’t. Hate Vardy. Luck has to change soon. Despite missing that absolute sitter, obafemi’s got something about him. What was Gunn doing for the pens? I mean we’ve only got three keepers on the coaching staff. Have a word lads - less dancing more diving.

On the train to Leicester and quite like that team. Feel a bit sorry for Bednarek though - not even on the bench. Is he injured?

Watching back the highlights on the official site, a few things I didn't pick up at the ground. What a good save that was by McCarthy from Mitrovic. Gabbi might deserve his place going forward but his tracking back for their first two goals was shocking. Obafemi's cameo looked even better second time around - give him a chance from the start.

I'll be there, but i did get my ticket before we drew Man City in the next round. Hey ho...

Bottom three, Ralph. Take your hockey stick to that one.

Agreed - we are better than them, we were better than them today. But the bottom line is that we lost. Again. You make your own luck after a while.

Pretty much how I saw it too, except Mario was our best player by miles. Strong committed always looking to go forward. Criminal defending - especially two on one v sessegnon for the 2nd goal.

Not sure what Bednarek’s done wrong tbh I would have played him and the Viking today

So Hughes, Allardyce or Moyes? Sticking a pencil in your eye is also available as an option. Personally I’d go for Jardim once he’s turned down Real Madrid.

City fans on the train home were bigging up Lemina. I said we’d take De Bruyne in part exchange.

I agree. We could and should have scored 3 (Ings on the rebound, and Shane shooting wide from a good pullback for the 493rd game in a row). But we didn’t. I thought Danny Murphy was spot on on MOTD as well - we weren’t sitting back with massed defence, but nor were we pressing high. So it was neither one thing nor the other. We created more chances than many teams do at the Etihad but we also let them cut through us like a knife through butter. 8-3 would have been a fair reflection.