Nordic Saint

As we saw again yesterday, the away fans behind the goal have more influence on what happens on the pitch at St Mary's than the home fans do. You just know that any 50/50 refereeing decision at the Northam end is going to go the way of the away team. Our potentially most vocal fans being hidden away in a corner doesn't help.

I think you've answered your own question there.

Les Reed explained many times how recruitment works at the club and I doubt that his young protégé Ross Wilson would have changed that system. It's not like it used to be, where the manager tells the owner, I want you to sign this player. Instead, all the manager can do is tell the head of recruitment which position he wants filled. The HOR then offers him the names of a few players the club have scouted and can afford who play in that position and the manager then has the option to approve one of them. When Paul Mitchell was the HOR, the system worked well but now it doesn't seem to.

He played a total of 16 minutes for England, which plenty of other mediocre players have done, and now that they've seen him, I doubt he'll ever get picked for them again. For comparison, Højbjerg has played 26 games for Denmark and 40 games for Bayern Munich and Schalke, including winning the German Cup Final and playing in the Champions League. I loved JWP's attitude when we played Pompey but realistically, he isn't fast enough or skilful enough for the Premier League and is easily bypassed by the opposition midfield. He'd probably make a decent Championship player but at the top level he leaves us short in midfield and his team mates have to cover for him. Today Redmond was constantly having to come back to do just that.

Yes, shocking. Wouldn't get into our team. Man of the match - Calum Chambers (Arsenal) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49868091

Yes! We belong in the top flight.

He's still here, isn't he?

Yes, sounds like good news.

People are dreaming if they think we could get an improving 24-year-old England international, who plays for one of the Big Six, for less than £30 million, not that Arsenal would sell him anyway. He is back in their first team and they haven't lost a single game he's played in this season. Football London: " His appearance at right-back at Old Trafford indicates he is already ahead of Ainsley Maitland-Niles in that position but the impressive way he rose to the challenge posed by Daniel James might heighten his case to play elsewhere."

Overall, I still prefer him to Hughes, Pellegrino and Puel but I think 90% of our fans could see what he was doing wrong with his defensive selections and formations v Bournemouth and Spurs. Players out of position, Vestergaard...

Maybe League One or League Two level?

Chambers £30 mill, Wanyama £15 mill (after 1-year loan deal dependent on appearances)

Have you ever been to Fratton Park for one of their regular league games? I have and the atmosphere was dire. Anyway, we're talking about away support so before you get taken in by their hype have a look at the reality:

Even in the good old day, success bred support. Our noisiest ever away support was in the late 70s because we'd just won the Cup, reaching its zenith in January 1977 at the City Ground when we played Forest in the FA Cup. In 1973/74, when we were getting relegated and the euphoria of being a new club in the top flight had worn off, it wasn't very good.

Duncan, goalkeeper and midfield are two areas where there are several candidates who it's almost impossible to choose between. You are right, Davis at his peak was like Marsden used to be: an unsung hero who made the rest of the team tick.

Shush. Saints' dressing room less than an hour before kick-off: Ralph: OMG, I've just seen the Spurs' team sheet. Forget everything we did in training this week, lads, when I thought we were going to be playing their reserves. We're actually going to be playing their regular first team. So........ I'm going to completely change the defence. Players: shake heads in disbelief.

Whoops, I forgot Lallana, who was our best player when we first got promoted so he should be there ahead of Redmond so: McCarthy Clyne van Dijk Fonte Shaw Wanyama Romeu Tadić Lallana Lambert Mané

Forster/ McCarthy? (Any goalkeeper before Dave Watson's coaching took effect) Clyne van Dijk Fonte Shaw Wanyama Romeu Tadić Redmond Lambert Mané

Designated singing area:

You are being melodramatic. Our support has been very good in some games this season. Against Liverpool at home it was as good if not better than at any game at St Mary's last season. Pompey away was better than it usually is. Brighton away was decent etc. It's never going to be like it was in the 1970s but you can't just completely write off our support like that. One problem is that the ticket pricing structure at the club results in us having a very high percentage of old fans and those youngsters that do come are accompanied by their parents. Not enough is done to encourage young fans to come to games together in groups rather than having to sit with their parents in family centres.

This season Vestergaard played in our defeats to Burnley (0-3), Liverpool (1-2), Bournemouth (1-3) and Spurs (1-2). Last season he played in lots of defeats, usually with two other CBs, who were needed to cover for him. We probably would have done no worse in those games with a back 4, without him. I'll grant you that very occasionally he has a good game like in our 1-1 draw with Man Utd (maybe 1 in 10). But the idea that we should play him against big strikers because he is big is negated by the fact that he can't jump, is easily brushed aside and has a tendency to fall over when a striker runs at him.

Can't we just play our best rwb, Cedric, at rwb, our best lwb, Bertrand, at lwb, and our best 2 cbs, and Bednarek and Yoshida at cb and play that back 4, which is our best defence, every week, so they get used to playing together regularly? If either of our cbs gets injured, we can bring in Danso and if he proves good enough, then eventually he might take Yoshida's slot long-term. Our two wing-backs are two of the only players left in the squad who are good enough to be sold to a top half club for a decent fee, who haven't been sold, so they should be the first on the team sheet.

It's more likely that Ralph does know the reason, as this occurred less than an hour before kick-off when they were together in the dressing room, but is being disingenuous.

You could be close to the truth there. Cedric clearly travelled to the stadium with the intention of playing today, probably with a great deal of confidence after his performance on Tuesday night. Then one hour before kickoff something happened. Ralph later said that the reason he played 3 central defenders was in reaction to the Spurs team selection, which was announced one hour before kickoff. So, I wonder if Ralph's last minute defensive reshuffle with Cedric being asked to play out of position, like the defenders were against Bournemouth, upset the players.

What does Ralph see in Vestergaard? Should have been Valery for Cedric at the start and certainly at half-time. Then Ward-Prowse would have been released to play in midfield.Tactically, the same type of defensive mistake as in the Bournemouth game. At least he got it right for the Pompey game.