Chez

Absolutely. Even a 50% cut would mean we are paying him £50k a week for four more years. In the Championship, one or two of those can all but bankrupt you assuming you can't sell the player.

We made a huge loss on the previous financial year. I know it doesn't always paint a true picture, as player sales etc. can fall just outside the period, but the need for a £70m loan suggests we continue to spend more than we can afford, so a reduction in wages is perhaps a necessity? We need to find about £6.3m to cover the £70m loan interest - assuming we intend to make some sort of repayment.

McCarthy's punching in the first half was very good to be fair and others on here have suggested Forster is a new man in terms of coming off his line, but in general I agree with you. The days of Grobbelar coming out to the edge of the box to catch lofted crosses are long gone, and in general keepers leave it to CBs to take charge (Forster let Fonte, VVD win everything and never confused the issue by coming off his line), but you do still need keepers to come off their line and punch/catch at times, especially if you don't have that strong CB. I guess the issue is finding CBs that can play and are massive. Not many of those about.

seems like that it is the current recruitment model. Buy young players, initially as cover, but with the expectation that they will improve and then when the senior player leaves, they are promoted. Obviously not every signing follows that model, as the likes of Theo, Armstrong and Perraud signings differ, but Bednarek and Salisu both followed that model. Its certainly more sustainable, but whether we have enough quality at CB to keep us up is a different matter. Lets hope so as it is hard to be sustainable when you lose £100m Prem money.

Watching the game yesterday, it was evident that we struggled to cope with the arial ability of Pogba from set pieces, especially in the first half. I don't want to put a dampener of the Stephens appreciation party, but in that period, his marking of him was absolutely woeful and could easily have cost us a goal. His tackle on Fernandez, hostility to Greenwoods non injury and nice photo of him giving Fernandez a dressing down will have meant nothing if we had conceded and gone on to lose. I am concerned when the likes of Dunk, Soucek, VVD and others come to town that we may have similar problems. For all his limitations, Vestegaard did win a lot of headers from corners. I don't see Lyanco replacing that strength. Maybe playing three centre backs will help, but if all three don't dominate we will have issues. Conversely, another issue we had yesterday in some periods was giving the ball away cheaply. This wasn't necessarily a CB issue, although Stephens killed us when a sloppy pass led directly to a foul on the edge of our box. But Lyanco's ability on the ball, as was offered by Vestegaard, will help us there.

so assuming he was on about £65k a week, the extra year we gained cost Saints over £7m in extra wages spread across the four years he had left. When fans ask, where has all the money gone...the answer is wages. £26m of them over the next five years.

we could do with a ball player (dribbler, skills etc.) in the final third. Our attacking midfielders jus ain't all that. The Minamino loan signing last season makes me think we will try to do that again if the right player becomes available.

very good point. Individually they are simply better. To beat teams you need good tactics, a bit of luck and players to have good games. We don't look like a side that can take the tops team on, playing them at their own game, but with a £100m+ wage bill, we should always give teams a game.

yep. both goals coming from the press, to a degree. Would be nice to see us score from slow and fast attacks in the coming games.

is the ball hitting the bar from Pogba's subsequent free header down to great defending or luck?

agreed, equally they tore us to pieces in the first period and we could have been a couple behind. I wasn't that impressed by our performance to be honest, we have played a lot better and lost. I guess we dug in and looked solid, and that has been missing. As I said earlier in a post, happy with that, but there is huge room for improvement. Avoiding two straight defeats is massive.

I also prefer Stephens to Bednarek, but its like choosing between the two keepers. He won the ball well that helped us with the goal,but equally his marking of Pogba from one corner was absolutely dreadful.

Forster would have saved that one today, as he is great saving the stuff close to him, but in general, McCarthy makes more of the tougher saves. I have little faith in either, but there wont be a change so lets get behind them as best we can...and maybe appreciate when they do stuff well. We know there will be many more errors to moan about.

We simply can't afford it. Thats the only reason, surely.

no it wouldn't.

good point. More bodies when legs got tired not less.

you are right, we haven't conceded, but I disagree. It was pure luck United didn't score in the first half from the free kick. They nearly scored three times from the same free kick, hitting thr bar and having a ball cleared off the line. Massive amount of luck.

someone tell Ralph to knock this high line and playing offside shit on the head. Every game we rely on luck instead of player skill and determination. How they didn't score in the first half from one free kick I will never know. It's a bullshit tactic. Trust your players.

He has read the room. 4222 is not the answer to every question.

I said the same thing. You could also say, the whole team are responsible in a small way for goal conceded. United dominated for long periods - thats down to outfield players not being as good as them, but only errors get highlighted.

fair summary. I'd add that we looked lightweight on the middle. Romeu doesn't look at his sharpest. Has he struggled to get a full preseason under his belt?

Armstrong takes his chance, we win it. it's not all on McCarthy.

fair play saints. They murdered us early on, but we rode our luck, dragged ourselves into the game and got our goal. Second half was better, and if Armstrong has taken his chances we'd of won. Very good point considering the opening games. Happy with that.

give it a rest.

good workrate from Armstrong