Chez

with Ramirez injured we could do with another attacking midfielder. A flair player that can dribble and beat a man. We've got plenty of neat and tidy workers, but not a great deal of variety off the bench. If Ramirez can get fit quickly and find a way of making his style work then perhaps there isn't a need.

After suggesting him as a HCDAJFU many moobs ago, before feeling the need to defend him on here against a barrage of abuse at times, all be it some time ago now, it's strange to now not need to back him as by and large Saints fans have warned to him. I always said he had real quality if you recognised the fact he isn't pacey, so had to play the game a slightly different way - coming inside and taking his time to deliver a pass. I hope by now every Saints player will know which foot he can kick with and which side to keep him on so he doesn't poke one past us coming in from the right touchline. I also hope over the next few years we can bring in a few players with similar dribbling ability to back Lallana up. You need players willing to keep the ball just that little bit longer than the English crowd are comfortable with.

spot on. Jos played very last season once the side as a whole found its feet. He's not Lovren, the side will be weaker, but no weaker than if Lallana gets injured and Ward Prowse or Guly is our attacking midfielder option. That's football.

now you are talking. A left and a right sided attacker, or in the hole type player would be a good idea, especially if Ramirez is going to be out for a while.

you can't stock pile strikers in case three get injured. If you have that sort of bad luck then you just have to accept it and play Guly up there or Jrod. No biggy. What do you do with this signing when Lambert gets fit, especially if Gallagher plays well in the mean time?

...and back to villain.

I didn't know Robert De Niro was part of his entourage.

That kind of how I feel about all that side. Mini legends the lot of them.

Arsenal looked beatable at SMS the other night and we beat Liverpool earlier in the season and at SMS last season. Not saying we will win it, Sunderland will be tough enough, but no reason why we avoid all of them in the next round, or Arsenal beat Liverpool and we beat Arsenal. Maybe the winners of those top four side games get each other? Who knows. One thing I do know is getting in the top 4 is a lot less likely than winning the cup.

not sure we are weaker in any way with those three leaving. None were part of the playing squad. Their departures are just natural for a team recently promoted. if their contracts had been up in the summer we got promoted they would have gone then, but they stuck around because the wages were higher than they could get elsewhere. The no one will be sold statement was before the headbutt wasn't it? So I am not sure you can hold that one against the club should Osvaldo depart.

he just lacked pace. Every other failing relates back to that, dropping off, not going out to close players down etc. You can't play at fullback at the top level (and be good) without pace. It's as simple as that.

Their youth development side of things has always been crap. Well, as far as I go back anyway. Certainly in the mid 80's it wasn't a patch on ours and from Lowe onwards there has been no comparison. Strangely enough their policy back in the late 80s was quantity over quality. The best players were at Southampton and any rejects went down the road. Loads of them. I know a lot less about their current structure, but the fact we offer first team `Premiership' football pretty much takes all the high ground, leaving the skates with almost nothing to work with.

give it a few years down there where they belong and they'll start to realise (or remember) that players naturally go up the pyramid if they have talent and don't hang around the fourth division hoping for cult status.

I don't agree with the new system where Prem clubs with top level academies can steal the best youngsters, but it was the football league teams that voted to accept this system in return for more cash each year out of the TV deal. You can't take that money and then spend forever after crying about how unfair the system is - unless of course your club voted against. I wonder how the skates voted?

as good a stepping stone club as any other, plus living in London or Swansea/Stoke/Sunderland. No competition. It will interesting to see how well he does. As we have seen top notch championship players certainly can succeed in the top flight despite the apparent rise in standards. I hope he does well, but if he does I'll be disappointed we didn't sign him, as he seems to meet many of our requirements, young etc.

why not go on twitter and give him that expert advice?

if we buy back the Ox that would be another

his health issue must have knocked him back a bit to be fair.

Forest fans have been less than impressed with Harding, wonder how they will take to Fox? I think they will just be happy to get a fullback in seeing as they have struggled to on both flanks for about three years

And the two bad injuries

Hope Cork isn't looking to move. You couldn't of blamed him having been overlooked earlier in the season. Maybe the regular place he has right now will be enough to keep him happy

Seemed like two smart guys who listened and took every bit of advice offered by the experts they spoke to. Usually these people just ignore what they are told and then wonder why things don't go well. Good luck to them.

He was my favourite player when I was young, but take his glittering career away and you are left with a guy who has worse ideas than Blatter and similar levels of consistency when it comes to seeing them through.

I am a massive fan and thought he was our player of the season last year, but at times this I have felt his touch hasn't been quite spot on and he has ended up making desperate stretches to retain possession. Last night his touch was immaculate and like you say he appeared to have hours and not once did he panic. Tremendous display. I'm not overly bothered about his lack of goals. Our formation means it's up to Lallana etc to get them. I expect a little more from Morgan though and his poor volley was disappointing.

Great game, loved almost every minute of it. As happened last year, we steam rollered Arsenal with our immense work rate and fast closing down, but we somehow didn't manage to come away with a win. Last season a lucky own goal was the cause, this season it was us failing to continue the closing down and pressing just after the break allowing Arsenal the room to breath they desperately needed. For all those doubting Lallana's captaincy credentials, you should have seen him shouting at the rest of the side after the Arsenal goals to push up and press them, which we thankfully did. Boric - could he have done better with the second? I've not seen a replay, so just asking. It seemed to take an age to slice into the corner. He didn't have a great deal to do, which shows how well we played. Calm as always, but not too calm. Good to see him come off his line for corners, especially as we lacked a little height. I notice we didn't have men on the posts. Is that new? Chambers - I thought he was absolutely outstanding once again. He gets so tight to opponents, biting at their heals. He's good in the air, quick enough and extremely competent on the ball. He is great going forward, with a brilliant drop of the shoulder. I find it amazing how poor many of the fullbacks are in the top four sides (Sagna for example is woeful) and yet we have three absolutely top draw ones of our own. Fonte - decent solid game. Yoshida - some very good, such as showing pace and nipping in to cut out passes and even being physical on one or two occasions, but some very poor stuff too, such as some weak as **** headers straight back into the danger area (he's Chris Perry Mark II) and a host of poor clearances, some off the studs no less. Lots of effort and I'll cut him some slack as yet again he is thrown in without a run of games, but overall our worst player on the night be a considerable distance Shaw - just wanted to see the guy take Sagna on more, but he can't go to the byeline all night despite my encouragement for him to do so. I'd like to see him shoot more often too. Just drive and hit it three or four times a game. Cork - my man of the match. he was everywhere and I mean everywhere. He was relentless. The only thing he doesn't have is that little touch of guile around the box, but he makes up for it elsewhere - shown perfectly in the first half when bounding forward to near the Arsenal box and then having his through ball cut out, Arsenal breaking before he steals the ball on the edge of our box. There were about 12 blades of grass he didn't cover. I've said it a few times on here. I simply do not understand why MP ignored him earlier in the season. I can understand why VW started, but to not have Cork coming on off the bench when making a centre midfield sub amazed me. Morgan - I thought he was a little quite in the first half, perhaps his good work was towards the other side of the pitch, but he had a great second half once we got going. Lallana - faded a little towards the end, but he works so hard its not surprising. Is there a Saints player more enjoyable to watch. If we are going to go down in Brazil lets go down playing him in the hole where he belongs. Davis - I really enjoy watching him too. His touch is immaculate. He lacks that yard of pace and real dribbling ability, but he has great awareness. The pass to put Shaw in in the second half was top notch. Need a few more goals out of him Morgan and Cork though. JRod - I agree with many that he can't play up the middle on his own. Perhaps as a pair, but not on his own. With every game he seems to grow in confidence and he started like a house on fire. Pity he faded out at the end when we had them on the rack. Gallagher - Excellent debut. Showed great mobility and played on the shoulder of the last defender, which gave the Arsenal centre back real problems. I don't think those two have improved at all, they have just had more protection from Flamini. Stretching teams the other way is not something we have done a great deal with Lambert and made us a more threatening side. I was expecting far less. He looked comfortable at that level. In the end though he will need to score goals to be seen as effective. His work rate and closing down helped us regain possession a lot. I doubt Arsenal have kicked the ball long from the keeper as much all season. I wonder if him coming into the side will create that Man Utd 1992 vibe and the players all stick around. Not sure it will, but you never know.