IronCitySaint

This team has nothing to offer at the moment. After a great start we were in control for a while but passed up some good chances (yet again) to make it two then just collapsed. Think they had three shots on target and scored from all of them. And this is our strongest team, bar Fonte. Clasie is such a disappointing player for me. Our Dutch friends say he is a defensive midfielder but offers no protection or screen for the defence. His passing is mostly sideways, a modern day Jim Magilton if you like. Can't remember his name being mentioned on the Sky stream until the 40th minute. I thought Liverpool were lousy for the first 20 minutes then we just gave them the midfield and they did whatever they wanted. We are even making that useless pile of poo Lovren look decent. Would hope for a barnstorming second half in front of a full house under the lights to try and turn this around. It is more likely to be a damp squib.

Defeat is entirely Koeman's fault today setting up with such a negative starting eleven. He seems way too concerned about the opposition at times. Just play the best team and play to our strengths. City were not that great but we handed them the game. Every time Yoshida gets played at right back he offers nothing going forward and is prone to mistakes at the back. Yet it seems like Koeman never learns from this and persists with the same selection policy. Hopefully he will learn this time that a left footed CB is not ideally suited to that role. Need a response on Wednesday to stop the season turning a bit flat.

Total suicide. At least make them play to get the win.

Feels like travelling back in time to the 90's with Branfoot as coach, with the same result. How can someone like Koeman, with his reputation and history of being a cultured player, set up a team to play like that regardless of the situation? Utterly unbelievable. All of last seasons hard work gone and it is still only August. FCM looked rubbish to me and that we could not win, or even score in open play, in 180 minutes of football shows exactly where we are as a club this season. Lousy preparation by all involved throughout the summer and into this season. Just hope there are three worse teams in the league than us.

Can't shoot and can't defend. Remind me what these guys practice all week.

Just as we were getting on top, too. Terrible first 30 minutes but looked OK the last part of the half, until that goal. With all the defensive players out there I would have expected one of them to be in the general vicinity of Sparv.

Ronnie Ekelund. He and MLT linked up wonderfully in that one season then he refused the back operation that we reportedly wanted him to have and that was the last we saw of him. Heard of him playing in MLS for a few seasons but it looked like he could have been a star during that one season at Saints.

Our football style at the moment is just so pointless. Possession means nothing to this team in the last few months as it results in zero chances created. The commentator here keeps on commenting on the poor attitude of the players which is a big worry, not just because they have given up on this season but going into next season too. I guess the players believed the hype when they were challenging for the top four and think they are above things now. And Steven Davis is rapidly becoming the new Glen Cockerill - once instrumental to the midfield but now the confidence is completely shot and is a liability. Maybe he will be off to Leyton Orient next season as with Glen. Horrible to see the rapid decline.

Utter, utter dross. Great decision to pick Gazza.

Massive disappointment considering we were leading at half time against a team who have nothing left to play for this season. Two appalling goals to conceded and today is the day that the injury to Forster came back to bite us. Made even worse with what looks like season ending injury to Toby. We have been so unlucky with injuries this season but it is the lack of goal scoring that is the real problem. Did not see Pelle cause them one moment of trouble second half. If Tadic had scored the 'open goal' then it would have been different, but just cannot get the killer goal. Stoke seems to be our bad luck team one way or another.

****ing useless. What is the point dominating game after game and not even looking like scoring. Two shots from them and two goals.

No goal threat at all from us which is a surprise after having a week and a half to work on it. Ron needs to sort it out. Need more control in midfield and more spark up front.

Don't understand why we stockpiled attacking midfielders when the side is desperate for another option up front. Should have got the win and it is these last two home games that might have undone all the great work this season. Pretty sure we will need some goals to get anything from Liverpool so hope they are going to be practicing this week.

One point and no goals in two 'easy' home games is just not going to get it done. Nobody wants to shoot. SOMEONE JUST HAVE A SHOT.

Has a similar feeling to the Swansea game at the moment. We seem in control without really threatening and the longer that goes on the more tense it is going to become. Hope Ron has something up his sleeve for the second half.

It would be a real shame if he leaves and not just because he is a decent player of the right age. He ticks a lot of boxes that are required at this or any other club in that he is English and classified as 'homegrown.' He is also one of the diminishing few that has been on 'the journey' through the leagues and is integral to the way the team has played over the course of that journey. Think it is important to maintain that spirit within the club and that is a rather large part of the reason why the players are fighting so hard this season. As others have said, certain midfielders are likely to move on in the summer and it is even more important to maintain some stability in that area as it has been our strength over the past years and cannot easily be recreated, otherwise everyone else would be doing it. Hope he stays.

Proud of the lads for this amazing week. Clearly some tired players today but they still found a way. Awesome!

Thought it was a decent first half performance considering who is missing. Just get the feeling it is not going to be our day.

David Seaman

I think that puts us five points worse off than the equivalent games against the top 6 'rivals' (LFC, Spurs, MU, MC, Arse) this season which is pretty disappointing considering how poor three of those teams are. Really need to reverse the slide at the weekend. This will show us how good the new team and manager really are.

Abysmal in every way today. So disappointing. City have not even had to be good to win comfortably

Good thing all those connecting flights worked out for him otherwise he would have been stuck in an airport for the game. Oh, and the Daily Mail got it wrong about the last time we scored eight in a game. How about the 8-2 against Coventry in 83/84, which just happened to be my first ever game at the Dell.

I'm not sure about how to change specific contracts but the whole transfer system is broken and needs reorganising. When I first moved to the US I thought the 'transfers' or 'trading' system in their sports was comical as it is so different to how things are done in the football world, but now think that the system employed here in the US might benefit football. In the major sports here there are not really transfers as such. If a team decides that they want a player from another team then they have to do a player trade meaning that they would have to give up something of real value to get what they want. For example, if Liverpool really want Lallana then they might have to agree to give us Coutinho plus another player so that the 'trade' is balanced. The player cannot simply move mid-contract to get a better pay day because both sides of the trade have to just honour the existing contract until that contract is over. So, if Lallana had just signed a new 5 year deal (doh) then he would only be paid the amount agreed in that contract for the remaining 4 years at the new club. To give the players a little bargaining power, they are entitled to become free agents after a certain number of years, so allowing them to negotiate a new hefty contract on their terms either with their existing team or a new team. All this should prevent scavenging of a club like ours and even the field a bit between big and small clubs, and between players and clubs. If that system can be legally enforced in the US then I can't see why it cannot be enforced elsewhere.

I have not been following the timeline in great detail, but wasn't the trust fund in control of the club at that point? If it was money from the trust fund then that was setup solely to finance the club and KL would have no claim to that money. I don't know whether she would technically have a claim to it but certainly would not morally have a claim.

For me it is wishful thinking believing the replacements will be better than those leaving. For a start, those leaving are integral to what has been achieved here over the past few years and know the league. Many of the replacements are likely to be from other leagues and we have seen both at Saints and other clubs that they can be hit-or-miss signings. We always get told by people on here and in the media at large that imports need time to adjust and with, what seems to be, half the team leaving (and so far all of them have been English) we cannot afford giving them all time to adjust. I am sure that some of the new signings will be a success but equally sure some will be a failure. What is sure to me is that, with these three departures, the squad is significantly weaker. My assessment is that the three most important players in the team have now gone. We were generally awful down the left side when Shaw was out last season. When Oswaldo played instead of Lambert the team looked unbalanced. We dominated many games but failed to make it count so often and now we are removing the most talented 'creator' in Lallana. My confidence level is not high for next year.