verlaine1979

Monaco were superb in the first half. Wonder how much we'd have to pay for someone like Bakayoko in the summer.

Not sure if it was a one off, but Ederson made several incredible saves yesterday for Benfica against Dortmund.

Pace - Sterling is very quick, whereas Redmond almost never seems to beat anyone for pace over short or long distances.

We presumably knew all about Boufal's attitude when we signed him (a French friend said he's brilliant, but an idiot who doesn't care about the team when we signed him), so we probably should have known that playing him in a reserve match wouldn't go down well. And before anyone says 'he's a professional' or 'he should be proud to put on the shirt' etc etc, allow me to welcome you to the last decade of world football.

Yup, it was Davis turning into danger to try and make a backpass (again) and losing it to put Watford two on two with the CBs, before Stephens made a good challenge. To be fair to Davis, he did then supply the ball out wide to Redmond (who was in acres of space, so lets not get carried away), who then passed it in to Boufal.

Well, aside from when Davis did his usual trick of trying to turn back and offload to the CBs, only to lose it and leave the defence 2 on 2, needing a last ditch challenge from Stephens to prevent Watford going 3-2 up - nope, never in any danger.

I'm not anti-Davis, I'm just anti-other players getting criticism that he seems to be immune from. Hojbjerg has boomed over maybe five wayward shots all season, so, as I said, he still has a long way to go before he's challenging Davis for the title of most disappointing long-range shooter at the club. As for the close control and running, that's based on the glimpses you mention. It's not as if Davis has spent the season surging through opposition midfields with a combination of pace and trickery, so lets just say on the few occasions when both have been in tight situations, or have had the opportunity to take on opponents and move beyond them, Hoj strikes me as more of a threat than Davis.

All that's true, but you'd be hard pushed to build a global media campaign out of being known do to well out of transfers and occasionally upsetting much more famous clubs. Only a basic indicator, but the club have about 700k Twitter followers, which is still 100k less than the least successful side in the NFL last year (Cleveland Browns), a sport that has a comparatively tiny global following. Sure, if someone comes in and plows enough money in to get us competing for the top four that will change rapidly, as it did for Man City, but you can buy an awful lot of effective media for the billion pounds of upgrades that have been spent on the likes of City and PSG, so I'm not sure anyone other than a sovereign wealth fund or a football fanatic would bother.

The Premier League has global name recognition, but do we? Considering we've only just returned to having a nationally recognised shirt sponsor, I'd say we're some way away from being a significant marketing opportunity for global businesses. Smacks a bit of the obvious Pompey wind-up of 'we see the benefit in taking the brand global' from back in the day...

Heh, Hojbjerg will have to spurn a lot more golden shooting opportunities before he even gets close to Davis in the not-being-able-to-finish-for-**** stakes. For what it's worth, Hoj also runs with the ball a hell of a lot more effectively than Davis, and actually has the close control (and bravery) to beat a man. If we're sticking with 4-2-3-1 I'd like to see him given a run of games starting with Romeu to build back some of the confidence that seems to have eroded since the start of the season.

Had a very good game, one or two lapses of concentration aside. However, I think he was really helped by the tempo of our play, which created space for him out wide that wouldn't have been there if we'd been employing the same intensity as earlier in the season. Swift transition coupled with Redmond and Tadic drifting across the width of the box dragged the fullbacks in-field quite a few times creating space for JWP (and Cedric) to wind up crosses.

Think it's his movement that's prompting the comparison. Gabbiadini doesn't seem lightning fast over a stretch, but like Inzaghi he seems to burst at the right moment already he should have three deft little finishes from about 3 yards out, which were Inzaghi's speciality. I agree though that his link play and technique look at first glance to be superior to Inzaghi's.

Garth Crooks said in one of his team of the week columns that he reminded him of Inzaghi, and for once I think there's something in the comparison (aside from nationality and a slightly straggly appearance). At least for now Gabbiadini looks less prone to being caught offside, and probably a technically better finisher than Inzaghi, though most players would trade both of those to have Inzaghi's knack for sniffing out a goal.

Agreed, especially a player who is clearly such a clinical finisher. There's no way Mourinho takes Zlatan off in that game even if it goes to extra time, and it already looks like Gabbiadini is just as important to us as Ibra is to them.

It's annoying having to pretend to be grateful for an honorable defeat. Plenty of people are going to feel aggrieved at the nature of that loss for a number of reasons, and their irritation is in no way at odds with anyone else's admiration for the way the team played. I thought we were great, but my overwhelming feeling is one of injustice, not pride. Oh, and we shouldn't have taken Gabbi off.

Shouldn't have taken Gabbi off. He'd probably have converted that Bertrand cross.

Boufal seems the better finisher, so would start him centrally with Tadic on the left, but no harm in letting them switch positions as the spirit moves them.

Good result. Gabbiadini seems like exactly the right kind of player to bring out the best from Tadic. Front three of Boufal, Gabbiadini & Tadic hopefully picks itself once all three are fit.

First half an hour was abject, and neither Davis nor JWP offered anything much first half. Romeu great as usual, especially the nicked ball out to Bertrand before the first goal. Gabbiadini just looks absolute class - movement, technique & confident finishing.

He didn't, he joined us on a four year contract. He's done the same at Liverpool - clearly got a savvy agent.

Blimey, you'd be confident of a win away from home playing with that back four?

Yup, that's the best XI in our squad, surely.

Despite the fact that our goal game from a pass through the middle, with a similar chance being called back for offside in the first half, it was particularly dispiriting that almost every spell of possession in the second half wound up with a pass looking for our fullbacks. The most aggravating aspect of Puel's tactical inflexibility isn't that he wont move from 4-3-3 to a formation more suited to our players, but that he apparently hasn't even noticed what a poor return we've had this season from crosses, and looked elsewhere for an attacking strategy.

I'd wager there's more chance that you have some sort of learning difficulty than any relative of a Saints central midfielder has ever posted on here with a deliberate agenda against Steven Davis. He's just not that good - no conspiracy required.

A good attacking midfielder would have produced more than 9 goals in 4.5 seasons (130 starts). His assist return isn't much better with only 15 during the same period. Sigurdsson is the usual comparison, but maybe that's a bit unfair, as most people are happy to acknowledge him as the best AM outside of the top six. Perhaps better to compare Davis to someone like Robert Snodgrass, who has managed to produce 19 premier league goals and 11 assists from only 85 starts over the same period. How can you look at a comparison like that, with a player who is pretty much the epitome of lower-table/relegation candidate talent, and not agree that Davis is just average at best? This in itself is quite remarkable - usually it's flair players who excite the most passionate criticism and praise, but for some reason, telling the manifestly obvious truth about Steven Davis is Saintsweb's cardinal sin.