James

Everyone saying JRod can play up front on his own can't have watched him for a while. He is awful there. Love him playing from the left but not up front as the lone striker.

I've just googled him - he doesn't appear to exist...

I agree with this.

Does seem like January is a cost saving exercise. A bit worried that our squad looks so thin now and I'm not as convinced as others seem to be that players like Gallagher are ready. Appreciate we won't go down but a shame to give up on what could have been a truly excellent season.

Everyone saying we'll be ok but if we had another Sunderland and (god forbid) Adam and Luke got injured long term we would be really struggling.

I will be sorely disappointed if we don't sign anyone and Osvaldo goes. Even with Fox going our squad now looks very very thin.

As long as the out is Osvaldo (it must be) then that is good news.

Based on our last match it should be Gallagher up top and JRod on the left.

Fair enough, just wanted to see if it was rumour or had come from somewhere credible...

Source?

I only meant it in terms of the fact that he is tall (4 inches taller than Shearer) but looks to have good feet for a big man. That's it. He wasn't really on for long enough to draw many meaningful comparisons so I'd be interested to hear how you drew a Shearer comparison....

Exactly, there really isn't much between the two I don't think. Clyne better going forward, Chambers better defensively is how I view it. Clyne probably edges it, but Chambers is hardly 'nowhere near as good'.

JRod is better than Rickie up front on his own? Not a chance. Thank god you don't pick the team and thank god Potch hasn't started playing JRod up top on his own in the League. Against Yeovil it was plainly obvious Jay is not ready to play that role full time.

I actually think Chambers is better defensively, just my opinion. I obviously think both are great, but don't think there is that much difference between the two.

4-3-3? Surely that's more attacking than my suggestion? Our usual formation gives us a lot more stability as you have 2 holding and the ability for 3 advanced midfielders to drop deeper (especially Davis) if we are under the cosh. We also need both RL and JR on as Rickie can hold it up and JRod can give us some relief with our pace. Plus, we've haven't played 4-3-3 this season, it would be a bit silly to start against the league leaders at home....all I'm advocating is to stick to what we know as we have seen we can beat the big teams playing that system. We lost 2-0 at the Emirates but for a large part of the game we dominated their midfield playing that system.

To be fair to him, he did actually play pretty well and made some nice passes and touches. I was surprised he went off but assumed it was because it was his first game back from a long time out. I think he will become a good option from the bench in the League (I know this won't be a popular view).

Boruc Chambers Fonte Yoshida Shaw Wanyama Morgan JRod Lallana Davis Rickie None of this defensive minded business, do that and we'll get hammered. Might as well give them a good go with our first choice XI.

Exactly - he would have never said that we won't give Dani a chance because he isn't like that. We will give Dani a second chance if he is willing to change and integrate into the group, that's what he said and that's what I believe the squad would do if the opportunity/circumstances arose. So he knew what he was saying, but he wasn't saying what Saint Charlie inferred he was I don't think.

Then why didn't he say it? It sounded like he was saying, if he's willing to come into the group that's fine, if he doesn't then he has to go.... That is far from saying 'you have to go, we aren't going to give you another chance' which is what the headline suggests.

Can't understand the negativity? Its not like he's replacing MP as manager, he's on the Board and has a lot of sporting experience by the sounds of it. Let's see what he's able to bring to the table before writing him off completely eh?

How have they come up with that headline/inference from those quotes? Utter trash newspaper.

He looked really good I thought. As others have said, like a mobile Peter Crouch. He made good runs, has good control and looks to have a decent strike on him. Get him more involved in the Prem I say. Looks like he's capable.

Doesn't mean that's why he isn't playing today though? Could just be rested for Arsenal. He stayed on at Sunderland and made a few saves so I don't think it's too bad. Makes sense to protect him for Arsenal. Just seen the above. So ignore that.

Is he even injured?

With the Osvaldo developments he's the one player we cannot afford to lose!