James

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black... Yes, Boruc dropped a clanger v Arsenal but if he had been absent and Gazza present against Swansea, WBA and Liverpool then we certainly wouldn't have 9 points in the bag. I also find it interesting that you criticise praise of Boruc yet don't point out any strengths that Gazza has (it's because he never makes a save). Tell me this, have you ever come away from a game thinking that Gazza's contribution preserved any points? We have, IMO won points this season BECAUSE of Boruc. Any points we win in his absence will, I think, be in spite of rather than because of Gazza's performances. That is the difference between a good keeper and a poor one. He has only ever played regular games in League two and, unfortunately for us, it shows.

I cannot remember the last time he saved a shot and every time there is a shot on target I assume it's in. He is ****ing awful and should be nowhere near a Premier League starting XI. I wonder if we will lose every game whilst Boruc is out purely because we won't score more than our opposition have shots on target....

Have faith - we beat Man City last year with a weaker side than the one which will go out on Saturday (despite the injuries). You'd expect to lose away at Arsenal and Chelsea and let's face it we ran them close..we played well in patches against Villa but got hit my three sucker punch goals. Yes, we defended poorly in places but how many times do you see 3 shots, 3 goals? It's a freak result and everyone gets those. I have confidence MP will sort out the defence. Let's just get behind the team. 4 defeats from 4 wouldn't be ideal but it looks worse as a stat and not quite as bad when you consider the circumstances. We have not become a bad side in the space of one week and I sincerely hope the players know that (even though many of the usual suspects on here think otherwise).

Last time I checked 8 of those 11 players are still out there. May be give them a little respect, credit for what they have achieved so far and the chance to turn it around before writing everyone off.

Oh well if the pundits don't say anything then you must be right.... I'm not saying it was a howler just that he could have done better and was very slow to get down to it. Fair enough that it was difficult but the making of difficult saves is what separates great keepers from average ones....Boruc is a great keeper, Gazza is thoroughly average.

Rather than making a cheap shot, perhaps you could explain to us what exactly Osvaldo has done, bar score one goal against a very poor Palace team.

A good assessment of the game. Although I disagree that Gazza couldn't have stopped the third, I think that Boruc would have kept that out.

Osvaldo was awful today - I just don't get what he is trying to do. He wants an extra touch always but there just isn't the time for it in the Prem. If Gaston wasn't up to it on last season's performances then Osvaldo has a long long way to go to merit a place in the team. Very disappointed.

Watch it again and tell me Boruc wouldn't have got a hand on it...

Absolutely - it wasn't a howler by any means but it shows the difference between a top quality keeper and one that isn't ready for Premier League football - I'm convinced Artur would have got to it. When we were conceding goals by the shed load last season Gazza let a lot past him where we all said 'that's not his fault' but I'd wager that with a top form Boruc in goal we would definitely not have conceded so many...Gazza isn't capable of the saves that get us out of trouble in games, Boruc is. That is the difference.

I am sure that everyone is willing him to succeed but that doesn't mean we can't express our doubts about his ability - I mean, let's face it he should definitely have saved their third goal (I admit coming on against Chelsea isn't the easiest reintroduction).

He should, without a shadow of a doubt, have saved their third. Any top keeper worth their salt would have kept that out. It was pretty poor how slowly he got down to it. It looked that way on the big screen at the stadium and my view is confirmed having seen it again.

There's a difference between supporting the players and knowing that a player is not up to performing consistently at the top level. My gripe is with the club for not getting a better back up in - everyone has known for weeks that if Boruc got injured we'd be in serious trouble.

If Lallana is fit I'd go: Boruc Clyne Lovren Fonte Shaw Wanyama Morgan JWP Lallana JRod Osvaldo If not: Boruc Clyne Lovren Fonte Shaw Wanyama Morgan JWP Davis JRod Lambert

Barkley is ridiculously overrated.

Sturridge has been awful, how has he been deemed good enough to stay on? We won't go anywhere with Roy, he just get's it all wrong...

Gibbs has been dreadful since he's been on...

Lallana looks very good.

It wasn't with no one near him though was it? It looked as if he challenged someone but then took an air shot. He was on a good while after going down so I'm sure he's ok.

Agreed. Good post. I was sitting behind some Arse fans who were getting ****ed off at my bashing of Wilshere. He is so overrated and just does nothing. My mates laughed at me when I said he wouldn't get in the Saints team, but he wouldn't for me. There would be nowhere near as much hype if he played for say Villa.

Was at Wembley. What a completely ridiculous performance by England, any criticism that's coming the way of our boys should fall squarely at the feet of Roy Hodgson, he is a tactical dinosaur. The problem was not the players but the formation and the tactics. JRod was being asked to play as an orthodox left mid and stuck to the touch line all game - I've never seen him be asked to do that for us or for anyone to say that's his position. Why call up a player and not give him a fair shot to show what he can do? Roy's understanding of how saints play and where JRod fits into our attack (if represented by last nights set up) is worryingly basic. I thought lallana did well and worked extremely hard but even he was nowhere near as effective stuck out on the right playing second fiddle to Rooney. I'm glad our boys are getting recognised but it's always been club over country for me so would now actually rather they weren't picked. They miss a week of training with MP, are subjected to tactics like that and there is always the risk of injury (heart in mouth when Adam went down). I'm worried that the slating the press give England will hurt the confidence of the players when actually they should be taking a long hard look at Woy. We will never win anything playing like that, not with him as manager. If Roy managed Spain I honestly reckon they wouldn't get past the quarters...

Gutted that Rickie isn't going to play but will still be wearing my Lambert England shirt with pride. As others have said, will be well worth the journey for Lallana and JRod debuts...

Should have been a penalty.

I would still prefer to have a chairman who had ten year's sporting finance experience to one who ran an old people's home...its a bit of a no-brainer.

The fact that York was included in that list at number 5 makes a bit of a mockery of it...