Dan Johnson

Personally thought he had a good Game. In regards to crossing i think overall his crossing has been better than Cedrics, it was a peach yesterday for the goal. He put in another shortly afterwards that was decent and turned away for a corner. He's exciting to watch going forward IMHO, he's had 2 or 3 decent runs in different games where he's beaten a player or two, great work by him yesterday to set up Targetts goal. My initial thought when he first started playing was we'd need an established right back in the summer, I wouldnt be too concerned if he was our first choice next season as I think he's a better prospect than I first thought. Defensively he'll improve, I think with defending it's something you improve on overtime, rarely if ever do you find defenders aged 19/20 who are component right from their first appearance. On the balance of his performances he's been a massive plus this season and i'm looking forward to seeing the improvements he makes next season.

better quality here

it'll be put into context come the start of next season imho. If we stay up and the Cedric, Hoedt loans become permanent transfers in the summer, and we also manage to sell Boufal, Clasie, Carrillo, Forster & Austin then we have set ourselves up to be extremely active in the Summer market when we can get better value for money. The squad has been crying out for a cull of the mediocrity, so in that aspect i'm glad we're being ruthless. We could potentially have 9 high earners (Gabbi, Cedric, Hoedt, Boufal, Clasie, Carrillo, Forster, Austin, Davies) off our books by then. All 9 would have been on at least 45k each a week which would be a saving at the very least of 405k a week, £21 million a year for players who have contributed very little over the last year. There's also an arguement we could see the likes of McQueen, Gallagher, Elyounoussi, Reed and 1 CB leave too (Probably Stephens). That would allow us to buy 4-6 starting players for a senior squad of around 20 complimented by the likes of Vallery, Obafemi, Ramsey, Slattery and Johnson if next seasons squad looks like this, then this window would be a massive success GK McCarthy Gunn DF Bertrand Targett 3 of Vestergaard\Stephens\Maya\Bednarek New CB New RB Vallery Ramsey MF\Wingers Romeu Lemina Hoji Ward Prowse Armstrong Redmond Slattery New Winger/midfielder new Winger/midfielder ST Long Ings Obafemi New ST

I thought tactically palace were excellent, they set out to nullify us and use their strengths to hurt us, they should have won and highlights their own weakness as well as ours, Zaha petulance aside was excellent and a constant threat which we struggled to deal with. They didn’t allow us space and sat back in possession which didn’t allow Redmond or Ings to get into the game and meant our midfield struggled to find their rhyme/forward passes. That was mainly due to our lack of pace at the back which meant our CBs didn’t squeeze the game enough, due to the treat of Zaha on the break. Our CBs have been affective at pushing forward in possession and drawing out the opposition in previous games allowing more space for the midfield, because they didn’t do that last night it meant the Palace half was congested and our approach play became much more ponderous and predictable. Hoj, JWP, Rom are just not creative enough to pick passes out in a congested midfield, the lack of space behind the Palace back line because we weren’t drawing them out meant Redmond wasn’t playing to his strength. They did to us last night what we did to them earlier in the season. I don’t think we played as badly as some are making out, as mentioned though, it did a good job of highlighting our weaknesses... creativity and pace. I think we will see a better performance against Burnley as they don’t have as much pace going forward and they’ll try and press our back line creating the space we need to play our game more affectively. Overall it’s 3 games unbeaten with more winnable games to come.

quiet right, i meant limited and that the accounts are publicly available. My point was really to say it's all very well saying we've made £46million in transfer profit over the 5 years but you cant look at that in isolation, if we made a 46 million loss in the 5 years before that then transfer profit over 10 years is £0. single figures/stats in isolation dont tell the full story. Over the last 4 games we'd be 5th in the table based on results, that doesnt mean we can discount what went before it!

Well the reason that it's trotted out is because it's the truth, there is no conspiracy, the club is publicly traded and the accounts are available for all to see. Making a profit from transfers while being good business sense means little else to our spending power as transfer profit doesn't take into account the clubs other expenditure. We may have made £46m in transfer profit over the last 5 years but we could have made a loss of £47m in other areas so our overall profit and available cash is -£1m.

hypothetically, with a 22 man squad who are each on 45k a week, thats £990k a week total wage bill for the 22 man squad ALONE!! over the 5 years, just with that 22 man squad that's half the £519 million gone already (£275.5 million) Now consider the first team coaches who will be on decent money, the directors and board, the ground staff etc etc etc we probably employee easily another 400 people? Even if all those 400 people were on 25k A YEAR (imagine mark hughes being on just 25k a year lol) then thats another 50 million over 5 years and we are already at £325 million even when massively under valuing non playing staff wages! Take into account managerial pay offs, transfers, normal business running costs (insurance, accounting, stationary, equipment etc etc etc) it's not hard to see how we need to sell to buy

Also confirmed by french news agency AFP that Sala was on board. The flight was from Nantes to Cardiff. That's horrific!

I think Long is a very useful member of the squad, we need a more prolific goalscorer but in a squad of 22 Long has a place IMHO

To be fair to Clyne, his first two seasons at Liverpool he was starting 11 pretty much every game, he got injuryed and Liverpool born Alexander-Arnold came in and done extremely well and has kept his place. If he hadnt got injuryed I think he's still be playing regularly.

Thought we were excellent tonight. Scoring 4, conceding 5 and getting 4 points against Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea was unthinkable under Hughes we have improved massively under Hassenhuttl. It looks like we have finally settled on our CBs which, Vestergarrd, Bednarek and Yosh were excellent, probably Vestergarrd and Yoshs best games in a Saints shirt for us last night. There is no way back for Hoedt imho. Cedric was good and is a better option than Target at left back even if he looked as though he lacked a bit of match sharpness. Thought it was valerys best game for us too, I’d like to see him keep his position as he looks to be improving game by game, very raw still but has only played 7 premier league games and last night he was up against one of the best players in the world who was kept quiet for the majority of the game. Romeu also looks to be back to the player who came into the team just after Wanyama left, he doesn’t offer a great deal going forward but works tirelessly and when Hojbjerg is back we will regain that attacking intent that was maybe a bit lacking last night. JWP had a good game although I don’t think Hassenhuttls style of play will suit JWP. He looked hurried in possession which resulted in a few misplace paces. Defensively he was getting stuck in and covered ALLOT of ground but he’s always needed an extra few seconds on the back to take a touch, if we’re looking to break quickly and play forward with a touch or two that slowness in possession will be exposed and he’ll frustrate more and more. Hojbjerg used to be similar in that respect but that part of PEH has improved where as JWP is still relatively 1 paced in possession. I think Redmond and Armstrong had really good games, Armstrong especially. If Armstrong’s form continues in this vein then he’ll be classed as a good signing. He showed a turn of pace last night that I’ve not seen before and we have an obvious first choice front 3 of Armstrong, Redmond and Ings now. Quick word for Redmond who I think offers a valuable outlet, his pace has the opposition defence sat a yard or two deeper which helps when breaking, he didn’t offer much of a goal threat last night but was a big part of the teams performance last night. Think he’s probably been our second best player this season behind Hojbjerg, it’s a shame he’s a bit of a fans whipping boy at times. Ings\Long were largely kept quiet, the game probably suited Long more as we looked to hit them on the break and run into space. Long, like Redmond works tirelessly and gives the defenders something to think about over the likes of Austin but isn’t really a goal threat. Gunn excellent, after Hassenhuttls comments after the game I think we may be seeing a new number 1.

He's played SEVEN premier league games and I think you could argue the case he should be starting over Cedric. He's 19 and very raw but there is obvious talent, he will massively benefit from game time. I thought last night was probably his best game, going forward he made attempts to beat players and won a few corners. It's easy to say his decision making isnt great yet but that skill will only develop playing against top class players rather than playing in the u23s. I also think for the first time since Pochettino we have a coach who is managing the younger players correctly, Hasenhuttl reminds me a bit of Alex Ferguson in the way he has already dealt with the younger players, subbing them when they're having a bad game to protect them and not leaving them out there to have their confidence destroyed. In six games we've seen Hassenhuttl utilise Ramsey, Valery and Obafemi with the likes of slattery making the bench. Non of them have done anything to disgrace themselves, it's very promising.

This sums up my thoughts, entertaining fixture but a terrible result. Going forward we looked OK, Austin was a dead weight again, thought Lemina was Decent, defensively we are awful. Ings and Bertrand improve the team put out today, only marginally though. People will blame Hughes but ultimately the squad just is no where near as strong as it once was, we need additions not just from a quality perspective but from a character perspective too, the squads temperament is so tepid we need some aggression, players who know how to manage a game, see it out Hoedt has been a terrible addition.

I’m surprised we scored?! Otherwise the result was exactly what I expected, said to my dad this morning it’ll be 5 or 6. They put 5 past Burnley, 5 past Cardif, 6 past Huddersfield now 6 past us, shows exactly what our level is. This won’t be the worse result of the season, Man City are exceptional! Doesn’t make up for how crap we are but I expected to lose heavily all the same. Next weekend will be a far worse result if we don’t get 3 points, homes games against clubs outside the top 6 are all must win as far as I’m concerned!

I largely agree with this, I liked the appointment of Hughes for the last few games of the season because he's what we needed to stay up but not what we needed to change. The last 3 managerial appointments have been dire, i'm not advocating Hughes gets sacked but I feel there's enough talent in the squad to achieve comfortable higher mid-table (8th-10th) I would say Austin is the only player that worries me, purely because he's just not mobile at all. I'd honestly prefer to see Long over Austin pulling defenders wide and at least unsettling defences and creating space for others to exploit. We are team hugely low on confidence and it shows, that is the managers responsibility

I said after both the second half of the Everton game and the Leicester game that I’d seen enough to suggest we were better than last season and today has furthered my optimism. Saw 11 players that seemed to be enjoying their football and playing for the shirt. An unchanged starting 11 would also suggest that Hughes is close to finding his best team. The left flank of Redmond/Bertrand is a real highlight already this season and Ings is looking a barging at £20m after my intial thoughts of him being excessively priced. I’m glad Hughes has indentified that the Lemina/Romeu partnership wasn’t dynamic enough as Lemina/Hojiberg look great together, both technically very good, Lemina showing how good of a player he is! I still worry we lack pace at the back but we are looking to release the ball early and play out so maybe Hoedt/Vest is the right pairing, Maya may add the pace we need in there though. Elymo seems to be improving with each game. Felt we struggled once we changed the front 3 and went to 5 in the middle as it allowed their CBs to push up and pin us in more, but we got the result. Looking forward to the rest of the season

Relatively good performance up until they equalised then both fans and players knew what was coming and confidence, effort and application seemed to fall off a cliff edge! We are so so fragile, I hope it’s a hangover from last season because if it’s not then we are in for a long season. What’s so frustrating is I thought we were better than Leicester for large periods. Lemina and Redmond both looked good, we looked better with hoj in midfield more industrious than last week, created some good chances should have put the game to bed then as soon as they scored all the good work was undone and we reverted to being as poor as last season.

Ridiculous comment, players can improve, players form will fluctuate along with their confidence. Redmond has the potential to be a top premier league player, I hope he's given the chance and encouragement to achieve that under Hughes.

Don’t think the performance was as bad as some are making out? We’re better than this time last season yet ultimately it’s the same issues dragging us down. The team needs more bite, we looked naive in the first half, very timid. I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence/belief in the squad or a lack of application from certain players? Defensively we look poor and our lack of quailty at Center back hindered us today, both in possession and defensively. There’s not much difference in quality between Stephens and Hodet, I’m not sure if either would benefit from a stronger partner but for me that’s our weakest CB pairing and it showed today. Second half was immediately better, same as last week in both games I’ve seen enough going forward to show that we aren’t as bad as last season, I’d also say that Austin has offered very little in both games so far. Positives For the second game running I thought Redmond looked lively going forward, making positive runs and facing defenders up, I hope it continues and we see the best of him this season. Ings is looking every bit a £20 million pound striker from what ive seen of him, he’s shown more quality than all other attacking options out together already this season We were poor first half but showed a bit of fight second half which was pleasing, Everton were better than us but not by miles. We had Gabbi, Mo and Vestergaard out the team today. I think bringing those three in would make a big difference. Leicester are without Vardy next week All in all, not great but I’m not upset either, enough in that defeat to a good Everton side to show me we will be alright this season.

For what it's worth, i'm really looking forward to seeing him play. I havent seen him play much but I know he was rated at Liverpool and there is no shame being behind their strike force in the pecking order, a local lad with passion, something we missed last year.

To be honest, it's irrelevant how much Liverpool paid for him, the value of the player is set by the current market conditions, which are absolutely mental at the moment! I paid £80k less for my house than it's supposedly worth today, yet its not done anything in 3 years either.

This kind of thing really interests me, I would love for someone like Dyche to get so frustrated that he just starts calling players out and quoting the wages they're demanding so we can actually see just how crazy the transfer market has become, it looks mental from the outside so if someone like Dyche is completely gobsmacked when having inside knowledge it must be allot worse than we can imagine!

His Agent was quoted as saying he "deserved" £7.5 million a season, which is why he left Schalke because he wasnt offered anywhere near that, so I wouldn't be surprised if the figure was close to 170k a week as he was demanding 144k from Schalke and turned it down! http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11443137/max-meyer-former-schalke-wonderkid-without-a-club

Transfers are just utterly mental these days, £22 MILLION for a player who didn't make it at Newcastle?! Gobsmacked, you can see why allot of people are loosing interest in the game these days! In fact the World Cup reminded me how excited I used to get about football when it wasn't orientated around transfer fees!

In Sky Sports Transfer Center this morning we are linked with Danny Drinkwater. "Crystal Palace and Southampton want to sign Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater, according to the Daily Mirror. Drinkwater joined the west Londoners from Leicester last season but has struggled to make an impact. Maurizio Sarri has given Drinkwater game-time in Chelsea’s pre-season campaign but seems willing to listen to offers for the player"