Saint-Fred

Surely the priority is in defence in the next window?

He is quite far over to his left, assuming the way is covering the right but he just left a big area that he could never cover? Zlatan just put it there, it was a good free kick but it wasn't Payet quality where you thought no keeper would ever save that. IMO he should have been more central for a free kick in that area of the pitch.

Like I told my lads school when I took him to Milan...he'll remember this for his lifetime,what you will teach him in those few days, he will only remember till the end of the week if we are lucky! Life is about experiences so make sure he has a good one!

Absolutely make any variation on the theme of needing one goal to progress, but finishing behind those two teams is absolutely shocking. It contributed to costing the Inter manager his job!

Well done Les for attempting to rectify the issues that we have. A Goal scorer and now CB. I think those blaming him for all and sundry should at least acknowledge that he has bought a top quality forward and now a top quality defender. Irrelevant of injuries, form or even whether he plays at all, he was the best available. Whether he should play I the final is down to the manager now as he see his level. However it would be hard to imagine that, if he is fit, his experience wouldn't benefit the team?

TBF we went out of Europe at the first possible stage. The fact it was further on the competition was due to us going straight to the group stage rather than us progressing further than last year. Even without qualifying for the group stages we probably won as many games in Europe last year as we did this year?

Hate liverpool..probably due to the eighties etc and recent events have probably made it worse. The media love in with the. Is unbearable. Pompey (obviously) Apart from that I find the fans of London clubs the worst. "Only come to see xxxxxx" songs every 10 minutes, and full of self importance. Never really thought much of Man U either way..loads of plastic fans who sort of follow them when they are winning. One fan once said to me they wished they supported a club like Watford as it's more of a club eg when you meet another fan, unlike their fans who are often apathetic outside of the result of the last game (probably due to the number of plastics).

Do we play with a number 10? If we did I would have Tadic as IMO he is one of the best creators in the league.

excellent! Having a forward who is on the same level as Tadic will give us a whole new dynamic. Gabbys movement seems the bees knees.

It's funny but apart from the Liverpool cup game I haven't come away from many games thinking that we should have scored a hatful? But the stats say we have loads of shots! Go figure... perception and stats don't marry up sometimes!

I would sort of agree...it isn't the style it's the lack of goals. 24 in 24 games is not good enough. Take out the three times we scored three and it's 15 in 21 games. That is appalling. We can play wonderful football but it's about getting the ball into the net. Often that relates into winning especially if you are tight in defence. Currently Puel marshals over a team that doesn't score of astern but has now started conceding... 4 against Spurs, 2. against west brom, 5 against arsenal, 3 against West Ham.... However if we had 1 0 wins for the rest. Of the season I would still want him to leave.

For me it's irrelevant. He has done a great job getting us to a final etc etc. However overall I can't see many positives in his tenure at St Mary's so far. This isn't about being 13th in the league but about the overall form and direction of the playing style, the inflexibility, the shocking away record, the rotation policy which cost us getting through the group stages in Europe, the total disrespect of the FA Cup, the body language of players who look like they really don't want to be here,...etc etc I honestly hope he can turn it around but personally I don't think he will have the capability and we will continue a downward spiral. (Although Barry did give some hope that things could get better) I cheer the team at the games, I have never booed our players or even the returning ones. I will however give Puel stick unless he starts getting results just like I did branfoot. To those complaining about people "not supporting the team" because they voice concerns about the current manager...I hope you stayed sat down against Ipswich when "stand up if you want Lowe out" was sang all those years ago? I hope you sing Puels name should he take us to the championship? I hope you don't plan to protest should the Chinese take over and strip the club of every asset? Sometimes voicing your opinion is part of a being a club. There are far too many pompous asses on here thinking only their opinion is he right one and using "support of the club" to try and shame people into supporting their happy clappy crap.

This would be excellent news if true. We are desperate and if Milan wanted him/were willing to give him a go he can't be too far off the pace..even if he is it's not like we have any better options at present. Good old black box..always comes up trumps!

Sorry that's just awful. He's great as he hasn't complained? Lol Keoman complains a lot and look where they are in the table! Jose complains and he has had a little bit of success. If not complaining is a measure of a manager then we could always appoint the tea lady, she is unlikely to complain at x million per year either. As for the rest of the crap "he gets us in the position to shoot"- how does he? Is he playing through balls? And doesn't that contradict the bit about not being able to put the ball in the net for them.. He is either responsible for the good AND the bad or not responsible for any of it. Can't pick and choose....or is he responsible for the four wins in the last 16 league games but the other 12 were nothing to do with him? If we can pick and chose what he is responsible for then...How about 24 goals in 24 games..let's take out the three outliers which we scored 3 goals in and then it's 15 goals in 21 games! Shocking! He's either crap or really really unlucky!

The back five pick themselves as does Romeu. Gabby looked good so should start so that's 7. Id like to see him with Tadic as he made intelligent runs behind the defence and Tadic should spot those. Although was Tadic injured or dropped on Saturday Long has scored a couple so could be worth a start? IMO he needs a run of games but Gabby has taken that spot for now for me. Will Boufal be fit? Assuming 4 3 3...I'd add Clasie, Davis, Boufal and Tadic if fit. Otherwise whatever random rotation of our players is fine.

Why do people think we will play anything other than 4 3 3? We even played it when we put out a reserve side in the cup! At least make your guesses realistic!

Lol yes Puel likes to play different formations. Although you are trying to look for solutions I think a lot of people think the issue with Puel is exactly what you have inadvertently pointed out. He is totally inflexible with his tactics. He won't play a formation like you have proposed. Every game is like ground hog day and every interview after the same. IMO the interview with Adam Blackmore just showed how far from reality he is. He should be ****ting himself for his job but he just thinks we are a little unlucky (my interpretation not his words) None of our good players seem to want to be here anymore, which is hardly surprising as we sold them all a "shop window" dream and the manager is providing only a platform to make them look run of the mill, bog standard, ordinary.

We were 80-1 two weeks ago!

Puel is 100% the issue. The players are better than we are seeing now, which is why despite a poor formation we still have periods where we look good. The system is shockingly poor. We lost VVD..do we change to a 4-2-3-1 set up with two DM players protecting the back four? Do we go three at the back? No we do the same things that have brought us 4 wins in the previous 15 league games but without VVD there is only going to be one outcome. A manager with some tactical idea, who can play players in roles that suit them will resolve the issue. Puel just has to go.

They conceded 5 against City earlier in the year and yet the next two games they won scoring three goals each time. I don't think the city game will have any impact on the game against us. We need to get a goal early on IMO. If we fall behind we may as well go home.

We have only won 4 of the last 15 premier league games. And that is with VVD. Anyone who thinks we are safe is hiding their head in the sand.

Agree with this. If they aren't coming here to showcase themselves to get a big move to Liverpool then they aren't the type of player we want at the club.

Lol first time I have ever seen someone say we badly missed JWP...if he is what we pin our hopes on as our saviour now we are well and truly ****ed.

In the last 10 games we have lost as many games as anyone in the league over that period. Last 6 games we are probably the worst form side? Swansea winning the last two doesn't help but Leicester are in freefall.

Reed said that Puel doesnt have time to coach the players this season..wait till he sees the fixtures come thick and fast in the championship!