Charlie Wayman

Trying to answer the question "What am I doing here?"?

The point being?

The starting XI did very well with the mid-field trio being simply outstanding Romeu is a man possessed, sure it was his old club so he was up for it. Clasie & JWP were tireless workers and notched up an impressive number of tackles to break up their play and with Tadic linking well at times we over ran their midfield. This looks like the starting XI against Watford. The mystery of Bertrand's absence grows and is worrying - presumably a training ground injury? - as this is a carbon copy of what happened to him last season. With Targett hobbled as well surely we cannot expect MacQueen to be our main left back? He was hopelessly off the pace all night. Good goalkeeping from them kept us out but we need to sharpen up in the final third. Redmond? Mostly anonymous with occasional individual spurts but a long way to go before he is Henry. Who else noticed in the pre-match warm up how easily he was distracted and could not keep his attention focussed on what the coach was saying or asking him to do? Even his physical looseners were half-heartedly executed and minimal. If this is his attitude at a new club where he ought to be trying to impress then no wonder other clubs have not snapped him up before, he looks for all the world like a lazy lad with attitude and that's not good. Hope Black is a toughie. All is not lost even if we are not the best we will be far from being the worst intros division.

Not long ago only the winners of the Premier League were worth a mention and the other 21 & then 19 clubs were also rans. Now in these days of foreign billionaire owners and millionaire players it is perfectly respectable as an ambition to aim for a Top Ten finish. Times change. We are not immune from this new reality as fans, many on here seem to have accepted as fact that we cannot hope to be top six again simply on the basis of our wealth or lack of it as a club. Maybe that's the thinking upstairs as well so they are planning accordingly. Who knows maybe they believe the top ten will get European places before too long as FIFA and UEFA seek ever greater expansion of their competitions?

You don't need to repeat yourself every five minutes, we get the picture. You're a miserable sod! Hard to believe you support Saints?

Probably need to set up a Review Committee to debate all the issues involved before taking such a hugely important step into the unknown. 2 to 3 years work should be about right so just be patient. First meeting will set the agenda for future meetings and appointment of officials and could be called directly after the summer recess. ITK's suggest they'll be down to business in October at the latest.......

With this one we need to believe that Dave Watson had more than a helping hand in picking out the lad, why would we not trust Dave Watson the only one of our last season's coaches to stick around and commit to a new deal. He knows he'll be judged by how our keepers perform first and foremost rather than for anything he does for England. Wouldn't it be a wonderful surprise if he eventually grabbed Fraser's place in the first team.

Er, its not the sort of signing everyone is hoping for is it? A squad player who will confine yet another of our aspiring youngsters to the scrapheap and do nothing to strengthen our squad. If you are happy to settle for mediocrity good luck to you but most fans clearly are not and are entitled to feel frustrated.

Bloody good job that you're not running the football club then chum, or we we'd have sod all players left to make up XI.

This might help... Having Ambition; 1 eagerly desirous of achieving or obtaining success, power, wealth, a specific goal, etc.: 2. showing or caused by ambition or an earnest desire for achievement or distinction: 3. strongly desirous; eager: 4. requiring exceptional effort, ability, etc.:

You don't know that so stop maligning the guy. Why would he have his head turned at 32 he's as mature as you if not more so. At least he won't surrender at the first sound of gunfire unlike so many on here! He's not even back from holiday yet and this is only a rumour. For goodness sake cut Jose some slack, apart from Kelvin he is the most loyal player we have had in the team for years. Do you not think that the affection in which he is held by fans, holding our Captaincy, playing with Virgil and his excellent relations with every one at the club count for nothing?

Probably, you are right. The diamond should be used mainly to stifle mid-field and gain ball possession mainly when we are being over-run by the opposition which evidently was not the case in any of our games so far. Negatively a diamond leaves no outlets once we win the ball back. Adkins loved it but knew when to employ it and when not, against second rate opposition with little or no threat we don't need to use it. What worries me is that we are not practising 4-3-3 and not moving the ball to feet anywhere near fast enough... and not getting any better at holding the ball and taking responsibility (except VVD of course).

Probably, you are right. The diamond should be used mainly to stifle mid-field and gain ball possession mainly when we are being over-run by the opposition which evidently was not the case in any of our games so far. Negatively a diamond leaves no outlets once we win the ball back. Adkins loved it but knew when to employ it and when not, against second rate opposition with little or no threat we don't need to use it. What worries me is that we are not practising 4-3-3 and not moving the ball to feet anywhere near fast enough... and not getting any better at holding the ball and taking responsibility (except VVD of course).

What was that all about? We are frankly looking clueless in mid-filed and up front. Not a spark in 4 games and no obvious plan or creativity. Too many safe square and back passes, doesn't anybody want to take responsibility other than VVD? All very pedestrian and predictable. At least Romeu and Clasie are looking better. Where are Davis and Bertrand, leaving it until Wednesday is leaving it a bit late to say the least.

If we draw every match 0-0 our points haul will be 38, less than the target 40 that usually signals safety.

Do you not understand Irony?

But they haven't been able to hang onto Kante & Mahrez have they.

Most will pick a team that includes their favourites and excludes their own scapegoats. No doubt we mostly agree on the on-paper best starting XI but this close season has produced its own uncertainties because of Euro 16 and our manager swap in the midst of it so picking a starting XI for the first PL game will be a massive headache for Puel. Worryingly for him he has not seen 6 of the club's automatic first choices in serious match action so what does he do, take a flyer or be cautious? After all he too will be out to impress Les Reed and the Board and get off to a flying start, 3 points from the Watford game are pretty much a requirement of his job. Those are the questions. Were it me, I'd take a risk on the returning 6 doing their job, Watford is as good as a six-pointer bearing in mind the tough start we have and we cannot afford to stuff it up.

Totally agree with you, indeed that are plenty of rules in the book already protecting referees so do we really need another? Inconsistency of enforcement through poor judgement or cowardice will no doubt see this rule flouted and ignored as much as all the others. Players always excuse their own bad behaviour by saying that they "lost their heads in the heat of the moment" but let's face it there are some really bad lads out there on the pitch who are adept at doing nasty things when the ref isn't looking or is too far away to be heard clearly. On the one hand it would be nice to see a string of red cards with a concomitant reduction of refs being hassled at every whistle blowing incident, on the other we don't want to end up 6-a-side either. We wait with interest, my bet is we won't notice any difference for all of the above reasons.

This is really excellent news, there must have been quite a few Premier League clubs sniffing around for his services. As we saw last year, Dave is rather more than a goalkeeping coach and at times seemed to be the main man in the technical area re-rorganising the defence and generally voicing encouragement to the team. Perhaps the club sees potential in Dave Watson to be our first team coach one day in the not too distant future?

Can't you ever add a constructive thought rather than exist only to insult everyone else on here? Do you ever have anything useful or interesting to say?

So who gets left out of mid-field? The three playing yesterday looked settled and good with a good understanding already so on this showing will be first choice to start so where will Davis & Højbjerg fit in? If the six Euro 16 absentees do not get game time in Holland, will they be automatic starters or will they have to fight for their places and how will this affect this pre-season bonding? Wonder how we'll line up against Watford, will Puel place faith in what he has seen in pre-season or take a flyer on the returning internationals doing their stuff from the get-go? There are some big challenges ahead for M Puel.

Takes one to know one, pri.ck!

They think Jeremy Corbin is a good leader and will make a good Prime Minister....