VectisSaint

No, its Monday, tomorrow is Tuesday.

This is my point, its all very well blaming the CBs, but the real problem Saturday was the left side of our midfield/defence, Lemina, Bertrand, Romeu and to some extent Redmond. Three free kicks that Sigurdsson (sp.) took were all dangerous but did not lead to goals, all were conceded in this same area by the same group of players together with Hoedt. The free kick for the 1st goal also came from the same area and group of players (Lemina forced Hoedt into a ridiculous tackle). They are putting enoromous pressure on our 2 CBs, Cedric and McCarthy, and it is all completely unneccessary, and needs to be cut out. This is the area that really needs to be addressed, stop the problems at source, no centre backs will deal with all of these issues, I don't care how good they are.

Stephens was marking Tosun, and was physically man-handling him preventing him coming in for the cross. Having seen to that Stephens then anticipates the cross to Richarlison, who was Cedric's man (yes, I can understand why people think these two were marking the wrong men but that's how it was) but it was too late to help out Cedric. Think you are being extremely harsh on Stephens for that goal. But then its harsh on cedric as well. As with the first ball, the fault is much further back and stems from poor play by our midfield and left sided defence. The free kick was given away by poor defending by Lemina and subsequently Hoedt. The second goal was gifted by a combination of Bertrand, Lemina and Redmond's total inability to deal with the long ball from I think Pickford. So many of our problems are blamed on our defenders, especially the CBs, but they are being let down time and again by our defensive midfield (Romeu and Lemina) and even dare I say it Bertrand. Our left side defensively is appalling at the moment, good players who are putting in shocking performances, way below the standard that we know they can achieve. I'm nt trying to defend Hoedt and Stephens, Hoedt in particular was abosuletly awful again on Saturday, but to be fair to them the plan had never been for them to play as CBs in a back 4, Hughes was clearly still hoping Jannik was going to play up to the last minute (he was not far away from being fit enough having travelled to the game, separately, and looked OK at the ground) so it was all a bit makeshift which doesn't help. Frankly I was expecting to lose by more than 1 goal/concede more than 2 so in the end it was not that bad, and if Ings shot had not been tipped on to the bar by Pickford things may have been very different. Still don't understand why Hughes picks Hoedt over Yoshida, buit in my view the biggest problem at the moment is getting the midfield and left sided defensive unit working properly, Romeu is completely off form and Lemina is a complete liability, Bertrand is also off form and having Redmond as the attacking midfielder on the left leaves us very exposed, because he provides nothing defensively (the one and only advantage Boufal had was that he was very good at helping out defensively on the left side, usually when he ha d given the ball away). I don't know what the answer is though, we don't have many alternatives, Hojbjerg really does not fill me with confidence, we simply have some players who are off form, and perhaps we have to live with it until they can rediscover their touch.

Not sure what team I would go for. Problem is that Romeu and Lemina are both horribly off form/off the pace and are offering no protection to our defence, and letting in attacks especially down our left side. Bertrand also is very poor defensively at the moment (and not offering much in attack). But who do you replace Romeu and Lemina with? Hojbjerg? Pssibly. Or do we continue to hope that Romeu and Lemina find their feet and start doing what we know they can do. I want to see Targett instead of Bertrand but can't see Hughes dropping Bertie as he is currently the skipper. He could play him left of the back 3 but prefer Yoshida there (why is he not playing? Is there something going on, he is infinitely better than Hoedt who continues to be a complete disaster - but he will improve and one day be good, I'm sure). Austin has to be benched. I would go with McCarthy, Stephens, Vestergaard, Yoshida, Cedric, Targett, Romeu, Armstong, Moi, Ings, Gabbi but I know that won't happen.

The deal, if there was one stalled long before Celtic's European demise.

4 strikers and Long surely. Don't know of any rule that says you can only have 4 strikers.

Assistant Coach September 85 to May 88. Played for the Skates and managed them for a short time after he left us. Died from a heart attack aged 56.

The comment by RedArmy was pretty stupid, I thought the same because I believed what Ralph said was true, but actually on checking Charlie Austin has never represented his country. He was called up for England once (May 2015) but did not play. As far as I can tell he has never represented England at any level. The only other player in the squad who has no international qualification is Jake Hesketh.

Surely Armstrong is a doubt as well if he only returned to training today. Great start, 50% of our new outfield players already injured.

It is not a 39th game, it will be a regular game, but will definitely never be an El Clasico. Its also not yet set when this will start, only that it will happen at some time in the not too distant future. Quite honestly the US is welcome to it, whether they will be enthused by standard La Liga matches, which for the most part are deadly dull, is debateable. Can't see the PL sanctioning a regular PL match in this way, but the 39th round makes some sense.

The games where Yoshi was either injured or suspended or Stephens was suspended. Because we were playing 3CBs there was not much option for several of these games but to play him. He is not a guaranteed starter by any stretch of the imagination, unless Les Reed wrote it into his contract. Also I recall reading during the Summer that he was not happy at Saints, could be the malcontent that is being discussed on this thread. Would be a loss long term, he will be good one day, just a bit of a calamity at present due to his lack of concentration and high self-opinion of his ability

There is a PL Rule (K.6), but PL rules do not specify the exact sanction.

I think the article is wrong as well, regarding free agents. I have checked the Premier League handbook and there does not seem to be anything to prevent the signing of free agents that has been added since last year. But I think the issue of signing Ben Arfa is nonsense, its just arisen from some fan who is wishing that we might sign him. He's only linked because he was linked when Puel was here, seems more likely to me that he would go to Leicester if he wants to get back into the PL. He's also not our sort of signing anyway. There is also the matter of having space for him in the squad. We already have 30 over 21 players, so need to not register at least 5 of them (or get them loaned or sold to a non-PL team) just to get to the limit of 25.

So why do you ignore your own (good) advice? Forum "Are you satisfied with the current level of communication with the fanbase?" Krueger: "Yes"

Hoedt, guaranteed starter, you're having a larf. Pretty sure if Yoshida had been available Hoedt would have been on the bench (at best). Austin also is not a guaranteed starter, now that we have Ings. Only the first three on your list could presumably be included in this category, and not even sure about McCarthy to be honest.

To be honest it was not playing 3 at the back that was the problem, it was more to do with what was in front and playing Cedric who was clearly not ready, which was to be expected given his delayed return. We needed more energy and invention further forward, Lemina and Austin especially did not help in that regard and nor did Bertrand in the formation we started with (which Blackmore described as 3-4-3). Expect Hughes to continue with 3 CBs v Everton but with Yoshida instead of Hoedt, but with Ings and Moi up front instead of Austin.

As expected apart from Redmond. Would have preferred Yoshida to Hoedt but limited preseason doesn't help.

Perhaps we should just use the old Max Bygraves song: Ings ain't what he used to be.

The loan business is a complete red herring. We have purchased him in all but name. It had to be a loan to get it across the line before the window slammed shut. To all intents and purposes Ings has been transferred permanently for an agreed fee. We agreed to the deal because we considered that it was reasonable to do so, there is no more risk than if it had been (as it is in all but name) a permanent transfer. Not sure if the rules allow it, but if they do would not be surprised if the deal is officially made permanent in January.

Ings nhas and can play wide left , rather than just through the middle. Bit like JRod, he maybe better through the middle but wide left is a good option that will allow him to play alongside Austin or Gabbi and maybe Long or even Sam wide right. He does give some new options that should help to get some goals.

Damn shame for Saints, Danny was clearly instrumental in turning round the u18s fortunes since he came in. Let's hope Hardyman can continue the improvement now that Fleming has been shifted to the u23s. The top part of the academy coaching needed revitalising and Butters was the first positive sign of that happening. Can't blame him linking up with Tisdale again though.

The reason for the loan is that it is apparently easier/quicker to get a loan registered in short time (at the last minute) than a standard purchase. Its just a way of getting the deal done without all of the financial hoops having to be jumped through. Don't believe for one minute that there is any other reason.

or Long? It seemed like Long was going to Scotland a couple of weeks ago, and SPL can still sign players. It may be that the deal stalled because Saints could not get his replacement (Ings). Now they have the deal could be resolved. Ings and Long are very similar and it seems more likely that Ings replaces Long than Sam.

Eight days is taking the micky. He was supposed to have been back training last Monday (so flew in Sunday) and it seems like he is still not back. Don't think his fitness is an issue (although if he has had gastro-e it would be) he is known to be super-fit, but its not all about fitness, its being involved and working with the new players/tactics. Of course I don't want to have players that aren't good enough but getting ****ed off with prima donnas who go away, get their heads turned and throw a hissy fit to get a move away. Its happening too often. What I'm really ****ed off about is the club who don't seem to consider telling us what is going on and who don't seem to be taking any action to cover off this situation.

Surely no-one still believes the tummy bug story do they? The Echo believes he is due back today and Hughes will play him at the weekend. If you've had gastrentiritis you won't be playing PL football this weekend. Really surprised this isn't being covered more, player has clearly thrown his toys out of the pram and no-one seems bothered and the club don't seem able to tell us anything about what's going on. Meanwhile we rely on our beck up right back, oh wait we don't have one, even though super fit Jeremy Pied is still witout a club. Bloody shambles, it will be good in future if we don't have players who go away for big summer tournaments, this is happening more and more, Courtois seems to have done the same thing, its shameful of players these days.