VectisSaint

Relatively unusual for a guy to still be growing at 20, though not unknown even to 21 or beyond. He was listed as 6' 4" in January, how ****ing tall is he now?

Needs to avoid yellow card as well (as do Fonte and JWP).

Upwards or outwards?

Why were the LED lights superfluous? It would have been quite dark without them.

Jan Kluitenberg has posted a picture on Twitter showing Pelle training. Not sure if its a picture from yesterday or this morning, doesn't look like Staplewood, the team travelled up yesterday so could be somewhere in/near London.

You could stand outside McDonalds

You could be right

Ronald has stated many times that no-one is leaving in January, no-one.

Knee and Groin

Should we update the title of this thread? Delete the 3 and jobs a good 'un.

Injury worse than I thought

He may have been in line with Mertesacker (may) it was Koscielny that was playing him onside, over on the left of the front of the penalty area. He was not offside. the line of the penalty area makes it absolutely clear. I admit my snap is a millisecond or two after the ball left Clasie's foot, but the players don't move that much in that time. I don't watch NBC, but it sounds like they were looking at the wrong player (Mert), typical of so many pundits today, don't properly understand the Laws of the game. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1895

This. On another day he would have been getting absolutely slated if the opposition had taken full advantage. He also several times stood rooted (a la Johnno Quick) not really knowing what to do. He more than made up for this with his attacking play and of course the goal which not only was a beauty but had the effect of lifting the team and restoring their confidence. I don't agree that defensively he is better than Cedric, who apart from his last game against Spuds has been defensively sound for some time now.

He wasn't. Try checking out the highlights, Mertesacker was level and Koscielny was about a yard behind when Clasie passed the ball. It really is quite clear, stop persisting with your nonsense, you are as bad as Wenger.

Romeu for Clasie, if Clasie is not fit, only change I would make unless Cedric is fit (and it would be harsh on Martina to drop him after his attacking performance yesterday). We need to bear in mind that Romeu, JWP and Fonte are all on 4 bookings, they all need to avoid a yellow tomorrow in what may be a very physical game, as Wet Spam have reverted to physicality since their injury-list inspired slump in form. Just hope that some of our players who ran themselves into the ground yesterday (Long and Davis especially) are fit to go again for 90 minutes less than hours later.

Agreed. His treatment of Long when he was injured (from yet another unpunished foul) was also laughable, although I suspect it was a blood injury and so technically he was correct to get Long to leave the pitch, but the way he handled decisions was just a complete joke. He seems incapable of communication with the players so as to explain his decisions, in most cases because his decisions are inexplicable Don't want the criticism of the referee to detract from our performance, he didn't actually make any difference, but it is buffoons like him that give PL referees a bad name.

Davis was nowhere near offside when he headed the ball back from the pass forward from Clasie to Bertrand. Both Koscielny and Mertesacker were between him and the goal (plus Cech of course). Granted Mertesacker was arguably level. See picture.[ATTACH=CONFIG]1895[/ATTACH] Davis contributed a huge amount last night, critical involvement in the build up to the first goal, superb long through pass for the second (to Long who laid it off to Mane who crossed for Long to score). Critical thing last night was that Ronald did not sub Davis for JWP (because he was already on) and so we kept up our pressing game with the high tempo that Davis drives. The midfield in general were superb last night, Wanyama, Clasie and Davis really made us tick, even JWP was good, though his indecision in front of goal cost us at least two more excellent chances. He was though battling throughout and contributed and didn't cost us last night, fair play to the lad who gets a lot of deserved criticism, including from me. Unlike Derry stated, Martina gave Walcott acres of room, but Walcott did not take advantage, he was poor all night seemed intent on helping his old team (my comment based on the first half when I had perfect view of Martina, it may have changed in the 2nd half when it is difficult for me to see him so closely). No matter, his goal and some other attacking involvement were excellent, but defensively he is very suspect and had to be bailed out several times by Fonte especially.

Sorry Whitey but Moss was appalling. He had it in for Long right from the kick-off and was clearly determined to get Long booked. He called so many decisions wrong, along with his lineos. He gave bad decisions both ways, though in the first half he called everything against us, he came round to giving decisions to us when he realised he was supporting the losing side. I can accept poor referees, they are human and doing a thankless job, but Moss was to all intents and purposes either cheating or totally incompetent. He always is. Ironically he gave a free kick to Long later in the 2nd half which was blatantly not a foul, Long stumbled over his own feet, the number Woss had wrongly called against Long during the game was incredible. I'll support referees usually, but that performance was inexcusable, thankfully it didn't affect the outcome (except we arguably should have had 5).

He wasn't. Not even close, he was well outside of the penalty area on our left having headed the ball back out for Bertrand to put the cross in, there must have been at least 5 Arsenal players between Davis and the goal. Long, Ward-Prowse and Mane were all in offside positions, but none were even close to interfering with play. Davis also set up the second goal with a superb through ball from inside our own half to Long who then switched it to Mane who then gets a superb assist for Long. Why has Bertrand not been taking corners before? His cross for the 3rd was perfect, and he followed up a little later with a copy book repeat which was going in until Arsenal cleared it off the line.

Jonathan Woss was determined to book Long right from the start, some sort of grudge I assume from a previous encounter. His refereeing last night was shameful, not big decisions but stupid stuff, his lines were shocking as well. He was so pro-Arsenal in the first half it was shocking, he came round to us later in the 2nd half when he realised he was supporting the losing side. How Wenger can claim Woss cost his side the game is just unbelievable. I don't often criticise referees, they usually do a job to the best of their abilities and it is a tahnkless task, but to have a cheat out in the middle is just wrong. Oh, sorry its Moss, not Woss, I mixed him up with a comedian.

Helmet in Chief and Ming of the Mongs. His titles are growing with every utterance he doth make.

This 745 kick off is a ****ing disgrace. Completely screwed Boxing Day.

He's harmless though. Unlike the real parodies, Chief Helmet and his buddy, who are just toxic.

Arsenal will go top if they win tonight. Will that give them extra motivation, if such is needed?

Which point, your delusion or Gorman? I think its 2 strong points.