VectisSaint

Echo are only reporting what Koeman said post match. Of course that was a knee jerk reaction, maybe with reflection he msy think otherwise for Villa.

3 crap performances to be more precise, even if the City result was expected. Some of the previous performances were also crap, at least in parts

He was on the bench Saturday, but not Wenesday. He is not injured.

We lost 4-1 at City? I know I missed the last goal on Wednesday but I really don't remember a 4th last Saturday and I was there the whole game. Must have nodded off. I see the Board is very active, Mary's Meals is being well promoted. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20151203-marys-meals-launch-staplewood-2834299.aspx

I took Koeman's comments to mean that we will go more defensively in midfield, i.e. two defensive mids in front of the back 4, that probably means Romeu or possibly JWP alongside Vic, with Davis more advanced. Recently we have been using Vic, with Clasie and Davis more advanced. I don't think there is much more than that that we can do, assuming of course Fonte is back, and I wouldn't be 100% certain of that.

Same team as last night, hopefully with Fonte instead of Caulker. Would like to see Mane in close to Pelle rather than wide, he is much more effective in the middle. Only other possibility that makes some sense is Romeu for Clasie, given that Ronald has said we are going to go back to making sure we have good organisation at the back. We don't have may serious options, in terms of players in-form that we can bring in, unless Ronald is prepared to drop Pelle and play Long up front, which I doubt will happen.

He also has played LB for Japan on several occassions, but in the left or right he is not a full back. What he is is a managers dream, a player who will do whatever he is asked without complaint.

Rubbish. Yoshida almost always plays left side. He can't play RB thats the whole point. Sometimes he does play RB, but he demonstrates time and again that he can't. We played Caulker last night because it is his natural position and because Koeman had already decided hr would play there based on his performance on Saturday. He actually said as much in his interviews. Sheesh.

There were also a lot of Liverpool supporters in the home areas, most of whom did a good job of keeping very quiet, that doesn't help either. I gather it kicked off a bit in the Itchen concourse at half-time with some closet bindippers, though personally I did not see anything as I was in my seat throughout the 73 minutes of the game including the half-time interval.

We should have signed Schweinsteiger, obviously. Then at least Morgan would be getting a game at Man U. Fact is you can't replace Morgan, he was just too good in that role. Whoever you sign to replace him will be a poor substitute. I still think Romeu can become a half decent replacement, and Claisie is actually very good, or at least will be once he is fully fit and has a few months experience of the PL under his belt. But neither are Morgan and neither ever will be. Its like saying who can we replace Le Tissier with, or Channon?

Would have been concerned if he had played Yoshida over Caulker last night for 2 reasons (1) Caulker did very well on Saturday against Man City and (2) Caulker is back up for Fonte on the right side of centre, Yoshida is the left sided backup. It was the right call given Fonte was not available. No-one could or should have foreseen that Caulker would have a total shocker. Given the number of people who said they never wanted to see Yoshida in a saints shirt again after Saturday, somewhat ironic that now they are saying he should have played last night. Fact is Yoshida should never play RB, but is an excellent left sided CB and decent backup for VvD. The biggest mistake last night was not just Ron going 3 at the back after half-time, but dropping Vic into the CB position when he should have brought Yoshida on as CB with Caulker and VvD allowing Vic to continue in his best position in MF. Vic did play at CB for a few minutes on Saturday after Fonte went off and before Caulker replaced him.

Difficult to see what could be said that was positive. Not a lot wrong with what Alps has posted really. Only apologists would see anything positive from last night.

It was odd that he was on the bench (unused of course) on Saturday, then last night he was not even on the bench. I can only guess it was designed to **** him off by making him travel all the way to Manchester for nothing so that he will get lost in January with less fuss. As you say he was probably pleased in hindsight not to be associated with the shambles last night. Like Blackmore said, the only one to come out with credit last night was Jose Fonte.

U18 7-2 as well...

At least we could have sung happy birthday to him.

Not often I'm ITK

Hopefully VvD is OK for tonight. His head injury Saturday was still obvious yesterday and not seen in the pre match pics or video. Looks like Kenzie Benali also makes her debut tonight.

Kelvin...Mobility? :-)

Try reading the sports news today. Gary is new manager, Phil is still there though.

Maybe he will if and when we are.

Couldn't agree more. Signed Old Fool

Why is this a nightmare? Caulker showed on Saturday that he is perfectly able to fill in. It could even be argued that we played much better after he replaced Jose who some claim was having a poor game (didn't see why myself but I only watched the game live and haven't seen any highlights etc) though equally this could be because City took their foot off of the gas after they went 2 up.

Your assumption is perfectly valid even if it is difficult to understand from a logical point of view. Trying to add some perspective or reasoning behind Ron's rather illogical comment is more interesting, and ultimately usually provides a more realistic answer. Trying to understand Cedric's on-going medical issues and how resting him may be the prudent thing to do in the longer term is a reasonable hypothesis given the clear evidence of the injuries, the stitches, the condition of his eye and the propensity for the scar tissue to open up again at the slightest touch, all clear from seeing the guy on the pitch and looking at photos and video from training etc. Its not rocket science, there is a serious issue which has not been resolved and the only way to resolve it is to "rest" him, even though he is perfectly fit to play. There is an alternative hypothesis, that there is some sort of disciplinary issue, but there really is no evidence for this as far as I can tell.

Very true

Very true, just shows you have to take anything Koeman (or any other manager) says with a Rick Stein sized pinch of salt. As in "Cedric is dropped". Not a criticism of Ronald, just the way of the crazy football world.