VectisSaint

BT Sport "commentator" was on about Arsenal. Apparently there was no other team playing in the match. He did manage to mention Pompey at least once (reference Ramsey when he played in the FA Cup Final for Cardiff who it would seem managed to lose to them). His sidekick, Michael "ever so interesting" Owen was equally plank-like. I don't get BT Sport (was watching on a stream) and it is unlikely based on the show last night that I ever will. The only thing that could make their show worse would be if Andy Townsend was involved.

Targett probably would not have started under MP if Shaw was still here though (unless he was injured). Problem for Targett is that there is someone better in his position. You're probably right about Reed though. Trouble is, this is really the extent of our youth backup now, with Gallagher injured, Turnbull, Stephens and Sinclair out on loan, that only leaves McQueen and Isgrove as potentially involved (other than goalkeepers). I don't know what has happened to Isgrove, has he been injured? Not much sign of anyone else joining the first team squad.

Not much choice, will be interesting to see how we fill the bench, because sure as **** we are a bit short of bodies, much as expected.

Just like last year. We should have learned this lesson in the summer. Its not bad luck. Its what happens when games come thick and fast against good teams and in the colder weather.

What youngsters do you suggest we play? Only Reed and Targett have been near the first team, and Targett is not needed because Bertrand is fine. Some people need to wake up and realise that the back up of youth of last season is not there this season. It has been apparent to some since the summer.

Deja vu, last season all over again, said many times that this would be an issue. We need a bigger squad for the December games when it is cold, injuries happen more often, especially hammies and games come thick and fast. But, fair play to Fraser, played very well tonight, made a string of top class saves. Nothing up front again, we really have lost our way in that department. Defence looked very sound again, at least until last few minutes, never felt too worried while we had 11 players.

Definitely. Poor old Spuds now they have our former head of recruitment, they will be **** (or more **** than they already are)

I think we can safely blame Paul Mitchell now.

Do they decide who qualifies for the CL at Christmas now? That must be a new rule. What happens when we get a run of "easier" games again, you know, all the teams that we have beaten so far this season already, I understand that we have to play them again this season.

People selling them by the Alfred/railway bridge said these are the result of us "being in the big time". Their words not mine. I cannot see any justification for anyone ever buying a half and half unless you are a complete plastic.

You do know who Yoshida is I take it? Your response would indicate otherwise. There is a picture of him on the Echo report if you need help with his identification. Blaming him for 3 goals on Sunday is just plain stupid. He is just what we need in a squad where we need 4 good CBs with two able to come in seamlessly in case of a problem with either of our first choices. And if Toby does not sign on again who knows whether Yoshida may be first choice again next season. the question is though whether Turnbull and/or Stephens might be ready, the rest of this season in L1 with Swindon might mean one or both can make the step up, but difficult to judge. Yoshida is still a better option than Gardos from the evidence (of Gardos, admittedly very little) so far.

Apart from the irregular fans. What we don't want to encourage is the ones that just come along every so often, such as when we are playing ManU or Chelski or Arsenal. Ticket policy clearly makes these people unwanted, quite rightly (unless they are mates of season ticket holders in which case they are OK). Actually good update, means I can buy tickets now for others on occasions.

Dani only retired a couple of years ago, still only 34. Surely you weren't referring to Peter, he's even older than me (by a distance). I wonder whether the agreement to loan Gaston out at the last moment was a bit of a hasty decision by RK. Think he could still be a useful addition to the squad, playing in the hole. His big problem was that he gave away possession too often in my view, that and the fact he was always injured, jet lagged or other excuses (including family bereavement). He will be back next summer come what may, we'll see then what happens I guess, but would not be disappointed to see him back with us.

Thinking we could cope with Europa League (or CL) with the squad size we have is really stretching the limit a bit. We would be seriously in danger of exiting through the trap door if we tried it. We don't have a big enough squad for 3 competitions let alone 4. I'm sure the Club realise this even if some of our posters here don't, we would probably need to bring in about 6 more players minimum.

Worked well against Villa having that front 4. Davis is not DM (unless a crisis). Replace Morgan with Cork and Mane with Long, otherwise same starting line up as yesterday. Assuming Davis is fit, otherwise Harry Reed in for Davis.

Seriously wonder about some people who think bringing on a very young attacking MF to replace one of the best DMs against the huge Man City midfield would have been anything but a disaster. I like Harry, but that would have been men against boys yesterday. He is in there as backup for Steve D at the moment, I did think perhaps he was a better option than Bambi on Ice when Davis went off though, but bringing a youngster on when we are already losing can be a confidence destroyer. fact was that pushing Toby up to DM was a very shrewd move, he showed that (withut Cork) we do have so many options with this one classy player (he is also reputed to be very good at RB). Yoshida did nothing wrong, and actually looked very assured, due to his good understanding with Jose, it is encouraging to know that in an emergency we can drop Yoshida in if needed with no real worries (have no idea about Gardos yet, he really has not been given a chance to show whether he could come in there or not, I'd rather stick with what we know for now in such situations).

Why? We are below the best two teams in the league, by a mile. Who are the other 4-6 brilliant teams who will rise above us for us to fall to 6th-8th? of course we will know better in a week's time, but really Arse and Man U are really not that good, and both have massive injury lists with key players out.

Guess you didn't watch the game then, because Toby was not CB when we let 3 goals in, he was in DM instead of Morgan. he was probably 2nd best player for saints though, Wanyama was Saints MOTM for me. But Aguero was MOTM, three assists and what seems now to have been s stonewall penalty (didn't think so at the time).

he certainly did make an error of judgement yesterday, similar to the one against Villa. The difference this time is that he reacted to his error very quickly and made a brilliant recovery to prevent the goal. No argument about his recovery and save, but he still should not have put himself in that position in the first place. Despite what some of the posters are saying, yes we do need him to be a sweeper, this is the way the position now should work, see Lloris if you want a great example. Anyway, the real big mistake yesterday was the shot he let through his legs, fortunately Toby was on hand to clear off of the line otherwise that would have been a complete howler. It is one of Forster's weaknesses, getting down to low balls,the downside really of his height and bulk meaning he is good with crosses and high stuff. There are other ridiculous comments by some on here that because he has let in lowest number of goals that he must be a brilliant keeper. fact is that he has also had lowest number of shots on target against him because our team defend from the front and especially our midfield/defence stop shots even getting in. I haven't checked the stats but i seem to remember very few shots on target yesterday, possibly two other than the 3 goals - if correct (and I am happy to have those stats corrected) that would be a 40% save rate which is very low. Up to yesterday it was 75% which was the highest in the league. By the way, I don't think Forster could have done anything about any of the goals yesterday. The bottom line is that just because a keeper is behind the best defence in the league doesn't mean he is the best keeper and that he is above criticism. i don't want Boruc back, but it would be good to have some real competition for the jersey, having Kelvin and Cropper as backup is patently ridiculous (Cropper seems to be 3rd choice now ahead of Gazza).

Also very thankful that Toby was on the line for the one that went through his legs.

Only one thing to say about that, rubbish. Absolute tosh (OK thats 2 things). He made a mistake for our 2nd today, but otherwise was the difference between the appalling way we played on Monday and the way we played today which was good (except for the front three). He is the link between our defensive midfield and the attack and made us spark today, but sadly none of Tadic, Pelle or Mane were at the races and could not take advantage of his industry and vision. 2nd goal was completely his fault, no argument there, but we were chasing the game already and it looks like he may have tweaked his injury. His corners were a bit hit and miss, a couple of them were top class, but a couple of others were not great. Vic and Morgan (first half) were outstanding today and really restricted Man City to scraps in the first half. Thought Toby did very well in DM position when he came on and had no concerns about Yoshida filling in for him. No blame for Forster for any of the goals, and his recovery from the Aguero (?) break was brilliant, but he should have got the ball in the first place, he hesitated again just like on Monday because he was poorly positioned (again) and does not have the confidence to defend.

Or even make his 6th appearance

J-Rod, JWP, Steve Davis, Guly and Boruc. There were a few others who I seem to recall used to play for us.

You must be looking at something that I cannot see.

Nowhere in the article are the three words "Morgan blames Chambers" used. You made the title up and it is misleading.