saint-crinny

As others have said - Millwall away in the cup. Remember my cousin shouting at me as we celebrated his second goal that "this is the kind of result that gets you to a final". He was a classy operator who would probably get a lot more recognition if he was in his prime now than when he was playing at the top of his game 12 or so years ago. Under Strachan, i remember there was talk of an England call up - i'd put it out there to say Roy would have capped him already if he was around now.

would be happy with this, definitely one to watch over the next couple of years. Spectacular sub appearance against Spurs in the cup last year

The more i see "increasingly hopeful", the more i read "increasingly certain to leave". Anyone who has followed Saints over the past couple of seasons will by now recognise this as the club putting out some mocked up good news so that when Vic, in this case, does inevitably leave, they can act surprised etc And to be honest, i'm fine with Vic leaving, his heart's not in it anyway - reading on here i think most on here feel the same that a half arsed Vic isn't worth keeping, so this little media charade seems a bit pointless, especially with actual good news out there this week, two wins and Austin on board.

Would be on board with Gray (Brum) if that is true, loads of pace, goes past players for fun, exciting to watch. Him and Mane in the same team would worry most teams, like Zaha and Bolasie do at Palace.

Completely agree with this - i know we always sit there in the summer and talk about other teams' great recruitment and quite often in recent times, we end up being happier with our own signings in the end (examples like Norwich with Gary Hooper, loads of others too). But this season is different - Shaquri has really taken Stoke on a level, Deulofeu is on fire, Cabeye has been excellent for Palace and with Wijnaldum, Newcastle would have absolutely no hope of staying up. VVD aside, I'm not any of our other summer signings are being talked about in this way by our rivals

Long contributes more than Tadic? You mean in terms of work rate i assume, because he doesn't contribute more in terms of assists or goals. I know it's popular to knock Tadic because at times, he doesn't look like he's at it in a game, but he (along with Mane) has got more quality than anyone else in our midfield/attack. I don't think there is any debate about that personally. Long is good in the air, an occasional good finisher, but in general, a nuisance to play against as opposed a genuine threat.

yeah, Caulker for me too, despite him not looking brilliant when he has played. Yoshida will be low on confidence after the City game and Caulker's muscle will be needed against Benteke if he plays. A fair chunk of my confidence has been dented with Fonte missing this one, i'd now put myself in the hopeful category given Liverpool's upturn in form too.

No Fonte? Seen this on Twitter, assume it's just come from Ronald?

You can't judge on one game alone of course, and Mane has had other great games too, but if United were interested in the summer, watching him against Chelsea would have absolutely confirmed to them that he could do a job. Whatever form Chelsea are in, it was still the team that won the league last year and he completely destroyed them. For what it's worth, I can't see it happening in January - if they are willing to pay £40m for him in Jan, i see no reason why they wouldnt be willing to do the same in the summer when it suits us. Wouldnt be surprised if a deal was struck well before the summer though, and we're presumably already on the case for a replacement. Just hugely frustrating that we won't see him in a Saints shirt next season as he continues to improve. He really is an outstanding (but certainly not world class) player

Interested by the comment about Drew's career not taking off post Saints - what do others think? He's pretty much done what i expected of him from when he left Saints when we were struggling in the Championship - played for a few clubs in the Prem where he does OK, but always looked great in competitive teams in the Championship. Given that he left us in the Championship and is a regular in the Prem now, you could certainly say he's doing better now. Not a dig at the OP at all, just interested in people's take on his career

I'm sure we do want him to play more, but if he isn't cutting it there they're under no obligation to play him are they. They would probably say that they expected more from him and if he'd shown that, he'd be in the side. If he's not playing and isn't going to, so essentially just training with their first team, he may as well come back and do it with us

Saw a piece from Boateng slating the Dutch FA for not getting Koeman on board after Van Gaal and saying he would be the perfect for the job. But he went on to say that he knows Koeman wouldn't take it now, and that if he leaves us it will be for a "big" premier league club. Think it was on Sky?

Agree with everyone on here who says we've moved on from him and he'd be nowhere near the team etc. But probably worth saying he was particular ineffective yesterday, think we all know he can play better than that. I'd suggest that if any team in the league would be able to nullify him, it's probably us given how well the likes of Vic, Davis and JWP would know his strengths and weaknesses. He's not as bad as he looked at times on Saturday, but he's not good enough for us now.

The laughing comment was directed at mcbendy as much as anything. I'm in agreement with what you say - the injuries are recurring it seems and when you see him out smoking etc, it doesnt take much to jump to a suggestion they might be to do with his professionalism as much as bad luck. A real shame for me, i do actually think he could be a great player if he stayed fit and showed the right attitude - we don't have many players like him from an England perspective.

Appreciate he is constantly injured and as a result, has never delivered on his potential, but not quite sure why this latest news is funny? Luke Shaw had an injury hit season last year and now this, and no-one's laughing at that. I don't take any particular pleasure in other team's players getting bad injuries.

I'm in agreement with the OP, which was a nod to a great achievement rather than any statements about Rooney's "greatness". He's not the best we've ever had, but fair play for breaking a long-standing record and one he's going to add to, that will ultimately stand for a long time (if ever be broken). He's never been as good as we hoped after that initial success at Euro 2004, but he's got a great record and is a very good player. If there was anyone better in his position over the past 12 years, they would have taken his place - they didn't and he's scored a shed load of goals. There's some ropey opposition on his hit list for sure, which international striker doesn't have that? But equally, he's scored against the likes of the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Russia and grabbed the winning goals in the last game against the Scots, a friendly but a big game all the same. You can pull his performances and record apart however you like, it's still an impressive international achievement.

is the statement actually true though? Like with all young footballers, it's hit and miss i think. Some might benefit from staying/playing the lower leagies, others might flourish at a big club. For every Morgan/Lallana there is a Bale i'd suggest. I mean, Bale left after a season, but i can't imagine he could be a better player than he is now, if he'd done another season with us. I just feel that getting games in men's football is obviously important, but if a player is good enough and has the right mentality, they'll make it and reach their potential. If they dont have both those things, they probably won't.

I didn't say that one performance meant he was some sort of superstar or worth the money, in fact, i basically said the opposite - that from his ill-fated time here, that is all we'll have to remember. It was good though wasn't it, i genuinely thought we signed an absolute world beater after that

Been a defender of Gaston to a point, but where we are now, it's hard to imagine that he'll ever cut it for us in the Prem. Ah well, we'll always have the spectacular false dawn that was his brilliant performance against Villa at home

Amused by his "disappointment" at us not qualifying for the groups. Presumably he would also have been disappointed had we ended up with a loss against Norwich too. But he was happy to make himself unavailable to play on either occasion - head up his a**e for Norwich and although we were told about his stomach illness for the Europa game, its hard not to assume the same reason applies to that one too. He'll be back in the side shortly, and on merit as he is a good player for us, but it is going to bug that he showed such as a lack of commitment prior to handing in a transfer request

When he first broke into the team under Adkins i thought he looked great and a real prospect - remember the performances against United and City early in the first season back in the Prem. Then he did OK under Poch and i kept thinking soon enough, he'll be a really top player for us, if not at the time. Now under Koeman he looks pretty poor, very ineffective. Funny with Koeman, who has brought in a lot of players from abroad and the current crop of young players arent really getting a look in. The constant overlooking of Reed is an odd one, especially when you think of how he played against Everton when called upon last year. I can't decide whether the players aren't good enough or whether Koeman is hindering them - leaning towards them not being good enough, but when you watch us play like last night, just smashing it forward, that is something Koeman can affect and isn't.

Honda would be quality, i love that guy. superb technically and great strength too - does he still get in the Milan side?

If there is interest, one thing you can guarantee is that Mane and agent will be pushing for the move

Agreed on the age front - from Leicester perspective a good signing though after losing Cambiasso. Improves their squad. With the start they've made as well, their fans must be loving the last couple of weeks

thoughts on Leicester signing Inler - pretty good signing IMO. Very strong and powerful, decent on the ball whenever i've seen him for Napoli or Swiss. Might have been good alongside Vic, albeit that position doesnt seem a priority with Romeu arriving. Don't see all that much Italian football, but have seen him pick up a few cards in the few games i have watched, could be an issue.