Sheaf Saint

What does any of this have to do with his intermittent inability to control the ball or play a simple 10-yard pass?

No surprise to see Wanyama subbed. He's been dreadful again today. Time for Juanmi to deliver the goods now if we're taking off our most creative player for him.

No changes at HT by the look of it then.

Please not Long. He's only even slightly effective when you give him balls over the top to run on to. When he plays against a team that defends deep, which Villa are sure to do now they have a lead to protect, he's just an empty shirt that offers nothing.

So predictable after our wasted chances. Watch them play an 8-1-1 formation for the rest of the match now, like Stoke did when they took the lead, because we have proven time and time again we can't score against teams that defend deep and in numbers.

I thought it only fair that I credit Trousers for this

That absolutely has to be at least a yellow card there. What is this ref on?

Sheesh. We should be 3/4 up by now. Its going to be one of those days isn't it.

Stek seems to be coming in for a bit of stick from some on here, but I honestly don't know what people were expecting from an average keeper who was brought in on a season-long loan to cover an injury, knowing full well he will drop to the bench once our number one keeper is fit. FWIW,I don't see that he was at fault for any of the goals last night. Liverpool's finishing was outstanding, but serious questions must be asked about the quality of the defending which let them into those shooting positions in the first place.

But Clasie was at least on the bench against City. Cedric wasn't.

The fact that he wasn't even named on the bench would perhaps indicate that he wasn't fully fit. His eye injury was aggravated in the Stoke game, so perhaps Ron and the medical team feel he needs time to let that heal properly. The only other explanation would be perhaps a disciplinary issue. But I fail to see why Ron would drop him from the squad completely and put Martina on the subs bench instead, based purely on ability and performance.

I think this is the context for Vic's dip in performance, not a lack of motivation but a flimsy set of midfielder around him, especially with Clasie absent. An interesting theory, but it doesn't in any way explain or excuse his seemingly total inability to control the ball or make a simple 10-yard pass when under no pressure. He's been gash all season so far, and it has nothing to do with the quality of players around him. I guess his head just isn't in it any more, but if he thinks that his performances this season are going to earn him a big-money move to a CL club next summer then he is seriously deluded.

No point moaning about the penalty decisions not given. After Pelle got kicked, the ball fell to a Saints player anyway and we still couldn't do anything with it. Although I do think Hughes' comments that we were getting desperate and going down looking for penalties was a little disingenuous really.

If it was away, I would be inclined to agree. But these are the home games we really need to be looking to win if we are to mount a challenge on the top 6 this season. Stoke would be happier with a draw than we would be.

Which shouldn't be a problem once Long and J-Rod are fit again.

He's been neat and tidy on the ball, apart from perhaps a couple of slightly wayward passes. He's linked well with the other midfield players and kept possession well when needed, and always made himself available to receive the ball. OK he hasn't created much but that's not the job he has been asked to do today. To single him out as poor against the rest of the team today is wholly unfair on him.

WTF? He's done nothing wrong and had a good game IMO.

Off the line again. We're going to lose this aren't we

Sunderland really are turd aren't they. But we really need to convert our dominance into goals, because our horrible record up there makes me very nervous about conceding against the run of play and losing.

Then you were watching a different game to me. He was jogging around doing not a lot for most of the second half, letting Bournemouth get past him and into our final third far too often. His decision making was very poor, summed up by his attempt to side-foot the ball into the net from 40 yards in one of our rare forays forward in he 2nd half. He just looked disinterested to me.

Needs to be dropped IMO. Had far too many 'off' games recently. When he goes missing we crumble in midfield and surrender far too much possession to the opposition. Stupid, unnecessary tackle to get a second yellow today (although the first was possibly a bit harsh) but worryingly we didn't miss him when he went off. Thoughts?

He wasn't 'put in a position' as you claim. He didn't need to make the challenge as there were covering players. It was completely unnecessary.

Happy with the points, but just why are we making life so difficult for ourselves when we are leading at home like this? I can only assume it is because of instruction from the manager, but the way we just sit back and invite pressure on our defence like that is going to cost us when playing against a better team than Bournemouth (like it did against Leicester). For the whole second half we had everybody sat back defending the lead, meaning every time we won the ball in defence, we didn't have an outlet up front and the ball just comes back at us every time. It's not rocket science Ron - leave some players up front and then the opposition can't commit as many players forward. Cedric my MOTM today. Played really well and seemed to be the only player in the 2nd half capable of keeping his composure and finding a team-mate with a pass. As for Wanyama - I'm fast starting to think we actually would have been better off if he had gone to Spurs. When he can't be ar$ed to put in the effort, like today, it's like playing with ten men. As somebody else noted - after he was sent off we didn't even miss him; that's how ineffective he was. Should have been subbed on 55-60 mins for Romeu when it was obvious what was going to happen. He's just a liability. I find it incredible that the only person incapable of seeing this is the one man who makes the decisions. So a bitter-sweet afternoon really. A win, a clean sheet, and up to 7th in the table, but my god that 2nd half was just painful to watch.

Indeed. Performance is just the same without him. If only Koeman could see what everybody else could see and brought him off earlier, this would have been so much more comfortable.

Just like the Leicester game. We've got ten men behind the ball at all times, so even when we do turn it over we don't have an outlet, and it just comes straight back at us. It's painful to watch.