Cabrone

Pelle, he's a bit of a conundrum isn't he. When he's good he's very good but then he disappears for large parts of the season. If he could get more consistency he'd be a top draw striker. Still, hopefully he'll go on a run now and score a load just in time to get picked by the Azzuri. VVD yet again was fantastic, enjoy his performances - he'll be on his way if not this summer then next. Good win but I don't think we'll get Europa now, we've let Pool and Chelsea gain too much ground but you never know.

The season so far.........won 1 in 8 -> unbeaten in 8 -> won 1 in 10 -> unbeaten in 6 with 5 clean sheets -> back on a downswing with no wins in the last 3, 2 against teams we'd expect to get better results against. Up and down we go. Good goal from VVD, good player. Pelle should be moved on, too streaky, if we get a decent offer then it's time to say goodbye. Same with Mane. Looking forward to a Long\Austin combo up front next year. I think Sunderland will stay up, they might not be the best but they have spirit and that should see them through. Love him or hate him Allardyce is the sort of guy you'd want in your corner when things are tough. Villa are dead and buried, based on their performances Newcastle are taking the last rights and I think (sadly) that Norwich will be joining them. As for us, looks like the players are already planning their holidays. Safety assured, time to start preparing for next season already. Ho hum.

TBH if you'd have offered me at the start of the season 3 points from our games against Chelsea I'd have taken it. Shame about today but I'm not entirely surprised, they are in a false position and will climb the table. Need to get our focus back and kick start another run starting with Bournemouth (a). Still all to play for.

Yes, I think they are the biggest challenge below us but there are also ManU, Liverpool, Everton and even Stoke who are capable of putting on a bit of a run. Plenty of games to go and lots to play for yet, looks like it's brewing for an interesting finish to the season especially if one of the top 4 has a bad run.

Probably but if Fraser and the defence can keep those clean sheets coming and Charlie nips in with a few goals then we could yet make it interesting. Never thought I'd be saying that when I saw us sink to a bang average Norwich side just over a month ago, amazing turnaround in form.

Defensively we aren't as good as last year but not far off. That's hardly surprising as we were a rock for most of last season and Toby was sublime. However Virgil is closing in on him in terms of defensive abilities and has better attacking qualities. Considering his improvement since arriving from Scotland the guy looks set to be a top top defender. Enjoy him while you can, he'll be on his way in a couple of years IMO. Midfield wise we are slightly weaker having lost Morgan but like the defence there isn't much in it, the replacements are good and improving with more games under the belt so who knows - we might not even miss Morgan as much as we thought. However up front we are greatly improved, we now have a specialist goal scorer which will make a big difference. We haven't had one of those since Rasiak. We'll let in more than last season but I believe this team will more than compensate in the goals for column so overall we might be slightly stronger. Having said that we'll probably lose the next 6........

Who knows, this has been a complete funfair ride of a season. Since Newcastle (a) our form has been .........won 1 in 8 -> unbeaten in 8 -> won 1 in 10 -> unbeaten in 5 with 5 clean sheets. Funny old season so far. The only thing I am confident of is we're not going to get relegated.......I think.

He's also building an unwanted reputation and becoming a marked man amongst refs which doesn't help. He's a good player and players of his type are always going to pick up bookings but with all these suspensions he's tipping the balance into the 'liability' end of things. If someone could work on his head and teach him be able to pick and choose his on pitch battles he'd be a hell of a player.

Tickets still available apparently....

Tough game, they are pretty solid defensively but if Charlie is on the pitch I fancy him to score. Frazer's on a record 5 cleans so he'll be really pumped up to get it. Also should be a big incentive to cut the gap between the clubs. If I was to have a bet I'd probably go for a Saints win but I wouldn't be atall surprised if they got a draw. I don't think they'll win now that we seem to have found our mojo again.

Normally I'd expect us to come away with nothing and the odds are that this is exactly what will happen but this has been such a topsy turvey funfair ride of a season we might get lucky and hit them in a downswing just as we are in a full on purple patch. We did it last season and I was there to see it so what the hell, why not. If we were to upset the odds and beat the Arse at their ground a question for the statto's out there......when was the last season we managed to beat Utd, Chelsea and Arse away? Have we ever done it?

Sunderland would be in with a shout for fan base and history.

You can see why Austin is a natural goalscorer, he has that instinctive knack of knowing where to be at the right time. Drifted away from the Utd defenders and just waited for that ball which was dispatched accordingly. Made it look simple but no Utd defender managed to track him. I think the guy could be a bit of a legend here if he sticks around long enough. Looked like a toss game but 3 points are all that matters. What a turnaround in form over the last 2 weeks, long may it continue.

Exactly what we need, a real goal machine. Can't believe the club got him for £4M, an absolute steal from our rivals. Chuffed to bits about this one, should be able to start picking up a lot more points now.

Phew, 3 vital points and even more importantly a reminder that we can play decent stuff. Let's build on this and get a few more wins to remove any doubts about this season. We are still a bit toothless infront of goal though, need some more firepower from somewhere.

Villa are nailed on but after that it's anyone from the teams mentioned - including SFC. We are twisting in the wind at the moment.

Alan Pardew looks to be doing a fantastic job with Palace, bet the Newcastle fans are kicking themselves. Wonder how things would have been if he had stayed, always rated him myself.

Norwich lost once in the last 5, Bournemouth lost one in the last 8, Sunderland looked lively and up for a fight on Saturday and Newcastle were unlucky not to get anything at Arsenal. All these teams look a lot better than us at the moment. Only Villa and Swansea of those beneath us don't look to be in good form. Villa are almost nailed on to go down, they need around 30 points from 18 games - that's Europa form, not going to happen. Swansea like us are in poor form, if I was a fan I'd be very concerned. We on the other hand have lost 7 of our last 9 and look toothless. Yes on balance we should get out of this but to think that SFC can't get dragged into the mire is naive.

We're twisting in the wind at the moment and the teams below us bar Swansea and Villa look to have a better spirit than us. Newcastle looked good yesterday, Sunderland look to have their tails up, Norwich are on a little run, Bournemouth have lost 1 in their last 8 and you'd assume that Chelsea will wake up at some stage. We on the other hand look poor infront of goal, have disgruntled elements in the changing room and the morale does not look good. We can pull this one around but we need to get moving ASAP. Those who are concerned are right to be.

Well our form is certainly relegation material and if we get caught I fear for us. Not yet but getting uncomfortably close.

The reaction after their goal was telling, heads down, shuffling back to their positions. No player was cajoling, encouraging or scolding the others. If this team gets into a relegation dogfight do they have the grit to get out? I don't think so. Lost 7 of 9 and beaten by a poor Norwich team. Our form is relegation standard.

Ben Arfa would really add some goal power and if the likes of Palace can get Cabaye then why not? https://www.clubcall.com/le-championnat/puel-wants-ben-arfa-exit-1794040.html

I agree with the sentiments of the article, it feels similar to 2004 when SFC took the wrong turn and crashed. However I think now is better because SFC has more competent people running the show and potentially could tap into more cash but it does feel that the club needs to decide which way to go. Do the club push on or pull in the wagons? Those dark days cleared the deadwood then slowly a head of steam was built that saw us crashing through the divisions and stayed with us till last season. This effect has now fizzled out as we enter a new era. TBH both the ambitious and conservative camps have good points, the ambitious say that if we don't push on we will fall whilst the conservatives say that if we overreach we'll crash and burn a la Leeds and a bunch of others. Personally I struggle to see how we can really break through the top 6 in a consistent way let alone the top 4, our support just isn't big enough and the big boys have so much financial advantage over us. Maybe a defensive yo-yo approach is the way to go. Build up good young players, sell them on for a fat profit, always put emphasis on youth + a small number of key transfers, prioritise up and coming managers and aim for Europa at least every 2/3 years whilst building up a financial base to take on the big boys and slowly slowly become a bigger force. But then again isn't that what we are trying to do at the moment? More immediately a proven goalscorer is needed but I wouldn't be surprised if the club play the percentage game and don't spend based on the fact that: -Villa look dead and buried -Sunderland look half dead -There are other clubs that look more likely to go down that us Risky because we could get sucked in and if we do I'd seriously question our grit and determination to get out but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't buy.

I think he's potentially a class act and should be a bigger part of the team. He's never going to be your traditional target man but just behind the CF he'd be a real box of tricks, pulling the strings and weighing in with his fair share of goals. I'd be gutted if he disappears without ever having been given a good run out as I think the guy could be very good for SFC.

Jeez where did that one come from? Brilliant result and what a first goal, hit first time and completely banana'd it. Eat turf Cech. TBH I'm a bit ****ed - played like lemons for best part of 2 months and then put the Christmas stuffing right up the Arse. Got to keep this intensity up now and get the momentum rolling, we're not a bad team when we have our heads screwed on. Still would like a consistent goalscorer as I can't see Long doing the business week in week out whilst Graziano is carrying an injury.