Cabrone

Brilliant result and special praise to the front 3 - let's hope they can keep this kind of form up for the rest of the season as when they click they are formidable. Whilst we were superb the fixture list did us a favour as we got Chelsea just at the right time. I have no doubt they'll come back and this evening almost feels like a 3 point bonus on the other teams around us. Another Mourihno meltdown is always an added bonus.

Fair play to him, 50 goals is an impressive tally and I actually think he's a better player than the critics would have you believe. However he does need to step up to the plate in a major tournament otherwise he'll be remembered by many as a bit of a flat track bully.

Looks like a decent player but I'm not convinced CH is his best position. The way he likes to stream forward with the ball and the comfort he seems to have with it makes him look like a box to box midfielder. Wonder if it's worth a shot playing him infront of the back 4 to give him a bit more freedom to roam. VVD running at pace towards the oppo could be a useful weapon.

Tadic had a great game and when he has a great game the team has a great game. We need a big season from him, he's absolutely key. Pelle looked sharp again, give him the service and he will score. Good confidence boost after the Danish dross. Also Wanyama needs to stop crying like a baby and roll his highly paid sleeves up.

Victor needs to take a leaf out of Morgan's book and get his head down and play to the best of his abilities. If he puts out good enough performances he will be noticed but equally if he sulks and moans he will be noticed for all the wrong reasons. Stop crying and get on with it Victor. You play well - the club gets an offer they can't refuse - you'll be on your way.

I'd also seriously look at Austin, he may not be an all round player but he knows how to score and we currently don't. I can't see too many goals in us at the moment and that is a real concern.

That was complete garbage, utter dross. We were up against a physical, organised defensive team - we were crying out for some creativity to unlock their defence but we left our creative players on the bench and obsessively pursued a one dimensional lump-it-up-to-Pelle tactic which predictably failed. The full backs were poor, Targett isn't up to it and Martina seemed to want to go backwards rather than forwards. Caulker was a hoof merchant, lump it up to Graziano and don't even bother to provide any quality. Playing 3 centre halves against their attack? Why didn't we play 2 and add Tadic/Juanmi to the attack instead? Very poor team selection. Graziano tried his best to make the one dimensional attack work making flick ons all game long, shame none of the others made much of an effort to pick up his headers. J-Rod looks very rusty, it's going to take him time to get back to full sharpness, quite why he was on when Tadic was on the bench was mystifying. Tadic actually made things tick when he came on, sadly he wasn't given a full game otherwise we might still be in the competition. Stephen Davis was OK ish, Ward Prowse was OK ish but overall the midfield was not clever enough, creative enough, fast enough or tenacious enough. Where was the quality crossing? Where were the through balls? Where were the one-twos and clever passing movements? Nowhere. Brain dead football. We can't complain, we deserved to lose. We must improve and quickly otherwise it will be a long hard season. Gutted, another cup competition we've ****ed away.

As a springboard for attack he's good but as a defender he's not impressed me. Didn't handle the Malmo attack atall well and he'd be facing that level and higher every week in the prem. On the plus side he's young and does look to have raw talent but he's going to need some working on by the coaches no doubt. I'd like to see him sign based on his potential but any fans that think he's the instant answer need to reign in their expectations.

You need European and specifically champions league football but even then the likes of Man Utd would still be able to better their wages and offer them a more realistic chance of regularly competing at the top level. You'd need to get into the top 4 and regularly qualify for a while to build up your cash and reputation to maybe keep the very best. However being as it's highly unlikely we'll qualify for champs league once let alone multiple times I don't think we have much choice.

If we are having to be realistic then Cabaye would be my choice - however being as he has already gone elsewhere I'd go for Ben Arfa. With what's left over I'd put a bid in for Coutinho.

Like last Thursday we badly need some creative spark up front. A point away is fine but we need to back that up with strong home performances. Tadic and\or Juanmi need to get on the pitch on Thursday. We need to pick their pockets if we want to progress.

Yes I would have thought so too, Tuesday's game is worth a lot of money to Celtic. I'd have thought they'd put out the best XI that they can get their hands on. Once they've qualified then who cares, Scottish league is poor so they should walk it anyway and they haven't got a lot of hope of getting past the champ league group phase anyway. Get to champ league group phase and sell up, how inspiring for their fans.

They came defensive and organised, inviting us to break them down and we lacked the guile to be able to do it. To be fair I thought they were a decent enough team and this tie is on a knife edge at the moment. Our shooting was not very good and too many times players were snatching from distance. We need to up our passing speed, especially when attacking as we are just too slow at times. I'd like to see us use the wings properly and get in some decent crosses, JRod and Pelle could score quite a few with some decent service but we hardly produced anything atall. I'd also like to see some intelligent through balls played to Mane to exploit his pace, see if he can get past defenders. I didn't think we were terrible but we definitely need to wake up a bit and get a bit more speed and intelligence into our attacking. I'd put Tadic and Juanmi in the team for the away leg if available, we need as may pickpockets as possible against this robust Danish side. My overall feeling was that they look like they haven't brushed off their holiday cobwebs yet, we'll get better but will it be too late for this competition?

Post match 'rage' thread? Bit melodramatic isn't it? Everton are a good team that IMO underperformed last season, I'm not completely unsurprised that they turned us over. We've lost some key players and it may take a while for things to bed down but we'll get there. Last season was a brilliant one, I hope you savoured every moment of it because in the history of SFC seasons like that have been the exception rather than the rule. It's not 'our right' to finish 7th, it's a tough league and teams like Everton are no mugs.

Decent result on the road, keep on picking points away and turning SMS into a fortress and we'll do well. Good to see Graziano looking sharp, if we can get a whole season from him then he could be a 20 goal striker for us. Now need to back this up with a win next weekend.

Very professional, thought Arnhem would put up a much bigger fight TBH but glad we're through. Great to see that Pelle is looking sharp, need a big season from him all the way till May. I hope Saints take this cup seriously all the way through, this is a good competition with some very tasty teams in it and we have a chance to go a long way. Big raspberry to all the losers at Wet Sham, what a joke club getting kicked out by a glorified pub team, at least we won't have to play them now.

If he wasn't English he would be rated nowhere near where he is. He may have his moments but what use are they if he's almost permanently on the sick bed?

Yes, he gets away with playing like a box to box midfielder in Scotland but would not get away with it in the prem - he'd be slaughtered. That said, he does look like he has a fair bit of talent and should adjust to become a very good prem CH that occasionally breaks forward. I'd like us to sign him but if we don't then there are other options.

Fonte will go down as one of our best ever signings in my book, an absolute legend that cost a million, dropped a league to join us and has stuck around from the bottom of league 1 to 7th in the prem - all the time improving as he went. What I'd give for us to find another Killer to partner him, that would be an immense partnership. My fav CBs since the late 80s: Fonte Killer Deano Claus Toby Lovren Ken Monkou Andrew Davies Jos The rest

Whilst it's tricky assessing players in Scotland as Scottish football makes any half decent player look world class this guy does look to have genuine considerable talent about him. Looking at the videos he almost seems to play like a very deep lying box to box midfielder, the amount of times I see him streaming up the pitch with the ball. Not so sure he'd get away with that level of freedom in the PL and he'd have to knuckle back down to more defensive positioning but nevertheless he looks talented. I think we'd have to be looking at £10M to make a serious bid.

7th again. Good run in the Europa too.

So, from what I can gather from this thread..... 1) Yesterday Toby was a brilliant player. 2) Today he's not fit to play for a pub team. 3) Spurs are a load of c***s. Have I missed anything?

Best of luck to Morgan, we've had some top service from him and £25M should be more than enough to get some quality replacements. Cabaye and Clasie would be a very good swap if we could get them.

Liverpool got a good deal and we've lost a class RB. Let's hope Ron has a quality backup in his sights.

I'd take both, don't see why they wouldn't fit well together.