saint1977

Can't quite match yours or Shroppie's mileage but travelled from South Devon and was a long enough trip. Would very much agree with your summary overall. Re: Boufal wasn't great but did at least commit players a couple of times. I'm not sure if Reed and Wilson peed £16m up the wall or whether he's being played well out of position. Would have thought if MP is going to play him he needs a free central role in behind the strikers. Tadic isn't suited to that role so has to be worth a try if MP won't play 2 strikers. It summed the display up when Boufal skied his shot and the Northam sang 'we've had a shot!'. Need a very busy Jan window with 4 or 5 players - especially the midfield deadwood - being sold/loaned out to make room for a a couple of quality AMC/Rs. What has PEH done? His face will be on milk cartons soon and if he's in worse form than JWP he ought to retire to find something he's good at. My ratings: Forster 5: Thought some of the criticism was harsh for the second goal which Janmaat nailed and right into the corner. First one was partially obscured by someone getting up for an early HT pie but looked a touch slow to get down but again, strike was in the corner. Cedric 7 - Along with Jack, our best player. Defended well and one of the few players to actually make runs and make Watford work Bertrand 6 - Faded last 30 but decent hour Stephens 7 - The best along with Cedric. Lost my rag in the first half when Jack must have carried the ball 40-50 yards and only Gabi was moving. Redmond was just watching. Hoedt 6 - Hard to judge - didn't do anything obviously wrong but would have liked more presence in the air Romeu 4 - Mr Reliable had an off day Davis 4 - Lacked his usual spark and internationals took it out of him JWP 2 - MP didn't help James with his tactics but at least try and compete eh? Running and working would be a start. Needs a couple of seasons on loan in the Championship (or sell him) - lacks the game knowledge and robustness of someone like Jack who was player of the season at Swindon. MLG will post his usual tripe about JWP having played 100+ games in the PL but he's so wrong. How many of those games has he actually influenced/run? That's what counts. Boufal 4 - Is he just terrible or terribly out of position? You decide. Redmond 2 - Almost forgot to include him as he made so little impact. Doesn't use his only asset - pace - by continually cutting in and I've seen players for Exeter and Torquay with more awareness. Doesn't move or give options to his team-mates - can understand why Bertrand was sick of him. Gabi 6 - What can you do with that lack of service? MP got deserved stick for taking him off and a Puel-like refusal to change a system whoch doesn't work. Tadic 5 - 10 bright minutes when played on the LEFT and then faded into fake injuries and not giving a toss like most of the others Austin 4 - Didn't look fit and needs service which we refuse to give our strikers Long 6 - At least made runs and space for others. With Shane you know you are getting 100% at least, despite his limitations. Shane is many things but not lazy, wish his work-rate would spread. The person sitting next to me said before KO we'd get mullered as their squad was so much stronger and mobile-looking than ours. Lemina will improve matters when he comes back and Hoedt should do OK but the previous 3 windows were such a disaster they will take another 3 to repair. JWP - bulk up, hone your dead balls or go. Redmond - another to sell to free up space unless he suddenly develops a hint of a football brain. PEH - play or sell. Boufal - play as 10 behind striker or sell/loan. Tadic - sell.

His innings was wonderful but sadly the only big name from Hants to turn up today. Youngsters did well, not least Mason Crane. However, Abbot, Bailey, Dawson and Carberry all got overawed by the occasion. Felt a bit sorry for Berg when he was batting well and people bottling it at the other end. Afridi did very well with the ball but tends to be all or nothing with the bat but happens, we were in a good enough position to win. Still, fantastic effort to stay up in D1 this time after a shocking couple of seasons.

Finals Day and solid in Division 1 would be a good season and tangible progress. Think Essex will beat Somerset with their fragile batting. Warks have looked like drop material all season and ageing squad, can see them being in D2 a while.

I'm not taking anything away from Mooy, great movement and strike. But Newcastle literally watched him. Redmond did the same when Boro stood off and watched him last season up there. I take the overall point that our finishing and decent (not total chances on the OPTA stats) chance creation is woeful but we need to change up the risk in midfield. Boufal as 10.

I like that team. Surely there's sufficient protection there to encourage Boufal to get on Gabi's shoulder and play in the 10 role? Then we'll know more about whether he can function in the team. Hudds won't have seen much of him and he looked at his best at Swansea last year playing off the striker. Got to try something different. Last year's midfield Romeu apart was horribly conservative and risk free.

See, I watched their game v Toon on Sunday and apart from one moment of quality from Mooy - and Newcastle stood off horribly - they didn't create a lot. Newcastle should have equalised but Joselu and Perez were shocking. Gabi would punished them. Hudds will be solid but with our full backs returning, Hoedt and Gabi, as long as don't concede early and they get their tails up, we can get something.

The more I think about, it's not that the individual players aren't necessarily bad - Bednarak is very raw as predicted but will improve - but the balance of the squad Puel and now MP has isn't right. If we aren't going to sell VVD and re-invest - and I don't think we should - how do we rebalance and not put ourselves in financial risk? Do we sell Tadic - he might reinvigorate somewhere else but for me hasn't played well for months? Would get a decent price and bring in some raw pace and unpredictability. Boufal - stick or twist? Probably stick - paid £16m and bit early to give up on him. I'd also sell at least one, maybe two of JWP, PEH or Clasie - too similar - and that might free up funds for an AMC loan/perm on someone out of favour at a big club who needs a fresh start.

Someone who will break between the lines, gamble and get beyond the strikers on occasions. Davis has been wonderful for us but too similar than JWP, was much better at his peak but JWP has the set pieces. Trouble is, we aren't a tall side without Pelle gone, and VVD on strike, so it's as wasted as a Rory Delap long throw. PEH needs to decide what type of MC he is, I think he could break forward well but his finishing is woeful. Redmond is quick but little football brain.

So am I but can you see Saints selling Tadic late in the window? I don't think we benefit from both of them though. Merrington is making some good comments about Boufal and SFC not getting the best out of him. Mind you, I don't think the formation helped anyone. Tadic's time-wasting did my head in when we were losing and terrible miss first half. We can't keep changing managers though. When is Sims fit? Might need that type of lively player to create space and movement. Further good points on giving Gabi or Austin some service and some midfielders taking gambles to join them. Can't see that we'll move on from last season until we sort that out.

Unless Noble really did him, Lemina should be back for JWP who will be invisible at Hudds, keep him on the bench for the set pieces if we are losing. Gabi will start as will Redmond so will be a better side and Hoedt likely to start - Stephens or Yoshi are fine with a stronger player in the air with them. Romeu was our only midfielder who could be bothered. PEH was a winner tonight - he grew more popular by not being part of that shambles. Cedric will be back and hopefully a fully fit Bertrand. 3 CBs was odd - MP needs to justify that. Bednarak needs a loan spell starting in L1 and Championship next season if he proves himself. McQueen looked at sea in that formation and Pied was rusty. Hudds key - at least the players should be focused for that now.

Would agree on Tadic - said last season it was time to sell and re-invest as we did with J Rod. Boufal - I want him to do well as I did with Gaston (very different type of player) but can't see him getting into the game consistently over 90 minutes and I think English football is too high tempo for him. Might have to take a bath and re-invest there instead.

2-0 - fully deserved by the Wolves youngsters. Apart from Romeu and Yoshi, they've been far better player for player. Could be a long time before the likes Boufal and JWP get another first XI chance on this evidence. Boufal could well be on his way out. Full backs haven't looked comfortable with this formation. At least we haven't got ET to endure ahead of a tough trip to Yorkshire.

The league performances have both been fine IMO apart from the weakness in the air at CB. We've put a strong enough side out to win but some of the senior players like Tadic and Boufal have let Pellegrino down big time. Wouldn't be surprised if Boufal was loaned out and we buy another winger/striker who is quicker and more direct.

Needs loaning out. Not sure he'd get a game at one of the better League One outfits like Plymouth or Bradford though. Could try MK - they've already got Seager. A couple of games up against some of the big lumps at that level would do him some good. Not sure lending him to one of the Championship strugglers like PNE or Bolton will help his confidence.

Shouldn't be conceding like that from a set piece with 3 CBs regardless.

That was coming - best side is ahead and that's their second string as well. Shocking to concede like that with 3 CBs. Bednarak needs a loan spell in League One - on this evidence would struggle equally in the Championship. Hope he is a long term bet otherwise that's £6m down the bog. Polish fans on here warned he wasn't ready. Tadic having a shocker as well, Boufal in and out of the game first half and very poor this half. JWP poor as well, Romeu on his own far too often. Feel a bit sorry for Austin, no service, isn't a player that is going to drop deep or run channels. Long needs to be on.

Anyone see Minford's paper at the weekend? The 1970s wants it's economist back. It was probably something re-hashed from an IEA speech back in the day.

Booing saddened me - his attitude changed after winning Euros but hardly on a par with Lallana, Lovren or even VVD. Only a small number that did it but not taking account of the L1 and Championship grounds where he made vital contributions. He did get a decent reception on his first return so the Sky post-match comments must have stirred people up a bit. Getting outpaced by Steven Davis must have hurt though! We did outstandingly well out of the player and the deal - like Lambert, we sold a player who was fading - so time to move on.

Good post, has never shirked hard work and can clearly play but remember some of our Feyenoord posters questioning whether he'd be physically suited and they were right. When he was left ouut of the EFL Final squad I thought he'd go in June/July but he was probably waiting to see what MP had planned. Good goals at WBA and Emirates. We should get our money back at least and wondered if the lack of appearances recently was partially down to have bonuses to pay Feyenoord. Good luck to the player and can see him prospering in another league.

If he's ever fit for any length of time, we might find out! Pretty sure he'd have got a run at some point last season.

Beginning with 'D'?

I agree, as well as the poor defending leading up to the first goal, the shot took a deflection off Cedric which would have made the spin and very difficult to control. Don't get me wrong, FF had some stinkers last season but I didn't see obvious mistakes on Sat bar not being stronger off his line. Thought he played better than Hart - although Hart had some rubbish in front of him - and both played better than Lloris who capped a shaky game with an appalling mistake at the end v Alonso and he wasn't all that last term either. If FF had let that in all hell would have broken loose on here. Bertrand was sleeping also (possibly not fully fit post-Swansea) and Hernandez was much quicker in his reactions. Second goal was entirely down to centre halves letting the ball travel too far (should the ball have come in so easily?) and not for the first time in the game. Fortunate that Andy Carroll was injured. FF actually made a marvellous save from Sahko but Hernandez reacted whilst our defenders were thinking. Defending is a team art - we wanted a more expansive game than Puel so some short-term issues to deal with in enabling this whilst MP gets us organised how he wants.

No idea on the first bit, but the second paragraph sums up what I'm thinking - there's been no clarification that SFC income won't be used to service these repayments (and we have no idea what basis these are on either) plus appear to be gaps in the official statements. Wary - that's what I am, until we know far more. Until we know far more, and the longer we don't, the more sceptical many fans will be.

Quite he has passed the tests but those articles at the time - which were posted from a range of media outlets widely on here and other sites such as the UI - caused concern and still do.