vectraman

Proven quality, guaranteed 10 goals a season from midfield. We won't sign him - no profit to be made

Arsenal and Beersheba. Keeps the interest levels in the cups very much alive

Lose against beer sheva and we are out... Sorry performance against a very average side. Toothless dreary and slow.

Total slow motion borefest Come on Saints we are bloody well losing and playing like we don't give a toss

I'm 100% with this. We're not going to be fantastic in the league, so let's concentrate on the cups/Europa. Being a fan is about having hope of winning something, so the cups it is . Sod it, why aim low, let's win this Europa league, champions league it is then . We've got to be serious in the cups etc. We ARE too good to go down, so let's go and win something. Please!

Back from the game, and dried out! My thoughts... Back 4 plus Fraser were all excellent. I thought Romeu was fantastic battling away, absolute bundle of energy and commitment. My mom but can understand why others picked vvd. I personally thought our starting 11 was our best team - the team I would have gone for anyway! Boufal is still finding his feet, a few skill displays, an embarrassing dive, ok. 6/10 Redmond, not really effective today. I wish he would take players on and run at them more often, better when he does that. 5.5/10 Biggest disappointment for me - PEH. Kept giving the ball away - start of the second half almost cost us the game with a crap pass - defence got him out of jail. Tried very hard, but not his best game today. 5/10 Steven Davis, 6.5/10 - solid and unspectacular. Charlie Austin - ploughed a lone furrow, never going to get much played like this. Missed our only chance, should have at least got it on target. 6/10 Needed pace up front to hit them on the break - long looked sharp (& quick) when he came on. Ditto Jrod. 7/10 Overall decent team display, i'd have taken a draw. We got one, better lucky than good with the result. Liverpool strikers had our shooting boots on! Brilliant defensive display. Happy

I think we may well do if we insist on playing it out short from the back. We'll screw up under their high pressing and gift them a goal or two. Tomorrow is a game to go long and attack them quickly before they can get numbers back. Come on Claude, prove that we can play in a different way to the lumbering, slow, boring sideways backwards style we seem to be adapting

Nonsense. The cups and defo the Europa are much bigger than the league. We are not in danger in the league. Seriously, there is so much sh1t in the prem that we are NOT going to get relegated. Equally we won't make top 6. So cups and Europa are our whole reason for being aren't they? Manager needs to adapt to the premier league, and needs to alter the formation to suit. His 'diamond' needs to morph into a proper 442, 433. Even a koemenesque 532 if necessary, but Puels flexibility is limiting the team imo. Square pegs into round holes to suit his system. But seriously, the league is not where a supporters excitement is to be found. With our squad we should be going for silverware, and we are still good enough for top ten imo. Managers obsession with possession I feel is limiting the team, not vice versa. Again only my opinion...

Lots of possession, do very little with it. Just like against Inter first half. Boring football to watch, lack of urgency going forward, too much sideways/backwards 'easy' ball, no movement up front, we play like statues in the opponents half. No one wants to make a run, give a forward option. Best I have seen saints play for years was at home to Arsenal on Boxing Day, 30 odd % possession and 4 goals... Playing to a system, not to our strengths. We will be fine, but we could be better than we are currently - 442 is a much better formation than the diamond forces us to. Clasie offers little, never scored, never likely to. Lots of posters on here had concerns about our forward options for this season, sadly being proven correct so far. We are toothless, playing the system we are doesn't help either imo. Play Austin/Redmond as a pair playing off of each other, not as isolated entities. Just my thoughts...

Sometimes you come up against a better team and you lose. That was today. We haven't suddenly become rubbish with terrible players, we were outplayed by a better team, whose manager got it tactically spot on. The early goal was our undoing really, they didn't need to force the game after that. They were like last years Leicester only more capable! Yes we had possession, but it was mainly tippy tappy going nowhere dangerous peripheral stuff. We really did not look like breaking down their very able defensive lines. Inter will not be as stern a test as Chelsea, I just hope we put out a strong line up and go for it. Roll on Thursday!

Damn. Steven Davis gives the ball away cheaply and City score

A striker with a 50% chance to goal ratio We'd be top of the league

If we had a Defoe or similar up front we'd be out of sight by now. Putting the ball in the net is our Achilles heal...

Wouldn't disagree but I also thought Redmond played very well. Whole team did a great job on wham, excellent performance

Austin goal !!

Well done Saints. Good performance again, very satisfying. Let's keep the run going at Wham.

Just got back from the game, my thoughts: Decent performance, team were more cohesive, created some very good chances, 3-0 would not have flattered us. Nobody was poor, for me Tadic shaded m.o.m. Over Romeou and vvd. I think Redmond will be a very good player for us, out on the wing, using his pace. He is not, and does not look like a striker. The whole stadium can see that except Claude! Austin IS a goal scorer, however, to me, he did not look fit, certainly not fit enough to play a whole match. Subs were all successful, manager got them spot on. Martina proving versatile playing right midfield, I'm glad we kept him, he's decent cover. A solid 7.5/10 all round performance by the boys today, satisfying result, good for Fraser with two clean sheets this week. Promising.

We'll win both. That is the best outcome by far

100% agree. No point in doing all the hard work in getting to the group stages and then not taking it seriously. We won't go down, let's go for it. Let's go for it in all the cups. If not what is the point? I'm really looking forward to Thursday, my first ever European game, what's not to like!

If Arsenal score early on the heads will drop, 4-0. If we can battle away and keep it goalless until half time, we have a chance as the pressure will be on them. 0-0. Fingers crossed!

Hope the club are right...

Double posted - can't delete it!

1. Man City 2. Man U 3. Chelsea 4. Spurs 5 Liverpool 6 Arsenal Relegated - Hull, Burnley, Bournemouth Saints 14th if we persevere with the diamond Saints 8th if we throw the diamond in the bin!

I totally agree with your observations regarding playing the ball out short constantly from the 'keeper. It, when it worked was incredibly boring watching it go across the back four and back to the keeper, sometimes via a midfielder, who then played it backwards. My thought whilst watching us methodically plodding it across the pitch was this - what happens against a high pressing side who don't give you any time on the ball? What is the plan B going to look like then? Can't go long as the players are too small to win & keep the ball upfront. What then Claude? I think half decent teams will very quickly cotton on to our one dimensional system, and stop us playing keep ball. Several times against Sunderland Fraser played short balls out and we did not look at all comfortable dealing with it. Clearly it's the new system they are being instructed to play, but currently it looks so limited and limiting! Thoughts?

But 5 points down on the same three fixtures last season...