SaintBobby

yeah, total nightmare if that happens. let's hope they sign Schneiderlin and Lovren instead. Reckon we could get away with that?

I think we're doomed whatever we do. Wigan will stay up and we will come 18th.

It wasn't really their 2nd string...mainly squad or starting XI players. If we'd put in Osvaldo that would have been "a change"...but not really a 2nd string player. Sunderland pretty much fielded their best availbale team (given they ahd an injured goalkeeper and two players suspended)

Game over. Feeble effort overall.

My God. Adam Johnson is truly awful.

Should have started with Lallana and JWP.

Have we managed a shot on target yet?

Only caught a juddery replay, looked like a good-ish pen shout for the tackle on Davis rather than the initial one on Chamnbers.

Could have understood not fielding our absolute strongest side, but to field virtually none of our strongest side is annoying. Quite possibly squandered a chance of a great cup run.

Not really, no. They've made a lot of changes (seven?), but they are fielding a team of players who typically or often play in the Premiership. We have only 1 or 2 of our startng XI out there.

Price you pay for putting out the 2nd team. Disappointing.

Groan.

Anyone know who our 5 penalty takers would be? This is getting very dull....

I think your view on him has long since departed from any sort of objectivity. He's been one of the most involved and dangerous players on the pitch - it was a bad miss though.

Cork and Ramirez looking very good indeed (except the miss by Gaston)

We'd be winning this with our starting XI. Just saying.

Did Lambert travel or not? Or did they leave him at baggage reclaim?

At worst, we will sell him for, say, £8m? If it doesn't work out, such is life. When you're paying big salaries and transfer fees, you take some knocks. At worst, our "loss" on Ramirez - including wages - will be about £6m. But that assumes that his overall value to the team has been absolute zero. Even his biggest detractors won't claim this, he's scored a few goals and has actually been pretty good in a few games.

I guess it depends whether your goal is to get as high as possible (e.g. qualify for CL) or to actually win some silverware. There are trade-offs here (I think I'd rather stay up than do a Wigan tbh)....but I do gently lean to the "win a trophy" side of the fence.

Basically this. Basically the exact opposite of Morgan Schneiderlin. (who is consistently and truly wonderful....a 7 or 8 every match)

Morgan isn't "mercurial"....the term is typically used to describe flashes of brilliance in footballers, e.g. the 4th point in the definition. Indeed, even the highlighted 2nd point suggests a certain "smash and grab" cunning. Le Tissier was mercurial. Schnedierlin is "solid"....basically the exact opposite of mercurical. It's as if the author of the piece just stumbled across a poncey adjective and felt he had to use it somewhere. I also don't think you can be "tipped" for a "surprise"....it's one or other really....if people are expecting you to do something, it isn't surprising if you then do it. And as for..."But can Saints really make it into Europe this season? Well with the way the season has begun in the Premier League who could realistically rule them out?" Answer: Me. Well, pretty much. 7th might just get us a Euro place, but probably not. I'd say we're less than 25% to qualify for Europe. Not ruled out, but very unlikely. We're 16/1 to win the League Cup and about 16/1 to get to the FA Cup Final. If I ever read again about signing top players being a "clear sign of intent" rather than because they are good at football, I really will have to murder someone. Pretty much at random. It's that cliched and annoying that I think random violence is now probably acceptable. And, as for Swansea, well, okay, they have done really well. Top half and a League Cup win against a League Two team. Nice. Really nice. But you'd think they'd won the damned Premiership by the way it's put in this article.

It is maddening. Lambert should be back in the friendly sqauds and play. Strong case for Lallana too. Although I wonder if Townsend keeps him out (not that they're the same players, just that Woy has a feather in his cap for "discovering" a new international so might stick rather than twist). Clyne? Hmmm....looks like an England right-back in a couple of years, but would think Walker and Johnson are the obvious choices, so what is there to see? Same goes for Shaw (behind Cole and Baines). I guess there is a bit of a case to look at your 3rd choice wing-backs, but not a strong one. J-Rod? You've lost me here. I like the guy, but surely he is nowhere near contention for Brazil....something like 9th or 10th choice forward? Maybe I have a Dell-sized mentality, but I'd select Lambert and Lallana (and play them) and maybe, just maybe, Clyne.

Good to see a good half of the posts are actually about Sunderland away. Shame about the other 50% or so. I still think we should put out a stronger team.

Not sure how the maths work on that....are you assuming he goes on a free?

Bale at Spurs, Walcott at Arsenal? Arguably Jay Rodriguez with us. Pretty deeply average for his first six months, but now a valued part of the squad/team. Ramirez has been a disappointment for sure. One or two very good games, but I hoped for so much more. Unless he is "want away", I'd have thought now to January is crunch time. He doesn't need to look like a world beater by Christmas, but there does need to be a marked improvement.