Saint Charlie

Spot on. GK is a massive position and having a substandard one seriously impacts the chances of a win at this level. No coincidence our form dropped massively when Forster got injured and that Gazzaniga has barely won a game when starting in the PL.

Reality is we have replaced Morgan with Clasie and Romeu and neither quite have the attributes to cover the gap (which isnt suprising really because he was class). Hopefully Clasie improves as he gets more games but both the viewings Ive seen of him for Saints suggest he may struggle physically.

Davis isnt capable of kicking to those instructions, but good ideas. From reading some of the comments here it would seem Mane missed an open goal. It was nowhere near as clear cut as many think, they defended the situation fairly well I think and crowded him out. The ahot would have been from 25 yards at least so he needed to regain balance. Schmeichel did well by coming out as quickly as he did.

Probably Man Utd home game this season. They absolutely bossed us for at least 30mins of the second half. We were struggling to play out well from the back and when Davis went long it wasn't reaching past halfway, or at a height/trajectory that gave Pelle a chance so it kept coming back. Wanyama couldnt make another foul, Clasie was off the pace, JWP we know is useless at ball-winning (how did he stay on for the full 90?!) and Leicester built up a lot of momentum.

We do HAVE to play him though and Koeman doesn't have a great deal of choice when deciding between Davis and Gazzaniga. Both are poor and Davis as much as anyone contributed to a poor performance and ultimately the equaliser. A number of their chances came from terrible GK distribution both before and after the subs were made. He made the defence nervy from the first minute. If he has to play again then Van Dijk or Fonte should kick for him.

Anyone know how Chung is doing since he left?

Koeman cannot do much about the GK, but someone at the Club has decided KD and Gazza are PL quality when everyone can see both are liabilities and have consistently demonstrated that for 3 years.

Exactly. We only brought him in because of Forster's injury so its: 1. Stekelenburg 2. Davis 3. Gazzaniga Obviously if Forster returns this season then we will be strong, but once Stek goes in the summer and KD retires or moves on then we need to sign someone who is substantially better than Gazzaniga to be our no2 and end this fiasco once and for all!

Your third paragraph is mostly down to the second. Plus the goal kicks to Pelle were just awful (if they reached that far).

Agree. JWP good at the coached closing down of a player but just doesn't win the ball when its crucially needed. With Wanyama one foul away from a red the other two needed to put themselves about and couldn't do it. Will be interesting to see how we use Clasie, obviously good technique, but the PL requires a certain physicality which is why JWP struggles to influence a game. Not sure he and Clasie can play together and certainly need to watch that Wanyama and Romeu aren't suspended at the same time.

He is second choice for this season and was last season. We wouldn't have signed Stekelenburg if Forster didnt get injured.

Really is bizarre that we haven't addresed the no2 keeper issue given that every year the no1 misses some games and every year it costs us points. We have quite probably the weakest GK backup in the PL and it shows.

Poor allround but both goals, if you go back 30 seconds, come from awful kicks from Davis and from the first minute he made the defence nervous and basically couldn't kick the ball beyond the halfway line all game. With Stekelenburg in goal we would win that game. Still utterly amazes me that in four years we havent sorted the 2nd keeper issue and have probably the worst backup in the whole league. If Gazzaniga isn't a better keeper than a 39 yo Davis then he shouldn't have been given a new contract. Cruel to watch a great servant being asked to play at a level he doesn't have within him but its been a weak area for ages.

Goalkeeper roulette is back. Amazing we still have such poor backup.

My favourite away day ever. Especially living in Brighton. Saints legend I think, especially if he sees out his career here. Not many players have improved as much as Jose.

We obviously bought Clasie to be a starter, neither Romeu or JWP have nailed down a starting spot, and Clasie needs games to get up to speed. Starting not out of the question.

Good signing from Surrey, getting Mark Footitt from Derbyshire.

On the flip side, Davis did make the official UEFA Qualifying Best XI. Not that it means a lot.

Obviously not. Not sure which is more ridiculous, that he would be offered a two year extension, or that he would tell a random shopper in Sainsburys. Plus he already is second choice.

Got to make an impression in this sort of loan really. Be interesting to see how he does and if he actually starts.

Be a shame to lose him if so, as the coaching setup is obviously working well and the mix of characters is important.

Who changed the title of this thread from Kelvis to Kelvin? It wasn't a typo FFS. They are at opposite ends of the keyboard. Over-officious wazzery.

Shane Long

Well done then to redeem by scoring the winner.

Surely they can't keep Blind in reality? Country would go mad. They need change, although for Koeman there is no need to rush. Start of next qualifying it may be a different story. Reckon Blind will go (may even resign) with an interim Manager until that point at which better candidates may make themselves available.