Saint Charlie

If Tadic is just rested rather than injured, is it a little silly not to have him on the bench?

Who else can beat a man then? Clyne and possibly Long if he hasnt hit the ball too far in front of him. Mane nowhere near as bad as people are making out. Miles more talent than Long.

Tough tonight. Mane probably the only player who can beat a man to create something.

Think they have rested a couple, well left first teamers on the bench.

Our bench is mostly crap this season.

Good enough team to win the game. Up to the players now.

Yes. The first post. We have been an attacker light all season and unable to give anyone a rest when they need it or lose form. Mane was good when he first came in, attacked defenders - won the pen and corners we scored from at the Emirates, combined really well to setup Bertrand vs QPR and won us the game against Stoke. Since the Villa game he has looked jaded, but we have very few proven attacking options so like with Tadic, have continued starting him. Absolutely no way any team could have 3 attackers and use them in every game all season.

So we should have gone with Tadic, Pelle and Long all season? No chance of that. Tadic has been worked out a bit and given more attention and for me Long is pretty dire when you look at what his efforts actually do. You need options to bring people out the team when they are struggling a bit but we have nobody to come in. Would certainly prefer Ramirez sitting on our bench than Hull's. They can have Mayuka.

We have no attacking injuries currently to anyone who was available at the start of the season yet still have few options. Swansea in their last game had Gomis and Dyer to come on. Everton regularly have the likes of McGeady and Mirrallas to come on, sometimes Barkley or Naismith. Look at Spurs, often their bench looks stronger than the first team. West Ham had Zarate and Valencia on the bench today. If you have injuries then of course you look weaker, but we don't apart from Jay who we know not to expect much from this season Definitely with Mane and Mayuka (benchwarmer obviously) leaving in Jan we will need two additions. Otherwise we will slip down the table.

In terms of depth we are light. Can't rest Tadic because we don't have anyone to replace him with, and Long the only other option to Pelle.

If ever a player needed a rest its Tadic. Superb in the first 10 games, poor since then and struggling to think of any away match since Arsenal in the Cup that he has done well in? We are heavily realiant on him and Pelle who are adapting to English football and are used to having a holiday now, when the biggest concentration of matches are. Squad depth in attack must be amongst the weakest in the league so doing well to be where we are. With Mane also missing in Jan/Feb and no realistic sign of Jay Rod I think we need two additions (striker and attacking midfielder) in January to ensure we can have a good second half of the season. Long still a poor signing for me, as good as others have been. Just not a very good technical player, poor in front of goal and in the role we play him there surely were better options for that kind of money.

We were never as good as some thought a couple of months ago and aren't as bad now.

Much better balance to that team, stronger looking defence and for the first time in 3 or 4 games some bench options.

Yeah and Pelle should be able to prevent himself being booked. Much harder in central midfield.

Hopefully Wanyama picks up a yellow today and gets his ban out the way in the cup.

http://www.claretandhugh.info/hammers-in-dark-on-zarate-link/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

He didnt have a great game last night but always looks more likely to create than Long.

Great summary. To be top 4 you need 20 really good PL players and one or two world class. We have neither. Nor do any other clubs of our stature.

Agree 100% with that, brilliant season far. Just hope the few that thought we could get top 4 after beating teams worse than us realise that 8th or above is a great return after a rocky summer. Great chance of a cup final too but top 4 is not a realistic aim (which Koeman also said near the beginning of the season).

Tough run doesn't especially get easier until probably the end of January. Run until then is: Burnley away Everton home Palace away Chelsea home Arsenal home Man Utd away Newcastle away Where do you think we will be placed end of Jan? I think 7th, with top 4 gone, 5th and 6th still do-able if we can replicate early season form. Where do you think we will be?

Don't agree with the robbery stuff. We gifted two goals and weren't clincial. We could have won the game if we were better in both boxes, but we weren't. If you gift two goals you havent been robbed.

We aren't going to finish top 4. Our squad isnt strong enough to do that unless we bring in 3 or 4 players in January and even then it would be bloody difficult. We arguably havent got a point off of a team who are marginally better than us this season and the last three matches have ended the game with Mayuka (who could get a look in previously) as a go to man off the bench. Anything 7 th or above would be another great season with the squad we have.

Forster could maybe have come for that too? If he had backed himself he might well have made it. His kicking is better than Boruc, but in terms of stopping goals I would have Boruc over him based on what he has shown so far.

JWP isnt a forward option, he is in the midfield group with Morgan, Wanyama, Cork, Davis etc. We knew Jay woulf miss half or more of the season. Our forward options are Mane, Tadic, Long and Pelle so if three or four of them play each week then it doesnt give a lot from the bench. As you say Tadic obviously has a knock of some kind and Mane needs time out, whilst Pelle cannot surely play 90mins all season? But we literally have nothing else as the others are nowhere near the required standard. We have been one forward light all season and are seeing that now.

One think Forster lacks is any sort of competition whatsoever at Saints. Silly scenario, need two who are PL capable like Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle, Stoke, Palace, West Brom etc