Saint Charlie

Wanyama is our best defensive midfielder. Not the best on the ball but in terms of defensive work, winning duels etc he is head and shoulders above Clasie or Romeu. Which is why he always plays when available.

In what sense seeing as he isn't a ready made replacement?

Who in our attack is ultimately a better player than Mane? Long is currently playing better than him, of course, but pretty sure any club if they could sign one attacker from us would pick Mane, who is capable of levels Long cannot reach.

Martina was in no way MOTM. Every time he got in a good position he gave the ball away. He also made a couple of horrendous passes inside his own area. If thats a good performance, or MOTM material then you must be mad. (We also didnt create enough to be let down by turd finishing).

Interesting that each time we have had a two week break in the season (for Intls or FA Cup) it has dampened the momentum we had built up leading into the break. Has happened three times this season, which is probably coincidence but is quite frustrating because our variances in quality this season have been quite significant.

Clasie has been good lately but was off the pace today IMO and didnt really make any significant forward passes. Nowhere near our MOTM for me.

Ridiculous. Pelle will leave in the summer, its common knowledge. But dismissing Mane like that is absurd. He is going through a poor spell but is still an excellent player and our best attacker. Why not keep him and benefit when his form and confidence inevitably returns?

I agree. But a week ago we were well in with a shout of 5th/6th and then have produced two of the poorest displays of the season, which is a shame. We don't seem to deal well with pressure situations and are happier being an also ran or underdog.

We have been very poor against Bournemouth and Sunderland and messed up a winning position versus Chelsea. I expected we would pick up a lot more than 1 point across those games. As did everyone. I think we will be overtaken by Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton before the end of the season and in reality we are a midtable quality team, but had a good chance to finish higher. A week ago we were above West Ham who are now well in the race for 4th.

Both of those points are wrong. We were poor. Martina was poor.

Stonewall red for Fonte but he had little choice once Borini was in. Midfield passing was poor most of the game until Romeu decided in the last 10mins to push us on. For most of the game the passing lacked any creativity, Clasie included. Martina was woeful unfortunately. Gave the ball away so many times and isn't PL quality. Said before Chelsea that any less than 4/5 points would be poor from the next three and we got one...such as shame as we had a good chance of 5th/6th with a solid end to the season.

Cedric aside that is without doubt the best lineup from the available players. Cedric probably not "fresh" enough.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55535 Bit of opinion here. He is one of those who plays well when the team is on top but struggles if we are up against it like against Bournemouth. Physical attributes will stop him being as good as some think but he will have a PL career for a decade or more which is no mean feat.

Not saying he is good in the PL but isn't it often said you get more space and time in the PL than the Championship which is more in your face and aggressive?

Quite possibly won't be on the bench as hasn't even played an U21 game.

This is true. We have gained a lot of poikts through being effective and defensively sound rather than out footballing teams. Probably havent had the majority of possession in five or six games now.

Terrible. As soon as we setup a chance for a really good finish we bottle it. Midfield was awful tonight and everyone aside from Van Dijk was outrun and outfought which is the worst thing. Perhaps 3 CBs has masked some generally ineffective play. Man Utd, Arsenal, West Ham, Swansea were battling rather than classy points won.

Woeful first half. Look off the pace and have no midfield.

@bigadamsport: #saintsfc Spoke to Koeman today about Pelle - he's talked to hIm about Chelsea game & told him to stop flicks & hold ball up better for team-mates to help side when under pressure. RK admitted to me it was not a good substitution - honest as always #saintsfc

Would be great if he is available as I think his pace would trouble their centre backs. Imagine the footage we see is largely just the warming up phase of training though. They will just have Afobe up top - does that really need 3 CBs?

Long a doubt, 50/50 according to RonK. Will assess the freshness of squad this afternoon. Would imagine JWP for Clasie will happen and Mane will surely start in place of Long if he doesn't make it.

Is Chung Lee back in training yet? Has all gone very quiet on him.

Title is Spurs' to lose IMO. Most consistent side, quite a few players who score, best defence and the best Manager in the league.

- Should we go 4 at the back for this, as they don't setup in the most attacking shape? We probably don't need 5 defenders. - Will Clasie be available as he usually doesn't play two games in quick succession? If not JWP will come in. - If no Long then has to be Mane that comes in.

No suprise. He is one of the worst ref's IMO, and thats impressive in itself.