saintant

I don't feel sorry for Liverpool. They proved tonight they have no ambition, so no, I don't have any sympathy for them. They gave up their ambition to be a force in Europe and decided to sign Lovren and let him take a penalty. They have a choice as a club, they don't have to let Lovren take a penalty. Maybe their objectives have changed. That's the way it works. They were after a certain type of player - unfortunately for them that player was Dejan Lovren.

His head is in Liverpool and so is the ball he just struck!

Crazy decision to punish him by putting him on the bench and weakening our starting line-up. Fine him by all means and warn him that if it happens again he'll be dropped but let's not weaken our own team to the benefit of the opposition for what was presumably a first offence. It's tough enough without penalising ourselves. Could have been dealt with more sensibly without resorting to handing an advantage to Liverpool.

Well, if he's not a number 10 player he sure as Hell isn't a holding midfielder as he is slow, weak, can't tackle and doesn't cover enough ground which leaves me scratching my head and asking again - what is his best role in the team? Some would have you believe he is a future England captain. Championship player at best for me..

Unless Mane was carrying a knock I can't understand why he was on the bench. We are struggling for goals and he has 4 in his past 5 Prem appearances. Also, I'm afraid Ward Prowse in midfield left us carrying a passenger who contributed nothing other than his over-hyped dead ball delivery. Would have started Harry Reed alongside Victor with Davis (who struggled playing in a deeper role) further forward. Think we missed a trick today as Liverpool were poor apart from the brilliant strike from Coutinho. Fonte and Yoshi were outstanding and if Morgan was fit he should have started. Had we started with Mane and Morgan it would have given us more options such as bringing on Shane Long who would have caused them problems with his constant chasing. Djuricic looked promising and made some intelligent runs. Ref was appalling and Allen's trip on Djuricic was a clear penalty. Not our day but we are still in the mix so on to West Brom where we'll need to win.

Brilliant three points from not the greatest performance. Fans moaning on here today during the game and obviously we weren't exactly silky but let's not overlook the fact that our return from the last 8 league games is 19 points. If we can beat West Ham, who will have one eye on the FA Cup, we have a nice break and the chance to get a few back to full fitness.

He is not a future England captain - let's get real for a minute.

Agree with those who have said the wrong man was taken off, Harry Reed was doing his job which is more than you could say for some of the others. To take him off and drop JWP into a defensive role was suicidal - JWP cannot tackle, doesn't read danger and is far too slow. This allowed Swansea chances to go forward and we failed to learn our lesson having let Shelvey waltz through unchallenged when he hit the post. JWP missed another simple chance - if that goes in I believe we go on to win the game. Unfortunately, he simply has no composure when the ball drops to him in a scoring position. I think he only needed to lift the ball slightly and the keeper's trailing leg has no chance of keeping it out. Tadic is a good player but someone needs to tell him the game is not played at walking pace - if he wants to play walking football there are leagues for that for the over 50's!

Bad day at the office. I think last week against Newcastle we got away with having to play a weakened midfield but boy did we miss the power and strength of Morgan and Wanyama today. It was men and boys out there at times. Defensively we looked vulnerable but I think that had a lot to do with us missing the shield provided by Morgan and Big Vic. I'm afraid JWP, Davis, Tadic and Cork were far too lightweight and no match for the pace and power of Palace.

Couldn't understand the logic of playing JWP right back - he can't tackle and has zero pace both of which are essentials for this position. Weird decision that for me.

Could lack of fitness be part of the reason for our recent poor run? Under MP the team trained double sessions and it's been widely documented that RK has introduced less rigorous training and more work with the ball. For the earlier part of the season on dry pitches we probably coped ok and this would also have been helped by pre-season training. Maybe some of that fitness has begun to diminish and if you factor in the heavier pitches plus extra matches in a short space of time perhaps we are now struggling to press teams as intently. It's just a theory that hit me as I tried to come up with a reason for our sudden demise - it's as though we've hit a brick wall. Probably a crap theory but it's all I could come up with.

It takes two sides to make a game of football. Villa were at home but were content to park the bus and didn't attempt to come out and take us on. That's going to happen now because some sides will be wary of us. Villa packed men behind the ball and that makes it difficult to create the chances especially away from home. Not a great performance but this side still had enough about them to come up with one moment of class to grab a point. Let's not be too hard on the lads.

Final ball has been poor but we've totally dominated this match. Villa are playing like the away team. They got really lucky with the goal - it was just a smashed panic clearance that fell perfectly for Agbonlahor - the defender didn't even mean it. But for that huge slice of luck and Fraser's rush of blood we'd be level and very comfortable. Sort out the final ball and we can still win this.

One thing's for sure, whatever Rickie is being paid he won't be picking up much in the way of win bonuses compared to his ex Saints team mates!

For any team from Man Utd (4th) or below to get 70 points this season they will need to get 51 points or more from their remaining 26 matches - to put that into context that's the equivalent of 17 wins out of 26 games. I am sure there are teams well capable of that but it sounds quite a tall order particularly as none of the sides in question seem to be firing on all cylinders. That could change of course and one or more of them might go on a winning streak. If we can beat Villa tomorrow we'll have 28 points so to get 70 we'll need to amass another 42 points from 26 games - that sounds achievable provided we steer clear of too many injuries/suspensions to key players. A top four spot could certainly be on the cards but we can't afford to take our foot off the gas!

Looks as though we well and truely mugged Arsenal over by getting 16million for Chambers - is there a slower right back in the Premier League? He got a complete roasting today against Swansea - still, Hodgson will probably pick him for England ahead of Nathaniel Clyne. Hope he plays right back against us as I can see Mane tearing him a new one!

Also worth watching Long's movement as the ball is played into Pelle by Cork. He completely loses the Leicester defence and pops up in the perfect position to receive the ball and stroke it calmly into the bottom corner.

Shane Long's first goal was a thing of beauty. Superb build-up play, a brilliant lay off from Pelle and a sublime cool finish into the bottom corner. In the heat of a frantic match with Leicester defending for their lives, chances hard to come by and in abysmal weather conditions it was simply stunning.

Nice to score 4 goals as it forces MOTD to show at least two minutes from our game.

Looks a very accomplished defender who weighs in with a few goals. Just watched a video of him online in which he scored with a couple of absolute rocket shots from outside the box and scored a few headers too.

Biggest difference for me is not personnel but training intensity and tactics on the pitch. I assume we are not continuing with MP's double training regime so even if we wanted to it's unlikely we're fit enough to play the high-press game. For me the drop in fitness levels and absence of the high-press/quick passing that went a long way to making us the team we were last season is what will be missed more than the players who have departed. On Saturday we just looked like a typical Saints team pre MP. That approach to training and style of play more than anything raised us to a level above the Aston Villa, West Ham, Hull sort of sides. I don't think we have a bad squad of players but feel we are going to miss the high intensity flowing football that we were able to produce under MP.

We made the often repeated mistake of starting at a very slow tempo content to knock the ball backwards and sideways with no urgency. I've yet to see a game where a team starts this way and is then suddenly able to up the tempo. Particularly at home we must fly out the blocks and get at the opposition high up the pitch not play tip-tap in our own half. This slow approach to a game never works so I don't know why we do it - set the tempo from kick-off and put the opponent on the back foot.

Still don't understand all the plaudits that go JWP's way I'm afraid. He's young with much to learn but right now I don't think he is anywhere near ready to play regularly in the first team. He is certainly not a number 10 and as mentioned elsewhere he is not strong in the tackle and does not cover the ground quickly. He has a fairly adequate dead ball delivery but apart from that I don't see much else.

Whilst accepting that it is very early in the season that felt like watching Saints pre the pressing game. If we continue with the tactics employed today I'm afraid we will be just another struggling side which is a crying shame when you think how far we've come. Using the high press we always looked comfortable and dominated sides for long spells home and away. I may be wrong but I fear we are in danger of going backwards to the old days where we found it hard to impose ourselves on teams.

I don't find these games against the so-called big clubs that much of a worry. No point getting worked up and fearing defeat. These type of games are a 'free-hit' as nobody realistically expects us to get anything so if we do it's a nice little bonus. It's the games where we expect something that are more stressful. We should go there in a relaxed mood knowing that all the pressure is on Liverpool as they are expected to win comfortably.