saintant

I don't think he was terrible against Arsenal - he caused them quite a few problems with his pace. Ok, he needs a goal or two but I believe away from home when we probably won't dominate possession he provides a good outlet. Charlie to come off the bench for me as his game is not so suited to away matches.

I'd go with; FF Cedric, VVD, Fonte, Bertrand Romeu Davis, Hojbjerg Sims Long Boufal

Well played Clasie :-)

Well indeed. Staggered but he does owe us considering it's his first goal. Humble pie being consumed :-)

Clasie! Why?

Can't believe some people are criticising the ball played by Charlie Austin. He realised he had to hit it reasonably hard to avoid it being intercepted so let's not make excuses for the fact that JWP opened his foot instead of slightly closing it which would have made sure of a good contact - he only had to guide the ball into an empty net so let's not blame Charlie for a horrendous finish by JWP. Other than two bad misses JWP had one of his better games and did cut out some of the negative square and backward passes but he must start converting good chances more regularly.

Have Liverpool put in a bid for Josh Sims yet? - must be only a matter of time.

Take a bow son that was a very accomplished performance by any standards. I'm guessing he showed up well against a strong Chelsea 23s side and was given his chance off the back of that as it possibly showed that he could play at a higher level. Played very intelligently and made some astute runs to receive the ball, never hid and was always available. Put in a few tackles, took some hits and showed that he is not afraid to take opponents on and got into a few goalscoring positions. Not forgetting his assist for the winning goal. An unexpected bonus to the first team squad for me as I didn't know a lot about him prior to watching him today.

If the injury was serious enough to require surgery shouldn't we be asking why Serbia allowed him to play on?

Have to say I'm struggling to understand the Tadic situation. Ok, it was a bad injury but he came back on and finished the match against Wales yet here we are two weeks later and he's not fit to play for us.

How do tennis players manage to play every other day for a fortnight at major tournaments? Some matches last 2-3 hours which is quite a bit longer than 90 minutes often in extreme heat and I would imagine they do far more intense sprints, twist and turns than your average footballer. From what I've seen of Saints the players spend a lot of time stood around so it's not as though they are on the go for the whole 90 minutes.Maybe tennis players are super-humans.

Haven't seen much evidence of pace and physicality from us this season - don't think we'd hold any great fears for the old Liverpool side. And I wouldn't mind betting that they'd have no trouble beating most of the current crop of Prem sides even with the influx of foreigners. I just feel we make far too many excuses for the players of today - you don't tend to feel tired or cry off with minor knocks if you're winning week in week out. Too many don't fancy a little hard work which, considering what they're paid, is a joke.

If I've over simplified it please explain how the great Liverpool side bucked the trend playing on far heavier, strength sapping pitches than the manicured surfaces today's overpaid prima-donnas perform on. Help me out - tell me how they did it. Explain how tennis players can play gruelling matches where they run far greater distances and expend far greater energy then recover to do it all again a couple of days later. Seems it's only footballers who need these long rest periods in between games yet back in the day Liverpool managed ok. You won't build understanding, confidence and match fitness by rotation of a squad particularly one as weak as ours.

To say that you can't stick to the same team week in week out and must rotate is nonsense. How much rotation was there in the great Liverpool side that dominated football at home and in Europe? They played pretty much the same set of players in every game - and all the players wanted to play in every match. This rotation thing is a myth perpetuated by the over bloated squads at clubs like Chelsea. Pick your best side, get some continuity and wins. You'll pick up a few injuries and one or two cases of burn out but just get on with it - these players are supposed to be trained athletes. How do tennis players manage to play gruelling five matches every couple of days at major tournaments? Stop wrapping footballers up in cotton wool and get them doing what they are highly paid to do rather than making excuses for them.

Nah, he's the next England captain don't you know.

Clasie and Ward Prowse in the same midfield is a recipe for disaster - they are like twins who unfortunately can't play football. That was dire from start to finish against a very ordinary Sparta Prague side. We are regressing into a side that is plainly awful to watch. Slow and laboured in build up, lacking invention and with zero flair. Oh for the days of the high press, and turn over of possession high up the pitch enabling us to get into the opponents danger zone. This propoganda sideways/backwards football is cringeworthy to watch. So slow and predictable. Maybe we should take up this walking football that the seniors play. Abysmal!

I think we'll struggle in our 'mini-league' as while Puel persists with his rotation system I think our form will continue to stutter. He needs to work out his best side and stick with it as often as possible so that they get used to one another and individual players build their confidence and performance levels. To change the team for every game is not conducive to getting the best out of what we've got. A player like Boufal will not get to grips with the pace and power of the Prem if he is in one game and out the next. Stop the tinkering unless an individual player is absolutely knackered. Continuity is what we need.

Always disappointing to lose but on reflection I thought we were a tad unlucky today. I accept we perhaps should have gone for the jugular in the first half but overall there is no doubt we deserved to get something from the match. It was just one of those games where we probably didn't quite get the run of the ball whereas Hull scored two good goals against the run of play and apart from that did very little offensively. It was a smash and grab really and we've won matches ourselves in the same manner - it happens. I don't think we should be overly critical of the manager or the team as they put a shift in after a tough game three days ago and created the better situations but in the end it was Hull's day. There are no easy games, every team has some qualities and yes, Hull took the points on this occasion but we were undoubtedly the side that showed far more quality. In football luck plays a part and today they had more than us - we fought back after the shock of conceding the two quick goals and created chances but didn't get the rub of the green. Not the end of the world and I'm sure the players are as disappointed as we are but they put the effort in so we can't ask for more than that.

So with squad rotation it seems that some would advocate you can play as poorly as you like and still get a game just to make up the numbers. What a strange concept.

Don't get why anyone would pick Clasie based on his recent performances.

Clasie is not good enough for the Prem in my opinion. I've watched him closely in the last two league games and his contrubition has been sadly lacking. He seems to patrol areas in the midfield where he almost knows he won't receive the ball or have to engage opponents. His passing is nearly always short and without any risk, he does not make anything happen offensively. To sum up he is a player who I believe realises he's out of his depth and so hides making him somewhat of a passenger - unfortunately you cannot carry passengers at this level.

Romeu! What a player. He ran, harried, intercepted, tackled, read danger, headed, broke up play and used the ball with intelligence. A superb holding midfield player. Compare and contrast with Man Utd v Chelsea - who was their holding midfield player, did they even have one? Time and again Chelsea walked through and engaged the Utd back four unopposed. How do Utd possibly leave out a player like Morgan? - they paid all that money for him, it's clear that they need a holding midfield player and yet they waste his talents. Hats off to Romeu who just seems to get better and better.

Romeu! What a player. He ran, harried, intercepted, tackled, read danger, headed, broke up play and used the ball with intelligence. A superb holding midfield player. Compare and contrast with Man Utd v Chelsea - who was their holding midfield player, did they even have one? Time and again Chelsea walked through and engaged the Utd back four unopposed. How do Utd possibly leave out a player like Morgan? - they paid all that money for him, it's clear that they need a holding midfield player and yet they waste his talents. Hats off to Romeu who just seems to get better and better.

I'd like to know how many minutes Charlie Austin has played for us - I would imagine his goals per minutes ratio is pretty impressive.

First thirty five minutes was dire. Then there was a light-bulb moment when we suddenly realised we needed to get our two full backs higher up the pitch. Bertrand started it and this led to Austin's goal which he took sublimely. Second half, with West Ham having to come out and both full backs bombing on, we tore them apart and could easily have scored six. Brilliant assist from Austin for Tadic - not many players could have picked out and executed that deft pass, it was pure quality. I'm not JWPs biggest fan but he did take his goal very calmly - when some might have lashed at it he tucked it neatly into the bottom corner. Bertrand MoM for me. That second half was very encouraging. As for West Ham, they look a shadow of the side they were last season but I think Slaven will sort them out eventually.