derry

Forster, Clyne Fonte Yoshida Bertrand, Wanyama Gardos, Long Davis Tadic, Pelle.

We were left very exposed after Alderweireld went off because Mane and Mayuka just didn't defend and stayed loose allowing Arsenal to outnumber our back line and play through the midfield. It's all very well leaving Pelle up on his own but in the circumstances we might have been better to drop him in with Wanyama and Davis and leave Mayuka up front and Mane tucked in to compact two banks of four. Like I said before Targett would have been a better substitution than Mayuka who doesn't even look worth a place on the bench.

Good display, lucky Arsenal. Cork was taken out by the late Ramsey. Cazorla stood on Tadic. Long was clattered early on. Mane and especially Mayuka were totally unaware defensively and are not prepared to make the effort to defend. We missed Long and Tadic who supported our full backs but maybe the substitutions were necessary. IMO Mayuka was the wrong choice. Targett in front of Bertrand for me with ten minutes left, as soon as Alderweireld went off we opened up, Davis just doesn't tackle, he had a chance to block the cross for the goal but didn't go through the ball, just waved his foot at it. He does a lot of good link up play but I'd like a bit more guts from him when a last ditch block is needed. At least we have until Monday to try and get some fit.

We were well in the game up to the first goal. Clyne pulled out of a fifty fifty tackle allowing a break which caught us cold for the first. Davis lost the ball for break number two for the second. Tadic can't seem to get the ball in the air, hit the first man for God knows how many times and with everybody forward we were caught on the break again. surely when we are chasing the game especially against a team that pressed well who are nervous when the ball is lofted in we can play differently. I lost count of the sideways and backwards passes going nowhere even against 10/9 men especially with three strikers waiting and calling for the ball which never came. i wouldn't mind if we were keeping our shape and attacking with forward runs and movement but we weren't, we were just far too slow. Long wide right for me. Tadic on the left and some forward passes and runs from midfield. Pelle needs service and he isn't getting any of that. Mane needs to stop dribbling so often.with the ball taking lots of touches. He has bags of pace and sometimes needs to put the ball past the defender and run him. Today he had a good chance to get through early on and instead of knocking the ball wide and running the defender who was without backup he tried to dribble inside and lost the ball. He would have been round the back of the defence. He does it far too often for me.

IMO he thought he could overload a poor defence with an extra forward. The defence with three in front of them in fact played well. There is no way IMO he would play that team in the next three games. I think he needs to sometimes be a bit cruder against these packed defences. A plan C could be to get the ball up front quickly from the back and supporting Pelle quickly as a variation rather than playing it around and allowing the opponents time to pack their box.

I thought that it was too many cooks spoilt the broth. Playing Long as an extra attacker worked against us, it lost us that vital balance. It also prevented a Leicester type substitution. Our balance is the vital ingredient, it was unfortunately a gamble that didn't come off. I thought Dowd was awful and allowed the Villa defenders to push and shove at Pelle all night but penalised him for standing his ground. Goalkeeper's mistake as Aldeweirerld would have cleared it. Goes down to selection really. Similar to the WBA game with the extra midfielder destroying the balance. IMO if he wanted the extra attacker, play two up front in a 4-4-2. The usual system didn't work.

I don't see why people are still thinking we are weak in goalkeeping back up. Boruc is on a 93 day loan and as the first month is over can be recalled immediately. Additionally he is playing well and regularly. Only if both Forster and Boruc were injured would we have a problem. Unless the management make the mistake of not recalling Boruc. However as Davis isn't even playing in the cup it's unlikely. Unlike last year we have 4 decent centre backs, 2 for LB/RB, at least 4 CM + HR and JWP, 3 strikers + JR, 3 wide MF. (Long can play anywhere across the front), IMO we look better all round, so probably if the GK/CB injuries of last season were repeated the ten game collapse would be unlikely.

At least he will know it's going to cost Spurs an arm and a leg if they bid for Saints players. Schneiderlin knows he is going nowhere. Rodriguez a different case but if they want him it's still going to cost them a big big fee for a proven current international Premier League striker. Spurs on the cheap or part exchanged for doubtful cast offs that don't work for Pochettino which would almost have the guarantee that they wouldn't cut it here either isn't going to happen. I think Spurs problem will be the Saints cash on the nail policy that carefully chosen replacements can be brought in.

Nobody know what state she was in or whether she was capable or incapable of giving her assent. I saw the video clip of her leaving the lobby and coming back in and she wasn't falling around drunk. What happened after I haven't a clue and neither does she. However appalled I am about the standard of behaviour of all the parties I couldn't find him guilty without corroboration. Everything else is assumption.

And how desperate the buying club are for a quick fix.

Buying players who are important in a successful team will cost a lot more. it's going to take a lot of money to shift them. £35m begs the question, which one is that for?

One thing troubles me about this conviction. I know the girl has no memory of the rape, having said that I personally have experienced people including my wife who had too much to drink, were completely stupid the night before and had no recollection the next day when told about their stupidity. The troubling bit is that there is no corroboration whether it was consensual or rape especially as the alleged victim has no memory of the event. I can't see how the jury could be sure what happened. I think this conviction may yet be found unsafe. It is possible that she did have consensual sex but subsequently went to sleep and then couldn't remember next day.

It's going to take longer than a year to build their answer to the Emirates. Besides they still don't have the land as it's going to litigation.

One game at a time. We can cross the bridges when and if we get there.

Spurs probably off to MK for two years maybe longer, I wonder how that will work out. He who laughs last etc.

It's one thing bringing in players, but the big question will they gel with the existing misfits. Could yet be another under achiever in different circumstances, as with Pochettino landing on his feet with a made for him setup at Southampton but struggling at Spurs where the players don't seem to get it..

Thanks, so no problem yet. Rodriguez issue need sorting and still can't get my head around the Cork situation.

Doesn't his contract still have three years left on it at the end of this season? Furthermore I'd be surprised if there was a 'gentleman's agreement' as we told him he wasn't going, full stop. He obviously wasn't going to get away by striking and would lose his place in the France squad if he didn't play. Nothing has changed there from the club's point of view and apart from an alleged poor bid from Spurs nobody bid. He is now worth a lot more to us due to our success and it will take well north of £30m to even make us blink. It will still take a bidder to shift him. What denotes a big club? paying stupid money or Champions League football. Unless Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool get their finger out it would only be about the money offered by a desperate club paying another inflated transfer fee. If he goes we will take somebody's pants down again.

Just had a look at the last two pages. There is a lot of partisan rubbish on there. We haven't played any of the top teams yet except LFC and Spurs. By my calculation we have lost to the 11th and 12th placed teams and drawn with the 13th. We've beaten 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th,14th, 15th, 18th and19th. In their minds the top teams are 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 11th and 12th, well sorry boys there are no points for history. Apart from Chelsea and MC the other four are in a mess of their own making and worse still the rest of the Premier know it and are taking advantage of it. I haven't a clue where we will finish but I'm sure I'm enjoying my team a lot more than those who thought buying our grossly overpriced and overrated players was the answer. What they missed was that those players were good within a team and support network but without the players covering their backs were nowhere near as good.

I'm told he looks very sharp in training and not far away.

What the **** couldn't see because of his arrogance was that he was paying way over the odds for decent players. Not the world class players he thought he was getting. He sold his world class player brought in decent players who haven't gelled and built a team that is worse, whilst Saints knew they could replace decent players.

Spot on, I was at a meeting about the time of the Mickey Fialka fiasco where Mary Corbett in the presence of Lawrie McMenemy and Leon Crouch stated that the club had run out of money and that SFC was on the point of liquidation as there was no money to fund administration which was now not possible. Markus having the funds was the only way the club could be saved.

Ings out of contract in July. We could very likely get him for a signing on fee then. Clasie would be a strengthening in January. We've had two Marquee signings look how that worked out. Sell Rodriguez ASAP unless he signs the extension. Sell Ramirez for a decent fee even if it means giving Hull back part of their loan fee. Bring in one or two more along the lines of the summer signings. Replace Boruc if he goes permanently in Jan. That would do for me as long as we don't lose anybody we want to keep.

That might be so but that was last season. I think if they were still with us and unless we had strengthened we would be nowhere near as good as the present team. The present team looks a quantum leap in effectiveness and quality. The £92m plus the TV income has allowed us an unbelievable chance to move forward.

He's come a long way since he played for Newport (IOW).