derry

Bournemouth changed the game at half time injecting energy and raising their tempo pressing the ball and penning us in. Losing Fonte didn't help as nobody was leading. Again like the Leicester game the forwards and midfielders were lethargic. We needed some aggression, not stupid late tackles and got in their faces. I also felt that playing the ball up to a pressed Pelle unable to hold the ball up didn't work. Mane and Tadic just faded out of the game. The midfielders, Clasie and Davis playing passive covering with Wanyama only a tackle from a red card giving Bournemouth too much space. Romeu is more combative but we needed Tadic and Mane to up their work rate defensively and help out. The two full backs also mostly waited for the game to come to them. The whole team were just trying to compact and hold on. The first half was great, all the ingredients missing in the second half. We need to scrap when we are under the cosh. The first half was easy but when teams up their tempo and press us back like Leicester and Bournemouth we need to change tack and hit on the break, put the ball in behind them and get runners behind them very much like the Davis goal but in different circumstances. If we can't keep the ball like the first half we have to exploit the space behind their back four and quickly expose their frailties putting them back under pressure and change the game again.

Koeman says only injuries are JRod and Long. Thought I saw Wanyama at the back of one of the gallery pictures.

He managed to turn the game on it's head when we were losing at Anfield. There is no doubt he is a very clever footballer. There is also no doubt he has underperformed for us though I was glad he was around in our first season in the Premier. Provided he stays fit I would like to see him regularly in the present team at some point in each game as he gives us something different to Davis and JWP. He also picks out a perceptive pass. It's a shame Mane isn't playing tonight.

You are spot on. Good job it was Ramirez on the back post, Neither Davis or JWP would have had a prayer.

I put Mane for MOM but came up as Tadic. Gave it to Mane because of reading the Ramirez header and losing Milner for our equaliser.

Clasie looked much improved from last week and had a decent game. Well done to Ramirez, a great leap and a well directed header over Mignolet for Mane. Only one game suspension served by cup game. Back four very good, caught out for the goal, no pressure from midfield on Milner, VVD played Benteke onside but great header same as last Villa game at SMS. A good result, Stekelenberg was a big difference from last week. Soares had a good game however Juanmi needs game time as very much off the pace. He needs game time, maybe Wednesday.

I still can't forget how Villa turned us over at SMS with about 1/3 possession by keeping quick forwards up on our defence, playing the ball in behind us and breaking quickly. It seemed to me the way to play against the high pressing possession game.

Single left click on the table.

Terry Paine from Winchester City by a country mile.

Maybe his now poor kicking is making him want to pass short but his ability, slowness, judgement and desperation to pass to somebody more like anybody irrespective allows other teams to pen us in as they close down quickly.

I get the feeling that Davis is picked because not to pick the club captain and players chief fixer is seen as more of a problem than picking him. Possibly his display yesterday may change that. Either way Gazzaniga should be picked as he is a better all round keeper than Davis.

Gazzaniga performed fairly well when he played at the end of last season. He has looked good in the U21s. Davis is in Premier League terms nervous and incompetent. Gazzaniga could not have done worse than Davis yesterday remembering that his unnecessary poor pass to Van Dyjk allowed him to be closed down before his hurried sloppy chip forward that Dyer received for the first goal and scuffed clearance for the second. His short play at the back is akin to Kamekazi. Gazzaniga is pretty good and confident in possession and kicks well. The defenders just appear nervous whenever Davis is in goal.

Read it again, I said Pelle should have gone wide and Davis hit the ball over him and miss out their centre backs by hitting the ball wide not over them.

Given a two goal start we shouldn't have lost that. Leicester might have pressed us pressured our midfield but we contributed royally to our loss. Leicester pushed up and compressed us in the middle. What did we do, spent the whole game dropping the ball in short and being outmuscled and losing the ball almost immediately. Van Dyjk's sloppy pass leading to the first goal was just one of many. Huth and Morgan are pedestrian bruisers, Davis spent most of the game hitting his goal kicks at them. Pelle as he did against Swansea should have pulled off towards the touchlines and Davis should have tried to put the ball beyond him. We have to change the way we play to counter the likes of Leicester. Time and time again we played short and sloppy and ran up against a brick wall. I don't like it but for this team the way we played should have been to turn them and put the ball into the space behind their full backs not play short but force them to run back. Our defenders should have gone route one instead we played into their hands. Kelvin Davis was like a rabbit in the headlights looking to play short for him is a nonsense and invariably caused us problems. He should have been looking to miss out Morgan and Huth not drop it into Pelle in the centre of the field. A self inflicted result. It's all very well being a great guy but it's a goalkeeper we need. He hasn't been good enough for years.

Saints should just make it plain to both clubs they won't be selling the players. We don't need disruption mid season. If the players/agents kick off so what.

Great cross field 30 yard diagonal run and cracking first time shot in off the far post from outside the area v Reading in last U21 game. Yet to be replicated by JWP or Davis.

Good goal. Was certainly not sublime and said himself that he is still finding his feet. He is a decent player but adapting and work in progress. Koeman said it all, poor pressing and ball possession.

I think what Koeman is unhappy about was the number of times we gave the ball back to Swansea, he was also very critical about the lack of tight pressing. Our closing down was poor especially when the back four dropped deep and the midfield also dropped off allowing Swansea to dominate the latter part of the game. Rodriguez, Mane, Bertrand, Soares, Romeu, Wanyama closed down tightly and quickly when they could but the tendency of the others to stand off allowed Swansea the room to get at us. Wanyama really was poor in terms of passing and gave the ball away a lot. Good result but a lot to do because Fonte is nowhere as dominant as last season and VVD whilst a decent player is still adapting to the Premier.

I wonder will he put Ramirez in the squad for tonight after all he is in the first team squad and training with them.

If Koeman plays the static Yoshida at right back it just adds to the neutering effect of two holding midfielders and usually another one playing behind the striker. IMO if he plays Yoshida he has to balance that with Mane wide right and Tadic left, with a proper forward behind Pelle, one of Rodriguez, Long or Juanmi who looks a good finisher. He could also play Soares in front of Yoshida. I'm not in favour of that as I'd really prefer Soares at right back. Surely with a back four including Soares and Bertrand with two defensive midfielders we can play four forwards. JWP and Davis just don't provide or score goals. JWP just looks like a holding midfielder full stop. With Clasie coming back it would be surprising to me if JWP and Davis didn't drop down the pecking order. I just wonder how he is going to accommodate Clasie without leaving out Romeu or playing a negative 4-3-3 with only three forwards.

As soon as I saw the team I thought we were frightened of them. Playing a static centre back at right back to give us greater strength at the back neutered the right side and still gave away goals. the midfield two were ok but my biggest criticism is playing the non scoring JWP as an attacker. The defence is MU's weakest part shored up by arguably the world's best keeper. Playing Mane, Rodriguez/Long or Juanmi and Tadic behind Pelle would have given Utd a problem. Pelle had the beating of their defence in the air especially when he pulled away onto Blind on their left side. Fonte looked like a rabbit in the headlights. He needs to release the ball quickly because as soon as he dwells on it he invariably turns backwards and passes back. There was far too much passing back yesterday. I don't subscribe to the JWP expert dead ball delivery myth. No goals and we never score from free kicks or corners. The biggest problem for me was the lack of closing down and the pathetic length we were getting on clearances, often struggling to hit the ball thirty yards. When we conceded the first goal Romeu at some point tried to belt the ball and instead of sending it as far as the goalkeeper only managed to reach the Utd midfield. As for the closing down, our players are not picking up, but standing off the opponents. Many times yesterday players just marked space when the only opponent that they needed to pick up was say twenty yards away and eventually had the ball passed to them but passed it on before they could be closed down. Instead of standing off they needed to move close in and deprive the opponents of that option. There was no anticipation just reacting too late from too far away. I feel pretty sure that a high tempo and hard pressing would have given Utd problems they didn't look equipped to solve. I just think Koeman has selected far too many negative teams this season. We were far better in the second half with four proper forwards and Soares against Norwich, albeit ten men, without either Davis or JWP in the front four. I don't enjoy watching these sterile punchless teams often resulting in poor results.

I don't know who the prat was asking the questions but it made the news conference into an event that should have been cancelled. A total waste if time. Not what Southampton fans want to hear. Shaw, Van Gaal, Schneiderlin, DePay, who cares. What is the state of our injuries is of more interest.

Lost to Leicester with over 60%.

I saw a little bit on TV this morning of Gary Neville doing a video analysis of the Newcastle passing last night, about 90% backwards and sideways. He made the point that it's no good passing like that unless the ball is passed forward into the danger area as scoring goals becomes difficult almost impossible, as we find with Davis and Ward Prowse plus a defensive midfielder.

There was a time that no player could be approached but times have changed. Although the FA have rules in place not allowing clubs to even say that they have bid or received a bid agents run riot. Possibly with the connivance of the potential bidder the agent/source seeds the media to circulate the story whilst at the same time putting the improved terms in the hands of the player's agent. That in itself unsettles the player having the crock of gold dangled under his nose by an agent who will benefit considerably from any move or even a renegotiated contract. Wanyama was obviously exposed to this so it is understandable in an industry where there is a lack of any ethics and money is the God that a young lad of limited intelligence is easily led. I personally see him tied to us as long as he is useful and contracted then he will be gone, either dispensed with, or for a big fee. With that in mind as long as he does his best for us while he is here that'll do me.