austsaint

I must try and watch the French National side to see who is keeping him out of midfield - they must be good. Apart from his usual high octane rugged tackling game today he delivered several quality passes in the attacking 1/3 to set up attacks.

Just superb today, and so was Morgan.

Van Nistleroy making it 2-1 after Danny Higginbotham had given us the lead against Man U. thus condemning us to relegation - I think that was the game when Roy Keane made several smug gestures about our demise.

Any one know how many Arsenal players are involved in International duty this week?

Two things I learned from watching the game (TV) today. JWP is not just a dead ball delivery starlet - he runs hard, tackles, harasses and is starting to pass the ball with penetration. The other thing is an appreciation for how well Fonte is playing this season and why Yoshida can't get a look in.

Totally correct - a freakish event; plus his save early in the 2nd half was top shelf to keep us even. He is great value.

Sums it up though - an unchallenged award.

w*nker of the month

w*nker of the month

Maybe not a legend yet, but as good a CB as any going around. Whoever scouted and recruited him should get a Xmas bonus.

At 16 thousand posts it's not that hard for you to keep going. Why don't you take a break for a while? Good thread btw. Another factor with the teams endurance apart from the aerobic/anaerobic fitness and sports science nous must surely be the hunger and motivation the team has now - such a contrast to an ageing Fulham at the weekend. As others have noted, if we skip past 40 points well before February-March it will be interesting to see if the energy/endurance maintains until May - assuming we aren't still staring at CL. It's great to watch.

At 16 thousand posts it's not that hard for you to keep going. Why don't you take a break for a while? Good thread btw. Another factor with the teams endurance apart from the aerobic/anaerobic fitness and sports science nous must surely be the hunger and motivation the team has now - such a contrast to an ageing Fulham at the weekend. As others have noted, if we skip past 40 points well before February-March it will be interesting to see if the energy/endurance maintains until May - assuming we aren't still staring at CL. It's great to watch.

Rasiak may have struggled. - - - Updated - - - Rasiak may have struggled.

Even if we had not equalized that 2nd half performance was magnificent - so many contributors with Wanyama, Lovren, Scheiderlin and Lallana outstanding. Davis was good too before being subbed - the best point I can remember.

Good summary - you should post more often! I too thought that we invited them back into the game after ALs goal by not playing as high up the pitch. Disagree about Swansea's shots on target being mostly speculative and comfortable for AB - the header from Bony and the full stretch save to his right (Bony again?) were top shelf and kept us in the game.

It looked like Dean pointed to the middle of the park initially for a goal and then got a call from the Assistant.

Quite agree if he had a passing touch to his game we'd be looking at an "Orzil" amount of money. He was very good today along with Clyne, Boruc and Lallana (first half).

Says it all really. Swansea could have had several had Boruc not been so good. What worried me is we looked like the away team after our goal just trying to hang on for the rest of the game.

If this isn't addressed then our goal won't be enough - so much room and space on their right side of the pitch.

As a fan you get such confidence looking at Boruc in goal - imagine what it's like for his team mates on the field.

I may get slated for asking this, but apart from excellent dead ball delivery and neat and tidy possession passing what is JWP going to provide as an attacking AM in place of JRod or instead of Lallana, Ramirez etc. (at this early stage of his career)?

I may get slated for asking this, but apart from excellent dead ball delivery and neat and tidy possession passing what is JWP going to provide as an attacking AM in place of JRod or instead of Lallana, Ramirez etc. (at this early stage of his career)?

Looks as good as any CB in the Prem so far. Good in the air; fearless in the tackle, looks comfortable on either foot and is prepared to take the ball forward. As others have noted, he looks to have hauled Jose along another peg as well; I'm a big fan of Yoshida but I can see why Jose is maintaining his spot.

I thought we looked less of a threat when JWP and Chambers came on - at 0-0 it looked a situation made for Ramirez. On another day with better luck Saints win 2-0. On the subject of JWP - great dead ball delivery and neat and tidy on the ball but at this stage he doesn't look a player who will take the game up a level; run and take on defences or play dangeros through balls. I know he is young, but it's as if he's being willed and hyped to be the answer.

The odd thing is the Club is generally hellbent on promoting youth/academy players en masse but continue to select Kelvin as understudy to AB. Despite the couple of howlers last year Gazza showed much promise and should be sitting on the bench in my view wih Kelvin taking a coaching/team spirit/ambassadorial role.