austsaint

I hate criticising someone when they are down, but FF wasn't only down on confidence, he was down on fundamentals and agility. McCarthy's command of the box, shot stopping and calm demeanour have been inspirational and season saving. The Club has a history of persisting with poor goalkeepers too long; even "super Kelvin" should have been replaced long before he was.

I think the Club should be buying into Hughes' mentality, not the other way around!

What did big Ron have to say?

He just cannot be kept on - Reed I mean; Mark Hughes has earned the job, and must stay on.

Just to take your point about Gabbiadini a step further - quite apart from his goal I thought his cameo was excellent; lots of good hold up play, nice touches and passes and good decision making in tight situations. I know he probably won't stay, but I'd love to see him in Saints colours next season. LOng's cameo was also good. Some posters were calling for Hoj to be replaced at half time but he and Romeu worked all night to contain and eventually overpower the three man Swansea midfield. Alex McCarthy has proved himself a quality keeper and his belated promotion on top of all the other delayed decisions or non-decisions by Reed, Kreuger and Wilson are the only sour feeling on a glorious night for SFC.

This times a hundred. Epic stuff.

Take one of the back three off and put Gabbiadini on to run the channels in support of Austin.

Hoj has been good - put through the pass to Austin who scuffed it - we need that midfield of Hoj and Romeu to remain solid.

Midfield is working harder - they are just outnumbered!

Yet they have had all of the play except the last 5 minutes of the half. Really missing Lemina; their 3 man midfield is controlling things. Let's hope for more from Redmond, Tadic and Austin - on another day Austin would have nicked one of those chances and we'd be 1-0 to the good, against the run of play.

Judas Escariot loves it at the Marriott

Sounds like Lemina is out.

It's going to be incredibly tense to watch. The dream is we despatch a brace early, silence the crowd, flatten the Swans and dominate for the rest of the game with the "we are staying up" chant pulsating from the away stand. The stakes are so high! A little luck would go a long way too.

Fair enough - I take your point about JWP's set pieces - but beyond that there's just not enough attacking or defensive impact; whereas with Lemina and even Hojbjerg there is that capacity for driving runs, and quicker movement into dangerous areas rather than just the shuttling of passes and delayed hopeful crosses. Goals of the style of the Tadic brace and the Redmond header is what we need against Swansea not just the hope of a goal resulting from a corner or a free kick, as welcome as that would be.

I would be very interested to read more about your argument for including Ward-Prowse over Lemina (assuming he is fit). That midfield of Lemina, Hojbjerg and Romeu worked well in the first half v Everton. Lemina was different class against Bournemouth.

Let's hope he's not around to deal with the parachute payments!

Thank you Art. Perhaps Forster to add height and composure at CB as well.

It really is; where's Carceres when you really need him? Reed and Kreuger really need booting for their incompetence.

Thanks - Lemina is crucial - thought the Romeu, Hojbjerg, Lemina midfield trio worked well today with Lemina having licence to drive forward, Hoj some box-to-box play as well and Romeu holding.

And by the look of Bertrand slumped on the pitch with head in hands he immediately took responsibility.

And Stoke have a good chance of getting something from Swansea - even after relegation - It's just that we don't want to be relying on that outcome. Obviously if we had seen it out for the three points today the momentum would have been massive.

Is Lemina definitely ruled out? Is Romeu free to play?

It is a deflating and sickening finale.....just the same, I want to praise the much maligned Redmond - he played an awesome half of Football today. Honourable mentions to Cedric, McCarthy and Hojbjerg.

High emotion after a gut wrenching finish like that..but Hoedt is a liability...awful, awful player.

The worry in mind is their attacking players like Walcott, Tosun and Bolassie will have too much speed and tricks for our defence - we are completely in the shade if you compare our attacking players. Somehow we have to play the boring stuff; pack the midfield with Romeu, Hoj and Lemina and rely on nicking one or two through the finish of Austin or the "hard to depend on" sparks of Tadic. I'm feeling a mix of hope and denial. Hope that we can squeak out of this mess and deal with the dross of Kreuger, Reed and co.......and denial, of the strong possibility that the Toffees despatch us and effectively send us to the trap door.