austsaint

Think we would be more effective with 10 outfield players.

So one sided in the second half - Sunderland were abject, but what an important win. Bertrand, Romeu, Gabby and Tadic all excellent. Yoshida and Stevens didn't give Defoe a sniff.

He really does look like a top level striker.

Well done Gabby - first one might have been dodgy, but the second a moment of class - great assist from Tadic who looks so much better today. Turgid sort of game but the H/T score is all that matters. Bertrand, Yoshida and Cedric looking good. What a relieving win this would be.

I'll give you two areas where PEH is better, though it's true, his form has dipped. PEH provides a degree of coverage for Romeu that JWP cannot or doesn't. Hojbjerg is capable of driving runs into attacking areas; JWP never does - he lays off a safe pass and then runs into the box. Have a good look; that's what he does. I hope Prowsey has a blinder and scores a brace in a winning side; but apart from the occasional game he hasn't been better than Hojbjerg, and our midfield overall looks to be a real point of weakness.

If you are suggesting he is not good enough and Prowsey is better, we have a major point of difference.

Ward-Prowse starts again - if I was Hojbjerg I'd be looking elsewhere.

Current - Romeu, Davis and Sims (nice lad and I think he's going to be a good player).

He (Lukaku) is damn close to elite level; I don't know what else you would want in a striker. Lukaku represents another awful misjudgement on Mourhino's part in letting him go for a song. Back on topic, I hope we get to see VVD in a Saint's shirt next season - staying up is the first step in that hopeful process.

Agree on both counts - we absolutely have to get a CB in the door and Essien would add something to a faltering midfield.

Maybe Les will contact Gaston for the due dilligence on Caceres.

Thought he played quite well today, so did Yoshida - our midfield was the main problem today. A side of Stephen's game I hadn't seen before was his capacity to run the ball out of defence; confident and calm and with a reasonable passing game. We need CB replacements, but he's doing fairly well and is not that much different in style and quality to the much trumped John Stones.

That's crap Verlaine; you're absolutely locked into your position of Davis as "mediocre" but there has been plenty of evidence in the past 4 seasons that he is a very good attacking midfielder. As S-Clarke points out, the Club is at a point where players like Davis need to be transitioned towards a more part time role with new talent brought in to bolster what is becoming a very average midfield. You might turn your attention to whether the Club is going to bite the bullet and look at replacements for Clasie and Ward-Prowse who are clearly part of the midfield problem. While you're at it you might be able to come up with ideas to resurrect the early promise Hojbjerg showed. And one last thing - calling Steven Davis "Davo" has got nothing to do with lack of objectivity of the player's contributions in the same way that some posters call JWP "Prowsey".

I still think it's not completely down to Puel; there are so many areas of weakness in the squad, and it really is time for the torch of accountability to be shone on Reed's decision making and recruitment. After today though, I'm joining the Puel out brigade; at the very least in the Summer. The most glaring tactical faux pas today was not the weakened CB set-up, but the complete surrender of midfield with Davis and JWP providing a meek CM presence while Romeu valiantly tries to do a job both Wanyama and Morgan previously did in tandem . Then there was the setting up of J-Rod on the left and Boufal who so excels centrally or wider left, stuck out on the right and starved of the ball. On another issue, surely it's time for Forster to be dropped - he has been awful for much of the season. Gabbiadini was a bright note on a very dull and deflating afternoon.

Davis and Forster were both poor today - JWP was just as ineffective in midfield as Davis. There will be criticism of our CBs, but they weren't actually that bad and Stephens showed a lot of composure on the ball.

There's likely to be a lot of criticism about our makeshift central defence, but Stephens and Yoshida have actually been ok. The real weakness today has been in midfield - Davis and JWP have left a lot to Romeu and offered little in attack.

We are being run over in midfield - and Romeu does need assistance; there's zero shutting down of their CMs.

Puel has to tighten the midfield up; and J-Rod looks a moral to be subbed as well.

They strolled through our midfield in the lead up to Carroll's goal.

He's like the civil servant who remains at his desk, avoiding the redundancy, with his head down, until the retirement pay off materialises.

Could be; I'd rather Bertrand's speed and crossing were deployed at LB with either Gardos or Stephens partnering Yoshida. I think Sims should continue to be in the frame; he looks increasingly good with each run out.

Spot on....with the likes of Boufal (looks a class player) we have to think about scoring more than one goal because our defence is no longer the strength of the side. Looking forward to seeing Gabbiadini get a run out too. C'mon Saints.

The trouble with that move though is the loss of Bertrand's attacking forays and crosses.

Yep, someone deserves a hard kick in the rear for co*king this up. Not replacing Fonte was bad enough but the injury to VVD with time remaining in the window, yet no result, is unforgiveable - particularly with the Wembley final in sight.

It was a quiet night for Davis; but he was not alone and did provide some creative spark in the second half. Tadic on the other hand gave nothing at all and it's been like that for 6 weeks or so; Boufal's impact was tremendous and he is surely the main creative player into the future; I think Tadic's time is nearly up.