Tommy Mulgrew

Having seen their spirited display against ManUre yesterday. I think Newcastle will stay up. The trouble is, I have not seen anything remotely like that from us for a long time. Until I do, I shall be worried until we have 40 points this season. Three tonight will do nicely but, given recent displays, I am not confident. Also, I note that the Radio London commentary team for the Palace match maintained that Palace would not have conceded the second goal like we did (the defence would not have switched off while the ball bounced towards the goal line as ours seemed to do); I thought that was an instructive comment.

Someone should show RK the match against Everton in which Reed excelled. Reed was perfectly capable of performing well in the EPL then; why is he not ready now after the benefit of another year or two of coaching in the under 21s and in the first team squad in the intervening period. The absence of Reed from the pitch in our league games this year has demonstrated for me that RK is not the successor to MP that the Board thought he would be. And that is a pity.

yet another game we should have won; the only plus was Martina, who yet again had a solid game, got forward well and played a superb pass through the defence to Long, who predictably missed the golden chance to score. We need to win a few games on the bounce now otherwise we'll be caught by the clubs that are in the relegation battle.

The West Brom Chairman has apparently refused even to speak to Levy and Spurs; I wonder whether we shall do the same.

I see, from the BBC Sport site, that Florin Gardos is looking for a nickname. Perhaps someone should suggest "two-bob bit" to him! (florin - geddit?)

ManUreout!

I hear that Gaston is playing for Uruguay tonight!!!

Why didn't Reed play?

Not surprised. Good on Saints for moving to protect our interests. Will be interesting to see whether RK bites.

Does anyone know exactly how the managerial and coaching duties are split between Ronald, Erwin and Sammy? I'd be interested to know and would be grateful to anyone who can take the trouble to explain it. Thanks

I'd be really interested to hear from someone ITK precisely why this obviously talented creative player, who is capable of providing incisive passes to set-up scoring chances for our other players in a way that is sadly lacking from all our regular starters and subs except Mane, is considered by our coaching and managerial staff so surplus to our requirements that we are apparently ready and willing to end his contract and allow him to go back to south America. Anybody able to tell us why?

Bewildered is right!

hopeless; just like watching a pale imitation of Stoke or Wet Spam!

Interesting to read "Van Hanegem"'s comments on here; thanks for them. IMO, what we really need to strengthen our midfield when Morgan eventually goes is someone just like the real Van Hanegem, striding around St Mary's hammering the opposition and stroking the ball incisively forwards to our more attacking players.

According to Ron, ManUre has not made a "serious" bid for Morgan. I might have missed it but I think neither has Arsenal or any other club. Yet we seem to expect him to go on Wednesday. Does anyone know what the truth is?

Thnx for the suggestion of cricfree. I've tried it before and encountered a lot of buffering and unwanted interruptions. But, in the absence of alternatives, I'll try it again.

I usually watch away matches on Drakulastream, which has now been closed down. Anyone know of a good free stream for Sunday, please? Many thanks in anticipation.

Pelle was in Skrotal's pocket all match and hardly won a ball against the sole central defender (Lovren rarely helped his teammate in marking Pelle - he did not need to!). In contrast, Kevin Davies completely bossed ManUre's defence, even when he had three close markers for the lofted ball down the middle of the park in the recent FA Cup tie, and won almost all the balls played up to him. Pelle is jaded and without confidence; his attitude is sharp contrast to earlier in the season, when he scored regularly. If he gets a couple of goals his confidence will return. But will he be able to boss an entire defence the way Kevin Davies did for Bolton (and sometimes for us) and does for Preston? Perhaps a bit of Davies's aggression would help our Italian stallion.

"The pundits say if a player feels contact they have the right to go down, look at Kane today and many other games where it happens." Nobody 'has the right to go down'. It's cheating and wrong.

Yoshida MOTM for me. Fonte also good. Mane lively when he came on. Brenda got her tactics spot on and Ron did not; even our starting line-up selection was puzzling. The performance deserved nothing better than a defeat, unfortunately. We need to start scoring again otherwise our season will just fizzle out, like it did last year. The approach play is as clever as it always was but we're too shy of taking shots at goal. On a different subject, we seem to have several divers in our team now; I don't like it. It's unsporting and does us no favours. The dive for the first penalty appeal might well have influenced the ref not to give the second to us.

agreed

Forster dropped it too easily. Not all refs would have recognised the incident as a foul. I know Onouha was offside; that does not mean we did not get lucky. I have my opinion; you have yours. Both are equally as valid as each other.

I thought it was Clyne who raised his hand but never mind. The raised left hand was exactly the same thing as Forster did with his right hand: an instinctive movement by a Saints player just in front of the goal line in response to Austin touching the ball. The defender was too far away; Forster was in just the right position and knocked the ball over the bar. A great save. But less good was FF's calamitous faffing around and dropping the ball in the last minute of extra time. We certainly got lucky there, for a second time. I cannot remember a season in which we have had so much good fortune.

Great game today. Always looked threatening with his pace and running behind the line of defenders. Excellent finish under pressure for the three points. If he can avoid going down too easily when leant upon he will become one of our "legends" IMO. (Repeat from Mane thread)

Great game today. Always looked threatening with his pace and running behind the line of defenders. Excellent finish under pressure for the three points. If he can avoid going down too easily when leant upon he will become one of our "legends" IMO.