CanadaSaint

I don't get why Yoshida is being grouped in with Jos and Fox. He's played some good, composed games for us but his lack of playing time didn't help him against Villa. That's no reason to consign him to the same fate as two players who are palpably out of their depth. If Yoshi had been Lovren's right-side partner today we may well have seen a very different result IMO.

It could be that key cogs in our pressing game (and I include the full backs who provide the wide pressure) have been the ones on the injury table. It's also possible that the medical "powers that be" at the club have concluded that the bout of outfield injuries we've suffered lately is at least partly down to the pressing game and the physical toll it takes. I don't think Pochettino's pressing game is gone for good, but that we'll see it much more selectively. Actually, we did that last year because he only seemed to fully wheel it out against the top teams, which IMO accounted for our less than stellar performance against the weaker ones.

Fox certainly has flaws and I'm no fan of his, but the majestic Lovren we've seen for most of the season would have provided more than adequate cover. What turns a challenge into a potential disaster is picking Jos - it introduces a long-proven error-prone defender, results in less than adequate cover for Fox, and causes Lovren to move to a side on which IMO he's less comfortable. One really bad managerial decision cost us that game because I think we could well have won it with a Yoshida/Lovren pairing at the back. The thing that makes it all the more inexplicable is that Pochettino supposedly saw quite a lot of us in the weeks before Adkins was fired, and had every opportunity to see what we've already seen - that the Jos and Fox pairing is a disaster waiting to happen.

There's no sense playing Fonte if he's not fully fit, especially in a 4 games in 11 days spell. But that's not the decision I'd question. It's the decision to play Jos when we need strength on that side to cover for Fox, especially if that means we have to move Lovren to the right. I'd much prefer to pair Yoshida and Lovren - even if Joshi didn't play that well against Villa; he's on a different planet to Jos, and that duo keeps Lovren where we most need him.

If Pochettino did indeed watch a lot of Saints before Adkins was fired and he took over, as most of us did, what on earth would possess him to reunite that catastrophic Jos/Fox partnership? I've been confused by some of MP's decisions lately, but now I just don't like them and wonder WTF he's thinking.

I don't know WTF Jos has to do in order to be removed from the selection reckoning but this is beyond laughable. I'm not even sure what he was doing there for the OG, given that he's supposed to play on the left side of the central two. And he's all over the goddam shop for the third. Did we really go ten games or so conceding only six goals?

I thought we looked comfortable and dangerous - until we conceded the equalizer. And then it went a little pear-shaped. Rickie is peripheral and J-Rod is not that involved, either. Midfield battle, I guess, probably with a piece of brilliance or a mistake deciding it.

I've constantly defended Gazzaniga, saying that he needs time to develop the experience that will unlock his potential. But a cross played in from that far out, which is clearly destined for somewhere just inside the six yard box, and with the defenders having to head back to their own goal in order to get to it, is a keeper's ball. At every level of football, never mind this one. I badly wanted any goals to be "not Gazza's fault", but that one certainly was.

Lambert's doing a lot of ball-watching - waiting for it to come to him rather than attacking it. We seriously need him to get in the game.

I'm talking about being rooted to his line for a cross that came from a long way out. Your inability to understand that - and your "*** off mate" comment - says everything.

From someone pleading for Gazza to be given time to develop, that was an utterly abysmal piece of goalkeeping.

I'd feel 100% better if Lovren was in his best position - on the left, covering Fox - and Fonte on the right, but I can only think that Fonte is not 100%.

I guess one angle on all the changes is that MP is thinking about 4 games in 11 days, but - barring injuries - it's hard to understand why he's making this many changes at the start of that run.

On the good side, I'm not seeing much fast attacking width in the Spurs line-up, so perhaps Fox won't be quite as exposed.

I hope there's a good reason for these changes - Jos (with all his vulnerabilities) covering for Fox's well-known vulnerabilities (Fonte cannot be 100% yet), Shaw out (transfer on the cards?), Osvaldo not even on the bench, and JWP's demotion apparently confirming that MP is not as convinced about him as we are. I was pretty convinced we'd beat Spurs but I wasn't expecting that lot.

Possibly because Pochettino is a lot more p*ssed-off about the Stoke and Arsenal goals than he let on at the time.

Not as good as us, and they have a number of very expensive players who are extremely hard to leave out but arguably unsuited to MP's tactical style. Do you think Spurs would appeal to him more than staying here?

Pochettino is a smart cookie with an almost religious zeal for a certain type of football, and I don't see him going anywhere that doesn't have the type of players who can function within that style. Besides his commitment to a certain style, I think he relishes the challenge of bringing through younger players who are familiar with the style and have the skills, smarts and energy not just to play it, but also to progress to - and even beyond - the next level. And to cap it off, I think he genuinely enjoys being part of Cortese's "project". Spurs tick virtually none of those boxes - not many teams do tick them. So I can't see us losing him any time soon. And if we do lose him, I wouldn't mind betting that Cortese has a well developed contingency plan that would see us maintain exactly the same course. If we're taking mattresses to hotels and building training surfaces to match upcoming pitches, it's laughable to think that Cortese doesn't have a plan for Pochettino's departure. MP came in from out of the blue, and his replacement probably will as well.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the thought of Redknapp and Cortese negotiating a transfer with eachother. Although I'm sure it wouldn't happen like that, just the thought of it is quite entertaining.

As I watched Rickie trudge off - alone, somewhat disconsolately and before the rest of our squad - after the Man City game (he didn't get on until the 77th minute and Osvaldo scored a cracker), my first thought was that he's not as happy here as he was. When I saw that Allardyce said last week that Carroll is "weeks and weeks and weeks behind schedule", my first thought was that he's coming in for Rickie. They may well view him as not just a good player but as their key to PL survival, which increases the price they'd be willing to pay. And I've never shaken the feeling that MP was not as thrilled as everyone else with Rickie's England call up and subsequent success, no matter what he said in public. That turn of events would only make it more difficult for him to do what I think he really wants to do - move on from the Rickie era in our playing style. I love Rickie and everything he's done for us and everything he brings to us, but I'm preparing myself for him to go.

Nobody likes playing a team right after they've had a management change, but Spurs looked dreadful when they were being pressed yesterday. They wanted too long on the ball and hardly anyone was creating pass options for the player in possession. When they didn't have possession, Spurs were slow to pick up the pass options that Liverpool were creating. Problems like that are very difficult to address in the short term, even with the uptick that usually comes with a new manager, especially as the root cause can be fitness levels or players who just aren't suited to the high-intensity PL.

Look, he gives me the ab-dabs as well but I don't agree with all the hysterical crap posted on here about a young keeper (the youngest in the PL by a mile, I think) being forced to play above his current level. I'm willing to keep an open mind about his future because he has much to learn and plenty of time in which to learn it, and I'm not ready to agree that "he will never be our 1st choice keeper whilst we are in the premier league". I think he needs a good goalkeeping coach (which I'm not sure we have because you're right - he hasn't improved) and some extended playing time away from the high-pressure PL (which we haven't been willing or able to arrange.) And if "some of the goals he has let in ... have been league 2 standard" is the criterion for judgment, we might as well boot Boruc, Hart, Davis and most other PL keepers as well. Some of their howlers have been more laughable than any of Gazzaniga's. But this has become a circular debate between the closed-minded and the open-minded, which is really a waste of everyone's time.

We get it, you don't rate the guy and you're unwilling - or unable - to open your mind to the possibility that he will become a good keeper with the experience that makes keepers good. Joe Hart was City's first choice and everyone's England #1 not so long ago, but he's lost ground because he's prone to errors of judgment or technique under pressure. Jack Butland was on most big team wish lists a couple of years ago, but has faded away for now. And let's not forget that Gazza has not let one in from the opposing penalty box or by trying to dribble around a forward - errors for which Boruc has been let off with far less criticism than Gazza is receiving now. Unless you're perfect, you'd better hope that people in your life are willing to cut you more slack than you're willing to cut Gazzaniga.

I hope he'll save some soap for you, Rog: I'd be a lot more willing to think about your opinions if you didn't respond to fellow Saints fans who see things differently with words like idiots, mad, clueless, stupid, happy clappers, garbage and rubbish, or invite them to "do one" (all examples from your last two pages of posts). I could have done that when you gave Shaw an 8 today and said he was brilliant, which he certainly wasn't, but I understand that you see things your own unique way.

Good post, and there's a lot to what you say, especially the part about outsourcing his attacking responsibilities - even if those full back forays are a cornerstone of our style. But it wasn't just us putting him on a pedestal. The Beckham comparisons were coming from balanced commentators outside the Saints circle. MP's tendency to pull him emerged very soon after those comparisons started, so maybe he's not listening as well as he needs to. For me, Shaw started to push his attacking luck today and rather neglect his defensive responsibilities - not really serious but enough to keep an eye on it. It's easy to forget that these kids are still only eighteen and nineteen.