CanadaSaint

This might be quite a bit more than a "niggle" or a "simple bruise." The danger surrounds bleeding into the muscle mass, and it's not to be treated lightly without the risk of long term consequences. They don't hospitalize players without good reason, so I fear that Ramirez could be gone for 2-4 weeks or more. It's rather troubling that he could pick up what sounds like a significant impact injury during training, although we don't know the circumstances.

No, you're right Steve. But it's his reputation, which (his evident ego would suggest) is very important to him.

I trust Cortese (and Markus's family) to run the club prudently and responsibly. However, and they are big "howevers" IMO: I was really pleased with the acquisition of Ramirez, but that was based on the assumption that we were signing him from Markus's "pot of gold" - not loan funding. If I'd thought we were borrowing money to sign him I would have been far less enthusiastic. This revelation adds question marks to the issue of whether we'll be able to significantly upgrade our defence in January, as we absolutely must. I can't help but wonder whether there's any connection between this and the decision to suspend Stapelwood development. Having said that, it does make sense to step outside this year's business model because next year's (assuming that we survive) has a major income increase. Yes, it's a risk because it has a potentially deep downside but it also has a very high upside. Cortese obviously has big gonads for a little guy.

I couldn't agree more. We can't keep waiting to "sort it out at half time" because we lack the ability to address issue on the pitch during the game. That has been a feature of (probably) four of our games so far, with Nigel being very animated on the sideline trying to convey the adjustments needed because we've fallen off the "game plan." As much as I like Lallana, his all-action style doesn't leave much time for receiving input from the bench and having a word in the appropriate ears. That's why we keep making recurrent tactical mistakes, and it's no coincidence that we've tended to be better after half time. It would make a big difference if we could address this issue because the adjustments have, for the most part, been effective. Late but effective. The captaincy is not an accolade, it's a job - and a really important one.

Still very concerned about our defensive woes but I think we've actually tightened up there with Yoshida alongside Fonte. Today's main problems (as at Arsenal) were in midfield IMO, and we sorted them at half time for the most part. Too bad that we were already effectively out of the game by then. We didn't choose to change a winning team, we were forced to do so, and that hurt us big-time. I'm still quite optimistic about staying up and perhaps doing better than just that. In our first six games we've played Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Everton (who have gained more points in 2012 than anyone bar City and United.) And our points total and goal difference are not much worse than teams that haven't played all those juggernauts.

The PL is a bit of a snob's league covered by a very snobbish media, so it's to be expected. We have to earn our respect up here, and that takes time. That's why Liverpool are being cut a load of slack despite an easier start than ours, while we are written-off after four games. Yes, we've earned respect for our attacking style but lost it to our glaring defensive weaknesses. With so many ex-players in the media, we encounter the players' mentality - "Show us yer medals. If you don't have any, STFU."

He's got some wheels, that's for sure. For the penalty my first thought was that the ball was a couple of yards too long for him, and that the keeper would get there first. Those two yards disappeared in an instant, and then Mayuka had the touch to push it past the keeper. He could give us a very different offensive threat to the one we've relied on for 2+ years, and he could be deadly in the last twenty minutes of games.

That I completely agree with, and he also needs to shoot more often. But IMO he made a major contribution today all over the pitch. And I have a feeling that Ramirez will be very good for him - giving him more space, rewarding his runs, showing him a thing or two, and so on.

Not an unreasonable opinion from the Villa lot but I bet most of them would rather have seen him in their shirt than ours today. They had a few that went AWOL after 45 minutes.

Yes.

You need to watch the game again and see Lallana's effort and involvement in every third of the pitch, because you obviously missed it first time around. Sure, many of the magical moments came from the feet of Ramirez but we would not have won that game without Lallana's contribution. "Ramirez makes Lallana look silly", my arse. God, you do come out with some drivel.

Yep, that's exactly the point DD. I think Rickie was a little slow because he din't think the pass was "on", which - for 90%+ of players, it wasn't. I don't think that will be lost on Rickie, and he'll be quicker next time.

He learned a lot about them in the first half and put the knowledge into practice in the second half, but I don't think we've seen his full array of talents yet. When the other get familiar with him and keep making the runs he's capable of feeding, we could really see some goals.

He's a great believer in positivity so it was really good to see him get some positive reinforcement from the fans. His reaction to "There's only one Nigel Adkins" was actually quite touching in the cold, calculating, unforgiving world of the Premier League.

Exactly the same ball-watching that he's been doing for two seasons or more. Hopefully the ghost has been exorcised permanently.

You could see that our guys were still learning how to play with eachother as the game developed. That's a "tough ask" in training sessions because it can only be done in real-game situations. Ramirez took it all in during the first half and saw the little, angled runs that he started to feed in the second half. The others started to appreciate what he brings to the table, and they - in turn - gave him the ball in the right situations and then pulled off to create a pass option for him. Very impressive.

A big nod to Nigel for having the courage to drop Kelvin and pull Fox off at HT. Without those two decisions I doubt we'd have won.

I thought Lallana was superb all over the pitch.

I couldn't agree more that Fox is the main reason we've been pulled out of shape defensively. Yoshida looks excellent and he certainly did help Fonte to play much better. I don't share your optimism about Richardson - I think he'll get done regularly at this level. I don't think it will happen but I'd like to see Yoshida at LB with Fonte and Jos in the middle, and Clyne going back to RB.

Well, four games in and we've already played what I think will be the top 3 at the end of the season. Zero points (no surprise) and -7 on goal difference (others, I suspect, will do worse.) Our midfield played far too deep in the first half, much better in the second. Fonte looked better - even more so for having Yoshida alongside him. I'd be inclined to play Yoshida at LB because Fox is constantly done for pace, seldom goal-side, and he ball-watches. Our middle two continually have to cover for his inadequacies which pulls us out of shape, and that makes us vulnerable down the other flank. And Kelvin was not at all good again today - his positioning for the free kick was pitiful.

Yes, and he's looked even better for having Yoshida alongside him. But I think we need Yoshida more at LB because Fox has been a big problem all day. All season, actually.

Our midfield has played (or been forced to play?) so deep that we've just invited Arse to keep coming at us. They've poured forwards in numbers because they had nothing to worry about defensively. And don't even get me started on Kelvin.

Is that Kelvin's third or fourth near-post goal this season?

With a left footer almost certain to take the kick, Davis covers the wrong side. Abysmal goalkeeping.

I agree with your comment but MLT's going a bit beyond "sticking up for hies friends", though: "Matt Le Tissier ‏@mattletiss7 @stateofplaylee no team interference? Ask the club who bought guly?"