CanadaSaint

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?"

Are you being serious?

I'd say we were prepared for it. Let's face it, for teams like us the brutally realistic goal is not so much to get a point from the City and United games (although that would be great) but to make sure that our goal difference doesn't take a hammering. On that front, we were -2, which I venture to suggest will prove to be much better than most of our "relegation rivals." Yes, the Wigan result was very disappointing but that's a team that went W8, D4 and L3 over the last fifteen games of least season, and they have - arguably - the best young manager in the game. They are not the crap team that some people think, and we should have been well ahead by half time. In one of the first three games Nigel's substitutions changed it for the better, but in two of them they changed it for the worse. He's learning at this level, just like the players, and I believe that we will continue to consolidate and end up somewhere between 12th and 16th. Sure, Villa is a big game but don't forget that Wigan - with a similar style but less depth than us - were dead and buried at Christmas.

I'm still not sure how much of our CD problem this season is the players and how much of it is the zonal marking, which seems to be a problem for them. I can see teams targeting Clyne at the far post by drawing their main striker out there (as United did with the first goal), but that doesn't make Clyne a bad defender.

And Cortese had a career in banking and finance. Did it ever occur to you that it might have been a financial decision rather than a football decision?