redkeith

Great win, and great to look a threat again. As some others have said , we should have been a lot faster and more clinical on the counter attack when it was 2.0, but that can soon be coached out of them. Spot on substitutions as well . Happy xmas boys and girls .

Our Central defence against Arsenals make-shift full back pairing shouts goal-fest. So nil nil it is then!

Trying to move the ball quicker meant losing it more often, with only one days practice. It was inevitable with our defence that a pub player would score. On a positive note, Lemina will flourish in this system, but we need Cedric and Bertrand, or replacements to make it work, the stand ins are not up to it. Thanks also to Neil Moss for giving us **** all all afternoon. He would have given both penalty shouts if it was Liverpool or Arsenal.

I think there will be interest in Austin, either from teams like Burnley or Huddesrsfield who are desperate to stay up, or from one of the many teams at the top of the championship who are looking for someone to Tony Funnell/Billy Sharpe them over the line to promotion.

Austin is stealing a living at the moment as is Long, but I do don't dislike any of them. I do however dispiar when they are selected ahead of other, better options. There have only been 3 saints players I have ever really hated, David Speedie, Stuart Ripley and Mark Hughes.

I would go for Gunn Bednarek Yoshida Stephens Cedric PEH Lemina Bertrand Armstrong Gabbiadini Redmond A sort of old style Dynamo Kiev formation **** rotation, we need win a game, any game is a start

I just would like to see Saints go for the oppositions throat when they have a lead. 18 points lost from winning positions since sparkless Mark took over. We were well on top, but keep moving the ball to slowly and worrying about possession stats, rather than trying to kill the game off. Austin is such a passenger it's like having 10 men. Add to that the ball watching for the first goal and it just does your head in.

Saw them down at Bordeaux last season, and the were very well organised, definitely 4 4 putain deux

There is this Irish footballing finance expert who is on Totally Football podcast every few weeks. He was heavily involved in the Sale to Goa and he has all sorts of algorithms to monitor the performance of clubs and managers. Maybe he advises on D.O.F's as well ?

Positives ...... through ball for the penalty and four other chances for Ings. Obafemi looked lively and put a great cross in , unfortunately to Shane Long 6 yards out, shot six yards wide ! Lemina made a couple of good strong arm interceptions or else it would have been 8-1 . Complete reboot of the whole club is needed, but we really need to stay up. If we do Long and Austin will have only on for season left on their contracts and Davis will have gone. We could carry their wages if we have the Premiership money, but i£150,000 a week for those two in the Championship will ruin us.

Anyone who still think JWP is a defensive midfielder know as much about football as my Border Collie. Caught in possession for the first goal, booked for kicking the ball away, meaning he can't even attempt to tackle and then running speedlily to the man he should have been marking, a la Simon Gillett, for the third goal. If we had any leaders on the pitch they would have told Hoedt to leave it before he smashed in the OG. Big shout out to Shane Long for running straight at the defender when we were on a promising break just before the 4th! Not sure how Cedric's shirt ripped itself for the 4th goal, but Mason did give us a penalty away from home. Highlight of the game, whoever put the through ball in for the penalty, other than that it's total ****e!

We should be doing a lot more one and two touch training sessions, as we move the ball far too slowly, which allows teams to get organised and shut down any space. Hopefully Austins shoulder will keep him out for a while as his most significant contribution this season has been tackling Ings on Saturday. Gabbi and Ings both have a bit off intelligence about them so give them a few games together. Armstrong was singed as a goal scoring no 10 so play him in that position. For now, I would persevere with Long on the bench, as we don't have any pace there, but Obafemi and Gallager need to be given a chance.

Agree with this completely. If you look at the make up of the squad, we have only one right back and two natural wide midfield players, and yet we are trying to play 4-4-2 . Pied, Boufal and Sims have not been replaced at all. Teams like Bournemouth have a bench packed with pace to hurt teams late in matches, we have Davis and Armstrong. Under Koeman we played 4-3-3 , but with a defensive minded player like Davis in the number 10 role and the kids played more or less the same. Now we have signed a more attacking 10 in Armstrong, but play him as a winger, which ironically is what got Koeman the sack at Everton. For the first 4 years after promotion we played of a target man and did well. 2 and a bit years on we are still playing the ball up to Ings/Long/Austin or Gabbi and wondering why it wont stick.

Very passive performance for the most part, against the big teams you have to take the few chances that you create. Didn't think anyone was awful, just not at the same level as Chelsea. We had nothing on the bench to hurt Chelsea and change the game. Austin stands still and contributes nothing, Long runs around and contributes nothing. I wish we would look to the future a bit and maybe have Obafalemi or Gallagher on the bench instead . However to those saying we need to go down to have a proper clear out, we can't get rid of Long. Austin, Forster Davis etc as it is, why would clubs snap our hands off in we are in the Championship ? Despite what many posters think f them. Lemina , Cedric Bertrand Hojberg and the like would be snapped up and we would be stuck with all the has beens .

You are right , it was more half chances, but Wolves created nothing in the 2nd half until the goal. I was happy at that point as I was expecting them to pull us all over the place.

I worried about the amount of times Armstrong gave the ball away when I watched him at Celtic. He got away with it up there because Troare doesn't play for St Mirren, but agaosnt decent teams it is a problem. As for the 2nd goal, the worst attempt at defending since Van Gobbel at Elm Park! I can see why he hasn't featured much. We had the game safe until then. Obviously it helps Wolves having that pace in the squad, let alone on the bench, but we were bossing the midfeild and creating most chances until that break away goal. Cedric M.O.M for me, some great defending.

And the need for border checks at Dover, Harwich, Portsmouth etc on all transport.

Bang on. I hate it when JWP and Davies are on the pitch at the same time, they are too easily brushed of the ball, and if the oppostion start hittin high balls ......

1 - Moran at Pompey 2 - Bret Ormerod in the Semi final at Villa Park 3 - Tony Funnell at Leyton Orient 4 - All 3 Gabbiadin goals at Wembley 5 - Steve Willaims solo goal against Norwich ( no TV pictures in those days) . I swopped my season ticket that day to stand up the Archers a with a mate. He always stood next to this bloke who spent the whole game saying "Williams,you have the brains of a rocking horse!" . Nil Nil 2nd half and Williams takes a short pass from Keegan, dribbles past 5 Norwich players before curling it into the far corner . I gave that bloke so much sh@t !

Stupid errors cost us. Moi took Cedric out for their equaliser, Vestegaard waving his foot at the winner and Hoj deciding to dive instead of just falling over. We were much the better team before we gifted them a goal. I don't like Long, but he was OK in the first half , but disappeared after that. Having said that, I would much rather go for a bit of intellegence and have Gabbi and Ings starting.

Bringing on Long for Austin was a waste of a sub. We went from playing with 10 and a half men to playing with 10.01 ( Long did get one useful touch in injury time) . As for the other subs, it just gave Everton control of the midfield and Let Wallcot and Sigurdson play one twos through our back line at will. To be fair to Hughes, Koeman used to do pile on the forwards if we were losing sometimes, and it allways had the same effect, no shape and no possesion equals no goal threat.

Got better as the game went on, but the subs were terribble. Pierre needed to come on for one either Lemina or Romeu who were both on red cards. This meant that we lost the midfield after we scored. Long should only come on if everyone else in the squad is sick. He offered even less than Charlie Austin. On the poasitive side ings looks good. We need to work out who partners Vestegard and the build from there. PS Lee Mason gave us nothing. ripping someones shirt with your follow through has to be dangerous play !

I think you are being confused by the "Champions League " label. UEFA are moving towards the model where qualification is based on TV ratings, not actual league position. It would have been interesting to see what fudge they would have come up with if Real Madrids slump had continued last season.

True dat! I thought Lemina was everywhere today, considerng all the srick he got last week for not being 100% after tonsillitis. Good attacking substiutions and Stephens looked OK as right back cover, could have scored, but needs to work on his crossing .

The best of the rest are usually the teams from the bottom 14 that make a good start, as we did under poch and Koeman. If they can extend that start until xmas, like Leicester did, then it might get interesting, but otherwise it is just a race for 7th. No-one could catch Arsenal last year when they only one a single away game in 2018 !