doddisalegend

We went for a pretty attacking line up away from home which didn't help Targett out at all. Would have been better to have played Davis in front of him ( and Reed along side Victor) to give him some protection. Jrod would have been better used as a sub like Long later in the game to have a crack at Newcastle's tired defence .

That's pretty laughable statement considering his involvement with the first team the last couple of seasons clearly you know far more about football than the Les Reed and the Koeman brothers (and poch)? Having said that while I think JWP is technically good I don't really know what his best position is and we seem to have players better in all the midfield positions who cope with the physical side of the game better than JWP.

Only if he becomes more consistent and cuts out stuff like back heels when he is trying to clear his lines. At the moment when Mane is on his day he is fantastic but he is not on his day enough to be a 30 million player.

TBF I don't think he was getting much help from J-rod tracking back.

It is completely different because I support saints Anything that is an advantage for saints (like taking another clubs best players) = good Anything that is a disadvantage for saints (like other clubs taking saints best players) = Bad I am a football fan thus automatically a hypocrite and completely illogical when it comes to my club and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. The fact you and Turkish can't grasp that this is the reality of the average football fan and need to point it out on every thread says more about you two than your average Saints fan

Know what I'm over it we March on and all that. Just hope I don't have to put up with people pointing out what a big loss they are all ****ing season.........no doubt a comment that will appear frequently ever time we lose a game

Always liked Harding good player for us in league 1 never gave less than 100%

Fox was **** in the championship for a full back he couldn't defend for toffee. He was better than Harding on the offense but you could drive a train through the gaps Fox used to leave down the wing in the champ.

Has the money you guys got from Saints been spent on new players or did your club need it to service debts and stuff? Having taken a couple of your "Star" players it would be nice to think you guys were able to improve your squad strength overall with the money (much as we did with Liverpool's cash).

Problem is they are the exception rather than the rule with Jackie boy. Bit like Andros Townsend an occasional fleeting glimpse of quality in England shirt helps to hide the utter dross the player puts in the other 90% of the time.

Lets have Ajax we seem to do ok against Dutch teams

After reading the last few pages my head hurts......

Sky Sports News are reporting that Leroy Fer has failed a medical at Sunderland and will return to QPR.

Except Sunderland at home ?

Slight edit.

......or not. I think we would have to be regular Champions league and trophy winners for several seasons and be one of the highest wage payers around before that hope ever came home to rest.

Each to their own I quite like it because it's a bit different.

What if he turned out to be crap? People would be complaining that we'd given such a crap player such a long contract.

Palace just paid 9 million for Connor Wickham as you say 10.5 million doesn't seem bad around 10 mil seems the going rate for good players ( and Connor Wickham) these days.

He has already made it clear that he thinks he is destined for Arsenal he won't sign a new contract. Playing hardball with Morgan last year, while the right thing to do, sent a message to players not to tie themselves to new contracts if they want to move.

TBF Long scored in the first leg after only being on the pitch 10 minutes or so. He is perfectly capable of getting another goal. If this game was on a knife edge I'd start Mane but as we are comfortable I'd start Long and keep Mane for Newcastle. If Mane is on the bench we can always bring him on if things look like not going to script. We are going to have to utilise the squad this season if we can't do it at 3-0 up with no away goals in a two legged tie I don't know when we can.

Seems to be the consensus in the press, after pre season, that the toon are a bit better up front now but their defence is no better than last season. Time to unleash Mane on them then?

And then some....it's like 80 minutes of every Solent commentary, these days, is Dave pointing out that Mane is more effective down the middle than on the wing as if no one else but Dave has realised this.

We're going to have to manage the squad this season. As we are sitting on a 3 goal lead I think we can make changes. Arnhem have to attack in the second leg which should give us chances to counter attack at pace for the away goal that would probably kill the tie. So maybe drop Pelle and have Mane, Long and Juanmi as a front three. Arnhem's midfield was pretty lightweight in the 1st leg so maybe rest Victor and play Reed. Probably keep the back four unchanged and play Caulker against Newcastle.

He sounds ****ed sounds like extra training tomorrow