S-Clarke

Keane is always good value with his views, he doesn't mince his words. Jamie is one of those computer-generated pundits who you can put on ITV. BBC, Sky and they'd say the same thing. Never too controversial and just go with what's popular at the moment. Man Utd are full of awful players though. Not technically, but mentality wise they are just beyond shit. I must admit I never thought I'd see such a prolonged period of such a god awful Man Utd team, but it's fun viewing.

They're hardly a decent yard-stick to judge against, they're such a crap team.

I've seen us described as a streaky team, we can go on great runs and be the form team one min and then in the next min become the worst team in the league over the next 6 games. Let's hope we nip that description in the bud and get straight back into form on Thursday and then Sunday.

Absolutley agree, but I don't think we had the money to do much more than Lyanco. Should be different this summer, but we'll still have to lose one in order to make the space.

He's 25 years old to be fair, certainly not past his prime. On paper he's our 2nd best CB, Lyanco third, Stephens 4th. Ideally you'd lose Stephens, drop Lyanco to 4th, Bednarek to third and buy a new 2nd choice CB. I just don't see a possibility of that happening though.

I like him in an advanced role, I've seen him there a few times. He's quick, agile and has got some good skill on him to beat a man. He was terrific in that role against Brentford, just slightly ahead of the CM and using his pace to burst forward - it really worked. He's not a sitter in my opinion, he doesn't have the physicality to play that role and he never will have. He could play alongside a Romeu, but as soon as you have Dialo and JWP as your two then you are physically over-run.

I don't disagree, but I just think our 'chance' to really upgrade the CB area was last summer but we didn't have much scope to do anything bar a cheap and cheerful Lyanco. We've now got him on a decent length contract, along with Bednarek, Stephens and Salisu etc (typically Salisu is the one with the least time left on his deal). If we sell Salisu in the summer then obviously it changes things, but I don't think we'll be doing anything in that area unless we get some crazy bids for the existing.

Probably not as big a priority as those other two area's, but certainly somewhere we need to look at if someone moves on. Not got a problem with Lyanco, he's well ahead of Stephens for me. We need a Romeu replacement too, if he's not 'on it' or he's injured then we don't have another Romeu. I hate the way we keep trying to shoehorn Diallo into that role, he's not a Romeu replacement in any way. He's a good little player is Diallo, but he needs to be incorporated further up the pitch not in a defensive deep role - he can't compete at this level.

This summer definitely needs to be the summer we focus on two area's that have really been left to fester for years - GK and wide/number 10's. We have a lot of players in both positions, but most of that is real average. If we can shift some of that average on and find some Tinos, Broja's etc in those area's then we'll be laughing.

We started the game that way, playing triangles and pushing up high...but we were getting caught, Coutinho was sat in the pocket and they kept catching us out. We didn't have the recovery pace or the reading of the game from Salisu and it made a huge difference. When we play how we play these results will happen, you will get picked off if a team beat the press well enough and have a clever player in the hole. That's what happened today really. We were probably a little too gung-ho (complacent?) against the quality we were up against, as Villa's attacking talent is as good as anyone outside the top 5 or 6.

But Holding isn't an upgrade, very similar level and he's not going to raise a profit when we sell him - so he'd be a 15-20m investment with very little sell-on value, not our style. He's a proper mid-table centre back if I've ever seen one. If we upgrade on Bednarek I'd like it to be someone with a higher celling, like Caleta-Carr etc.

That was horrible viewing, but we were kind of overdue that really. I had a funny feeling about today, I just felt they'd have way too much for us in the number 10 roles and so it proved. Couldn't handle the movement of Coutinho at all, the CM's and CB's were getting pulled all over the midlands. Watkins and Ings were very sharp as well. It did show up a couple of areas in our squad we need to evolve if we really want to challenge the Villas/Wolves etc - better CB without doubt, we can't really go on with one top 10 centre back (Salisu). Better number 10 with pace as well, we really lack that. As good as Elyonoussi and Armstrong have been, we do lack pace when they play. One of them days, always going to happen for a mid-table side. Hope we can still finish top 10, that's got to be our aim.

We could have been away, so that's the only positive. Generally we needed to avoid City or Liverpool and have them play each other in the earlier rounds, but they're not (Chelsea avoided a tough draw as well). It really hasn't opened up this year, certainly not like last season.

They don't realise how utterly stupid they look, do they? When they watch it back in 5 or so years they'll grimace. All we see are lumbering overweight morons struggling to stay on their feet thinking they are somehow looking amazing to avoid being caught, yet they look so daft and out of place by trying to avoid being caught. They're probably as far away from being 'cool' as you can get.

I've always described JWP as a tactical managers dream. You need to be a certain type of coach/manager to appreciate what JWP brings to the side and to then make the most of him. There are many managers out there like Mark Hugues who'd look for the glamour of a Lemina before the reliability of JWP, same as most fans at the big clubs in my opinion. I hate the saying but he's not 'sexy' enough for a big club to be spending £80m plus on. Rice is the player the big clubs will probably go after, he has those physical attributes that just put him a little bit above. Most managers could benefit from that.

I'd say it's certainly not the norm! Maybe you're just a good omen!

If he does go I think he'll end up being another who realises the grass isn't greener. He's part of a 'team' here and has bought into a collective, he is the key pivot in this tactic under this manager and a captain to the players around him. Take him out of that and throw him in Man Utd's midfield and he'd look a much different player in my opinion and he'd show his limitations. It's taken him quite some time to convince the fan base of his importance to us, he would get 5-10 games top at a big club before being cast aside if he doesn't look amazing. I don't think he's the sort of player who'd go into a big club and immediately make a difference. He reminds me of Noble, but a slightly better quality Noble. Never quite has enough to make the top, top level moves but an absolutely critical player for the club he plays for.

Villa are a top 10 team, certainly competing for the areas we occupy at the moment. I don't agree with views that we're better than them, they've got better options in the 10's and in the other area's we are fairly matched. They've been a bit erratic form wise but they have some great attacking players. Not sure how to call it, I see it as similar to the Wolves away game.

Haven't felt this good leaving St Mary's since the Koeman days, our consistency at home has been great.

I saw him as a poor RB at the start of the season, so I'm absolutely stunned that he's now turning in decent displays at CB. My MOTM last night, he's very proactive in his play and very engaged. This is all down to simply phenomenal coaching. No one would have seen a CB in Valery, but somehow Ralph did and has made him more than capable at it as well.

That's the tie I was forgetting, I knew there was another. It's weirdly on Monday 7th though.

I probably worded it badly, but I meant 'discussing the starting 11/moaning about it' is irrelevant now.

I did have underwhelming reactions to Bertrand I think. We'd sold Shaw for £30m and signed a replacement on loan etc etc. (who was relegated the previous season). He certainly was great for us for 2 years, but pretty shit for the remainder of his contract though. and I can remember having a mini meltdown with us missing out on Brandon Williams, that aged well.

Why are you still moaning about our starting 11 for the game? We won it, the starting 11 is now irrelevant and the manager was proven right. Just as he was against Coventry, which brought similar reactions. I also wouldn't class today as scraping through, it was fairly comfortable all told.

It took him a while, but I think that's because he wasn't the sort of player I was expecting. I was looking for a KWP type at left back, which is why I was maybe a little underwhelmed at the start. But. he's tenacious, terrier-like. He hasn't got the driving runs or skill of KWP, but he has heart and the right attitude and that alone immediately upgrades our LB position for the last 3 years.