S-Clarke

Seems to lack the refinement in his game at this level - so far. He's still a decent age though so it may come, but the problem is we've got no one else to cover his arse whilst we're waiting for him to adapt.

That was a game bereft of any quality really. It was harem-scarem for large parts as both sides kept giving the ball away, no one had control of the game at any stage and it was just turn over after turn over with blanks being fired. Both sides got into decent positions, but we looked toothless when we did. Adams is Adams, a hard worker but incredibly limited in a technical sense. Armstrong looks like he's struggling a little with the pace of the game and the strength of the CB’s, he makes good movements but his touch and decision making isn't there at the moment. There are goals in him though, as long as the supporting players actually turn up… But the number 10's for me are the problem. Hopeless, absolutely hopeless, every single one of them. Moussa, Elyonoussi, Redmond, just regurgitated garbage and whilst they're our options then we will struggle to break anyone down. As has been the issue since every one of them have been at this club. Their decision making is beyond awful everytime they get the ball, it's baffling how they've made it to this level. Bednarek for the goal was disgusting, absolutely diabolical defending and he has to be stronger than that. I have no idea what's happened to him. He was never amazing, but he was reliable, these days he is just a walking error. Felt a bit lopsided with KWP left, with him having to cut in all the time. I still want us to find a way to get Tino and KWP on the same side. Overall, though, the inevitable has happened. We've sold our only source of goals; the sole reason we've stayed up for the last couple of years. We've replaced him with a young player from the championship who is going to take time. And thus we’re struggling to score goals because the rest of the attack is shit and aren’t stepping up, as we all expected really. A win today would have made this a decent start, but the defeat has turned this into an awful start. It's getting into the realms of a psychological block if we keep going on like this. If we get through Leeds, Burnley, and Watford still without a win then we are staring at the inevitable I hate to say. So, let’s see where we are after 10.

Norwich are one of those weird 'Too good for the Champ' and 'not good enough for the PL' sides. Just a yo-yo. But this is the first time I've looked at them and thought they're no where near, they don't even look competitive. They're just not good enough in any position. They're still relying on Pukki to get them their goals and I don't think he's got it at this level to be honest. What didn't help them this summer this time is that they sold their best player. A damaging season points wise and defeat wise, as it can spiral once you're in that zone, could set them back a long time.

I think his spell 'when we were good' is looking more and more like a purple patch to me and not his norm. Once he came back after his injury, which was a blow at the time, he reverted to old pretty much. Sloppy out of possession, weak, slow. Getting £15m for him should be lauded to be honest. Bar 6 purple months he was another Wilson horror show scouting wise.

We'll win some games at some point, I'm sure. Sounds like we should have won it in normal time, Che should be scoring that in the final min. Bit worried about him, he's on one of those horrible runs again which he seems to get a lot. Sadly we don't have Ings to bail him out anymore. Hopefully he can turn the tide on Saturday. Massive game, has to be a win.

Only one game to be fair. But my fear is that he did exactly what everyone has said he's done at all of his clubs, so it must be totally embedded in his game. Be a challenge to remove that 'showmanness' out of his game. Certainly won't fit in this country if that's how he plays.

Yeah, he's got that similar Bale/Shaw swagger to his game. You can tell those sorts of players pretty quickly, we've been lucky to see quite a few of them over the years.

I didn't actually think he was that good on Saturday? Seemed to struggle to get involved. He has been better in previous games than he was on Saturday. He's certainly looking better than he did when he first came here though, will be interesting to see how he does over a full season. For me he still has those glaring limitations with regards to pace and strength which is why I think he'll always struggle to impact this level on a consistent basis.

You don't progress through Barca's academy for being shit. He was a good signing back in the Koeman days, but he's matured and developed so much over those years. Gives us that presence that Wanyama used to provide, he's as good as he was in his pomp for us at the moment. Not sure what his contract situ is, but I'd look to be signing him up longer term.

Without doubt, that's my only fear with our start. We look competitive but we look so short up front and in the attacking third in general, moussa, redmond, adams etc. Armstrong makes the right runs, his movement is good and sharp but I've not seen anything in his game 'yet' to suggest he will hit anywhere near Ings totals at this level. He doesn't seem capable of getting a goal out of nothing like Ings was. He's unfortunate to not have any time to adapt either, it's pretty much sink or swim for him as he was our big striker signing. Would expect to see a bit more of Broja as we progress through the season though.

Really sad news this one, proper legend of the game. RIP.

VAR isn't bollocks as a technology, it's those who interpret and utilise the technology that are bollocks. The Euro's showed it positively, and so does the UCL to some degree. You just get on with games at those levels, things are checked, given, not given...no big debate about it. But the ref's in this country who are put in charge of the technology are beyond inept. They are not fit for the job in any way, it needs a change up - different people on VAR at the very least.

A yard slow? He's our quickest CB by an absolute distance. He reads the game quicker than any of our CB's as well, so he's quick in the mind and quick in the run. What I'd say is that he is a bit rash sometimes, he can over commit and players like City can run around you - so I could kind of understand the switch up, a bit more experience in there more than anything. You can't describe him as a yard slow though.

I know there's a lot of chatter about Man City being 'shit', and yes, they were slightly below par - otherwise we wouldn't have stood a chance, but....we contributed to the fact they were below par and made sure that they had no easy game to coast through. Pressure, tenacity, always a threat on the break so they couldn't relax etc. This wasn't a backs to the wall 0-0 by any stretch. We've shown a different side to ourselves against West Ham, United and City - balls and steal to our game for a change. I think we're benefiting from it being early season and we're still fairly fresh and have full weeks to train etc, but it's still a refreshing approach. We do need a win soon though, otherwise psychologically that hangs over you and it can become difficult to shake - as Sheff U found last year. We're definitely competitive though, a match of any team, I'm just slightly nervous that we don't seem to be showing the quality or ability to actually win these games.

They've got confused again, inevitably wiping his time at Southampton from memory! It's 99 goals in English football, for both ourselves and Liverpool.

Talk about clickbate crap. The 'he's not supper happy about that' is derived from Ralph comments about him not going to the Euros! Bloody media.

I don't think there's much more than can be said about Redmond. He's just a very poor PL player. There's no coaching that's going to change that, he's just shit. He wants too much time on the ball because he doesn't have the football brain to see things quick enough or make quick decisions. He has some decent physical attributes, but nothing more than that. We lost an opportunity to sell him. Could have got £2.5m for him and brought in Gray and had a million quad change.

Get off it. I remember when he was appointed, we all thought it would be Martin O'Neil at the time. That was the chatter, that was the ITK gossip. In light of that rumour Adkins was seen as underwhelming. That doesn't mean he failed though. He created two of the greatest seasons I've lived through. The season in L1 when we went head to head with Huddersfield was epic, they won, we won, they won, we won. It was ridiculous. To belittle his achievements because we didn't win the leagues we were in is embarrassing. It strikes of a bitter person and someone desperate to prove that they were right when they said he was a bad manager. The reality, that is seen by 99.9% of saints fans, and is written in all history books known to man, is that Adkins was a hugely successful manager for us and got us out of L1 and into PL in 3 years. He didn't fail and you hate that he didn't.

Probably, but this sort of link screams Matt Crocker, given Cooper's involvement in the U19's when Crocker was heading stuff up for the FA.

Out of possession it was two banks of 4, compact and deep. Armstrong hanging on the shoulder with a combination of Moi and Redmond floating around behind him to provide that potential 'break'. In possession we pushed JWP into an attacking wide role as we didn't seem to play a 'wide right' - Redmond just floated all over. Romeu just sat. The full backs weren't as advanced as they have been, they are a little deeper - although they did have their moments to burst forward. I think tactically we did a job on WHU, totally outsmarted Moyes. When we started to struggle, Ralph made the right subs to bring us well into the ascendancy in the closing stages. Lots of positives from yesterday in my opinion, a win wouldn't have been undeserved and we were so close to that.

I personally thought we looked better when Diallo played that attacking role, we had more mobility straight away. We did play quite a low block and a compact team, that probably made it harder for the likes of Armstrong or Moi to really stand out. West Ham themselves are a solid outfit too. However I'd say that Redmond, with his pace - and Moussa - need to be our outlets in that kind of tactical setup, that is what they were there for. Redmond is just Redmond though, that chance summed him up - just f***ing hit it! I knew as soon as he took that extra touch it was done. That's him in a nutshell, he will never, ever change and it's infuriating to watch. He just wants too much time, he looks better in lower league games as he gets more time...but you don't get that at his level. I'd like to have seen Tella to be honest, he commits and attacks with much more purpose than Redmond does - he's not afraid to have a crack for a start. Moussa works hard and is likeable for sure, does a good job defensively for the team - but where we need him he just doesn't produce. All legs, no action.

This sounds like a key attribute in his entire makeup, as was alluded to in the scouting report when we bought him: It's not all just about being a big strong boy, however. Despite being just 21 years old, Salisu possesses incredible positioning and awareness which defies his age. He consistently finds himself in the right place to attack crosses or block shots, doing so more regularly than any centre-back his age in Europe's top five leagues.

Not sure what game you watched mate. Salisu in particular snuffed the threat of Antonio, so did Stephens to an effect. He followed him and made him know he was around all the time, didn't stand off and they both engaged all the time and made life very difficult. The foundations of yesterdays performance were based around the centre backs and how they controlled their attack.

He was our option last season when we needed some power and height in attack. Now we have Broja. They're on different planets.

He adds some bollocks to our team, you cannot question that. But he is definitely a player who has improved markedly since Ralph came in. He's not a world beater, but he's no worse than a Dawson or a Mee at this level - in my opinion anyway. Did you see him give a bollocking to Perruad today? He wasn't happy he let the cross come into the box. Salisu was even trying to calm him down!