S-Clarke

No recall. It's a season long loan, of which Birmingham paid a fee to acquire him for the season. May be able to break that in January, but not sure.

Spurs still can't quite shake that Wembley hoodoo (in the league anyway). I think it will play as a disadvantage over the course of the season and they certainly won't gain as many points in my opinion. Thought they looked very poor and unsure of what to do today.

I think MP has handled the entire VVD situation superbly to be honest. Not an easy situation to manage, but he took him out of the equation when he felt he needed to, and is now slowly reintegrating him back - not throwing him straight in, but giving him a few minutes like that - away from home, is very good management of the situation. I think MP, like Koeman had with Morgan, has got a real handle on the player management side. Will expect to see him start next week.

Absolutely outstanding. I don't want to get too carried away as Palace just allowed him to do what he wanted to do. But even when they did pressure him, he used a trick to get out of a tight spot. You can usually tell a 'player' pretty early on in their club career, and this guy is a proper player. Touch, technique, pace, intelligence, strength. He ticks a lot of boxes.

That was a pretty perfect away day performance, wouldn't say it was a batten down the hatches job and come away with the win, we were in control for 70% of that game. Would have been a travesty had we not won it. Good call to play Long in my opinion, he did exactly what you'd expect him to do. Commit defenders, make them uncomfortable, force them into poor clearances etc. He's obviously not the most sparkling footballer, but he guarantees being a pest to the opposition and that's why he'd be in my side more often than not - his running and harrying will create openings and space for our more talented players. That is the role Davis should be playing, I hate seeing him as part of a central two - as an attacking midfielder as part of the 3 he is so reliable, good in possession, good in tight spots, and times his runs into the box well when he's advanced. As poor as the midfield was last weekend, it was a different animal this week - Lemina made the difference. I wouldn't say Romeu had one of his better games, he was a little sloppy, but Lemina just looks a level above everyone else - he was given acres of space to do what he wanted, but even when Palace did attempt to close him...he still got out of it very impressively. He seems to know when the keep it simple and when to try a switch, very intelligent player and full of energy and power - a proper box to box midfielder who is absolutely perfect for this league - exactly the type of player we needed in alongside Romeu last season. We've gone back to having a strong 'two' in front of the back 4 again, it will take a lot of effort for teams to play through us. Defensively we were sound, not troubled a great deal. Impressed by Hoedt, more so his distribution than any defensive masterclass - although as expected, he towers above most players in the air. His left peg is an absolute wand, some of his switches were brilliant, and having someone in the team with the ability to do that is going to enable us to get up the field so much quicker. I'd say our two big signings this summer - Lemina and Hoedt, have both lifted the level of the team in their respective positions. They've filled gaps we needed filling and enhanced our first team, not just the squad. Luckily it seems as if last weeks effort against Watford was a bad day at the office, as apart from last week I think we've been pretty solid this season. Still improvements to be made in the final third and the decision making from the likes of Redmond etc, but the base of this team is now very, very strong - if we can continue to base around that and build on that, we will do fine this year.

As per usual, he's left them with a load of overpaid dross. One good thing out of this though, our own Sam will actually get properly coached now.

He will always favor experience over youth though, it's always been a myth that he bloods youngsters.

Everton fans have had it with Koeman, seemingly. Not surprised after watching that 45 mins, unfathomable how bad they were.

3-0. This is an absolute hammering.

2-0 this is absolutely disastrous from Everton. They look absolutely rank.

Everton looking good. Already 1-0 down at Atalanta and looking like conceding a shed load if they carry on this bad.

Don't tell me this is another expensively assembled and poorly performing Redknapp team? He'll leave before long and exclaim how he never had a chance, but conveniently forget that he's once again burdened a football club with lots of expensive rubbish.

Lolvren is back

This thread has certainly brought out the old swivel eyes among us.

We didn't score then. It's becoming a bit of a parody.

Or the players just aren't good enough. You can only work with what you've got at the end of the day. (I'm referring to the U23/U18 squads)

Who needs to go first? Reed, Wilson, Jaidi, Hunter, Watson, Black, VVD, Bedranak, Krueger We wouldn't have a club left if some had their way.

Let's hope we at least get a goal. Southampton nil ™

3-0 This is a tad hideous. Horrific back pass by someone.

It'll be good old Woy

Everyone and his dog knows that poster is a pet skate.

Football is dead.

That is absolutely insane. What chance does anyone have if you only get 4 games. You cannot tell if something is working or not working after 4 games, it's absolutely mental. I hope they nosedive to league 1.

He was never this bad, so something has happened. It's time to stop persisting with him and let him recover if that's what it is. McCarthy will not do any worse right now. Even Taylor wouldn't be bad at the moment...

Great write up mrfahaji - can't disagree with any of that. It was certainly a worrying display. Can't remember the last time we played that badly, with absolutely no idea what we were doing. (Oh, maybe Wolves...)