S-Clarke

Yeah, what the hell. Shocked me when I saw this earlier, heard he had been taken ill but you don't expect to hear this of a 44 year old RIP.

http://sportwitness.co.uk/manager-says-southampton-move-ideal-young-belgian-star-officials-already-sent/ Watching Dendoncker tonight makes me think we'll need to act quick if we want him. Tielmans on the other hand....probably a little out of our reach now! Seriously good.

Still think that was more of a PR signing, as he was going to play in the U21 game at St Mary's against Surman... Lots of potential to market the game just on that.

That wouldn't have happened though. We wouldn't have signed VVD had we signed TA. So, we didn't really lose out massively. Two fantastic centre backs, we probably got the one with the greater potential and sell on.

£30m for Keane, £25-30m for Gibson. Christ alive. Need to be getting at least £60m for VVD.

Sky Sources, just saw that bit. I believe!

Is this an actual link to Sigurdsson? I mean, an actual link? Always saw him as a pipe dream, but he's exactly what we need.

I don't think they really took us apart, we just played into their hands really. It would have changed their mindset had we started on the front foot, but to be fair he's just working with a limited squad which probably can't do what he wants right now - will be interesting to see what he does in the summer.

I would agree with that. Generally, this is how we've played against the 'top teams' this year. Not very aggressive, playing on the back foot etc. The Man Utd friday game at the start of the season was an illustration of things to come in that respect. We caused Utd tons of problems in the EFL Final by attacking them and playing on the front foot, but arguably the scoreline forced us to play that way. With the players we have, we should play on the front foot. We're not good enough to try and contain the 'top sides'. We should just give them a game, but you need management who isn't afraid to take a gamble and play a risk. It does seem as if Puel is very much a safety first manager.

Well, I guess we'll get him cheaper if we get him before Celtic have showcased him!

What a joke of a player that Traore fella is. Ruined the game for Boro, they were in it until he came on.

What are you getting at here? Not sure there was any calls for Rowett to be sacked back at the start of the season, but their owners wanted to make a bit of a statement and a change. I don't think getting rid of Zola would be classed as knee jerk! An absolute failure of a manger, 2 wins out of 20 odd! From flirting with the playoffs under Rowett, to hanging on to the league under Zola...!

No point counting that as it was a reserve/youth team from us.

He's done a great job at Everton, they were where Stoke/ourselves were last year, but he's taken them on. Be interesting to see how they manage EL football next year and how they improve their squad.

He's a class CB, i think he's on loan from Torino. Looks a little too good for that level.

Impossible to say really, but most of our goals were sold in the summer (Pelle/Mane), so it's no surprise what so ever to see us struggling to score goals. Not sure anyone else would have done amazingly better.

Well beaten, as we have been by the likes of Spurs and Chelsea at home this season. We can't seem to compete with this sides at home like we used to, which is a bit depressing. We were well organised in the first half, probably had the best chance, but we were still very tepid in our approach. City were also very tepid in the first half, but dominated the ball. 2nd half was a tactical horror show, especially after their first goal. Totally got that wrong, i know we were looking for goals, but I never want to see Bouful, Tadic and Redmond in the same side again - it doesn't work. Without Romeu and those 3 in attack, the game was done. I can understand why Gabba was brought off, the boos around me regarding that were a bit dim - he was clearly only good for 60-70mins after being out for 5 weeks, didn't expect anything different. But yeah, well beaten. Good side are City, but we couldn't get close to them in the 2nd half which was sad.

What talent? He had very little from what I saw, hot headed, average football player.

If he had an end product, then maybe. But he doesn't. He runs a lot, but then does nothing with it. One of the most frustrating players I've ever watched.

Holgate will probably become their first choice RB, so Cuco on a free for their backup. I wonder when they're going to start breaking this glass ceiling?

We won't finish any higher than 8th. Got a chance to jump above the baggies, but that's it.

This is the worst Arsenal team I have seen in a long, long time.

finished 2-2, last min pen.

Now that we're winning and playing well, I guess this is the area where we now bash the club?

The first half was excellent, we looked two or three levels above WBA. They couldn't get near us as we moved the ball quickly and incisive and at pace. The midfield two of Clasie and Hoj bossed that first half, great depth in there. Don't think the highlights gave a fair reflection of it, we had about 60% of that game easily. They threw everything at it in the last 20 mins as you'd expect, but it was a bit huff and puff and no real quality. We were the only side with genuine quality on show yesterday, coached well and with genuine technicians in all areas of the pitch. Football is a funny game. At about 8:20pm 3 days ago, we were 16th and 4pts above the bottom 3. Now we're 9th, 12 points clear of that lot. Things can change very quickly, which is why WBA need to keep looking over their shoulders.