S-Clarke

I don't think we were as bad as some have been making out. We started the game incredibly well, came out of the blocks like a train. Poor finishing and a lack of composure/confidence in those final moments cost us the win. As the game went on we slumped back a little and lost that intensity we started with and once Villa got the jammiest of goals ever, the heads dropped. It took us a while to get going in the 2nd half, the players looked as if they were walking through mud some of the time. It was an important equalizer though, it stops the rot and can potentially be the starting base for another good run. I like Romeu and he started the season well, but once Wanyama came back on the scene he was out - not sure why entirely, as he's not at the level this year. Ward-Prowse continues to frustrate by consistently doing nothing in a football match. This is a big season for him, lots of talk and lots of expectation, so he needs to start doing something now. Palace will be a tricky match, but we can win there if we play with the same intensity as we started with yesterday.

WTF @ Chelsea this season. Seriously, what the hell is with them.

You can come to that conclusion once he's signed a new contract, before that it's silly even debating it. We've done very much the same in offering Morgan, Clyne, Mane new terms etc. The reality is the same with us. If a Utd, City, Chelsea come in for him, he will leave Leicester city.

I think that's the key, I think the blame needs to go on the back of Caulker for leaving the biggest hole in CB that i've seen since the days of Alan Bennett and Chris Makin. He possibly would be annoyed at the shot which went under him (Moreno I think) but I imagine he's had a few words with the guys in front of him for allowing free shots for 60 mins.

Doesn't this always happen though? We lose a couple of games and everyone demands answers, we want to hear from the board, ra ra ra. But why? what do we want them to say? Luckily they don't knee-jerk as much as some of our lot on here.

He's out of Porto's league financially if we're honest. They're pretty much the Portuguese version of us, buy young players (mainly from south america) make them names and then sell them for huge fee's (Falcao, Rodriguez, Hulk to name a few). But they're able to retain competitiveness at the top because they don't have City's, Utd's, Arsenals and Chelsea's to deal with.

I'm still staggered why we didn't play Van Dijk up front.

If only it was that easy. As a club we're not in a position to do that and probably never will be.

We were never going to get Krychowaik, but he's exactly the sort of style of player we needed/need.

I'd say we were playing 9 men today. 2 in particular were absolutely out of their depth and they might as well have sat on the touchline (Clasie/Caulker). I think the attacking front 3 (especially Tadic, Mane, Davis) started the game well, opened them up and go down the sides well. The team lost confidence and belief when we started getting played through, and beaten for fun at the back. The morale just dropped once the players saw Clasie being skipped by and Caulker being beaten for pace the 4th time. As long as Fonte comes back and I never have to witness Caulker in a Saints shirt again, I'll be happy.

Always the same sorts bouncing them too.

That's the profile of the player we needed, in a physical sense. We lack presence in the middle of the park, it's easy to forget how many headers Morgan won in midfield as well - he was quite a unit and had a presence about him. Clasie, i don't know what he is. Too early to come to any sort of conclusion, but he needs to take some growth pills or something as he looks totally unsuitable for this country at this moment in time.

Can people just let this one go? He's clearly finished here and has been for at least 18 months. Let's just forget he exists and he'll drift away in January as expected. Pointless debating it.

Well, we've never panicked and gone out and bought in January, or sold for big money in January, so I don't see a thing changing. Maybe a loan or 2.

Saint Charlie is having a field day tonight, loving it.

The reactions to Yoshida have always been over the top. He's not a right back, granted, but he's always done a job at CB for us and he at least knows the position. Less can be said of Caulker.

Can't really be a knee-jerk to be honest, he has been that bad. not just this game, but the last 3 seasons. He's trash.

So that's not 6 years ago then? But people seem to be jumping slightly overboard right now. 3 games we've lost in a row, before that we'd had a terrific run. Under MP we had a trash run which resulted in us being kicked out of the FA Cup, being thrashed by WHU and losing heavily to Liverpool at home.

You've got a short memory.

I never want to see Caulker play in this team again, ever. Sod off back to QPR. Trash

He's L1 standard though.

To be fair, the first 15mins were pretty good. Could have had 2 in that time, after they scored we lost our way.

This is a match thread about the liverpool match, which is happening tonight. None of that is relevant to the situation right now.

Wanyama isn't playing any different than he has, he just doesn't have that shield next to him. Any player would miss someone like Morgan next to him, we simply didn't replace him and there is a hole for sure.

3 horrendous goals. 1st was poor by Caulker, needed to be stronger and use a bit of common sense. 2nd was an absolute **** up between Cedric and Caulker, who didn't seem to know what county he was in. The third was poorly cleared and a scuffed shot, which should have been saved really, went in. 3 rubbish goals and we have created our own downfall.