S-Clarke

If you expect either of those, then your expectations are skewed.

Nice fans.

Oh yeah, there's nothing worse than coming home every week on the back of this. Makes you feel pretty **** for most of the evening, but we've had it damn good for the last few years. We were due a year like this, let's be honest. We just need to make sure not too much damage is caused. I personally wouldn't pull any trigger right now. It's Koeman's team, Koemans support staff and he's the one that can get them out of it.

A hell of a lot of OTT comments on here, although the amount of defeats is quite glaring now. Again, we played ok, but in my opinion we don't create enough clear cut chances - and the ones we do, we seem to fluff. We're too predictable once we get into the final third, and whilst our defense is light years away from anything we had last year, it's our attack and lack of killer instinct which is really killing us right now. 2 huge games coming up. This time in a weeks time will answer a lot of questions, but we can't keep dictating games like we are and losing.

We have a terrific academy, such a huge reputation around Europe....but we will have dry spells, and this is seemingly a dry spell. What has been mentioned on here before was the state of the club in 07/08 and 08/09. The budgets I believe were dramatically cut for the academy and the recruitment would have been of a much lower level, and we're now probably seeing the effects of that. I believe the younger age groups over the last year or so have had to be topped up with kids released by other clubs, which kind of shows that the production line wasn't there 5/6 years ago. Give it another 5/6 years though and our current structure and what we've done over the last few years will come to fruition. What Koeman said is probably a little harsh, but I've never really thought much of this lot is up to it. I don't really rate Mcqueen, or Isgrove/Gallagher - and I've never quite understood the shouting to get them included, they're simply not good enough. In my opinion, if you're 21/22 and still haven't broken through in the PL...then you're not going to. So I'd say the likes of Mcqueen, Isgrove, Gallagher etc will probably end up finding employment else where, lower down in the pyramid. I have high hopes for McCarthy though, I think he's an excellent prospect - as well as Reed. But what Koeman said may also be a message for the board, obviously there's all the talk of not blocking the pathway etc, but if there's nothing coming up the pathway...then you can block it for a few years!

Pretty broad agreement from most on there. Of the players we sold that summer.... Lambert - total flop, now at WBA and they're also trying to shift him on (apparently). Lolvren - no more needs to be said Lallana - I think Liverpool fans have made their views pretty clear... Chambers - pointless move Shaw - crock

Shelvey is exactly what we need in midfield, energy, grit, bit of bite, speed, agility, goal threat, english, young. Absolutely every box ticked. I'd say that this signing would transform us, it could have such an obvious effect on the side.

2 hours according to Koeman. Which is kind of beyond acceptable levels of late.

He was alright, he was pretty limited but he put the ball in the back of the net on regular occurrence. You'll have to ask Burley why he decided to drop him at the back end of that season. He was never a PL player though if we're honest, but more than good enough for us at that time and scored some important goals.

Like Adkins?

That's an incredible thing to say. Last summer we invested big money in a first choice GK and said goodbye to Boruc on the back of that, he went on to proove exactly why we spent £10m on him. Top keeper. The last thing the club should do is spend another £10m on someone who will cover him whilst he's injured. That would be pure and utter stupidity. A loan of an experienced international Gk was the best thing to do.

I was actually reasonably content with things until Victor was a pillock, the heads seemingly dropped a bit after that and we conceded pretty much straight after. I like Shane, but he's not a clinical goal scorer. I'd say he's more of a support forward, he'll do all the running, annoy the defenders and then you'll have someone else to profit from his work who is a lot more clinical. I don't think Shane was ever bought solely for the goals anyway, it's the other aspects of his game which make him a good team player. I liked Jordy's performance yesterday, until he decided to be nutmegged..! I thought he controlled the midfield well, his use of the ball was excellent and he closed down very sharply. That's what we bought....and that's what we'll get over time, but we just need to be a little patient with him. Some of his passes and switches of play are brilliant. I don't think we've been horrific in the last 2 games at all. Should have been out of sight at WHU, should have at least got a point y/day. We're lacking in a bit of confidence, but these next 2 home league games are huge. We're not in a battle yet, but get on the wrong side of the results in these next 2 games and we may well be.

Fans who boo the team or individual players get on my flaming tits. What's the point?

We're going through a bump in the road, is it really worth reinventing the wheel to get over that bump? I wouldn't have thought so. Clubs such as Southampton, Stoke, Leicester, Palace, Everton, will all experience 'bumps' in the road. The clubs that sustainability build and budget for the long term are the clubs who come through that bump and go again. The clubs who panic and spend for the sake of spending go through a massive sinkhole. (see Leeds, Skates). I'm comfortable with the way we do things, for a club of our size it really is the only way we can do things. The people at the club won't be panicking, so why should we? Over the last 5 years we have improved every, single, season. I think last year was very much a high point, it was near on impossible to replicate that again this year. Even Koeman said that this season will be a lot tougher because the expectations rose - and that's true, this is a weird year in the PL. We're in January worrying about being relegated, yet Chelsea are below us 4 pts worse off. Freak season. If I had one single disappointment from this season it would be our lack of European football. We worked so flaming hard to get that last year and threw it away before it even started. That will bug me for a while, and almost as much as that Sunderland FA Cup defeat under MP a few years back.

Easily the most sensible idea I've seen on here, since, like, ever. Napalm for Chairman.

A south american from Italy, what could go wrong? He's a name, but still hasn't 'done' it in a big league.

If people wrote off players at 20, there wouldn't be as many Vardy's, Lamberts and co around.

If the club acted like fans wanted, we'd be broke before long. We're not going to spend much money in January, we never really do - 2011 in L1 being the single exception. I'd rather keep the funds in the back pocket until the summer and we can then work out what we need with a much better view over an entire season. Clubs who splash money in January rarely succeed in the long term.

The number one wum-weirdo, Charlie.

I'd rather we got ourselves a proper RB.

A lack of a RB cost us that game. Poor from Yoshida to fail to track Antonio which lead to the 2nd, and utterly horrific from Martina which created that bundled goal. Other than that, we should have won that first half at least 3-0. Ridiculous to lose that.

I had a feeling about this game, even more so after the results today. It's plainly obvious that Arsenal choke, they cannot handle the pressure of expectation. They freeze and lack bottle, every year it's the same. I know many were expecting a tonking, but in reality it was never going to be that. They're good when it's early in the season, they get towards the top, people start to put expectation on them...and then that's it. They won't win the league, not a chance. Onto us - we were terrific. So hard working, so honest in our performances all over the pitch. Shane Long didn't let the 2 cb's settle, and his influence - especially in the 2nd half - shook that Arsenal back 4 up. The important area today was midfield, that was a performance from Wanyama of which we havne't seen this season, and I was also pleased to see Clasie live up to the potential. Those 2 bossed the game today, Arsenal couldn't get any rhythm going what so ever. (even though they had a fair bit of possession, our shape and discipline meant that they were often forced backwards or sideways) Take a bow Cuco though, he'll never hit one as good as that again! Glad I was there to witness it, I was in shock for at least 5mins...! (I'd love to know what the odds were on 4-0 with Martina the first goal scorer..!!!) Overall, I never jumped onto the pessimist bandwagon, we're clearly a good side and Arsenal are clearly chokers - so this was never going to be a defeat. The acid test comes on Monday, let's hope it's not a bit of an anticlimax, as back to back wins at this stage would spring us back up that league.

He's a CB.

Butland Johnson - Shawcross - Toby - Monreal Kante Dembele Mahrez Ozil Lukaku Vardy

I imagine we've just given up on him. Absolute sick note, not worth the resources.