S-Clarke

Johnson is back in contention now, so he'll be first choice. Kyle Walker will be 2nd choice, and then one of Smalling/Jones will be third hoice. Unfortunately all 4 of those aren't too old either, so it will take something of a major injury crisis for Clyne to get a look in.

5th

To be fair, he couldn't have asked for a better pass from Lallana. He had to score that, the hard work was done for him.

I don't think that's really an issue, our attacking swagger has clearly been pulled back to allow for a defensive stability.. This is how we play. High pressure, dominate the middle, and break on teams with numbers. Under MP I don't think we'll ever play with out and out wide men with pace.

I wouldn't say he was awful. A bit frustrating, maybe. Kept trying, didn't quite come off. But the thing is he keeps trying, he keeps battling away. He's not one to shirk away at the responsibility. Should have scored though, will be mega-disappointed with that.

Post of the year.

He gave a midfield masterclass. Fellani will be wondering what the point of it all is after that domination. He was made to look like a £27m fool.

He keeps trying, and maybe you could say he's guilty of trying too hard a times - sometimes it looks a little forced. Once he gets a few goals under his locker the pressure will leave, and we'll see the real player. He's undoubtedly pure class, as we saw for Italy in the week. Just not quite getting to grips with the English game as yet. But he's shown enough to suggest it will happen in time. He doesn't try and hide away - that's for sure.

An A+ performance in quality, determination and team work. I'd even go as far to say we should have won that. I thought Man Utd were utter trash and we made them look very ordinary a lot of the time. Morgan v Fellani...well....I think Fellani will be wondering if it's worth playing football again after Morgan's masterclass! A truly great display from back to front. Defensive assured, as per. Lovren is easily one of the best defenders in European football right now. Lyon must be bonkers for letting him go. The Morgan and Wanyama partnership continues to improve and get better game by game, I thought both of them utterly dominated the old trafford midfield today. There aren't many away midfielders who will go to Old trafford and put in that sort of masterclass. Lallana, again, unplayable at times. He is having a truly exceptional season right now. Absolute shoe in for the England friendlies next month. Osvaldo still struggling to get to grips with it all I feel, should have scored for sure, and we were pretty blunt up top for the majority of the game. But overall, this is the best time to be a saints fan that I can remember in recent history. We're not 4th because we've had an easy set of fixtures, we've had to get a result at Anfield and Old Trafford to be there, that tells me that we're not going to be shrugged away too easily.

But Lambert can do that, so can J-W-P. To be honest, in my eyes, Gaston has had numerous chances and we're all still saying ''He could come good'' but let's be honest, he's not going to is he? A really big coup at the time, but for whatever reason he's simply not suited to this team or this league. I think he'll be sporadically used between now and January, but will be sold pretty sharpish once the window opens. We'll make a loss, but should be able to get at least £6m I'd have thought.

Is this the first ever time we've been grouped in this company??? today promises to be just as exciting with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Southampton, Manchester City and Manchester United all in action

Cheers for the debate.

I see Apline is right, once again.

It's a lot to do with Wanyama in my eyes. Last season we were too easy to play through, if you shrugged off Cork or Morgan (And they're good players, but can be quite weak) then players were through and running at the back 4. So players like Jos and Fonte were made to look a hell of a lot worse than they are, because they had players like Rooney and Van Persie running directly at them! You also had situations whereby the balls would break on the edge of the box and the opposition would try all sorts of long shots, which did sometimes go in, and it didn't exactly make the GK look great. Wanyama shields the back 4 a hell of a lot better. He's hard to get the ball off (when he doesn't give it away that is!!!) and he's a very powerful shield who will stop a player in their tracks. If you also notice teams don't really have an opportunity to hit shots from outside the area either, as Wanyama is hot on the hills to break it up and clear it. I think, if anything, Wanyama's addition has been underestimated by some. He may not look pretty, but he's doing a very commendable job. He gives a platform to players like Boruc, Lovren, Fonte etc to do their jobs a hell of a lot better. He gives us the defensive foundation to build from.

As much as I like Jack Cork, there isn't really time for sentiment. If the game doesn't need a player like him, then we shouldn't bring him on. He's a good player, no doubt about that, but just as we evolved the other positions in the squad the midfield will be the same. And so will the striker department. He may well move on, and I'll wish him all the best if he does. But if we're performing well and getting results without him in the side, then there's no reason to bring him back.

To be honest, there's not really much longer you can cling onto the fact ''He clearly as class, we'll see it one day on the pitch''. We've been waiting now almost 18 months, and all we get are sporadic frustrating displays from someone who has ability, but clearly no real understanding of how to perform at this level or in the style and culture that this club wants everyone to play in. He'll be gone sooner rather than later and I think he'll go back to Italy where the game is more suited to his style. We need to shift ASAP to ensure we get the most money back for him.

What a great run that was by Townsend.

wonderful goal.

Rooney's ship has seriously sailed. Has looked nothing more than a lower end PL player for the last 4 years. Previous gets him the guaranteed spot and creates the expectation. Fact is that he peaked very early, and will never get back to that level again.

The brazlian fella sounds like he's dying!

What, losing? What we're doing so far this season is fine. We have our way of challenging the opposition, we don't attack teams with the verve and swagger of previous, but that's the price you pay for defensive stability. It does sometimes frustrate me at the speed of our attack, but you cannot really argue about the improved solidity and organisation of the team.

It's clear to see that we've sacrificed some of our attacking ''verve'' and ''swagger'' for more defensive stability, something which I agree with. In my opinion that's being interpreted incorrectly as people seem to think we're playing badly as we're not as potent going forward, but this is us now in my opinion. We're a very solid, well drilled team. We won't thrash teams and we'll get a fair few 1-0's over the course of the season.

Not sure why it's a worry, we're not exactly missing anything.

Not sure what you expect..? Best defensive record in the league, our best ever start to a PL season and sitting in the top 4 with 7 games gone. I'd say we've had to play pretty damn well to get there.

Enjoy it, take some screenshots of the table, as it sure as hell won't end anything like that! Top 10 is on, but not much more than that. Over the course of the season the clubs with the big squads will come to the fore. We're just not quite there as yet.