S-Clarke

He creates time and space for himself, a class above anyone else we have If I'm honest. Will be a pleasure to watch him this year. Still confused as to how we actually managed it, as he's quite clearly Liverpool or Spurs class!

Well it is for me, as I've not been around much...!

We looked edgy and nervy in the first half, which is to be expected I guess. I didn't Villa looked much cop either, a pretty dour 1st half really - so nice for us to gift them a goal, and that's what it was. Another incredibly avoidable goal, really frustrating that we keep conceding these duff goals. We seemed to lose the plot a little after that, and I must admit I didn't see where we'd get our increased tempo from. The 2nd half was terrific though, but we massively benefited from the departure of Ireland. In the first half he kept picking up pockets of space, all over the midfield - and we struggle to get hold of it in there. Their replacement for him was a young kid from the academy, and he looked like that. Very inexperienced and sloppy on the ball, and straight away our midfield dominated the game. Once Ramirez got into his stride we were on to a winner, he was picking the ball up in space, spraying it left to right - he just looked excellent. We were a little slow in a build up in the first half, but in the 2nd half you could see quite clearly that the instruction was to get it up there as quickly as possibly and get players in and around Lambert - and it worked brilliantly. Villa couldn't handle Lambert, he had the beating of Dutch international Ron Vlaar all afternoon - terrific to see. Clyne's switch to the left allowed us to throw a little more unpredictability into proceedings, as rather than just running down blind ally's - he cut in, and he cut in with terrific effect. I'd like to see more of him at LB on that showing if I'm honest, a very veristile player. Defensively we were assured, Fonte - who hasn't been bad this year at all - had a very solid game, but the debut from Yoshida was terrific, easy to see that he's a very capable footballing centre half - who isn't afraid to throw himself into it if needed (and he keeps trying over head kicks..!) It was nice to see the interchanging in the 2nd half, we looked much more free and vibrant rather than the static way we played in the first half. Puncheon was terrific, floating all over the front 3 - Lallana switching sides, Ramirez popping up everywhere. It was great to see, and it shows that we have some real footballers in our starting 11 as the movement off the ball at times was terrific. Mayuka came on and made an impression as well. Very direct, terrific touch and very pacy - looks to have a lot about his game and I'm quite exciting by him if I'm honest. I think the main emotion at the end of today's game is relief - but also a real sense of satisfaction as we have finally shown what we're capable of. Ok, Villa aren't any great shakes, but we totally bossed that game in the 2nd half and if we play like that against the likes of Reading or even WBA at home - I reckon we will come out on top.

He was immense for Foritentina last season. This signing has shocked me, totally out of the blue. Thanks for everything Davis, but it's good to see the club have acted to sort our clear shortcomings in that area.

I believe that's just landed on the moon.

Made a good stop from Bent at 1-0 - on 46ish mins. If that went in, possibly too much for us to climb from. Turning point right there. Didn't get tested much after that though, but has a bit of confidence about him.

Looked very composed, made our defense look easier on the eye straight away. Good pace, good touch, comfortable on either foot - dominant in the air as well, against 2 big strikers.

You can tell he is a top, top, top player just by the amount of space he finds - that's not luck, that's a nack. From the highlights I saw before he joined I always felt he had a brain on him, always painting a picture - very much the case. Strong, composed, skilful - our best player by a mile. Let's enjoy him.

Is anyone going to crack down on this poster? As clear a WUM you'll ever see.

Nah Kenton was signed by WGS when we were in the PL.

the weird and wonderful world of football....Newcastle now level after being torn to threads for 45mins.

Weird poster.

Fair point, but I believe he's also injured.

I'm sure if there are ''extraordinary circumstances'' (i.e Jos's injury keeping him out for months, Seaborne still not match fit) then they may allow us to squeeze him in.

Unless Stoke offer him mutual termination of his current contract, then he can't join until the new year.

So did Swansea and Norwich, in fact none of Swansea's team had PL experience when they started out against Man City. We actually started against Man City with more PL experience under our belts. They grew into it as the season went on. I hope, and believe, we will do the same. I genuinely believe we have so much more quality than Reading. We took them apart last year, imagine what we'll do to them this year?? Their squad is pretty much the same.

Flyer, what on earth has Granero done in the world of football to be described as ''world class'' ???? Not denying he's a good player, but calling him world class stinks of serious bias.

Throwing it the other way round, I'd like to know how you've come to that conclusion on 1 game as well. He's actually quite tall.

Harsh game to judge him on defensvley, but I thought he added a bit of pace back there. Looks to have decent ability on the ball as well. Is he left footed do we know?

He seems entirely clueless about Yoshida. ''Well they strengthened their defensive with Yoshida, who has no experience, and had to have translation in order for Adkins to give him instructions when he came on'' Err, quite clearly not seeing as he speaks fluent English. It's just quite irritating when people come out with such ''sure'' statements to enhance their point about communication, when they couldn't be further from the truth

Swansea had to wait, 5 games I believe, before scoring their first goal in the PL. I'm not sure what people realistically expected from our opening 4 games which included Arsenal, Man Utd and Man City. We were always going to end that run near the bottom, or at the bottom. Most realistic fans accepted that. It's the unrealistic fans that are now jumping up and down. On the whole though, we have given it a good go. Yesterday was the worst we've been, but we'll get games like that at this level - it's unforgiving.

Let's be honest, football is a totally different game now. The reality is that if Ferguson got of the start he had, these days, he'd be long gone. Due to the money and prestige involved in the game at the top level these days, there isn't time to just stick with something if it isn't working.

I think our lads have always met up at Staplewood the day after the game, just to go through points and highlight the obvious problems from the previous game (draw a blue line under it etc). Don't think any actual training goes on though until Monday.

He had a hell of a lot of the ball at times in the 2nd half, so they did cut a fair bit out.

I get what people saying in that it was only ''45mins - you cannot judge a player on that'' - but sometimes you can. What I noticed was his strength, more than I expected - not your typical South American flair player - but some of his passes were inceicve and positive - and we haven't had a player to be able to provide that sort of ammunition from central midfield for what feels like, forever. He's forward thinking, always loitering on the edge of the box and he will score a fair few goals this year. Something positive seemed to happen every time he was on the ball. Even though it was 45mins, you couldn't fail to ignore the pure class he showed when he was on the ball. Better than anyone we've had in this team for as long as I can remember. It will be interesting to see how he progresses, but the way he seamlessly slotted in yesterday suggests that we're going to have a bit of fun with him in the side. Let's enjoy it, it's going to be a privilege to watch him in a Saints shirt.