S-Clarke

It was a clear foul.

Good pun But yeah, as you say, it's all well and good performing like we do against the Man Utd's, Man City's etc - but if we turn up and produce wigan displays against the teams down near the bottom, then there's something not quite right somewhere. I'm still hoping in my heart of hearts that the Wigan game was a complete blip.....That's the result that's killed the mood...as if we'd have performed as we have against the Manchester Clubs, we'd be 3 points better off and 13 in the league.....but that's how close it is, a couple of results and we will shoot right up there. I think the bottom half will be quite open all year.

I must admit, the whole ticketing side has taken a turn for the worst this year. I didn't think it could get any worse, but hey ho.

Southampton striker Rickie Lambert on BBC Radio 5 live: "We are most disappointed about Sunday's game. We have played some good stuff in two of the games. "The difference between the leagues is any little mistake is a goal. In the Championship you can get away with it, but since we started in the Premier League, we have been punished every time. "I am used to 4-4-2 and we are playing 4-3-3 this year, so it is different for me as a single striker. It worked against the Manchester clubs, and we are improving with every game after working so hard on the formation in pre-season. "The spirit is still high. We have not been battered in any games and have taken confidence from each game except the Wigan game."

I think as a club we have funds to call upon when required. I don't think the Gaston money was taken away from a budget to by a CB, there was still money avaliable to buy a CB if needed (which we did with Maya) I think we couldn't secure who we wanted, that's the general feeling I have. As you saw with Gaston, we are after a high calibire of player - not just your normal player. We could have easily panicked and agreed to pay Blackburn £6m for Dann, but it wouldn't have been a clever investment because we're obviously not too sure on him - I know I'm not either. So it's best to bide your time and wait for the player you want to become available, rather than spend £6m on a player who you really don't feel is potentially up to the long-term job. Maya was a good compromise as he's young, will improve, and was a snip at just under £2m. So that's not too much of a gamble. I've heard nothing but good things about Maya though, from everyone I ask (I've got a few people I know who watch a lot of dutch football). Even though he was in a team who had the worst defence, he was always their stand out player - in their opinions he's the reason they've always stayed up, he's a better standard of player than the club.

Yeah, that was a Zonal setup for that goal. I never get that system, it fails every time I've seen a team try it. It was scary to watch RVP just move in from an empty bit of space in the 92nd min. So avoidable.

Sam Hoskins seems to be coming along quite nicely. like the look of him.

If his rehab has gone as expected, he should be back in contention after the international break. We do miss an option like him on the bench for sure.

Absolutely. That's what's so grating to me. The mistakes and goals we're letting in are so unbelievably avoidable. I'd be gutted if we conceded those sort of goals in L1. We didn't let Man Utd have many chances from open play, so our defensive shape and tactical shape is spot on. But the faults and the negatives are very minor and I'm sure they can be ironed out, possibly with the replacement of a certain player.

I hope you're right. You're correct in what you say. We're playing well, we're scoring goals, we're creating chances. If we weren't doing any of those and still losing it would be a different argument completely. But as long as we stick together, keep to our principles then we will get points on the board sooner rather than later. I still worry about our naivety at this level though, it shows that some players in certain positions have never played at this level.

You're correct. There are still mentalities in this country that players need to be tall, strong, big and powerful to succeed. It's not really true, the game is changing. Skill, agility and intelligence to pickup space and read the game can often count for more than brute force. I'm all for getting the youngsters coached on that first, and leave the ''baulking'' up till later and let that naturally happen. I mean look at Messi.....

The pressure on this match will be absolutely enormous, even at this early stage. Both teams struggling at the start for points, but we're at home and if we put ourselves on the front foot we'll be OK. But the Wigan performance still haunts me, that struck me of the players feeling the ''pressure'' that they had to win it. We didn't get going at all. If we go 5 games without a win, with Everton away next, holy jebus. NA would be hanging by a thread.

Well, at least Wenger would have first-hand viewing of his new target.

I wonder if this is going to turn into another 138 page thread, with lots of poorly translated Italian articles and tweets? I do miss the Gaston thread.

Appearance wise, possibly. But football wise, he's already on a different planet.

I think you needed to be there to appreciate W-P yesterday, lots of off the ball running and closing down and great composure in tight areas, which may not have come across on TV as it did live. Morgan ran the show, absolutely, but W-P wasn't far behind.

Let's not do that. Cylen - Yoshida - Jos - Fox that will have to do until January.

What's that got to do with anything?

Look at it in the bigger picture alps. I'm also convinced he will join with a view to a backroom role at the club, having someone like that potentially working in a similar role to Jaidi will only help us in the future. It's potentially a move for now and for the future. I can see the clubs motives.

He's not a CB, or a LB - granted, but he's an experienced head which is what we lack. To be able to throw someone like on the pitch at the end of a game would be a great option, he'd settle everyone down. He's played at the top level all his life, he's played at world cups, euro's - the lot. He will benefit this squad massively in terms of experience and I'd be chuffed if we can get someone like him in. Don't expect him to score many, or to play a great deal - but expect him to be used as an option to calm everyone down with his experience in the closing stages of games. There's a hell of a lot good with our squad, let's not start think we're full of dross because we're not. We've got so much young talent that will only get better, and to have someone like him around the place is only going to accelerate their progression.

He deserves his crack, but he will be moved to one-side within time. Would imagine he will become a backup and then eventually a coach for us in the coming seasons. Top bloke, top captain and top player for us - but we've got to evolve and we won't reach the levels we want with Kelvin in goal, that's the reality unfortunately.

They did though. I think it's more telling that they didn't feel they needed to mention him much, he just slotted in out there against one of the best teams in the world. The Ajax and England coach have both singled this kid out for praise, so he's not being ignored. You can bet your bottom dollar that Wenger is drooling as well.

Well, we're a fit side, but the effort we put in for 60/70mins was immense. The closing down, the chasing, the tackling - of course some players are going to be knackered after that. Our fitness will improve as we become used to this level, but Morgan made a very valid point in his post-match interview. ''We're a fit side, but we were struggling with 15 mins to go, which shows you the intensity of this level and we need to adapt'' . It may be that we need to pace ourselves a bit during games, rather than going gung-ho for 70 odd mins, but it's harsh to expect W-P at 17 to be as fit as Carrick for e.g

But who would you have replaced Davis, or W-P with? There weren't any like for likes on the bench. We had Guly, Rodriguez, Mayuka, Seaborne, Richardson, Lee. So in theory, NA's hand was forced with what he had available to him. He needed to freshen it up, and the only area he could freshen up was the front 3. Unfortunately I still feel he made all 3 changes too quickly.

I've run out of things to say about him. He's just a natural football player, nothing is forced in his game.