benjii

So true.

FFS, engage your brain. Burnley are a worse team than us who will face far more shots against them and finish lower than us. I guarantee you this. We are very good at managing the amount of decent chances we concede so you are unlikely to see Forster, or any other Saints GK at the moment, make a "string of saves" in many matches.

There's nothing wrong with the "plan". Dominate possession, restrict the opposition to very few shots on target and attempt to score goals is a good plan. If the players mess that up that's not a problem with the plan. We lost yesterday because we failed to convert a number of good chances, we let in one sloppy goal because people switched off from a throw-in and we let in another goal from a set piece. The whole phase of play for the first goal came from Fonte giving away a stupid foul on Mbokani which was completely unnecessary. On another day, Austin could have had a hat-trick and Clasie should have done better with his chance in the first half when he was played in. Van Dijk also hit the bar from a corner. Also worth observing that Van Dijk spent most of the last ten minutes up front, showing that we aren't afraid to get it forwards and try something different if needed. The deficiencies in our squad (lack of a genuine "box to box" midfielder, unreliability at right back and limited depth in front of goal) would manifest themselves in certain matches regardless of the "plan". Why do people over analyse everything? We lost yesterday due to individual poor execution. Not Puel's fault at all. I feel sorry for Puel because he seems to be doing a really good job and if we had invested in one or two more decent players in the summer we could really be pushing to achieve something again this season. As it is, I think we should be concentrating on the cups because the squad lacks the depth to achieve anything noteworthy in the league as well as competing in all the cups.

So? If anything that means he's likely to give less of a **** about being rested for some Europa League group games.

He led us out in Europe last season didn't he?

Yes, we rest players for the competition but we only have 3 decent centre backs. Because he is older than VVD he has been rested. He also played in a tournament in the summer, which VVD didn't. If we were determined he wouldn't play to avoid being cup-tied then he wouldn't have been on the bench last night. And does anyone good enough to sign him really give a toss about the Europa League? It's basically Man U, in this country, that would be impacted either way and I doubt they are planning their transfer strategy around the knock-out stages of the Europa League to be honest. Likewise, if he was off to Sporting or Benfica or whatnot, I doubt they would be too bothered.

No he hasn't. He's never been a striker or played "upfront". He was a wide attacking midfielder. He's only a "striker" or an "upfront" player if you think Adam Lallana, Eden Hazard or Dusan Tadic are "strikers". Where you may have a point though, is that Puel doesn't seem too fussed about playing traditional "strikers" in the "striker" position.

Same as pretty much every other match then.

Other than the penalty incident (which shouldn't have been awarded and then should have been managed much better), which was very badly reffed, I thought the ref was actually decent enough. He didn't award Inter cheap free-kicks falling over and rolling around and was much less fussy than a lot of European refs might have been. Ok, he missed some pulling on VVD at set pieces but that whole area of the game is a mess, in terms of how it is officiated, from top to bottom.

If Redmond needs a rest then bring Boufal in, not Jay Rod.

The rotation point is why Yoshida deserves so much praise this season. Every time we've asked him to step-in he's done admirably. Yoshi is a superb squad player for us to have.

He was ok in the first half and "controlled" the game well, but his passing was too cautious to control it in a meaningful way. In the second half he seemed to make a conscious decision to drive forwards more, both physically himself and with his use of the ball and he worked really hard to tie down the right flank after Davis came on. It was, overall, probably an 8/10 from him but nothing to go overboard about IMO. If he can produce that level of performance against half-decent Premier League teams regularly, then great!

Something like that would make sense to me.

Good performance but against an unfit, aging, half-assed, weird team.

It's for chicks with dicks.

The Chinese are a great bunch of lads.

I think Jay Rod would suit this system wonderfully but sadly he still seems way off being able to compete regularly. Austin is working really hard and is a decent option but, being honest, he lacks the agility to play the way Puel seems to want and better defenders will crowd him out quite easily like they did with Lambert. Likewise, Long lacks the close control to be really effective in a passing team over a long-period. I don't think we would have signed Austin in Jan last year if we knew Koeman was going to be off.

It's not just numbers either. We should have signed another forward because Long and Austin aren't that good and Redmond isn't a reliable goalscorer.

Clearly the squad is short of goal-scorers. Long is a middling-at-best Premier League player and Jay Rod is crocked. That leaves Austin who is not exactly dynamic and is also probably, middling-at-best over any sort of prolonged period. The weakest areas of our squad are striker and right back, so it's quite sensible that people want to sign a striker.

Really? Where did you find that train? Looks like it's at least five hours from anything I can find.

Dave Benson Phillips.

How odd.

Exactly.

I'm not sure that is down to a loss of interest. Probably more to do with people finding cheaper "unconventional" ways of watching matches online. Going back to the atmosphere point, it's partly an increase in interest by people who want a Premier League experience but don't want to sing that contributes to a flat atmosphere. I also agree with Nordic Saint - the SMS acoustics are not great. It's loud when everyone joins in but the Northam can't hear the Itchen very well (or the away support, for that matter) and vice-versa. One big signing section behind the goal with the away fans to the side would definitely be preferable.

The airline is still responsible for providing food and drink, accommodation, travel to/from airport etc. even if a strike is the cause of the delay. So, effectively, "expenses" are still their responsibility. What they don't need to do, if the delay is caused by a strike, is pay additional compensation.