benjii

We might go 352 when Pelle is out. Long and Mane front two could be dangerous. Anyhoo, this "next 6" is, of course, league only. Our next 6 matches includes the scousers in the league cup, after the Man City game. That is the game I want to win most in the next six.

I think we should be capable of nine or ten points there. More than that would be a very good return. It would be helpful if Man City still have no centre forward when we play them.

Forster is ok but I prefer Stekelenburg. I don't think there is a single aspect of the game that Forster is better at, apart from being a little bigger.

Yeeeeeeessssss! Aha, Dusan!

In hindsight, we should have signed Wijnaldum.

So, Yoshida in for Cedric and JWP in for Wanyama. Three defenders on the bench but no Reed or Ramirez. A bit odd, if you ask me (assuming not injury enforced).

Gardos is similar, I think. He likes travelling around and assimilating information. He's not a "Fifa, Nandos and perma-tanned slag" baller.

Whites are ****e at sprinting and blacks are ****e at swimming. Them's the facts.

This is terrible. I hope Ron shows some solidarity on Saturday and blacks up.

"An accusation that a top [sic - it's a Bournemouth player, FFS] football player's shirt was stolen from a young Cherries fan has been withdrawn by the boy's father. The shirt was thrown into the crowd after Sunday's match with Saints....." Not particularly hard to make it a much better and easier piece of English.

No worries, I'll get a few (donation innit, nice and cheap) and stick them on eBay.

Good if Long is available. If Fat Sam does decide they need to do something different (which they clearly do need to do!) then defending deeper to stop their rank centre backs being turned seems like a likely strategy. If that is the case and he does manage to make them solid between last weekend and this one then having an extra physical presence in the box could be useful if we are chasing a goal. Although even better if we are 5-0 up and can bring Pelle off!

8 pages in and I haven't seen hide nor hair of a bumder. Poor.

or :lo:

We really won't know for a good few months longer. Last season we were excellent until January but threw away loads of points in the final months of the season, in particular losing away games against poor side. This season we have looked very dangerous as an attacking team but have had less of a stranglehold on games (our recent second half home performances being the case in point) however we might now be able to go on a bit of a winning run (City away, probably, aside). If Forster becomes available to play at any point then we are clearly much stronger in GK depth this season. In any event, I think Stekelenburg is better so even if he doesn't we are no worse off. Cedric is doing well now and Van Dijk and Fonte look to have hit it off. Although Toby is excellent we still have an excellent defensive shape and tend to restrict the opposition to very few genuine changes. As someone else noted, it looks likely we will score more goals from defence with Virgil over the season (if we haven't already). Up front, Pelle, Tadic and Mane are all playing better than their average form last season, I would say. The area where we are not as strong looks to be midfield. Not surprising because Morgan was the best deeper-lying central midfielder in the league. However iof Classie grows into it and Wanyama pulls his finger out again we are still pretty strong there with the likes of Romeu and JWP giving good depth. Then add Juanmi and (hopefully Rodriguez) who we didn't have last year. We should be aiming for more than 55 points again and to do better in the cups.

He failed to track runners past him on a number of occasions in the second half. I also felt he had a very poor second half against Villa. I'm hoping Romeu can put in a great performance next weekend to remind Vic he isn't undroppable again.

You are so clueless. "i would be happy if Tadic never plays for Saints again".

Bound to be painful. Richardson is obnoxious and arrogant and Krueger is cringeworthy

Cheers pal. Has he been playing centre back or right back? I think he's better at centre back. You are certainly right about his attitude. He is an obvious leader and was captain of our U21s. Even if he doesn't make it at Saints he should have a good solid career.

Tadic is much more effective than Svensson ever was for us. I don't see the merits of any comparison. That Strachan team was built on an excellent GK, really dependable defenders and a striker in the form of his life. Although Svensson had moments of class I never really felt he took a hold of games the way he seemed to do for Sweden sometimes.

Van Dijk was generally ok, although they murdered us on set pieces in the first half. Apart from that, Villa were so gash I can't justify giving a centre back more than a six. Wanyama was very sloppy in the second half. Nothing to do with his effort but to do with poor touches and giving the ball away. Pelle battered them in the second half and was wrongly flagged offside when running in on goal in the first half. He played well and scored an excellent goal. As I explained, Gaston was the only player who contributed any real fluidity in the first half. So you're wrong I'm afraid. On reflection, I would upgrade Yoshida to an 8, which I think I meant to do originallly but the others stay the same.

Cat A prices to keep the kids out. Want a decent atmosphere for this. Last night was one of the worst atmospheres I've experienced at a Saints game.

In the first half whenever we played some decent football he was usually involved. He made some nice angles and created space with JWP. I also see JWP getting some stick. His final ball was poor but he got in some great positions "between the lines" but more often than not the pass to him wasn't seen or given quickly enough. For what it's worth, my ratings for the match would be: Stek - 8 - didn't have much to do but did it all perfectly. Yoshida - 7 - solid all game and took some responsibility on the ball. He's not Cedric in terms of forward running but he's a superb squad player. Caulker - 6 - pretty decent defensively but his passing is not very good. It's not just the long balls to Pelle but the weight and accuracy of easier passes often puts the recipient on the back foot. Van Dijk - 6 - Solid. Villa only really tested with the long ball to Gestede. Targett - 6 - A bit rought at the start but made some much better attacking contributions in the second half. Solid defensively. Wanyama - 5 - seemed half asleep at times in the second half. Romeu - 6 - good recovery work and kept the ball well. Bit slow spotting the forward pass on occasions. JWP - 5 - as noted, got in some great positions but wasn't in the game enough (not always his fault). Some sloppy passes in the final third. Juanmi - 6 - promising although I think he looks much better in central pockets rather than out wide. Gaston - 7 - prepared to take some responsibility on the ball and generally used it pretty well. Pelle - 8 - really bossed it in the second half and lovely goal. Davis - 8 - made a big impact with some good forward passes and energy. Tadic - 8 - genuine quality. When he's fit and on form he is a really excellent player. I thought we tried to play some decent stuff but were not clinical until Davis and Tadic came on. Fairly solid defensively although they looked capable of scoring from a set piece. Good enough to get past Villa (who are useless and going down, finally!) but we need to play a full-strength 11 in the next round.

The next five league games are a chance to build some real momentum and, along with the cup game, will go a long way to determining if this is going to be an exciting season or a boring one! Excepting City, we should be looking for 10-12 points from those.

I reckon Targett might come in and obviously Mane will need replacing but other than that, we should pick the best team we can. -------------------------Stek------------------------------- Cedric---------Fonte--Virgil--------------Targett -------------Wanyama----Clasie/JWP-------------- Gaston-------Juanmi/Davis-----------------Tadic -------------------------Pelle-----------------------------