tajjuk

I'm not sure we have the luxury of shipping people out, and there are some seriously stupid names on peoples lists here Forster, JWP, Hojberg and Austin? We aren't going to find a better keeper without spending £20 million, he's maybe not has his best season but all players have bad spells of form, then our top scorer before he got injured and two of the most promising young centre-mids in the country. I mean JWP? he's been playing excellently recently. We'll release some out of contract people and maybe loan a few. I think Target and Reed would benefit from some time in the championship with a good club (i.e one that is likely to challenge for promotion next year so they get games in a confident team) Martina was going before Pied's injury so he's likely and Gabiadinni has probably put an end to Jay Rods career here, he'll want more game time and he's the only one we'll likely get money for. Doubt anyone else will go unless it's like Van Dijk, Tadic, Bertrand to a bigger club and because they want to leave to that bigger club.

Typically lucky Man Utd, I seriously hate Man Utd as a football club, proid of the lads though they deserved the win, were the better team throughout but Utd fluke it thanks to the lino. But meh, Pogba cost more money than our whole team pretty much, Man Utd bought that trophy, if we'd won it we would have earned it, they;ve spent what like half a billion in transfers over the last 5 years and it gets them a fluke league cup win where they had to rely on a 35 year old and the lino. Just a shame our team can't play like this more often, we'd probably be in the top 6 and still in the other cups if they could put the same performance in against Hull and the like.

The Sky ad for this is so annoying, you'd think Mourinho was playing on his own, it's like 90% about Mourinho, 9% Man Utd and then at the end they are like 'oh yeh they are playing Southampton'.

Good result and confidence boosting. Should remember they are the bottom club, but still they won 4-0 last week, we were away and we bagged 4 goals so much credit to the team. Just wish we weren't so inconsistent. Who knows, maybe Gabiadini is going to fire us up the table for the rest of the season.

That's at the moment, the big teams have had just as bad injury problems. In recent years Utd despite a vast squad had virtually no defenders for some games and Arsenal always have shed loads of injuries. It's just bad luck generally.

No I had far more important things to do, but my opinion would be the same if I had. You lot make out like those guys who went out there tried to lose, they got beat by a better team far more costly assembled than ours and we rested some people because we had lots of injuries and lots of games , big deal get over yourself. You make out like you've never watched them lose a game or never been to the cinema and watched a crap film. You paid some money to watch some football, and that is what you got. Like I said if anyone else thinks they wouldn't have done the same as Puel, in the same situation then they are pretty clueless. And people talking about the 1960s

Don't understand the fuss people are making. We had 9 players out with injuries most of them first teamers, 9 and we are playing Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday. We are in the league cup final and clearly Puel wants to do better in the league and felt those games coming up are more winnable. If anyone here honestly thinks had they been in charge and would have done something different they are clueless IMO. Had we not had 9 injuries then I'm sure a stronger team would have been put out, but you are essentially moaning that we don't have a 3rd eleven good enough to take on Arsenal. We are in the final of the league cup, we have already played A LOT of games, we need to improve our league position (and have good opportunities to do that), we had 3 games to play in 6 games and we were playing an Arsenal team that was more than capable of beating the best side we could put out. That situation simply meant that the the FA Cup had to drop down the priority list. The correct decision was made. Oh and those dissing our performances in getting to the league cup need to seriously evaluate yourselves as fans, we played 4 premier league teams, including beating Arsenal and Liverpool away, all of whom wanted to progress and we didn't concede a single goal en route. There is probably no harder route to a domestic cup final so people saying otherwise are idiots basically.

Has a whiff of Pap Cisse IMO, 1 season wonder.

Don't watch then. Sky obviously think it's useful and so do others, which is pretty obvious because humans like things ranked and in numbers, it's easier to understand. Plus with the 100s of signings going on all over the place they are not exactly going to get much better expert opinion, the FM researchers are dedicated fans of their club who watch those players over and over. No less valid than asking some random journalist from that country, yet people quite happily seem to accept those opinions, but because it's a from a computer game it's somehow less valid? Makes no sense, like MLG says it's a pretty extensive and pretty accurate database, not using a resource like that seems silly to me. You don't take the stats as literal you take them as a guide to what people think the player's strengths and weaknesses are.

Hmmn, investment is fine, control or full selling to these guys is a worry IMO. Anything unstabling the system we have built behind the scenes would a be a disaster IMO. Either these guys would be looking for pure profit which is no great way to run a club and would probably see us sell our best players every year or they might be looking for some quick fix to success route that could massively back fire and the club completely loses it's identity. Ideally I'd hope the club are looking to raise some capital to invest into the stadium and the areas around the ground to increase our commercial and match day income without impacting the playing squad too much. They then see selling a share of the club as the best way to do this and push the club on even further. That's my ideal scenario, the night mare one is some asset stripping takeover akin to what is happening to Hull.

German international, won the league with Stuttgart, but seems to have gone down hill since his injury though seems to have been very highly rated at times. Could probably do worse by the looks of things.

Seems well regarded but short of game time, likes a cheeky near post free kick from those clips and not one for massive celebrations by the looks of things. Reports having him as having a very good work rate and a pretty good goals per minute rate. I can see him as being the kind of player we go for, still quite young, has had some success but fallen a little down the pecking order at a big club. I mean worked alright with Bertrand and Romeu, albeit they were from prem clubs. He also doesn't have Osvaldo's baggage or attitude, plus he is probably keen to prove himself. Has a little Christian Vieri about him IMO, and from that vid looks pretty confident at finishing first time (at least on that left foot) which is probably something we lack.

Yeh very true, lots of potential there I think we've already seen some improvement in players and that is what Puel was brought in to do. It's just crucial that we through next summer without too much damage to the squad and add some extra quality, that way the squad improves two ways, we have some extra quality players and the young players improve as well and we could potentially be much stronger next year. It's just the that worry that we have to firefight every season to get back to the same level.

He knows what he is doing and is obviously very tactically astute, him and the team deserve great credit for the performances against a very good Liverpool team. Hopefully this will breed more confidence and we can now kick on in the league. My only gripe this season is consistency, Puel seems to be struggling to get the players to hit the consistent high levels of performance they obviously have in them. (plus we need to take more chances) It's probably why people have been so dissapointed at times this season, at times we can produce excellent and high quality attacking football, which you watch and then see some of the dross performances we have served up at other times and you are left scratching your head. Hopefully we'll get in a couple of new players to freshen up the squad before the end of the window (but not panic buys) and the players will continue to 'get' what Puel wants them to do and we'll go from there. If we can win the league cup and get in say the top 8 then no one will really complain at the end of the season, then the real key will be trying to get through the summer with some stability and actually improve the squad rather than replacing people we lose.

Well I think they've probably shown about as much as Chambers albeit they've not had as many opportunities yet, and 3 of those players got plenty of game time in the lower leagues against lesser players, whereas Sims et al have had to make their debuts and continue their development in the premier league. We should also remember that aside from Bale, none of those supposed super star young talents have really hit the heights many predicted they would. Walcott is nowhere near what his potential was and has been frustratingly inconsistent over the years, AOC looks to be going to the same way if he doesn't get out of Arsenal. Chambers has gone completely backwards and is currently on loan at Borough, fast becoming another Jenkinson by the looks of things and Shaw has obviously had the injury set back but was dropped for being too fat early on his career at Utd. Plus we should also look at Lallana and Morgan, both weren't instantly amazing and were written off by many but slowly developed into top players. If the club has faith in them then I'm happy to trust them on that. We have been spoiled by seeing talents like Bale early on against lesser opponents that means there is an expectation for every academy graduate to come through to have the same impact, whereas really most players at 20 - 21 are developing their game and are inconsistent. If they are still not performing well at 24 - 25 then maybe (even then you can get late bloomers) but all of Stephens, Sims, Targett, and Reed have shown they can easily slot into the team and do a job at the very least, if not a lot more. So I'd rather have academy players of 21-22 sitting on the bench as back ups developing their game than some foreign bought 27 year old that we buy for £10 - 15 million and costs a fortune in wages like most other clubs seem to do. Is Simms or Stephens or Targett any worse than some of the dros players Liverpool or West Ham or Everton had on their bench, not IMO, I'd reckon they are better and probably more hungry to play and improve rather than just pick up a pay cheque . They might not hit Bale levels, but if one one of them can be as good as say Matt Oakley that will be a success.

Excellent result and performance against a very good Liverpool side, especially with the players we had missing. Here is hoping Hull can pull of a miracle tonight but honestly I'd fancy our chances against Utd.

Leicester were pretty bad first and foremost, but we can only beat what we we put in front of us and the overall shape, tempo and ethic of the team looked very good. We bossed the game and they barely had a sniff. I would say our shooting at times is still poor, Hojberg had two decent chances, one that should have been a goal, another where he should have hit the target. Plus the 15 minutes after half time saw a lot of miss placed passes and a few getting caught in possession but we seemed to step it up and got the deserved third, should have been four or five. Jay Rod for me gets better and better, great touch and hold up play, excellent work rate and a very good finish for the goal. JWP was also excellent, busy, always bringing top quality into his passes and crosses, plus a very good finish. It was a very Lampard esque goal IMO. He needs to start doing that more often and making those runs into the box. All round very positive, VVD a worry, Anfield will be hard without him and Liverpool can't be as bad as they were against Swansea or as bad as Leicester.

I think this/see how Yoshida goes is probably a good option with the emergence of McQueen and Targett due to come back. A back four of McQueen, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Cedric seems pretty good to me. He's hardly the shortest left back around and has the experience I think to change position.

It's a no brainer for £20 million IMO, considering the fees of some players.

At that price we should snap him up, he's still better than anything we have. Last few seasons for us he was developing as a proper box to box midfielder rather than a standard DM. Plus he'd be great cover for Romeu, he's basically an upgrade on Clasie for £13 million, seems a no brainer to me.

I think recent games have shown that fitness and intensity are huge in the premier league. We make 6 changes and look much fitter and sharper than Bournemouth did, Arsenal looked a shadow of themselves second half against City, Chelsea and Liverpool doing very well whilst having no Europe is not a coincidence. Puel's rotation I think has been essential, it's going to get us through the rest of the season I reckon performing well. Even then it's not necessarily been enough as the very flat performance against hull showed. Look at the Stoke to Bournemouth games, our big performers against Bournemouth, Davis coming on at half time, Jay Rod who only played 30 against stoke, Cedric who didn't play against Stoke, Clasie, Hojberg neither played against Stoke. And then Bertrand who did play a full game against Stoke but seemed to be fuelled by jeers from their crowd. Whereas the Bournemouth team aside Wilson was the same as their Tuesday team (and they all played 90 aside King). Premier League is 100 miles an hour anyway and the quality of the teams throughout the league is so good you can't play 80% in this league and get away with it, as we showed against Hull.

Yeh liked the Puel seemed to have a quick word with Boufal when he came off in a strop, I hope he was telling him that is what you get when you get yourself stupidly booked for diving when you had a man beaten and could have had a shot on goal.

Plus if pool win on Monday as they should, then we are above Everton despite Koeman going there and their 'big money spending'.

Deserved win, 3rd goal was very welcome because you could feel there was a little bit of worry around and at one point we were getting a bit deep. Hojberg very lucky not be pulled off at half time but looked a different player second half, he should do that more carrying the ball forward, running at people etc. We still need more midfield runners into the box, Davis showed what can happen but doesn't happen enough, second half Bertrand puts a good cross into the back post where Hojberg should have been running in for a close range header, he had a good shot but they need to be making those runs more. Back 4 were excellent the quality difference between our fullbacks and theirs was stark IMO, thought Clasie was good and stepped into the holding role well. Harsh on Reed to come off but that first half midfield was too defensive. Boufal was good in sports, but if he keeps creating openings he's worth his place in the team. No diving though please, I think that silly yellow cost him his 90 mins because I thought Redmond was the least effective attacker we had, massively fluffed his chance didn't seem to beat anyone or put a cross in. Reckon Puel was worried Boufal would get sent off as he was still diving into to challenges. Also I hope Boufal's reaction to his subbing was more about annoyance with himself but looked like he calmed down at the end and was all smiles. Finally delighted for Jay Rod, the first goal it was good to see him still busting a gut to get in there as he'd missed two like that in the last two games and in the first half there was a pull back that he didn't really react to so was worried his confidence was really low. And then what a strike for the 3rd goal, but his all round play was excellent, running the channels, holding it up, winning headers and showed good pace on occasions. Let's hope he stays fit because he's finally starting to look fit and strong and with those goals the confidence will start showing. On a side note, I thought Wilshere looked a class above for them, very clever player and most of the good stuff they did came through him.

Sturridge for me, on loan, agree to buy fee which can be quite high but a lot of it based on appearances/goals. He's the best quality out there IMO that might be available, anything near his best is good enough to score goals for us. Plus I think he'd work really well with the likes of Tadic, Boufal etc. We just have to sell it to him and tell him play as our main striker.