tajjuk

If he's training then I presume he can't be far away.

I fully expect them all to win sadly.

Sky curse strikes and terrible ref will hand victory to Liverpool First maybe but still seen them given ball wasn't played. Second one is a nailed on penalty and red card.

nope. best chance for champions league we will ever have I think

Never really understood the Gaston loan, just the sort of creativity we needed last night, especially for the last 30 minutes, he came up with some crucial assists about this time last year to help win games.

Would be nice if we did considering the TV deals and the absurd wages players get.

The Scousers still really think they will get Champions League? and the Mancs think we have a run of difficult fixtures coming up? where?

I'd say Bertrand and Cork will sign, Bertrand has already been round the houses too often and he knows getting into the Chelsea team is unlikely. He's found a place in a good team. I'd also like to think Toby is thinking the same, but bigger suitors may turn his head. Jay Rod no idea, I think he still idolises Pochettino so you don't know until he gets back playing and if he starts working with Koeman he might stay. Clyne I suspect will go, but for big money.

No he's an excellent player, a true all rounder, I don't really think he has any weaknesses in his game, though he doesn't excel at anything either but his all round technique and passing have made us tick this year. Plus his work rate is off the chart. Having said that, I prefer JWP in the space behind Pelle, I think since he has moved there from the right he has looked excellent and his game intelligence, vision and passing have been second to none. Now he just needs to add some goals to his game. Nice problem to have though, I mean for us to have Cork, Morgan, Wanyama, Davis and JWP (and now Reed) competing for those central midfield spots we are really spoiled. Especially when you look at a club like Arsenal have to put up with in their defensive mid positions.

Lambert and Fonte. I mean basically the spine of Fonte, Morgan and Lambert got us through to where we are today. What's funny to think is they all cost around £1 - 1.5 million, yet are all now playing (and excelling) in the Premier League, are all full internationals, we are scoffing at rumoured £25 million bids for Morgan and I heard Fonte be mentioned as one of the best centre backs in the league this season.

IF Jay Rod gets back to what he was last season at his peak (or better) then Forster Clyne Toby, Fonte, Betrand Victor, Morgan Tadic, JWP, Jay Rod Pelle. Davis, Cork, Gardos, Mane, Davis, Elia, Reed Against someone good and away then I'd put Davis in for JWP and Mane comes in for Jay Rod if he struggles. Also harsh on Long who I think has done nothing wrong this seasons and always made a contribution.

At least he called us a top 4 team. Thing is Mourinho takes Chelsea to say Man City or Liverpool and will get heralded for grinding an away win. Man Utd in their pomp very rarely went to the grounds of their title rivals and played an open game. They played on the counter attack and defended well, no different to what we did. We deserved to win the game because we stopped them from playing and created, then took the better chances. Anything else is just sour grapes that a team the football convention can be upset when a team spends hundreds millions on players but is beaten by a better team that cost a fraction of that amount. Most other pundits roundly congratulated our win and said it was well deserved. We've clearly shown over the season so far and over the two games that our team is better than Utds despite the vast spending at Old Trafford, now its up to the team to prove it over the whole season. Who cares what idiots like Durham think, I'm sure Utd were patting themselves on the back when they nicked the win at St Marys and we played WAY better in that game to try and win it then Utd did at Old Trafford. The only people I've seen say Utd deserved the win is bitter Rooney and bitter Van Gaal, and now this plonka.

You would like to think no but I suspect if we do then it will be times higher than the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs looking at our players. More like the Chelseas, Man Citys and some big Euro clubs might be looking. You would also like to think that the example of Lovren, lallana, Lamert, Shaw etc would have an influence.

If we finish lower than 7th then that would be quite a disappointment from this position at the moment. Especially as really the toughest fixtures we have left are away to Chelsea and Man City pretty much the next highest we face is home games against 6th place Spurs and 8th place Liverpool, with the other 13 games being against teams 9th or below at the moment. 10 wins from those remaining 17 games we'd have 69 points. We could easily grab wins from all of our home games as well I reckon.

Great win, well deserved by the sounds of it as well. Blip over and we can go to Utd full of confidence and hopefully with Clyne and Morgan back as well. Everton lost, Swansea drew, Man Utd drew, Liverpool drew, West Ham drew. If Chelsea can beat Spurs it will be a decent day. We are really in this top 4 race now,

This could be a great day all round for us, Man Utd drawing, Liverpool now drawing, West Ham drawing and hopefully Chelsea will take the points off Spurs. We could be the only 3rd 4th challenger to win today. Come on lads one more to finish them off.

Those defending Yoshida, sorry but he was poor, especially for Lampard's goal, can't close down a 36 year old and just turn your back. The rest of his play wasn't great either. Losing Morgan upset our balance quite a lot. Shame generally but the Pelle chance could have changed the game, we got lucky with the early pen, whethered the storm and got back into the game. Had that gone in I think we would have gone on to win the game and upset Man City's confidence but instead they got the crucial first.

What he tried last night generally didn't come off, bout summed it up when he tried to do the outside of the foot ball into Pelle I think and it went out for corner instead as he got the inside of his foot on it. Anyone that has played the game at any level has been there, some things you could do in your sleep yet you'll have a day where nothing comes off. But he kept going and he kept trying to create, kept trying to create space, kept running on what ultimately was a poor overall team performance, which I think is encouraging. A 22 year old player in his first season in the prem could have easily gone to hide, just passed simple inside balls for the rest of the night, but no even when he clearly wasn't having his day he kept trying to be a creative outlet for the team. As many have said Hutton played well, a player that used to be a real quality full back when at Rangers and his early Spurs days looks like he might have found some of that old form back and well shackled Mane. We've already though seen enough there I think to be excited, he won't come off every game but when he does he'll win games. He was the stand out player a few weeks ago. Him and Tadic though different in approach provide what probably only Jay Rod gave us last year, direct running at defenders at full pace. It creates chances.

If we are still in the top 4/5 come January then you have to think us serious contenders. Also like Arsenal we don't really need to do a huge amount against the top teams (though on current form we could easily take points from anyone bar Chelsea) I also don't think it will be a race to fourth it's quite possibly race to second, because I can see Chelsea getting 95-97 points and winning the league in early April, everyone else even City plays out for the scraps. An injury to Aguero and they are screwed. Anyway, it's not likely but top 6 probably is, but if there was ever a season for one of the non regulars to finish in a champions league spot it's this season.

Think this has a slip up feel to it, good though that RK noted we didn't play that well at Hull so may get into the lads a bit because this one has complacency written all over it. Could see them parking the bus then going 1-0 up from a corner in the 80th minute.

Not sure why Lambert is getting stick, he didn't leave for money, he left because he wanted to play for his boyhood club. It would be the same if one of use was say playing for a lower premier league team, had been there a while and been successful but then jumped at a chance to move to Saints. I hold no animosity towards him and I think it's a bit sad that a talented and genuine player like Lambert sits on the bench whilst an overpaid waster like Balotelli gets starts. As for Lallana, always liked him as a player, don't think he handled his leaving well but we got absurd money for him. I'd have him back though because he's a quality player an d a product of our club, but like many before him he should have known that life sitting on the bench was probably awaiting him. Bale, Walcott, the Ox, Shaw, Lallana all have left regular football where they were clearly improving and then found themselves on the bench too often and their progress stalled. Only really Bale progressed to his full potential in my opinion, Walcott is very good but I bet he'd be a lot better then he is now if he'd stayed a few more years with us getting regular games (or at least went to a decent mid table prem club). It's not too late for the Ox, but there are so many midfielders at Arsenal you wonder once they are all fit where he will fit in with Ozil, Sanchez, Podolski, Wilshere, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Walcott and Rosicky all battling it out essentially for 4 spots behind the main striker. As for Lallana well, hes not that young anymore and you could quite easily see his game stalling. Lovren though I will enjoy his failure, he was a money grabbing bastard and whilst we got decent money for him, his conduct deserves some Karma.

This. What's noteworthy is whilst we generally look very solid at the back these 4 teams have not. Everton are showing their age I think at the back and Stones out for a while is a big miss. Utds defensive problems are well known and well can't see it being solved until January even then they probably like Arsenal need a world class defensive midfielder and centre back at the least. (strikes me as very odd how West Ham managed to get a class DM in Song on loan when these big teams lack in this very area). Liverpool lack leadership at the back, Lovren looks half the player we sold and without them threatening as much up front without Suarez and the injuries to Sturridge their faulty defense is under more pressure. Spurs generally just look like a team strangers to me, bought far too many but I doubt if you asked 10 different Spurs fans they would tell you the same team. Of course it's all early days but these 4, plus Arsenal not solving their midfield/defensive issues and Man City clearly not the team they should be. We are just on a crest of a wave but our team at the moment seems good going forward and well balanced at the back. A few injuries and that could change but at the moment we and West Ham are the ones that are pushing the big boys and would you really be surprised on current form if one of those 4/5 mentioned dropped out of the top 7?

Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Everton, all 4 don't really look as good as they were last season (and Man Utd don't look much better than last year) Early days of course but on current form I think we could take points of most of those teams, only side we should really fear look like Chelsea. Looking really possible that we could maybe even sneak above that 8th place.

I dont think the number of touches is relevant when they were part of the same process. Ball is going in, defender attempts to clear, fails to do so and ball ends up as goal in anyway. Take him out of the equation and the ball is still going in, I've seen situations where strikers have dinked the ball over the keeper but with not much power, the defender rushes desperately back to clear and slides to hook the ball away before it crosses the line but ends up missing and basically just bundles the ball into the net touching his body several times and those arent called OGs. Basically I think an OG should be decided on the question - Would the ball have gone in without the defender's touch? If the answer is Yes then it's not an OG, if it's not then it isn't.

Should be Pelle's goal, keeper didn't save it just took the sting off it, the ball was rolling in anyway if the defender hadn't tried to clear it. He fudged up his clearance but take him away you have Pelle's shot not saved enough by Manone to prevent the ball rolling in, thus logically it should be Pelle's goal. OG's are just when the ball wasn't ever going in the first place, if Manone had saved the ball and it had stopped dead then yes, OG, but the ball was still continuing on it's original path towards goal and would have gone in anyway even without the defender's intervention.