ExSt Peter Saint

well done saints! team performance again, but we do seem to just hang on and hoof it to noone in the last 20 in these games - v hard to watch!

Our bench is pretty pathetic. Subs: K Davis, Fonte, Ramírez, Fox, Forren, Ward-Prowse, Guly. No striker, 2 cbs and 1 lb who's a liability. Only Ramirez offers potential to win match!

can't see him ever playing for us again, but thanks for helping us last 2 years.

Well as he's captain at Saints people wouldn't even think of him as a young player in our very youthful team. If we were voting for that amongst our players, Luke Shaw would have to be first, with Ward-Prowse next most likely.

I have doubts about our survival chances after today. Anyone looking up and thinking about Europe is seriously deluded. I really think NA would have had us easily safe, whereas MP is an unknown quantity still in terms of dealing with the pressure of English football. Are his tactics really the right way going forward?

The one player in our 11 who scares me is Fox. He really is the weak link!

Um, there aren't many players in our team today who weren't signed or signed up to new contracts in the last 3.5 years, so this is just who's our most important player, isn't it?

I seriously think he's got something special as a manager. I'll be massively surprised if he doesn't do well at his next club.

I genuinely think that if he'd stayed with us, we'd have comfortably finished mid-table this season and improved again next. It wouldn't have been long before other premier league clubs were trying to poach him, or even the FA for the England job. I can be a bit dismissive of all this positivity sometimes, but Nigel has clearly worked wonders with the players at our club. I've never felt as much confidence in a manager as I did with him once he got going. We rose to the challenge every season he was in charge and he can leave with his head held high. It's a crazy decision to replace him before we know how much further he could have taken us. Thank you Nigel, you will be very much missed

Really enjoyed that game yesterday apart from the last 10-15 minutes when we were really negative and unable to keep hold of the ball at all - very similar to the Stoke match. Because of that we were lucky to come away with 3 points, but over the whole game were by far the better team. Boruc was very solid apart from distribution a couple of times. Shaw was superb and I hope he's not out for any length of time because Fox is not up to the job! Yoshida made couple of errors to day that were pretty worrying, but still looks more solid and composed than Hoiveld who just is not reliable enough for this level. Clyne not at his best, but I didn't think he was a bad as some made out. Morgan and Cork were pretty solid and played their part in repelling Villa's poor attempts to attack. I wish they could attack though. Gaston failed to deliver enough end product, but battled hard against some "robust" attention from Villa. Puncheon got into some great positions but needs to make better decisions (like many wingers) Lambert was constantly fouled and unable to win much in the air, but it was a great penalty and he was better than most at keeping the ball and getting his head up. JRod ran himself into the ground and if only his finishing was better, would have been my MOTM.

I was confident he would stay. I think if we weren't in the premier league, it might be harder to keep him, but we should have a couple more seasons of watching him develop now. The future looks bright if we can build a team round the best talent from our academy with the odd star signing (like Ramirez) adding real class. Just wish we could develop a real top class CB through the youth setup.

The difference in our team since Cork and Shaw became regular starters has been amazing. Which of those has made the most difference is hard to say, but the job that the manager has done in getting the team playing solidly shouldn't be underestimated. The fact that so many get an honourable mention is testament to a great team ethic and overall improvement.

I think it would be harsh to drop J Rod after his performance against Stoke, but Ramirez has the class to get through Arsenal, so I'd play him in the hole. We also need someone who will track back in the wide positions. I would worry about Jos playing in centre defence against the pace of Theo and others, so might be tempted to rejig and get Yoshida back in the centre. Gazza Richardson Yoshida Fonte Shaw Cork Morgan Puncheon Ramirez Guly Lambert Subs K Davis, Jos, Fox, JWP, S Davis, Reeves, J Rod This is all assuming Clyne and Lallana aren't fit, of course.

Got back from the game yesterday, obviously, but having watched the highlights (which didn't really give a true reflection IMO) and thought about it, I still think we were much too negative and played right into their hands for the last half hour. Ok, maybe a few players ran themselves into the ground (and had the sh1te kicked out of them by the Stoke players/thugs) but we just didn't even try to keep the ball and build anything, were just hoofing it forward and waiting for the next high ball in with them having FOUR big forwards up there trying to get on the end of it. I really thought we were excellent in the first half and the way Shaw drew the defenders away from Guly to give him space to cause damage from the left was working really well. Lambert was immense and the Stoke fans from our family thought he was by far the best player on the pitch. Lucky not to concede a penalty, but should have scored more when we were on top. They really missed Shawcross, according to their fans, but who knows if we were playing that well whether he would have made that much difference. It was a good day out and I'm still very croaky today after singing my heart out and shouting at Clattenburg to give our players a bit of protection.

Happy Christmas and thanks to all the people who post things for me to read on here. Much of it is ********, but I still can't keep away and we all share a love for the Saints, so here's to a great 2nd half of the season!

If he's good enough, he's old enough. Walcott, Bale, Oxlade-Chamberlain all did ok despite early debuts in struggling teams in whatever league and proved to be premier league quality. From what I've seen of him and the fact that big clubs are already sniffing around, he could be another star. Why not give him a try? We can sell him for a lot more when we get relegated if he's started a few games ;-)

Back from the game and was really shocked at how lifeless and clueless we were. I was also disappointed by some of the fans really getting on players backs. Ok, Fox isn't good enough, but shouting at him that he's sh1t all the time isn't going to help. I thought Gazzaniga's distribution was really good at times, but he wasn't given many options to get moves going quickly. Clyne was disappointing, but not as bad as the other defenders Fonte and Yoshida both looked an accident waiting to happen and made a few mistakes that led to chances, so we could have lost by more if they could have finished. Strangely, I though Yoshida looked better against the physical presence of Lukaku than against the smaller faster players. Fox was dire. He was at fault almost every time the ball came down his side of the pitch. I actually thought without Lallana getting back and covering things would have been a lot worse. Shaw looked far more assured in the few minutes he was on the pitch. Didn't think MS was so bad, but saw nothing in S Davis to make me understand why he'd be a first choice premier league midfielder. Lallana had his moments, but lost the ball a lot more than I'm used to seeing. Ramirez lost the ball frequently and looked very rusty. Rodriguez was a waste of space out of position and the cross he overhit so much it nearly went out for a throw without bouncing summed it up. Lambert was not his normal self. Poor control, unable to keep posession, passes astray and no real threat. Subs came on too late to affect much. Guly looked the brightest of them and I was really p1ssed off that people were booing him before he'd even touched the ball. A bad night out in West Bromwich all in all. Wonder why I bother sometimes.

Perhaps he'd like to return ;-)

Full highlights can be seen here if you missed motd: http://www.timesoccer.com/video/02/21-aston-villa-vs-chelsea-live-football-match.html

What about all those defenders? Kana Biyick (sp?) Boilesen? What other ones were there?

If we're really wedded to 4-3-3, then we need to thin about the players to fit into that. What's now our best team? 1st choices could be Davis Clyne Yoshida Hooiveld Fox Davis Schneiderlin Lallana Ramirez Lambert Mayuka With 2nd team/replacements for all: Gazza Richardson Fonte Seaborne Shaw Chaplow Cork JWP Guly/Puncheon Rodriguez Lee Obviously there are some of the replacements that would step up more easily to cover the first choices than others - some may disagree that those are the first choice 11, but if we presume NA thinks that the players he brought in are better than what we have already, I guess that's what he'd go for.

As we won tonight, let's stick with a winning team (only joking)! I guess Guly's brush with the law will mean he's out and I'd rather see Puncheon or Lee start, anyway. If Ramirez is signed in time, he'll surely be in contention, as will Mayuka, but unless we get a CB in early enough, I reckon the rest of the team will be the same. Wonder if Lambert will start, or maybe Jay Rod will get to play up the middle and Ricky plays the super sub role again.

Nice goals! Cheers for uploading them. Puncheon's really was class!

What the stats don't show is how long he spends on the ball when he could have passed earlier and made something happen. I also think that the stat about tackling is important, because that shows that he holds onto the ball too long and is dispossessed far too often. I'm not a big Guly hater, by the way, but I thought he was a really weak link at the weekend.

Gazza Richardson Hooiveld Stephens Shaw Chaplow JWP Hammond Sharp J Rod Lee Subs: Davis, Seaborne, Butterfield, Chambers, Lallana, Puncheon, Lambert That's what I'd go with. Don't want to risk our most crucial players for the league and need to give the squad players some game time.