shurlock

Yep. Let's just hope (i) he stays and (ii) KL backs him financially, even if we can't hold onto all our best players.

Poch's English has come on leaps and bounds.

But you're naive enough to believe what a s**t-stirring troll on here says. Something doesn't add up, pal.

Should I be worried about your interest in me? Tell me how I should play it. Ta.

Most of our CB passes are simple - they usually lay it off to a midfielder who drops back to collect, so not sure what youre claiming. I also said match ratings -statswise- are a better indicator, so I don't need a lesson from you. More important I know what I saw with my own eyes. You seem to be alone on this thread in attributing responsibility for the defeat to the CBs and GK.

Did I claim we would finish 7th or higher? Just saying its a factual possibility. We huff and puff against a champ side and a de facto L1 side and all of a sudden we're rueing what ifs. Had we done a Wigan last season and gone away and beat Everton, maybe talk of Wembley might have been less cringeworthy. But we haven't. Am bitterly disappointed we're out but it felt like a pipedream and as such not going to lose much sleep over it.

Maybe this makes more sense to you. http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/803993/LiveStatistics/England-FA-Cup-2013-2014-Sunderland-Southampton Neither CB comes out particularly badly both in terms of pass completion and more importantly match rating - indeed they stand out compared to other areas of the pitch. Davis distribution was poor but Boruc hardly covers himself in glory either. To recount, the defense didn't lose us the game.

Going on this http://www.redcafe.net/threads/the-race-for-seventh-place.382736/ Don't know the ins and outs though.

I know how we play - I go to matches instead of playing computer games. There were plenty of situations where the midfield had the ball and simply gave it away. In diagnosing our defeat, the defense would not be the no.1 cause. End of.

Why pal? Fried made a fool of himself again. Our precious petals can't hack 3 games in a week, how are they meant to cope in the WC where that is the norm, so runs Fried's argument. But unlike the prem, WC players have a month or so to recuperate and prepare. Sunderland was our 11th game in less than two months. Rather different situations. No?

Woods from the trees, pal. Minute differences -Boruc's distribution vs. Kelvin's? The defense didn't make much of a difference. End of. Our pressing in all areas of the pitch lacked its usual intensity. If there was one part of the pitch that was guilty, it was midfield. Without Cork or Schneiderlin we didn't have the same poise and more frequently than not they drop back to take the ball off the CBs. More importantly Guly and JWP were virtually anonymous, leaving Lambert and Lallana isolated.

Finishing 7th would do it on some permutations.

Did I ever say it was a holiday? Still a month is still a month, a luxury a thin squad like ours does not have. IIRC this is our 11th game in less than two months. But keep banging away pal and insisting that a league season is like the World Cup.

Dear Fried - point to the part of the fixture list where Saints get a month's rest before resuming competitive football.

Nor mention many prem teams that have a month or so's rest before a busy schedule. Don't worry about CB Fry. He's an utter tool just not a particularly sharp one.

He is when Maya is Chez's scapegoat. The game wasn't lost by the defense today.

If its true :lol::lol:

Exactly they're a horrible little side -on and off the pitch- but have had the better of recent encounters. Would be very satisfying to do them - not an easy place to go but would speak volumes about our resilience and progress.

Is it still the strongest team if players are knackered? Paper tigers and all that.

Perhaps but apart from Jack Stephens who probably isn't going to make it we have no other real CBs. Not as if Sunderland created a shed load or our defense was ever really on the ropes.

Hopefully with a good week's rest, we can put out a full strength side and welcome back Dejan. We owe West Ham -with Carroll out now is as good a time as any to turn them over. Still plenty to play for. COYR

So you know what the score is with Fonte then? Perhaps he could have played; perhaps he was carrying a knock - some reports even suggesting that he would be out indefinitely.

Mongs in overreaction shocker. We played a pretty strong side - apart from Jrod and Morgan, that was basically the first XI after injuries are taken into account. Is it really a surprise we freshened things in midfield given the toils of the past week and the work it is expected to do in our system? And it's not as if the players who came in are somehow vastly inferior -or at least according to the same self-righteous mongs who are now in meltdown on here. Some have been even claiming JWP, the next big thing, should be off to Brazil Guly was the only one big surprise; but that's vastly different from stating we put out a disgusting, disgraceful, disrespectful team or whatever is mongboard mot du jour. Many of our first teamers looked f**ked and off the boil - lesson is we have a thin squad and can't maintain the tempo expected when the calendar gets congested.

Fonte was injured - our midfield has played 3 times in a week. Wanyama was starting every game over Cork before he got injured and JWP is a mongboard golden boy. Only Guly and Davis are genuine downgrades at least from the perspective of the armchair managers on here.

Clyne was one of our best players - most, if not all our opportunities came from him