Saint Fan CaM

Just cannot believe how a team that shipped the fewest goals in the Prem has become defensively a complete joke and essentially because of one man - Caulker. But then Clasie is nowhere near Spidermans level and that has made a huge difference. Pelle is terribly inconsistent - 1/5 performances are Prem worthy and so he's not reliable enough. Not sure where we go from here...lose against Villa and things start looking very bleak.

If they score first, we are done for. If we can stick in 2 before Benteke and/or Milner get played we might stand a chance. (-:

We will lose this - they simply have a better squad and history does us few favours. Plus they have some top players coming back from injury who will need game time. Don't think there are enough players in our team who will want the cup experience enough - the passion is just not there. 1-3 to Pool.

4-0 to City. We've kind of lost the plot, big man is missing up top and they have a great squad - "no chance" is probably stating the obvious.

Heart says 2-0 Saints - head says 1-1 or they nick it 0-1. We're not great at breaking down this type of team - it'll be a tough one.

I guess everyone has the right to leave early if they wish, however being at the end of an aisle I miss a good proportion of the last part of a game because a bunch of knoobs decide to drift slowly to the exit. There are not enough exits - perhaps there should be exits at the rear of stands also so the top half can exit that way which would share out the flow.

Can see Big Sam putting a team out that will harass and bully with the intention of drawing cards out of the ref for our lads. However, if we can get Mane and Tadic the ball enough then they will terrorise their weak defence. If they set up with a flat 5 across midfield then expect loads of long balls hit to Pelle to go over the top and this will play right into their hands. To be honest, the track record at Sunderland provides a good indication of where this is going... 1-0 to them.

Defence look shaky already. FFS.

Is this being televised and/or will it be streamed?

A come and get me plea? Given our Academy is not exactly prolific in bringing through strikers (who would have guessed Bale would be one?!), giving this guy another chance to show his worth might not be a bad idea and he could learn a lot from our current front-line players like Mane, JRod and Long.

Hey, it's called realism around these parts...tinged admittedly with a hint of irony and indeed hope that I am completely and utterly wrong. We'll see.

Was that before they paid silly money for a number of players from our best team for decades by any chance?

We will lose this - it's the law at Anfield. And Lallana will score - possibly the winner - after taking huge grief during the game. 2-1 Pool.

To be fair, it could be really good if they chose (a) an articulate fan, (b) to ask less difficult questions, © asked something vaguely interesting or controversial or a combination of all these. Actually, let's add (d) to not bother anymore. And I'm out.

I hope we keep Stek - a really good keeper who has shown fast reaction time and excellent distribution of the ball. Would just like to see him command his area a little more...something Saints goalkeepers seem to have a problem with, although he is better than all other options we have TBF.

Virgil because of the way he has come in and made the position his own from the off and shown very quickly that he is worthy of his price-tag and a place in a top 10 Prem team.

Good game but not to our best. Fonte looked suspect. Cedric and Bertrand were very good indeed. VVD was immense (my MOTM) and so was Victor. Davis and JWP had a reasonably good battling performance. The front line was very difficult to handle for their defence. The turning point I think was the first goal - if that had gone to them the result would have been quite different I think.

Just need to realise that the BBC do not recognise Southampton as a top 10+ Premiership team and that unless we're playing one of the 'big clubs' we will not feature. It's the law.

Great game - entertaining. Good to see injured defenders back. (-O

And what exactly is wrong with wanting a player wearing a Saints shirt to succeed FFS?!?! Some of the arguments on here defy belief!

If we keep possession and maintain a high press we will win. Lay back and we will lose. Tough game. I liked the way the attackers linked last night...for some reason we don't get that with Pelle quite so muçh. I would keep Pelle on the bench and bring him on at 75m to either shore up the lead or start the long ball chase.

Gaston was twice the player Juanmi was last night...much more insight...more physical...looked to unlock the defence rathèr than run through a brick wall. Thought he pushed himself a little up the pecking order based on that performance. Well done Gaston.

Nice to see Saints back to winning ways and big scoreline...just like the league rise years. Juanmi was poor and Cedric not much better but at least they were playing in the correct position. Otherwise VVD was fantastic and the frontline was top dollar.

Thought the youngsters looked a class apart. There's 3-4 players I think will definitely be giving RK something to think about in the coming years. Some nice goals too - especially Reed's - when was the last time we saw a central midfielder score?

Not much point bawling about it - we're going to lose to teams like Utd...it's the way of the World, even if we're a better team. Clattentwerp managed to ignore so many cynical fouls and De Gea decided to be superb today. Next.