Saint Fan CaM

I take it all back - Gazzaniga is as good a keeper as any other keeper we have on the books - he has a very decent ability to save a game.

Can't tell you how poor this game has been for Saints - no ideas whatsoever in attack - very, very one dimensional. Really not happy with the manner in which we're playing now - most of the players look utterly knackered.

If Long is not good enough, then nor is Pelle. Fact is we will not get our £12m back for Long and there's not too many in the same price range that would do as good a job. What we need is a striker who can provide Pelle competition...a Lukaku type player for example.

I have to agree with this - it's time to be brave and start dictating the play rather than be dictated to. Palace will press hard though and if we try to play through midfield I suspect we will be found out. There is little confidence in the team at the moment.

0-2 to Palace - they're growing in confidence under Pardew. And we're not under Koeman for some reason.

We will lose this 2-0. Palace are a well oiled outfit now - Pardue has done a great job and we're on the slide.

I have only one issue with him and that his is pace - he is always the last to the ball when there's an apparent 50-50 in the offing. I remember Graeme Le Saux is the last days of his career - he had lost his pace, but his football brain made up for it by knowing how to intercept the angles and gain extra ground - it made up for that little bit of extra pace he didn't have the locker. JWP does not have that - either the pace or the brain to know how to gain an advantage. He may be 21, but he's had lots of SFC and England exposure, so you would think he would have picked up some good habits by now. The trouble is it's not technique - if it was he would be fine - it's all about having the natural gift of anticipation to steal a yard for example. On balance I'm afraid he is below the level needed to achieve the clubs' much vaunted ambition.

Cabaye and Imbula should have been definite targets IMO. But for me it's all about the pairing - Vic and Morgan were great together. Cork and Romeu or Clasie might have been good together. Every time we shipped out another little part of the side that gained back to back promotions, another chunk of team spirit got shipped out too. We are now left with a bunch of disaffected and disconnected journeymen and the academy lads who show some spirit can hardly get on the bench let alone near the 1st team. It's happened to other teams of course - Swansea etc. - but now we'll be joining the mid-lower table teams that never get a look-in at the top table of the Prem...we've missed the chance now. It will happen to Leicester too I expect once Vardy et al get their big money offers.

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.