smarmy

Have come out really early! Good sign ... Where are Millwall?

I'd like to see Taider play and Long start. Apart fro that same as Saturday. Have never understood this arrogant "it's a mickey mouse cup" attitude. Like we've won so many trophies we can afford to be dismissive ... Er

I think he's a good player, but "one of our best remaining players"? In line with the general tone of hysterical overreaction round here ...

"He can play as a controlled midfielder, but he can also move up around the box and up front". So can play DM or AM/wing? Anyway, looks skilful and combative from clips. Also, we really can't count Osvaldo as a player out. He was out already and we did well without him.

That's not what I was saying. I was saying the problem with the squad is that it is unbalanced not that it is too small. And I agree that Cork is not great at right back but was speculating as to what we would do. We seem to have plans for most of the holes, but not RB cover.

I like small squads. Good for morale, not having players hanging around knowing they won't get a game. Also if we are to keep our reputation as a club that gives youth a chance, develops talent etc, we have to at least trust the young players to come in if we have injuries. Zidanes y Pavanes. Only without the Zidanes. Having said all that, the squad is unbalanced. But they are gonna bring in a 1st choice CB and a 2nd choice striker, I hope/pray. I think we're alright in the AM positions, plus looks like more coming there. Dunno about right back. Cork or Bertrand play if Clyne gets injured?

Mid-table, but could be a rocky start!

He was absolutely pathetic at Tottenham away last season and lost us the game. So weak. Gifted them two goals. Just to cheer everyone up!

Thanks. Names? And that Timothee Kolodziejczak is going to West Ham, is he? I think we could put a team out now, assuming no further departures, apart from at left back, so should be a priority, imo.

Sorry, not been really following things, and can't face trawling through 40 pages, but where are we on a new left back? Any links at all?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Never done that on a match-day thread before. Feels good.

Still probably going to lose, but it sounds pretty exciting. This is what it is all about, isn't it? Ward-Prowse, no!

Sometimes adding great players to teams can disrupt the shape and make the team worse, though, which is what I think people are saying. I don't agree, but there it is. I am agnostic on Lambert and Osvaldo together. The front four clearly aren't clicking as an attacking threat at the minute (although the pressing!), but MoPo clearly thinks it will work. Haven't seen enough of Osvaldo to see if he could play one of the the three in a 4-2-3-1. I like the rotating, though, anyway. Personally, I think we need to play Ramirez. He is a great player who hasn't become **** just by sitting on our bench too long. If we are going to stick with the current system, drop Rodriguez and play Lallana (who looked excellent yesterday) right, Ramirez left, but have them rotating as now. To be honest, the last time the attack (and indeed the whole formation) felt really balanced was in that run of games under Adkins when we played Lallana, Puncheon left and right, Lambert up top, and Ramirez at 10 (as in the 4-1 against Villa). Anyway, great result! Play Osvaldo on Tuesday and let him fill his boots (if that is not too complacent).

Cortese is a ******, Cortese is a ******, la la la la, la la la la Cortese tese tese, Out, out out! Cortese! Out! Cortese! Out!

CORTESE OUT! Seriously. What a pillock.

De Ridder was excellent against Sunderland. Erratic as ever, but actually carried more threat than anyone else on the pitch.

Just because a player gets subbed and we lose doesn't mean the two things are linked. THIS Personally, I think we did get the recruitment wrong in the summer (although it was still better than I was expecting), and if we couldn't buy Buttner, we should definitely not have let Harding leave, but we don't know the full story and sometimes things just don't work out. The whole premise that we have had a disastrous start to the season is just ARSE, frankly. We have had a very tricky fixture list and a minor injury crisis. We've done OK in the circumstances.

I know this has all been said on other threads, but basically the only bad result is the Wigan one. 5-7 points would be par. Plus maybe losing 3-1 instead of 6-1 at Arsenal. However, fortunately some other teams have also seriously underperforned, so we are where we want to be in terms of league position. All those years of relegation battles, I always felt that as long as we were no more than 3 points from safety, we were OK. Relax. If you think/thought that we were going to sail into mid-table in our first season, then you are a fool.

So nearly 7% of the people on here are complete idiots! I would have thought the percentage would have been a little higher, tbh, so that's a positive! What did people think the premier league would be like? You lose most weeks. A draw at home is a good result. Finishing 17th is success. If you want to win all the time, you're in the wrong league, bro.

What I am really looking forward to, which may never happen, is us putting out some ridiculous attacking line-up in the cup against a lower-league side. Don't rest any forwards, play them all! Win 7-4 or something.

If Ramires had trained more, I'd go for "a more 4-2-3-1 with Morgan and Davis holding and Ramirez floating behind Lambert with Lallana and Puncheon wide". That sounds good! As it is, I don't think he will start, but I can see Lallana playing somewhere in the middle three and Mayuka starting in one of the wide spots Long term, I don't think we have bought so many forwards not to play them, and think Lallana or Ramires will often play in midfield. I think Ward-Prowse won't be first choice. I didn't read the Ramires thread and this has probably been discussed at length, but he is primarily an attacking midfielder, who can also play on the wing or off a front-man, isn't he?

So the idea is that most teams just play one main striker, or no conventional striker at all, playing a no.10 as their no.9 as it were, like Barcelona with Messi or Roma with Totti a few years back. So you need an extra man in midfield to pick up the deep lying striker. 3-4-3 allows you to do that while still having two wide forwards, by sacrificing a centre back who would either be marking no-one or being dragged out of position. We would basically play the diamond but with, say, Lallana and De Ridder (I know, I know) as wide forwards as well. The two problems I would have with it for Saints would be that we don't have the defensive midfielder to sit at the base of the diamond. Morgan and Cork are fine players, but not destructive enough for me. That should be transfer target no.1 imo. And although Lambert would play the central striker brilliantly, he couldn't play in thi in a partnership with Sharp, which was starting to look good, in this system. Having said all that, I get confused watching us, as I'm not entirely sure how we are playing! It is easy on paper ...

No, I think the idea of the 3-4-3 is playing against a single striker, so you have one stopper and two more mobile defenders. IIRC one of Wigan's was a full back in a back four. I would play Hooiveld in the middle, with Fonte on the right and Fox on the left. Then the wide players in the four can be genuine midfielders, not defenders playing out of position.

I got three tickets today. My first game of the season! Hey, ManorHouseSaint, I live round the corner from you.

8 games since December 10 points from 24 3 wins and 3 draws = 12 points, not 10 HTH