Smirking_Saint

He clearly doesnt have faith in young Reed for the big games, though Toby is a good CM it has to be said, the only thing is his positioning isnt brilliant at top level, as expected from a good CB playing CM, but then Id argue it could be the same for Reed who is inexperienced. That move didnt lose us the game, we were still winning the midfield battle until he went off.

Bat**** mental

We do have some prized knee jerkers

I think we are finding we arent quite strong enough yet, in almost a carbon copy of last year we are coming unstuck due to the December fixture pile up, injuries and opposition. Still think we should finish in the top 6, even tonight we looked a very good outfit, for most of the game restricting Arsenal and not allowing them to play their dominant possession game. We arent far off but as many of us expected the squad is still too thin, though thats to be as expected due to our brief climb from league 1 not long ago in footballing terms. Options from the bench are limited and overall a few injuries and we have become exposed a little, worryingly Pelle and big Vic are only a caution away from a ban too. Hopefully the club will bring 1-2 or 3 in Jan to bulk the squad up for this year and what is, unless we capitulate, a likely european campaign next year.

Does anyone else imagine NickG lives in a room full of pie charts ?

Your so 20 years ago turks, its all about the E-Bola these days, I think you get it over the internet so Ive stopped opening Emails.

Youll prob be able to sell the sats for more than friday, i may be interested but I need 4, I have 4 fri tickets

Again, for a celebrity in the public eye its misguided but in the whole it really isnt that offensive. This sorta crap flies around social media sites like wildfire.

Because he would only play in Longs or Jay Rods position, and we already have Long and Jay Rod there, added to Tadic and Mane. So no, I dont really see him as an improvement. Especially as the 7m or so would be better spent elsewhere.

Both this and The9s posts above, though Id suggest that we would likely have to habe a terrible 2015 to not make Europe in some form and as such Id like to think the club is beginning to plan for that. As others have said it would no doubt affect our league form in the 15/16 campaign unless we started to bulk the squad out a bit more. Thankfully we have a few youngsters there or there abouts which would come in useful however a lot of our form this year is due to consistancy of selection, something we wouldnt be afforded if we were playing in that many conpetitions. We will need another 5-6 to what we have now IMO, and thats forgetting that Toby and Ryan are on loan here, I can see us signing on Bertrand permanently but Toby is a step above, Id love to secure him but dont see it, and so we will need another CB so make that likely 6-7 recruitments of some discription. Personally if the club has any sense they would try to get 1-3 in during Jan.

Well there is that Turks, I myself hope we dump a 20m pound bid in. Whats karl Henry and Lee Cattermole up to these days ?

Whether its what he was asked to do or not I couldnt say but he spent too much time inside yesterday which meant city were able to crowd him out. Personally Id of liked to see him wider more often and running at the FB though its worth remembering Pablo is regarded as one of the best RBs in the world. He isnt as bad as is being made out, of the three up there yesterday he was marginally better. Pelle was again nowhere to be seen, he just doesnt work hard enough and tadic was very poor which didnt help. He has real potential, and has had flashes of excellence.

Because he doesnt fit with the way we play, well, the only positions in which he would will be in place of Long or J Rod (who is better imo) he isnt the man to be back up to Pellè Top level management isnt about buying who is on form Im afraid, they need to fit the system and frankly ings doesnt

Exactly, we timed media sniping at its best, I cant see us winning another gane all season now. Another rebuild job required in jan

Really not been that impressed, and wouldnt be backup to Pellè as he doesnt play the same way which makes it pretty redundant. If he wasnt a saints fan we wouldn't even be discussing it

I stopped reading after the rediculous first point tbh

He has previous, never wrong this lad If Im honest Im unconvinced, does have issues coming off his line but ultimately not at fault for anything tonight, realistically one of our 3 CMs should have picked up toure, its madness that they were all in the box which ultimately reduced his view. We have been defensively so sound he hasnt had a lot to do, seen him make some v good saves, then there was monday. Not ready to write him off by any means

The midfield battle was more or less even with Morgan on the pitch, afterwards we lost out. Despite Toby actually looking good on the ball he just wasnt able to plug the gaps that Morgan does, and so City gained in strength and turned the screw

Sorry ?

They were very very good, we started slowly and had little options up top with Pellè and Tadic having off games. Losing Schneiderlin opened it up for them, Toby wasnt aweful in there, he is good on the ball but his positioning was off which is understandable for a CB playing CM. They pressed well, closed up the gaps and retained possession well though, all in all we played a refreshed champions. Dissapointing but not the end of the world.

As opposed to what you pleb ? He had to back off to reduce space and options ? He had little choice, wasnt his fault that nobody tracked cluchy

If course its nothing to do with that though. We missed Morgan when he went off, lost control of midfield which allowed City to build pressure. Tadic and pelle being poor meant the ball wasnt held upfront either.. Again, meaning city could build pressure

He was ill