Saint Pete

Thought Mane had his poorest game for a long while against Hull, whereas Long looked a threat and won the penalty.

Davis Clyne Fonte Toby Bertrand -------Schniederlin--------- -----JWP---------Davis------ Tadic-------------------Long ------------Pelle-------------- Thought our midfield looked much better in the second half on Saturday when we moved to this kind of formation, so would like to see us stick with this. Use Mane's pace off the bench later in the game.

Well, that certainly won't work! He's even more likely to keep ranting now whenever his players get punished. I have sympathy for Matic in his reaction, but the ref was right to send him off as it was violent conduct. The mistake the ref made was not recognising how bad the Barnes tackle was so that was what the FA should have been putting right by punishing Barnes.

Don't understand the logic of reducing the ban. Matic was still guilty of violent conduct no matter what the provocation, so it should still be 3 games surely? Whether Barnes should have been punished for his tackle should be a separate matter.

But the advantage is it releases Clyne and Bertrand to really bomb on and attack down the flanks. The onus would also be on one of MS and VW to be a bit more forward thinking with the extra insurance behind them.

This is what I would go with if everyone's fit. We need to get Tadic back on song and that may be the best formation to do it?

Sorry, but I don't accept he was "right to go down". The minimal contact from Can was nowhere near enough to seriously affect him going through and potentially scoring a goal. We need players in the team who are hungry to score goals and Djuricic seems to be more hungry to hit the deck at the slightest contact on this evidence. Even he seems to be half admitting the first one probably wasn't a pen in his comments (quoted by coxford_lou).

Watching the Djuricic incident in the 1st minute again, have to say I don't think that was a penalty and really disappointed that Djuricic chose to go down in that situation. His first touch was great and he was clean through on goal. What a start that could have been for his Saints career, but he chose to go down and try and get defender sent off instead of backing himself to score. Maybe another player with a lack of confidence in goalscoring positions? That said, the second incident after Liverpool scored was a nailed on penalty and outrageous that the ref didn't give it.

A bit surprised at that line up, particularly the choice of Djuricic over Mane from the start in such a huge game. Koeman must have a lot of faith in him.

The bottom line is we need the likes of Pelle and Tadic to recover their early-season form from here on in to hold off the big clubs on our tails now. We have proved we are an excellent solid side at the back and in midfield who can dominate a lot of the play against top half opposition even without some of our key players in the team, but you need to create and score clear-cut chances to get the 3 points, and in my opinion, it's Pelle and Tadic that we most rely on to do that. Maybe the 10 day break will be what Pelle needs to rest up and come back refreshed for the Liverpool game? I think Tadic needs to come back into the side for that one, as personally not keen on both Elia and Mane alongside Pelle. Tadic brings more balance and creativity (if he can recover his form).

That's harsh! In my opinion, we don't need to replace Pelle, but we definitely do need more competition and realistic alternatives to him up front. If you look at all the other sides at the top of the table, they all have more options in striking positions than we do and are able to rest players and keep them fresher. Admittedly having a couple of the injured players back would help matters but even then, you have doubts whether they are the sort of players who can play the Pelle lone striker role effectively.

Absolute bull. Not a chance that what happened on Saturday could be viewed as a sackable offence. Pardew didn't even get the sack for nutting an opposition player! Cotterill trying to cover up Sky's embarassment for getting it all wrong.

I think the main issue with Pelle at the moment is we are not able to give him a break as we don't have a similar player in reserve who can cover his position. This has resulted in us over-playing him a bit when he could do with a rest or at least coming off earlier in games when tired or not playing well. He's not in the best of form at the moment and doesn't look as dangerous as he did earlier in the season, but is still very important to the way we play, in terms of holding the ball up and bringing others into play, as other posters have said. Overall, he's had a very good 1st season in the prem.

Good news - maybe Bertrand committing will encourage Clyne to do the same?

Bertrand confirmed

It's irrelevant whether we want him or not. There's no way Liverpool would loan/sell him back to us in this window.

Could be... either that or just trying to unsettle us in order to get their other targets from us. Certainly worked with Lallana as it was when Lambert moved that he first started throwing his toys out of the pram.

Will be royally ****ed off if Lambert goes to Villa. Why on earth did Liverpool sign him in the first place? Such a shame as he could have still played an important role for us this season - would have been great to have him on the bench as backup for Pelle.

Personally, don't think JWP's generally play was that bad, he just really needs to build his confidence somehow when in shooting positions. You've got to think he must be practicing shooting in training, surely, as it's clearly his weakness. People need to lay off him a bit though - he will be a fine player, he just needs to sort out his composure and if he can get a couple of goals, I think that will do the power of good for his confidence.

Pelle and Tadic just not in form at present - need more from those two in this type of game. Good strike from Shelvey, but I feel Forster should have kept that out.

Yes, can't help thinking we could have done more to stop Cork leaving by offering him the deal early this season when he was in the side and playing well. In my opinion, the apparent reluctance to give him a new contract at that stage is what pushed him further towards the exit. Oh well, it's done now, so let's hope we can sign another midfielder of Cork's quality before the deadline.

I'm assuming it was offered at the beginning of January as that's when the news broke about it. For a player in his last year of contract, that seems pretty late to me if we were that bothered about keeping him, and suspect that's what Cork thinks as well, which was the point I was making.

Would be disappointed if this was true, as think he still has a lot to offer us, and I think he most likely would have signed a new contract had it been offered earlier. That said, if he does leave, I'm sure we have plans to fill his place with a capable replacement.

I'd be very surprised if the club were not looking for a striker on loan as backup for Pelle, but obviously it's easier said than done finding one that fits our requirements. It would be mighty frustrating if we missed out by a few points following an injury to Pelle in the latter stages of the season.