saintsmike25

I don't know how it happened tbh. I was judging Ramirez solely in his performance in the game. I think he did well, so did he not help set up the second goal for Lambert? Put in a few superb balls into the box? Set up some fairly good chances, chase down more than he has in weeks? You can't compare Ramirez's performance to the joke that is Jos.

Player ratings. Kelvin Davies: 6 - Made some crucial saves when they had the asendency, however the third and second goals could have been avoided, especially the third. Still he was a mark better than Gazz. Nathaniel Clyne: 8 Did well on his side, fantastic goals and was generally first to most things, great to have him back and available. Jos - 3, I'm being kind here, he was at fault for the second goal and got caught out constantly, he lets his man go and his positioning these days is terrible. We need a more mobile defender. Yoshida, 5: A bit better than Jos, but still he was nervous and his passing was so bad today, fortunately his covering Jos's mistakes saved us on a few occasions. Shaw: 6, Seen him play better, he seemed a bit reluctant today, some flashes the Luke Shaw we know and love, but when you have Jos and Yoshida together it meant he didn't push up as far due to the long ball threat. He got down the left well on occasion Morgan: 6 An average game by his standards, he's not in great form, and he seems to have lost that zip, but he was in and around the game, but he's lost that spark to get forward and be an all action midfielder. Cork: 6.5 - 7, had a better game than Morgan and made some important tackles and interceptions. James Ward Prowse: 5, Meh didn't really seem in the game, good player but far too safety first at times. Davies - 5, Not in the game a bit of a passenger. Ramirez - 7. He played well and was one of our most lively players, he was chasing down, won a few headers one of which was a lovely knockdown, he put in some lovely crosses into the box too, he was actually far sharper than I've seen him, he was our most forward thinking player, shame his two shots were awful but he played well, but tired himself out and should have taken himself off properly, rather than walk off. He put in far more effort today than I've seen for a while, he had a lovely chipped effort clawed away too. Lambert - 7.5, very good when he was on, linked up well but his leg went dead and unfortunately had to go off. Subs: Lallana - 8, Superb, did everything well and changed the game. Jay Rod - 8 All action display from Jay Rod against his former team, he was a constant thorn in there side and took his goal well, should have scored a sitter at the end to make it 5. Fonte - Had very little to do to judge him on. 6

With the Lambert debate, he's winning some headers and playing some decent balls, but against Everton, unless we get crosses in and get Lambert into the box he's basically isolated. They have two very big mobile defenders who are going to be beaten on guile rather than brute force, as Adam Lallana showed when he did Disten and should have scored. We are playing extremely narrow, and Shaw and Chambers are being pushed back by Baines and Coleman who are both have good games. It has subsequently left Jay Rod roaming and feeding off scraps. Now at some point either Gaston or Dani needs to come on, or even Sam Gallagher because we need to get in behind Everton, they do have a lack of pace when there full backs go forward, but Lambert won't be the man to make the most of that. Last season Gaston did well at Goodison because of this, and I expect that he could come good again.

Lallana and Chambers are playing very well, JWP is doing okay - he just sits very deep compared to Morgan and he doesn't get forward as much. Morgan is a huge miss for the amount of ground he covers.

Lambert is slowing us down whenever he picks up the ball it's giving Everton time to reset and get men behind the ball.

If Shaw had played and become injured again I'm sure people would be angry at Mopo, given how important Shaw is, he needed to be rested for the busy festive period.

They deserved that. We haven't really created and frankly don't look too bright. We just seem to be lacking thrust and cutting edge, Cork isn't playing well on the ball (off the ball very well) and Jos has been pretty poor. What we need is some belief it looks like we're suffering from a lack of confidence. I still think we could pull it back though.

Think we need a bit more creativity and guile - Osvaldo can provide that in the second half

Alpine you should come on here and moan more often at half-time. Just love it when you eat your words. Those goals were coming, we just needed that break and now Palace are there on course for a hiding. Great times to be a Saints fan.

We really don't look dangerous we let Stoke set themselves too quickly and then lack any real penetration. Lallana seems a bit off the pace as does Lambert.

We're being penned in and losing our heads. Also Cork and Morgan have no hold over the middle now, they're being bullied by N'diaye and Wickham. Frustrating, and Lambert has had one of his worst games in a Saints shirt.

They deserved that, we have had a poor second half. Time to start attacking with purpose and taking risks.

Lambert has been very poor today. Sadly, our best player has probably been J Rod.

I think Pochettino is under pressure to play Ramirez despite his poor form by Cortese, more out of pride and the hard work it took to get Ramirez here. The problem is, he's just not on the same page to other players. He needs to work on his set pieces. We played very well against a tough Norwich side that we couldn't break down. I actually think we will beat Liverpool with our style, much like we beat Man City. We struggle against teams that sit deep, but against attacking sides our pressing game suits us. The fact is, what we need is Morgan to get back on form, he wasn't really at his best in the last 3 games. As soon as he loses his form, we lose our way. Of course Puncheon should be playing too, and putting Yosh at right back was a poor choice. But, in the end it was a good point - but we need to be winning games like that where we dominate, it's frustrating as a fan to see us snatch our chances like that. Just one of those day sadly.

Disagree. Shaw, Puncheon, Clyne, Jay Rod, Mayuka, Gaston are all relativily quick players. Lambert has ALWAYS dropped out wide since the Championship days, he does not like to stay in the box. He wants to be involved in everything.

£84 lost. BUT DOES IT MATTER! Not a jot, wouldn't have swapped that performance for £290

Love it when Alpine isn't here, I'll enjoy this either way. If Saints win I get to be ****ing happy, if they draw then I win £10 and if Man City win I win £84, happy days

So we have only lost once in our last seven games which includes Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Everton. It's disappointing to lose two points, but we miss Fonte at the back. Before the game I would have taken a point, but the fact we dominated and should have won is always frustrating - Yet the over the top reaction by some on here makes it sound like we're on a real losing streak. There are some positives to come from today. Lallana is on the way back and will replace the mis-firing Ramirez who needs to buck up his ideas, and dropped for the next game, so he can have a shot in the arm. Morgan showed he can GET into great positions and was unlucky not to score twice, he's being asked to get forward alot more, and the way he makes those runs is excellent. Jay Rod, looked really sharp, fast and CONFIDENT, he looks a bloody handful and will trouble defences. We know how to react when we go behind, again we did it against Chelsea and Wigan, that shows we do have some fortitude. Negatives: We should not be conceding easy headered goals, Yoshida who has been good made some bad decisions today. Punch and Ramirez, seem to both be on a different planet. Clyne, could improve his crossing and generally is very predictable, he doesn't utilise his pace enough. Bad day in terms of results for other teams. The problem here is that we don't know where will end up, it was always going to be a rollercoaster, but I think we have the quality to just about keep our heads above water, I still think we can shock a good team soon, we almost did it against Man Utd, we almost shocked city at their place, what worries me is their turn of pace is what we struggle with. No reason why we can't get a point if we're on our game.

Alpine, you're becoming much more pleasant in the last two weeks. Are you alright fella?

Man Utd look in great form, Rooney looks sharp as does RVP, we're doing well to keep in touch with them.

Apologies, didn't realise, close the thread.

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2013/news/football-club-bans-journalists-from-vox-pops-at-ground/ Another dispute it seems, I won't say my opinion. But it will be interesting to hear others thoughts on this.

I wouldn't say that, I think we just lacked the same composure in the second half especially when under a bit of pressure we wasted some very good break away chances by aimlessly hoofing it. I think Jack Cork had a poor game, Morgan was covering him all the time fortunately. Also, we lacked energy once Guly came off - he was excellent today.

Defamation is fine - if it is true and justified. In this case it the evidence is stronger than a Vitali Klitshko right hook.

Fantastic win, Villa came back at us in the second half but we kept them out with some superb defending. This will quell the doubters who say we will go down, we have a fantastic chance to stay up. Soon enough we will start picking up more points against the big boys, like we did against Arsenal. We could be more clinical at times and have had a few more shots, but this win puts us where we need to be. Away wins at Villa and QPR, massive.