saintsmike25

Very happy with the first half, although this game clearly doesn't suit Gab, we need to put on Shane Long, also believe Boufal has played better defensivily and Tadic slows us down. Think one we hit 60 mins and still 0-0 they will commit even more and we can start surprising them on the break, Coutinho's long range shots will be the biggest threat, it doesn't matter how well you defend if he finds a yard and unleashes one our game plan goes to ****.

Gardos, Isgrove, Jay Rod, VVD (Yes he will go!), Tadic (£15M bid likely from Italy), Martina, Clasie (Puel doesn't rate him), Shane Long (Doesn't get on with Puel), Fraser Forster (Again, he's not happy here this season), Bertrand, Cedric. This summer the exodus of players will be HUGE, but there will be some big additions coming in. I know people may hate this but Puel is here for the long-haul and the scouting team have been busy in France and Holland no doubt. Next season won't be a disaster, but it'll be another mid-table finish from a team who will score more goals with the increased fire-power.

I hope i'm not wrong but Boufal has a massive attitude problem, if he is not in a game he seemingly makes more and more mistakes and then shrugs and gets taken off. It's happened two weeks in a row, those brilliant flashes he showed are becoming so rare now.

I get the sense that we need a Shane Long, someone more direct willing to hit them on the break I dare say. Tadic, Boufal and Redmond are all slowing us down by playing "too safe" Gabidianni has had barely any balls into feet, Cedric seems too scared to cross today, and Redmond is at least defending but our shape is terrible and we don't look arsed.

Tadic having a shocker, Davis is the pick of our players, Redmond and Boufal haven't made an impact, but Boufal has tried harder than usual.

Boufal isn't fit, he was done after 60 minutes, he was also frustrated so took himself off. He played well but was lax for the third goal. I'm more concerned we don't shoot when presented with the chance, also we never take chances and play FAR too safe, it makes it much easier to defend against us. We always give teams so much time to set up as a unit. This needs to change.

I think we're unlucky to go in behind, but Stephens and Yoshi are very vulnerable against bigger teams, one of the reasons VVD is such a huge miss. Chelsea are still edgy and there's goals in this for us, I'd like to see Tadic off for Redmond, we need to induce challenges from Kante, and he's likely to do something rash. Our set pieces have been excellent, we just need to stop overplaying at times and remember we have nothing to lose and test the keeper a bit more. I'd hate to see negativity as we've matched Chelsea who are chasing a title, while we have nothing to play for. Even if we lose, if we gave this sort of effort I can't be angry or negative because Chelsea have so much quality that they can play badly and still hurt teams like in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.

Think we're playing excellently against a full-strength Chelsea, standout players are Boufal, Romeu and Ward-Prowse.

I think we were battered in the first half, they should have had a pen and they deserved it today, by far the better team. Holberg was terrible, Clasie deserved to start, also don't blame Boufal, he needs to start more often rather than be asked to be a game-changer, so when he does take risks he currently hasn't got the confidence..

Stephens having a shocker, overall we're getting done by the pace of Palace and their direct long ball approach...

Performance wise, other than some shaky moments by Forster we have looked very good. Tadic is trying to impress visiting scouts and Redmond is getting better all the time, I'd like to see Bertrand do a few more overlaps as he could be key to us breaking down Bournemouth. Jay Rod has been physical but he's still a bit off the pace, I'd like to see Long and Boufal at some point, but Bournemouth aren't a bad side and are trying to catch us out by lumping set pieces down Forster's throat, and as we know Forster is our best chance of conceding...

Very happy, some lapses in defense could have cost us, but overall the shape going forward is far better. JWP had a bit of a shocker, poor decision making. Forster couldn't do much with the goals. Stephens/Yoshida - good in parts but also got dominated in the air. Tadic/Redmond - Superb Gab - Good, but not his best game, was in the right place for the goal. Cedric- Overall decent Bertrand - solid as ever Davis - Very good, pushed the team forward Romeu - Decent, but almost cost us a goal with a bizarre piece of play, not his best game Overall as a team we are far more dangerous due to Gab's movement and Redmond and Tadic combine like that we're a force. I think JWP needs to be replaced by Boufal, as he's a bit off colour and making far too many mistakes for my liking, and why on earth does he bother with short corners with his talent on deliveries.

So by sacking Puel who do you think we should bring in? And how would they do a better job? We won't always reach top ten in the Prem, but whenever we go through ANY sticky patch the same people call for the heads of any manager. This is the problem with football how is any manager meant to stay in a job is as soon as you have 3-4 defeats in a short space of time fans demand sackings! The team set up was positive, we looked bright early on and it's the fact we didn't bring in a centre back that has cost us, if what I know is right we tried to sign several but they fell through during January and Reed told Puel to hold tight with Stephens and Yoshida for the rest of the season. Stephens will be a good player but he's still young and raw but the only way he will improve is game time. West Ham haven't been much better than us today, they're a strong physical side who have goals in their ranks, they'll always have a chance of doing this to Saints. Let's see how the second half goes. COYR.

Performance wise we don't deserve to be behind, two shots two goals... typical of Saints to not sign a centre back. I think we can still get goals in this one.

Love Manolo's movement he just drops into the space and uses the ball, he's also a very good passer and links up nicely and has good vision. Excited by him so far!

Boufal is our best player.

That should teach Saints, no excuses with this side out we're playing extremely poorly and negatively. I can excuse the poor Arsenal performance as we had a half team out and they had better quality but today Puel and the team have gone negative we have barely had a shot.

We're lacking zip, Tadic is looking okay but we're taking too long to move the ball and Redmond has been hugely anonymous so far - as has Bertrand.

I expect there will be a change of shape and Puel will haul off Isgrove/Holjerg or swap Yoshida for Gardos.

This is why Romeu is such an important player, Gardos needs more games in the U23's, he's so rusty (understandably) and Isgrove should be offloaded, he's 24 and clearly not anywhere near Prem level. Reed is a decent squad player and Sims could be a very good player. Lewis is a decent GK.

Arsenal have a much stronger and technically more gifted side out, and Holjberg is having an awful game in the middle.

Financial fair play rules means a £200m potential takeover doesn't mean that amount will increase the wage bill or be spent on players, it's far more likely to go on increasing our infrastructure - so in this case we could be looking at an expansion of St Mary's, which naturally follows what has been done at the club improving the youth academy building and also trying to ramp up the club's commercial activities and expanding the brand, or paying off existing debts.

Drops into spaces well looking at the video, not pacy but can make some well timed runs, he's more of a supporting striker than a lone striker, he could work well with Jay Rod/Long doing the leg work, he offers something different and appears to have vision and a nice accurate strike on him. I can see him scoring more than Redmond/Tadic, but he's not a 15-goal-a-season kind of striker that we're crying out for. I'm hoping we get someone who is similar to Pelle, when we need someone to offer a physical threat/hold up the ball and worry defenders, at the moment Long/Jay Rod and to some degree Austinare far too similar.

Update: Lol if that's the case...

You have to remember Man Utd, Chelsea and to some degree Man City have let gems go because they're not deemed good enough, here's a few for starters De Bruyne, Pogba, Pique. It's always worth casting an eye on the players they don't feel up to the grade as some are world class.