sammysaint

Targett is out for the season I believe and McQueen would be better as a LW or sent out on loan as he has looked poor at LB his last few games he played there yet looked good when he played LW.

Sign a CB and a back up LB and then we have good defensive cover, we do not need another Striker unless Austin is going to still be out for another 2-3 weeks plus and the club are not convinced him and Jay Rod can stay fit.

Puel needs a result at Swansea now to justify that team selection, Personally I would've prefered a 1st team being played today and a more development/u23 team vs Swansea. Isgrove really is not good enough, Stephens looked solid next to Yoshi but looked awful with that ball over the top, Gardos made some good tackles but his positioning was awful and expected for his 1st real game back, McQueen got caught a few times and really doesn't look like he can handle semi good prem players with pace, let alone top class ones. I think the same 11 vs Swansea would be capable of getting a draw especially if you could bring on 2-3 of the senior lads for Isgrove Reed and say McQueen. I think we need to sign a Veteran LB and a top CB and then loan out McQueen and Reed, them two would benefit massively from playing 12-15 games on loan in the championship. We do not need another striker if we get in a decent backup for Bertrand and a starting CB to partner VVD or at least Yoshi until he is back, unless we are looking to sell Long, Jay Rod and Austin are good enough and Austin especially will bang in goals to help us finish 8th/9th and hopefully be fit for Sunderland and be able to get some playing time before the final and lead the line vs Man U.

Buzzing what a defensive display and how nice was it to see Puel only make a few changes to the lineup this past week. Really hope me and my son as members get tickets especially since we went to the Sunderland and Liverpool game, only fair fans who went to the league cup games get priority after season ticket holders.

If VVD plays I fancy us to get the draw or win to see us through, S.Davis hopefully will be fit as well. They have scored 3 goals in 4 games, so hopefully they still have a poor scoring run still and if we can keep it tight for 20-25 the scousers will start getting frustrated. However if Davis and VVD are missing I think we lose 2-0 or 3-1.

Yoshida is good but his mistake in him normally costs goals and IF we beat Liverpool I would want a better CB in for the final, also to help us secure 8th or 9th.

Great win to ease relegation talk, just need Arsenal and Chelsea wins to help that even further. Hope VVD recovers and I hope he plays Jay Rod and Long on Wes, Jay Rod is looking good again even his hold up play and skill in the corner was nice, he is growing in confidence. When Austin gets back we wont need a Striker so I hope we do not buy one and we stick with what we have, we have a great defensive foundation and if we spent 15-20 mill less in the summer then the outgoings so no reason why we can not use that and the Fonte money to buy a younger replacement, no reason why we can not offer Liverpool 18 mill for Sahko who I think would be a great replacement.

When Boufal and Austin are fit the replacements for Pelle and Mane are fine replacements, IMO Austin is better than Pelle. Problem is depth Redmond is not good enough neither is Sims or McQueen and Martina at fullback, however the positive is if we can finish top 10 and McQueen and Sims play more long term it will be a good benefit to us.

I doubt he is allowed to donate money as the FA will have a stupid rule to prevent it.

I hope we can rest some players for Wednesday but still get a result today, cups is the best chance now for us to progress as a club we need to get some history and win trophies which can be achieved and still finish top 10. Puel really needs to win this or the Liverpool game, if not I feel he should be sacked as 1 win in 6/7 games is not acceptable.

This is a must win if we want to finish top 8, WBA are very solid and going to compete with us West Ham Everton and LCFC for 7th and 8th, so we can not lose this. The top 6 teams are way too good now and we must win home games to stay in the mix for Europa league spots if we dont win a cup, if we lose again it will only cause this board to melt down and have more VVD off in Jan in the papers. Team will be rotated and thank god Redmond will be banned, the guy is poor at times but Puels love for him is costing us at times. Forster Bertrand Yoshida VVD Martina Romeu Clasie Reed Tadic Long Boufal Jay Rod and Davis to come off the bench.

Him and Jay Rod need to rotate, Austin is not back until late Feb so we need both here especially if we do make the league cup final or make it to the 5th round of the FA CUP. Long is a good striker who had a great goal scoring run last season but you have seen teams now defend better agaist pacey strikers with no strength and power, Vardy is even struggling, he needs a run like Jay Rod does to score goals, I would rather Jay Rod starts but have Long come off the bench every game for 20-25 mins and start the odd game. IMO Boufal Austin/Jad Rod and Tadic would be the best 3 we can have, but Redmond is Puels love child so he will want him involved every week, so I would not be surprised if it looks like Austin could come back early from his injury if Puel and Les then decided to sell Long at the end of Jan.

Well looks like most of us was correct, Jay Rod needed that first goal for his confidence. Give a run in the team and he will keep scoring.

Agreed, I will write him off he plays 70 plus mins in 3 of the next 4 games and fails to score and misses more chances that the old Jay Rod would of scored, but I do feel with a run of games he will score then return to some form.

I do not start threads often but I feel this needs to be said as some people clearly have no clue about football and have been going off at him on social media, Twitter in particular had tweets to Jay Rod saying retire or your **** etc from Saints fans !!!!! IMO He is getting sharper and fitter each game he plays, should of had 2 goals in 2 games granted but you need to be there to miss them, in his first few games he was not even getting into the box and showing anticipation/ gambling for the ball to come across to him, I think if Puel can stick with him and give him more game time on Sunday he will score, then once one goes in with regular game time he will score more. Keep the faith in Jay Rod.

Redmond JWP and Hojberg offered nothing going forward today. Puels love for Redmond really needs to stop, when Tadic is back him and Boufal out wide will be so good for Austin Long or Jay Rod.

With Long back now it will be hard for him to break into the team which is a shame as he is much better then Redmond as a striker but Puels love for Redmond will stop him playing regularly. Carling Cup and Europa league games have given him game time but his best chance to get a run was ruined by a injury vs Sunderland in the last round, It will be great to be able to bring him and Long on with 15-20 to go for prem games and start them both for Arsenal and Sheva and then see which one will become super sub, if he loses that battle and is the odd one out, then a loan deal to Hull would be ideal.

Redmond will need some rest but I expect him to start and come off for Jay Rod with 20-25 to go. Tadic Austin Boufal would be my ideal 3 for tonight, then have Jay Rod and Redmond come off the bench. Win today really would show we are still able to be a top 8 side and compete in the EL, I always dread these games after europe.

To be fair they did drop a few hunters in the summer for killing a bear while wearing sponsored UA gear, so they are only sponsoring athletes if you can call them that who follow hunting rules in the US and Canada. http://fortune.com/2016/08/22/under-armour-sponsorship-bowmar/

I do like how the club is running if we can maintain that 8th-6th position, but if we get found out at some point and finish 11th/12th lose more players, I would like a different approach unless of course we finish in the bottom half because we focused on some good cup runs and a cup final that we win.

I hope after Brexit FM is right and we have a limit on non EU players, we would benefit from this as we play with 3-4 English players each week at least and have 2-3 on the bench, we may then be able to compete a bit better with the top clubs and then we will have much less arguments about money and holding onto the best players.

VVD is better than Mustafi who joined Arsenal for around £30 mill and Stones around £45 mill, so I would be ****ed with anything less then £40 Millon we cant have another Mane situation and sell them for £4-5 million less then what the going rate was or settle for add ons, we should demand all money upfront or the player stays. VVD should

Crap game but we never looked like we were going to lose this, Boufals goal was world class from the first touch to the finish. Honest assessments from me. I am not moaning or dissing but Stephens and Isgrove for me are not good enough to ever break into the first team match day squad on a regular basis. McQueen and Reed both looked good and the young lad up top looks like he may turn out to be a good 4th choice 3rd choice striker over the next 18-24 months. Downside was Jay Rod getting a knock when this was his game to get 70-75 mins under his belt and get him fit for Sunday and Thursday, good news he should be okay for Sunday. One more positive is Puel, he is using the rotation well and keeping players happy and playing some good stuff at times without looking dodgy at the back.

This. He was not as bad as people are making out or as bad as Redmond or Long is at finishing. Jay Rod I feel is getting back to full fitness now, if he can come off the bench tomorrow for 15-20 and play the 90 on Wednesday vs Sunderland without any injury issues I think we will all see him get back to his former self and score at least 12-15 in all comps ( has 2 already), he is the best finisher we have at the club. Having Jay Rod, Austin, Long, Boufal, Redmond and Tadic on rotation with 3-4 of them starting is great depth to have.

Can not see anything other than maybe a draw at best, City will want to thump someone after they had their pants pulled down at camp nou, our chances increase with having Bertrand fit and Austin starting and having Long Boufal and Jay Rod coming from the bench.