Lallana's Left Peg

Has anyone mentioned the moment in the first 10 mins when Tadic got to the byline with a chance to cross and within 5 seconds the ball was back with Yoshida 10 yards inside our own half? We are so poor in the final third it is pathetic. We need to play quicker football, trust each other, and most importantly these players need to realise they are a part of a team and start playing like it. Too many individuals out there thinking they know best. It's like watching strangers playing together and all are trying to do their own thing because they don't trust any other player.

Untroubled really, both with and without the ball. Had a decent turn of pace a few times. Hard to judge him on this showing.

I had no idea he was injured. Bright start from Saints in atrocious conditions.

Well if twitter rumours are to be believed the Vietto loan deal may be happening.

I thought he was ok last season, but its quite clear that to operate in that area of the pitch in this league you either need to be elite technically or physically strong. I don't think he is either so moving on is best I think. I would disagree he is backup for Romeu on that basis. I'd have thought he could do better than Brugge though, and a permanent move would have been better as well.

Think we'll learn a lot about how much work Pellegrino has to do, or how much he has already done, in this game. A team we should be superior to in every position on the pitch but this will be about mentality and application. We know Huddersfield will be confident and energetic. We need to be professional and earn the right to play our game. Could genuinely go either way, but I'm looking for a few players to step up and justify their wage.

In the immediate aftermath of a game you are likely to get people with exaggerated reactions - bad when you lose and good when you win. Everyone knows it. People need a chance to vent. They don't want to be told they are wrong or to calm down. It's a chance to express frustration. I didn't see the game but found it interesting that by my reckoning at some point every starter got a slating bar McQueen and Yoshida. It sounded like the players weren't comfortable with the formation and when that is the case they really do crawl back into their shells playing safe and uninspiring football and this resulted in a bad performance. A lack of leadership in this team tonight meant dragging us to a win was never going to happen. I'm ok with mistakes being made but the secret to success is to learn from them quickly. Please never Boufal and Tadic in the same team (two players who are failing to impress) and hopefully whatever formation it was tonight (3-5-2 or 3-4-3) goes back to being a work in progress and only used when the players are either comfortable with it or better players are plugged into it. I still struggle to see how the balance of the team can be right with the personnel we have. There is a lack of compatibility in many areas of the game and I do genuinely think it is a player issue rather than coaching issue. But I suppose time will tell with that one.

I'm going to assume Gallagher leaving means another striker is going to come in. Only having three strikers is not too clever for a long season.

Yep - its a car crash when they play together. Then chuck in Redmond as well and those three play as though each other doesn't exist. It's all about balance and a maximum of two of them should be on the pitch at any one time - until they learn to play nice with each other which is qualified as: 1. Willing to pass to each other 2. Accept that if you pass to each other you may not get it back straight away 3. If you make a run and don't get the ball it won't be because you were ignored it could be because a better option was available and Heaven forbid you made a run for the sake of another player and didn't get the ball They all play like they are the main man and the team should revolve around them at times. I do like them as individual players though before anyone thinks I'm being negative.

So it seems people adamant that Stephens is the Fonte replacement are wrong. I wonder where this guy fits in though and whether I am reading too much into it that Yoshida only has a year left on his deal?

Enjoyed watching it but I wonder how much benefit the kids are getting. We'll be playing far weaker teams in Division 2 and whilst it will be good fun seeing us thump teams is it really optimal for development of our players? It just means the jump they need to make when they train / play for the first team is even bigger and that is a greater obstacle to overcome.

Incredibly wasteful, very frustrating, but enjoyed the way the team played.

Whenever I watch Alfie Jones it seems like the game comes very naturally to him and he has another few gears to get into but never needs to. It is usually the sign of a very good player.

I agree with you. Reacting every time something comes out in the media shows a willingness to get involved in games. At best we retort through trusted media sources by simply saying our stance has not changed and that is that. Whether or not it has changed privately it doesn't make sense to publicly state so either. For what it is worth I think losing Coutinho gives Liverpool the financial muscle to make us an offer for VVD that would test our resolve, but that is just pure speculation on my part. However, if the fact they get him is because they lost their best player it somewhat contradicts the reasons VVD wants to leave (well, the public ones - privately the reason is to triple his salary or whatever it is).

Don't know much about him but reading up on him and looking at the mandatory YouTube compilation he seems to have the attributes we are missing and the ones we desperately need. Who is leaving then? No way we keep all our midfielders if he comes in.

When they were put under pressure Augsburg looked very wobbly poor. But unfortunately they got their tails up as they realised they could run past us unchallenged and we didn't have a clue in the final third. That gave them the confidence to express themselves and the complex of the game changed. It's becoming clear to me that our best team will never consist of our 11 most talented players and that the balance of the team against the style we need to play is most important. I read Pellegrino is a pragmatist and I hope he soon starts showing it with Saints as I think that is our best chance of succeeding this season. The final third is the biggest issue for me. A bunch of players all with ability in certain areas but none have learnt to play well together. Too many (Tadic, Boufal, Redmond) want the ball to feet and to do their 'thing' when we have players like Long and Gabbiadini who thrive on quick passing to compliment their movement, or Austin who needs early balls in the box. That is a recruitment issue more than anything else.

They are the same ones as last season which exist because we have the same players: - no cohesion, balance or understanding in the final third - limited physical presence which allows teams to attack us directly with purpose and just stride past us These are limitations of our personnel and not our manager. Still, its just a pre-season friendly with half a team who won't start against Swansea I suppose.

If he stays out of the way of the first team its another month without proper training and without match practice. It'll take another four weeks to get him up to speed so if we keep him he would be able to contribute anything until October and I would assume keeping him this season means he is off next summer. Assuming he is on something like 80k a week that is 9 months he hasn't played and nearly £3m he has been paid whilst he has had the intention of never playing for this club again. Don't turn this into an emotional decision make it on the basis of business. If the fee we can get for him can make the first team stronger then sell. If the fee we can means we can't adequately replace him and the team gets weaker then keep - and I would take that approach regardless of his behaviour and regardless of it being Liverpool he wants to go to. As it stands it doesn't feel like we could get near to replacing him (any huge fee for VVD then distorts the amount we have to pay for his replacement so it is all relative) and taking £60m and £80k a week of the wage bill doesn't even equate to buying three £15m players on £60k a week and given some of the muck that has moved for £15m this week I say we stick this one out and keep VVD unless some very unlikely opportunities come our way in the transfer market.

.. Assuming the players are back in today, we'll find out more when reports of whether or not hes back with the first team.

Board will be made to look very very silly and only way to remedy it is to spend all the money on quality players. The way the Liverpool stuff has played out has been less than ideal.

I think the fact Liverpool haven't moved to sign another centre-half is proof enough they are waiting in the wings. Really tough one for the board to negotiate. Sell him and they come off very poorly out of this. Keep him and they risk their best paid player acting like a knob. Genuinely tough call to make. Would love to think they will stick with the principles they told us at the start of the summer but who knows in football.

Presuming he is going as a midfielder, I am genuinely surprised to see Will Wood in there ahead of Calum Slattery.

To be fair we'd be mad to turn our back on such a willing buyer. Liverpool have certainly indirectly contributed to our success the last few years. Their lack of imagination in the transfer market is to our benefit and long may it continue. All they have to show for it is a third place finish in the league the season they weren't even in Europe. If anything they should be questioning why they keep coming back to us for players - unless the extent of their ambition is such that this is their level now.