Lallana's Left Peg

Wouldn't be surprised to see him play 45mins, especially as it is at home.

Given how ruthlessly efficient they usually are and physically imposing as well, that there is any doubt about their form probably means it is a good time to play them - even if they manage to find their form again when they play us.

He needs to grow on the ball in the opponents half but JWP's work off the ball on Saturday was outstanding. Having watched the game again this morning he didn't stop trying to get involved and chasing after Swansea players - even if he didn't have the physical strength to win the ball back himself he hurried the opposition and forced plenty of mistakes. He can be very happy with that as that work gives him a platform to work on the other things we're expecting (and need) from him as he continues to be a starter.

I meant two banks of four

Right now this Chelsea team cannot cope with movement and physicality in the final third. They attack best when they can defend well and they can't get going forward because they are struggling to defend and contain teams. I enjoyed the way we played with Long and Mane up front at Stamford Bridge last year and I wouldn't mind seeing the same again, but we really rode our luck defending with just two banks of eight at times so it will be a game of fine margins and we could get a win or really get thumped.

Can someone keep him away from Shoreditch ffs

Given that they pay a significant amount for the highlights they likely have their own internal pressures to secure as big of a viewership as possible. As otherwise they wouldn't want joe public challenging them as to why they are spending millions on a show that is only watched by whatever hundred thousand at 10.30 on a Saturday night. I've found that their analysis has got better the last few seasons after they have got rid of the old guard, even if occasionally some of the guest analysts are absolute turd.

Romeu is definitely on course to set a record for yellow cards in a Premier League season (assuming he maintains his rate of more than 1 in 2) but that is absolutely fine by me as long the cards he picks up are a part of the role he is asked to play for the team.

The performance apparently.

Koeman not happy at all by the sounds of it.

Sorry, yep, I meant two years after this season. I still think £50m is crazy but regardless, when he leaves it will be for a lot.

That is way too high but with the extra money from the TV deal and our ever increasing financial strength I think we could get north of £35m for him. Getting him to sign a new deal even better as only years left on his deal after this season.

Bench. Not much width there at all for Swansea.

Decent line-up but Davis and JWP together again...

It won't be good with Koeman going into his final year of his contract and there being uncertainty around what is happening. It's very distracting. We'll be linked with new Managers, he'll be linked with new jobs - the whole thing is a mess. Strachan left when it was leaked he was going to leave and look at the mess that happened then. The Pellegrini thing is very relevant. Man City may want a better Manager but for them having their Manager go into the final season of his deal is a distraction so they gave him a years extension and all of a sudden the stuff in the press about his future has greatly decreased (their start to the season will help too).

If you are just going to take the line that 'if the club are fine with it then I am fine with it' then a good 80% of the chatter on here is pointless to you The clubs transfer business - good and bad - should always be up for debate as it is one of the most important things it does that impacts our experience as fans. We get more right than wrong, and I'm not saying Shane Long falls into that wrong category either, but I don't think we as fans should just accept that everything the club does is ok and that is all that matters. It doesn't matter to me that Fulham spent eight figures on Ross McCormack and it doesn't matter to me how much Man City spending on fringe players. I just look at what Saints do and whether we're a better team / squad for it and if that money seemed a worthwhile investment.

None of it is relative really - just because Liverpool sold Fernando Torres for £50m it didn't justify spending £35m on Andy Carroll. Just because we sold Calum Chambers for £16m it didn't make signing Shane Long for £12m ok. You should judge each transfer on its own merits. Obviously a players ability is only one of the factors that impacts fees. Shane Long doesn't appear to be a first choice player when everyone is fit - couple that with his goalscoring record and I am not sure that £12m can be justified in any respect. However, he is a good player with desirable attributes for us to have. But you can't ignore the money we paid for him, it's a lot. Outside last years top four plus Liverpool and Spurs no club in this league comes close to the amount of £10m+ players in their squad that we do.

The problem with this is that when a Manager or a player head into the final year of their deal it leads to a lot of speculation and it definitely has an impact on them and their form. It's not good for anyone. I'd like to see Saints and Koeman agree to a 1 year extension like Man City and Pellegrini did - it eliminates speculation and an agreement can be made internally about him moving on.

Yep - but playing for England also elevated their status and made them more desirable for other clubs and also exposed them to playing with players who play for those clubs and earn much more. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

Adam Blackmore said that Ramirez had rejected the chance to move on and wanted to stay for his final year. Given that the player rejected the move I guess the only other option was for the club to bring him back into the fold for one last time or just to completely isolate him from the first team. I like his talent and under Pochettino, before his injury in the Sunderland game, he was starting to show signs of getting to grips with the level of physicality required of him. His loan at Hull was a disaster though. Even if he does well for us this season he walks away for free, but regardless if we're paying him a lot we may as well give him a chance as he costs us the same and walks away for free whether he plays like a superstar or trains with the U21's.

To be fair, whilst I think Juanmi is clearly not physically ready for Premier League games, there aren't many that would be able to keep up with Jay and Mane on the break. Their acceleration and top end pace is rapid.

He has struggled with injuries and form but when we sold him we were all gutted. The benefit of hindsight has (thus far) shown it to be a great deal for Saints though.

Yep I agree.

From memory I think at Chelsea we played a flat 4-4-2 (Mane and Long up front with Davis and Tadic wide) so that was a bit different to last night? I think it is good to have options but I think our best team has Pelle in it.

It's a nice way to play but we have to respect that we played against a team that gave us lots of space, had zero threat going forward, and didn't defend very well either. When the team is lacking confidence it often reverts to safe balls up to Pelle and that makes us one dimensional. But when we have more verve as a team we mix it up well and Pelle contributes a lot to that. Last night was a good confidence boost but I think Pelle is still very important to the way we play and must start unless he is in a really poor patch of form or is shattered.