Lighthouse

Quote one post writing him off.

Play him; yes but I would be starting him. There is an obvious advantage of coming on second half when you’re up against defenders who have been running around for an hour longer than you have. If he can have an impact against some tiring legs, then he should be considered for a starting spot. I don’t think anyone is written off before they can adjust. The likes of Gaston, Boufal and Mané all had plenty of opportunities to prove themselves.

He scored a hat trick in a cup final against Man Utd. What I find frustrating is that we know what he can do, in a decent team which gives him decent chances. His first goal against West Ham on his debut was exquisite as was the equaliser in the cup final. His movement and anticipation is among the best I’ve seen from a Saints striker but sadly we have a squad full of cloggers who aren’t on the same wavelength. It’s a shame we never got to see him play along side Mané and Pellè, along with an in form Tadic. Then we’d have seen what he’s capable of. If we do sell him, that’s a pretty dreadful collection of strikers we’re left with. Austin and Ings will be in the treatment room sooner rather than later, leaving Sunday League Shane to chase defenders around like a terrier after his favourite tennis ball.

I wasn’t at the Leicester game but from most accounts he was quite decent up until the dive. It was a silly thing to do but I’d much rather a decent performance ruined by a moment of stupidity, rather than just being crap from the get go. Having said all that, I think he is suspended.

Not seen anything of Moi yet to suggest he’s good enough to be starting. I’d have Gabbi in to switch around the front 3 with Redmond and Ings. Apart from tha, looks good to me.

I doubt Long reads this forum and if he does, he’s probably got you on ignore.

I remember that Wycombe game for 2 reasons. Firstly the kids having a penalty shootout at h/t and secondly the 50 tonnes of sand they’d spread across the pitch, killing the bounce stone dead.

#Itscominghome

Didn't Merrington say Gabbi had a late fitness test? Austin just isn't fit on any scale. Starts the season playing 70 minutes, then 35 minutes, then 25 minutes and when he is on the pitch he looks yards off the pace.

Just seen MOTD as I was working yesterday. Have to say 1. Definite dive, Hojbjerg is a plank. 2. Can't believe people are blaming Hoedt for the first goal more than Moi. A sliding tackle on the half way line went to a Leicester player. So what? We still had plenty of other players who should have dealt with that afterwards. 3. What Moi and Cedric were doing I have no idea, it's basic communication stuff. If nothing else, can we spend an hour in training teaching our players to shout, "MINE!!!" Cedric should have been heading that ball out for a throw in and Moi nowhere near it. 4. Maguire was Austin's man for the winner but even having only been on for 25 minutes he looked like he was running through knee deep treacle. Vest... Was he not paying attention or what? It was the last chance in injury time, Maguire was obviously going to have a pop.

Signing dross like Pied is the reason we're in this mess. We should be signing someone genuinely decent to compete with Cedric, instead of Koeman and Puel's old mates. Martina should only ever have been emergency cover, the fact that he was actually chosen to start when Cedric was fit says something IMO. Surely with the tens of millions we're chucking at players, we could find someone with a decent physique to play at RB. There must be somebody with a bit of pace and height who CDAJFU.

On the evidence so far, West Ham, Cardiff and Huddersfield are also absolute garbage. Several other teams are a bit suspect. As with most survival situations, you don't need to out run the wolf, you just need to out run the fat kid.

I think Leicester might have lodged a complaint if he'd done that. Seems rather unprofessional if you ask me.

When we were basically winning the league 3 years in a row, of course they were. 05/06 was crap and 07-09 were awful years too.

I make that 3 out of the last 6 games we've thrown away in injury time. Useless bottle jobs.

We can't sell them. If we'd gone down we'd be in an even deeper hole with a massive wage bill we couldn't afford. Nobody wanted to buy Boufal, Carrillo, Forster, Long and probably a couple of others because of their massive wages. Relegation doesn't mean we can just wave goodbye to anyone we don't want.

Long starts and Gabbi not in the squad. WTF are we doing...

Leicester at home and you're going with the 'chase them hard and give them a bit of a runaround' tactic? No thanks, Gabbi and Ings for me.

I’m assuming he’s trying to get a bite out of someone, possibly a woman with connections to Italy, going by the OP. No idea who it could be though.

Combined with some sarcasm, straw men and pedantry from the usual suspects. I’m not sure this thread is going anywhere.

I never said he was culpable but he didn't improve our fortunes either and against Stoke he offered very little. After that decent Everton performance he got 35 mins in a 3-0 defeat at Palace, then got an hour in the draw with Be'er Sheva and 20 minutes against West Brom. He never pushed on from their and replicated the performance against Everton, the rest of the team not withstanding. It's not often I agree with Lord Duck but he's right on this one. If successive coaching teams and managers have decided he's not as good as the mediocre Redmond and the substandard Long, there's probably something in that. They aren't great players but they've at least done something of note at this level, with Norwich and West Brom respectively. I asked my Reading mate at work how he got on last night and he said he didn't really notice him. Early days but he will have to start making some headlines in the Championship to force his way into our long term plans.

He had one excellent dribble against a tired, substandard team, which had thrown most of their players forward for a corner, when he was fresh having just come on. He had a decent game and assist against a lacklustre Everton team 2 years ago. Let's not pretend these things are anything special just because he's one of our kids. Mayuka once won us a penalty with pace and direct running.

I don't see how Puel, Maguire, Maddison and Schmeichel are significantly better than Hughes, Vest, Armstrong and McC in their respective positions. They've got a decent chance of a win but so have we. If we stick with 2 at the back, there's no guarantee Hoedt will start and if he does I think he will do better in a pair with Vest, as he did in the second half against Burnley.

Sims or Redmond? Redmond is an okay squad player for a bottom half club.

I think Redmond is a mediocre player at best in the Premier League and the fact that Sims can't get a game ahead of him doesn't reflect too well on Sims either.