Baird of the land

Cedric has been poor most of the season & if he's not interested in buying into Ralph's approach it's quite right he's frozen out. Valery has looked good in a number of the games he has played even if he poorer in others. Neither has Gabbi done much to deserve more chances. He's been living off his first few games for us for far too long now. Bertrand is recovering from an operation.

McCarthy Valery bednarek vestergaard yoshida Cedric Romeu Davis Redmond ings Armstrong Subs Gunn, targett, Stephens, lemina, gallagher, long, jwp

I actually think it’s the 2nd he should have done better with.

Biggest negative today was Hojberg being an absolute idiot. Given who we were playing and fact we needed to rotate in fresh players i thought we put in a reasonable display on the whole. Handing them the game with two poor goals after doing so well to get back into it was a real shame. If we'd got in at 1-1, the pressure on them would have been immense and who knows what would have happened.

Not a bad display. Infuriating that we handed them the game in a short spell at end of the first half. Ramsay was a definite bright spot. Elyounessi frustrating, trying to do too much but some nice stuff at other times. Mccarthy some decent saves but then could have done better with 2 of goals imo. Thought JWP actually put in a decent shift today. Hojberg sheer stupidity is very annoying

What was Hojberg thinking

resting romeu for chelsea

Except it won't as VAR will only overule blatant errors. In cases like that even if a review happens the ref may very well still retain the same levels of implicit bias as it will still come down to his judgement as to whether there was enough contact. JWP would probably get a yellow card if VAR had been present.

agree i'd be annoyed if that was given against us. Virtually no contact.

Really annoying half. Team did excellently to fight back from 1 nil down to 1-1 and then they proceeded to hand city two late goals. I know there's a deflection on the 2nd but mccarthy has to save that and how neither stephens/targett challenges aguero in the air is atrocious.

Targett so poor for the goal. Had to follow the runner.

Cedric must really have been phoning it in to slip to being 3rd choice. Good to have a manager who is stirring things up and hope Cedric can be moved on quickly if that’s the case.

Agree can’t stand city. They are far worse than Liverpool. Doubly don’t want us to lose.

Same team, hopefully same result.

Fantastic to see saints getting back to being the sort of side we used to be. Lovely Xmas present. Lovely to see the youngsters proving people wrong too.

I’m happy that the money bags got a gunk. I’d be equally happy to see united continue to struggle.

Interesting bench. Wonder if hoedt is on his way out. Very aggressive with 3 strikers.

Previously I would have said get rid of Austin but of the two he seems to be the one buying into ralph’s Ideas even if he isn’t a natural athlete. Gabbi has struggled for a long time, doesn’t appear to have a place in the new approach, so should be the one to move on.

I’m still hoping gallagher will get fit & be given a chance to prove himself in first team.

Makes sense for him to be moved on.

Is that how Tommy Forecast was sold to us by Spurs?

Being reserve keeper at Leeds may not be particularly enticing for him.

Good time to get himself noticed. Be interesting to see if his loans gets extended.

I’m guessing a wide man with some pace will be our priority in Jan, other than getting players out the door who don’t fit Ralph.

Hopefully we are in the right position in the cycle that if Ralph does well for us to the end of the season he won't have been here long enough for Spurs to be interested in him.