Baird of the land

He's a very good keeper, maybe not a great but if he was a great he'd be playing at a champions league club. His kicking is generally good despite the howler earlier this season. I've never really seen him as particularly slow or cumbersome even if someone that big isn't going to be a cat but equally that size means he stops shots other keepers wouldn't. He doesn't like to come out and sweep his area but that's not the same as commanding the area. He certainly comes out and catches and punches well. Last season Stek was average and Forster's return was very welcome despite your so called shielding. Plenty of other premier league clubs would be very happy with him as their keeper despite his short term dip in form.

People have very short memories, Forster has been excellent both before his injury and after his return last season. Still surprised its not van dijk who must be very close in terms of wages. On the whole the main thing i noticed from the list is fact that many other clubs were paying less. The likes of everton must have a very broad base of high wages compared to us if Lukaku is really only on 75k That or the numbers are completely made up.

Well i'd argue that first 11 may vary depending on who & where playing. Sometimes i'd definitely put Redmond instead of boufal/tadic for his pace. Weakest area is most definitely the final midfield slot where Hojberg hasn't made quite the impact we'd hoped for and Clasie's still something of an enigma. JWP has been much improved this season though so had to put him in as putting another forward in just lopsides the team imo. Forster Cedric Yoshi VVD Bertrand Davis Romeu JWP Boufal Gabbiadini Tadic

Much better display by Saints. The pressing seemed much more organised and once we'd weathered a tricky first 20 minutes we got on top and stayed on top. Now we just to do that consistently. Also credit to Saints in picking out gabbiadini to buy. Didn't know much about him but he's shown a clinical edge that we've been missing. Also great to see Long back confident and on form. Jrod hasn't got much of a case to be ahead of either in the pecking order at the moment. Stephens had a very good game today which i was glad to see. Hope he starts in final.

Must be getting very close to the sack now despite the cup run. Completely tactically inept. Why did we sit off them and not press as a unit, why did they not have anyone on the edge of the box from the corner. Really getting fed up of conceding cheap cheap goals. Only tiny chink of light was that new signing looks like he might be worth the 14m we spent.

Well that was utter garbage by saints. Why do we refuse to even consider putting any co-ordinated pressure on the ball. At least gabbiadini showed some early promise.

Going to be real test for Stephens up against Carroll.

Typical Saints, manage to find a way to lose against a highly mediocre side. They were given a let off on one counter from their own corner so what do the gormless idiots in Saints shirts do, they repeat the idiocy and let opposition get the winner. Equally our finishing is lousy, how we contrived to miss that 3 on 1 where redmond ended up shanking the ball wide was terrible. Still can't understand why we deliberately threw the FA cup match in order to focus on this nothing match. Even more gutting when you see what Watford did to arsenal with their first team. Not all bad. I thought Long was good. Finally finding a little bit of form if we can get the ball to him a bit more in dangerous positions. Boufal was bright as an impact sub.

Really don't rate Sakho. Definitely don't rate paying him 100K & Liverpool 20m. Hopefully we'll get someone in on loan to help give us cover alongside Stephens whilst Van Dijk is out.

Assuming this means Mccarthy is out for the rest of the season which is a shame. Still want to know why we signed Taylor, did we just want to emulate Man City when they signed Richard Wright.

Starting to wonder if Forster is carrying and injury & Mccarthy's injury is much more severe than initially seemed. Otherwise seems a crazy move to be bringing in another keeper. Whoever recommended signing Taylor needs kicking out if he's not good enough to even play in the game we deliberately threw against his old club.

Put out a joke line up and getting thoroughly embarassed to a national audience. Really annoying. Supported the rotation at times this season but this time round we've disrespected a cup for mid table obscurity.

Why not rest the players against swansea when we've got zero left to play for in the league.

Really curious as to how it's a bent og. I thought since the ball was going on target off Baird it should be his og.

Glad i'm not a Sunderland fan. Selling a player to a relegation rival no matter how many toys he was flung out of his pram is just crazy.

I'm curious is there a coin toss that decides who changes kit?

Long deserves to start. Clasie & perhaps hojberg in for jwp who got a knock and Davis who's just back from one.

Amazing performance, though there were a few moments we rode our luck a few moments in second half. Really happy for Stephens. Said before season I was hoping he'd get his chance this season, though what a pressure cooker for it to be in. Yoshida has been top quality this season, a real step up from last season. Midfield good again. Redmond scared their right back in first half which was nice to see. Happy to see the old Shane long back the last 2 games after his bundle goal against Norwich. Hope he can kick on and have impressive second half of season again.

Also highly unlikely Chelsea would even consider sending him out on loan.

Or it could be that 17m is too much in regards what Saints are willing to pay for him based on their valuation of him as a footballer, not that we would be unable to find the money. Personally i'm with the club on this, find the right deal. Certainly don't panic into massively overspending on someone who turns out not to be the desired solution.

From what i've seen Jagielka is definitely on the decline. I can't see why we'd be interested unless Van Dijk injury is more severe than it appeared.

i'd like to see clasie come in personally. Obviously big questions as to what we do if van dijk is out. Do we switch to 5 at the back with Bertrand at CB or go with yoshi/Stephens partnership.

Very good display by saints. Whole team played well. I'd still like to see us go through the middle more but at least the crossing much less aimless. Long seemed much more confident during his cameo after his goal midweek too. Only real disappointments were Hojberg's finishing & VVD injury.

We've had a horrendous league run including an unfair xmas schedule & we're still 8 points and a better goal difference clear of the relegation places. Complete hyperbole to act as if we are in a relegation fight. It's not complete suicide not to replace Fonte immediately & we're likely only selling because he's more of a problem for the club than an asset as this stand. If we can't get the right player Yoshida has shown himself perfectly capable this season whilst Stephens is highly rated by the club. I would like us to bring in a quality defender and a quality striker. However those sort of players aren't exactly commonly available in January. The sort of defender who may be available(like Richards) earns derision from posters. I certainly don't want us panic buying.

Personally i'd be happy to wait for the summer to bring in the right player. Yoshida has had a good season. Stephens has shown promise & Gardos is finally fit. Panic buying now just seems unnecessary.