Baird of the land

It's nice to dream. It probably won't happen but let's hope we can maintain our momentum and see where it takes us.

Extremely solid defensively excluding Yoshida's moment of clumsiness late on. We lacked enough attacking intent at times though. No doubt Pelle will come in for some stick. Personally thought he was much better 2nd half linking with Long. I was screaming for Mane to come on but just then a corking ball into the box from JWP and a nice header from long.

Yeah Davis sent in that delicious cross that Long should have scored from I still not sure i see him as a natural wingback but he's putting in a shift for us. Pelle, he's been largely anonymous with a couple of decent touches but given how much long is winning aerially what we need is another outlet for the quick counter, which is Mane.

I'd have preferred to see Mane play away from home with his pace. At least hopefully he can be an impact sub alongside Austin with 20/30 minutes to go. However with recent successes Ron's earned himself some slack in team selections as i wouldn't have guessed Bertrand/Targett would work so well.

Targett for Yoshida Romeu for Vic Davis/JWP for Pelle Austin as an impact sub.

For me Cedric is definitely improving but not at same level as clyne was yet. Clyne' snot the problem in the Liverpool defence IMO, a good player can get lost in a bad unit. Clasie's been very good. Saw glimpses in early displays and had faith he'd adapt. Romeu has won me over, poor at start with crazy challenges, last 3/4 games he's mixed strength and a bit of ball ability. Just hope he remains consistent. Virgil's done well. Good option since we failed to keep hold of the excellent Toby.

Yeah i'm glad he made a decent contribution and think he's a good squad player for a club our size to have. That said i thought he wasn't as impressive positionally in that role as Bertrand was in previous games.

Dug in and got deserved win. Really hate refs who make decisions based on the level of complaint. Clattenberg went for the yellow card and then made completely the wrong decision. Really glad it didn't come back to cost us. Real team effort, hard to pick out an individual this week.

Most important one to renew is Forster. Fortunately Liverpool gave Mignolet a fat new contract. Maybe that will stop them coming a courting. After that Tadic & Mane(though obviously Mane may reject it) Maybe offer Long a one year extension. If there's a move that suits both parties then sell him. Otherwise let his contract run down. Gardos needs to prove himself next season before we think of extending

As you say 4 points is excellent, i was hoping for a point against utd but expected Arsenal to have to much for us, i didn't reckon on Fraser though. Personally thought the ref was decent. Let a decent amount of physicality go and others would have been throwing around far more cards and much earlier.

What a difference a fraser forster makes. Any of the other keepers and we would have lost. Romeu and Wanyama very good in the middle. Mane caused them all sorts of problems if only he had a shred of confidence Confused as to why Pelle was preferred to Austin. Assume Clasie was being rested for weekend?

Not sure Stek would want to be reserve. Personally don't see Gazzaniga needing a loan, think he needs either confidence of being elevated to 2nd choice with ideally getting a run out in league cup. He seems to be improving and bringing in a keeper over his head isn't going to do him any good. Ideally pick up a third keeper on a short term deal to cover until there's someone coming up through the academy. Can't see the value in bringing in any more centre backs unless we are shipping out Gardos/Yoshida as first choice pair are settled, especially when there's the likes of Stephens/Mccarthy hopefully returning after good loan spells. Key business defensively will be tying Bertrand down to a long term deal. Cover in that position is fine. Make decision on Soares/Martina whether we need to replace Wanyama will leave, Romeu will take that spot. We'll likely need another midfielder alongside hopefully Reed getting some real involvement. As you say perhaps someone who is more akin to Davis in style. Assume Pelle may leave as may Mane if United are still interested. If Jayrod actually comes back we probably need to spend heavily on a like for like replacement for Mane. If Juanmi decides to opt out rather than stick it out that may require a further addition.

Looks like he got last 10 minutes in their draw.

Derby have been poor. Their right back has been atrocious. Their coach was too useless to spot him getting done all game. Their striker Martin is one of the laziest players I've seen in a while. can't see them getting up anytime soon.

Good news in the circumstances, with Austin arriving any chance of 1st team opportunities this season were over. Hopefully he can score the goals to keep them up.

Not sure about Rangers to be honest, well clear at the top of a very weak league. Not sure how much football he would get either. Probably better going to a league 1 club, with more chances to start. Really hope we aren't planning on selling him to Swansea.

Hope if he goes it's a sale. Worried there's a high liklihood of us ending up in the Michu situation, him not wanting to come back, us unable to get a fee for him and years of loans.

It seems the way we are playing we've got austin, mane, long, tadic, Pelle, Jrod & Juanmi, (not inc either u21 strikers) battling for 2 positions. Club obviously will know more if Jrod is on track to return. Still seems to me there might be room to shave one off if we got a very good offer.

If they are after him hopefully we could squeeze a little more from them, closer to what we bought him for. Personally wouldn't complain if we got our money back on a player in his thirties, especially since we've recruited Austin.

Yeah can't see Austin starting. Use him as an impact sub till he's fully up and running. If Davis recovers him for tadic is the obvious move. If not probably jwp for tadic.

Since we went out and spent millions on a new attackers i think everyone is aware Seager's further down the pecking order. If we suddenly get a spate of injuries or sell Pelle that might change. That doesn't mean it wasn't crazy he wasn't given a chance when we were badly struggling against Norwich or Palace with few attacking options available imo.

Great result. Since i've been critical in the past, i'll say Koeman really got his tactical changes right stopping the momentum they were building. Nice to get revenge for the home loss to them again. Forster makes a big difference. Great to see a modern keeper so good at coming and catching the ball, takes so much pressure off the team. Austin showed his goalscoring instinct, felt like he was still adapting to how Saints play much of the time but had 2 key moments, one a goal and one where he was involved in build up to Romeu almost scoring. Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg. Didn't really feel Tadic decision worked out especially in the 2nd half when they brought on Mata. At the moment feel we have 5 players vying for 2 attacking slots(Long, Austin, Mane, Tadic, Pelle) which is a very nice position to be in. One again Long was excellent, probably my man of the match.

Decent first half. A mane in form would have taken that ball down and put it past De Gea. Right now things aren't quite going for him despite him doing 90% of things right. Still not sure about Tadic being in for Davis. Despite the fact we've played well there's been a couple of occasions where we've let them get too much space on edge of the box for shots. One of those knife edge games where first goal could easily win in. Nice to see their crowd turning on them after 30 minutes and them being pressured into launching aimless long balls to try and apppease them

Can't see it being Tadic, lacks the attributes fill in for Davis, especially away from home. Assume it'll be JWP after his goals last week. Think the balance would be better served by (Wanyama/Romeu), (clasie/JWP), (Davis/Reed) pairings

If it is the case i'd really like us to give Reed a go in that role, won't happen though.