Baird of the land

He's a defensive midfielder who's not got the sort of range of passing that Morgan had or some of our other mids have but this is more than compensated by his physical strength. Assume he's off to Spurs and we'll likely probably get a little more than what we paid for him because of the shortness of his contract. Don't think that's a bad deal considering he's been a good player for us in the meantime. I'd like him to re-sign but i'm not broken up by the prospect. We'll move on and sign another young defensive mid. I'll be more worried if we lose Mane because he's the sort of player that can turn a game on its head by his skill.

Hope that if he doesn't sign some kind of extension we have steel to replace him in the summer. I don't think him running down his final year would be at all good for saints.

Helps they had a much more balanced side, having an actual left back, no stephen taylor and playing 2 decent defensive midfielders rather than playing Shelvey out of position there.

Annoying Bournemouth couldn't do us a favour against a weakened Liverpool. Now need Everton to turn up midweek with a shock.

Think we need 9 if not more points from last 4 to have any shot at Europe. A must win. What are the rules regarding concussion?

Just back, very strange atmosphere. Won't ever consider saints Mary's quiet again. Clearly very unhappy fans there. Frustrating result, normally an away point there would be a good result but feels like a missed opportunity. European chances have slipped a bit. Felt we dominated the game, hit the woodwork twice, their goal looked to take several deflections. Good to see the reaction from saints in getting the equaliser. Want to see motd because I really felt long should have had the confidence to beat the keeper at 1-1 rather than trying the lay off.

30,521

Guessing no McCarthy for them now, that's a plus.

Big game for Saints, think we need to find a way to win it if we are to have a chance of finishing 5/6th.

Solid result. Don't really get the criticism of Clasie or Pelle. Felt both had decent games. Against better teams Clasie's defensive abilities will be more tested but thought he zipped the ball around nicely. Long was top quality again setting the tone with the early goal. Terrible touch for the assist for Pelle though. Wish i could see what would have been the result last week if Long had been available to cause problems for Leicester centre backs. Mane was good once again, on another day he would have got a goal to add to his good play. As for Newcastle, a terrible defence with Shelvey completely anonymous in the holding role. Amazing watching the difference in a Shelvey who scored a cracker against us for Swansea last year and this disinterested player. Part of me doesn't want Newcastle to go down because we have such an excellent record against them.

It's amazing to me that mclaren could have gone to the board with a straight face wanting creative midfielders rather than centre backs and a left back in January. Just want saints to put the game to bed with a third and get jrod a decent runout.

Gaston's clearly a quality player, so not surprised he's scoring for fun in Championship. Sadly it hasn't really worked for him at Saints and he definitely doesn't fit the way Saints play under Koeman, not Potchettino before him. If he makes a success for himself at Middlesborough in the Prem next season i won't hold any grudges barring just hoping he doesn't score against us.

Forster Cedric Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand JWP Wanyama Clasie Mane Long Tadic Hopefully Long is fit enough to start I'd bring in JWP for his dead ball delivery as this seems an area Newcastle seem particularly weak.

The one moment i thought we were unlucky today was the huth handball 2nd half. To me that's a penalty most of the time, but when you are playing top of the table away the refs not going to give it.

Atrocious 2nd half performance from Saints. What was the plan to give Huth and Morgan some headin g practice. So one dimensional it was unbelievable. Did we even have a shot on target 2nd half?

Frustrating half. We've played well and then switched off for a moment and left a complete mismatch of an aerial challenge. Fair play to Clasie for trying to cover but we simply shouldn't have been in a position where he would be competing with one of their best headers. Lovely play by Mane that frustatingly Simpson got back for, don't think it was a penalty. Leicester are rather dirty imo. Vardy got's the new poster boy blind spot for ref's. Hopefully we can raise it again and get something from this game.

With the news from Van Gaal that shaw is unlikely to make the fa cup final if they even get there surely there is no way Roy can pick him. Hopefully that opens the door for Rose and Bertrand to get the 2 spots.

Was reading yesterday rumours that Jordan Ibe is on the way out of Liverpool. Would he be of interest to Saints?

Sad news for Butland and England, though i felt he was being overhyped and Forster should have been number 2 anyway in the short term.

Definitely don't think Vardy should be shoehorned into the team on the wing. That's not his position. He seems the ideal impact sub to me if England need to go for it by changing to 2 up top. Equally neither should Rooney.

I think he's benefitting from the lack of options out wide, which is funny as I think he's less effective out wide in hodgson's preferred formation. Unless they go 2 up top vardy shouldn't start. If they do go 2 up top it'll likely be to accommodate the passenger Rooney.

Thought Isgrove was quite bright on his international debut tonight. Probably needs a couple of injuries to make the 23 though. Davis played well tonight too.

Bad news for Bertrand, hope it doesn't cost him a place in the Euro's. From a selfish point of view the international break might have for once come at a good time for us giving him more time to shake off this (hopefully minor) injury

Yeah i thought it was very quiet. Ideally it would be nice if the crowd raised the team rather than having to wait for the team to score before the noise levels come about.

For me it's got to be a return to 5-3-2 line up and trying to hit Leicester quickly on the counter. -------------------Forster------------------------- Soares----Fonte----Van Dijk----Bertrand----Targett -------Davis----Wanyama----Romeu--------------- -------------Long-------Mane--------------------- Subs, Stek, Martina, Yoshida, JWP, Pelle, Jrod, Clasie Whilst Pelle's done very well of late, i think pace is far more likely to trouble Morgan/Huth, than height and strength, so he should start on the bench if everyone gets back from international duty unscathed. Equally i think Soares has more about him than Martina and unless there's an issue i'd prefer to see him return to the line up. While i would like to see Leicester win the league i would vastly prefer saints to make Europe, so desperately want us to get something there, especially after the limp way we lost to them last time when i made the trip all the way there.