Baird of the land

I'd go for Davis, Clyne, Fonte, Toby, Bertrand, Morgan, Wanyama, JWP, Tadic, Mane, Long

As a Northern Ireland fan i still love them. Kyle Lafferty Legend!

Seems bizarre to me that he wasn't considered good enough to be called up when rose pulled out but now days later he's being added as third left back.

Hopefully they won't. If Hodgson rates Bertrand so little why call him up when he's already got 2 left backs in the squad. Tire out Arsenal's Gibbs given he picked him.

I've long ago accepted her is going to go this summer and am just enjoying one more season of him at Saints. The only issue i have is if he goes to a club not in the champions league.

Gutting news. After Jrod last season getting another long term injury in the squad is appalling bad luck. Tough situation sourcing a quality keeper to cover for the entirety of next season. If we could get a top quality keeper on a season long loan that might be the best option. Hard to buy the sort of quality when Forster will likely resume the first choice slot once fit.

Yeah i do get the issues regarding good players playing for lowly ranked nations. I assume if the work permit was rescinded, club would still have to pay player and sell/loan them abroad for remainder of contract in next available window.

I think a fee based model doesn't make much sense. What i've read today is of tightening of work permit rules based on international rankings(top 50), which seems reasonable though. I'd also like to see a tough approach regarding reviewing/renewing work permits once they are in.

I think anything that helps to cut down the mediocre players clogging up squads and preventing opportunities for young british players is a good thing.

Interesting quote from Davis on the Echo website. Not sure if he's making a point about situation before Watson came in or just simply praising the coach. “I think if you’ve got a sloppy goalkeeper coach that is not too interested in anyone else other than their number one then if something like this occurs then, obviously, you’re not going to be ready. ....Obviously, Dave puts his work in and puts his effort in and puts sessions on for all four goalkeepers, not just for me."

Well i wanted a draw ideally but a united win isn't end of the world. They've got Man City and Chelsea in 2 of next 3 games, so i'd still expect them to drop some points there.

I may still gripe that i would have preferred us to have brought in someone good like Mccarthy who would have been prepared to sit on the bench behind Boruc in the short-term(as he's doing behind green at QPR). The club being ambitious and deciding they wanted england's no2 isn't something i can complain too much about though. The bigger issue was the mistake in signing Gazzaniga, who from what i've seen shows no signs of capable keeper at this level and is woeful positionally. Maybe i'll be eating my words a year or two down the line though. Kelvin is a steady backup and hopefully he won't let us down over last 8 games and it will be helpful if we can keep the back 4 and morgan/Vic in front of him to protect him from facing too much pressure.

i like Richards as a player. Can play centre back too, think he might be a better natural centre back based on his early career till he was permanently adapted to fullback. Wouldn't complain if we turned to him, especially if McCarthy or Stephens are rated highly enough to act as undestudy learning the ropes.

Don't get why there are 3 left backs in the squad.

Would hope Saints would tell Arsene to go look elsewhere if he really is sniffing around Mane.

Annoyed Swansea haven't taken advantage of their dominance. Set up for liverpool to come out and Nick it.

I wish Long's finish had of been better personally.

Great Performance. Keeps us in the race.

Tremendous first half performance. Just hope they can keep it up in the 2nd. Little bit of luck about the penalty but think we deserved it for how we played. Costa's looking dangerous. Beaten fonte 3 times aerially.

Yep still want that.

Indeed i'm still hoping we get to a situation where they don't jump ship after having one good season.

Assuming this is more for fan's benefit rather than any real prospect of him signing a new deal.

Seems best suited to the advanced midfield role that Davis has traditionally occupied. He's clearly got ability to pick a pass. When i've seen him of late he's been getting in right positions but his shooting needs work. Adding goals to his game has to be a priority. The lack of quality setpiece takers in the team showed last night, so that's something he has deliver on when he gets further chances in the team Defensively he's got to improve. The workrate is there but the decision making isn't always and clearly wasn't last night.

A scrappy rather lucky win but i'll take it after the run we've been on. Looked much better when Tadic came on. Surely has to be the regular starter. Once we scored we went into complete panic mode. JWP almost handed them an eqauliser but at least he was involved in a positive attacking sense in the goal(even if his shooting still needs work) Hopefully the win will boost confidence somewhat. Though not sure what to do about Pelle.

Very disappointing display so far, so little intensity to our play. Mane's been the only threat so far.