Baird of the land

Would love a repeat of the league cup win but have to say i'm not overly confident. Equally its frustrating to see United getting confidence building wins just as they are about to play us. To be honest i'd take 3 points from the 2 games right or even 2 gritty draws.

Then why did they give him a long term contract in the summer

Hoping Cork is back to replace Morgan(assuming if he wasn't fit enough to play 2nd half against city he won't be right for midweek) Think Long deserves a start ahead of Mane too.

Sorry disagree, if your not willing to give a talented 18 year old a chance in a prem game when you've lost 2 of your first choice centre mids when is he going to get these theoretical prem game experiences. We played JWP first game back in prem against city and he didn't let himself down. Wrong decision imo.

Gutsy first half where we rode our luck and didn't take our glorious chance. Lost Morgan at Ht was a big loss, Guessing Cork was absent because of illness/injury so he couldn't replace him.The guy i feel sorry for is Reed, Cork out and Morgan out and the manager still doesn't give him a chance. Moving our most on form centre back into midfield wasn't wise imo and i'd have like to have seen where a natural midfielder would have been for the 1st. Disappointing how we collapsed against 10 men too. Big job for Koeman to get the team's head up for another big game midweek.

If he's a 100% fit i'd agree. If he's any less i'd prefer Cork to play and Davis eased back in from the bench.

Yeah i was impressed by Toby in that moment too, which is why conceding was so disappointing. He had Agbonlahor covered & there was no need for Forster reckless charge out. Doubt we'll keep hold of him, so i'll just hope we make the most of him while he is here.

Frustrated Bayern collapsed giving City a confidence boost going into the weekend.

Assume Bertrand won't be allowed to play that game anyway. So yeah that game for Targett and maybe Reed in the Palace away game the one before.

Love the boxing day and new year's fixtures. Fixtures on 28th seem very crammed in though. Hopefully it'll be a chance for the likes of Reed and Targett to get some premier league minutes under their belts.

Hopefully Jrod and JWP will be back by time Mane and Mayuka leave. I'm happy for our bench to have room for academy products like Reed, so i'm not in favour of short term loans occupying those spots unless Jrod's breaks down.

Bring cork in and go back to midfield 3. Drop one of mane or long. Use other as an impact sub.

He's the same standard as Boruc but younger and hopefully less injury prone. Still reasonably happy with the signing though still would have preferred McCarthy from reading.

Davis is a good player. Today however was about decision not to replace him with another centre mid cork but instead play long. Feels to me like didn't want to drop tadic/mane but wanted to reward long for his performance against Leicester. Hopefully he won't try that approach again.

Koeman got it completely wrong tonight. Frustrating that he didn't start stick with approach that's been so impressive by replacing Davis with cork. Then it was disappointing that he stuck with such a poor set up for 70+ minutes without a change. Very lucky to get a point today. Goal was very poor too, a long punt that alderweireld should have been left to dealt with rather than Forster rushing out rashly. Really hope cork starts at the weekend.

Rather dubious about that line-up. Would be far happier with cork in there. Guess I'll cross my fingers and hope it is a Koeman masterstroke.

12:01-13:00

No desire to see a convicted rapist play for Saints, i definitely wouldn't want an unrepetant one like Evans. Sheff Utd seem to be doing their image a massive amount of damage but that's up to them i guess.

Gutted as a N.Ireland fan but probably good news as a Saints fan as he gets a week off to recover.

As evidenced by their stubborn resistance against w.ham don't think it is straightforward. Glad benteke is absent though.

Glad Wood fluffed his chance as it made the last few minutes easier to watch. Very good result. Shows how much Leicester feared us that they came and parked the bus.

Yessss Cork, Pelle & Long....

Surprised Tadic stayed on.

Looks like it might be a very frustrating result.

Doh as a n.ireland fan hope Davis isn't out of the internationals