Baird of the land

The first jury thought beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a crime. Now even if a second jury has decided that there is enough doubt to acquit him that by no means makes it wrong for the police and CPS to try the evidence before a court.

Interesting read, wasn't aware of the situation regarding drunk consent. Case is a murky gray mess. Personally don't think Evans as a person comes out particularly well, nor do i like those using the result as some kind of proof that the girl was lying when she says she can't remember what happened.

Hope they can hold on. Personally I think efl was a decent compromise, helping academy players get a bit more real experience whilst not interfering with league. Sadly seems highly likely it'll only be a one year thing.

Decent result away against Leicester. Frustrating in some ways though as i thought we were the better team in possession. Ward Prowse failing to hit the target was a big moment but to be fair so were the Van Dijk/Romeu mess ups that we got away with. Thought Davis was excellent on the ball today. Romeu excluding his dreadful pass back was excellent too. Cedric was a loss and hopefully its something minor as while Martina is decent i think Cedric is a more well rounded player. Long looked dangerous once he was put up front. Should have come on earlier and for Austin rather than Tadic in my eyes.

Personally i think rotating during the group stages is completely the right call. We've already got 4 points via rotating and can't see a reason why we won't qualify from the group using this approach. Once we get to the knock out stages that is the time to start making the call as to whether we want to priortise it or our league position or trying to win the european competition.

Easiest selection decision ever imo, the team that played well and beat West Ham away. Hopefully they can repeat the trick and beat Leicester.

On the positive front we got the result we needed, an away draw. Utterly abject display though, could have conceded a number in the 2nd half. Feel sorry for Hesketh, didn't deserve to be hooked after 30 mins, especially when you consider how abject others were and how poor the the 2nd half display was and no changes were made till literally the last minutes. Man of the match Van Dijk, because he was solid defensively as usual though that header miss early on was bad.

I struggle to see why we'd sell van dijk's this summer unless there's a release clause in his bumper new contract. Surely part of the reason to hand out these new long term contracts was to avoid mane/clyne/wanyama situation & retain players marginally longer at least.

Listening to talk sport describe it as a problem with modern football. No it's a problem with dodgy old English managers. Had to go for such greedy stupidity. You'd expect it to be Southgate. Young, no baggage, has done well with u21's.

Things starting to come together under Puel. Great finish by Austin to get us the lead and barring a dangerous spell at 2-0 we were much the better team in the 2nd half. Really impressed by the midfield, Davis and Hojberg in particular were excellent.

Not surprised really. There seemed to be pretty strict restrictions even for academy players such as reed who trained with first team. Also found it interesting that the league cup match the lack of academy players in their lineup despite him making a number of changes. Holgate who had already started several league games seemed the only one. Towards the back end of last season Martinez had the bench loaded with their youngsters and they were being talked up. Clearly he's a very good manager but it is an issue and it did bug me. Hopefully Puel will prove to be good too and with more openness to academy progression to the first team.

Great to see he sketch playing so well, every time I have seen u23's he's looked quality. Has he signed a new contract yet. From memory thought he was one of players who's contract's expire this summer.

I'd like to see at least one of Reed/Stephens get a chance. Mccarthy Martina Stephens Van Dijk Targett JWP Hojberg Reed Tadic Long Austin

Vital win got. Feeling of relief, hopefully we can push on and go on a bit of a run. We were the better team but still lots of room for improvement from us. At one point felt like the ball just wasn't going to go in the net, thankfully Austin solved that. Thought Romeu was man of the match, very good all over the pitch and covering on their dangerous counter.

As well as Martina played, i'd start Cedric on sunday. He'll be fresher and that was purely the logic of rotating as they did yesterday(which i hoped they would do). I assume we'll stick to the diamond so i think it'll probably be something like: Forster Cedric Van Dijk Fonte Bertrand Clasie Hojberg Davis Tadic Austin Redmond Subs, Mccarthy, Yoshida, Romeu, JWP, Long, Jrod, Martina

It's pretty vital that we win this to Get the season going. Afterwards we've got 2 away so we want already be on 5 points. It won't be easy, as Swansea whilst erratic aren't that bad a side. I'd start long and hojberg and use Jrod as an impact sub otherwise sat team. I don't manager abandoning the formation yet sadly.

Disagree, think complete opposite. Group stage is the time to rotate a handful of players out so they'll be fresh for the Sunday. If we make the knockout then we can decide if we want to priortise it over whatever league position we are in. I'm also hoping at some point in this european experience there will be opportunity given for likes of Reed to get opportunity to impress.

Rotate please.

Personally i think he's a perfectly capable squad player at the moment for us. Hopefully he'll kick on and be more than that.

From what i've seen so far diamond looks like it is much worse against better sides as you are left with 2 up top as well as a 10 and far less able to drop successfully into a defensive shape when you don't have the ball.

Hoping we revert 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. Dreading a re-run of the abysmal Utd game if he sets up again as he did there with the diamond. Forster/Mccarthy Cedric Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand/Targett Clasie Romeu Davis Tadic Jrod Long

Personally i'm yet to be convinced that Austin can operate effectively in any of the systems we have operated over the last year, which has always been my issue with him. Seem to be a lot less people crowing about this signing than there were last January though or arguing we should sign him before that. I'm glad to see Jrod being given an opportunity. If neither turn good we could end up having to go back into the market in January but i can see why we wouldn't have now in order to give them a fair crack at the whip.

At this point we don't need a new centre back. It's ridiculous imo to suggest a centre back who was instrumental in winning to euros and who has been by and large excellent for us in the Prem suddenly isn't good enough to play for us. If fonte stays he will be first choice and we have other decent cover options. Only if fonte leaves in Jan will we need to think about whether we need to splash out on chasing another centre back imo.

Yeah our managerial appointment and the formation he is committed to displaying despite it looking unsuited to the players currently is my big worry. Happy with all the signings and with Jrod not going anywhere. Think the defence is fine. Slight worry upfront with Austin and whether he can adapt as a sole attacker or as one of puel's 2 mobile attackers in diamond.

Getting rid of a proven premier league goalscorer that finally fit and gifting him to a premier league rival whilst at best Saints will be gambling on some unproven last minute addition lilke Haller to take his place.