Baird of the land

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.

Personally i think Reeves was a good little player. Was got rid in rush to sign new players on arriving in Prem. Has shown for several years at MK Dons a very good standard. Wouldn't be surprised to see him end up in prem somwewhere. Prior to relegation there was Cranie, who looked promising in brief cameo in prem. Who knows what would have happened to him with right development. There was also Matt Mills who made some pretty disastrous moves including to City and then across Championship. Definitely think he could have been Prem player with right guidance. Your list is absent the likes of Gallagher who burst on the scene on Prem and did well but has since been troubled by injury coupled with the closure of the route to the first team. Personally the idea of finding a Le Tiss/bale/walcott every season if fanciful but you need to be giving youngsters some opportunities over the course of the season. We'll never know if Stephens/Seager/Reed if they are not given a opportunities in our team. Even if you don't find a superstar you may find a solid premier league squad player.

I'd like to see Reed given some opportunities in the Davis role.

The older the player is and higher profile they are the less likely we are to be able to compete with the likes of Spurs, Liverpool etc. that seems different to me than picking the choice players from elsewhere at a younger age when they are still much rawer prospect. our advantage has been our willingness to give academy prospects opportunities if that goes why not sign for the likes of chelsea with better status and better loan contacts.

I'd be very surprised if wanyama signed a new deal, unless it has some sort of release clause. Personally I'd be happier in news that Bertrand/Forster extending their deals. Not sure I particularly agree with notion of signing 18/21 year olds from elsewhere rather than giving our own academy players at least some opportunities in the first team. Target is a clear example how game time in the prem can be of benefit. The likes of Stephens/reed/seater/McCarthy need to be given that before being discarded on the scrap heap whilst the club scrambles around to pick up scraps of u18/u21 not hoovered up by bigger sides.

Lovely strike by JWP, finally showing the dead ball finishing that seemed so apparent yet illusive. Important to get that early goal before they rearranged tactially. Got a little lucky at 1-0, on another day JWP could have conceded a penalty(might have been marginally outside) and then thought Targett's penalty was slightly soft. Very cute play by Targett to throw his body across though. After that we dominated and resuly never looked in doubt. It's very nice to see us be able to close a game out like that again though. Thought Davis was particularly good in midfield, lovely play to set up the third for Tadic.

I've never been his biggest fan honestly. There's also the worry regarding his knee. Very low fee and a british player who has scored goals in the prem isn't to be sniffed at. I'll be hoping to be proved wrong in regards my opinion and fears regarding him.

I just can't justify bringing Pelle back into the team against WBA. One thing Tony Pulis teams do well is defend against crosses, so i'd stick with Long getting at them with his pace and persistence. Like a few others the only change i might make is Tadic for Targett, if we are moving to a 4 at the back.

Well when we play well we play very well. Helped by a watford side who seems to not want to play in the rain. Thought the 3 midfield was excellent today. There was a real balance in strength(Romeu), Passing(Clasie), Movement(Davis)Really hope that Wanyama who has been below par most of the season doesn't just waltz into the team. Romeu still has that odd moment of devil in him. That tackle from behind i thought was far too risky, mistime it at all and a ref could send him off but fair play to him he timed it perfectly and it was Deeney who went crazy and got himself booked. Long worked his socks off and took his goal nicely. If he could just improve his convertion ratio a little but still a good little player who may not be worth what we paid for him but neither is Lallana/Lovren worth what we sold them for. Mane needs a goal, some excellent stuff outside of that but contrived not to increase our lead. Nice to see Targett do ok and set up the 1st goal, especially after some of the negatives i've seen regarding him on these forums especially in relation to his crossing. I've had a lot of negatives recently about Koeman but today the tactics worked and today he used his subs correctly to close out the game and get us the 2nd. Still it's one game and we showed against arsenal we can play when we want. Other teams will make us regret all teh missed chances and sometimes we need to be able to show we can grind out results when playing less well.

Was hoping Adam would ask him tougher questions, especially in relation to what he said about the academy. Gave him a free ride and even then i thought the responses were very weak.

Awful signing, not just in terms of being a poor player but just the whole notion of using the loan market for that type of fix me up player. Thankfully Liverpool are helping us cut our losses because they are so desperate because of injuries they need some cover & someone to play in Exeter replay. Still disappointed he's deprived others of 1st team chances. Funny how now Koeman's been forced to use the academy as backup for that 4th choice defender slot till end of season.

Forster/Stek(dependent on how fit Forster is) Cedric(fresh legs as long as fit) Fonte Van Dijk Bertrand(assuming he is over his illness) Reed Romeu Clasie(though i doubt Reed will be picked) JWP if not as i think Davis is in need of a rest. Mane Pelle Tadic (Though if Pelle isn't 100% i'd save him for game against WBA) I'd like to see seager get half an hour if behind or level but that's not likely to happen)

Given Seagar was 17/18 during potch reign(now 19 going on 20) & he gave an 18 year old striker in Gallagher plenty of games i can't see how potch bears any responsibility. Must have been utterly deflating to be seagar on Saturday sitting on the bench the day after Koeman wrote him and most of rest of academy players off, throwing them under the bus in Redknapp style to try and stop his own image being tarnished. Unless Koeman is going out the door I hope he's pressing Reed for a loan move somewhere where a manager might actually give him an opportunity when several of the main strikers are injured and others are out of form.