NewYorkSaint

Some sensational play by Saints. Redmond! He's suddenly looking as thrilling as Lallana or Mane at their best. Stephens a fantastic performance too. We so deserve to go through. What scares me is that if we find ourselves still 0-0 at 70 mins we may start to turn more defensive. In that scenario, I see Liverpool pulling out a goal in last 10 mins, and then another in extra time. We have to continue to press. There's a goal there for us. And when it goes in... it's game over. What a fantastic night so far.

Or lose 10-9. Just as good!

Absolutely chuffed for JWP. He gets stick on here, but puts incredible effort into improving his game, is always a high energy determined player, and has world-class dead-ball skill... The delivery for the second goal was incredible. That first goal half-volley will do wonders for his confidence. Have hopes he will go on to greater things over the next year. On Solent, and on NBC commentary, there was a lot of comment about our greater energy compared to Leicester (despite our cup came mid-week). This is not an accident. It's a a direct consequence of Puel's rotation policy. I truly think he deserves great credit for his energy management. Cedric and Maya superb today....... With Austin, Davis and Boufal coming back, and provided VVD not out for long, I can truly see us a shot at finishing 7th still. Meanwhile Wednesday will be huge. We have to go out and attack. We need a goal more than we need to avoid conceding. 1-2 loss will do just perfectly. After today we'll have belief the goals are there. Pumped!

So much of the moaning about Puel's rotation is based on mad numbers. He believes that for some of our players, the way to get the most out of them is to start them once a week. So in a period where we're playing two games a week, there are essentially four or five positions which shift. If you calculate rotations based on number of changes in each individual match over the prior game, that looks like a huge amount of rotation. But if you looked at just the teams picked for the premier league, there's far more consistency. Rotating back to the same-ish team time and again allows plenty of opportunity for players to learn each other's skills. Meanwhile, a broader squad is built with playing experience. I'm hopeful we see a great game tomorrow... (though we'll miss Davis. he's a rockstar).

Look, this was an amazingly good result for us tonight. Win + clean sheet. Our strategy at Anfield can't be just to park the bus. If we can score, they need THREE goals to go through. And they're vulnerable. I think we're going to go to Wembley.....

One thing at least looks clear. 8th is a better team than 9th. Fantastic to see Long back in black. The Tadic Boufal combo so promising. I'd like to see Sims given another run out at 60 mins.

Huge kudos to Puel today. Davis, an inspired sub. Sticking with Jay Rod… really brave. And wow did that pay off. But the real reason we won? Bournemouth ran out of energy. And we didn’t. Our players fresher. Yes the blitz of the first 10 minutes hurt us (typical of what we were doing under Poch). But we played the long game, and it totally worked today. I really do believe one of his greatest skills is managing player energy. We should back him. With Jay Rod’s confidence back, Boufal looking incredible, and renewed belief in the manager, we could be in for a wonderful few months.

Boufal feels like Mane did in his first dozen games here. Lots of promise, a lot of frustration too. Give him another dozen games and he could well become one of the premier league's superstars. It wasn't just the goal. He pulled off five or six brilliant turns and dribbles. Just need to cut out some of the mistakes, and we're all going to be a lot happier. J-Rod's final miss ... such a shame... but the fact that after 90 mins he was still moving like greased lightning to get into that position is at least a glimmer of hope. don't write him off. Phew! those 3 points feel very very welcome.

Frustrating half. A few positives. J-Rod looking sharp to me. Had one gorgeous flick at goal. Boufal clearly capable of magic. Screw-ups too, but real magic. Clasie has been aggressive winning the ball (but frustrating in front of goal). Amazing recovery by VVD after JWP's horror pass back. Tadic one or two genius moves along the goal line... None of it quite clicking though. But give Middlesborough some credit. They have an impressive high-press working, and it's unsettled us. It feels like being the other end of what Poch worked at Saints. Hoping they can figure out second half. That high-press strategy is tiring. Just maybe we come into it more as the game wears on.

Hapoel are a pretty good side. Top of their league by 10 pts. lots of confidence. really well organized. So we shouldn't be too harsh on our boys. I thought the first 20 mins pretty promising. We were winning most of the 50-50s at that point, and looking like imposing our will on the game. Rest of the half more frustrating, esp Austin's injury. What's dangerous is that even one goal doesn't help that much. An equalizer, and we're out. Which means we may start to hold back even more from about the 70th min. Which is dangerous. You can see them sneaking it in the last five mins. Redmond... I dunno. I think he's actually been quite lively. But the combos aren't clicking yet this eve. I'd like to see Tadic on at 60 mins...

fantastic win!!!

Redmond looking really lively today. exciting interplay w Sims and Bertrand.

Great half, and lovely riposte to all the neg crap spouted recently on Puel. Suppose we'd just spent £15m on Sims. We'd be pleased with his debut showing, no? V exciting when we unearth new talent. This season McQueen, Targett, and now Sims. Failure to look properly at our academy was Koeman's worst fault. Quite fitting to have that pointed out to him inside a minute. Sims made the opener. God, I hope we can hold on to this one.

So much pessimism. Every football game is combo of two different team's formation, playing styles, tactics, energy/motivation levels, and luck. There have been so many times a team performs amazingly one week, then next time inexplicably less so. We've had plenty of evidence this season that this squad, and this formation, and this manager can produce truly thrilling football. Personally, I'm holding out for something special tomorrow. Koeman's arrival will energise, and I think we'll see a few players encouraged to try something different. (We'll miss Tadic for sure. Yes, would love to see Boufal come through. But I remember how angry this board was with Mane 6 or 8 months after his arrival whenever he had a game when he screwed up a few times. Give him time...) Great football is not like a a giant manufacturing plant. You can't just switch it on and see it work the same way every time. It's much more like improvisational art. You can prepare for it, but stars need to align on the day for true magic to happen. Why not go into the game with at least a little excitement?!

Can't believe how critical everyone is. We're playing away from home in the Europa league. i.e.. against one of the best clubs in Europe. There's one goal in it. We had good chances to score. J-Rod had one bad touch early on, but has looked decent since then. Clasie looking super-sharp. McQueen coming through as jewel for the future. Long playing the best he has in a while. Our rotation policy is reasonable, and is building quality throughout the squad. Yes, we could use a world-class striker. Wish we had that. I do. But we don't. So let's get behind the team we have and give them a chance. We'll equalize second half.

Spectacular football being played by both teams. Not a ton of shots, but thrilling midfield battle, and some amazing one-touch football. Game's being played at an incredible pace. VVD and Forster have kept us in it. Promising touches of genius from Boufal, but we need more. Davis understated hero. He's given away a couple times but harassed and won back more than that. Romeu incredible. He had one backward headed flick in competitive situation that took my breath away. All to play for. Goals a-coming. Head says 1-2, heart says 2-1.

Exciting team... despite loss of Tadic, tons of creativity in Holberg, Boufal, Redmond... wouldn't be surprised to see something like 2-2.

One thing everyone seems to forget after a horrible afternoon like this one. It's football. It's the premier league. Every single game can go either way. There's a ton of luck in the game. Anyone watching that would know that Saints by far the better team. If you replayed the game 10 times we'd win 6 and draw 2-3. Yes, we were low on chances today, but that hasn't overall been a feature of our season. You can't create a whole narrative about how feeble our transfer policy/board/Puel are based on one game. If anything, the result shows how hard it is to manage Europa + premier league. Puel and the team have been trying hard to juggle both. It doesn't always work. But often it will. Watch for a thrilling match against Liverpool. We'll bounce back.

It's not 100% clear where the goal scoring will come from, but personally quite excited to see the likes of Isgrove and Reed back in the mix. Also... good luck BOUFAL !

Van Dijk / Fonte / Romeu immense. Ha! Posted exactly the same, a few seconds later. mind meld.

Fantastic performance by saints. made them look v ordinary first half and defended like tigers in second. McQueen was strong second half, and Boufal showing promising signs (though will need to adjust to pace and aggression of premier league). VvD, Fonte and Romeu immense.

Superb effort by Saints. Redmond gets more exciting every game. Our core defensive engine of VVD Fonte and Romeo is unbelievable. I'd sub yellow-carded Clasie for JWP. We're getting a lot of set-plays and could use JWP's guile. Fingers crossed that McQueen can grow in the second half. I saw a great tackle toward the end. Maybe he can breathe and find some more confidence. C'mon Saints. This could turn out a truly epic afternoon.

We're by far the better team. By far! McQueen is wonderful. If we'd just paid $10m for him, we'd prob be happy. And here he is just up from the academy. Hojbjerg so great.... And the Tadic/Martina interplay is often wonderful. Radio commentary mistakenly blaming Yosh for the early bad back pass. It was actually Martina. Wd be robbery if we get beaten here....

I think Puel has the team about right. A rest for some of the older players, including Fonte and Austin... but enough there to be competitive. Would love to see Boufal get a run out and maybe then start on Sunday. Excited for this...

personally, don't think it was a dive. his rear foot is stepped on.