DuncanRG

Still can't get my head around the fact we've got Rodriguez to add to this front three.

Who's covering at centre half if Fonte or Alderweireld go off, Wanyama? Or can McCarthy play there?

They gave the club as much choice as Schneiderlin.

We'll be on the verge of something special if it's April or May and we're in the top six. At the moment we have some promise.

I didn't get to the end of that (very long, quite self-indulgent) article but what I did read was bang on every time. Most of the comments from Saints fans were totally inane and Samuel butchered them. The only problem I had with the original article was that it seemed to be stating the obvious, because I can't imagine Liebherr and Krueger would consider building the team from scratch every year. Seems a lot of our fans didn't think it was so clear. I can't stand this idea that journalists favour big clubs or don't like smaller ones upsetting the balance of power. They love it like we all do. They give big clubs more coverage because they have more fans who are interested in reading about them, and because when you're covering a sport it is generally a good idea to give a good showing to the people who are best at it. We're all more interested in Manchester United and Chelsea than we are Stoke City.

What a shame. Trust him to come back strong

Best part is he's right. Arsenal weren't bad at all, though you could tell it wasn't their first team. Only Podolski and the defence really let them down, though Sanchez only redeemed his awful delivery with that free kick.

Yup, Wanyama looked goosed. As did Mané, actually.

How good was that? Great effort by the fans despite the stadium being built to kill atmosphere. Right tactics, right team, everyone fighting for each other. Mané and Targett were sharp. Only thing that surprised me was Koeman kept Wanyama on. He drifted well out of the game and we needed the impetus of Long AND Cork

We were linked with Robertson a couple of times. He does look a talent

It was pleasant but Newcastle hardly even tried to recover the ball. We didn't have to play particularly well to do that, though there were some nice moments and the finish was obviously top class.

No reason to think he won't be around the team when he comes back. We've got serious competition but he offers something different to Rodriguez and Long and will certainly get his chances to play if Pelle gets injured.

Koeman's comfort in tinkering with midfield combinations will serve us well here. With all the options available we should be able to find a combination that lets us squeeze their space and hold the ball. Davis will need to be back on his game if he plays. Cork doesn't deserve to be dropped after his performances in the last few games but I think we need Wanyama here. Playing both of them and Morgan might be the way forward.

I expect Spurs were offering him a big wage hike this summer. It all depends on how talks went when we told him he wasn't going. We may have said 'one more season', we may have said one more and you can go if a CL club bids, we may have said nothing at all about the future. Either way, if he maintains goalscoring form this year he'll be attracting serious money from some really serious clubs.

He really hasn't been on it, has he? Might be worth dropping him for Ward-Prowse or Cork/Wanyama at Swansea, because his ball retention has been surprisingly poor and that's exactly what we need to be on top of to compete there. I'd also like to single out Bertrand for praise. He wasn't tested defensively yesterday but was always making good runs and opening up space. Made Clyne look poor by comparison at both ends.

We hardly got out of second gear because Newcastle handed us the game on a plate. Very, very pleasing though. Love the goals from midfield.

Absolutely glorious

He hasn't changed his mind - he still doesn't want to be here ultimately. The important thing is that he will perform.

Good attitude. I'd like to hear the feelings of someone who has ever said something along the lines of 'if they don't want to be here, they can leave'. Anyone?

Can't see him going there, especially not coming back from a long term injury. He needs support and faith to go out and play after recovery and he's not going to get that with all the great players they've got competing for places. I'm sure he wants to and probably will go to a big club if he performs this season, but it won't be city.

Definitely not, but it wouldn't surprise me if QPR, Leicester and/or West Ham hoovered one or two of them up. Didn't Big Sam want Almeida? Jack Collison would be alright for someone.

I think that is part of their thinking for sure. I'm not sure there will be quite as many academy breakthroughs this year because we've brought so many in, but if they get their chances and earn a place then that will only add to our depth.

One thing I have realised about social media is that nobody sees other clubs' feeds, so everyone thinks their is the best. Our guys are great but the big clubs knock them out of the park for obvious reasons. City and Arsenal especially do some really cool stuff.

We did keep Jay Rod.

That'll work then, won't it? All we hear is sah-dee-oh mar-nay