eddie

thank the lord you aren't picking our team

2/5

Wasn't there that chap before Van Gaal - David somebody? I think it isn't impossible, granted won't be his next step but somewhere down the line. Koeman may well stay here, but I think the likely option is a 2 year contract extension taking him up to summer 2019, not more than that and less is more of a statement of '1 more year to find a job', rather than 2 where he can actually achieve his strategy. if he leaves we're a bit up the creek what with all these obscure international players that speak his language having been brought in. whether he was the glue that keeps them all together I don't know. it seems he's more involved in the running of the club than some of our previous managers, though, a bit more ingrained . hopefully him leaving won't leave too big a hole

Hard to predict. If Barca took a punt on their current manager (he was not proven at that level at all), it's not inconceivable that Koeman could get the job sometime in next few years.

true. I never give enough attention to other games as I should, despite the fact that they impact our final position as much as our own results! especially seeing as WHam, Liverpool and ManU will be our rivals in top 8 places. Only one I can see squeezing a result would be Watford, and Palace, though it'll have to be another 'louis van gaal hasn't got a clue' type performance from manU, to see that palace side in their current form get anything other than a loss out the game.

solid start

sad to see you're leaving us here mate....never got a chance to get that drink and watch a game !

I'll be that guy - he is a total lemon head but in fairness last nights game against dortmund was quite special, and his injury time winning header was a bit of a hairs on your neck moment with all anfield jumping still not a fan of liverpool and still think he's a moron, but, ya know. the lad has his moments

in fairness, we've not had a defender of van dijk's stature/beastliness to match a player like lukaku for a few years so the tides might turn on sat.

I think our midfield and wings will utterly bamboozle them. Clasie, Wanyama, even Mane/Long/Tadic/Rodriguez, or some combo, will give them plenty of work. Could be 0-2 saints, maybe even 3. I forsee no problems with this game

for me one of the worst games of the season - I know liverpool was more shameful but the everton result came when there was still a lot of optimism to finish top 6 this season with a new squad. brought me right back down to earth.

nice that we've got palace, villa and everton in next few games , then.

might explain leicester's unlikely title charge

good use of a post right there ..as is this

my guess would be Everton D Villa W City D Spurs L Palace W in my opinion, more than 7 points is what we should expect of our team. - city have de bruyne back and while CL is distraction, they'll finish the season better than people think. - Spurs are unstoppable at the moment. - Villa are just awful, but couldn't beat them at home so nothings guaranteed, but almost cert a win. - Palace haven't had the best end to season, still a good team though some fading stars like bolasie - looked off the pace at the weekend. They've got tough games (away at saints arsenal man u and home to stoke) and I think it'll be a win. - Everton I can't call, Lukaku is nowhere near his form earlier in the season, their last league win was 5 weeks ago against a dire villa side and before that, 2 whole months (stoke ). I think it wouldn't be surprising if we got european football, at the same time, struggling sides or those out of form often seem to bounce back against saints , so no result is guaranteed. I think we have the squad to do anyone on the day, hoping we can finish top 8 would be satisfied with that.

lost away at the league leaders after the international break....what's the bother? played well all game (after playing well in general for last coupl' months bar some expected off-days, right after home win against liverpool, arguably best of the season) and were unlucky not to come away 1-1. conceded a goal in unfortunate circumstances, with one CB coming out to help cedric deal with albrighton (or fuchs, can't remember) leaving clasie (5" 6) to cover wes morgan. bound to lose, but that's life. are people really going to spend the week following the result fuming about referees, pelle or even koeman's setup?

I live in switzerland, I can tell you that there are plenty of ways trade and many of the single market principles can apply for non EU countries. Switzerland has many of the same priviledges as EU countries do, and yes the GDP and currency is very strong, probably economy more stable than UK on balance, but still. People talking about how we will forsake lots of priviledges, just not true. the biggest effect it will have is more political than anything else. sure, some companies will cease operations in the UK and there will be financial effects. But the political falling out it will have and has had already with members of EU, especially fringe players who will not benefit from UK withdrawing, will be more damaging long term .

I think the tactic of 3 at the back as absolutely been the reason we've won so many in a row. I don't mean they've been shiny performances, but that we've tactically bossed other teams by playing the system. I think that's still true. We've played badly, granted, and swans away thought we could have easily ocme away with nothing, but the tactic has been undoubtedly effective against most teams we've come up against. my point was , there was every reason to pick that tactic/formation again. I think that was a good decision. but whatever tactic we played, the reason we lossed was our passing was downright awful and the only players who could do anything creative were at the edge of the park, not in the middle.

to give koeman credit, it's the same tactic that has bossed the passed 6-7 games. and it would have worked, had bournemouth not played a different system. once he realised we were getting overrun on the flanks he made the change just after half an hour.

he's doing very well at it too. mate at work is borough fan, says he's been a revelation. scored one and got an assist when he played the other day. borough fans are v happy with him so he says

I fancy that. can't wait to see the cheer Jrod gets if he comes on as a sub

I think that's fair. the key person we missed was clasie instead of JWP. there's not much more I'd have changed other than that. they had serman and the other guy playing beside him in midfield, bossed it the whole game. We just didn't have anyone there who could work them (like clasie). that's why when tadic came on koeman was shouting for sadio to get behind pelle (i.e. into that position to work the bournemouth centre mids), and JWP shifted to 'right wing'. but that change of formation needed to happen way way earlier. after the 5 at the back failed and davis came on, long, austin and mane were all interchanging right out front, romeu was holding midfielder, and JWP/davis were also out wide. So we had noone staying in the centre of the park really except romeu, who isn't incisive enough with his passing - though he does a fairly good job of it to be fair. we were beaten by the better team who were up for it more on a tuesday night. and for what it's worth, I thought pelle and tadic did alright in the circumstances (i.e. noone behind them giving them the ball). tadic dropped back consistently just to be able to touch the ball and try and bring it forward. but lets be honest, cedric, vvd, even romeu all had a spark of creativity.

yes but still not better than stones is he. he's 30. stones has had an up and down season, but still an excellent player this is where alli plays for tottenham. erikson, kane, lamela, son etc ahead of him. he has dembele behind him to bomb on a little bit - exactly what we'd want for england. carrick sits back allowing dier/alli to get forward. they have enough of a brain and enough energy to match it to be running up and down to help out defensively as well.

if it's a case of a choice between 'lose at leicester and leicester win, or lose at city and city win', then the former, obviously. if it's just, 'would you be OK for saints to lose', not a chance. couldn't really care about what happens elsewhere in table; other than a passing interest in how other teams are going, it's about what happens on a saturday afternoon at st marys ( to make the point ) and whether the teamgive us something to sing about

no chance cahill for stones. he's hardly played since zouma/terry started playing well. also same for wilshire - cannot start for england with little gametime at arsenal. I would say carrick for wilshire and that is an exceptional team: ------------------hart-------------------- clyne---stones---smalling---bertrand --------dier-----carrick-----alli--------- ------------barkley/rooney-------------- ----------vardy---------kane------------ people seem to think carrick slows the game down because he's older, but it's the opposite. with no legs, he has to pass it and man utd's midfield look much better with him in. think he could be a real leader in midfield and would like him to start, definitely above wilshire/henderson.