Harry_SFC

This pretty much sums it up for me

Ah the good old 'he has a different opinion to me so isn't a proper fan' line. Bravo for that.

I think Puel may well have lost, or is on the way to losing the dressing room. I'd give him the FA cup game and the League cup semi final. If we are out of both a change in manager is needed.

Do you feel Puel has the attributes and the support of the players to be able to turn it around in the 2nd half of the season like Koeman did? Personally I don't but we do need a few additions in the transfer market to help him out.

Our league position may be similar or slightly better but I think that's down to the league outside of the top 6 being poorer this season. We certainly haven't improved as a team.

I'm not exactly in the Puel out camp yet but a few more poor results/performances and that'll be it for me. I'm not enjoying our football under him one bit. We don't seem to get midfielders into the area, the build up play is slow and predictable, other than Boufal none of our players seem to be taking risks. The tactics are so negative it seems like he is holding the players back. Apart from Romeu I cannot think of another player who has improved under Puel. Switching 3 of the back 4 is a complete recipe for disaster - no other team would do that and I can't see any benefits from it. Martina wouldn't get into my Sunday league side yet Puel still regularly uses him. Why did he bring Jay Rod on yesterday and stick Long out on the wing where he is half as effective? Very odd decision indeed. Stick 2 up top ffs. His overall demeanour is dull and uninspiring and I think that is shown by our style of play and this is clearly translating to the players. A number of players just aren't performing at their levels - Forster doesn't look interested and Tadic has gone backwards extremely quickly. The only positives I can find is that we are still pretty solid defensively although we have made a few individual mistakes in the last two games which haven't helped. We are in a league cup semi-final (which I expect us to lose) and we aren't exactly in the worst position in the league currently. Let's see what January brings..

Drop Wanyama and play who instead? Romeu is a decent player but looks more likely to get sent off than Wanyama and that's saying something. JWP is out of his depth and Clasie still hasn't got used to the pace of the league. Odd thing to suggest.

Also Mane had his worst game in a long time. Don't like him on the wing though, prefer him playing in behind Pelle.

Cedric and Steven Davis the two contenders for MOTM. Clasie had a good first half but faded badly in the second. The team as a whole were very poor in the second half. Pelle won absolutely nothing and the ball kept on coming back at us. Tadic has moments of quality, just like the cross for Pelle's goal but is such a liability defensively. Got away with that today in my opinion, a better team would have punished us.

I'd rather we rested players against Man City on the 28th. Hopefully we go all out for this cup now.

Agreed. FWIW I think Tadic has been very poor in the last two games. It seems Ramirez will get another chance tomorrow, time for him to produce!

Very odd thing to say. Our defence was basically hung out to dry by the midfield. The fact they had no confidence in the keeper obviously didn't help. Wanyama was injured and couldn't make another tackle in case he got sent off, Clasie was completely off the pace and Ward Prowse was just totally non-existent. Although Van Dijk could have done better against Dyer for the first goal, Tadic lost his 50/50 (which he tends to do 95% of the time) and then didn't do anywhere near enough to track him back.

How many of his kicks went past the half way line? Despite the fact the whole team were poor in the second half, his poor distribution ultimately cost us in the end.

Fonte also seemed to hobble off at the end of the Portugal game. Hopefully it's nothing serious and he'll be fit for Saturday.

Well not every game obviously, that's being a little unrealistic I think..

If he can put in performances like he did on Saturday in every game, then yes quite possibly. Far too early too judge yet though.

Thought he was poor during the 2nd half of last season and it seemed like he had been found out a little. Can't argue with the way he has started this season though. He's winning a lot more in the air and holding it up much more effectively. Long may it continue.

We're not going to get another quality keeper in who is happy to be 2nd or 3rd choice when Forster is back though are we?

At first I thought he should have kept it out however having seen it a few times since I'm not so sure. If Willian meant it then fair play. Overall I think we have two good goalkeepers at the club now.

Cedric was my man of the match. Has been rather poor at times this season but he was brilliant tonight. VVD, Fonte, Pelle and Mane we're all outstanding too. What a cracking performance and result.

I think there are times away from home where we could use Long upfront on his own and play into the channels a bit more, like we did at Stamford Bridge last season. Not in every game obviously but I think it can work in certain games.

Mane was the best player on the pitch by a country mile, just love watching him play. Gonna have to make the most of it because he won't be here long!

He was a lot better than Juanmi last night, who did nothing to suggest he will be anywhere near the first 11 anytime soon.

I thought the long ball worked reasonably well at times today. Pelle had the beating of Blind in the air every time. Thought we could have got more crosses into their box as their marking was awful. I guess when you have two non-attacking full backs playing that was going to be a big ask.

I'd rather not see Steven Davis and JWP in the same 11 again if I'm honest. Just doesn't work.