Dusic

Ridiculous IMO. Redmond isn't Mane but is miles better than McQueen as a winger (he didn't stand out as a first teamer against a poor Stoke team tonight). Sims is injured and Gabbiadini is a striker.

Still unconvinced Pied is any better than Martina to be honest.

Still think we undersold him. Brilliant player. Will probably be up there with Bale as the best player to play for us in the modern era in terms of what he will achieve in football.

Only two types of PL sides play with 2 strikers: - Teams like Burnley or Leicester who happily concede possession and play direct - Teams like City or Spurs who can afford to have one less midfielder and still control the match because they are so good. Its pretty obvious we are in neither category. One/two up front is not a guide to whether or not you play attacking football. Our area to improve is the setup of the three behind the striker and their attacking intent and the positions they take up.

Hoedt is good in the air and has a lovely left foot - some brilliant crossfield passes today. Would want to see him against some better, quicker strikers though before making a complete judgement - even today on the very rare occassions he was dragged out wide, he was beaten easily. Looks promising though and if we improve our corner delivery he should be a threat from those too.

Just on the way back. Good, battling performance and a deserved win. Lemina obviously class but lots of good performances today, including Romeu, Yoshida and Forster. Still not clicking going forward. Long was a good outlet today but we wouldn't be able to do the same at home versus teams that sit back. Tadic, who often gets stick, was good and lonked well with Cedric. Good also to get VVD playing. He is here for now so we might as well play him.

The obsession with Sammy Lee has to be the most bizarre thing on here, just ahead of the reverse opinion of Eric Black.

High-ish potential for a kit clash tomorrow?

Since the start of August? Pretty clear Shurlock is right, he isn't in the Manager's current plans.

Classic player who is probably great in training but struggles to have any real impact on games. Its his 6th PL season, I don't see that he is suddenly going to improve any more than a player aged 27 or 28. He will never be quicker, stronger or more aggressive and those are his wesknesses. Decent PL squad member but will never be a top player. No disgrace in that.

Quite evasive on whether VVD will play but said everyone is fit and available . I would put him back in. He will only regain sharpness by playing and we did 't fight so hard to keep him only for him to not play.

Its certainly not that simplistic. Playing two strikers is a misnomer if you don't get the ball to them. Against Watford we lost the battle in the centre of midfield so having a static Austin instead of say, Redmond would have made zero difference. We need to play our attscking midfielders (Tadic, Redmond, Boufal) into some form or find a way for them to be effective. Derry-esque selections with no midfielders won't be the solution.

Hoedt and Hooiveld are basically the same player but one is younger and better (we hope). The way Hoedt stands, runs and hits a crossfield pass is scarily similar to Jos. (No suprise that passed you by).

I would go for: -------------Forster------------ Cedric-VVD-Hoedtveld-Bertrand -------Lemina-----Romeu--------- Redmond---Davis----Tadic -------------Gabbi-------------- There is nobody not in that lineup who is i.) Better than anyone who is or ii.) Has shown any reason when they have played that they deserve to start.

With the U23s it is simply down to the players not being good enough. Its pretty obvious to anyone who has watched them that the following players will never be PL quality: Bakary, Wood, Little, Cook, Barnes. Massive questions on the progress of Slattery who has more potential than those mentioned but isn't showing improvement. The first four of those will probably never play regular football above L2 level. Barnes possibly L1. They are also hampered by having few forward options with Sims and Hesketh injured and others who almost certainly won't make the grade (Seager and Olomola) out on loan. Hopefully in the current U18/16 generation there are some better prospects.

Have our U18s or U23s won a game yet this season? Might just be a perception but they seem to lose almost every week.

So basically we can't select any of our midfielders? That obviously won't work (or be what happens). The personnel is what it is. They are mostly good players, we need to find a way of getting the best out of them. I can guarentee the number of PL games this season when none of Tadic, Redmond, Boufal or Davis start will be zero.

Assuming he comes through the game tonight, and makes himself available for selection, VVD has to come in and start on Saturday. He is the best CB in the PL, a threat in the opposition box and also a leader in the way he plays - we fought hard to keep him, so play him.

In a season and a bit he just never seems to operate in dangerous areas. He doesn't do enough off the ball to find space and doesn't show enough urgency on it.

Please can we never play JWP as a no10 can ever again? He simply hasn't got any of the attributes needed to be good there. Very often feels like successive Managers have tried to shoehorn him into the side when he doesn't deserve it. If he isn't being picked wide right then he is a sub for me.

We haven't scored in nine of our last 11 competitive games. We have scored 1 goal from open play in 5 games this season, all against teams we would think ourselves to be better than. Four of those at home. Our fixtures until about November are relatively kind, but then it gets much harder. What can we do to sort this out, as stats like that will only lead to a relegation battle if continued?

Saints never do either.

Sounded from the embargoed section like a similar lineup to recent games as he mentioned liking Redmond on the left as another player (Tadic) was on the right. Possible question mark over Lemina as wasn't training with the team today after Intl duty. VVD definitely not in the squad. Pellegrino does come across well. I have trust that he will get it right, hopefully sooner rather than later given our ludicrously fortunate start fixture wise.

Keep it on the clipboard to paste in next week, Nipper.

Tadic still our best creator. Play him into form.