Fitzhugh Fella

Guardian (that's a newspaper by the way) has him being fit Jan 14th but it's a state secret.

Punished for his being subbed strop?

Redmond and Ward-Prowse not Premiership standard so predicting a struggle

Feel for Long, scores and yet still dropped

Gave Puel an under strength squad which forced him to over rotate?

Yes I agree but not sure that (financial) support will be forthcoming. Looking at that list of likely Puel replacements is depressing reading. Better stick with what we got but the squad needs freshening up urgently.

Considering it is a month since we lost our only proper goal scorer I am disappointed that the window has opened and we don’t seem to be close to signing a replacement, even on a temporary basis. With our season now hanging on the Liverpool semi-final, an extra option upfront would have been a huge benefit in what is likely to be an arduous double leg. With every passing day I hate to say this but I become more apprehensive that the Board have priorities that may differ from the majority of the fan base. I would not have said this 3 months ago but sleep walking out of Europe and the Chinese investors appearance has raised doubts in my mind.

Ostrich

Hearing similar whispers. Players not being happy is nothing new and not terminal but nevertheless something to ponder

Don't get me wrong I am no admirer of Koeman either, certainly as a person but the players respected him even if they didn't like him. Not entirely sure that is the case with Puel.

I admire your loyalty and agree he has to be given more time, but citing reaching a LC semi as some sort of badge of honour is, considering the 3 teams we eliminated, a tad fanciful. If by a miracle we manage to win through to the Final then come back to me.

To be fair watching the Spurs midfield running riot I thought exactly the same as the OP

I agree but it was out of character for him.

Which is why it made sense to appoint him plus he would have contacts and knowledge within the British game which Puel would not. I think his appointment to have been a sound one and to criticise him is a bit like blaming John Prescott for Tony Blair's mistakes. There is no point calling for Puel's head, we must stick with him for at least the rest of this season and give him money in January - he deserves that at least but he needs to buck his ideas up and try at least to up his interviewing technique - it is so painful listening to him, it's like finger nails on a blackboard.

I'd ask him if he knew of life outside our "fabled academy".

As he stormed down the tunnel after being subbed he threw a Boufelesque type strop too.

That was panic buying by a new (bent) manager and we were in a relegation position. Hardly today's scenario.

This time last year we had just beaten Arsenal 4-0 and were soon to sign Austin. We were about to turn a corner but frankly I don't currently even see a corner coming under Puel. The squad and the club in general need a lift. But going by the noises coming from the manager's lips and the silence from the Board there is little on the horizon in terms of positive news. Perhaps we are being greedy - after all we have come a long in 6 years!!!!

You've long surpassed that ambition, it's just you haven't realised it yet.

Hmmm it all depends how much money is made available. If it's for example £10m then yes it is impossible to improve on what we already have. So are we tightening our belts? Are we being too cautious or just very prudent? Are we happy with just treading water content with an empty trophy cabinet and a healthy bank balance? All questions that only a genius or clairvoyant could answer. Cue CB Fry!

To be fair to Forster I don't think he could have saved any of those goals last night but he does need to be braver off his line

they had the best of the luck that was going, but even with 11 men I don't think we would have even snatched a point. Their players are better than ours. The days of us turning over the big boys are on the wane more's the pity, as money talks louder and louder.

Yea bad decision but by then we were already looking second best so let's not blame the dodgy pen decision on the fact it was men against boys. We started with 9 Prem players tonight. Ward_prowse and Redmond are Championship standard at best.

Well let's just give up then should we? They are better than us and we should just accept it?

I hate slagging him because he is a good honest lad who has intelligence but to be brutal he is not, and never will be a Premiership player and you can say the same about Redmond. Reed has a fetish about the Academy that is not helping us progress. Its great to produce young players but there are times when they are simply not good enough.