Dan Johnson

I think the team will be Forster Bertrand Yosh Stephens Cedric Clasie Davis Romeu Redmond Long/Jrod Tadic I cant decide whether long should play to hit them on the break and close down from the front or Jrod to try and hold up the ball/draw fouls to take the pressure of the defense in the first 45/60 in the hopes we don't concede then with Long coming on as the game gets more stretched as they push for a goal? Tadic is great at holding the ball up too so he's a good outlet if we're under pressure. Clasie/Davis/Romeu seems like the right combination n the middle for me, all 3 players have great work rate and Davis can join attacks if required. JWP\Hojbjerg to come on and slow play down later in the game if we haven't conceded

get him a place by the solent :-)

Liverpool fans love him In this poll back in August, 80% of Liverpool fans didn't think he should leave! http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/blood-red-liverpool-fans-must-11807346 Some of the comments - "Why would we possibly let our best defender go?" Some question his temperament but that article shows him in a good light, his "drugs ban" was overturned and he's only 26. If the choice is between Sakho and Fonte, I'd choose Sakho, especially if we get £9m for Fonte! Sign a striker alongside Sakho and all of a sudden our starting 11 looks very strong!

Not saying he's not good enough, we need senior players. I'd see Stephens as 1 of 4, along with VVD, Fonte, Yosh. Gardos is obviously not included in that seeing as he's not been picked at all (except yesterday)

Sakho the potential replacement? https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4133856/amp/Liverpool-turn-Mamadou-Sakho-bid-Southampton.html?client=safari That could be our first approach? He HAS to be replaced, Stephens is not his replacement

The problem is they seem quite happy with us dawdling along as we are - how are you defining this though? through league position? Player purchases, player sales? We've finished consecutive higher in the league since the 2008-2009 season, if we were happy dawdling along surely we'd still be in league one? If it's through spending, what happens under the circumstance when we spend £150 million in a transfer window but fail to achieve anything? we would have showed a strong desire to do or achieve something but achieved nothing, would we be happy? If there was a direct coalition between spending and league position then encouraging spending is fine, when there's no guarantee, is it wise to spend large amounts of money? Is it keeping players? You could argue that the only reason we signed players like Mane, VVD, Wanyama is because we are ambitious? if we were happy dawdling along ambitious players wouldnt have signed for us in the first place, a players career is brief, if they're ambitious and have a strong desire to achieve, you can understand them wanting to move to a club who are more likely to challenge for honors, that doesn't make that club more ambitious than us, it doesnt help that other clubs can pay x2 x3 times more than we can. The club will be here allot longer than a players career, we can't take the shortcuts to success like a player can, so we have to show that ambition over a longer period and our assent to success will likely be allot slower. I would suggest, that the last 8 years of sustained progression have been evidence of ambitious more than sufficient of a club our size and stature.

Rafa Benitez

I agree, but that striker has to be available for transfer. Even if we have £20 million to spend it doesn't mean we can find a player willing to move or a club willing to sell. The next 4 games are crucial, if we don't see an upturn in results then I think he'll loss the majority of the fanbase

Getting harder to stay positive, we've regressed in the last few weeks. We had 5 winnable league games in a row, we've lost the first 1. Next 4 games are even more crucial.

For what it's worth, I think he is having his best season with us and has made big improvements to his game

We looked OK for 80 minutes until we conceded then we go to pieces, we looked soft and low on confidence!! we are also too pedestrian going forward and we didn't look like scoring but we restricted them to very few opportunities until their first goal. With the fixture congestion now over we need to play our best team consistently as our best attacking threat is when we have our best full backs playing, they make the pitch wider and stretch defences, Stephens and McQueen were completely ineffective in that regard today. I thought JWP played well, I think he's now in our best 3 midfielders alongside Davies and Romeu. We were indifferent for periods last season and finished strong, we have 4-5 winnable games in a row in the league a decent return from those games and we will be back in the fight for 7th, a bad return from the next 5 league games and those fans calling for puel head will be allot more vocal.

I'm pretty sure you've hit the nail on the head. The fact we've only offered a rise rather than extension suggests to me the club are worried they'll have the highest paid player sat on the bench in a year with another 2 years of his contract to run. As massive as he has been for us, at 33 on 22nd December having him sign on 70k+ a week until he's 36 just doesn't make sense. I'm sure he feels he deserves it and it's hard to argue, the club will have to make a tough decision. They're thinking of the future, with fonte stuck on big wages it could mean FFP stops us from signing his replacement in a year or so.

yep, up until last night Fonte was playing league cup games and VVD was playing Euro.

The rotation system has really helped bring on our youngsters this season. We have seen great performances from Sims\McQueen\Reed\Hesketh\Target as well as giving fringe players opportunities to play, and play well!!! I thought being in multiple comps would harm us, I think overall it's been very positive thus far!!

As someone who regularly commutes to London on seriously over crowded SWT, expect the complaints to fall on deaf ears!!

Absolutely agree, I would have redmond everyday of the week, I think he is quaility. The same people who were *****ing about him at the beginning of the season will be the same ones *****ing when we get only £45 million for him :-) They were probably the same ones who wrote Mane off after 4 games because he couldn't stay on his feet...

Absolutely agree, I would have redmond everyday of the week, I think he is quaility. The same people who were *****ing about him at the beginning of the season will be the same ones *****ing when we get only £45 million for him :-) They were probably the same ones who wrote Mane off after 4 games because he couldn't stay on his feet...

Completely Agree! Fonte has given away 2 penalties this season through debatable yet "clumsy" tackles, VVDs back pass on Saturday etc and no one is on their case half as much as Yosh. Yosh never seems to suffer from "game rust" either, if he hasn't played for 5-8 games he still slots back in and never ever looks off the pace, he's a much better player than people give him credit for!

Anyone who cant see Redmond's potential shouldn't be commenting on football, IMHO. Hopefully he'll mature into a fine footballer! Makes the wrong decision at times, needs to be more clinical in front of goal, but if that part of his game had already been resolved he'd be playing for a bigger club than ours...

Just think where we would be if we didn't have an incompetent board.... ;-) It's such a massive achievement, yet people still moan, Leeds, both Sheffield Clubs, Forest etc have been trying to do half of what we we've done for nearly a decade and haven't been successful! I see our management board as being shrewd, this is hard evidence of that, yet unfortunately for some it's still not enough

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/sport/football/709484/Arsenal-News-Chris-Sutton-Penalty-Southampton-Arsene-Wenger-Premier-League/amp?client=safari

£30 million for Bolasie, THIRTY MILLION!!! £59 million for Williams, Kone, Bolasie... On the face of it that's terrible business for that money

Everton again linked with an improved bid for Williams today as well as a £17m bid for Kone at Sunderland. No links to Fonte, pretty sure he is staying!!

I work with Utd fans, who are from Manchester no less (well Preston) and they're all pretty embarrassed and not that convinced either...