dvaughanwilliams

JWP justifying his starting place with another good delivery.

Yesssssssssssssss! Rodriguez

I think that if we keep things tight until half time, we've got a great chance in the second half. Stoke have tended to fall apart in the second half, we've got much better stamina and we'll have the wind in our favour. Long way to go in this game.

I'm trying not to be pleased that Begovic is in my fantasy football team. Now when we put a load past him, I might still score a couple of points.

I'm a bit surprised about JWP keeping his place. I thought that Stoke's defence would be able to deal with his style of deliveries and that Steven Davis would suit playing more passes along the ground. Also thought that his experience would be a benefit against such a physical team. Obviously JWP has been rewarded for some excellent recent performances by keeping his starting place.

I agree that Gaston should be getting picked for games like this, but I don't think that it warrants selling him. His presence on the bench is pushing the players on the pitch to play to their best because they know that they stand to lose their place to him if they don't. He is being kept out of the team by Osvaldo (upto £15m), Rodriguez (£6-7m) and Lallana. All three of them are, arguably, of comparable value to Ramirez. Having him on the bench shows the strength in depth we have as when one of them inevitably has a dip in form or gets injured, hopefully the time on the bench spurs him on to make an impact on the team to hold down his place. However, I would say that I completely misread the situation regarding Forren and Mayuka so he's probably being lined up for a loan to a Championship club.

They drew against the team who are favourites for relegation. http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-2/relegation Hardly grounds for optimism.

Price is determined by many more factors than the ability of a player. Did Samba cost more than the rumoured cost of Astori for a reason?

I think that the transfers in the summer this year will have a similar spread of cost to last summer. One 'marquee' signing who commands a fee of 1/3-1/2 our total spending, Ramirez last year. With several other signing in the range of £1m-£7m. I expect most of the players that we sign will be under 25 and bought because they have been identified as having potential with technical ability and are comfortable in possession. It wouldn't surprise me if half of the players brought in didn't make much impact in their first season with an intention of buying them when young, developing them in house and resulting in a player with a much higher value. This is a strategy that has a higher level of risk involved, but the lower transfer cost offsets some of this risk. It also seems to annoy a lot of people on this forum, judging by the comments about Mayuka and Forren. It wouldn't surprise me if there was someone on the scouting staff who fancies themselves as the next Nate Silver doing Bayesian analysis from scouting reports to identify underpriced players. Several of our recent transfers have a smell of 'Moneyball' about them.

I'm relieved it didn't go down to the last day, I've always hated those last day survival games. Staying in the league counts as a successful season for me. There were times when it looked like we could/should have been more comfortable, but staying up was always the priority.

Barring a 15-0 loss to Stoke.

Sick of Adam Blackmore suggesting that we're still in danger. Screaming at radio.

That would relegate Villa.

Gaston's a frustrating player because you can see that he has talent but often makes poor decisions. He tries outrageous flicks and backheels that look fantastic when they work and make him look like an idiot when they don't. I'm also not sure which position in the team's usual 4-2-3-1 formation he should play in. Whilst he plays on the wing for Uruguay, he's never really looked convincing playing there in a Saints shirt. He's had his best performances in a relatively free role just behind Lambert, but I think that J-Rod has been more effective in this role than Gaston. I think that the form of both Lambert and Rodriguez has been a bit of a surprise and they have both adapted to the Premier League better than expected and Ramirez worse. Building a team isn't an exact science and there is always an element of uncertainty about how a player will fit in to a team and whether they will be able to recreate the form that they have had at a previous team. If he wants to leave and we get a decent offer, then we should let him go. If he doesn't want to go then I don't think that we should be soliciting bids for him. If he can get a settled position in the formation and a lot of practice fitting in to the team in pre-season then he might perform a lot better next season.

A very interesting read and gives an insight into the tactical preparation that must go on behind the scenes. I haven't really paid much attention to Sunderland's performances, but I expect we'll look to take advantage of Johnson's lack of tracking back. Also, after Di Canio's statements it wouldn't surprise me if Sunderland were a little bit too pumped up for the match and gave away a lot of fouls. Playing a lot of short, fast passes making the Sunderland midfield chase the ball, getting them frustrated might lead to winning a lot of free kicks. I think that Sessegnon being injured is the biggest thing in our favour, he seems to create a lot of chances and link the forwards and midfield. Not sure who they'll get to do this job with him out. The only other alternative is to go for long balls direct to Graham or Wickham and hope that the wingers can pick up the flick ons.