saint-crinny

Agreed i don't think he has offered much for a lot of this season apart from a little spell at Christmas. Wasn't what i was saying though, nor was i saying i think he should be anywhere near the full England set up as he most certainly shouldn't be. Purely an observation that he gets talked up a lot across the U21 and full international set, and were we to appeal, that may work in his favour.

Easy to see why a pen was given, although very debatable - the red was a massive over-reaction from the ref though. Very similar to the Duff red for Burnley, which was also a ludicrous decision. Definitely worth an appeal in my opinion, it shouldn't carry any weight at all, but the fact the JWP is such a key player in the U21 set-up and has Hodgson talking him up all the time would almost certainly work in his favour as well.

i find this amazing really, surely Vic is more professional than to give a recorded interview to a trainee journalist? As i say, i just find that amazing - having done the exact same course as this guy in the past, it really isnt as easy as that just to set up an interview with a premier league footballer, although i appreciate that he is doing it for M&Y which adds a level of credibility. The evidence is right there that he did the interview of course, in which case it really a poor piece of judgement from Vic. Look at the majority of the players who left last summer - the only one who retains a level of respect is Lambert, who conducted himself professionally throughout. I get that ambitious players like Vic, Clyne and Morgan want to further their career, who wouldn't? But if you're good enough, you won't need to be gobbing off to the press all over the place to get a move. Do your business in private and show some class.

Agree with most on here that we'll see Clyne and Morgan move on and Toby wont sign for us. With that in mind, i'd like to see us bring in Trippier at right back, Clasie to replace Morgan and if available, Kongolo could be a decent signing at centre back. We then need to add competition up front and Ings would be my top choice - he'd quite quickly takes Pelle's place i reckon. If JRod does come back to fitness then we have some great options up front. I know there is lots of supposed interest in JRod and if he doesnt sign a new contract i appreciate we're under pressure to sell, but i'm staggered that any side bigger than us would gamble on JRod having not seen him play for us since his injury. He might be half the player than before. If we make the Europa, we will probably need a few more bodies through the door as well - would let Elia go as he just doesnt really do a lot but would Djuricic if he's available cheaply as he looks to be decent technically and think he'd benefit from a good pre-season with the team. I'm certain Ronald will have his eye on a few other randoms that we havent even considered as well.

do you need to be a "world beater" to play for England then? I don't think JWP is ready for the full England squad right now, but i'd have certainly had him in the side last night ahead of Jones and Delph, no question

Quite, could be that we are the least interested in clamping down on it. Just as the club with highest arrests could be most proactive in addressing any issues.

Don't get this. Do you think that any of Henderson, Sturridge, Lallana or Sterling shouldn't be in the squad? Lambert shoudnt be in there as he isn't playing, and he's not, so i don't really see an issue?

JWP is clearly a talented player with big potential, and he has some clear areas of his game to work on (not least getting himself on the scoresheet!) In the early part of this season, i felt he wasn't impacting the games enough but over the Christmas period he showed that he can do that with a number of assists. He's had a few dodgy sub appearances in recent weeks, but there clearly is talent there and he'd probably benefit most from a consistent run in our side (tough with the competition we have). With regards to England, two points. One, England aren't really very good - it's hardly fierce competition for a midfield spot, especially if we are looking to the future. Two. JWP would be in the squad but i don't think he'd be playing. It would be about Roy getting a close up watch of him and him starting to engage with the senior squad, rather than thinking he was ready to start bossing it against the world's best. If he impresses in training, and given the rubbish we're playing against in our qualifiers, he may even find himself getting a few minutes. On Bertrand, it will be a travesty if he isn't picked this time.

can i be the first to say that maybe he already knows what is on the table, and its a big bid from a top side. So he knows that AM will buy out his clause with us, sell him to a top side. He's happy enough with that, but also it enables him to say that he would like to stay here and it's out of his hands, so we all think he's a top guy and he gets to join a big CL side anyway. Maybe i'm just cynical

Is his "attitude" a real issue? Every time i see him play he puts in a real shift, whatever level he's been at and he has shown that he has the quality as well. He was superb against United a few weeks back, despite a pretty lonely existence up front on his own (which also made me think he could fit our set-up as the lone front man, something i had previously wondered about). Whenever you see him interviewed i also think he comes across quite well - quite grounded given where he's come from and generally pretty happy to have got where he has. I think he'd be a good signing for us and as i say, think his attitude might be a bit of a myth

This thread has descended into the usual drivel. Squabbling over if we could pay Morgan £120k a week and still comply with FFP - yes we technically could. Would we do it? No, because it would make our whole ethos invalid, unsettle the rest of the squad etc etc. The point was around us doubling Morgan's money and would he be prepared to stay as a result? And i'd say no he wouldn't. He wants to play for a big club so he will push to leave in the summer regardless of any contract we offer (or where we finish), which quite clearly a big club could match/exceed if signing him was just a question of wages, which it isn't. He's been fantastic for us, is the best player we have and has been for me throughout our rise (even when bizarrely, some people preferred a central midfield of Chaplow and Hammond, but that is another argument entirely) - i'm gutted to see him leave, but pretty much resigned to it. Hopefully to Barca or someone, rather than a team in England, so we don't have to see him turn out against us (apart from in the Champions League, which i could handle if that happened).

He really is a class act, so while it wouldn't be a disaster, it would be a massive loss. We're certainly unlikely to find a player of his quality to replace him at the same cost to us for the season (important caveat here). While he is clearly enjoying his time here, i wouldn't suggest that he is settled and wants to say. At the end of the day, if City want him, he'd back himself to start ahead of the likes of Mangala and they are clearly a more attractive option than us - i guess if Simeone goes there though, their interest may drop. That said, the offer to him has been on the table for a while, and he hasn't signed, so i'm sure there is already a shortlist of players that we would want to target should he opt to go back to AM/sign for someone else.

A lot of things that are amusing about this thread, given our defensive record, which, however you dress it up, Forster is a big part of. What i like is that the initial question was about his shot to save ratio - it was ignored for a while with people preferring to suggest that he wouldn't get into most Championship teams, he's slow, doesn't command the area blah blah blah. Then, someone actually answered the question, and he fared pretty well on the ratio, possibly best in the league, so the question was promptly ignored again. Classic. He is better than Boruc clearly, the comment about him being a poor kicker is completely wide of the mark as he's actually very good, and he has made some big saves this season as well. QPR was an obvious one, winning us the points, but he also made a string of saves at the Emirates in the league that almost grabbed us a point, for example. I can think of a few other decent stops too - West ham away, Swans away. But this is kind of by-the-by - you can go through every team and pick out some good stops from their keeper that contributed to winning points. The two stats that have for some reason been dismissed/ignored on here, clean sheets and shots to saves ratio, are surely the best measure of a keeper's success? But Forster comes out on top of the pile in both, so instead, let's slag him off because we lost...

To a point yes, it was annoying and they should have discussed some of the key incidents in more depth. But as has been stated above, there will always be a leaning towards the bigger clubs and in this instance, we did lose the game 2-0, which took Liverpool's unbeaten run to 10 games after a pretty awful first few months of the season from them, so i get why that was the focus. To be honest, i'd be happy enough if we slipped back a little more under the radar, quietly pick up a few wins in the next couple of games without a massive load of press about how we're going Champions League/totally collapsing, and see how the land lies after that.

Not dismissing that we should have got a few moer decisions, it was a dreadful refereeing display - just stating that Elia in particular should have scored in the melee on the second pen and also should have scored when Mignolet handled outside the area. This is as much of an issue, if not more of one, than us not being awarded penalties. A couple of poor finishes in the game, coupled with a reluctance to shoot at other points (mane when he raced into the box as an example, but there were others) cost us the game every bit as much as not getting two blatant penalties. Am thinking against West Brom, that I'd quite like to see Shane Long up top and give Pelle a break. Long, with Mane plus one of Tadic/Elia/Djuricic will be a quick, mobile front line that could hopefully cause problems, hopefully with the solidarity of Morgan and Vic in the middle.

A lot of talk about the penalities not being given - second was blatant but for me, we should have scored anyway. Elia should have had two. Besides, on current form, if a penalty had been given, we probably would have squared it

Overall, he's had a decent first season so far. He has shown he is capable of scoring but he does miss a few. In the Dutch league, playing for pretty much the best side, he got more chances and the defending was worse = banged in a few more goals. He's hit expectations for me and i'm happy enough with him right now - even if is he a little off his best form. he was the early season talisman we needed after the summer, and even now, when he's not on top form, he's integral to the way we play. Ultimately, had he been scoring goals like he did in Holland in a "top" league across his career, he wouldn't be playing for us now.

Didnt realise that Lallana and Shaw "weren't playing" until Poch arrived. I thought Lallana has been a mainstay of the team for the past five years and Shaw had been introduced by Adkins and displaced Fox, but i might be wrong. No doubt he did instill a winning mentality in the side and really turned us round when he came, you can't deny that, but given the departures in the summer especially, it's bizarre comments really to belittle what Koeman has done. Hopefully we turn them over when they come to SMS - i wonder if he'll take credit for beating himself...?

For me, it likes from our side that we thought a low bid for him in January was worth a shot, with one eye on the summer. Koeman likes him and knows him, he's not playing regularly and would be a worthwhile addition if we don't have to spend too much on him. By the summer, particularly if we have made the Champions League and to a lesser extent the Europa, we'll probably have our sights set on better players than Vilhena, and will be happy enough that we didnt shell out £5m on him in January, leaving us less to play with in the summer.

Not particularly, just making the point that anyone could have said the same thing when it comes to a player like Schniederlin and then give it as a minimum, "well i told you back in January he was leaving," and quite possibly get the club right as well. Whether he was responding to a direct question or not, doesn't mean his response was any more or less true.

Funny that, given that is the assumption of almost all Saints fans too. Stab in the dark that he's off to Arsenal given the French connection with Wenger, says it is done but will happen in the summer when everyone expects him to leave anyway and it will never come out if had been pre-agreed = at least 50% correct when he goes and a poor attempt to establish some sort of credibility as an ITK on Twitter of all places.

He's improved their style of play a bit, but not necessarily their results

With regards to his goals, he has played out wide nearly all season, so that is slightly misleading. For me, not as good as £12.5m, nowhere near as bad as some on here suggest - somewhere in between. To say he doesn't want to be here is ludicrous as well, the one thing you will always get with him is a good (if quite often this season, not hugely productive) shift.

Biggest point is the lack of depth. We had it last season too - first 11 is very good, beyond that is pretty poor and we can't cope if more than one of our first choice is missing. No surprise after the summer we had, but really frustrating over the course of these games, in which we have got progressively worse and worse and starting making costly individual errors. Unfortunately, that surely won't change against Everton. Watching them last night, and with the four in midfield that we are going to be missing, Ross Barkley is going to cause us all sorts of problems.

Not one for the big meltdown after a defeat, but you have to say this was a shocker and off the back of four straight defeats, extremely worrying. Battered by a team in mid-table in League One and our hilarious top four chat now looks, frankly, a complete embarrassment. It's not going to get any better against Everton i am certain of that, we can barely put a team out, but i think the Christmas period in general is really going to hammer us. Relieved we racked up the points early on, surely we'll get four more wins this season...won't we...?