saint-crinny

Not in a false position at all for me. They've played well after the first few games of the season and beaten some decent teams along the way (like City and to an extent Liverpool, both of whom we failed to beat). They also have a lot of different options going forward, which is huge in the Prem, you've got to have different goal threats. Sakho and Valencia are pacy and decent finishers. Carroll, despite what many people think, when fully fit, is a real handful however you look at it.

He's we'll past his best, that's for certain, but it would be hard not to be pretty excitable if he did sign - back in the day he was an absolute legend that i loved watching. Almost 100% it wouldn't be us that took a punt though

If everyone is fit, he should be back on the bench for now - think he'll be a real pain for knackered defences but when he starts right now, he seems to get progressively worse as the game goes on. As others have said, he has the capacity to do things that create things, but he also never seems to be in control of things and is on a bad run at the moment. Even if Morgan/Toby aren't fit, i'd be looking at bringing in Reed alongside Wanyama, Davis moving further upfield and starting with Tadic and Long wide. Mane off the bench later in the game. That said, RK doesn't seem to think Reed is up to it at the moment, despite us hearing he's the academy's current leading light.

In the majority of games, i don't think Ramirez is the answer, but against that lot last night, he would have had a field day. Tadic must be carrying a knock as his two through balls in the first half were atrociously overhit - two decently weighted passes and Long would have been in both times. Gutted about last night, but most important now is to try and get the win at Burnley. Make no mistake, after these three defeats, Burnley away is now a really tough game.

Pure guess work here, but this could be more about the opposition than Reed. If it had been Burnley at home, Leicester away, rather than City and Arsenal, he may well have come on in both games. I guess we'll see either way if Morgan, Toby, Tadic and Cork are all out of Monday

We would undoubtedly struggle to juggle everything, and would almost certainly custard pie the League Cup, but i doubt it would impact enough for a relegation battle, especially with some decent additions that would naturally follow, so would definitely be worth it in my book. Would be great to see some decent (and completely unheard of) teams at SMS.

Ah, we'll always have the Aston Villa and Newcastle home games. Injuries hampered him first up, then he wasnt Poch's cup of tea and clearly not Koeman's either. A real shame, as i will always maintain he is an excellent player, but i'm not sure he's cut out for the Prem - back to Italy or Spain and a decent career ahead of him would be the best move for all parties. I'll always hold on to the ridiculous excitement of the day he finally signed as well, genuinely thought we had arrived!

Excellent, a defeat and a mistake in the previous game and now England's second choice goalkeeper is not up to the job for us. I don't think he's the finished article by any means, but in general, i thought he was solid yesterday, as he has been all season - decent enough on crosses, remarkable save from Aguero given the form he's in, not much he could do on the goals. It's too simple to say that he has a good defence in front of him so he often doesnt get tested - you have to assume that the defence has a fair amount of confidence in him too, as it's all about communication and working as a unit. I'd point out that when Gazza was having his hapless spell in goal for us, and everyone was making mistakes at the back, it was largely deemed to be Gazza's fault on here as the defence had no confidence in - you can't have it both ways when it's the other way round.

Think the point for me about Monday and needing something off the bench wasnt that we dont have anything, more that we played everything that we had from the off. Usually we would have one of Long/Mane off the bench and later in the year we'll also have JRod. Not knocking RK for Monday as he felt we would blow them away with all our attacking options and if we did get an early goal, we probably would have, but when we didnt, we couldn't really change it.

Tough run of games to come now, but on the plus side, we could lose all three and a team outside the top four would need to win three out of three to go above us. That's a great position to be in, especially as i think we will pick up some points in these next three games

Quite a flat display all round - lacked the urgency that we usually have and no surprise that when we found it for one moment, we scored. Disappointing, but you'll never be at the races every game. Can't fault Koeman for going for it with the change in formation - admire the bravery and desire to go and get an away win - but of course in hindsight, you would probably go with Cork for Davis and that would have been a better option. At the end of the day, made a defensive mistake and conceded - would have almost certainly won the game without that error. Then we'd all be talking about "sign of a good team, winning in a poor performance" etc. Might be the reality check that we need to ensure that we are really at it for City - we do have a good chance in that one and If we do get the win, this one will pretty quickly be forgotten.

Matt Le Tiss is one of England's most gifted ever players for me - kind of player that just made you want to watch football. Agree with posters on Becks who question why people tend to look back and belittle him as a player. Incredible set piece delivery, crossing ability as good as anything I've seen and a great work rate. His England performance against Greece was probably one of the most inspirational individual displays any England player has produced in the last 20 years, not just for the freekick. People also forget his role in some of United's biggest moments - two great deliveries in the Champions league final, screamer against Spurs to equalise in the last game of one season and help them win the league (i think, slightly hazy memory), goal in the Giggs FA Cup semi vs Arsenal to name a few. But if you only had the choice of one in your time, Le Tiss all the way. Undeniable football genius

I don't think it's ridiculous. Mane has done pretty well, but Long has been decent enough when he has come on in recent games. Good ball in for the Pelle QPR goal for example, and he is playing out wide which isnt really a familiar position. Already noted on his ability to win headers which is impressive given his height, but more important is that i think he links well with Pelle - he reads his flicks and knock-downs really well and if he starts the next couple of games i'd expect him to get in and grab a goal. I also think Mane would have a good impact from the bench with his pace when games are little more stretched. Both have got a case for starting games, which is a nice position for us to be in. Rather than talk about how Long will be nowhere near it when JRod is fit, i'd prefer to look at it as the depth that will give us up top. Long will probably be sat on the bench, but he'll still get plenty of game time, possibly as more direct competition for Pelle rather than the wide role he's got at the moment.

When Dani Osvaldo of all people suggest that a team's attitude was bad, that really says something.

Such a tough call in central midfield these days. Morgan is a cert, than take your pick from Big Vic, Cork and Davis. Would be tempted to go with VW holding, Morgan and Cork ahead of him. If Barton and Sandro both miss out, would hope that three would be stronger, quicker, more hard working and we can utilise Morgan and Cork's sudden goal threat a little further forward (well, Morgan's anyway, Cork hopefully won't be waiting another three years for a goal, but i doubt he's about to become a regular scorer). With Tadic, long and Pelle in attack, that should cause a hell of a lot of problems to a creaky defence.

Or, more likely, Ashton noted he was out of the side and therefore put this latest rubbish together. "I'm telling you Wanyama wants out too, you all saw he left out on Saturday..."

Redmond managed to find some end product against us last year

Can't help feeling a little bit annoyed by this. The implication that he played for us but wasn't fit enough for England and now United. Pretty certain that to play the majority of the games in a season for MP, with his pressing game, you have to be in pretty good shape. I can recall Luke still bombing forward in the 90th minute of games. He may well have let himself go after the WC, which is unprofessional for sure and unacceptable in the modern game, but as others have said, smacks of the usual arrogant attitude from big clubs/England.

BBC's Nabil Hassan tweeting the Long deal is completed

The price is the only issue for me, but people know we have a wedge in the bank and we're closing in on the start of the season/transfer deadline. If we were talking sub £10m for him, i think the majority of people would be happy - quick, decent enough finisher (although probably doesnt get enough goals, but has always played in a lower half Prem team), a massive pain to play against, knows the league, takes him off a side who look mid-table competitive. It's hardly the end of the world, just not as exciting as a Huntelaar or Hernandez. If we get him and a decent new CB, we look OK i think - we just havent had the marquee signing that would have helped supporter morale.

Possibly suggests that we are confident of a new CB deal being completed? The Swindon chairman had said that this deal wouldn't be done until we had sprted out a few deals ourselves i think. Maybe i'm just desperate and reading too much into this one though...

Back-to-back relegations for him hopefully

Redmond is a potentially excellent player for me. In a struggling Norwich side he was often the most exciting player to watch whenever i saw them last year. Won the game for them against us at their place with some decent individual skill. He's one of those players that will make wrong decisions from time to time, but he'd add some much needed pace as well. I'd be happy enough if we signed him and worked on his development, he could become a very good player for us. Agreed that Forster would almost certainly be first-choice if he signed and Rojo would be a pretty impressive signing from us, particularly as we have "lost all ambition" and whatever else is being levelled at the board on here. Yes, the current squad looks thin on the ground, worryingly so at the back, but let's not completely meltdown until the window is shut. If we're still the same squad as we are today, or have lost Morgan and Dejan as is probably going to happen, then you can't get away from it - the window will have been a bit of a disaster and a scrap of a season is on the cards. Until then, let's try and keep relatively calm...

I'm sure the players did like NC's Champions League chat. But i don't believe that the likes of Lovren, Lambert, Shaw and Lallana wouldn't have wanted to leave to go to the likes of Liverpool and United even if NC and MP were still here. They are still huge clubs, far bigger than us, and most players would want to play for them given half the chance. NC might have fought harder to keep them, but the size of the bids that we have ended up getting to would have likely swayed him to let them go as well. It's disappointing for us after the season we enjoyed last year, but that is where we are at

100% no - a snapshot of this forum shows we all disagree with each other and a most of us think the majority of other Saints fans don't know what they are on about. Give me decisive, ruthless decision makers all day long - whether the current board is this or not is entirely up for debate.