CWD

And yet every week people drop him from their preferred starting line up. Lallana will win and rightly so. Lots of guys have done well but not been as consistently unplayable. 2nd. Steven Davis 3rd. Rodriguez

If you consider yourself to be English then that's what you are in my opinion. But if you asked Morgan his nationality I am pretty sure his response would be "I'm French", which is the end of the conversation as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of Rugby, can anyone recommend somewhere to watch England V Italy that's close to SMS?

Sounds like your life motto alpine!

Had a dream about this one and we are Liverpool's bogey team. 3-1 Saints. Lambert will score a header after a Guly flick on from a Ward-Prowse cross to put us 3-1 up if anyone was wondering.

Hernandez

It depends what your viewpoint is. Personally I am very proud of the club's youth policy which means I'm happy to suffer slightly in terms of quality back up. I'd much rather see a youngster like Gallagher get a chance if Lambert is injured than some random foreign back up player, even if they are slightly better. Targett being in the squad instead of Fox being the obvious example.

If we lose this now I will be angry as it is clearly a priority over today. However if we win, I imagine I will completely forget about today's result. Win win.

Not everyone has my pessimism though

Tried to avoid this place for a while coz I didn't want to be too knee jerk. Fact is I saw this coming. MP not doing interviews, team selections in the cup thus far... We weren't bothered. I just wish the club could have made that more obvious to the fans. I understand the desire to play youth but bringing on a 19 year old debutant for Lallana... I mean what the actual ****? The full blame shouldn't be laid on MP though. Why is it that whenever we play teams who have made changes the fringe players act like they have a point to prove, whereas ours just seem to coast through the 90. On the face of it, the team didn't appear to be overly weakened, but the way we play actually often means that Fonte, Schneiderlin, Cork and Rodriguez are are most creative players. Lallana is strong in the opponents half but we need to build attacks from the back. I rate Wanyama but he is predominantly a defender, and Hooiveld cannot deliver the desired range of passing we need from our CBs (not to mention being a **** defender). Same with JWP and Davis - they are solid players but they aren't going to create too many goals. I won't get too down because I don't think we've failed from the club's point of view. As fans we see this as a failure and a really poor result - but it was clearly never the team's aim to win this competition so nothing has really changed. Will all be forgiven if we go on a run and finish 6th? Probably, but history still won't show us as winners.

Why is everyone so desperate for our season to be over!? Trying to win every game and finish as high as possible should surely be the aim? Otherwise we might as well not bother turning up.

'Yours Guly' is a genius name. I'm under 40 to but good luck with it mate

We really lacked ideas in the second half. How many times did Davis get hold of the ball just inside their half and then have no real options? We were crying out for Ramirez today, just anything to add a bit of flair. Unfortunately the lack of attacking depth in the squad was shown - when you spend 45 minutes constantly attacking a stubborn defence and your only substitution is at RB then you know there's a problem! Still, Stoke defended superbly. Home form is a bit of a worry but we have a good chance of 3 points on Tuesday night.

People are far too quick to drop Steven Davis. One of the most consistent players at the club. If Lambert is injured Id like to see Gallagher start but more likely to be: Boruc Chambers - Fonte - Yoshida - Shaw Cork - Schneiderlin Lallana - Davis - JWP Rodriguez Subs: Davis, Hooiveld, Clyne, Wanyama, Guly, Reed, Gallagher. Although I'd rather Rodriguez out left, Gallagher up front and JWP on bench.

We are toothless without Lallana. Davis Clyne - Fonte - Yoshida - Fox Schneiderlin - Cork Lallana - Davis - Rodriguez Osvaldo Boruc, Shaw, Chambers, Hooiveld, Wanyama, JWP, Lambert

People are a bit harsh on Osvaldo for me. I think he'll come good, he just hasn't had enough of a run in the side yet what with injuries and suspensions.

Woah. OTT much? I think we all need to wait and see what Pochettino says tomorrow. I still think there is more to this than meets the eye. I wouldn't be surprised if we haven't seen the last of Cortese.

Sad to see him go, his ambition and drive has been first class and he was instrumental in saving our club. Thanks for everything Mr. Cortese. However we should try to be rational and not over emotional - he isn't the only decent businessman in the world. "Just another department head" is how he described the team manager and he is the same, nobody is irreplaceable. We will replace him with someone who will do some things better and some things worse but the club will still be here and we'll all still spend time and money we don't have supporting it. We might even wear stripes again next season...

January sucks.

I still think we miss Lambert so badly when he isn't in the team. Even when he doesn't play well he can still pop up with an assist or a goal and keeps the defenders busy which allows our deeper players more time/space on the ball. I imagine The majority of Jay Rod's goals have come when Lambert has been playing. Sounds sad but I would be devastated if he left to join West Ham.

I read his first book and Dave Kitson just didn't work for a number of reasons. For some reason I always imagine it being Scott Parker - he talks about being involved in both ends of the table and starting in the lower leagues which would fit. His kids seem the right age too.

How close is Kelvin to being fit?

I knew someone would drag this up. At any point on this thread has anyone, including me, said we would win the league? No. Everyone said we were up there and to enjoy it while it lasts. There's so much point scoring and trying to make people feel stupid on this forum. It seems a lot of people are desperate to be the first one to put others down. Real shame.

Gives absolutely no confidence to the back 4. He will improve but he should be nowhere near PL football at this moment in time.

That would be my team as well. Gives us a good balance of attacking flair and defensive solidity. Didn't realise this was a Sunday game though. Gonna have to rearrange work if I can.