Hodgey

I dont think he is the answer no, but I do think we are worse without him and yet to see anything to convince me otherwise. Not sure what that says about those who play when he doesn't mind........

I'm not sure Pelle is poor, but it's certainly been a season of two halves for him. If anything Getting Djuricic and Elia in has harmed us as we keep changing the am 3 every week and it isn't working. We never play well if Davis isn't playing, he's the only one who can link our def mid with the attackers. We were unlucky to lose today and a draw would have been a decent result - we do need a massive rethink on set pieces and corners though, we are getting to the stage where we may as well just give the ball to the gk rather than bother slinging it in for him to punch or the centre half to head out. I agree with others on the striker front - we've spent 45m on strikers currently on our books but JRod aside they are average or poor. Our record in buying strikers recently is not good so let's hope we produce (and hold onto) one.

Weird - I've not seen any of that. He's definitely got technique but I've not seen the speed or eye for a pass others have (and clearly Koeman too) and seems very lightweight to me, someone who may prosper in the italian leagues. Have we got another Ramires on our hands (didn't see what everyone else did in him either). I'll be having a proper look at Burnley. Looks to me like it's between him and Elia for a perm contract, and with Isgrove being signed up again it is this fella who has impressed. Not sure you can compare with Mane who started very well but then lost his confidence when played wide left - or is this the point, are we playing him out of his best position ?

Djuricic - what are you all seeing that I'm not ?. Thought It was no coincidence that with Davis back in the side the team gelled much better, when he went off they didn't. Personally he wouldn't even make my bench - jwt looks like a better back up and I'd have Elia back on the bench for late pace if needed. Must just be me but I've yet to see anything from Djuricic to suggest he is the level we need, even for the u21s, hoping he starts to prove me wrong.

I've posted this elsewhere but the striker issue is down in no small part to terrible transfers. In theory we have Long, Mayuka, Pelle, Rodrigues, Osvaldo. The club has spent c £45m on strikers in the last 3 years with a combined weekly wage of something like 170k a week so c 9m a year. It may be that KL put her foot down and said we need to lose strikers before we buy another - and it is hard to blame her if so. Bit unlucky with injuries, but compounded with dreadful and expensive transfer choices.

Thanks for the reminder unbelievable Jeff. I think you totally missed my point that I think he is capable but isn't consistent. For every QPR there is Aston Villa, fumbles at Spurs away etc. I didn't mention any of those as I wasn't doing a full season analysis. I think my point still stands - clearly you think he is a top class keeper with his displays so far, I'm hoping for more.

It's odd - even with his record and size he doesn't look confident. He's a regulation goalkeeper - he makes the saves you would expect a championship keeper to make - he doesn't make point saving saves that most Prem GK make. Given that Celtic are c Champs level that isn't surprising What is surprising is capability vs consistency - he's certainly capable of being a top Prem Gk - we've seen that against the likes of Barcelona and Arsenal - it appears that he needs to make one fantastic save early to have a good match. It must be a concentration issue.

He is - he showed that up to Dec. What he can't do us play every game up against 2 centre halves and have that pressure of scoring on top fir 90mins every game. No other Prem team demands that of their strikers and nor should we. Our terrible spending on strikers is to blame, and you can't blame KL for not trusting another big money striker. We've spend the best part of 30m on second strikers, none of which are adequate. For those lording our transfer history that stands out like a very sore thumb.

Was in with the QPR fans, although thankfully most had gone when we scored !. Scrappy game, we wasted chances first 20 after that looked like a clear 00 with neither side having any final 3rd chances. Mane always looked most likely, Elia played well but I wanted more against clint hill. Can't understand criticism of Pelle, we are so lucky to have him, he contests hoofs and links plays well, he does look tired but he has been clattered by the best prem def every game and knows there is no number two so give the guy a break. Also don't get the Davis criticism - thought he and Fonte were out two best players (along with vic who only played a half)

I'm going for Pelle - we haven't missed SRL and without him we would have been lost (look at Shef Utd performance). Not just his goals but all round link play and work rate, also think he has been a bit unlucky with near misses / hitting post etc. if he doesn't play I just don't see us winning as he is integral to the way we play. Lots of contenders though - he nudges it ahead of the full backs, Toby and Jose, Davis and Wanyama.

This will run and run as all parties are right here. He isn't worth 12.5m - he was only worth 6m six month previous and hardly set the world alight. That said he falls into an ever increasing bucket of madness/desperate buys that the wads of sky cash have driven. So he compares favourably to a load of other misfits (inc Osvaldo, Ramirez for us) but we did pay well over the odds. He also has had a positive impact on our squad / results so is of value, and when you are going into a season with 60m in your pocket and a few days left to get another striker in, it could have been much worse. His value won't go up however - if we sold now we would be lucky to get 8, but we don't need to sell as he is a great squad player who we should keep around for his contract (unless we go down, in which case his 50k a week would need to be off the books)

I think he is going to be a fantastic player. I agree at the moment it isn't obvious what his best position is, but he has great technique and temperament and is clearly a grafter with a great attitude. Midfielders take a while to blossom so we need to be patient, he'll have some stinkers as he learns but I think we'll end up with a hell of a player, and assists and goals will improve along with his experience (he already sets up plenty of chances). Very glad we have him (and it seems Adkins, Poch, RK, southgate and Woy all agree).

I don't think we will get hammered like some do. Don't think we will win either - a ground out 1-1 to break the run of defeats with this team Forster Clyne Fonte Yoshida Bertrand Toby Davis Long JWP Tadic Pelle

That was awful, was hoping for better but feared without Pelle and Tadic we would have nothing going forwards. I've got some other questions though. How many chances is Mayuka going to get (he isn't anywhere near good enough and never will be), and how few Reed. This cannot be good for Reeds confidence - in essence RK is saying that no matter how badly people play, or how many injuries I have in your position, you will not play (but I'll name you as sub). Just doesn't strike me as good management There is a good player in there somewhere with Mane - but he needs to knuckle down, cut out the nonsense and use his pace and skill as part of a team. Schneiderlin worried me today - I think he wants out again and will not wait until May to join Poch. Agree with other posters - worst game I have seen from both Bertrand and Clyne (although Bertrand should never have started left mid, did nothing and never really recovered when pushed to LB).

Bottom line is we really struggled to break a team down - no shame in that but I did feel that in the first half we thought we could play in first gear and win. First half was a game of two keepers - ours made a monumental cock up, theirs produced a world class save . There is another thread on Foster - but my question to my mate was if Forster was capable of making that Guzan save and for me the jury is still out. I was in the end very pleased we created and scored another chance when we did - I thought we were going to be found wanting. Bottom line is if we swapped keepers tonight we would have won 2-0 and everyone would be in 7th heaven. But Forster had plenty of time to make amends - I really want him to prove me wrong as so far I cannot see the hype ( including his England performance). Also thought that Pelle struggled against Clarke - but that happens and he has already shown this season that he can bounce back. As for the decision to play Long instead of Cork, I have no idea why consecutive managers worry about cork - he gas been performing for 3 years now in the prem, he must be a terrible trainer...

It's all a PR war. Did anyone really believe Kruger when he said he's not going ?, without talking to the player ?. He's been made a pawn in a PR war and whilst I'm unhappy about his reaction, why has he been picked on ? Let's face it we all know what is going on here. KL wants to sell the club, and why wouldn't she, why would she want to win a Prem club? She and the board have realised they can't sell a club who will go down and probably realising that is now a reality have panicked. A 3 yr deal for a cb who has as much time left as Lambert. Bringing in a replacement for Schneiderlin from Milan. Downgrading statements all the time 'we will spend 30m plus player sales', 'we'll reinvest all player sales', 'we'll spend a large amount of our transfer budget', 'sone of transfer budget needs to go to satisfying player contracts'. I think you have to be pretty deaf to not hear the theme here. Most of the fans know this and the players certainly do. I think Schneiderlin has realised that thus window gives him more chance than Jan (I would have thought after their PR disaster SFC tactic was to ask Hi to stay until Jan to buy them time). He's a player approaching his prime, been with us from the Championship down to league 1 and up again and we are showing zero ambition. Precedent had been set and he is rightly ****ed off. Sadly for MS Krugers crass statement has in so many ways forced his hand. Let's say you were employed by a company clearly on the decline and all your talented colleagues were all allowed to leave when your boss suddenly announces to everyone that no matter what you are staying! He'll go before this window is out, we've all known that for a while, it's just a shame that it has all ended with such bitterness. I don't believe MS is that kind of player.

Good to look at the positives - I do believe we have a great manager, good youth coming through and money in the bank. However the below facts make me think this could be one of our worst transfer windows: 1) The players we have sold & j-rods injury (I've halved his stats) mean we have lost 33 prem goals (60pc of all our goals) and 21 prem assists. You are asking an awful lot of new players to fill that void. 2) At least half the team will be different - let's assume they are all new signings, who have not only never played in the prem before but are playing with a completely new team, tactics and manager. The other half need to get used to the new players, new tactics and new manager in 2 weeks (I'm assuming here that we will have new players and not start the team we did v Bmouth) 3) it is incredibly unlikely that the players we bring in will be currently better than those sold. If they were then you have to assume that the scouting system for the top 6 is a disaster. Our hope has to be that we can find players we can improve to be at the level of those departed. I expect an incredibly tough first ten games with us likely to be bottom 3. On the positive side unlike 2 yrs ago we do have some players with pl experience and a stronger squad. RK needs to do an Atkins with rapid improvement of an inexperienced PL squad and we'll need to be patient as this will not happen overnight and we will start the season considerably weaker than we ended the last, but I hope we have a decent second half to the season for a comfortable mid-table finish.

In the short term it is certainly a bad thing, in the longer term it is probably a bad thing. We will have lost our 5 best players and we will not be able to replace them with similar ability (as if they do have that ability they will be off to a bigger club), also they are going to need to bed in / adjust top new league etc etc. It could be OK for the longer term but it requires a lot of things going our way. Let's assume we buy in 6 players and complement that with youth players - firstly there will almost certainly be a couple of duds in those signings, no club ever always buys well. Secondly we are relying on players such as JWP, Target, Reed, Stephens, McQueen etc to make huge progress when it is much more likely they will not make it statistically speaking. That said financially we will be better off having paid off debts etc and can get closer to FFP. Personally I think after this we would have done remarkably well if we finish in the 10-15 bracket next year and stay out of relegation problems, and the target after then needs to be to move up a couple of places each year until you hit c 7th - when we begin this circle again, or hope some football rules change to favour us. What would be nice whatever happens is if we actually try and win one of the cups - as that is certainly achievable and something which would actually pay back supporters their faith. Call me old fashioned but I prefer the idea of sport being about winning things.

I've never understood why so many of our fans have not seen how important he is. Basically since our arrival in the prem he's been accused of being passed it, no pace, can't score from open play etc etc. For me aside from Lallana he remains our best player. It's not just the goals, he is absolutely integral to out tactics in assists link ups holding the ball etc. if he wanted to go to his boyhood club - he deserves it and us setting an undervalued fee as a reward makes sense. If however we think this is good business, well losing your top goal maker and second top scorer, an England international who has scored 28 prem goals in the last 2 seasons for 4m simply isn't, he's got at least 2 more seasons in him at his current level. I'll state this - we will not find a fwd for next season with as much influence no matter what we bid. Good luck SRL - one of the best players I have seen at saints (and I'm 39 !).

It's a good statement. They were getting annihilated in the pr war, and with no doubt decent advice from a comms firm they have responded - in my opinion too late, hopefully they are learning - but I think they are a very naive board when it come to how high profile this industry is. I still don't get our set up, and I'm still not sure others do - floods of brilliant people writing in to Les Reed - I don't think so somehow. Bottom line it has had the effect it needs - placating fans and hopefully cooling down the media (metro the other day had us at 14s as best get for relegation). Bigger question - the players - do they trust thus board - I think we are about to find out.......

Thanks MLG - interesting article. So that would almost certainly be an area to concentrate on in the interview ! (if true). Surely our board would would be able to quiz that out of him - I have full confidence in Hans, Gaz, Kat, Les and Ralph. And even if half of that is true I'd still take that over Chris Hougton - they murdered us at St Marys last year (our flukiest win of the season)

I'd go for Laudrup. Ticks most boxes that we need. High profile, success (9th place at Swansea with much less money and won a cup), decent transfer market (particularly strikers - Bony, Michu), similar style of play, played for Real, Juve, Barca so young players will look up to that, picked up and ran with a young British team (Dyer, Williams, Britton, Taylor etc), immediately available.

I think it is the most effective way we can possibly play. Firstly keeping possession obviously means that the opposition aren't attacking, taking huge pressure off the defence and allowing control of the pace of the game (I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that we don't actually conceed many chances). It's that second point that is key, I don't actually think that we look to win with attacking possession football with probing through balls etc (frankly you need world class players to do that nowadays as tactically in the Prem defences are tight), our philosophy seems to be as soon as the opposition get it, try and win the ball high up the pitch when defensively they are out of position - it's that which leads to most of our chances/pressure. Doing that for 90 minutes without long periods of slowing the game down with possession play will lead to high fatigue.

Based on our current squad replacements 1) Lallana 2) Lambert 3) Boric 4) Schneiderlin 5) J Rod 6) Louvren Whilst the rest are all good players, they also have decent replacements, but whenever any of those 6 are out we seem to struggle (and if more than one of them are out we really struggle)

Big test this - I think we may sneak a draw, my worry is that Lovren will not be match fit and facing two speedsters in Sturridge and Suarez is not an ideal comeback, he'd be better off facing a bruser. Boruc, Clyne, Lovren, Fonte, Shaw, Cork, Spiderman, Davis, Lallana, Rodrigues and Lambert for me. Ramirez has looked good recently but this is a game it is more important we do not fall behind in - win the battle first half first then bring him on. Can't agree with starting Gallagher - we need to stick with Lambert until the season ends (Gallagher great for last 30 mins to build experience) - he will come good just have faith. It is frightening that we are pinning our hopes on an 18yr old with pretty much zero professional football experience - suggesting he is already good enough to face one of the best teams in the world is wide of the mark (I know he played against Arsenal, but we happened to catch them on an off day, Liverpool will be firing on Saturday and their back line may have been criticised but they are very experienced). Guess it shows how disasterous our £20m splurge on poor/mad centre forwards has been.