SaintSeb

Mobility I'd agree with, but positioning has been very good in my opinion!

I suppose in a way yes and in a way no. In my view certain players do just possess a certain confidence and aura (to put it in a cliched way 'x factor'), more so than others, which can be comparable regardless of position. There's also the fact that Shaw was only 17 and already more physically imposing than the 21 year old McQueen is now for example, and just as quick if not quicker than Sims at full tilt. However, as Saint_clark points out, Shaw was competing against Danny Fox for his position (who obviously did a job for us at Championship level but was an utter liability in the Premier League) and in a team where Guly was a starter at times. McQueen on the other hand (to compare the same position), is competing against one of England's top choice left backs and another academy lad Matt Targett who's notched up a fair few appearances over a couple of seasons too. This team is far harder to break into, so for that these lads deserve immense credit. To be honest though, my comparison was mainly based upon gut feeling and from what I remember of watching Shaw in those early games in 12/13 he was superior technically and physically to all of the current crop; hence why United paid £30 million for him. With all that being said, these guys (Reed, McQueen, Targett, Sims, Hesketh etc.) all look very promising and could well go on to be better than Shaw will, only time will tell! I'm very pleased that they've signed contracts with Saints so we can find out.

I think you're being a tad unfair here. I remember seeing McQueen's debut in the cup a couple of years ago and thought he looked nowhere near the required level. This season though he's come in and looked very solid, probably as good as Chambers looked during his brief stint ahead of Clyne in the pecking order. What I'm trying to say is I think it's too soon to judge any of these players and they need more time to bed in. Not every player is a breakout success the minute they get their chance. I would say though that Heisenberg's point is valid, none of them look as good as Shaw did in his early games, but then again not many young players do!

Boufal is the replacement for Mane

We did replace everyone who left, just those replacements have yet to live up to them. Micah Richards was a f*cking disaster at Villa as a centre back and a right back. Would rather Stephens than him. Maybe not Gardos as he hasn't played first team football for 2 years, but still would steer clear of Richards.

Must be tough being a glory supporter to a club that rarely sees much glory...

Come on mate, if having two thirds of the ball and nearly seven times as many shots is setting up for a draw I have no idea what you think setting up for a win is!

Bit harsh on Boufal I would say he's got the potential to exceed lower prem quality

I agree about the two camps thing; would go so far as to say some posters have accidentally become parodies of themselves! I quite often come on just to have a chuckle at some of the over-reactions when we lose a game, likewise at some of the over-reactions when we win a game. At least it hasn't become as bad as ArsenalfanTV, which is basically a comedy channel with a football background at this point. Although it is a joke, the interesting, but equally sad thing is that it shows that despite it not being anonymous there is still a lot of vitriol thrown about by people who are supposed to be supporting a singular cause. People on both happy-clappy and bed-wetter sides just need to keep the big picture in mind when shouting each other down and consider whether it's worth the aggro they're causing themselves and others. Football isn't everything in life, and if it is then you're in trouble as it's generally a bad ideato invest your happiness in something you have little to no control over!

Yeah I look at that and it is funny how little he's predicted us to win! He really is not up to it as a pundit these days. Still better than Merson though, that guy is a total and utter moron.

Christ, he's meant to be a resident expert, but sounds more like a punter with a fiver to chuck on an accy for the weekend and only 2 mins until kick off to do it with his reasoning!

Just think he might rest Bertrand after a tough mid week game is all! Orrr if you'd like an anti-Saints agenda reason; 'Master Les' will use his mighty hand, which he has built the strength of by collecting briefcases full of the $$$ of other teams during his favourite hobby (asset stripping), to smite Clod Pooel down if he DARES to not use the academy players.

I think it'll be this team: Forster Cedric Van Dijk Yoshida McQueen JWP Romeu Hojbjerg Sims Long Redmond

They act as though they're above this type of chanting, yet there are numerous instances of their fans chanting at United supporters about the Munich disaster. Surprised no opposing fans ever mention the Heysel disaster; for which a group of their supporters were actively at fault and convicted of manslaughter. Not that chanting about something that awful should be condoned in any way as it is in very poor taste, but considering the malicious nature of the football crowd mentality at times it's strange that it's never really brought up by the (many) people who dislike Liverpool FC.

Good post.

Hahaha I'm fairly certain that the article directly relates to some posts from here. His 'sources' appear to be anonymous posters on a public internet forum. What a joke of a journalist.

In my opinion, Koeman with a full pre-season uninterrupted by an international tournament and with a more settled squad did far worse in Europe than Puel did. Not saying Puel did well by any means, but the pedigree of Sparta and Inter, along with Hapoel Be'er Sheva who are absolutely blitzing their league last time I checked and came from behind to beat Inter in both matches vs. them was greater than that of Midtjyland.

Not sure anyone thought that. Boufal was seen as Mane's replacement I believe. Don't let the facts get in the way of you being smarmy and self-righteous though...

It's been pretty bloody obvious from all the speculation that he's been posturing for a move or a massive wage and contract length increase since the Summer. From the evidence we have I reckon that Fonte's October 2015 contract had an option to extend by another year and match the club's highest earner which triggered at the end of the season. I think that he stalled on this in the hope that the Euros would boost his profile and either Saints would offer him even more in an entirely new contract OR another club would come and do so. No offers arrived, the club refused to budge, Fonte stayed quiet for the most part, but did mouth off with that ambiguous social media post to arouse some speculation and keep fans on side. Sure no 'new' contract was offered, but the existing one probably had the aforementioned option triggered which he might not have 'rejected', but he didn't accept. Instead he wanted more money and maybe more years to guarantee future income, or like I said, hoped another club would come in for him.

That is utterly, utterly atrocious defending and unforgivably poor goal keeping.

Are Nice fans genuinely delighted he left or is that a sweeping generalisation without a shred of evidence?

Are they? I'd hazard a guess that they're at least a little bit more well off given their consistent top flight status and new sugar daddy owner. That, combined with their higher sponsorship and ticket revenue for many years as well as a lower debt figure means that I'd actually say my guess isn't actually that hazardous. Interesting also that you would consider spending greater sums of money as the 'brave' option. You've changed your tune from before where you've seemed to suggest that you would consider spending a lot more cash the safer 'open goal' option? I mean, it will obviously guarantee that step to the next level which clubs such as QPR, Newcastle, Palace and Stoke have clearly made? Anyway, if you get a moment to spare from sifting through those swathes of PMs then maybe you'd like to clarify your opinions.

As in Van Dijk will leave in this window if Fonte doesn't?

Christ, anyone who claims Pardew is a better manager than the one we currently have is either trolling (fair play if you are because you've hooked me in), or utterly deluded in my opinion. The guy has proven time and again in his previous jobs that he is an impact man at best. Can get a group rallied together for a few months to a year until he has to adjust tactically because his side has been figured out, and it all goes to pot when he can't do that. Happened at West Ham, happened at Newcastle and has happened at Palace. I honestly think that whilst Cortese had a lot of flaws, knowing when to make key decisions on managerial appointments was not one of them; because I believe whilst credit is due for the foundations he helped lay for our success, Pards would have been found out here too had he been in charge for another season. I mean just look at his record in 2016 in terms of points per game... Palace are 92nd out of 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League for 2016. Dead last behind York City who were relegated from League 2 last season. They only don't have their lowest EVER points per game average in their history because there were only 2 points for a win back in the early 70s. I think most will agree that is absolutely criminal with their squad.

Watched a full replay of the match expecting to see total dross with one good shot from Boufal being the difference between the two. In truth though the negative nellies on here are exaggerating (as per) what was an okay home performance against a team that came to be solid and defend but were not on our level in terms of quality; this with an under strength team from us as well. Yes, the first half wasn't memorable but it wasn't like Boro troubled us at all other than through our own doing. The second half was better and I'd go so far as to say that we were actually quite good and thought Rodriguez looked better for getting a full 90. The problem is that expectations have been raised so much by our success, meaning that what in previous seasons would have been satisfactory (i.e. a fairly routine home win) is now not good enough.