mrfahaji

For those coming up on the train, might also be worth considering the London Overground train which runs from Clapham Junction all the way to Highbury & Islington. Takes a bit (10 mins) longer than tube but could potentially save time if there are problems on the Victoria.

Haha, yeah the post above is a little misleading - go to 35 mins expecting to see a "notorious" person, and up pops Les Reed! Thought Channon's sideburns was just joking around until the video moved on to a different person a few minutes later.

Despite the interest from Liverpool, Man City and even perhaps the likes of Barcelona, I was hopeful we might keep hold of him for at least another season. But now Everton are interested we've got no hope.

In addition, we should remember that Martina is technically our third choice right back. Is it any wonder that there are times he doesn't play well?!

The formation wasn't hugely different to what we've used previously. In fact, since Austin has been first choice, we have played more of a 4-3-3 than 4-4-2. Aince the 4-4-2 is a diamond, the two are very similar anyway. Edit: Can't believe so many of us have bitten...!

And yet wasn't it Targett that he humuliated after a (Leicester?) game and used him as an example as to why the young players weren't good enough?

Shock horror that a mid-table football team has ups and downs during a season! I'm still a bit concerned that our squad isn't strong enough to fight effectively on all three/four fronts this year, and we do struggle against teams that sit back. But truth be told, isn't that the case for every team? Liverpool only just managed to break through at home to Sunderland at the weekend, and Tottenham are out the Champions League despite not having the toughest group in the world.

True! One passage of play summed up the main issue I have with Redmond at the moment. Sims did some skill, beat his man and put over a great ball, which was deflected away by an excellent clearance. Everton were on the back foot, we had 5 men in and around the box and the loose ball ended up on the left at the feet of Redmond. He then just stood there with it for about 5 seconds (which seems like an age), eventually passing back to Bertrand, by which time the entire Everton team were back to defend. The move ended when Redmond tried to take someone on and went down too easily. I think Redmond does his duty well enough, but he's supposed to be a pacey, tricky winger-come-striker. Would like to see a bit more sharpness from him to make things happen.

Maybe, but can't help feeling it's more to do with the team selection and our 'second XI' not being good enough (or perhaps just not the right combination of players).

YES! One in the eye for Ronald, especially with a youngster playing such an important role. Makes such a difference having a midfielder (Hojberg today) in that central pairing prepared to show a bit of forward impetus. Romeu's presence allows them to do so too.

Why does kicking the ball straight into the keeper's hands in the dying minutes at home to Everton always give me shivers...?!

Final ball just not coming off at the moment, we either make the right choice but don't quite execute it, or we hesitate and give them a chance to get back

Shame that logic hasn't worked for Martina!

Don't mind having a few shots from distance but frustrating when there are a few decent passing options on (talking about Redmond's a couple of mins ago)

Have had a sky subscription on my phone with Vodafone for a year, went to load the match and told it'a not working. My dad had a similar problem so phoned to ask if he ever sorted it, he answered with "Great stuff hey?!" Bittersweet! Back to buffering online streams today... hopefully we can add some more or at the very least hang on!

That explains a lot.

Everton & Be'er Sheva. Former for the enjoyment of putting one over my now most hated team in the division, the latter because it would be nice to qualify in the Europa. For the purpose of this exercise I think it makes sense to assume we'd lose the other two. Obviously that wouldn't be great but I'd take progression in Europa over progression in League Cup, and an Everton win over a Palace win.

Pretty sure a few people (myself included) said he'd be the ideal player for us in the summer. Now he looks exactly what we are missing.

Referring to my comments a few posts ago, if someone is prepared to pay £11m for Rodriguez, this is why we won't risk him being a flop on a Championship loan...

Rodriguez is currently playing some part in our team at the moment - a few cameos here and there and most of the Europa games. Assuming (and in football, I'm not sure it is that wild an assumption) that any potential suitors aren't coming to watch the games, that still appears like he's a decent player. Ok, he can't get in the team ahead of Austin, but for someone coming back from injury to be fighting for a starting berth at a good team like Southampton is a good sign. He therefore has some sale value. Perhaps Hull, or a Championship side would be interested in buying him. Loan him out to a Championship side and see him struggle to have any sort of impact, who's going to buy him then? And certainly not for any sort of decent price. I wonder if the club are thinking along these lines. If it's a confidence and fitness issue I'm surprised more games with the under 23s aren't happening.

I'm concerned about the lack of preparation time for the post-Europa matches. Presumably the players will be off today, and then training on Saturday? It doesn't leave a lot of time to work on tactics for this game. Or maybe I'm giving too much credit to football clubs assuming they actually do a lot of preparation for matches..!

It does mean that Hapoel will have to attack to an extent though. If they don't score, they're out. It might suit us a little better than if they sat 11 men behind the ball. Having said that, if I was their manager, I'd be instructing them to go hell for leather in the first 10 minutes, nick one and then defend. If that happens we'll struggle to score one, never mind two.

I really don't think we would, but pretty confident we wouldn't score in the away leg.

Certainly tonight. Until Boufal finds his feet (hopefully he does...!), then Tadic is really our only hope of creating anything. When Tadic doesn't play, we have to play Davis. I don't even think he's that good, but at least he shows a bit of purpose going forwards. He carries the ball, does look for forward passes now and again. That's more than we get from JWP and Clasie. Hojbjerg showed signs of it at the start of the season but seems to have lost form completely.

A game built round possession is ok. I prefer to see a mixture of tactics, with a bit more directness at times, but aimless balls forward can be equally if not more infuriating (e.g. Midtjylland!) Agree on the sideways feel though - we hesitate and then take the easy option too often. Then once we have lost momentum and the defence has closed up, we end up trying to force something and lose it anyway! Prime example is when we're on the edge of the box, pass it all the way back to Forster who then boots it forward... what is the point?!