buzza

A bit of improvement on his defending and covering for the left back and he might prove a useful player, but would much rather we brought Aarons on instead...

Williamson out and Dunk in would leave me thinking this window has been great business for us. He sounds like he is just what we are looking for, young , talented and tall (desperately need a good header of ball). Why don't we include Gouffran in the deal ?

...or is allowed to be depending on who's coaching and managing him. Virtually impossible for any player to move to a new country, language and league and prosper under the likes of Pardew and Carver. I'd be prepared to give him this season to see if he can adapt, write the first year off. Yes, agree completely. Who played well last year? janmaat and ... oh well

shirked

Not bothered about him anymore tbh, I liked watching him but we have so many options for that no 10 role he doesn't even matter really. Back during Pardew's time it did because he was really the only one. I didn't like him because he shired far too many fifty fifty challenges for me, yes he is technically gifted but he must also be willing to get in amongst it in the prem or he is of no use to us (see david silva for example... bar high!)

Yep, I would go with that formation! I think everyone on here wants to see Ayoze because he has the ability to change games with his trickery and vision as well as having an eye for goal and based upn last seasons efforts. We all know de jong should be reaching a level where he contributes " a la Nolan" to the team but he isn't there yet. Do we sacrifice the progress made by Ayoze to wait on DJ coming good or start him now... to be or not to be???

So we have Obertan, aarons, sissoko, ayoze, cabella and the Gouff for the wide positions, and Gini, ayoze, SDJ for the No10 position. Personally I would go for Aarons and sissoko in the LW/RW positions and depending on where schteve wants to play Gini, ayoze/SDJ?cabella competing for the No10

Yep, loan him out, get rid of willo and sign another proven CB and we are in Schtevie wonderland!

Wonder if he'll make it into the match day squad soon, midfield competition is intense!

Just my opinion, you don't have to agree. In love with Ayoze that's all!

not dismissing him or writing him off, just looks like he is three yards (not one) off the pace at the moment, has looked similar in the pre-season games also. Yes, he has good touch and control, holds the ball up well also, but when you see him run it looks like he's in slow motion FFS! Hope to be proved totally wrong and he becomes a first rate Nolan type for us... fingers crossed P.S. Still think Ayoze deserves to be in that 10 role before Siem just based on last seasons displays

Really want to see ayoze on the pitch next match, don't want to see de jong unless we are protecting a two goal lead (experience + calm). Wouldn't mind seeing Aarons aswell although think Schteve will go with Obertan after his assist last week.

Well said mate; voice of reason. Only minor disagreement, pure opinion, is he has been (for us and the Mac-na-maras) a solid 6+ out of ten player. He is reliably above average and consistently puts in 'discretionary effort'; gives his all. A rare rather than 'to be expected' quality in premiership/any footballers, or any other job role. The fact he puts in 100% effort every game and is consistently 6+ rated he is a valuable asset to us until we actually sign an authentic "pirlo"

I would prefer to see Ayoze in the number 10 role, we have seen what he can do attacking wise and he puts in a shift defensively aswell. Better the devil you know than the pensioner devil to play

Problem is he looks soooooo slow... Really worried about this, can he cut the Prem or is he another brother of the same name...

P.S. After years of putting up with Cashley, Pardle and Charver, the whole of this board is stuck in moan/depresssion mode even though there are reasons to be cheerful!

Haidara and colo are useless Mbemba, sissoko and Wijnaldum are ace Steve Mc made the wrong substitutions Every body hates Ginger jack, even though he had a decent game

Can we not invent some rumours about an aggressive, tall, ball playing centre back???

Yes, the passing game we played was nice to see and we have players capable of doing so. makes a huge difference when you have two centre backs who are capable of passing and dribbling (go on Mbemba!) the ball out of defense. Been mentioned a couple of times that our CBs went wide, the full backs pushed up to the halfway and our DMs dropped to receive... the proper way to play football! not just a long punt up the field hoping that the 50% chance goes our way, knowing that our centre forward has no chance against two large lumps (Bless him - Cisse), like our previous incumbents/incompetents used to play...

It is obvious that the left side of our defense was suspect yesterday and at fault (in part) for both goals. i am not sure whether it is ring rust for Colo or not but he just wasn't up to standard and got beaten on a couple of one on ones which he normally excells at. haidara was awful defending crosses coming in from his flank yesterday, he reminded me of a certain mr simpson who used to back off and give wingers space...

As somebody said above, he keeps us ticking over with short no nonsense passing. I would also agree that he, in reality, is no Pirlo, but we know what he does and he does it week in week out, therefore giving a sense of security and consistency in a position that in time will get an updgrade. He gives 110% which for me is decent enough, his ability is what it is and until we sign an upgrade give the lad a break...FFS!

A bit daft to be honest, but liked the fact he was desperate to impress. Held the ball up well a couple of times and showed he has some strength. Time will tell...

Played well I thought, made some of his characteristic player beating power runs. Faded in second half. Good to see he seems interested.

Main Negatives for me were Colo and Haidara, Colo was way off he pace and doesn´t look like a prem defender, haidara was good going forward but his defensive work was really bad. Other negatives were Mclaren´s substitutions, they just didn´t work and he should have been looking to hold Southampton further back by introducing pace (Aaarons/Perez), Tiote killed our formation as both he and colback tend to sit, De Jong is still not the right pace for me, he was nowhre near the play the whole game. Positives were Mbemba (after goal), Anita, sissoko and wijnaldum. I would rather see aarons but Obertans got the assist so fair enough.

Colo was very poor today I thought. Chancel had no chance against pelle for that first goal tbh, specially after haidara failed again to block the cross...