SWANSEA AT ST MARY'S

Well would certainly hope Mane is on the bench to give us some options

I'm getting bad vibes about this one. Not helped by Cork's transfer to them, even though he can't play for them. Hope i'm wrong.

If we play like we did last week then we will be in trouble, although expect Yoshida to start he normally needs a couple of games to get back to pace of premiership when he has been away. To cold for Tadic so should keep him on the bench as well as Mane. For me key is to get the midfield working this week so would have Reed in with Davis, JWP, just wish another midfielder to go in there but until Vic and Morgan are back plus any replacement for Corkie an area we are short. That is why I think he will stick with 4 3 3 and one of Tadic or Mane will start with Pelle and Elia.

Critical game as one we must win to maintain our challenge. If we had Toby, Vic and Morgan there would not be worried but we are light up front and think will be a draw 1 - 1 with our goal from a set piece. great opportunity for Elia or Tadic to stake a claim not so sure they will and bit unfair on Elia who has only been here a couple of weeks.

Juts heard the wind whistling around my back garden, bloody freezing!

As expected Mike your bad feeling was correct. Awful game ,one of the worst referee displays I have seen. Of out now so will add some later but Tadic awful, again! Forster poor game JWP poor, Koeman odd decisions Reed was probably best midfield player and taken off and left us with just 2 proper midfield players. Mane came on and at least added some pace

Forster 6 accept he is learning even at 26 but convinced Boruc is currently the better goalie
Clyne 6 poor game by his standard, missed some tackles caught out of position.
Yoshida 6 did okay for first game back
Fonte 7 still only player we can rely on to give 100% bet he is looking forward to Toby coming back
Bertrand 7 was livelier than Clyne, some good crosses and in my view harshly treated on the red card.
Davis 6, again gave the ball away to often in midfield
JWP 5 formation didn't help him but unable to tackle or win high balls so is lost in central midfield, should be on bench next week.
Reed 6 had a decent game not great at going forward but his natural potion is DM, only midfield player who tried to tackle Shelvey despite the smallest
Tadic 5 based on effort and desire would have been lower, simply doesn't try but still technically good. several bad crosses when he then blames other players for not making runs, despite it was his poor ball.
Elia 6 at least did some tackles though wasn't a great goal threat
Pelle 6 no support what so ever, no protection from Oliver trys hard but we need other threats to easy for opposition to double up on him

Subs Mane 7 did at least provide a threat going forward.

As I said before the game the formation was always going to be an issue and so it proved. When he took Reed off the obvious choice would have been Tadic or Elia to maintain the midfield. taking off Reed was a dumb move and left us exposed and in last 30 minutes there were several occasions when Swansea hit us on the break as the most effective DM player had been taken off. Do like Koeman but he seems to have a loyalty to his own players over players already here, why I think Cork was left hanging around for several months before contract offer and Tadic, yet again stays on the pitch for the whole game. Fairly sure any other manager would haul him off for lack of effort and failure to be a team player.

We did have chances and if we had a another half decent striker in the team, or an attacking midfield player willing to get in the opponents box we could have won comfortably. Ward Proswe is one who cannot be criticised by some but his inability to score means as a midfield layer he is limited, a weak header and weak shot at goalie poor returns and never remotely looks like scoring, hopefully he will score soon and will give him confidence but aside from his goal scoring ability he need to man up, gets bullied off the ball and never wins an aerial challenge. Interesting as on this performance and last few weeks I would have Cork ahead of him all the time.

Forster is another worry, his decisions making is odd and he does not command his 6 yard box and positioning seems suspect.
Cannot come soon enough for our injured trio of Morgan, Vic and Toby to return but the failure to sign another striker with the injury a week ago to Long shows a lack of commitment at board level or a sense of urgency. Some of the summer signings seemed to be a last minute deal and in many ways think driven by Koeman who probably bullied them into action. Obviously still 4th at beginning of feb is an excellent achievement but we could push on with some modest investment and wonder of the board really want Champions league as that will bring better players with higher salaries.

Thanks for your report and comments Matty.

On Sky after the match RK said there was likely to be a signing tomorrow..........MLT thinks it will be a striker to take pressure off Pelle. I hope MLT is right but all the newspaper gossip seems to be about Vilhena and Djuricic, both midfielders.

Don't much like the look of the table after this weekend's results.  Man United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool are all getting good results and Saints will have to work hard....and be lucky.....to finish in the top 6.

Squad looks very weak now for strikers, Djuricic will be the only signing by the looks of it, my mate said he's a striker, I pointed out he hasn't scored for over a year and not in his last 22 games, looks like Ramerez style.

Think the club have really messed up here and still seemed hung up over money yet made huge profit form sales in summer which should have covered the debt they had and spending a small amount now could have had big payback

Thanks for the report Matty, a poor result.