Team is in - Walker really the only major addition at RB. Everyone else is as expected.

Well surely we won't go in 1 0 up at half time! That'll be a turn up.

We need to re-group for the second half. If we keep on backing off Swansea, then they are going to score sooner of later. Bony is looking really dangerous every time he gets the ball, I wouldn't say no to us buying him in the Summer!

Decent half. Nothing amazing, but we've looked ok in horrible conditions.

Another powder puff performance from Lamela though. Maybe he's a player we save for home matches in better conditions ?

well it was always going to be him i suppose

You wouldn't bet against Bony at the moment.

So fortunate we got that early goal, we cannot string a pass together at the minute.

Just goes to show how many millions it takes to buy mediocrity.

Christian bloody Eriksen .. again

I can't think of any conditions in which Lamela would justify a place in the team at the moment. He surely only gets in because Lennon and Townsend have been equally hopeless lately.

We came back stronger in the end but it was a fortunate 3 points....

Nicked the bloody 3 points despite being under the cosh for long periods. Back up to 7th.

Soldado and Lamela were both poor. Good to see Stambouli get a run out as sub,

Lucky escape there against a very good side who look better playing our passing style than we do. We struggled for 75% of the game to string more than two passes together, we were too lightweight in midfield and in difficult conditions our supposedly technical players wanted too many touches. Happy we got the points but still too many players not contributing enough.

I still like him because i think he's got some fantastic skills and ideally he should be our main flair player, but at the moment I'm half of a mind to consider sacrificing him in the transfer market and using the money to bring in possibly two new players who would be better suited to the pace and physicality of the premier league.


I do feel desperately sorry for Soldado because i do think his game just isn't going to work in this country. You can certainly notice in a lot of games at the moment that he's not making runs to try and find space and he's certainly not chasing down the goalkeeper in case of any loose balls like he used to do when he first joined.

His link up play is very good though, so I suppose I wouldn't want to move him on unless we got an adequate replacement.

But then I do think we need to go all out ot Wednesday. Massive game against Newcastle which will do the team's confidence the power of good if we get through it and make the semi's.

Cant help but wonder where we would be in the table if we has some home form?

I'm a harsh critic of Lemala, complete waste of money IMO - we got robbed. Today however he was certainly grafting in midfield and getting stuck in with moderate success, a good away performance from him.

got to love how MOTD went to great lengths tonight to stress that Kane absolutely definitely 100% did not dive, and got straight up etc etc....yet slated Vertonghen for two straight weekends for absolutely definitely 1000% not diving, and getting straight up against Hull.

To be honest, that's probably a large part of what is keeping him in the side at the moment. Despite being apparently able to be knocked off the ball by someone breathing on him, he does, to channel my inner pundit, tend to put in a shift when he's playing - he seems to press more than most of the side in a lot of games.

I think if that side of his game faded then he'd certainly be dropped.

I just don't see Lamela's "fantastic skills". His control often lets him down, there's very rarely any end product and for all his hard work he seems unable to tackle without fouling. Plus (and not for the first time) he was lucky not to be sent off yesterday. I want him to be a success but by now he should be showing us something to justify the huge transfer fee. How long are we going to wait?

I agree about Soldado. His confidence is obviously so shot that even the goal against Everton hasn't helped. He still misses easy chances and if he's not going to score then at least I think he should work hard but I don't think he did that yesterday, failing to challenge for the ball on a number of occasions. he looked thoroughly fed up when he was substituted yesterday almost like he has given up.

Because Lamela is still young then there is still potential but I agree that is is all about end product and we have enough players already who rarely produce this.

Any one else like the look of Wilfried Bony? He presents a constant threat in the area and is a real handful for defences. Swansea seemed resigned to losing him sooner or later. It just a question of price.

Can't help thinking what a different proposition we would be if we had him up front.

On Lamela I see a player who has no confidence in his right foot at all, not for controlling the ball or making passes. Playing on the right it means he constantly has to turn inside onto his stronger foot. His game is also not helped by the lack of movement by our players around him which is why he is often caught in possession. His game is about quick passes and movement and he would be far more effective playing the LWF or no.10 role and getting into the box. Unfortunately, I think he will be sold if not in Jan then probably in the summer either back to Italy or to Spain where I am sure he will become a top player.

The Europa League draw is up live now and we have just been drawn against Fiorentina.

Result papers over the cracks really. A win is a win, but we won't get enough in this manner.

On Soldado, it's proving a real problem, but feel he was originally purchased, on the style we were playing of wide wingers and crosses for him to come onto. This tight through the middle stuff doesn't suit and he is now so low on self belief, it probably won't work out for him. Still at least playing two up front gives a better chance of some success.

Sodado really did look dejected. He usually works hard so does contribute something in games though obviously not goals. It was almost like he had given up v Swansea. Can't be fun with Kane making scoring look easy.