Ouch, not so good then if that is true. So we could potentially be without Mulgrew, Lenihan and now Williams? January cannot come quick enough - we need a CB. Well Evans is suspended anyway so we knew about that one and we have players perfectly suited to replace him.

I would not call Graham in form either really - should have scored at least one last time out. He has been playing well all season admittedly but he is nowhere near the top scorers in the division. I know his role is not really all about goals as a target man and he has a more important job of bringing others in to play but to say he and especially AA are the most in-form in the division is way over the top.

Not really suggesting we make 3-5 changes each game - just that its hardly the worst game of the season to rest a few that are carrying them, probably one of the best in fact. We have some decent squad depth now and some of us have been saying we would like to see some of them a bit more. Those players coming in will also see it as a chance to push themselves into better contention for future games as well. I would certainly rather rest these players now while we have a chance so that they can recover. Knocks wise who do we think it is? We know Raya and Mulgrew but who could the other three be? Dack perhaps, Graham I would suggest as he picks them up quite regularly - as for the third, could be anyone to be honest.

Kind of agree in regards to having two similar players at the same time on the field but this is how TM likes to play - at least against the better teams. Would prefer Reed alongside one of them instead ideally.

To be honest, if there are a few others with knocks and we could be seeing up to five changes for this game - I am not sure this would be such a bad thing. We might get to see Rothwell, Palmer, and Brereton from the start. Reed might get played in CM and perhaps even Rodwell will get more minutes somewhere. Either that or we end up with no strikers on the field etc. Not the worst game to suffer in terms of knocks.

Pretty much how he is viewed here too. Nobody can doubt his desire and workrate and he gets some of the dog work done so our more advanced players can do their job. Not bad in goal too.

How do you know this for certain?

Bell initially looked a good upgrade on Williams at LB purely because he tried to get forward a bit more. However, rarely does he ever manage to do anything when he gets there. Rarely do I see him cross and he always seems to cut back before playing it back - if he has not lost it by then. He has a bit of pace and is a bit better with the ball at his feet than Williams but I am not sure he knows what his feet are going to do next sometimes. There must have been some very poor LBs in L1 to have been voted into the Team of the Season purely on the back of half a season at Fleetwood. Still young and didnt cost the earth though, so hopefully he can push on a bit but right now I would be selecting Williams over him.

Must be absolutely gutting for the lad. Successive injuries like that dont only damage you physically but also mentally as well. He will be too scared to run eventually and that will make him half the player he is. Imagine being a young England youth international seemingly with a good footballing career in front of you that is now seriously looking under threat.

Like that team but cannot see it happening unfortunately. Shows our improved strength in depth though when you look at that bench and see five players that could quite easily start. Bennett will get in somewhere, probably instead of one of Palmer or Rothwell, doubt BB will start though I would like him to and dont think Rodwell will displace Smallwood (though he should).

The Spurs link keeps popping up and I am not sure where it has come from other than it probably being lazy journalism linking him to a London club. I just cannot see it happening. While I think he will play PL football at some point, I do not think he is quite ready for it yet. He is still coming to terms with the Championship for the first time and while he has done well so far, you can see that he is not finding it so easy. Dack has not been the dominant force in the Championship that he was in L1 as of yet but this is mainly because he is singled out every game as most teams know all about him being our most dangerous player. We also play a cautious game with two defensive minded CMs most of the time that struggle to feed him - which will not suit him. Still, he shows bits of magic here and there and can always be counted on popping up with the goals.

Not biting this time - Will leave it to Dreams of 1995 above.

I think it was a pretty clear pen though he did buy it a bit. Their defender should not be making a rash tackle like that anyway, BB was not really going anywhere.

I will say top ten with an outside chance of sneaking the playoffs. This squad will not get relegated unless we somehow capitulate but with the attitude and professionalism of our group as a core, this will never happen. I say outside chance of the playoffs simply because of how the league has gone so far. Very few points separate the top 8 , (5) and no team has looked like running away with it just yet. Leeds and Derby seem to be the two that look the most likely of pulling away as I expect Sheff Utd and Boro to drop away a little. There have been crazy results with any team seemingly able to beat anyone else on their day. If we can strengthen well in January and get a bit luckier with injuries and the season carries on being so unpredictable,you never know, we could just scrape them but then I wouldnt reaally fancy us winning them (though again, you never know). Top ten and I would be extremely happy as my expectations at the start were to just consolidate in this league after our first season back.

Sounds crazy really but probably not far off in todays market but would probably be structured over a few years rather than up front. Is right on the fringes of the Southampton squad in a similar way to Travis is here I guess and has impressed in the Championship for the last two seasons now. Honestly cannot remember a bad game from the lad. As a regular reader of other fans forums as well, other than Dack, he is the player most say they really like the look of and would have him in their team. Leeds and WBA fans most recently have rated him having played against us. If fans are taking notice, you can only imagine other clubs will be too. If we only did one bit of business in January I would hope it would be to secure him, though a CB would be quite nice too.

We were the better side I thought, just they set up more positively in games where we were quite conservative on the whole. Whatever though, it worked and we got up so who cares. We were the better side in both games against them too and should really have had more points from them.

Want Southampton to stay up for one reason only - enhancing our chances of signing up Reed permanently.

Ref was pretty awful it has to be said, not only did he continually allow them to get away with their stalling tactics throughout the game and then book one of ours for doing it near the end but on one occasion he pulled play back himself when we took a quick throw in that was perfectly legal. players were livid and rightly so as we were in behind.

Dont think there is a single standout side in this division. Leeds looked it early on but as we know, they are more than beatable on the day. Side note, Ipswich fans must be sick being bottom while Norwich are top - wonder how their hounding out of MM will be debated if they get relegated?

Bumley and Uddersfield down and us up and Accy up and I will be in dreamland. Quite like the championship though tbf.

As Roversfan said, I can recall only one person writing off BB as a player. The debate has not been about the player, it is the transfer, the position he has been playing and whether it was the right piece of business. I gave BB praise after Leeds and also after this game in the short cameos that we have seen of him, my opinion of him as a player have yet to be formed however, as we simply have not seen enough of him yet. There is something there and he seems mature for his age which is always a good sign. Also, it seems like he has a good relationship with the players already. Just want to see more of him as it is difficult to form an opinion of a player when he comes on essentially just to close out a game - which admittedly he has done very well at.

Nothing in that throw really, soft throw of the ball to the back - though have seen players booked for that kind of thing before. He was really frustrated as were others such as Armstrong with the slowing down tactics and like you said, it showed and was nice to see. Was brilliant seeing QPR then complaining to the referee when we employed those tactics at the end - when they should be instead of throughout the entire match.

When BB pretended he thought a throw-in was a corner and put the ball there to waste more time was epic - Ref didnt think so though ha-ha.

Dack has been very quiet in recent weeks but he still always tries to make things happen. He played a fantastic ball yesterday, crossfield with the outside of his foot. He has real quality but just seems to be a bit off the boil at the moment.

Best two minutes of the game that was - wish just shows how dreadful the actual match was but he and Dack were class for that two minutes in the corner.