cityfanlee23

Feel sorry for Iversen, easily championship level and arguably could go steady in some prem teams, came in when we needed him, at a time where the entire squad was putting him under needless pressure every 30 seconds and held his own. Made some mistakes as everyone does but was nowhere near at fault for us going down, he was actually one of the players that you could argue was a high point of the season because of the way he unburdened us from Danny Ward. He deserves a move in January.

Agree with both of you tbh, Russell drove well today and deserved 4th. But he was clearly holding up Lewis for a long time. Lewis gets massive credit there for not attacking George until the final lap. If hypothetically George had swapped positions with Lewis when they caught up, no doubt in my mind Lewis would have got Lando and very likely Sainz.

Felt massively for Charles, Ferrari made the right call to double stack, nailed the pitstop but got held up in traffic, from that point Charles was in an uphill battle.

VAMOS!!!! Masterful drive from Sainz, probably one of the best drives i've seen in many years. At every single step of that race he had to allow the car behind him to have DRS so that he could hold up the rest of the field, whilst managing his tyres enough to keep that gap stable. Fully deserved, brilliant drive! Fantastic from Lando too defending the faster mercs. Hamilton imo deserved 3rd as he was clearly much faster than George but was patiently playing the team game hoping George would get the move done, I imagine Lewis was having to fight his own instincts there to not attack George. Felt he deserved 3rd but also really sad to see George lose it at the end, he deserved 4th minimum. Strategic masterclass from Sainz, incredibly slept on driver who is coming into his own now.

For anyone that had been following St Etienne, where did it all go wrong? Did Puel contibute to the decline or was he joining a poisoned chalice? It seemed to me that he was fighting the tide when he was there but i've not really paid a huge amount of attention to them, I know they have a record of selling their best players and then pretty much refusing to spend anything, so how did they get to this point?

Mega lap from George and huge from Carlos, said before he's criminally underrated and looks to be getting to grips with this car, and Ferrari look to be heading in the right direction. Big big lap from Carlos and really hope he can drive tomorrow like he did in Monza

Exciting 3 mins to go!

I know RB were expecting this would be a track they would struggle at, but christ, Q2 exit for both cars?? I don't think they dreamed it would be this bad.

I'll keep banging this drum but I think considering he's spent his career as a very rigid defensive midfielder who's main role has been pretty basic in breaking up play and moving the ball to the midfielders next to him to allow them to progress it forward, with that context I think Ndidi has been massively impressive, he's probably playing the most dynamic position in the team. One minute he's outside of our box defending, the next he's moving into a channel between the opponents full back and central defender, the next he's 1 on 1 with the keeper. It's just been such a tactical leap from his old role to his new role and I think with that in mind he's doing a fantastic job. He was one of the players that I argued we should not sell even with the 15m bids people were talking about as I was hoping he would find some of his old form, but the trajectory he's on right now, if he continues he could end up one of our most pivotal players.

He looks like a really raw talent, a rough diamond that needs to be shaped. Does the basics but is susceptible to mistakes that I think will be ironed out with experience. Lot of potential there if he continues to be given chances.

I still feel like we are missing a link at times between the midfield and attack, this is one of the first games where the opposition havent parked the bus, infact I think Southampton had a morris minor for most of the game, but this is one of the first games where Vardy actually has space to move into and wasnt constantly marked by 2 defenders but we just didnt have the link to get the ball into him. Unfortunately for Vardy he spent a lot of this game being forced to try to make things happen off the ball. I'm really hoping once Alves gets fit he gets a few chances as he's somebody that would really drive into that space.

Love it. Keep em in check I have to stop myself with these kinds of comments sometimes

I think that's that little bit of class shining through, some players just have that peripheral vision and ability to know exactly what's going on around them without having to check. I know the levels are different so this is not a direct comparison, but the last player I saw at their relative level that was able to just effortlessly know and judge everything around them was Cambiasso. At times Winks makes really tight situations just look effortless, very tidy on the ball.

Think we have a genuine premier league signing here. If we go up this season and stay up next season I think this lad could end up being a player we are desperately hanging onto. He's slotted straight in and been one of our best players, few mistakes here and there but overall once he irons out a few creases he could be the next Kasper for us.

How did he end up in this division? Do we have some dirt on somebody? He could easily slot into a team like West Ham or Brentford.

It really has been a while since I've seen a team SO OPEN in every area of the pitch. Quite hard to understand or work out what exactly Martin is telling them to do.

Will watch this soon but actually now that I think of it, how many times have we seen that Kevin De Bruyne cross from that right sided 8 position where he either clips it into the back post, or puts in a fast whipped crossed curled across the box. Makes sense!

Huge step forward tonight. I think we definitely need to tighten up on our finishing as we were gifted so many chances and could have scored about 9 or 10. Other teams won't give us such space to play into so these chances won't come as often. But overall massive improvement.

He's adapted really well. Considering just how high our defensive line plays most of the time, you'd think it would be the worst nightmare for a defender like Yan, but he's really stepped up the plate and could become a really solid player for us. I was really excited when we signed him based on his performances at Southampton the season or so before we signed him. The year before he joined he properly fell off for Southampton and I thought maybe we can rejuvenate him, and he was awful, I believed like others that he was finished. So this has been a really pleasant surprise as he seems like genuine sort of guy that wanted to make it work all along, so glad to see it starting to click for him.

I often feel like a broken record on here and I do tend to vocalise the more pessimistic side of things but I think many of us do that. We've been spoiled for years and we've seen just how fast it can be thrown away. Completely agree with you, the job Maresca has on his hands is huge, and I don't think us fans even see a fraction of the job he's doing to be grinding out results and getting over the line with such a monumental shift in style, asking players to play positions they have never played, playing roles they've never played. Who'd have thought Ndidi would be playing as a makeshift Box to Box/Attacking midfielder and actually doing okay? Ricardo slotting into midfield? Yannick Beckenbauer defending with 50 yards behind him etc etc. And I do admit often I'm probably a bit harsh in terms of the standards I expect, and the results i'm ecstatic with, but I do feel like before tonight we have looked at times like a team who had only played 10 games as I think often we've been a bit disjointed. That's not to say we won't improve, I thoroughly believe we will continue to improve, however I think many fans take the approach of just assuming it will definitely click soon and we will set sail on HMS PTL, for me I'm a bit more cautious on that front, once it starts to flow and we put together performances like tonight 3-4 games in a row I will soon come around. I fully back what Enzo is trying to achieve, I was excited by the prospect of what he wants, I'm very much a fan of the Red Bull system so seeing a manager who wants to build up play with players drifting all over the pitch resonates with me, but it takes a hell of a shift to actually make it work as many managers have found who have attempted it in Europe. Tonight was a huge step! Edit: Just to clarify when I make the Red Bull comparison, I'm not saying EM is trying to adopt the Red Bull style, I mention it in the context that RB teams typically rip of the traditional tactical approach and that's what Enzo is trying to achieve here.

I'll nominate myself to hold you accountable if you even try. If you ever feel like you're getting over him or forgiving him let me know i'll give you a list of things he's done

Christ I felt for him that game, one of the few players on the pitch giving absolutely everything but it just wouldn't fall for him, the quality of individuals in that game was absolutely horrendous

For me my criticism prior to tonight was based on me feeling like we were trying to bypass the structure bit and run before we could walk. After 2 years of getting the basics wrong It's been concerning to see us creating so many needless opportunities for the opposition, even tonight I think we've created most of Southampton's chances by just trying to overplay. Hopefully this is a defining moment for us as so far this season I think we've ridden our luck too often, tonight we've played well but with how awful Southampton have been I still think it's hard to judge

Wouldn't be surprised if Southampton sack Martin and go all out to bring Hassenhuttl back.

Largely agree with this, we have huge defensive frailties still and as awful as Southampton are we have given them too many opportunities to punish us and that's been a theme of this season. I'm not getting carried away yet, I don't think it's "clicked" yet as some may feel, but I think tonight we've been competent enough to take advantage of some of the worst defensive structure i've ever seen from the opposition tonight.