malcolm waldron

Sorry - attacking......??

I see this a lot on here. Is this true? It's a genuine question btw.

I was prepared to give him the Championship season to demonstrate the value for the multi-million outlay, having had a baptism of fire in the Premier League at such a young age. But having watched all the home games last year, and a fair few aways (and then watched all the long form highlights in the summer), I'm struggling to remember many (any?) games where we only got something out of it due to the keeper - apart from Preston away but I don't mean that type of impact. And there were a number of games where I thought how on earth did that go in - Rotherham, Watford, Ipswich and Millwall to name four off the top of my head. Hopefully he can regain fitness and then demonstrate he's improved, or Russell can buy him for £15M when he pitches up at Norwich in the summer.

Do we know if he can play up front? I'm guessing the fact that he's got gloves on means possibly not.....?

I've quite enjoyed a little diversion away from the Saints-related-6-points-by-February depression on here. Can anyone recommend a weekend break in February? Me and the missus are thinking of going somewhere in Eastern Europe.....

Help me out here as I'm not too sure how these complicated deals play out - does that mean we pay them £10 mill at the end of the season to take him off our hands (and significantly reduce the catering bill at Staplewood in the process)?

Would love to have a go at doing one of those but I've limited Photoshop skills unfortunately. It was Photoshop wasn't it? Is there a tutorial on YouTube you can send a link to so that I can try and work out what you did there?

About £120K

I was actually referring to running out of steam in recent matches under Juric, due to the higher intensity and work rate. Under RM I dont remember us running out of steam, I just remember needing to score deep in stoppage time in a few games - and passing free-kicks backwards.

I missed the game so can't comment on the performance unfortunately, but you raise a good point Chez. Did we play the same man for man marking system all over the pitch as in previous Juric games last night? If so (and I thought this during the West Ham game) then the players are going to run out of steam in the second half of matches. So it's back to fitness again. There's been much talk on here about fitness levels not being what they should be (and yes the eyes don't deceive when at the games) but do we know anything definitive on this other then it being another opportunity to bash the previous manager? Goals conceded in the last 15 would feel like one worth looking at. I note we had the same problems under Ralph.

Hopefully Wellington boots it forward early rather than playing round at the back. Sorry if thats an old one - havent gone back and read from the start.

If true then yet again poor and weak decision making from SR. It should have been done 30 mins earlier after the 3rd goal went in....

I didnt think we were bothering much with that this season. Wasn't it all about the vibes and the moments...?

Frannie Benali and James Ward-Prowse to name but two. (I've discounted FB's loan spell at Forest and as soon as JWP left us I declared his career officially over in my mind. If ever I met him I would tell him that.....).

Thank you - couldn't agree more with this. Defensively we're a mess - especially given what 8(?) goals conceded from trying to play out from the 6 yard box - and sadly we haven't got a potent enough strike-force to compensate. All very well if we're winning 4-3 and losing by the same, or drawing 3-3 - but we're not. And therein lies the biggest problem I have with what we're trying to do - it's massively high risk with the quality we have, and there doesn't appear to be a huge upside because we don't score many. From the second goal yesterday and the Everton winner we look a threat on the counter - so should we not play to our strengths rather than exaggerate our weaknesses?

Don't disagree with the sales figure being necessary but those GK, fullback and midfield positions look a weakness to me.

I remember coming away from this one gutted at how we'd given 3 points up to a poor Watford side so easily. Didn't Ralph start Smallbone who had a poor one if it's the game i remember? Anyway, saying all that - watching the highlights makes me yearn for quicker, more incisive forward passing with crosses into the box again.

Couldn't agree more with you - but we saw this time and again last season. Notable games that are sadly lodged in my mind are Rotherham (home), Huddersfield (a) and Watford (a) all drawn, where we'd regain the ball on the edge of our box (because the opposition weren't great) and then very slowly pass the ball in a U shape between CBs and full-backs. Meanwhile the opposition are sprinting back to get in shape meaning 2 mins later, when we've crossed the halfway line, there's nowhere to go because the space is now covered. Hence more possession in our own half and no goal threat. I honestly don't know what we're trying to achieve with this, particularly against better, stronger, fitter more technically capable opponents.

Couldn't agree with this more. I'm really pleased we squeezed through but yet again I'm wondering what exactly it was that we were trying to do with our extremely slow tempo game. Shortly before they scored we'd had ~80% possession, most of it in our own half, yet they'd already had 2 or 3 corners (from 20% of the ball). Two passes after we'd lost possession deep in their half they had a 4th (?) corner - which they scored from. So, although we were dominating the ball it was with no real tempo or threat, and yet they were creating the better chances. It feels like we've been like this for the 4 league games this season so far and for fair few games last season, albeit against teams without the quality to punish us. I'd really like RM to explain why we play the game at such a slow tempo - that simply allows the opposition to regain their shape.

Didn't he take his spreadsheet and contacts list off to Chelsea by the end of the year...??

But as we've said previously, it was fairly obvious to us as fans who have watched these players play at this level previously (that they weren't good enough). And I get the loyalty aspect but all that means is that we've blown some points this season in (at least) two games where we would have expected/hoped to get a result - turning it into a 35 match season. I haven't highlighted Armstrong above because I'm still hoping once he gets a goal he'll come good.....

But shouldn't this have all been sorted out in June, or at least after the more difficult pre-season friendlies. It's no surprise that midfielders are being overrun by pace, power and technical ability this season. I think we knew that was a very high risk when we were all waking up with sore heads on the 27th May. I can understand trying to be loyal but look at the examples of Dean Hammond and Billy Sharp back in 2012. Crucial players the season before, but both thanked and swiftly moved on upon promotion (right at the end of August if sources are correct). Two weeks for management to make some harsh but fair decisions.

But we saw this all the way through last season. I think Rotherham at home (second half) was when it became apparent that, for reasons unknown, there's a collective foot off the pedal phase where we simply shuffle the ball around between CBs and fullbacks, while the opposition sprint back into defensive shape. Huddersfield away and Watford away also stand out - after that I gave up remembering. So doing that got many wins and some frustrating draws. This season's version looks like many defeats and the odd frustrating draw unless we up the tempo significantly. 2nd half against Newcastle was an example of not upping the tempo.

Someone on Twitter apparently

Ipswich bid of £5.25M rejected this morning apparently.....