Thoughts on De Ridder

[Lighthouse]

Was great to see SDR finally getting a start in the first team. I thought he was pretty good personally. Didn't get a lot of the ball and wasn't really on the same wavelength as Butters, but we he did get it he was dangerous and always running at them. A few decent crosses, one which the 'keeper very nearly fumbled at the near post. I think I'd stick with him and give him a run of games to prove himself. Certainly better than Chaplow, Puncheon and Guly have looked in recent games IMO.

[sotonjoe]

Hasn't looked very good recently in my opinion; he was better when he had his two consecutive home starts early in the season. HIs passing was 'mixed' today and his ball control wasn't great either. Shame as I really rated him when he came in, so I hope he can improve.

[Kingsland Red]

Don't agree he was better than Chappers, too much of a one trick pony.

Good impact player though.

[beatlesaint]

I thought De Ridder played really well, was surprised and disappointed that NA took him off to be honest.

Unlike the others that play right midfield he does actually get to the byeline too which is always a bonus.

Would stick with him too, certainly at home.

[Avenue Saint]

Butters didn't look at him let alone him try a thought of actually passing to him.

 

Mixed performance.

 

Needs a run of games.

[Avenue Saint]

I thought De Ridder played really well, was surprised and disappointed that NA took him off to be honest.

Unlike the others that play right midfield he does actually get to the byeline too which is always a bonus.

Would stick with him too, certainly at home.

 

This.

[Latheal]

Thought he was our most dangerous player first half.

[Dalek2003]

I've always rated Butterfield. I presume Richardson is injured ?

[captainchris]

Don't agree he was better than Chappers, too much of a one trick pony.

Good impact player though.

 

The actual evidence supports this. The game changed quite dramatically when Chaplow came on. De Ridder does not make things happen, he doesn't search the ball down - he waits for others to do the work for him, hence when he starts the game often passes him by. Also when he moved up front he was lightweight. Sorry but he will never be anything more than a last 15 mins 'impact' player and I fear he will not make it to the premier league...

[sfc4prem]

Much better than Chaplow, who once again was average.

[Avenue Saint]

Chaplow is coming to back to form. Everyone knows he was outstanding before injury.

 

Put in a good a shift when he came on today.

[70's Mike]

Not convinced about De Ridder, flatters to deceive.

reminds me a bit of Tommy Jenkins and even, for the real oldies, John Sydenham.

Lots of pace and trickery but not always an end product

[beatlesaint]

Lots of pace and trickery but not always an end product

 

I think that describes just about every winger thats ever played professional football.

[jampot]

Thought De Ridder was great today. Sad to see him go off.

[SuperMikey]

Butterfield left him stranded, he didn't want to get up past the touchline so it made SDR's play very one-dimensional. I have to say that I don't really think he plays best up front though, he's better running at his marker from the wing.

 

Thought he was decent today, I rate him and hope we keep hold of him and he's not moved on in the summer.

[LostBoys]

I think he is a bit of a one trick pony. His final ball is normally poor and this is his main drawback

[derry]

If he was given a few decent passes in front of him it would help. Lallana's crap pass behind him when he was right through summed it up. Feeding off scraps.

[doddisalegend]

SDR best spell was after half time, once Lambert came off, when he moved up front he made several good runs at their defence which had the donny defence at 6s and 7s ....still think he is best used as an impact player against tierd defenders late on in the game.

[Saint_John]

For me Steve has alot of INDIVIDUAL skill, but is LIMITED in the systems he can play for the team.

 

Nigel has only ever used him as a wide player in tha "flat 4" midfield system and as one of the 2 forwards. I have never seen him play in a "Diamond" or a "T" type systems that Nigel likes to use (those systems give up more of the ball in central midfield).

 

It was noticable today that when Rickie went off, Steve went up front and we immediately changed from the "flat 4" we had been playing for 50 mins into a "diamond" with Adam at the tip of the diamond and Chaps on the right of the diamond and we looked a better "team" (we started to pass the ball through midfield).

 

All 3 players (Chaps, Guly & Steve) have their value to the team in different systems, i.e. Guly plays very well in a "diamond" and the "T" system (3 advance midfielders but playing narrow, with an anchor behind), but less well when he plays as a wide player in a "flat 4" system.

 

IMO it has been Nigel reading of the game and the changing of systems during a game that has put us the 15-18 points clear of the "playoff pack".

[krissyboy31]

I think he generally flatters to deceive but when he came on on Tuesday he was excellent. Wasn't at the game today though so can't comment on his performance.

[saint-ross]

Much better than Chaplow, who once again was average.

 

ummm, what? Chappers came on and changed the game, closed down, tackled, made decent passes, made things happen. most of the things steve didnt do today. For me it was SDR who was "average".

[Junior Mullet]

Typical SDR performance. For much of the game he looked like being the player who would give us the breakthrough but his final delivery leaves quite a lot to be desired.

[um pahars]

There must be so many different game going on at SMS today. If I could have been bothered to do a player rating post then I would have given De Ridder 4!!!'

 

Might have been because he was asked to hug the touch line, but we were playing with 10 men for lost of the first half. Never got in to the game, never did anything of merit, never contributed, but is good at Tweeting.

 

Flattered to deceive and don't think it's going to get an better

[Sour Mash]

Not been his biggest fan since he joined us, but he's looked good lately. Better than Chaplow I thought. I know everyone will refer to the two goals scored, but I actually thought we played better in the first half.

[BadgerBadger]

Butterfield was carp - Morgan was immense

[doddisalegend]

Butterfield was carp - Morgan was immense

 

Wow shocking a player who has played something like 3 first team games this season (none in a row) was a bit rusty.... while the one who has had a long run of games in the side played really well ....I wonder how that could possibly happen........

[shurlock]

Thought De Ridder looked good up top with this pace- surprised NA changed it.

Chaplow did not do a whole lot (apart from one absolute wonder cross/ball which Sharp contrived to shoulder). Some people on here have blinkers - and to think Guly gets the reverse treatment. Still his introduction allowed us to go a diamond which freed up Lallana who was our main threat in the 2nd half. That said, doubt whether we would have gone to a diamond had Lambert stayed on. He won everything in the 1st half during which we looked quite threatening, even if the final ball wasn't quite there.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Wow shocking a player who has played something like 3 first team games this season (none in a row) was a bit rusty.... while the one who has had a long run of games in the side played really well ....I wonder how that could possibly happen........

 

This ....... is a very fair comment.

 

As for SDR, as others have already said he needs to work on his final ball but I think this lad can play a bit and pace is such a vital asset in tight games he's surely worth a place somewhere in the squad I'd have thought.

 

He's no Michail Antonio however ......

[Thedelldays]

 

He's no Michail Antonio however ......

yes, SDR is miles better

[david in sweden]

Was great to see SDR finally getting a start in the first team. I thought he was pretty good personally. Didn't get a lot of the ball and wasn't really on the same wavelength as Butters, but we he did get it he was dangerous and always running at them. A few decent crosses, one which the 'keeper very nearly fumbled at the near post. I think I'd stick with him and give him a run of games to prove himself. Certainly better than Chaplow, Puncheon and Guly have looked in recent games IMO.

 

 

Surely, there are a number of factors here that many people don't consider directly.

The fact that the players you named aren't running around at 100 mph as they did at the start of the season, is masked by the fact that 40 games on they aren't necessarily as quick and sharp (No, not you Billy )...as they were in August PLUS the fact that the rigourous training that they have had all season may build up strength and endurance - but isn't the same as a measured pre-season build-up where everything can be planned in advance.

Coming back from injury is more than just training with the rest of the lads several days a week. Alan Shearer's famous quote; being match fit is not the same as being fit enough to play.. the above-mentioned players aren't alone in lacking the 110% we have come to expect from players who are " Saints fit ".

Whilst the 30 year old Guly may not have been used to the pace of English football, Adkins has been mindful of this and often subs. him in the last half hour, as also Adam Lallana who has been replaced 4 times in his last 7 starts. You don't have to flog a horse to death to get the required result.

It's silly to expect players to suddenly take up where they left off, just because they are back in the start-line-up. It takes time to build up that good form again.

 

More than ever nowadays, its a squad game (something Nigel Adkins is always first to point out) and because someone is on the bench doesn't mean they are "second-choice" anymore. Having a fresh pair of legs available in the last quarter can mean the difference between winning and losing.

The concept of the " impact player " is seen in a new light now, and De Ridder's three league goals have all come from his sub. appearances, and are only a fraction of the 12 goals scored by oncoming subs. so far this season. Having a sub. coming on is no longer a case of ten men and an "also-ran" whose filling a role, but everyone must do his bit, and a 9min. subbing can be as valuable as 90 mins. of running. Though (sub). Lee Holmes' 88th minute goal (v. Watford) didn't radically affect the final result - it doesn't ignore the fact that someone who may only have been on the pitch for 3 minutes can contribute to the final result.

 

It may take a few more weeks before we see the return of the form that SDR, Chaplow and others showed in early season, but I expect to see it..soon.

Edited 25 March, 2012 by david in sweden

[Badger]

I was not overly impressed by SDR yesterday, pretty average, often poor first touch and control, but I accept that in the first half it was a very below par Saints performance and AL & RL's performances may not have aided SDR adjusting back to the starting line up.

 

Before the game I expected SDR to be an 'impact sub' after 65 minutes, ie introduce the pace against a tired defence on a sweltering day, it was a worry at half time that we did not have this option open to us.

 

I think he generally flatters to deceive but when he came on on Tuesday he was excellent. Wasn't at the game today though so can't comment on his performance.

 

That sums it up, before Christmas many concluded SDR could not start a game and be effective. Yesterday, for me, did little to dispel that. More games though and he might prove us wrong.

[saint_ed]

We'll be signing a replacement for him come the summer

[Viking Saint]

am surprised he was moved up front when Rickie came off....surely Barnard off the bench would've been a more logical swap??

[Sour Mash]

Thought De Ridder looked good up top with this pace- surprised NA changed it.

Chaplow did not do a whole lot (apart from one absolute wonder cross/ball which Sharp contrived to shoulder). Some people on here have blinkers - and to think Guly gets the reverse treatment. Still his introduction allowed us to go a diamond which freed up Lallana who was our main threat in the 2nd half. That said, doubt whether we would have gone to a diamond had Lambert stayed on. He won everything in the 1st half during which we looked quite threatening, even if the final ball wasn't quite there.

We missed Guly yesterday. I'm sure many won't agree though.

[Supersubpuckett]

for whatever reason we looked sharper and more purposeful when sdr went off. He got himself into some great positions but his final ball was lacking.

[Clifford Nelson]

SDR and FR can't really play together since both see as their job to get to the bye line. With FR running from deep he tends to nullify SDR. To pair him with Butters clears that problem, and he got more ball to work with, but he needs to get a number of games under his belt before he can realise the potential he has got. But with FR coming back we're back to square one. It makes me wonder a bit why we bought an out and out winger into our system of attacking fullbacks.

 

It is interesting to know that this isn't a new problem, but one which has haunted the game since 4-2-4 gave way to 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. Fans have been clamouring for wingers since 1966, when only winning the tournament forgave Ramsey for giving us the "wingless wonder". They make occasional appearances here and there, but with no acceleration space available any more they have been replaced mainly by attacking fullbacks. This isn't failure, but mainly a result of the development of the game.

[S-Clarke]

for whatever reason we looked sharper and more purposeful when sdr went off. He got himself into some great positions but his final ball was lacking.

 

This has been his problem all season, lots of promise but not much else. He's had a couple of good games where he has made an impact and made a difference, but they're few and far between.

 

I agree with one of the posts above - our priority in the summer is to sort our right side out and bring in a really good winger who could potentially play in the premiership.

[saintmatt]

Always love a player that takes other players on. Often unfairly criticised as, as well as being more likely to create something, SDR type players are also more likely to be responsible for losing possession; it's a by-product of what they do.

 

Trotting out the final ball argument is amusing as well, some people seem to get something in their head about a player (which can be entirely justified AT THE TIME) and then never move from that standpoint. SDR's final ball has improved a lot since he's been here IMO; thinking off hand about the last few games he's appeared in - two cracking deliveries vs Ipswich at home (one making a goal) and yesterday a few near post drilled crosses (one the goalie nearly spilled into his own net) and some decent floated balls. None skewed out etc (as we saw earlier in the season) and far better offerings than what we saw from Butterfield (who usually has a decent ball on him to be fair)!

[kwsaint]

The problem yesterday was that SDR was just hugging the touchline waiting for long crossfield balls. Leaves us light in midfield and rarely seemed to amount to much. He seems to be out of the game. Actually thought that he was better up front after Chaplow came on for Lambert. He ended up on left wing at one point. But we have better strikers than SDR when they are fit

[ottery st mary]

Always love a player that takes other players on. Often unfairly criticised as, as well as being more likely to create something, SDR type players are also more likely to be responsible for losing possession; it's a by-product of what they do.

 

Trotting out the final ball argument is amusing as well, some people seem to get something in their head about a player (which can be entirely justified AT THE TIME) and then never move from that standpoint. SDR's final ball has improved a lot since he's been here IMO; thinking off hand about the last few games he's appeared in - two cracking deliveries vs Ipswich at home (one making a goal) and yesterday a few near post drilled crosses (one the goalie nearly spilled into his own net) and some decent floated balls. None skewed out etc (as we saw earlier in the season) and far better offerings than what we saw from Butterfield (who usually has a decent ball on him to be fair)!

 

 

Absolutel;y spot on........Eagles, Etherington, Lennon, Pennant, Johnson etc

 

 

SDR is a very good footballer who will continue to give us top class wing play and help us win games to

our promotion....

 

He will be a verty good squad player for us in the top league.....

 

Some games he will even be a super star and others not so effective...Some games not even moving off the bench..

 

Nigel wants this lad on the bus AND in and around the match day squad..

 

SDR is one of my favourites.. along with all the other Saints players:rolleyes:

 

WIFM

[ericb]

I love de ridders effort and he's obviously a likeable guy, but i can't help but think his football brain needs work. Too often he runs at people like a headless chicken when a simple ball would give so much more. I'm sure this is something that can be worked on but it does confuse the hell out of me that he doesn't get the abuse that say Puncheon or Guly get when he makes many of the same errors (drifting in and out of games, giving the ball away cheaply, a shocking shot at times etc.).

 

Still he's provided important moments and is great from the bench, not convinced he'll make the grade in the Prem (and let's be honest we're going there) but i'll be happy to be proved wrong.

[BadgerBadger]

Wow shocking a player who has played something like 3 first team games this season (none in a row) was a bit rusty.... while the one who has had a long run of games in the side played really well ....I wonder how that could possibly happen........

 

My original comment is still true regardless of the reasons - plus Morgan is playing really well and not only because he play alot of games, I could play every match for Saints but it wouldn't make me immense however much I'd like that to be the case.

[Chin Strain]

Wow shocking a player who has played something like 3 first team games this season (none in a row) was a bit rusty.... while the one who has had a long run of games in the side played really well ....I wonder how that could possibly happen........

 

Whatever the reasons for Butterfield being carp, he was still carp. Sure, there may well be a mitigating reason behind his performance, but it doesn't change the performance.

 

FWIW I think Richardson is critical to how we play. He gives us another dimension down that wing, and is very dangerous with his crossing. That was missing yesterday and made us a bit one dimensional.

[VectisSaint]

Whatever the reasons for Butterfield being carp, he was still carp. Sure, there may well be a mitigating reason behind his performance, but it doesn't change the performance.

 

FWIW I think Richardson is critical to how we play. He gives us another dimension down that wing, and is very dangerous with his crossing. That was missing yesterday and made us a bit one dimensional.

Butterfield was not crap yesterday, in fact he did his primary job (that is defending) very well. Keeping Diouf relatively quiet took some work because although he is a loathsome individual Diouf is still a very talented player. As a result Danny could not get forward as often as we would probably have liked. My only criticism of him yesterday was that a couple of his crosses were poor, more floated than driven in, and as a result too near the keeper. Still overall he had a good game especially considering his lack of action this year.

[sperm_john]

I like SDR and think we have yet to see the best of him, he may still have a crowning moment in the promotion push

[eastleighhalo]

We'll be signing a replacement for him come the summer

 

Sorry mate i couldnt disagree more .. SDR will flourish with us.

 

Albeit a pre season friendly WBA couldnt handle him when he replaced Oxo ...often doubling ot even trebling up on him . He has raw talent that once its worked into the team ethos can benefit us no end in the top flight once we get there IMHO.

[derry]

Sorry mate i couldnt disagree more .. SDR will flourish with us.

 

Albeit a pre season friendly WBA couldnt handle him when he replaced Oxo ...often doubling ot even trebling up on him . He has raw talent that once its worked into the team ethos can benefit us no end in the top flight once we get there IMHO.

 

Butterfield missed a trick yesterday, he had loads of possession and a very quick player in front of him, he should have just overloaded the full back by constantly putting the ball in behind him for DeRidder to blitz him. Most of the time DeRidder hardly had a pass gave him a running start. If we play DeRidder we have to put him in behind the defence, Butterfield ignoring him and turning inside or floating in a Lloyd James cross to the goalkeeper is a waste.

[doddisalegend]

Butterfield was not crap yesterday, in fact he did his primary job (that is defending) very well. Keeping Diouf relatively quiet took some work because although he is a loathsome individual Diouf is still a very talented player. As a result Danny could not get forward as often as we would probably have liked. My only criticism of him yesterday was that a couple of his crosses were poor, more floated than driven in, and as a result too near the keeper. Still overall he had a good game especially considering his lack of action this year.

 

Exactly he put in a fantastic well excuted tackle on Diouf in the second half yesterday and kept Diouf quite most of the day. This being the Diouf who was African player of the year twice, a Senglese international and in named in the FIFA 100 top players not to mention a PL player until recently Ok he is not the player he once was but Diouf is still a very good player at this level and yet Butterfield in what his third start this season? was more than match for him. Yet becuase Butterfield put in a few crap passes (we all saw them), most likely due to match sharpness he was crap......

[Ohio Saint]

Not convinced about De Ridder, flatters to deceive.

reminds me a bit of Tommy Jenkins and even, for the real oldies, John Sydenham.

Lots of pace and trickery but not always an end product

 

Bloody hell! I thought I was the only person that remembered Tommy Jenkins! I used to love the sound of him whooshing past and looking great...........While everyone else was running the other way.

[sammysaint]

I thought at RM he was doing well, but upfront had nothing played to him we had pure pace upfront with him but no1 tried the ball over the top or down to the corners for him.

 

I think hes a decent player learning to adapt, but personally he works harder then guly and is better so would have him over guly, as for JP i am not sure who is better him or puncheon, both attacking wise quality but steve again has better work rate, our best option for the moment.