De Ridder

[Dr Who?]

For me Chaplow is a good ball winner , but distribution is a little naff. He is a more direct player.

 

We are void of options in the area, but I expect more of de ridder!

[Turkish]

Lets be honest, we've got 4 players who can play on the right of midfield in Guly, Chaplow, Puncheon and De Ridder, yet not one of them has made the position their own. Guly has probably been the most effective over the season.

[sotonjoe]

Chaplow has a stinker last night in the first half which was epitomised by him trying to shoot and completely missing the ball. He had a better strike at the beginning of the 2nd half but I think Adkins had already decided to get him off by then.

 

I thought Steve was a revelation on the right compared to Chaplow and his creativity was emphasised by how often the creative play went through him. People have criticised his 'end product' far too often and last night it just wasn't warranted; time and time again he crossed the ball into the box. It didn't plop onto an unmarked Saints player's head with pinpoint accuracy, but then that's because there was never an unmarked Saints player there. Reading defended resolutely and won the 50:50 balls when they came into the box. However, De Ridder was consistent in beating his man (often two men) and getting a ball into the danger area. In my opinion, that's what he was on the pitch to do and he did it. Asking anymore of him in unfair to be honest as you're probably asking him to achieve more than the manager was expecting him to do.

 

He even made a real effort to track back and got some great challenges in.

[barney]

No he's just expected to work. We won't be getting any miracles from him, that's for sure.

Does he not work then?

Sure some of his crosses didnt clear the first man,what do yo want perfection?

[beatlesaint]

Does he not work then?

Sure some of his crosses didnt clear the first man,what do yo want perfection?

 

He obviously missed his sprint back into the penalty area to take the ball off the Reading guy when he looked to be in the clear.

 

I thought he had a great game when he came on. All this "no end product" is ******** cos unless someone actually scores every ball into the area can count as no end product !

The usual proble when De Ridder comes on is that we dont pass to him. last night we did and I thought his link up play with Butterfield and Lambert was very good.

[Whitey Grandad]

Yet somehow I think we were less effective once we had made the change.

[The9]

thought he was very good when he came on

 

worth a starting place....?

had them running back to their by line every time he had the ball

 

He was up against Ian Harte and actually should have run at him more. His crossing was better than last time he got a game but without someone finishing it... and he's definitely an impact sub not a starter, he's never played his best from the start for us. Also lucky that his token "chase back and tackle from behind" didn't end up in his usual yellow card.

[david in sweden]

thought he was very good when he came on

worth a starting place....?

had them running back to their by line every time he had the ball

 

 

I agree. ....." the boy done well...." More of the same please.

[westofshannonsaint]

I thought he had a good game, got the ball into the box, both with crosses and clever runs.

tracked back at with amazing determination/pace to deny Roberts a 1 on 1 with Davis.

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/match_commentary/0,19764,11065_3493709,00.html

53 Chaplow is replaced by De Ridder

54 De Ridder crosses twice from the right but both times the Royals clear...

56 De Ridder presses again but Pearce tackles on the edge of his area in front of goal.

67 Lallana feeds the ball to De Ridder to the right of the box. He tries an effort but it is charged down by Harte for a corner on the right.

68 ....Reading break up field and Roberts tries to run into the Southampton box but De Ridder tracks back and puts it out for a throw in 20 yards on the left.

76 Lambert backheals from the right corner to De Ridder who runs into the right side of the box before teeing up Butterfield but his shot from 15 yards is straight at Federici.

79 De Ridder puts in a dangerous cross from five yards on the right but Harte heads away in the box.

82 De Ridder tries to get onto a cross field ball but it just goes out for a Reading throw...

83 De Ridder again chases a long ball into the right corner but Harte shepherds the ball out for a goal kick.

84 De Ridder makes a great run into the right side of the box before shooting from eight yards but Federici saves with his chest...

88 De Ridder crosses from 10 yeards on the right but Gorkss heads away in the box...

[The9]

It was a foul on Roberts right on the edge of the box and he was lucky Mike Dean bottled everything remotely near making a decision all match long, because he got Roberts well before the ball.

[ericb]

Still think he flatters to decieve, no doubt he has pace and some trickery but his final ball is poor and he seriously lacks a football brain (or at least that's how it seems).

 

Personally think he's a decent squad player but i'm keeping my fingers crossed that should we go up Wigan will go down so we can make a bid for Victor Moses. Since i think Moses is exactly the kind of player we need, and how fu.cking mouthwatering would it be to have a midfield of Lallana, Cork, Morgan and Moses [/dreaming]

[buctootim]

Falque must be really poor if he cant even get into the squad when we hqave such an obvious problem at RM.

[sotonjoe]

Still think he flatters to decieve, no doubt he has pace and some trickery but his final ball is poor and he seriously lacks a football brain (or at least that's how it seems).

 

Personally think he's a decent squad player but i'm keeping my fingers crossed that should we go up Wigan will go down so we can make a bid for Victor Moses. Since i think Moses is exactly the kind of player we need, and how fu.cking mouthwatering would it be to have a midfield of Lallana, Cork, Morgan and Moses [/dreaming]

 

Sounds great except that every cross he played yesterday went into the six yard box.

[country bumpkin]

latter day tommy jenkins just like tommy looks good no end product

[cellone]

Reminds me of Fabrice

[Graffito]

Sounds great except that every cross he played yesterday went into the six yard box.

 

Nearly all of them to the opposition.

[Graffito]

latter day tommy jenkins just like tommy looks good no end product

 

Terry Curran.

[saintant]

De Ridder must frustrate the hell out of the coaching staff. He has genuine pace, good close control and is not easily knocked off the ball, yet fails to terrorise defences in the way he should. He could do worse than studying a few videos of Aaron Robben, he might learn something. De Ridder must stop all the fannying about and become more direct. When he receives the ball his first thought should be either to drive down the flank at pace taking on anyone who crosses his path or duck inside and head for the penalty area. If he loses the ball sometimes I'm sure the fans will forgive him providing he balances that with some driving runs that open up opposition defences. He is capable of causing panic but not if he continues to disappear up his own backside rather than being more direct. Only once against Reading did he really drive at them but when he did boy did they panic and he got into the box to get a decent shot away. More of that please Steve and less of the pussyfooting around making crop circles on the St Mary's turf.

[Turkish]

/\ what exactly is genuine pace?

 

Although I agree with a lot of what you say, I just don't think he's very good.

[kpturner]

Aaron Robben

Nice one

[david in sweden]

thought he was very good when he came on

worth a starting place....? had them running back to their by line every time he had the ball

 

 

I've read dafter suggestions on this site recently.

 

If SDR runs himself out after 60, then we can use Chaplow as a sub. instead..he played some of his best games from the bench last year.

[david in sweden]

Terry Curran.

 

yes well I recall both of them, and though they had ..a bit of PACE.. their crosses often ended up as goal kicks or throw-ins on the right side of the field.

 

Forget that John Sydenham was only left-footed, he was best ..perhaps...until we saw Theo Walcott in action.

[saint-ross]

Those of you here who believe SDR was poor against reading have a real agenda. Getting a bit tired of this constant bashing of him and this no end product carp tbh. He was practically the only player who ran at the opposition whilst our general midfield play consists of our popular sideways and back style. Cant recall the stats exactly, but im sure he won us a at least 4 corners on his own, forced a good save from the keeper, put a couple of decent crosses in, again, shame we sit so deep up front that there's no one to meet it. He offered us more than Guly or Chaplow have in recent weeks. So many people expect miracles from him when hes given 20 minutes here or there.

[Danbert]

It was a foul on Roberts right on the edge of the box and he was lucky Mike Dean bottled everything remotely near making a decision all match long, because he got Roberts well before the ball.

 

No way, it was a clean tackle and a crucial one.

[captainchris]

When De Ridder came on our momentum stopped.

 

100% correct...........Steve De Ridder is not up to it!

[captainchris]

latter day tommy jenkins just like tommy looks good no end product

 

A slight disservice to Tom Jenkins perhaps......

[sotonjoe]

Nearly all of them to the opposition.

 

Brilliant. So now it's even our winger's fault when a defender wins the ball over one of our attackers. What rubbish. In a packed box with tight defending, you can't expect a winger to pick out an unmarked attacker with a cross. You expect the winger to get the cross in and hope that someone in the box is capable of winning the ball.

[Graffito]

Brilliant. So now it's even our winger's fault when a defender wins the ball over one of our attackers. What rubbish. In a packed box with tight defending, you can't expect a winger to pick out an unmarked attacker with a cross. You expect the winger to get the cross in and hope that someone in the box is capable of winning the ball.

 

Seriously? Kebe did.

[redkeith]

I can't undestand why pace is rated so much more than delivery for wide players in England.

 

Wingers like Lennon run very quickly, get into space and then fire aimless percentage balls across the box, in the hope that someone gets on the end of it.

 

Players like John Robertson, Steve Guppy or even MLT when he was younger didn't need to get 5 yards past someone to get a cross in, and when they did it usually ended up with one of their own players.

 

De Ridder falls in betwen both camps, doesn't fly past his man and hits percentage balls when he does. He is a bad decision maker who often slows it down rather than just knock it forward and run with it. Needs a lot of work to unlock his ability in the close season.

[Graffito]

I can't undestand why pace is rated so much more than delivery for wide players in England.

 

Wingers like Lennon run very quickly, get into space and then fire aimless percentage balls across the box, in the hope that someone gets on the end of it.

 

Players like John Robertson, Steve Guppy or even MLT when he was younger didn't need to get 5 yards past someone to get a cross in, and when they did it usually ended up with one of their own players.

 

De Ridder falls in betwen both camps, doesn't fly past his man and hits percentage balls when he does. He is a bad decision maker who often slows it down rather than just knock it forward and run with it. Needs a lot of work to unlock his ability in the close season.

 

Agree. Beckham's another good example of no pace but excellent delivery

[sotonjoe]

Seriously? Kebe did.

 

For the first goal? When the attacker was unmarked? You really don't get it do you? Did De Ridder have an opportunity like the Kebe one on Fri night with an almost empty box and unmarked attackers or was he generally pumping balls into a busy box? Do you not think it's simpler for an attacker to pick out an attacker who is unmarked and in a box with fewer players? So what's your point about De Ridder? That he was rubbish because he couldn't find an unmarked attacker when there often wasn't one? I think you're being completely unrealistic.

[david in sweden]

I can't understand why pace is rated so much more than delivery for wide players in England.

 

Agreed redkeith.

 

I think it's because it is unusual ...rather than skilful.

Rather like the long-range efforts that go in, or the overhead kick that beats everyone...or the full back who scores every 100 games...(or in Benali's case) ..every 200 games.

 

Those events stay in the memory more. In over 50 years as a Saints fan, I must have seen hundreds of goals , but the ones that remain in my memory...such as...

 

...George Kirby putting both Peter Grummit + football into the back of the net in the 2nd replay FA Cup game v. Notts Forest 1963.

.. John Sydenham's lone run (and subsequent goal) at the Dell when we beat Derby County 6-4 with only 9 Saints players on the field.

...Ron Davies' fantastic solo goal number 4 (v. A.Villa at the Dell,) best bit of footwork ever from a man reputed to be the best header of the ball in the League.

...Brian O'Neil's famous long range effort ......(forgot against who ?) ...but didn't forget the goal.

...Ivan Golac's 35 yard thunderbolt shot into Archers Road goal v. ??? ( see I forgot that bit ).

...Graham Baker scoring after 40 seconds(?).. on his (televised) debut game.

.. the 18 man move (v. Liverpool )at The Dell ... ending with Channon scoring his (last goal) for Saints.

 

..OK..so I'm old, and that's only upto the 1970's. None of them would have won Goal of the Season, but the euphoria of the action was greater than the actual feat itself, and that's what we recall.

 

Attacking lefties, because they are so few, always create exitement...remember Wayne Bridge's overlapping runs.

Of course Gareth Bale is another example, although he didn't score so many goals, in comparison with the number of runs he made. But they were really exciting to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

Edited 16 April, 2012 by david in sweden

[Graffito]

For the first goal? When the attacker was unmarked? You really don't get it do you? Did De Ridder have an opportunity like the Kebe one on Fri night with an almost empty box and unmarked attackers or was he generally pumping balls into a busy box? Do you not think it's simpler for an attacker to pick out an attacker who is unmarked and in a box with fewer players? So what's your point about De Ridder? That he was rubbish because he couldn't find an unmarked attacker when there often wasn't one? I think you're being completely unrealistic.

 

I've seen De Ridder play many times and in my opinion there are two problems:

 

1. How we play him. Hit him early to use his blistering pace or don't bother because he'll slow things up and end up going backwards or crossing into a congested box (your point). This isn't De Ridder's fault. It's a little like the way Arsenal and England sometimes waste Walcott's pace. By the time the ball gets to him he is boxed in on the halfway line and facing his own goal. Easy to defend against. Having said that there are wingers that can pick out an attacker as mentioned above.

2. De Ridder's delivery. He actually had one of his better games on Friday but I can recall only one good cross. But it's not just Friday on which I base my opinion. In all the games I've seen him play I've seen a handful of decent crosses.

 

One final comment. I did not say De Ridder is rubbish. That was your word. If I thought he was rubbish I wouldn't bother to debate his merits.

[GAS]

Perhaps De Ridder is lacking confidence, appears to be scared to take players on. He was up against Harte on Friday, who is 34 yrs old. Surely he was told to take him on! Gary Neville said on Sky today that Walcotts best position is inside right where he plays quick one-two's and runs at defences. De Ridder would definitely fit this bill.

[sotonjoe]

I've seen De Ridder play many times and in my opinion there are two problems:

 

1. How we play him. Hit him early to use his blistering pace or don't bother because he'll slow things up and end up going backwards or crossing into a congested box (your point). This isn't De Ridder's fault. It's a little like the way Arsenal and England sometimes waste Walcott's pace. By the time the ball gets to him he is boxed in on the halfway line and facing his own goal. Easy to defend against. Having said that there are wingers that can pick out an attacker as mentioned above.

2. De Ridder's delivery. He actually had one of his better games on Friday but I can recall only one good cross. But it's not just Friday on which I base my opinion. In all the games I've seen him play I've seen a handful of decent crosses.

 

One final comment. I did not say De Ridder is rubbish. That was your word. If I thought he was rubbish I wouldn't bother to debate his merits.

 

You disagreed with the fact that I thought he was good when he came on the other night; at least that's the discussion I thought we were having! In the context of the game and the fact that he was replacing Chaplow who was having a stinker, I said I thought De Ridder did alright. I don't see why he's getting stick for his 'distribution' anymore and think there's a lot of people reeling that line off because they heard it was a popular thing to say a while back and they now assume it must be right!

 

If people want to talk about distribution then I think it's fair to say than an awful lot of the timer Saints are finding themselves hitting hopeful crosses into the box once all the defenders have got back and marked our attackers anyway. We then hear moans that our crosses aren't finding attackers but as I've tried to say in this instance that's impossible. I don't think it's a crossing issue. It's more to do with whether we're breaking quick enough and whether we have the opportunity to actually find unmarked players in the box.

 

The other night, De Ridder was a much better player than Chaplow when he came on.

[Graffito]

Perhaps De Ridder is lacking confidence, appears to be scared to take players on. He was up against Harte on Friday, who is 34 yrs old. Surely he was told to take him on! Gary Neville said on Sky today that Walcotts best position is inside right where he plays quick one-two's and runs at defences. De Ridder would definitely fit this bill.

 

Arsenal should him play him inside right, or he just comes in 10yds off the line, same difference Or play him up front in the middle. Been telling that for ages to arsenal fans who don't rate him. But they won't because of Van Persie. Could apply to de ridder too.

[Alwightmush]

After watching De Ridder on the Saints Player flashback to the 2-1 Peterborough game at home, he looks a different player to the one we've seen recently.

He seems so much more full of confidence, taking people on, using his acceleration to nick the ball off the toes of careless defenders.

In his time on the pitch in that game he set up Rickie for a good chance, turned his defender numerous times and put crosses in and was unlucky not to score with that stinging volley across the goal.

I guess not playing regularly and not having a huge impact this season has affected his game.

[captainchris]

You disagreed with the fact that I thought he was good when he came on the other night; at least that's the discussion I thought we were having! In the context of the game and the fact that he was replacing Chaplow who was having a stinker, I said I thought De Ridder did alright. I don't see why he's getting stick for his 'distribution' anymore and think there's a lot of people reeling that line off because they heard it was a popular thing to say a while back and they now assume it must be right!

 

If people want to talk about distribution then I think it's fair to say than an awful lot of the timer Saints are finding themselves hitting hopeful crosses into the box once all the defenders have got back and marked our attackers anyway. We then hear moans that our crosses aren't finding attackers but as I've tried to say in this instance that's impossible. I don't think it's a crossing issue. It's more to do with whether we're breaking quick enough and whether we have the opportunity to actually find unmarked players in the box.

 

The other night, De Ridder was a much better player than Chaplow when he came on.

 

Blatently not true.......Chaplow has different skills and does show for the ball and influence the pressure on the opposition players much more. We were not nearly as dominant when Chaplow went off. De Ridder does not effect the control of the game and Chaplow does.............

[Window Cleaner]

After watching De Ridder on the Saints Player flashback to the 2-1 Peterborough game at home, he looks a different player to the one we've seen recently.

He seems so much more full of confidence, taking people on, using his acceleration to nick the ball off the toes of careless defenders.

In his time on the pitch in that game he set up Rickie for a good chance, turned his defender numerous times and put crosses in and was unlucky not to score with that stinging volley across the goal.

I guess not playing regularly and not having a huge impact this season has affected his game.

 

May be Tommy Doc was right and you can actually coach all the flair out of players in pursuit of work-rate and consistency.