My views, thats all......

[Pompeyh8r]

Ok here goes, I know I am leaving myself wide open for criticism, but feel compelled to write this, as a member for a few years now and a man with few posts, I just wanted to express a couple of opinions on where we are and what we need.

 

Firstly with respect to the game on Sunday, I think the saints need to take a huge amount of credit for the performance we put in against the current champions of the best league in the world. Man City conceded 12 goals at home last season in the premier league 3 of which came in one game against a bizarre match v Sunderland, leaving 9 goals conceded in 18 games. So for us to go and score 2 needs to be noted. I believe we have some fantastic assets, Ricky, Adam, Clyne, JWP, Jos to name a few, however our biggest asset has to be Nigel. He has come in for some unjust criticism, for his starting 11 but this is why I believe he was clever on Sunday, as he clearly had a game plan, which was to start with Guly, it didnt really work although Guly did try hard, the most importnat thing was that we had a plan B if it wasnt working particularly well, and his plan B was to bring on Rickie, change the formation, and this turned the game, now obviously Rickie deserves great credit for the way he galvanized the team and scored a great goal, but if he had started with him, and it was a brave call not to, would we have then had a plan B if things stayed the same. Nigel was brave and deserves praise for sticking to his guns. For the record I believe Rickie should start and show the world that he is capable of playing in the PL.

 

I also believe that Jose and Jos, deserve great credit for the way they played. Much has been made of our CB lack in depth, I agree we do need another 2 CB's, but after the way the handled themselves on Sunday I think that we should stick with J & J. Special mention to Jose, who was assured, and made some vital interceptions, touches etc, that broke down a lot of their attacks.

 

The one area for me we need to look at is the left side, we didnt look balanced at all especially in the first hald, J Rod is not a left sided attacker, like Gervinho has been made at Arsenal and as much as I Like Danny Fox, I am not sure he is PL quality, Zabaletta is not known for his lightning pace but he exploited our left side with ease, my fear is that when we play against Wingers such as Lennon and Walcott with pace, they are going to burn Danny expecially coming in from the wing with the inside channel ball, between CB and LB which can lead to all sorts of trouble. For me I would like to see Adam back on the left, he can cross from the by-line he can come inside go near post and back post which is where you will find Rickie lurking 9 times out of 10, also Adam, has been playing on the left for a long time now and has an idea of what his duties are defensively. If it happens and I so hope it does, Ramirez in for Adam, push Adam out left, and look to bring in another left back to at least compete with Danny. For me Danny has one gear, and that is a worry, on the plus side though he does deliver a great cross when he gets in those positions and takes a good set piece.

 

I am a happy Saints fan, we are where we should be and I am living the dream, please dont think I am being negative, just trying to be constructive with my vew point.

[Robsk II]

Great username champ!

[david in sweden]

I'll agree with you on some points.

Undoubtedly 2 goals from 2 attempts was a fantastic achievement ... especially against that opposition in an away game.

 

I feel fairly happy with our midfield choices - even if we do at to them - (Ramirez) or A.N.OTHER and the strike force (not seen so much on Sunday) is OK but I am very dubious about the defence.

 

We seem to have enough full backs to choose from (more or less)..but with only two CBs , TBH I'm not so happy about them.

I like Jos.H (reminds me a little of Michael Svensson style) but Tevez made a real meal of the tackle that gave away the penalty- so he'll need to learn from that.

Fonte has been a concern for me even at the end of last season. He seems to lack pace against fast strikers and gets caught on the turn easily and in playing the last man I'm afraid that he will get caught out and leave KD unprotected. We still need the 2 CBs we've all been advocating since May and I'm sure they're coming, but .....

 

I think NA 's team selection on Sunday was excellent. I know there's a lot of gab about not selecting Rickie from the start, but looking at the first 45 we had ONE chance. If he'd played and had to run around (likely getting crushed by their CBs) and looking half dead by HT. As it was, he started fresh whilst the MC players were searching for their second wind...and what a great strike.! (as was Steven Davis... who took his half-chance very well).

 

I do think that Rickie will start v. Wigan ..and probably a lot of games, but I think the same sub. tactics being employed when we go away to Man.U /Chelsea / Arsenal.

 

We won't get much better results in the long term by playing a 30 y.o. striker - for 100 minutes every game ! If we nurse him along in the right way, it'll extend his shelf life instead of ruining him by next summer. Last season NA played Guly in a lot of games ...but nearly always subbed him out in the second half, and he seems to have kept fitter because of it.

[Tony F]

I am happy to concur with pretty much everything you have written - and am proud to have committed the effort (and expense) to go to Manchester last Sunday to support the team when most of us, in reality, were simply hoping we could avoid a trouncing. I was particularly pleased that Jose didn't seem to indulge in any wrestling matches..... Hopefully Jos wil have learnt from the "Prem League Turn and Fall" as ably demonstrated by Teves......

 

However, whilst happy to agree with your praise for Nigel's Plan A with Guly, followed by Plan B with Ricky, I cannot concur with your suggestion that Adam must return to the Left. Clearly J Rod (present Plan A) is not the solution - but there must be someone on Nigel's radar who is the Plan B for that role (Phillips maybe?). I am pretty sure J Rod is just holding the fort there, for the time being; we mustn't forget that role could certainly be filled (in an exciting manner - Premier League beware!) by Tadanari Lee, when he returns to full fitness.

 

Back to the Adam debate: I see Nigel grooming Adam to become Southampton's version of the role played by Steven Gerrard for the last 6 or so seasons - something which requires a (mostly) central role. I saw really good flashes of this on Sunday - and although it may take Adam half a season to get the hang of it - when he flourishes there it could be a really significant development for the next 5 years.

 

Lets see who else Nigel/NC gets onto the payroll before the wondow closes - and then see what Plans A, B & C hold. Certainly Nigel is not a man who wears blinkers or manages by habit.

Edited 21 August, 2012 by Tony F
Added Tadanari Lee sentence (our secret weapon!)

[The9]

Just for the record we didn't have 2 goals from 2 attempts, we also had some long range and blocked shots. Schneiderlin's wide left from outside the box immediately after the maybe-pen tackle on Rodriguez, and Puncheon late on when his shot was blocked at source. There were a few other blocks as well.

 

I mostly agree with the OP though. I've got to 40 mins of rewatching the game and Rodriguez worked his backside off getting up and down, Gary Neville said Guly was making run after run off camera and we never tried to pass to him. Would be interested to see Fox's pass %age as he gave it away a lot.

 

Nearly everything went down the left with Rodriguez, Lallana and Fox linking in the first half, the only stuff down the right also involved Lallana who was all over the place intercepting and creating without needing to Cruyff turn anyone !