Maya Yoshida to partner Hooiveld

[saintdownunder]

Now is the time to make the move at the back.Yoshida played the full 90 minutes last night for Japan, against UAE in Tokyo.

He is everything Fonte isn`t so play him.

[melmacian_saint]

Because the mighty UAE strikers are way above RVP, Hernandez, Tevez, Silva and the like in terms of quality.

[saintdownunder]

People banged on all summer about signing a player of Yoshida`s quality,so play him and stop being scared of the unseen.

Don`t let the fact that he comes from Asia stop us winning.Eight goals in 3 games,someone at the back needs to go.

[saintdownunder]

Because the mighty UAE strikers are way above RVP, Hernandez, Tevez, Silva and the like in terms of quality.

 

What did you think of the game between Japan and UAE then melmacian?

 

Let me take a wild guess and say you don`t have a clue about Asian football.

As an Australian we don`t put up with fools that can`t pull there wait.We`re not in league 1 anymore so step up or step aside and that goes for Guly too.

 

COYR

[Reynoldson!!]

I have seen a bit of Yoshida in Asian cup matches over the years. He is very, very good. Really excited by this signing.

[Cascadia Saint]

He is everything Fonte isn`t so play him.

 

Well fonte isn't sh i t. So is yoshida sh i t?

 

 

Also, who is scared of the unseen? He hasn't even been available to play a game yet. Fonte on the other hand has been an integral part of the spine of this team, through successive promotions.

 

We really are a bunch of fickle f u ckers sometimes, aren't we.

[CB Fry]

What did you think of the game between Japan and UAE then melmacian?

 

Let me take a wild guess and say you don`t have a clue about Asian football.

 

 

You don't need to know anything about Asian football to know the UAE aren't as good as Manchesters United and City. Sheesh.

[doddisalegend]

Isn't UAE the team that GB beat in the oylmpics quite tidy but lacking much up front? wouldn't have said they were better than a PL side.

 

Something needs to change at the back though but seeing as both Jos and Jose have been rather guility in the "oooopps mistake" league so far this season Yoshida could replace either...even if only to make our two current CBs raise their game.

[niceandfriendly]

Yoshida did look good last night against UAE, but that's the only time I've seen him play. Fonte has been fantastic for us since he signed and I'd hesitate to say anything negative about him, but if Yoshida does prove to be better, then stick him in the team. But I don't believe Fonte should be dropped just because we've signed a new defender... Yoshida will have to earn his place in the side IMO.

[Mowgli]

Fonte had his best game of the season so far against Manchester United. Statistically he was was the better of he to centre backs. Watch the game again. Without fonte I suspect the score would have made the win much more comfortable. Not saying Yoshida isn't good - I've not seen him play. Just that now is not the time for a knee jerk reaction

[Saint Without a Halo]

Isn't UAE the team that GB beat in the oylmpics quite tidy but lacking much up front? wouldn't have said they were better than a PL side.

 

Something needs to change at the back though but seeing as both Jos and Jose have been rather guility in the "oooopps mistake" league so far this season Yoshida could replace either...even if only to make our two current CBs raise their game.

 

The UAE Olympic team like the UK's was an under 23 team with 2 over age players the team against Japan was the full international team

[stu0x]

Because the mighty UAE strikers are way above RVP, Hernandez, Tevez, Silva and the like in terms of quality.

What on earth does that have to do with anything?

 

Ibra played for Sweden against China last night. The Chinese defenders arent as good as Kompany or Vermaelen. So presumably you wouldn't want Zlatan playing up front for us?

[Window Cleaner]

Well I don't know, I don't like the clumsy tackling of Josh all that much, why I even made reference to it in the Man U build up thread and sure enough he gave away another penalty. I m not at all sure that José might not be better with someone a bit more composed along side him.Who knows we might even be planning to go 3 at the back on occasions.

[CB Fry]

What on earth does that have to do with anything?

 

Ibra played for Sweden against China last night. The Chinese defenders arent as good as Kompany or Vermaelen. So presumably you wouldn't want Zlatan playing up front for us?

 

 

 

Great logic.

 

The OP seemed to be inferring that Yoshi is "everything that Fonte isn't" on the back of a performance against the mighty UAE.

 

Jose would, I wager, also look good against the UAE given half a chance. Therefore the entire debate is pointless.

 

Performances against the UAE are meaningless. Performances against Premier League attacks is what matters.

[Sour Mash]

I was critical of Fonte at times last season, but he really hasn't been that bad so far this season. He's been on a par with Hooiveld, so I assume those that want rid of Fonte also want rid of him?

[captainchris]

Well fonte isn't sh i t. So is yoshida sh i t?

 

 

Also, who is scared of the unseen? He hasn't even been available to play a game yet. Fonte on the other hand has been an integral part of the spine of this team, through successive promotions.

 

We really are a bunch of fickle f u ckers sometimes, aren't we.

 

Come off it! Fonts has been poor for about a year now - that's not 'fickle' that's fact!

[OldNick]

Fonte had his best game of the season so far against Manchester United. Statistically he was was the better of he to centre backs. Watch the game again. Without fonte I suspect the score would have made the win much more comfortable. Not saying Yoshida isn't good - I've not seen him play. Just that now is not the time for a knee jerk reaction

are you sure????? Watch the first goal where Clyne slips Fonte is flat footed. He panicked in the last 15 minutes slashing the ball away when not under pressure, and then sliced the ball for a corner that resulted in a goal and as for his marking of RVP for the winner!!!

[Danbert]

Well fonte isn't sh i t. So is yoshida sh i t?

 

 

Also, who is scared of the unseen? He hasn't even been available to play a game yet. Fonte on the other hand has been an integral part of the spine of this team, through successive promotions.

 

We really are a bunch of fickle f u ckers sometimes, aren't we.

 

Fonte was our best centre-back in League 1. And he was the weaker half of a good centre-back pairing in the Championship. We got him for 1 million quid from Palace and frankly it shows. He was great for us, but he can't hack it at all at this level. To me it's painfully obvious.

[Genk]

Well fonte isn't sh i t. So is yoshida sh i t?

 

 

Also, who is scared of the unseen? He hasn't even been available to play a game yet. Fonte on the other hand has been an integral part of the spine of this team, through successive promotions.

 

 

We really are a bunch of fickle f u ckers sometimes, aren't we.

 

 

Yes he has been an integral part of the promotions but even at times last season he was out of his depth and now he is way out of it. He's had three games, and we've conceded 8 goals, also allowing the most shots on our goal out of everybody else in the Prem. Time to change something before we keep to concede sloppy goals. I don't understand why so many of you have the argument that he deserves to play because of promotions. Sorry, no, we need to stay up, and we won't with Fonte there all season in my opinion.

[JPTCount]

I'd drop Jos, already given away two penalties...

[BARCELONASAINT]

I dont know how many got the opportunity to watch YOSHIDA in action yesterday but i was one of the lucky/unlucky ones who watched it on Fox Sports. It was a dire game and certainly nothing was learned about the quality of YOSHIDA's defending against a woeful UAE side.

Our entire back 4 could have played in that game and never broken sweat.

 

I trust YOSHIDA has been carefully watched over a period of time by our scouting network and NA knows exactly what he is getting. I'm also trusting the OP is basing his opinion on having watched the player numerous times and not just yesterdays game!

 

TBH i do not think he will walk straight into the side. Just my honest opinion on what i saw yesterday. I really hope he is the real deal.

[Minty]

Sorry, no, we need to stay up, and we won't with Fonte there all season in my opinion.

I don't think anyone is advocating that necessarily. Some suggest he is replaced immediately, others suggest he hasn't become crap overnight and whilst there are shortcomings, he's not as bad as some make out, but no one is saying he will be in the team all season.

 

It's Adkins call ultimately, and I personally think Yoshida will come in to the side fairly soon, if not immediately, to stake a claim because as has been highlighted, we DO need to improve defensively (and that can be as much down to the whole team/defence, not just individual players).

 

Just having an additional centre back of (supposedly) high quality, will put pressure on Fonte and Hooiveld, which may elicit a response from them, and so SFC is in a better position than it was, and I think everyone agrees we could still do with at least one more defensive signing in January, but we now need to work with what we've got.

[doddisalegend]

I don't think anyone is advocating that necessarily. Some suggest he is replaced immediately, others suggest he hasn't become crap overnight and whilst there are shortcomings, he's not as bad as some make out, but no one is saying he will be in the team all season.

 

It's Adkins call ultimately, and I personally think Yoshida will come in to the side fairly soon, if not immediately, to stake a claim because as has been highlighted, we DO need to improve defensively (and that can be as much down to the whole team/defence, not just individual players).

 

Just having an additional centre back of (supposedly) high quality, will put pressure on Fonte and Hooiveld, which may elicit a response from them, and so SFC is in a better position than it was, and I think everyone agrees we could still do with at least one more defensive signing in January, but we now need to work with what we've got.

 

Exactly jJse has really been a 1st choice CB since he came to saints and has no real pressure on his postion last season. Knowing he might not be first choice might just give him a kick up the arse to cut out the mistakes.

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

Unfortunately both Jos and Jose are poor at this level. Their both about 1/2 a yard short on pace on the top teams, and will need to make this up if possible to stay in first team contention. I can see another 1-2 quality CB's coming in the Jan window.

[doddisalegend]

Unfortunately both Jos and Jose are poor at this level. Their both about 1/2 a yard short on pace on the top teams, and will need to make this up if possible to stay in first team contention. I can see another 1-2 quality CB's coming in the Jan window.

 

We seemed to have struggled to find quaility CBs over the summer it will be even harder in Jan were people won't want to let a quaility CB go halfway through a season except for silly money. We may have to make do with what we've got this season.

[JackFrost]

If fit I think Yoshida should play against Arsenal personally, as it is the home game against Villa which is the must win game to get our season going. Anything against Arsenal will be a bonus so we've not got much to lose with giving him a try out. If he's excellent he keeps his place, if he is poor we play Fonte vs Villa.

 

from what I've heard I think he'll be a good signing. He was part of a Japanese olympic team that kept 4 consecutive clean sheets in the olympics, one of them against Spain in which Jordi Alba and Juan Mata started.

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

We seemed to have struggled to find quaility CBs over the summer it will be even harder in Jan were people won't want to let a quaility CB go halfway through a season except for silly money. We may have to make do with what we've got this season.

I think it maybe a necessity, and the price might not matter.

Unless we take the Offense is the best Defense stance!

[simondo]

i'd play yoshi with either of them, when an understanding begins to appear. there is no point putting two CB players together if they don't operate as a unit.

it might be 2 days or 2 months before Yoshi can fit in.... only NA will know. and then he'll play

[Giordano]

On the Japan team sheets viewable on yahoo he plays left back for some reason. Is there a chance he might start there in place of the injured fox? Its not unknown for a CB to be able to play full back, though its unusual the other way around. It would certainly mean a more "defensive" back four which is not such a bad thing considering he would be supporting Lallana at left midfield who is probably not our best defensive midfielder.

[tajjuk]

Personally I think he will come straight in, but you can't judge him against the UAE. I think our scouting team, have been watching him for while, he was part of a very poor VVV team so probably had to defend under pressure pretty much all the time so that will stand him in good stead. Whilst the Dutch league isn't the same standard as the premier league, players from that league have always been good technical players and plenty of pace, there also seems to be a massive gap between the top teams and the rest so I'm confident he has defended against quality attackers probably a lot more than Jos and Fonte have.

 

Out of which player you could drop, well a case could be made for either. I don't think from the 3 games so far that either of our centre-backs has even played a 7/10 game. Yes they have played two games against some of the best attackers in the league but that doesn't excuse individual errors.

 

Hooiveld has given away two penalties so far. The first he was probably unlucky, doubt that would have been given if the game had been at St. Mary's, seemed a very big club, home decision to me. The other though was a horror show and showed a complete lack of composure and thought.

 

Fonte, seems to have got better from the first game, I find it odd that someone has attributed blame to him for the first RVP goal, Clyne slipped, he was marking RVP, had he not slipped (even though he did get under the ball and was poorly positioned) RVP wouldn;t have scored because Clyne would have got across to him to make a very difficult shot near impossible. However Fonte did slice a clearance under no pressure and then failed to mark the only guy who looked like scoring for utd at a corner. Add in the mistake at Wigan as well. He was also less reliable in the championship than Hooiveld.

 

Individual errors when under pressure have nothing to do with the quality of the opposition. They will lead to goals at any level, I think with Hoooiveld and Fonte they will continue to make these errors, it's just choosing the one that will make less.

[supersonic]

Fonte had his best game of the season so far against Manchester United. Statistically he was was the better of he to centre backs. Watch the game again. Without fonte I suspect the score would have made the win much more comfortable. Not saying Yoshida isn't good - I've not seen him play. Just that now is not the time for a knee jerk reaction

 

1) he did have his best game, but still wasn't good enough

 

2) why buy the bloke if we aren't going to play him? We've lost all 3 games, let in 8 goals and look a shambles at the back, something clearly isn't working, time for a change

[Wes Tender]

We've lost all 3 games, let in 8 goals and look a shambles at the back, something clearly isn't working, time for a change

 

Agreed. We should have thrashed both Manchester teams and kept clean sheets both matches. Their strikers are crap.

 

As for the Wigan team, we really ought to have beaten them 5 - 0 or so. Letting them score against us was inexcusable, especially their second. We shouldn't have stretched ourselves chasing the game, that's for sure.

[Tokyo-Saint]

He is very well regarded in Japan, much more highly rated than Lee. Some of this may be due to Lee's Korean ties and him not being 'fully Japanese' but It bodes well as they do have some decent players.

[The9]

Fonte had his best game of the season so far against Manchester United. Statistically he was was the better of he to centre backs. Watch the game again. Without fonte I suspect the score would have made the win much more comfortable. Not saying Yoshida isn't good - I've not seen him play. Just that now is not the time for a knee jerk reaction

 

Unfortunately, Fonte was also directly responsible for the two errors which gifted Man U the winner, hacking the ball off the pitch (not unprecedented, he did it 3 times in the last 15 minutes) and failing to track van Persie (or to attack his zone which had van Persie in it, if we're claiming he wasn't supposed to because of the zonal marking). He was also directly responsible for Kone's goal against Wigan - both of those in the last 5 minutes of matches.

 

That's already too many mistakes leading to goals. Then we take into consideration Hooiveld conceding two penalties in 3 matches with daft challenges and we've established that it's a steep learning curve and the required fitness levels are also higher.

 

I have no idea who's supposed to think anyone's worried about Yoshida "because he's from Asia" though. If he can speak and understand English that's all he should need to not be at a disadvantage.

[melmacian_saint]

What did you think of the game between Japan and UAE then melmacian?

 

Let me take a wild guess and say you don`t have a clue about Asian football.

As an Australian we don`t put up with fools that can`t pull there wait.We`re not in league 1 anymore so step up or step aside and that goes for Guly too.

 

COYR

 

 

Why should I care about how you do things in Australia? Why should Adkins or anyone at Saints? That patriotic crap really is uncalled for.

 

I might not know a lot about Asian football but I am very sure that comparing two CBs using games against poorly-ranked national teams with low quality strikers in favour of one really isn't fair.

[kpturner]

Come off it! Fonts has been poor for about a year now - that's not 'fickle' that's fact!

It is not "a fact". It is an opinion.

[sotonist]

Whether or not we should play Yoshi over Fonté, this is a fantastically derpy thread.

[CanadaSaint]

I'm still not sure how much of our CD problem this season is the players and how much of it is the zonal marking, which seems to be a problem for them.

 

I can see teams targeting Clyne at the far post by drawing their main striker out there (as United did with the first goal), but that doesn't make Clyne a bad defender.

[SuperMikey]

Jos may have given away 2 penalties so far this season but he's been the better of our defensive pairing. I'd keep Jos + Jose together for the Arsenal and bring Yoshi on for fresh legs at the back. Doubtless we'll be under a lot of pressure during the game.

[Charlie Wayman]

He is everything Fonte isn`t so play him.

 

You mean he's Japanese, can't speak Portugeuse and has no grudge with Pards?

[Charlie Wayman]

Jos may have given away 2 penalties so far this season but...

 

Must be some sort of weird logic in your head but the bloke sounds to me more like an accident waiting to happen.

[SuperMikey]

Must be some sort of weird logic in your head but the bloke sounds to me more like an accident waiting to happen.

 

Well if you go and watch games you'll see that Jos is by far the better of the 2. His decision making needs to improve but I have no doubt that his positioning etc will be worked on. Can't see him being too eager to give away more penalties.

[Wade Garrett]

What did you think of the game between Japan and UAE then melmacian?

 

Let me take a wild guess and say you don`t have a clue about Asian football.

As an Australian we don`t put up with fools that can`t pull there wait.We`re not in league 1 anymore so step up or step aside and that goes for Guly too.

 

COYR

 

Aussies are full of how straight talking they are etc. etc. It's a load of crap.

 

And it's weight, not wait. Bit of straight talking for you, listen more in your English lessons.

 

However, I do think that Yoshida should replace Jose, even if its just to take the poor lad out of the firing line. He looked shot against Man Utd. Yoshida's pace should help Jos as well.

 

Why buy him if he's not better than what we've already got?

[Saints foreva]

I hope this Yoshida guy turns out good but being a key figure of the poorest back line in the Eredivisie last season isn't exactly enough to get me excited by this signing.

 

Seems like he had a poor start to the season as well, 5 goals conceded in the 120 minutes minutes he played for VVV.

[Mr X]

I dunno what game you were watching but I thought he had an absolute shocker!

[Mr X]

Oops thats in relation to fonte

[supersonic]

Agreed. We should have thrashed both Manchester teams and kept clean sheets both matches. Their strikers are crap.

 

As for the Wigan team, we really ought to have beaten them 5 - 0 or so. Letting them score against us was inexcusable, especially their second. We shouldn't have stretched ourselves chasing the game, that's for sure.

 

Did you not see the schoolboy mistakes we made? Yes the teams had great strikers, but we gifted them goals rather than them making them.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Whether or not we should play Yoshi over Fonté, this is a fantastically derpy thread.

 

I have no idea what this means, but I think I like it.

[Dalek2003]

Forget Manure and ManCiteh, the game that worried me most was our defeat to Wigan at home.

 

Let's make our judgements when we play teams in mid to lower table. That will be a much more realistic test as to the Saints team ability to cut it in the Premiership.

[Window Cleaner]

Forget Manure and ManCiteh, the game that worried me most was our defeat to Wigan at home.

 

Let's make our judgements when we play teams in mid to lower table. That will be a much more realistic test as to the Saints team ability to cut it in the Premiership.

 

A game we lost because we couldn't put the ball into the net when we had chances, you pay cash for that in the PL.

This is why players like Vn Persie cost 25 million and get 200K a week, they rarely miss chances.