Southampton need Gastón Ramírez to pull them together in midfield

[Toon Saint]

Good article, spot on in my opinion:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/sep/15/southampton-gaston-ramirez-mauricio-pochettino

[Batman]

I think we need to go with 1 of lambert or osvaldo.

 

To play from the back. We need to have 3 in the middle of the park when our defence has the ball. Be it, Ramirez or Davis. Even think JWP would do a good job. Oh and cork

 

But having 2 up top is making us go long. You can see the players want to pass it through but when we only have 2 in the middle, they are at best. Being matched by their opposite numbers

[angelman]

Unless Gaston has bulked up, he would have been kicked all over the place today.

[Olallana]

Unless Gaston has bulked up, he would have been kicked all over the place today.

 

Like when he scored last year against......West Ham?

[Suhari]

I think we need to go with 1 of lambert or osvaldo.

 

To play from the back. We need to have 3 in the middle of the park when our defence has the ball. Be it, Ramirez or Davis. Even think JWP would do a good job. Oh and cork

 

But having 2 up top is making us go long. You can see the players want to pass it through but when we only have 2 in the middle, they are at best. Being matched by their opposite numbers

 

Yes, yea, farking yes. Been saying this since the first SRL/Ossie game together. Was so obvious today. We are starting to look like Stoke a couple of years ago.

[DuncanRG]

Hmm, interesting view. Certainly true that we need to link up better through the middle but I wonder whether that's more about the movement of Osvaldo/Lambert than having Ramirez in. Certainly could have worked today though, surprised neither he nor Davis made an appearance.

[ExSt Peter Saint]

Lambert is well capable of playing in the hole behind the front players and links play very well. I think Lallana and JWP should also be able to do that, but it's all about the instructions and what they're told to do by the manager. Gaston certainly doesn't seem to have his price tag guaranteeing him a place as much as VW or Osvaldo, though and on his day, that's his best role and he has the talent to make a real difference.

[Batman]

Lambert is well capable of playing in the hole behind the front players and links play very well. I think Lallana and JWP should also be able to do that, but it's all about the instructions and what they're told to do by the manager. Gaston certainly doesn't seem to have his price tag guaranteeing him a place as much as VW or Osvaldo, though and on his day, that's his best role and he has the talent to make a real difference.

 

It's not about playing in the hole. It's about having a 3rd CM allowing 1 or 2 of them to support the striker.

 

Playing lambert in the hole is as good as playing 2 up top

[Saint Garrett]

Lambert is well capable of playing in the hole behind the front players and links play very well. I think Lallana and JWP should also be able to do that, but it's all about the instructions and what they're told to do by the manager. Gaston certainly doesn't seem to have his price tag guaranteeing him a place as much as VW or Osvaldo, though and on his day, that's his best role and he has the talent to make a real difference.

 

Lambert is "capable" of playing there, but Gaston gives us that little bit of pace and drive at defenders, Rickie is never going to pick the ball out 40 yards out and run at the defence is he.

[angelman]

Like when he scored last year against......West Ham?

 

Talking about today. Not sure whether you were at the game, but especially 1st half, didn't you thin WHU were somewhat physical?

[Olallana]

Talking about today. Not sure whether you were at the game, but especially 1st half, didn't you thin WHU were somewhat physical?

 

I dont think it was any big difference to our games against them last year so dont really see the difference....

[Dig Dig]

Talking about today. Not sure whether you were at the game, but especially 1st half, didn't you thin WHU were somewhat physical?

 

They were physical but don't think Gaston needs to bulk up as you put it. He's bigger than Lallana, JWP and Rodriguez.

[Sour Mash]

Good article, spot on in my opinion:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/sep/15/southampton-gaston-ramirez-mauricio-pochettino

Pretty much agree with that, he must have been worth 20mins today at least?

[Joneth]

Very good article, the point about Nolan and Morrison pressing Schniederlin and Wanyama is spot on. 'The hole' was massive yesterday and Ramirez is exactly the player to exploit it. It would have made their two drop off and give our CMs more room to operate. Instead we just launched it up onto the considerable meat head of James Collins.

[adrian lord]

It's an orchestra without a conductor presently...but is Gaston Sir Brian Rattle????

[berkshiresaint]

for what its worth I think the VW experiment is not working, Morgan has not been 1/2 the player he was last season when paired with Cork.Maybe it is time to try those two again. Why Gaston is not playing is beyond me? he & JWP will be far better than Lallana & J-Rod. bring in Davies drop SRL to the bench then we may have a chance of beating players,getting quality crosses into the area and possibly scoring some goals.

[Special K]

In the 2nd half yesterday there were 4 or 5 instances of us breaking through the middle with 4 on 4 or 4 on 3 (with Morgan breaking alongside some of the front players), but either our final player first touch was bad or or last pass was wrong. I don't think think there was too much wrong apart from trying to walk the ball into the net. I agree that Gaston should be used more, but (imho) the midfield wasn't as ineffective as some suggest. But it is telling tha Morgan had our best chances.

[alpine_saint]

Good article, spot on in my opinion:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/sep/15/southampton-gaston-ramirez-mauricio-pochettino

 

:lol:

[eurosaint]

Seems to me that when Gaston is played, he is branded as useless and when he doesn't play, he is indispensable !

Some folks are never satisfied

[BotleySaint]

Seems to me that when Gaston is played, he is branded as useless and when he doesn't play, he is indispensable !

Some folks are never satisfied

I think the issue is that people want him to do well. They expect him to do well given his apparent qualities. But he doesn't seem to get into the team enough or get put on when it seems sensible. And when he does play, he often end up giving the ball away and looking off pace. To be honest, I think he's being mismanaged along with the rest of the side.

 

That's not to say Pochettino can't sort it out in time ... but we're trying to throw in all our attacking players at once instead of building a sensible looking attack.

Edited 16 September, 2013 by BotleySaint

[Barry Sanchez]

Far too simplistic, how about our players played pretty poorly and West Ham stifled us, what has Ramirez done to deserve inclusion as well?

[Saint_clark]

I think we need to go with 1 of lambert or osvaldo.

 

To play from the back. We need to have 3 in the middle of the park when our defence has the ball. Be it, Ramirez or Davis. Even think JWP would do a good job. Oh and cork

 

But having 2 up top is making us go long. You can see the players want to pass it through but when we only have 2 in the middle, they are at best. Being matched by their opposite numbers

 

This is spot on. Last season we played with Cork, Schneiderlin and then one of Davis, Ramirez or Ward-prowse just ahead of them. Now we play with two CMs and three players interchanging behind the striker.

Back to 3 in midfield, 3 up front please MP.

[captainchris]

This is spot on. Last season we played with Cork, Schneiderlin and then one of Davis, Ramirez or Ward-prowse just ahead of them. Now we play with two CMs and three players interchanging behind the striker.

Back to 3 in midfield, 3 up front please MP.

 

Well nearly right but sinse Osvaldo has been in the team - as the article says, we are playing with a front four and they are far too advanced. This means we cannot control the area we are trying to play through i.e the central area, the front four are too far away...... We must change the tactics back to one central midfielder deeper and the two slightly wider midfielders deeper until we have built the attack. Playing two centre forwards and two advanced inside forwards is wrecking our style and flow. If you insist on playing like that you cannot play possession football you have to go long....

[captainchris]

By the way Rimirez us not the answer. It's a question of the tactics and positional way you operate. However as long as you have the extra midfield man whether it be Davis Rimirez or whoever and drop the idea of two centre forwards then we can get back to playing our style of football again. The problem now is we are light on numbers in midfield have no control or outlet there and keep giving the possession away.

[Mystic Force]

The answer to the headlines is yes, the follow up question of, is he capable? Would fill many more pages

[DuncanRG]

It's always wise to take on the opinions of qualified neutrals writing for papers like the Guardian. They don't care if our team or players are good or bad, they just say it as they see it.

[Window Cleaner]

Well nearly right but sinse Osvaldo has been in the team - as the article says, we are playing with a front four and they are far too advanced. This means we cannot control the area we are trying to play through i.e the central area, the front four are too far away...... We must change the tactics back to one central midfielder deeper and the two slightly wider midfielders deeper until we have built the attack. Playing two centre forwards and two advanced inside forwards is wrecking our style and flow. If you insist on playing like that you cannot play possession football you have to go long....

 

this is exactly w