DuncanRG Posted 1 December, 2013 Share Posted 1 December, 2013 (edited) I was hoping I could start this thread without any injuries to worry about (and off the back of a good result to minimise whinging) but hey-ho... We're going into the Christmas period with a lot of games to play, a demanding style and a lot of players who need to be protected from fatigue and injury - Lambert, Shaw, Ward-Prowse etc Quite aside from Boruc, Schneiderlin and Wanyama who may miss games through injury or suspension, what can we do to maintain our energy levels when we're playing twice or three times in a week? Is this where Cork, Ramirez, Fox etc will be expected to come in? Can we capitalise on our opponents' fixture congestion? Edited 1 December, 2013 by DuncanRG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 1 December, 2013 Share Posted 1 December, 2013 Cork and Davis are good for midfield options. Defence not so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 1 December, 2013 Author Share Posted 1 December, 2013 Probably the most important question I forgot to ask: will we adjust our tactics to make sure everybody stays fit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted 1 December, 2013 Share Posted 1 December, 2013 What we really need are a couple of full backs to provide cover for Shaw and Clyne! Oh and a striker and a right winger! Get those in for January the 1st and we might have a chance of finishing in a Europa league place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted 1 December, 2013 Share Posted 1 December, 2013 Think Chambers is decent cover - at least at right-back. What's happened to Isgrove? Is he injured? Agree we need other striking options. Don't think Lee can cut it, but could Mayuka be recalled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonManager Posted 1 December, 2013 Share Posted 1 December, 2013 I'm plugging a gap (well obviously I've paused to post this). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint86 Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Persoanlly, I wonder if we are about to see everything that is wrong with pochettino, double training sessions, NO squad rotation, and refusal to even adapt tactics when the high line press inst working (chelsea today is a prime example, as was arsenal).... Injury, fatigue, players coming in that aren't familiar to the system.... I have niggling worries starting to come in to play. Hope i am wrong. But I do wonder what Nigel would have done with this squad of players... He was doing pretty good when he was fired, poch struggled at the end of the season (limped over the line)... will be interesting. But we've had the managers honeymoon period for sure now, had the summer, had the boards backing.... this is his test time for me. I have serious doubts about the way he wants us to play being sustainable... and if we cant manage it for just the league, we have no hope accross both cups and europe imho... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Ah, I can sense the ''MP out'' posts warming up as we speak. Give it another 3-4 weeks and we'll be in full flow.... For what it's worth, I'm seeing everything that's wrong with a modern day football fan at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 2 December, 2013 Author Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Persoanlly, I wonder if we are about to see everything that is wrong with pochettino, double training sessions, NO squad rotation, and refusal to even adapt tactics when the high line press inst working (chelsea today is a prime example, as was arsenal).... Injury, fatigue, players coming in that aren't familiar to the system.... I have niggling worries starting to come in to play. Hope i am wrong. But I do wonder what Nigel would have done with this squad of players... He was doing pretty good when he was fired, poch struggled at the end of the season (limped over the line)... will be interesting. But we've had the managers honeymoon period for sure now, had the summer, had the boards backing.... this is his test time for me. I have serious doubts about the way he wants us to play being sustainable... and if we cant manage it for just the league, we have no hope accross both cups and europe imho... Good grief You know what else Chelsea and Arsenal were prime examples of? Playing away against two potential champions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Cork and Davis are good for midfield options. Defence not so much Hooiveld and Chambers have both performed for us when called upon, Yoshida as well but who knows what kind of form he'll be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colinjb Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Hooiveld and Chambers have both performed for us when called upon, Yoshida as well but who knows what kind of form he'll be in. Hopefully as reasonable as Jos was last weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Ah, I can sense the ''MP out'' posts warming up as we speak. Give it another 3-4 weeks and we'll be in full flow.... For what it's worth, I'm seeing everything that's wrong with a modern day football fan at the moment. Agreed, spoilt brats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint86 Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Good grief You know what else Chelsea and Arsenal were prime examples of? Playing away against two potential champions. So you don't think we may hit a wall going through the season with the same 11 players, double training sessions and no squad rotation... In fact he is actually trying to get rid of ramirez by all accounts as well as giving cork no game time... You answered very legitimate points with your usual disrepsect (not sure why i took you off ignore) for anyone with a different oppionion to yourself.... lets ignore the fact that espanyol's team struggled with the above issues shall we... If you can't see that we are starting to develop little niggles and tiredness then i'm surprised... Note that I am no point attacking MoPo, but lets face it, if he was the perfect manager he wouldn't be at saints, and every playing style has its draw backs matey, I think his may well be jaded players.... Christmas will show us, but I don't think you should be showing me the disrespect of sarcastic replies for raising a legitimate question. Christmas will be interesting. And a part of me would like to have seen what Adkins would do with this team.... he wouldn't have assembled them, fair enough, but I bet he'd have done a good job with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 2 December, 2013 Share Posted 2 December, 2013 Think Chambers is decent cover - at least at right-back. What's happened to Isgrove? Is he injured? Agree we need other striking options. Don't think Lee can cut it, but could Mayuka be recalled? Mayuka? He's absolute rubbish at Sochaux which is a league 1 side at best apart from Corchia that is. He's been put out to grass for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 3 December, 2013 Share Posted 3 December, 2013 Cork and Davis are good for midfield options. Defence not so much Provided we don't lose both Schneiderlin and Wayama at the same time, our defence looked fine against Arsenal away with Hooiveld and Fonte, so I'm less worried about that than I was before that game. The lack of depth is the main problem with Saints' squad at the moment, but we're now looking at it in terms of top 6 competitiveness and not just top half. We actually need a new keeper, at least one CB, a left back, another DM, wide midfielder and striker we can slot in - and probably a Gaston replacement, in order to be able to challenge in every match, rather than just the ones we have a lot of recovery time for, or when we don't have any injuries or suspensions. Some of those might come from the academy, but they're not there yet, and are unlikely to be top 6 quality from the start (though to be fair, JWP and Shaw have been, and Chambers isn't too far away). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 3 December, 2013 Share Posted 3 December, 2013 Persoanlly, I wonder if we are about to see everything that is wrong with pochettino, double training sessions, NO squad rotation, and refusal to even adapt tactics when the high line press inst working (chelsea today is a prime example, as was arsenal).... We were very good against Arsenal, 98% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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