Have we been pushing it too hard ?

[Smirking_Saint]

Do you think that we are working too hard ? The players recently said they were pleased to go on international training with England as they wont work so hard, also I reckon we collectively run further then most other teams, such is the intensity of our pressing.

 

Add to this our reletively smallish squad do you think the reason we are making mistakes is because we are jaded and tired. And so picking up muscular injuries and making mistakes ?

 

If so, can you imagine an extended cup run ? And even a europa campaign ?

 

Or have we just been unlucky ?

[Saint_clark]

Where did people say they were "pleased to go on international training as they won't work so hard"?

Anyway, yes I think we have. However we have seen squad rotation with Davis/JWP/J-Rod, Yoshida/Fonte/Hooiveld and Lambert/Osvaldo. So I don't think it's as much of a factor as people think.

The decision to put Yoshida in tonight instead of Hooiveld was very strange.

[110_Persaint]

We showed plenty of energy tonight.

 

Unfortunately the footballing brains reflective of our manager - that of a 9 year old.

[benjii]

No.

 

The two main errors today were from Yoshida and Cork, who have hardly played. I think we've just had a spate of errors at once which is just a coincidence.

 

Two individual errors today, the need to keep reshuffling due to injury, plus a good long range shot from the opposition. If that shot doesn't go in it's just a lucky point for Villa despite the errors.

 

No need for a big inquest.

[RonManager]

Yeah, we seem to have picked up a rash of injuries pretty much at the same time. It's like everyone was tip top to start with, but the sheer physical punishment they've taken playing this high energy game has hit a break point. This, added to our (relatively) thin squad, plus the freak injury to Artur, has knocked us back against the ropes.

[Smirking_Saint]

Sure I read it somewhere the players joking that training was a breeze at England compared to with Saints. Im assuming that Hoovield and Yoshi were picked dependant on the opposition but if Fonte was fit to play why not play him ?

 

Not that I want our system to change BTW, Im a big fan, but I think we are going to have these little niggles more than most teams. Dont get me wrong, we have had Arsenal and Chelsea away, I wasnt expecting much there but we played ok, we even played ok tonight, organisationally poorer than usual but on balance didnt deserve the loss.

[Smirking_Saint]

We showed plenty of energy tonight.

 

Unfortunately the footballing brains reflective of our manager - that of a 9 year old.

 

Eh ?

[110_Persaint]

Sure I read it somewhere the players joking that training was a breeze at England compared to with Saints. Im assuming that Hoovield and Yoshi were picked dependant on the opposition but if Fonte was fit to play why not play him ?

 

Not that I want our system to change BTW, Im a big fan, but I think we are going to have these little niggles more than most teams. Dont get me wrong, we have had Arsenal and Chelsea away, I wasnt expecting much there but we played ok, we even played ok tonight, organisationally poorer than usual but on balance didnt deserve the loss.

Must have a pretty loose definition for "ok"

[Smirking_Saint]

Must have a pretty loose definition for "ok"

 

2 mistakes, a worldy, we had more efforts on goal and much more possession ? Yeah Id say we did ok.

 

Can you tackle the points glasgow and not just derail another thread ?

[Roger]

We showed plenty of energy tonight.

 

Unfortunately the footballing brains reflective of our manager - that of a 9 year old.

 

Shut up. Our manager is class.

[NickG]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

Home now and frustration easing. Not terrible performance but felt like points thrown away. My observations;

 

The closing down system didn't seem as balanced & organised without MS.

 

MS huge loss, one of best CM in country, Cork is decent but miles behind MS in all aspects of play.

 

MS / VW partnership big loss

 

Osvaldo is very good player but looks like putting too much pressure on himself. Rushing shots, passing too firmly. His movement & technical ability is very good.

 

Our best players this season - 1) Lovren 2) MS, 3), Clyne 4), Lallana -5) VW 6) Boruc. - missing 4 out of 6 of our best players and ridiculously dominating shows not panic time.

 

One of those days, still good start & still will be excellent season

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[whelk]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

You need to be more sympathetic to their condition. The internet gives them such a forum and their captive audience they wouldn't find elsewhere ie real life

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/08/04/how-to-spot-a-narcissist/

[Roger]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

Home now and frustration easing. Not terrible performance but felt like points thrown away. My observations;

 

The closing down system didn't seem as balanced & organised without MS.

 

MS huge loss, one of best CM in country, Cork is decent but miles behind MS in all aspects of play.

 

MS / VW partnership big loss

 

Osvaldo is very good player but looks like putting too much pressure on himself. Rushing shots, passing too firmly. His movement & technical ability is very good.

 

Our best players this season - 1) Lovren 2) MS, 3), Clyne 4), Lallana -5) VW 6) Boruc. - missing 4 out of 6 of our best players and ridiculously dominating shows not panic time.

 

One of those days, still good start & still will be excellent season

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

Agree although if put Clyne ahead of Morgan this season.

[Batman]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

 

a response from a MOD when asked about the trolling on here was....

 

"bore off"

[Patrick Bateman]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

I'll say it again, I wish people would just block or ignore them all - reading enjoyment is much better when you cut out the dross and only see posts from those who are erudite on the subject.

[S-Clarke]

When can someone ban 100% again?

[kpturner]

a response from a MOD when asked about the trolling on here was....

 

"bore off"

You have to be infantile to be a mod I guess.

[Glasgow_Saint]

a response from a MOD when asked about the trolling on here was....

 

"bore off"

 

Are you honestly surprised? youre one of the biggest trolls on here!!

 

at least delldays was occasionally funny

[OldNick]

Persaint must be a Skate

[Glasgow_Saint]

Raised the problem with endurance after a few games -

 

We saw the same last season - good for mopos first 8-10 games then awful for the next 6-7

 

Casualties of the formation are injuries (we are now getting a lot), suspensions and player fatigue.

 

Forfeited the cup already and now paying the price in the league. Said when mopo arrived that if the pressing game was easy all teams would do it.

[OldNick]

Raised the problem with endurance after a few games -

 

We saw the same last season - good for mopos first 8-10 games then awful for the next 6-7

 

Casualties of the formation are injuries (we are now getting a lot), suspensions and player fatigue.

 

Forfeited the cup already and now paying the price in the league. Said when mopo arrived that if the pressing game was easy all teams would do it.

So you thought the way we play was tiring but then follow up with we forfeited our place in the cup. The type of football we play aka high energy got us where we are, and you find fault but then moan when we took the correct measure of not playing our full strength team in a cup match that we were unlikely to end up winning. You cant have it all ways. For your info i also pointed out Tony Adams comments about us plummeting around Xmas as we could not sustain the energy needed. i put that on the after match reaction to the Sunderland cup defeat. i got a few sarcastic replies from a few who thought the Cup was winnable

[Turkish]

It seems so. The players are looking a little fatigued lately and picking up lots of niggles, a sure sign they are being pushed to hard. December is a busy month so I hope we are changing the schedule and dropping the double sessions and having more rest time as we could do without any more injuries now Wanyama it out for 4-6 weeks too. The squad is looking very thin.

[Glasgow_Saint]

So you thought the way we play was tiring but then follow up with we forfeited our place in the cup. The type of football we play aka high energy got us where we are, and you find fault but then moan when we took the correct measure of not playing our full strength team in a cup match that we were unlikely to end up winning. You cant have it all ways. For your info i also pointed out Tony Adams comments about us plummeting around Xmas as we could not sustain the energy needed. i put that on the after match reaction to the Sunderland cup defeat. i got a few sarcastic replies from a few who thought the Cup was winnable

 

I had supported a good cup run + 10th place finish, over a 9th - 12th finish and no cup run.

 

Its all about balance and if the pressing game was easy every would do it. Mopo has been niave in thinking we could endure that pressure game all season.

[The9]

Do you think that we are working too hard ? The players recently said they were pleased to go on international training with England as they wont work so hard, also I reckon we collectively run further then most other teams, such is the intensity of our pressing.

 

Add to this our reletively smallish squad do you think the reason we are making mistakes is because we are jaded and tired. And so picking up muscular injuries and making mistakes ?

 

If so, can you imagine an extended cup run ? And even a europa campaign ?

 

Or have we just been unlucky ?

 

Small squad and a compressed fixture list with more games in a shorter period means we're suddenly not getting the recovery times, and the depth of the squad has been a concern all along. We've got a great first 13 or so, after that there will be a drop in performance as the less able players fill in, and we have some players who simply can't play 3 times in a week and have to work around that too.

 

There's a reason Swansea have been struggling in the League, it's because they're playing so many games and haven't got quite the squad depth of a top 4 side - but also a reason why they had a good midweek performance this week, that being they're used to having to play twice in a week in terms of preparation and recovery.

[The9]

Interesting that none of the injured players are the 3 who got called up for England though...

[Smirking_Saint]

It seems so. The players are looking a little fatigued lately and picking up lots of niggles, a sure sign they are being pushed to hard. December is a busy month so I hope we are changing the schedule and dropping the double sessions and having more rest time as we could do without any more injuries now Wanyama it out for 4-6 weeks too. The squad is looking very thin.

 

Not kept up on this news, VW out as well ? Its bad, dont get me wrong I think we have been unlucky but I would say those still 'fit' look jaded, at least mentally if not physically.

 

We need to use better recovery techniques or get a bigger squad IMO

[Turkish]

Not kept up on this news, VW out as well ? Its bad, dont get me wrong I think we have been unlucky but I would say those still 'fit' look jaded, at least mentally if not physically.

 

We need to use better recovery techniques or get a bigger squad IMO

 

Yep, he's out for 4-6 weeks. Squad looks very thin now.

[Smirking_Saint]

Yep, he's out for 4-6 weeks. Squad looks very thin now.

 

Very, losing Morgan was bad enough, but both essentially means are tactics are now defunct, which considering its basically all we have been working since MoPo must be a tad annoying

[captainchris]

Is it just the 14 year olds and trolling *****s who still pay for this ? The boring infantile posts of Barry, Glasgow, persaint etc prevent reading of any thread now. Would have thought falling membership would have encouraged moderating. Wish they would take their shared brain cell out for a day & pluck up courage to speak to real person!

 

Home now and frustration easing. Not terrible performance but felt like points thrown away. My observations;

 

The closing down system didn't seem as balanced & organised without MS.

 

MS huge loss, one of best CM in country, Cork is decent but miles behind MS in all aspects of play.

 

MS / VW partnership big loss

 

Osvaldo is very good player but looks like putting too much pressure on himself. Rushing shots, passing too firmly. His movement & technical ability is very good.

 

Our best players this season - 1) Lovren 2) MS, 3), Clyne 4), Lallana -5) VW 6) Boruc. - missing 4 out of 6 of our best players and ridiculously dominating shows not panic time.

 

One of those days, still good start & still will be excellent season

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

You moan about so called 'trolls' and proceed to with your own negative opinions which is evidently perfectly ok?

Anyway Cork played well and in true Osvaldo style we should give him at least ten games 'to adjust' after being out so long!

[stug76]

You moan about so called 'trolls' and proceed to with your own negative opinions which is evidently perfectly ok?

 

I think you miss the point about the trolls on here. It's not the negative opinion that's the issue it's the manner of the posts. The repetition, the sarcasm the abuse. I've just done my catchup of all the news and pretty much every thread has been dominated by the "trolls". It has ruined this forum and it's a shame.

[david in sweden]

Do you think that we are working too hard ?

The players recently said they were pleased to go on international training with England as they wont work so hard, also I reckon we collectively run further then most other teams, such is the intensity of our pressing.

 

Add to this our reletively smallish squad do you think the reason we are making mistakes is because we are jaded and tired. And so picking up muscular injuries and making mistakes ?

 

If so, can you imagine an extended cup run ? And even a europa campaign ? Or have we just been unlucky ?

 

 

 

 

A bit of both I think.

 

We've played much of the season with a nucleaus of 6-7 players who have featured in almost every game. Good in one way, but it puts a lot of stress on the same players every week.

However, when you start to look at the bench...... there isn't a lot of quality there - not for the Prem. anyway.

 

YES - they are " super-fit " with double-training and it shows, but several other sides; Arsenal, Chelsea have played with a larger variation of players because they have more experienced types in their squads.

 

Hard to know if the recent injuries were the result of being " over-trained," or just unlucky injuries inflicted during games.

 

Until we get over this period and the window opens, we need to seriously consider buying in several class players with international experience - even if they aren't 20-something and don't cost £12mill.each.