Batman Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Surely no-way Bertrand will be right back? Has he any history of playing there. I just can't see it. I reckon it'll be Alderweireld, with Yoshida and Fonte at Centre Back. probably right. just thinking of the pace they have all o ver the place. but toby is no slouch I guess
jasonb Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Sorry I missed any updates re Clyne. How long is he likely to be out for?
Batman Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Sorry I missed any updates re Clyne. How long is he likely to be out for? 10 days I am sure i read somewhere??? so will miss the arsenal and ipswich games??
verlaine1979 Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Surely I can't be the only one to have noticed how ropey Davis has been the last 3 games (personally I think he's been ropey most of the season, but perhaps not to the same extent). Great cross for the third goal against Everton, but in each of the last three games he's surrendered possession close to our box on at least two occasions, and has looked pretty slow in possession generally. With two assists against Palace, one from open play and one from a set-piece, I think JWP brings more to the team than Davis already, and will only get better the more he plays.
shurlock Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 (edited) Surely I can't be the only one to have noticed how ropey Davis has been the last 3 games (personally I think he's been ropey most of the season, but perhaps not to the same extent). Great cross for the third goal against Everton, but in each of the last three games he's surrendered possession close to our box on at least two occasions, and has looked pretty slow in possession generally. With two assists against Palace, one from open play and one from a set-piece, I think JWP brings more to the team than Davis already, and will only get better the more he plays. He was outstanding against Everton, had a poor first half at Palace (but recovered in the second) and struggled at times yesterday. That said, he was often isolated against Chelsea (Morgan and Victor were particularly conservative in their movement and he didn't have the usual options down the flanks). He was also largely stuck on the right, ostensibly protecting yoshida which isn't his natural position. Edited 29 December, 2014 by shurlock
VectisSaint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Surely I can't be the only one to have noticed how ropey Davis has been the last 3 games (personally I think he's been ropey most of the season, but perhaps not to the same extent). Great cross for the third goal against Everton, but in each of the last three games he's surrendered possession close to our box on at least two occasions, and has looked pretty slow in possession generally. With two assists against Palace, one from open play and one from a set-piece, I think JWP brings more to the team than Davis already, and will only get better the more he plays. Has been outstanding this season, but was not great against Chelsea and had a poor game against Palace. I think the problem against Chelsea as has been suggested is that he was back playing on the right side protecting Yoshida, a role he also played sometimes under Poch. He has been so much better this season under Koeman's guidance, and really has been the engine in our side which we sorely miss when he is not available. Comparing his contribution unfavourably with Prowsey is down to the usual nonsense of only looking at assist statistics. Sadly assists are only given to the player who played the ball immediately before the goal was scored, whereas Davis so often makes the goals with his runs and then they take a couple of touches. Prowsey will be good in the future, but first he needs to learn to challenge and/or tackle, also he needs to improve his speed in clearing out from defence, and finally he needs to avoid making horrendous back passes like he did yesterday which would have cost us the game if Chelsea player (Fabregas?) had not slipped over.
verlaine1979 Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 He was outstanding against Everton, had a poor first half at Palace (but recovered in the second) and struggled at times yesterday. That said, he was often isolated against Chelsea (Morgan and Victor were particularly conservative in their movement and he didn't have the usual options down the flanks). He was also largely stuck on the right, ostensibly protecting yoshida which isn't his natural position. Interesting, I thought he squandered possession several times against Everton, but redeemed himself with the assist, while against Palace he was anonymous except for the two occasions where he dangerously loitered on the ball near our area. Difficult for anyone to perform well against Chelsea when they press, but Davis definitely looked the weakest midfield starter, needing too much time on the ball and not doing enough to protect it when he had it.
Smirking_Saint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Not enough games to judge, would still go for Michael Svensson (in my time watching Saints). If he carries like this for the whole season, may start to agree though, he does look to be a top class player. Different players but certainly Toby is the best I have seen. Svensson was excellent but Toby is a class above. Personally Id play him RB vs Arsenal, looked more comfortable than yoshi there, though neither were particularly effective against Hazard and Felipe, mostly due to Hazards ability
Smirking_Saint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 He was outstanding against Everton, had a poor first half at Palace (but recovered in the second) and struggled at times yesterday. That said, he was often isolated against Chelsea (Morgan and Victor were particularly conservative in their movement and he didn't have the usual options down the flanks). He was also largely stuck on the right, ostensibly protecting yoshida which isn't his natural position. Thought he had a reletively good game against arguably the best midfield in the league. Moved the ball well, despite as you correctly said, having few obvious options. He worked hard, and tried to get the ball forward. Pellè didnt hold the ball up well which hurt us moving forward
SuperMikey Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Play Bertrand at right back and keep Targett at left back. Keep Ward-Prowse in the side and Tadic on the bench. Ah, the Dan Harding method. Ryan is very one-footed so I don't think he'd do well at RB. Play Toby there instead, as others have pointed out he plays there for Belgium and will do a good job at stopping them down the wings. Forster Toby Fonte Yoshida Bertrand JWP Vic Davis Tadic Pelle Mane
Goatboy Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Back to three centre backs please! Forster McCarthy Yoshida Toby Fonte Bertrand JWP Vic Davis Pelle Mane
simo Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Reed in for Morgan, Bertrand for Targett and Long for Mane
doddisalegend Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Reed in for Morgan, Bertrand for Targett and Long for Mane I like long but why would you not play Mane in his current form? Plus Mane won't be playing for us after the Arsenal match for a while so keep Long fresh and injury free if we can IMO
simo Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 I like long but why would you not play Mane in his current form? Plus Mane won't be playing for us after the Arsenal match for a while so keep Long fresh and injury free if we can IMO Only because of the fact he's played every minute of the last 2 games
trousers Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Tonight's game.... Liverpool 1 Swansea 0 (33 mins)
fanimal Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Didn't Yoshida go off injured? Keep round pegs in round holes please Ronald, keep Toby our best and most important player in the middle and play a RB at RB, McCarthy for me. JWP, Davis, Big Vic and Tadic in the middle, Pelle and Mane up top. Job done, big 6 pointer, upward and onwards we March On.
Yuki Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Maya has a dogged personality and is on great form. He was withdrawn as he had a yellow card and had run a lot chasing the Hazard. He will be fine and in great form again on Thursday. Maya is my Saints Player of the Month for December. Superb.
VectisSaint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Didn't Yoshida go off injured? Keep round pegs in round holes please Ronald, keep Toby our best and most important player in the middle and play a RB at RB, McCarthy for me. JWP, Davis, Big Vic and Tadic in the middle, Pelle and Mane up top. Job done, big 6 pointer, upward and onwards we March On. Yoshida went off because he was exhausted, Koeman confirmed this post match, and coupled with fact he was on yellow as well.
richard Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Table after tonight's game: Damn, was hoping for a draw. Liverpool are starting to look a bit better now.
John Boy Saint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 The man with the whistle on Thursday is Craig Pawson, see how he copes with the top heavy Arsenal players. http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/referees/profile.html/craig-pawson
Batman Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 (edited) Irvine sacked from WBA. Pardew to palace maybe Bruce to newcastle maybe Pulis to WBA maybe Who to hull? I bet we hear sherwood in the media gobbing off (getting his name out there), telling everyone about how good he was at Spurs, in the next 48 hours or so Edited 29 December, 2014 by Batman
VectisSaint Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Damn, was hoping for a draw. Liverpool are starting to look a bit better now. Brenda is finally waking up to the fact that Liverpool are better without Lovren and old man Gerrard.
Saxon Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Well we're getting into the business end of the season now. We're in a fantastic position (4th) but the big dogs have started to catch up in points and are improving their performances. We've had a sticky patch but we're still here which is brilliant, and the result against Chelsea is massive in hopefully helping the team with some belief that we can dance with the big boys for real. Hoping we can trash Arsenal on New Years, we need those points if we have any hope of CL. As mentioned above by someone, big 6 pointer. But, this is a winnable game, and now we've come back from the bad patch with 3 excellent results and 3 excellent performances, as RK said, the team seems to have learned from the bad run. Anyway, brilliant 2014, here's hoping we smash 2015 out the park. The next couple of games will be massive, and then we settle down for the long haul until the end of the season! This is the big one, this is the long stretch, this is where you really find out what you're made of, Arsenal last season were title pushers all of the first half of last season and then collapsed in the second half. We need to show our mettle and seize this amazing opportunity to finish 4th (the opportunity being the sh*tty seasons of the big boys). We can do this: we've already done it in fact (played 19 games and 4th). We just need to do it again in the replays. There is no reason we can't get 4th again in the next 19 games. Lets do this. COYR! We March On!
Badger Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 Pardew to Palace has been confirmed. I've read he has been given permission to speak to Palace, nothing more than that (although probably a forgone conclusion he'll go rather than wait for the push at Newcastle).
Batman Posted 29 December, 2014 Posted 29 December, 2014 I've read he has been given permission to speak to Palace, nothing more than that (although probably a forgone conclusion he'll go rather than wait for the push at Newcastle). It in the (online) paper..... Pardew signs 4 year deal
Lets B Avenue Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Welbeck doubtful according to SSN. Already missing Giroud.
Window Cleaner Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Welbeck doubtful according to SSN. Already missing Giroud. No luck with strikers then, I read that they're trying to sign Cavani from PSG, can't make out what that's all about, lot of money for a bit part striker.
Batman Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 No luck with strikers then, I read that they're trying to sign Cavani from PSG, can't make out what that's all about, lot of money for a bit part striker. all plain odd from arsenal the money they would spend getting a player like that in, should be spent on a top CB
waylander Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Telegraph reports Ramsey will be missing for them
Saint Charlie Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Welbeck will play. Their front three will be strong.
fez Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Welbeck will play He's doubtful according to Wenger this morning http://www.arsenal.com/pressconference though like you I think we'll see him playing on Thursday
Convict Colony Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Don't know what we are talking about (just saw 1 post) but can I just suggest Toby is by far our best player so far this season, don't know how Jose beat him into the team of the season on Sky. His natural position is the right sided centre back, he plays for us as the left sided centre back due to Jose. When we have no right back he plays there, when we don't have a DM he plays there and in every single position he doesn't look out of place and in the DM role I thought he was outstanding and his shots are bloody decent. My current player of the season for us and there is no way someone with bigger pockets wouldn't want him.
JibMcdo Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Arsenal don't have the same sort of threat from their strikers as Chelsea do so I think Toby will be at right back and Yoshi at CB. Don't think you can play 3-5-2 without Clyne and Bertrand. ---------Forster Toby Fonte Yoshi Bertrand JWP Davis Wanyama Tadic ------Mane Pelle
altoniansaints Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Have we not already agreed a fee to sign Toby at themed of the season? Would be silly not to take that up with the way he has played! If we have agreed a fee does that also mean we have agreed personal terms with him?
VectisSaint Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Have we not already agreed a fee to sign Toby at themed of the season? Would be silly not to take that up with the way he has played! If we have agreed a fee does that also mean we have agreed personal terms with him? This was how the loan deal was reported: "Alderweireld joins from Atletico Madrid with the option for a permanent move, which would cost Soyuthampton £6.3m." Atletico still have to agree to sell him (they might not), and I would think Toby would still have to agree personal terms, but we have first dibs if we stump up 6.3m.
VectisSaint Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Arsenal don't have the same sort of threat from their strikers as Chelsea do so I think Toby will be at right back and Yoshi at CB. Don't think you can play 3-5-2 without Clyne and Bertrand. ---------Forster Toby Fonte Yoshi Bertrand JWP Davis Wanyama Tadic ------Mane Pelle Why can't we play 3-5-2 with McCarthy and Bertrand? Seems to me 3-5-2 is ideal for Arsenal where we need to be strong in the midfield. I would go Wanyama, Davis and Reed in the middle three rather than JWP who offers little outside of set plays and would start with Long and Pelle up front. Forster; Fonte, Toby, Yoshida; McCarthy, Wanyama, Bertrand; Reed, Davis; Long, Pelle. Bench Davis, Tadic, Mane, Gardos, Targett, JWP, Hesketh (if fit again). Almost looking like a reasonably strong bench again with players that can actually make a difference.
VectisSaint Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Don't know what we are talking about (just saw 1 post) but can I just suggest Toby is by far our best player so far this season, don't know how Jose beat him into the team of the season on Sky. His natural position is the right sided centre back, he plays for us as the left sided centre back due to Jose. When we have no right back he plays there, when we don't have a DM he plays there and in every single position he doesn't look out of place and in the DM role I thought he was outstanding and his shots are bloody decent. My current player of the season for us and there is no way someone with bigger pockets wouldn't want him. You forgot that he plays centre of a back 3 when we play 3-5-2, almost in a sweeper role. He looks best of all in this position from the evidence so far. Agreed he has been our best, but Fonte has been very good as well, except for one (?) total cock up which in the end made no difference.
derry Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 It may be that the absence of both Bertrand and Clyne with Targett at left back persuaded Koeman that putting McCarthy in against Chelsea at right back would be a bigger risk than Yoshida and going back to a four. With Bertrand back and now Schneiderlin out against Arsenal he could opt for a five with McCarthy at right back and leave Tadic out. We did pretty well against Arsenal with a back four. At least we have the options including Yoshida at right back and Fonte, Alderweireld and Gardos at centre back and Bertrand left back.
VectisSaint Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 It may be that the absence of both Bertrand and Clyne with Targett at left back persuaded Koeman that putting McCarthy in against Chelsea at right back would be a bigger risk than Yoshida and going back to a four. With Bertrand back and now Schneiderlin out against Arsenal he could opt for a five with McCarthy at right back and leave Tadic out. We did pretty well against Arsenal with a back four. At least we have the options including Yoshida at right back and Fonte, Alderweireld and Gardos at centre back and Bertrand left back. Agreed, I was reasonably sure that putting two youngsters in to face Chelsea was a step too far for Ronald, but having one would be reasonable. I also think the 352 system would be more suited to playing Arsenal than Chelsea anyway. Without Schneiderlin it is certainly an option that has now been at least been proven.
Boris Karloff Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 I think JWP could be crucial with his set piece delivery because of the relative height of the teams. Apart from Mertersacker (who ducks anyway) and Koscielny Arsenal have nobody tall. If we have set pieces with Toby, Maya, Fonte, Pelle and Vic in the box we will have a big height advantage over them and they have conceded a lot of set pieces already this season.
Dellman Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 What's the timing for Clyne's return, anyone know?
krissyboy31 Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 What's the timing for Clyne's return, anyone know? Read somewhere he was out eor 10 days.
Matthew Le God Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 What's the timing for Clyne's return, anyone know? Koeman said in post match Chelsea interviews that it would be 10 days. But then he also said after the Crystal Palace game that no-one was injured, so he plays with the truth.
nta786 Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Merson, predicting us a defeat for the second time in a row. 'I think Arsenal will beat Southampton. Saints did alright against Chelsea and got a good result but there was only ever going to be one winner in the second half, if there was going to be one. However, fair play to Southampton, they are out of their slump and have bounced back. If you lose five on the trot that is hard, and since then I think they have won two and drawn one, so job done there. But I just think that Arsenal are one of those teams that can get on a roll. That was a big, big result at West Ham and to go there - where it is going to be blood and thunder - and then to go to a place where it is ‘you play, we play’, well there are not many teams that are better than Arsenal when it is ‘you play, we play’. So I will go 2-1 to Arsenal.' PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2
Big Ron fan Posted 30 December, 2014 Posted 30 December, 2014 Merson, predicting us a defeat for the second time in a row. 'I think Arsenal will beat Southampton. Saints did alright against Chelsea and got a good result but there was only ever going to be one winner in the second half, if there was going to be one. However, fair play to Southampton, they are out of their slump and have bounced back. If you lose five on the trot that is hard, and since then I think they have won two and drawn one, so job done there. But I just think that Arsenal are one of those teams that can get on a roll. That was a big, big result at West Ham and to go there - where it is going to be blood and thunder - and then to go to a place where it is ‘you play, we play’, well there are not many teams that are better than Arsenal when it is ‘you play, we play’. So I will go 2-1 to Arsenal.' PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 This is the most hilarious analysis ever!
Junior Mullet Posted 31 December, 2014 Posted 31 December, 2014 This is a winnable game. We didn't do ourselves justice up there and yes, we can more than match them in the middle, even without Morgan. Arsenal are completely Plan A = we know exactly how they will line up and how they will play (stubborn Wenger) and Koeman and Co will know what to do to beat them. The thought of Mane's pace against their back line excites me as does the thought of Long coming on for the last 20 mins. Totally winnable 6 pointer. It feels like our best chance to beat them in the league for a long time. Come on you Saints!!!!
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