Lallana's Left Peg Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I would imagine everything possible is being done to ensure Morgan plays, given that it will probably be his last appearance for us. I doubt that it likely being his last appearance will mean we rush him back at risk, I suspect his return will be because he's one of the best central midfielders in the league and our chances of getting something from the game increase with him playing. If he leaves, it will be interesting to see if we try to replace him with a player like him, or just go in another direction altogether in that second holding midfield slot.
Verbal Kint Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I doubt that it likely being his last appearance will mean we rush him back at risk, I suspect his return will be because he's one of the best central midfielders in the league and our chances of getting something from the game increase with him playing. If he leaves, it will be interesting to see if we try to replace him with a player like him, or just go in another direction altogether in that second holding midfield slot. I hope we go in a slightly different direction. The Wanyama/Schneiderlin partnership has been immense for us in shutting out the big teams, but at times when we are struggling to break teams down I don't think we move the ball quickly enough and often there too many sideways passes. I'd like someone in there who gets his head up earlier and tries to move it forward quicker. That's not to say Morgan isn't a great player. This club has developed him into one of the best holding midfielders in Europe and I'm confident we'll get properly compensated for that this summer, and with the funds we can improve the team
The9 Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I hope we go in a slightly different direction. The Wanyama/Schneiderlin partnership has been immense for us in shutting out the big teams, but at times when we are struggling to break teams down I don't think we move the ball quickly enough and often there too many sideways passes. I'd like someone in there who gets his head up earlier and tries to move it forward quicker. That's not to say Morgan isn't a great player. This club has developed him into one of the best holding midfielders in Europe and I'm confident we'll get properly compensated for that this summer, and with the funds we can improve the team I'd say the struggle in breaking teams down is because of what doesn't happen in front of the defensive players, not because of those defensive players, how quickly THEY move the ball, or the formation. Stick the likes of Coutinho, Aguero or Sanchez up there and we'd be scoring more too. The issue is that we don't have the budget (or possibly the profile) to get that kind of quality in.
The9 Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 ---------- Gazzaniga Clyne - Fonte - Toby - Bertrand -----------Wanyama ---------JWP --- Morgan Mane ------------------ Djuricic ------------ Long Good ****in christ no! Something not far off that got us a point at Chelsea. Though I do have my doubts that anyone apart from Forster could have done what he did in goal that match.
Window Cleaner Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I'd say the struggle in breaking teams down is because of what doesn't happen in front of the defensive players, not because of those defensive players, how quickly THEY move the ball, or the formation. Stick the likes of Coutinho, Aguero or Sanchez up there and we'd be scoring more too. The issue is that we don't have the budget (or possibly the profile) to get that kind of quality in. I would agree with that actually, apart from our 2 wingbacks there's not much oomph on display from our AMs as a rule. Djuricic could change that, quick and seems to have an IQ a bit above that of a plank of wood.
The9 Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I would agree with that actually, apart from our 2 wingbacks there's not much oomph on display from our AMs as a rule. Djuricic could change that, quick and seems to have an IQ a bit above that of a plank of wood. Or Gaston?
the saint in winchester Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 A win (or draw I think) will keep Sunderland safe - they'll be going for it all out you'd have thought. Yeah, a draw in that game tonight would take the pressure off with Sunderland (staying up) and Man Citeh (finishing 2nd). But will it happen? I doubt it.
Verbal Kint Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I'd say the struggle in breaking teams down is because of what doesn't happen in front of the defensive players, not because of those defensive players, how quickly THEY move the ball, or the formation. Stick the likes of Coutinho, Aguero or Sanchez up there and we'd be scoring more too. The issue is that we don't have the budget (or possibly the profile) to get that kind of quality in. I think it's both. Arsenal won't be looking to partner Morgan with another defensive minded player, they'll play him with someone like Cazorla. United have had Herrera alongside Carrick. Chelsea most of this season have played Fabregas alongside Matic except for the big games when they've brought in Ramires or Mikel alongside him to make them more solid. I realise those are world class players out of our reach but I'd like to us try and find a gem in that mould. Maybe Clasie is that player, I haven't seen enough of him to know
Window Cleaner Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Or Gaston? Why not, although he'll be entering his last contract year (I think) and we'll probably be looking to offload him for a couple of quid, same as we did with Cork. Also noted that Osvaldo seems to be in line for a return to the Italy side for next month's games, not quite sure what his situation is at Boca though because their season isn't the same as ours.
Window Cleaner Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I think it's both. Arsenal won't be looking to partner Morgan with another defensive minded player, they'll play him with someone like Cazorla. United have had Herrera alongside Carrick. Chelsea most of this season have played Fabregas alongside Matic except for the big games when they've brought in Ramires or Mikel alongside him to make them more solid. I realise those are world class players out of our reach but I'd like to us try and find a gem in that mould. Maybe Clasie is that player, I haven't seen enough of him to know Wenger has spoken of this today (or yesterday) wants to sign a new DM and pair him with Coquelin when necessary and with others when a more attacking formation is required. Whether he'd go to our price for Morgan remains to be seen.
John Boy Saint Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 See we have Mr Christopher Foy on the whistle on Sunday, so that good wind might be useful.
eddie Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Why not, although he'll be entering his last contract year (I think) and we'll probably be looking to offload him for a couple of quid, same as we did with Cork. Also noted that Osvaldo seems to be in line for a return to the Italy side for next month's games, not quite sure what his situation is at Boca though because their season isn't the same as ours. Will the universe implode if osvaldo and pelle start having an epic strike partnership for italy?
VectisSaint Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 See we have Mr Christopher Foy on the whistle on Sunday, so that good wind might be useful. His last game I understand. Chris Hoy will be pleased, his twitter account may now contain less abuse after each match.
VectisSaint Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Will the universe implode if osvaldo and pelle start having an epic strike partnership for italy? Maybe Osvaldo will nut Pelle?
Tommy Mulgrew Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I usually watch away matches on Drakulastream, which has now been closed down. Anyone know of a good free stream for Sunday, please? Many thanks in anticipation.
Patrick Bateman Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Yeah, a draw in that game tonight would take the pressure off with Sunderland (staying up) and Man Citeh (finishing 2nd). But will it happen? I doubt it. Looking like it. (there's a nail in the coffin)
Pass the Dutchie Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I usually watch away matches on Drakulastream, which has now been closed down. Anyone know of a good free stream for Sunday, please? Many thanks in anticipation. You should be able to find a decent free stream here: http://cricfree.sx/
SaintJackoInHurworth Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Yeah, a draw in that game tonight would take the pressure off with Sunderland (staying up) and Man Citeh (finishing 2nd). But will it happen? I doubt it. Only a few minutes to go and it's 0-0. If it stays like that City are confirmed in second place and will have less to play for on Sunday. Hopefully that could help us. As I'm sure someone has said, if we win and Liverpool and Spurs don't win then we finish fifth.
ScepticalStan Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 OK, that's City with nothing to play for. Think that will help us. For some teams having the pressure off can liberate them but for others, especially a bunch of mercenaries like City, they tend to take their foot off the gas. Definitely think this one's winnable now.
Saint_Ash Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Yep, kids out for city and senior players don't want to get injured before their holidays. Winnable.
S-Clarke Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 I look at how a top team like Chelsea performed without anything to play for, and it makes you very confident.
SOTONS EAST SIDE Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 (edited) YES thank you Sunderland.. Just need Everton and Stoke to do their parts. and win their home games... Edited 20 May, 2015 by SOTONS EAST SIDE
the saint in winchester Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Yeah, a draw in that game tonight would take the pressure off with Sunderland (staying up) and Man Citeh (finishing 2nd). But will it happen? I doubt it. Only a few minutes to go and it's 0-0. If it stays like that City are confirmed in second place and will have less to play for on Sunday. Hopefully that could help us. As I'm sure someone has said, if we win and Liverpool and Spurs don't win then we finish fifth. Well, well, I couldn't believe Arsenal could be so limp again, but they were. Been listening to the commentary on Talksport, and have to say, for all his foibles, Stan Collymore is a blooming good summariser. Love his comments "Arsenal trying to thread it through the eye of a needle" and "they're playing 5 a side football on an 11 a side pitch!" That sums it up. They are woeful at going for goal. SO .... sweet for us. Hopefully now Citeh are guaranteed 2nd place, they may ease up, play a few peripheral players .... you'll be able to remind me of this post when they tonk us on Sunday!
Tommy Mulgrew Posted 20 May, 2015 Posted 20 May, 2015 Thnx for the suggestion of cricfree. I've tried it before and encountered a lot of buffering and unwanted interruptions. But, in the absence of alternatives, I'll try it again.
Professor Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 What can we take from the Arsenal draw at home to Sunderland? The obvious, of course, is that with second place assured, Man City now have nothing to play for on Sunday except their pride. But even if we win, Saints can only go up to 5th or 6th if Tottenham or Liverpool don't win their games. We can go above Tottenham if they draw (or lose) but Liverpool need to lose for us to have a chance to go above them. Otherwise we stay in 7th and entry to the Europa League depends on the Cup Final result. It's tempting to think that Arsenal are going to be easy winners in the Cup Final, and that our result against Villa tends to confirm that. But now we have Arsenal's result against Sunderland to increase the doubts. On top of that the old cliché I also true, that cup final is a once-off game and anything can happen (just as in 1976). To win on Sunday and still not move up a place would be terribly frustrating but Ronald has to fire the team up to go for that win with fingers crossed that one or both of the other results go in our favour.
CB Fry Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 What can we take from the Arsenal draw at home to Sunderland? The obvious, of course, is that with second place assured, Man City now have nothing to play for on Sunday except their pride. But even if we win, Saints can only go up to 5th or 6th if Tottenham or Liverpool don't win their games. We can go above Tottenham if they draw (or lose) but Liverpool need to lose for us to have a chance to go above them. Otherwise we stay in 7th and entry to the Europa League depends on the Cup Final result. It's tempting to think that Arsenal are going to be easy winners in the Cup Final, and that our result against Villa tends to confirm that. But now we have Arsenal's result against Sunderland to increase the doubts. On top of that the old cliché I also true, that cup final is a once-off game and anything can happen (just as in 1976). To win on Sunday and still not move up a place would be terribly frustrating but Ronald has to fire the team up to go for that win with fingers crossed that one or both of the other results go in our favour. If we win we will go up at least a place. Can't see all three of us winning, especially when it seems Poch might want to give the EL the swerve.
brmbrm Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 .....We can go above Tottenham if they draw (or lose) but Liverpool need to lose for us to have a chance to go above them. .... We win, Liverpool draw we overtake them on GD. 5th would be very very nice
Patrick Bateman Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 We just need to go out there and win. Not worry about other teams, but win. We go out there, bust a gut for one last time and win, then at least the team has done their bit and we'll see what happens. We can beat Man City if we're on form!
Saxon Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 We just need to go out there and win. Not worry about other teams, but win. We go out there, bust a gut for one last time and win, then at least the team has done their bit and we'll see what happens. We can beat Man City if we're on form! This all the way. If we don't win we don't get a thing. If we do win, who knows. It's very exciting to have such a huge game at the end of the season! Who'd have predicted we'd be right in the mix for fifth come the last game at the beginning of the season, or to be honest, even at the end of last season before anyone left!
Maggie May Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 12 years ago we beat City away on the last day to secure our highest ever PL finish. Although it's already happened this year, the omens favour.
Tokyo-Saint Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Bear's done a preview here: http://sotonians.com/chat/we-play-man-city He's made a pun out of Man and City. Very clever stuff.
The9 Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Bear's done a preview here: http://sotonians.com/chat/we-play-man-city He's made a pun out of Man and City. Very clever stuff. Not as funny as he used to be. I imagine it's the unfunniness of pap's page formatting offsetting or something.
saint97 Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Looks like City will be playing a lot of youngsters. Got a really good feeling about this game.
S-Clarke Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Looks like City will be playing a lot of youngsters. Got a really good feeling about this game. Where have you seen that?
CB Fry Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 12 years ago we beat City away on the last day to secure our highest ever PL finish. Although it's already happened this year, the omens favour. Last game at Maine Road wasn't it?
Redslo Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Yep, kids out for city and senior players don't want to get injured before their holidays. Winnable. Or their big game with Toronto FC on May 27.
Crab Lungs Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 there is talk of city resting a few but their development side is playing United's on Saturday so that's a match that could in someway impact what players we'll face 24hrs later. Might be worth just keeping an eye on man city's official Twitter etc.
Ziggy Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Getting the train up with my City ST holder mate who assures me that they won't care that second place is confirmed - they're not the sort of team to lie down and lose. Hope he's wrong!
The9 Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Getting the train up with my City ST holder mate who assures me that they won't care that second place is confirmed - they're not the sort of team to lie down and lose. Hope he's wrong! Um, with the exception of the 14 matches they've already lost this season?
hasper57saint Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 See we have Mr Christopher Foy on the whistle on Sunday, so that good wind might be useful. IIRC didn't he do us out of a pen earlier in the season? As he is an Everton Fan he may do us a favour on Sunday.
saint97 Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Where have you seen that? https://twitter.com/bigadamsport/status/601351198248194048/photo/1 Under the 'Six things to look out for' page.
Saint Charlie Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Yaya Toure's last game and no major summer tournement. Zero chance they are suddenly going to rest half their stars.
dubai_phil Posted 21 May, 2015 Posted 21 May, 2015 Whatever. It's our last game of the season. Last week was a "Dry Day" here so nobody went to the pub to pay 10 quid for a glass of Pepsi, but this Sunday it's our High Press #Showyourstripes end of season bash. Our Twitter meister had promised a part at his gaff when we hit 40 points for the last two seasons so think he'll be supplying the Amstel Radlers. We are a few weeks away from Ramadan and the end of life as we know it for 4 weeks, we know we've had a stupidly sensational season and we (like the club) know we could have easily had 9 more points. Arsenal are already on the beach, Villa will do them in the final thanks to us kicking Sherwood up the ass last week so it is out of our hands somewhat. Each and every Dubai Saint is PRAYING we can get some obscure trips on our version of Ryanair to some Eastern European Europa Cup games, but if we don't? Sod it, we have cheap golf all summer and we have Hobgoblin on Draught for Sunday so it'll take us a few days to regain concsiousness. It should never be mentioned on Social media but, let's face it, Dubai ain't huge Citeh fans so let's do this for our two Cities and let's have a p1ss up on our version of Monday afternoon that will stuff us all for the rest of the week!
Batman Posted 22 May, 2015 Posted 22 May, 2015 Yaya Toure's last game and no major summer tournement. Zero chance they are suddenly going to rest half their stars. coppa america? probably wont make a difference though
Jack Posted 22 May, 2015 Posted 22 May, 2015 Whatever. It's our last game of the season. Last week was a "Dry Day" here so nobody went to the pub to pay 10 quid for a glass of Pepsi, but this Sunday it's our High Press #Showyourstripes end of season bash. Our Twitter meister had promised a part at his gaff when we hit 40 points for the last two seasons so think he'll be supplying the Amstel Radlers. We are a few weeks away from Ramadan and the end of life as we know it for 4 weeks, we know we've had a stupidly sensational season and we (like the club) know we could have easily had 9 more points. Arsenal are already on the beach, Villa will do them in the final thanks to us kicking Sherwood up the ass last week so it is out of our hands somewhat. Each and every Dubai Saint is PRAYING we can get some obscure trips on our version of Ryanair to some Eastern European Europa Cup games, but if we don't? Sod it, we have cheap golf all summer and we have Hobgoblin on Draught for Sunday so it'll take us a few days to regain concsiousness. It should never be mentioned on Social media but, let's face it, Dubai ain't huge Citeh fans so let's do this for our two Cities and let's have a p1ss up on our version of Monday afternoon that will stuff us all for the rest of the week! You're not in Dubai by any chance are you?
iansums Posted 22 May, 2015 Posted 22 May, 2015 You're not in Dubai by any chance are you? Had to laugh, I'm thinking about going to Dubai at Xmas and so was having a browse at the Dubai forum on the Trip Advisor. Who did I see on there? A certain dubai_phil64, could it be the same I wonder?
John Boy Saint Posted 22 May, 2015 Posted 22 May, 2015 Blimey better go shopping! http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/12965915.Saints_season_to_end_as_a_tangerine_dream_as_fans_pay_tribute_to_Dutch_manager_by_sporting_orange/?ref=mac
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