Sofiane Boufal

[SuperSAINT]

5 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

Djenepo has managed 2 PL goals and we only signed him last year.  Boufal was signed in 2016 and has only manged 3....

Boufal has been a colossal waste of money.  £12m in transfer fee and another £10m in wages all for the grand total of 3 PL goals.  

Sims is by no means a world beater and is very probably not PL level but does anyone think if he was given the games that Boufal has he could have done worse than 3 PL goals (and for a fraction of the cost).

A succession of our managers.

I get your point though.

[S-Clarke]

Getting rid of players like Boufal will allow us more flexibility in the wage budget, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

A fee for him will be nominal but it will still help. I wouldn't count on him for the new season anyway, so he's no real loss.

[verlaine1979]

It's complete rubbish that Boufal doesn't do any defensive work. He's energetic and no better or worse at pressing than most of our attackers. What he does do more than the others is lose the ball while trying to be creative, but if the reason you've brought him on is to try and unlock a stubborn defense that you've had no luck against, then presumably you've decided that the risk of losing the ball in the attacking third is less important than the possibility of creating a chance and taking the points.

He's not done much at the club, sure, but apparently his value is now peanuts. For that money I'd rather have someone capable of the assist he got for Redmond against Brighton last season on the bench. Otherwise we have a squad where if Djenepo isn't fit, our next best attacking midfield change is playing Shane Long on the wing.

[sfc4prem]

1 minute ago, verlaine1979 said:

It's complete rubbish that Boufal doesn't do any defensive work. He's energetic and no better or worse at pressing than most of our attackers. What he does do more than the others is lose the ball while trying to be creative, but if the reason you've brought him on is to try and unlock a stubborn defense that you've had no luck against, then presumably you've decided that the risk of losing the ball in the attacking third is less important than the possibility of creating a chance and taking the points.

He's not done much at the club, sure, but apparently his value is now peanuts. For that money I'd rather have someone capable of the assist he got for Redmond against Brighton last season on the bench. Otherwise we have a squad where if Djenepo isn't fit, our next best attacking midfield change is playing Shane Long on the wing.

This is an horrific endictment of our limited squad.

[Lighthouse]

18 minutes ago, verlaine1979 said:

It's complete rubbish that Boufal doesn't do any defensive work. He's energetic and no better or worse at pressing than most of our attackers. What he does do more than the others is lose the ball while trying to be creative, but if the reason you've brought him on is to try and unlock a stubborn defense that you've had no luck against, then presumably you've decided that the risk of losing the ball in the attacking third is less important than the possibility of creating a chance and taking the points.

He's not done much at the club, sure, but apparently his value is now peanuts. For that money I'd rather have someone capable of the assist he got for Redmond against Brighton last season on the bench. Otherwise we have a squad where if Djenepo isn't fit, our next best attacking midfield change is playing Shane Long on the wing.

People often say this and it's a straw man. The criticism of his attitude is not that he's lazy but that he tries to show off and is a selfish player - Why beat a man, when you can beat him three times? He also has a tendency to down tools if he's not getting into a game, like in the Huddersfield cup match.

 

Yes he got a decent assist - having just come on against a very tired, ten man Brighton - but these contributions are sporadic at best. Personally, I'd happily see Hoedt, Carrillo, Lemina, Boufal and Forster walk out on a free tomorrow and start again with a massively slimmed down wage bill. £2m would be a bonus.

[Chez]

On 15/09/2020 at 23:04, Lord Duckhunter said:

 

Excuses, excuses. We had the same with Gaston. He had chances, he blew them, he didn’t have the ability needed to play in this league. Not good enough, that’s it. 

As I stated, maybe he is just not good enough, but how many tricky wingers/dribblers do have the ability to play in this league? It strikes me that beating a defender all ends up is the hardest thing to do, and doing it consistently is almost impossible. When you find a guy that can do that, IMO you need to show faith in them, not drop them when they don't create or score a goal in a game. Flair players get treated terribly. Managers will pick a dependable workmanlike centre midfield every week, despite them not being good every week. Why are flair players not treated the same? I guess Redmond has got a fair crack of the whip, undermining my argument. Is that because he is just more talented, retains possession more or because he works back more?

[austsaint]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

As I stated, maybe he is just not good enough, but how many tricky wingers/dribblers do have the ability to play in this league? It strikes me that beating a defender all ends up is the hardest thing to do, and doing it consistently is almost impossible. When you find a guy that can do that, IMO you need to show faith in them, not drop them when they don't create or score a goal in a game. Flair players get treated terribly. Managers will pick a dependable workmanlike centre midfield every week, despite them not being good every week. Why are flair players not treated the same? I guess Redmond has got a fair crack of the whip, undermining my argument. Is that because he is just more talented, retains possession more or because he works back more?

Chez..to respond to your question about Redmond; I think it's fair to say he's a favourite of Ralphs. along with JWP, meaning they are going to be selected unconditionally....Boufal is/was never going to be given that luxury.  I like Ralph as a Manager but his judgement on players like Redmond, and Long (ie contract extension) leave an uncomfortable doubt about his judgement, and recruitment generally at SFC has been wobbly since Paul MItchell's exit.

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 hours ago, Chez said:

As I stated, maybe he is just not good enough, but how many tricky wingers/dribblers do have the ability to play in this league? It strikes me that beating a defender all ends up is the hardest thing to do, and doing it consistently is almost impossible. When you find a guy that can do that, IMO you need to show faith in them, not drop them when they don't create or score a goal in a game. Flair players get treated terribly. Managers will pick a dependable workmanlike centre midfield every week, despite them not being good every week. Why are flair players not treated the same? I guess Redmond has got a fair crack of the whip, undermining my argument. Is that because he is just more talented, retains possession more or because he works back more?

Flair players have never been given more chances than they get in the modern game. The game is full of players that do wonderful things that in the 70’s were only produced by Frank Worthington, Rodney Marsh & the like. Players that were frozen out by England mangers and shunned. I remember watching Tony Currie produce a masterful performance for England before being dropped, & Sir Alf actually warned Rodney before his first game that any “ fancy stuff” would result in him being substituted. The fact that Boufal can’t get 4 or 5 completely different managers to show faith in him is telling. Flair players don’t get treated terribly at all nowadays, centre halves are encouraged to play, midfielders encouraged to receive the ball in tight spaces and forwards are encouraged to try the “fancy stuff” that was so frowned upon in previous generations. Boufal is all fur coat and no knickers, a show pony who doesn’t actually produce very much. Managers haven’t given up on him because they’d rather have a steady solid average joe, they’ve given up on him because he’s not very good. They’re not Branfoot like clones who have a dislike for giving the ball away or trying something that doesn’t come off. If they thought he’d come good they’d give him all the time they needed to do so. 

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, austsaint said:

Chez..to respond to your question about Redmond; I think it's fair to say he's a favourite of Ralphs. along with JWP, meaning they are going to be selected unconditionally....Boufal is/was never going to be given that luxury.  I like Ralph as a Manager but his judgement on players like Redmond, and Long (ie contract extension) leave an uncomfortable doubt about his judgement, and recruitment generally at SFC has been wobbly since Paul MItchell's exit.

Redmond is a strange one, if you look at him in isolation with his attributes he has everything Ralph wants in a player. Quick, pressing, energy in the attacking third. His problem is his pass selection and decision making, it's quite frankly awful.

He'll sometimes have some purple patches where that will come good, but more often than not he will use his pace and pressing to either give the ball away or run into a blind ally. Frustrating, but you can see why Ralph sticks with him because of his attributes and what he 'could' potentially offer, could being the main word.

The problem for Ralph is that he is hugely hamstrung financially, he has little to no movement in the market without moving players on first. I doubt we'd have had the money to replace long, he'd have gone for a free at the end of the day, so sense meant we kept him as an option.

So if we can move Boufal on and use that money on a decent loan, it may work out. I've given up on Boufal myself, he's not a PL player.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Flair players have never been given more chances than they get in the modern game. The game is full of players that do wonderful things that in the 70’s were only produced by Frank Worthington, Rodney Marsh & the like. Players that were frozen out by England mangers and shunned. I remember watching Tony Currie produce a masterful performance for England before being dropped, & Sir Alf actually warned Rodney before his first game that any “ fancy stuff” would result in him being substituted. The fact that Boufal can’t get 4 or 5 completely different managers to show faith in him is telling. Flair players don’t get treated terribly at all nowadays, centre halves are encouraged to play, midfielders encouraged to receive the ball in tight spaces and forwards are encouraged to try the “fancy stuff” that was so frowned upon in previous generations. Boufal is all fur coat and no knickers, a show pony who doesn’t actually produce very much. Managers haven’t given up on him because they’d rather have a steady solid average joe, they’ve given up on him because he’s not very good. They’re not Branfoot like clones who have a dislike for giving the ball away or trying something that doesn’t come off. If they thought he’d come good they’d give him all the time they needed to do so. 

What has football from 50 years ago got to do with this discussion? My point was that I think wingers, in comparison to centre midfielders, are treated poorly. They are subbed early, they are dropped at a whim and often moved on far quicker than players in other positions. Very few wingers play for a club for a long time. Le Tiss, Giggs...er?  Why si that? Because manager expect wingers to beat the fullback almost every time and create chance after chance. But they don't. They can't. Or at least everyone apart from Ronaldi, Giggs and Messi can't over an extended period. I do wonder if many managers fail to recognise quite how difficult it is to skip past a player. Tackle someone in front of the manager and you'll get a ten game run. Skip past a player once, but fail to do so a second time and you are benched.

I repeat that Boufal may well just not be good enough (you seem to keep missing that part of my reply), but if that's the case, lets not get another workmanlike running midfielder in to replace him. Let's get another that can do just as he does - beat a man through pure skill - but with whatever is seen to be missing. 

I also repeat, my judgement is always cloudy when it comes to players that can dribble and run at players. If I was the manager I'd stack the side with the likes of Bolasie, Zaha, Antonio etc. just because I love watching that type of player. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuperSAINT]

 

 

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Redmond is a strange one, if you look at him in isolation with his attributes he has everything Ralph wants in a player. Quick, pressing, energy in the attacking third. His problem is his pass selection and decision making, it's quite frankly awful.

He'll sometimes have some purple patches where that will come good, but more often than not he will use his pace and pressing to either give the ball away or run into a blind ally. Frustrating, but you can see why Ralph sticks with him because of his attributes and what he 'could' potentially offer, could being the main word.

The problem for Ralph is that he is hugely hamstrung financially, he has little to no movement in the market without moving players on first. I doubt we'd have had the money to replace long, he'd have gone for a free at the end of the day, so sense meant we kept him as an option.

So if we can move Boufal on and use that money on a decent loan, it may work out. I've given up on Boufal myself, he's not a PL player.

For me Redmond plays it safe too often. We work hard to move the ball into the final third, but when you get a winger one on one with a fullback and his first thought is keep the ball. Like John Barnes became for England. His first thought should be turn and run straight at the fullback. Every. Single. Time. I guess thats not the instruction from Ralf though. I know this may sound strange, but often  thought the same of Boufal. He almost played within himself, choosing to pass it simple rather than  doing what I'd like to see him do which is attempt to beat three men.  

When Boufal and Djepeno (when moved further forward as playing him at wingback was madness  - yeah Ralf knows what he is doing all the time!) played together at Sheff United last season we looked a very dangerous team on the break. Not sure if it was just injuries, but we didn't seem to put that same attacking line up out again, which is a shame.

 

Edited 18 September, 2020 by Chez

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

For me Redmond plays it safe too often. We work hard to move the ball into the final third and then you get a winger one on one with a fullback and his first though is keep the ball. Like John Barnes became for England. His first thought should be turn and run straight at the fullback. Very. Single. Time. I guess thats not the instruction from Ralf though. I know this may sound strange, but often  thought the same of Boufal. He almost played within himself, choosing to pass it simple rather than  doing what I'd like to see him do which is attempt to beat three men.  

When Boufal and Djepeno (when moved further forward as playing him at wingback was madness  - yeah Ralf knows what he is doing all the time!) played together at Sheff United last season we looked a very dangerous team on the break. Not sure if it was just injuries, but we didn't seem to put that same attacking line up out again, which is a shame.

 

Redmond came in when we had Puel and it seemed as if every.single.player had been reprogrammed to pass back. Maybe he was scouted for specific Puel requirements? Not sure.

But yeah, I agree, he 'wimps' out of opportunities to fully attack full backs. He'll often be in a good position and then turn back and it frustrates the living life out of me. Because when he does attack full backs, he can get to the by-line and produce something - why doesn't he do that all the time though? That's why Ralph keeps him in as there's always a chance he 'could' do that, but like you said he plays it safe. Feels like it was borne out of our Puel days. Hoj was exactly the same.

Edited 18 September, 2020 by S-Clarke

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Redmond came in when we had Puel and it seemed as if every.single.player had been reprogrammed to pass back. Maybe he was scouted for specific Puel requirements? Not sure.

But yeah, I agree, he 'wimps' out of opportunities to fully attack full backs. He'll often be in a good position and then turn back and it frustrates the living life out of me. Because when he does attack full backs, he can get to the by-line and produce something - why doesn't he do that all the time though? That's why Ralph keeps him in as there's always a chance he 'could' do that, but like you said his safe way is borne out of our Puel days. Hoj was exactly the same.

keeping possession is important, and you can create goals through passing like the brilliant goal against Chelsea, but over the years we have been poor on the break, due to poor decisions and playing it too safe. Redmond is another that can beat men all ends up. He needs to throw caution to the wind a bit more and risk losing the ball. Get to the byeline more often. Just run down the line, slowly if need be. The worst that will come of it is a corner usually. But no, we stop and pass back to keep the ball. It's a mixture of management/playing philosophy and individual confidence. 

Edited 18 September, 2020 by Chez

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

What has football from 50 years ago got to do with this discussion? My point was that I think wingers, in comparison to centre midfielders, are treated poorly. They are subbed early, they are dropped at a whim and often moved on far quicker than players in other positions. Very few wingers play for a club for a long time. Le Tiss, Giggs...er?  Why si that? Because manager expect wingers to beat the fullback almost every time and create chance after chance. But they don't. They can't. Or at least everyone apart from Ronaldi, Giggs and Messi can't over an extended period. I do wonder if many managers fail to recognise quite how difficult it is to skip past a player. Tackle someone in front of the manager and you'll get a ten game run. Skip past a player once, but fail to do so a second time and you are benched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is just not true. Managers don’t expect wingers to go past full backs time and time again, if they did they wouldn’t play them on the opposite side. Managers were players, so I expect they know a lot more about beating players and the difficulty of it more than you or I do. If, as you claim, failing to beat the full back gets you benched, why does Redmond play every week? And if making tackles grantees a 10 game run in the side, why has OR spent most of the past 2 seasons on the bench. 
 

Your post is full of out of date cliches, 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

This is just not true. Managers don’t expect wingers to go past full backs time and time again, if they did they wouldn’t play them on the opposite side. Managers were players, so I expect they know a lot more about beating players and the difficulty of it more than you or I do. If, as you claim, failing to beat the full back gets you benched, why does Redmond play every week? And if making tackles grantees a 10 game run in the side, why has OR spent most of the past 2 seasons on the bench. 
 

Your post is full of out of date cliches, 

I will try to modernise my thinking so that I can converse with you more in future. It's so enlightening.

That said, you've got me there. Redmond is picked on a regular basis and he doesn't do nearly enough in a lot of games. Manager expectation levels for our wingers must actually be quite low. If Boufal can't live up to them, then he isn't as good as I thought and we need to upgrade 

 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[ecuk268]

If we get a new creative midfielder this month then let him go.

If we don't we should hang on to him. Djenepo is a bit physically fragile and Ralph can't moan about the lack of depth in the squad if he gets rid of a player with some creativity (albeit not consistently enough). 

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, ecuk268 said:

Djenepo is a bit physically fragile

What is that based on? Having some injuries doesn't automatically make someone 'fragile', we'd need to know a lot more about the nature of the injuries to determine that.

Edited 19 September, 2020 by Matthew Le God

[davefizzy14]

3 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

If there is no issue then why are we even considering letting him leave. One of our most creative players is Sofiane! With Redders currently injured we are short of options out wide. Makes no sense to me, just keep him.

[SuperSAINT]

2 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

If there is no issue then why are we even considering letting him leave. One of our most creative players is Sofiane! With Redders currently injured we are short of options out wide. Makes no sense to me, just keep him.

I suppose having the year left on his deal forces our hand...

It could always be a little bit like the Diangana/West Ham thing where we need the money and he's the only one we can get a bit of money for.

[HarvSFC]

15 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

I suppose having the year left on his deal forces our hand...

It could always be a little bit like the Diangana/West Ham thing where we need the money and he's the only one we can get a bit of money for.

But, West Ham got £18m for Diangana. Whereas, we’re reportedly getting below £5m for Boufal. The difference of a couple of places in the Premier League.

[SuperSAINT]

2 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

But, West Ham got £18m for Diangana. Whereas, we’re reportedly getting below £5m for Boufal. The difference of a couple of places in the Premier League.

It's why I said a little bit like Diangana   --  For all we know we might REALLY need that money.

I don't disagree with what you say.  In theory, Boufal would be the kind of player we'd be looking to sign if it was reversed.

[skintsaint]

Has he left yet? Really want him gone - then only left with a few other duds from the last few years.

[verlaine1979]

On 18/09/2020 at 05:56, Chez said:

For me Redmond plays it safe too often. We work hard to move the ball into the final third, but when you get a winger one on one with a fullback and his first thought is keep the ball. Like John Barnes became for England. His first thought should be turn and run straight at the fullback. Every. Single. Time. I guess thats not the instruction from Ralf though. I know this may sound strange, but often  thought the same of Boufal. He almost played within himself, choosing to pass it simple rather than  doing what I'd like to see him do which is attempt to beat three men.  

When Boufal and Djepeno (when moved further forward as playing him at wingback was madness  - yeah Ralf knows what he is doing all the time!) played together at Sheff United last season we looked a very dangerous team on the break. Not sure if it was just injuries, but we didn't seem to put that same attacking line up out again, which is a shame.

 

I think one of the reasons Redmond plays it safe is he knows he's not actually quick enough to beat most full backs over more than about two yards. He's got a good burst from standing and good balance, but he's not actually very quick. Hence why he's also usually a disappointment on the break - I think he's a player who tries to limit exposing his weaknesses by not attempting anything that won't work.

[SuperSAINT]

Angers in Ligue 1 are the next team to join the Boufal bandwagon...

https://insidefutbol.com/2020/09/22/ligue-1-club-in-talks-to-sign-southampton-man/473468/

[austsaint]

On 19/09/2020 at 23:17, skintsaint said:

Has he left yet? Really want him gone - then only left with a few other duds from the last few years.

When I read comments like that and then watch players like Smallbone and Tella filling roles that Boufal could, I wonder about the decision making going on at SFC, despite what the Lord Duckhunters' and others say about SB.

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, austsaint said:

When I read comments like that and then watch players like Smallbone and Tella filling roles that Boufal could, I wonder about the decision making going on at SFC, despite what the Lord Duckhunters' and others say about SB.

If those players have three good games this year and score a goal each, they’ll have matches his contribution for a fraction of the wages, which is what it’s really all about right now.

[The Curse of St Mary's]

 

[austsaint]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

If those players have three good games this year and score a goal each, they’ll have matches his contribution for a fraction of the wages, which is what it’s really all about right now.

Nice try - using those kind of sketch figures/stats to infer that the likes of Tella and Smallbone can match the influence of a Boufal is ludicrous.  I can recall many  assists and creative contributions by Boufal that the likes of Smallbone and Tella are unlikely to ever match.    They are young, but scarcely match the skills and potential of previous youth players like Hesketh, Sims, even Reed at the same stage....yet, they now appear as players in our best 18....that's worrying.

[ErwinK1961]

45 minutes ago, austsaint said:

Nice try - using those kind of sketch figures/stats to infer that the likes of Tella and Smallbone can match the influence of a Boufal is ludicrous.  I can recall many  assists and creative contributions by Boufal that the likes of Smallbone and Tella are unlikely to ever match.    They are young, but scarcely match the skills and potential of previous youth players like Hesketh, Sims, even Reed at the same stage....yet, they now appear as players in our best 18....that's worrying.

"Many assists and creative contributions" - really?

I agree we can't rely on the academy to replace him, but he has been a complete waste of money. It's telling that the only current serious links are to a mid-table French team and the Greek champions. 

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, austsaint said:

despite what the Lord Duckhunters' and others say about SB.

Others? What about every single manager that he’s played for in England. You know, the guys that watch him day in & day out. Don’t tell me, they’re wrong and you’re right. Doesn’t it tell you something that nobody half decent is interested in signing him, fuck me even Gaston managed to get one premier league club interested. 

[Convict Colony]

The Bouf is the most skilful player in our team by far, he could nutmeg a caterpillar.

Unfortunately we are using effort and tactics to overcome superior players in the opposition teams - The Bouf is not so great at that.

Nice player from the bench in this team, brilliant player in other team where others work for him.

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

The Bouf is the most skilful player in our team by far, he could nutmeg a caterpillar.

Unfortunately we are using effort and tactics to overcome superior players in the opposition teams - The Bouf is not so great at that.

Nice player from the bench in this team, brilliant player in other team where others work for him.

Oh right. When and where did this happen?

[waylander]

5 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

The Bouf is the most skilful player in our team by far, he could nutmeg a caterpillar.

Unfortunately we are using effort and tactics to overcome superior players in the opposition teams - The Bouf is not so great at that.

Nice player from the bench in this team, brilliant player in other team where others work for him.

True, but he then has little sense of when to pass the ball and goes on to try it again and loses possession

[Convict Colony]

29 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Oh right. When and where did this happen?

It hasnt yet (sort of a MLT type player) but he obviously was given more support at Lille cos we bought him didnt we.

[saintjimbo83]

Boufal would be the best player at Millbrook Goals 5 a side. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

5 hours ago, saintjimbo83 said:

Boufal would be the best player at Millbrook Goals 5 a side. 

And he can nutmeg a caterpillar, although it’s far easy just to stamp on the fucking thing. 

[egg]

8 hours ago, austsaint said:

Nice try - using those kind of sketch figures/stats to infer that the likes of Tella and Smallbone can match the influence of a Boufal is ludicrous.  I can recall many  assists and creative contributions by Boufal that the likes of Smallbone and Tella are unlikely to ever match.    They are young, but scarcely match the skills and potential of previous youth players like Hesketh, Sims, even Reed at the same stage....yet, they now appear as players in our best 18....that's worrying.

Yep, Lighthouse way of comparing the effectiveness of players is nonsense. Smallbone hasn't done anything so far to suggest that he is capable of effecting a game in the way SB can. Having seen Tella play, I can only assume that he's in the squad as there's nobody else if we're keeping SB away from the team. SB on the bench, or as cover or an alternative, makes sense to me. 

[Baird of the land]

10 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, Lighthouse way of comparing the effectiveness of players is nonsense. Smallbone hasn't done anything so far to suggest that he is capable of effecting a game in the way SB can. Having seen Tella play, I can only assume that he's in the squad as there's nobody else if we're keeping SB away from the team. SB on the bench, or as cover or an alternative, makes sense to me. 

Well Sims has scored 2 in 2 for b team, so should be another option. He’s effected games previously. I can certainly understand logic in getting a fee for boufal given the fringe nature of his role.

 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Yep, Lighthouse way of comparing the effectiveness of players is nonsense. Smallbone hasn't done anything so far to suggest that he is capable of effecting a game in the way SB can. Having seen Tella play, I can only assume that he's in the squad as there's nobody else if we're keeping SB away from the team. SB on the bench, or as cover or an alternative, makes sense to me. 

I’m not raising the flag for Tella or Smallbone but seriously, what do they need to replace? Boufal set up a goal against 10 man Brighton, when we were already winning and they were chasing shadows. We looked better against Everton when he came on but still lost and he turned the game around against Watford.

 

The win at Stamford Bridge showed how well we can play without him, then he started two games against Palace and Huddersfield, put in a pair of non-performances and was rarely seen again. He played 1 minute plus some injury time after the restart, during which time we played some of our best football and achieved our best run of form.

[verlaine1979]

Sims reminds me of Javier Saviola, insofar as he's so small that when he's running with the ball is looks like the top of it almost reaches his knee.

[austsaint]

1 hour ago, verlaine1979 said:

Sims reminds me of Javier Saviola, insofar as he's so small that when he's running with the ball is looks like the top of it almost reaches his knee.

Didn't look too bad running with the ball at Anfield that night!

[Spitz]

9 hours ago, austsaint said:

Didn't look too bad running with the ball at Anfield that night!

Oh go on then (one of my favourite Saints moments) 

 

[SKD]

11 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

Sims reminds me of Javier Saviola, insofar as he's so small that when he's running with the ball is looks like the top of it almost reaches his knee.

Sims, at 5’9 is taller than arguably the 2 best ever players with the ball at his feet Maradonna And messi. So I’ll take your judgement about his height being a issue with a pinch of salt. 

Edited 23 September, 2020 by SKD

[Charlie Wayman]

12 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

I’m not raising the flag for Tella or Smallbone but seriously, what do they need to replace? Boufal set up a goal against 10 man Brighton, when we were already winning and they were chasing shadows. We looked better against Everton when he came on but still lost and he turned the game around against Watford.

 

The win at Stamford Bridge showed how well we can play without him, then he started two games against Palace and Huddersfield, put in a pair of non-performances and was rarely seen again. He played 1 minute plus some injury time after the restart, during which time we played some of our best football and achieved our best run of form.

We get that you don't like Boufal so time to lift the needle off the old record and bin it. He will leave, the controversy will be over. I will have better memories of him than you. Let's wish him well and if he blossoms elsewhere let's hope you're big enough the acknowledge it.

[austsaint]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

We get that you don't like Boufal so time to lift the needle off the old record and bin it. He will leave, the controversy will be over. I will have better memories of him than you. Let's wish him well and if he blossoms elsewhere let's hope you're big enough the acknowledge it.

Well said Charlie.   Most would concede the weaknesses in Boufal's game; particularly in the Premier League with the style of player RH wants.   He has some sublime Football talent though, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.    My best memory was the goal line control and pull back resulting in a goal for Romeu - not sure of the game, but very few players could have engineered that assist.

[suewhistle]

15 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

And he can nutmeg a caterpillar, although it’s far easy just to stamp on the fucking thing. 

Well, that would certainly be more your style..

[angelman]

Look at our wingers. While they can all play on both sides, we have AFAIK

 

Left - Djenepo, Redmond, Boufal

Right - Sims, Tella

 

So it would be good to sell one on the left to reinforce the right, as I'm not sure anyone would really be happy to go into the season with Sims and Tella there. I know that Armstrong has deputised well on the right, but he is more a central/attacking midfielder and freeing him up to play through the middle might be just the creativity we need. 

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, suewhistle said:

Well, that would certainly be more your style..

As well as being a red card