Cedric Soares - Official: Loaned to Arsenal

[shurlock]

It didn’t help him that Ward Prowse was anonymous in front of him , but apparently you’re not allowed to say he’s poor.

 

The 4-2-2-2 didn’t help either. It’s a very narrow formation and the fullbacks don’t get much protection while being asked to get forward to provide the width. Danso largely managed it but Cedric was often miles away from JWP (and vice versa).

[S-Clarke]

How did he get on today?

 

Standard Cedric really. Poor in posession and crossing, it was his side the goal came from....but he was seriously exposed at times.

[SaintBobby]

I thought he was pretty much okay on the ball. To my eye, his positioning was awful though, but maybe that's because I haven't got my head round 4-2-2-2 and it tends to leave the full backs pretty exposed.

[SuperSAINT]

Cheers for the opinions, guys.

 

Of all the players I thought would leave, I'm oddly pleased he's still around - At least until January.

 

Good cover at full-back.

[Convict Colony]

Terrible crossing all the time every time

[wild-saint]

Typical Cedric, utterly Shyte. Backed off for the goal like a pub defender.

[beatlesaint]

Typical Cedric, utterly Shyte. Backed off for the goal like a pub defender.

 

you missed the run that Mata made which gave Cedric two players to try and watch did you?

[VectisSaint]

Typical Cedric, utterly Shyte. Backed off for the goal like a pub defender.

He didn't. He was left trying to defend against two by his fellow defenders who were hopelessly out of position (Bednarek I think).

[Sheaf Saint]

you missed the run that Mata made which gave Cedric two players to try and watch did you?

 

If he'd got close enough to James he could have prevented either a shot or a pass to Mata. Instead he backed off into nomansland and could do neither.

 

Yes he was left exposed, but he needs to make a decision in that situation. If he had closed James down then yes he could have played it outside to Mata, but there would still be work for him to do to get a shooting chance, and Bednarek would not have had to charge out to attempt the block that Cedric should have made himself. Therefore he would have been in a decent position to defend against Mata.

[Whitey Grandad]

If he'd got close enough to James he could have prevented either a shot or a pass to Mata. Instead he backed off into nomansland and could do neither.

 

Yes he was left exposed, but he needs to make a decision in that situation. If he had closed James down then yes he could have played it outside to Mata, but there would still be work for him to do to get a shooting chance, and Bednarek would not have had to charge out to attempt the block that Cedric should have made himself. Therefore he would have been in a decent position to defend against Mata.

 

“If he’d got close”

 

This is the Premier League, not a Sunday morning pub team. If he’d got close to James then he would simply have slipped the ball to Mata. It was two on one and Cedric was left exposed by his colleagues.

[Useful Idiot]

“If he’d got close”

 

This is the Premier League, not a Sunday morning pub team. If he’d got close to James then he would simply have slipped the ball to Mata. It was two on one and Cedric was left exposed by his colleagues.

 

Exactly this. Blaming Cedric for his team mates' positional errors is really quite short sighted.

[Sheaf Saint]

“If he’d got close”

 

This is the Premier League, not a Sunday morning pub team. If he’d got close to James then he would simply have slipped the ball to Mata. It was two on one and Cedric was left exposed by his colleagues.

 

Yes, he was left in a situation where whichever option he chose, we would have been in trouble. But he still has to make a decision, not back off and do nothing.

 

If James had played it to Mata then IMO we would have had a much better chance of defending the threat than just allowing someone who is known to have a good long range shot on him the freedom to have a go unchallenged.

[Alain Perrin]

 

If James had played it to Mata then IMO we would have had a much better chance of defending the threat than just allowing someone who is known to have a good long range shot on him the freedom to have a go unchallenged.

 

.. But have you seen the thread you wrote in that alternate reality that slags Cedric for closing James only for Mata to score...

 

There are plenty of flaws in Cedric's game but this situation isn't an example of it. If he'd kept James on his left foot, Mata would have been open to shoot or square.

 

Cedric is comparatively poor at crossing, and in the air - but overall defensively he is probably a bit more solid than Yan Valery hence why he was selected over him.

[Toussaint]

Typical Cedric, utterly Shyte. Backed off for the goal like a pub defender.

 

 

Pretty unfair assessment, he was put in a bad position by Bednarek giving him a hospital pass, he then, as happened all day on both flanks he was exposed in a two on one. He looked a bit rusty yesterday, and often very isolated, but I’m ok with his selection. Got to say generally, I’m getting early tired of all this rubbishing of “our” players.

[Maggie May]

It didn’t help him that Ward Prowse was anonymous in front of him , but apparently you’re not allowed to say he’s poor.

 

JWP has been anonymous this season so far IMO.

[beatlesaint]

JWP has been anonymous this season so far IMO.

 

thank god it’s not just me thinks that

[Dark Munster]

Those slagging off Cedric for the goal ignore that it was a world class strike. It's not like he made a terrible back pass that let a player run in one on one with the goalie, or some other blunder. And some of his crosses into the box were very good. Certainly much better than he usually does. He played ok, and is a good back up/alternative to Valery.

[Charlie Wayman]

If he'd got close enough to James he could have prevented either a shot or a pass to Mata. Instead he backed off into nomansland and could do neither.

 

Yes he was left exposed, but he needs to make a decision in that situation. If he had closed James down then yes he could have played it outside to Mata, but there would still be work for him to do to get a shooting chance, and Bednarek would not have had to charge out to attempt the block that Cedric should have made himself. Therefore he would have been in a decent position to defend against Mata.

 

Be fair with Ward Prowse being unusually hopeless even by his own standards, for most of the match Cedric had to fathom out how to mark two fast players. Ward Prowse gave him no help whatsoever. From my seat I thought had a pretty good game considering how long he has been banished to the wilderness. He deserves a decent run as he is every bit as good as Valery even if lacking a yard due to age.

[eurosaint]

It's good that we have two pretty good right backs fighting for one place !

If only we had that situation on the left side !!

[John Boy Saint]

In fairness to Cedric and with the benefit of my elevated view and play right in front of me, we got a bit narrow and sucked over to the ball, when the ball moved quickly over to our right, you could see we were in trouble the ball was moving faster than we could move into acres of space, James showed why Man U took a punt on a Championship player, we were spread so thin on our right. For much of the first half Young and James were sliding over to the Itchen touchline as everyone else followed the ball down the Kingsland touchline.

[once_bitterne]

thank god it’s not just me thinks that

 

If you aren't playing a formation with 3 central midfield players then you might as well play with ten men as have JWP in the team.

[supersonic]

Can't believe people are trying to defend him for the goal? Truly awful defending, just ran away from the guy with the ball and let him have lots of time and space to pick out the top corner.

 

I forgot how woeful he is.

[egg]

Can't believe people are trying to defend him for the goal? Truly awful defending, just ran away from the guy with the ball and let him have lots of time and space to pick out the top corner.

 

I forgot how woeful he is.

I can't believe comments like this. He was left 2 on 1 so hedged his bets, he couldn't realistically do anything else.

[Useful Idiot]

I can't believe comments like this. He was left 2 on 1 so hedged his bets, he couldn't realistically do anything else.

 

Exactly this.

[SFC Forever]

sorry I disagree. He should have gone to the man with the ball. Not turn his back stick his ass out and pray, whilst allowing James a free shot. It is possible if he had gone to the man that a shot could have been blocked.

 

the first principle in defending is to defend. Yes his teammates didn't help him but doing nothing was worst option.

 

.

[Whitey Grandad]

sorry I disagree. He should have gone to the man with the ball. Not turn his back stick his ass out and pray, whilst allowing James a free shot. It is possible if he had gone to the man that a shot could have been blocked.

 

the first principle in defending is to defend. Yes his teammates didn't help him but doing nothing was worst option.

 

.

 

No, if he’d gone to James then Mata would have had a free run in behind him. The best that he could do was try to hold things up until he got help from the inside.

 

It was poor defending as a defence, not as an individual player.

[Give it to Ron]

Yep the issue was JWP was stopping Young getting forward but not helping Cedric at all and had 2 v 1 too often.

 

 

 

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[Special K]

JWP has been anonymous this season so far IMO.

 

I think he's been poor since the Wolves game last season.

 

Defensively, he's reverted back to marking space and poncing around between two or three players without any conviction or intent to dispossess. Offensively he's started to fall back into offering himself with his back to goal too much, stalling momentum. His pressing is average and his crossing less than average since his free kick against Man U last season. It's one of the reasons Ings and Adams have little service. Personally I'd start with Armstrong over JWP any day of the week.

[Whitey Grandad]

From The Sunday Times,

 

"At the interval Hasenhuttl chided his midfielders for becoming overly eager in their attempts to dispossess Pogba, as two or three players pressing the France international at the same time left the team vulnerable if they failed to win the ball. What was interesting, though, was that Southampton saw a chance to recover the ball every time Pogba got on the ball — and he did give away a lot of possession."

[Shance]

Cedric was not at fault for the goal you utter clowns.

[Charlie Wayman]

Can't believe people are trying to defend him for the goal? Truly awful defending, just ran away from the guy with the ball and let him have lots of time and space to pick out the top corner.

 

I forgot how woeful he is.

 

Nonsense

[Dellman]

I am a bit tired of reading this forum because contributors always seem so unhappy and so critical of our own players. they don't sound like supportersw at all. Positivity and encouragement would do so much good and there is under the present manager and the present Board more to be positive about than for a few seasons. Why don't we hear about that?

[Saint Troy]

I am a bit tired of reading this forum because contributors always seem so unhappy and so critical of our own players. they don't sound like supportersw at all. Positivity and encouragement would do so much good and there is under the present manager and the present Board more to be positive about than for a few seasons. Why don't we hear about that?

 

Please lay off the posters, its mean and they need some encouragement.

[mrfahaji]

It's true that Cedric was outnumbered and left without any help. But the idea that he wasn't to blame at all is quite ridiculous.

 

I understand why he didn't want to commit to a challenge on James, as a full back you know as soon as you do that he's just going to slot in the other player.

 

However, if Mata gets played in he has time to pick out a good cross, if James is allowed to cut in, he has a free shot on goal. Which is worse? Had the ball been 5-10 yards further out then Cedric probably did the right thing, because you are restricting someone to a speculative effort, but James is well inside the penalty area at this point. Granted it was still a great hit but it's still a good position for a forward. Cedric always starts backing off way too early and leaves far too much space - so much so that even if Mata got the pass, he would still get a cross in. It's also pretty poor to do that back-shuffle thing (remember someone doing it when Costa scored for Chelsea a couple of years ago).

[Whitey Grandad]

It's true that Cedric was outnumbered and left without any help. But the idea that he wasn't to blame at all is quite ridiculous.

 

I understand why he didn't want to commit to a challenge on James, as a full back you know as soon as you do that he's just going to slot in the other player.

 

However, if Mata gets played in he has time to pick out a good cross, if James is allowed to cut in, he has a free shot on goal. Which is worse? Had the ball been 5-10 yards further out then Cedric probably did the right thing, because you are restricting someone to a speculative effort, but James is well inside the penalty area at this point. Granted it was still a great hit but it's still a good position for a forward. Cedric always starts backing off way too early and leaves far too much space - so much so that even if Mata got the pass, he would still get a cross in. It's also pretty poor to do that back-shuffle thing (remember someone doing it when Costa scored for Chelsea a couple of years ago).

Mata wouldn’t just have got a cross in. He would have waltzed through the back of the defence and had a much closer opportunity on goal. There was nobody behind Cedric.

[SaveloyMush]

Goals get scored in football matches. Some are avoidable, others result from good build-up play and a cracking shot.

 

This was one of the latter (even though I agree that Cedric has a tendency to back off far too readily).

[Saint_lambden]

Track the man with the ball. LW v RB - so James was his man. If someone else makes a decoy run, then that's whoever should be tracking back's responsibility. I'm not taking away anything from the finish, but Cedric has to get much tighter and let the manager blast whoever should have been picking up the decoy (Mata?).

[mrfahaji]

Mata wouldn’t just have got a cross in. He would have waltzed through the back of the defence and had a much closer opportunity on goal. There was nobody behind Cedric.

 

At this point Cedric is still backing off. I'm not saying he should have dived in straight away, but the moment the striker is going to have a clear decent shot on goal (i.e. from 15 yards rather than 25) that has to be the priority. Most likely the ball is going into the blue area for Mata. Sure, he might score from there, or he might put over a perfect cross for a simple tap in, but surely at this point in time the preference is for the ball to end up in the blue than the yellow. As I said before, I don't think Cedric is wholly to blame, and I can understand why he backed off, but to exonerate him completely is equally odd.

 

[Dangermouth]

Cedric has to back off as far as he can as far as is practical. After a certain point, backing off becomes useless; before that he presents the attacker with the dilemma. With his position he has it so that Mata has little space in which to work and is close to the by-line and James is then in an area where he has a good chance of a shot being effective. At that point he has to close James down and have it that either someone else can come over, the pass is under or over hit so Mata cannot control it or he makes James move backwards, outside or away because he's been closed down. Given his position he's already one step back too far possibly, but even if he's not he at the position he is has to then make something happen. Yes, it happens far quicker than we could manage it, but we're not used to playing at that speed and he is. I don't blame him entirely, but I think it might have been avoided had he pushed up. Even if the pass then goes to Mata, there is still work to do and he cannot do everything so would be at least said to have made a decision and he cannot go to Mata so that's really all he could do. In short I agree with mrfahaji pretty much.

[Sheaf Saint]

At this point Cedric is still backing off. I'm not saying he should have dived in straight away, but the moment the striker is going to have a clear decent shot on goal (i.e. from 15 yards rather than 25) that has to be the priority. Most likely the ball is going into the blue area for Mata. Sure, he might score from there, or he might put over a perfect cross for a simple tap in, but surely at this point in time the preference is for the ball to end up in the blue than the yellow. As I said before, I don't think Cedric is wholly to blame, and I can understand why he backed off, but to exonerate him completely is equally odd.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2831[/ATTACH]

 

Yep. Exactly this. If Cedric closes down James then Mata would be unlikely to score from there. He would more than likely put in a low cross, but Bednarek is well positioned to close him down and Danso and JV are tight enough to their attackers to stop them from scoring. And with Cedric tight to James then Mata can't lay it back to him.

 

So I reassert what I said before - there were other team failings that led to the overload, but Cedric's backing off prevented us from snuffing out the threat. It's a regular aspect of his game that has cost us time and time again.

[Avenue_Saint]

The guy is a ****e defender. Is there anything more to say really?

 

Come on.

 

There’s a reason we were looking at Maehle.

 

Our coach isn’t blind.

[Bomosaint]

Cédric makes performance against manure was still better than any of valerys performances this season.

[benjii]

At this point Cedric is still backing off. I'm not saying he should have dived in straight away, but the moment the striker is going to have a clear decent shot on goal (i.e. from 15 yards rather than 25) that has to be the priority. Most likely the ball is going into the blue area for Mata. Sure, he might score from there, or he might put over a perfect cross for a simple tap in, but surely at this point in time the preference is for the ball to end up in the blue than the yellow. As I said before, I don't think Cedric is wholly to blame, and I can understand why he backed off, but to exonerate him completely is equally odd.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2831[/ATTACH]

 

Cedric has to back off as far as he can as far as is practical. After a certain point, backing off becomes useless; before that he presents the attacker with the dilemma. With his position he has it so that Mata has little space in which to work and is close to the by-line and James is then in an area where he has a good chance of a shot being effective. At that point he has to close James down and have it that either someone else can come over, the pass is under or over hit so Mata cannot control it or he makes James move backwards, outside or away because he's been closed down. Given his position he's already one step back too far possibly, but even if he's not he at the position he is has to then make something happen. Yes, it happens far quicker than we could manage it, but we're not used to playing at that speed and he is. I don't blame him entirely, but I think it might have been avoided had he pushed up. Even if the pass then goes to Mata, there is still work to do and he cannot do everything so would be at least said to have made a decision and he cannot go to Mata so that's really all he could do. In short I agree with mrfahaji pretty much.

 

Yep. Exactly this. If Cedric closes down James then Mata would be unlikely to score from there. He would more than likely put in a low cross, but Bednarek is well positioned to close him down and Danso and JV are tight enough to their attackers to stop them from scoring. And with Cedric tight to James then Mata can't lay it back to him.

 

So I reassert what I said before - there were other team failings that led to the overload, but Cedric's backing off prevented us from snuffing out the threat. It's a regular aspect of his game that has cost us time and time again.

 

These are obviously correct.

 

Some geezer above was saying that Mata would have waltzed in on goal unchallenged, which is clearly bollix.

[SuperSAINT]

I'm actually pleased he's still around. Has made himself the current right-back & also helped fix our left-back slot problem today.

 

Fair play to him.

[Dark Munster]

I'm actually pleased he's still around. Has made himself the current right-back & also helped fix our left-back slot problem today.

 

Fair play to him.

Yes, that's why I thought loaning him out last January was an unnecessary gamble. Anyway, all's well that ends well.

[SuperSAINT]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/11/07/cedric-soares-interview-will-leave-southampton-season-focussed/

 

“phenomenal crossing”

[Charlie Wayman]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/11/07/cedric-soares-interview-will-leave-southampton-season-focussed/

 

“phenomenal crossing”

 

Top bloke as his attitude has shown since he returned to the fold. Maybe he won't be offered a new contract here but where is Ralph going to find a better RB? Valery isn't the long term answer as we have seen for his rather too many inept headless chicken displays this season. Part of the fanbase has always dissed Cedric because of his salvaged inability to pick out a cross but let's face it chaps with our useless striker line-up we wouldn't know what a good cross is supposed to look like as nothing crossed into the box ever reaches the back of the net.

 

To his eternal credit, we never heard this guy whinge, moan or sulk about not wanting to be here. Give him a two year contract who are we going to find who's any better. Hope he plays against Everton but knowing Ralph he'll stick with a failing formula.

[Saint Matty 76]

Can't blame him for wanting to leave. Not been a particularly great player for us but not been bad either.

[doddisalegend]

He has had his moments but he hasn't exactly set the world alight while playing here. No doubt the club will find a way to replace him with someone cheaper and with even less talent as is their way these days....

 

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[DT]

Wow. Agent-fed 'journalism' at its best