Gabbiadini

[Harry_SFC]

Starting to feel sorry for the guy. I watched him very closely this evening and one thing that's clear is the guy has world class movement off the ball. He isn't the strongest striker in the world and isn't great in the air, so why in the last few games have we been lumping the ball up to him? It wouldn't be too bad if we had midfield players getting up to support him and picking up the second balls but he just seems so isolated. He did have a couple of chances (not glaring ones) that he may have taken before his injury but that happens.

 

Is it a case of Puels tactics limiting him as a player? Or is it the fact our other players are not on the same wavelength? There were a number of occasions when he was looking for a through ball or a chip over the top and the player with the ball just played it sideways. Even those low crosses we were flashing across the face of the goal in the EFL cup final have completely dried up. I'm all for keeping possession but with someone of his calibre up front surely we should be taking a few more risks here and there.

 

Thoughts?

[Heisenberg]

He will score 20 goals a season under most managers.

[CB Fry]

He will score 20 goals a season under most managers.

He's not played under most managers in his career so far, then.

[Shance]

Yep. Said it time and again. His movement is the best I've seen at saints in a long time. Pulls defenders all over the place and creates space for himself. When he first joine Puel was going through an attacking spell and he benefited massively. Now he's reverted to type and Gabbi is suffering big time. Must be so frustrating.

[Dangermouth]

He's been Puel'd.

 

He'll be off to Liverpuel in the summer.

[Lord Duckhunter]

He hasn't been as sharp as before his injury. I guess whether you think that's Puels fault is down to whether you want him out or not.

 

 

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Edited 10 May, 2017 by Lord Duckhunter

[70's Mike]

Like the OP i watched him last night, makes loads of runs but received the ball once. It appears ingrained in the players, to either go side ways or check back and lay it back. The forward players are more worried by their defensive duties than hurting the opposition

[Saint_clark]

When we're performing as we have been the last few games we're much better off starting Long or Austin up front. In 5 minutes after coming on Long had already won 3 long balls with his head and held it up for other players.

Personally i'd like to see them both up top, Gabby with one of Long or Austin.

[Whitey Grandad]

Like the OP i watched him last night' date=' makes loads of runs but received the ball once. It appears ingrained in the players, to either go side ways or check back and lay it back. The forward players are more worried by their defensive duties than hurting the opposition[/quote']

 

Yep. Watching poor Gabbi struggling alone against four or five defenders wasn't very pretty.

[beatlesaint]

No service to him whatsoever. I'm sure playing in Italy he is well used to the lone striker role but it only works if someone gets the ball to him. I doubt Puel would do the unthinkable and play someone up front with him just to see if it works out.

[BARCELONASAINT]

He hasn't been as sharp as before his injury. I guess whether you think that's Puels fault is down to whether you want him out or not.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

I think you are wrong and did not see the game last night!

Gabby is one of the most intelligent footballers we have at the club. He spent all last night making excellent off the ball runs only for our boring midfield players to play sideways football. He is being massively let down by the likes of Tadic, Boufal and Redmond.

Redmond for some reason has gone right off the boil and did not want to get to the byline but instead kept passing it back much to Bertrands frustration.

 

Our lack of crosses at the moment is appalling and i cannot understand why we have stopped playing the attacking football we were playing around the cup final time.

[Patrick Bateman]

I think you are wrong and did not see the game last night!

Gabby is one of the most intelligent footballers we have at the club. He spent all last night making excellent off the ball runs only for our boring midfield players to play sideways football. He is being massively let down by the likes of Tadic, Boufal and Redmond.

Redmond for some reason has gone right off the boil and did not want to get to the byline but instead kept passing it back much to Bertrands frustration.

 

Our lack of crosses at the moment is appalling and i cannot understand why we have stopped playing the attacking football we were playing around the cup final time.

 

Probably because he was playing well and then dropped for no reason.

[S-Clarke]

His movement was still good, you can see that when you watch off the ball. He made some exclent moves on the blind side of defenders and bent his run, but not once did the ball find him. He was notably frustrated on a few occasions.

 

As mentioned before, the midfielders we have are more than happy to go back or sideways. Until we have another midfielder in there to break the line and link the team, then it will be more and more of the same. It's very hard to find that sort of midfielder for sure, which is why sometimes having a really, really quick player floating around can make all the difference and pull the midfield closer to the attack. Mane did that for us.

[Zed]

No service... Players can't get into the right positions to cross to him without allowing the opposition defence to get numbers back and organised. See the first two goals vs Utd in cup final, got the ball forward and quickly, hard low cross and Gabbi's movement and finishing was too good for Utd.

 

Deep crosses into him vs 5 defenders who are all set on his own is not going to work. Like we are playing expecting Pelle in the middle, and also when we lump the ball up to him when we are clearing our lines, we expect Pelle to bring it down or win the header, Gabbi can not do that so its strange we expect him too.

 

When he joined we played to his strengths, we haven't exploited them since his injury.

[The9]

Last night I thought he'd already stopped making as many of the kind of runs he did in February because he knew he wasn't getting the ball played to him - which is a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.

 

Then Bertrand decided not to cross with players in the box and it ended up being played back to the centre backs, and Redmond played one ball out to the right wing instead of left to a wide open Bertrand, and you could see it wasn't anything the manager had told them, they were just bad split-second decisions.

 

I did see Gabbiadini trying to make an angle for Stephens to feed the ball to him from the half way line too, that's probably not going to help.

 

The other thing was how annoyed Gabbiadini was when he pressed and none of the midfielders closed down the edge of their box, I put that one down to fatigue but it does show the wider problem of the defensiveness of our central midfield (as did Davis' shooting last night).

[The9]

No service... Players can't get into the right positions to cross to him without allowing the opposition defence to get numbers back and organised. See the first two goals vs Utd in cup final, got the ball forward and quickly, hard low cross and Gabbi's movement and finishing was too good for Utd.

 

Deep crosses into him vs 5 defenders who are all set on his own is not going to work. Like we are playing expecting Pelle in the middle, and also when we lump the ball up to him when we are clearing our lines, we expect Pelle to bring it down or win the header, Gabbi can not do that so its strange we expect him too.

 

When he joined we played to his strengths, we haven't exploited them since his injury.

 

Lots of sense in here. We also kick goal kicks at players who have no chance of winning the ball, too.

[saintwbu]

The best example was in the first half when he won the ball and flicked it off to Redmond and made an instant movement which needed a 5 yard pass to put him through on goal. but instead Redmond checked back onto his right foot and tried to chip it to Ward-Prowse on the right only to put it straight out of play. Redmond was then on sceeen with his arms out mouthing 'run', presumably at JWP which was astonishing because not only was it the wrong choice of pass it was an absolutely woeful execution. Gabbi, like Austin, needs quick thinking from the players around him, and it doesn't happen.

[S-Clarke]

Lots of sense in here. We also kick goal kicks at players who have no chance of winning the ball, too.

 

That's been a proper gripe for me all season. Forsters kicking isn't great at the best of times, but when he seems to be tactically aiming for people like Redmond or Tadic it's all a bit wtf. What are they supposed to do with that.

 

We don't have the ability to play long anymore, can't think of any attacking players we have who are particularly strong and dominant in the air. Pelle is a huge miss for us, no matter how much crap he got last season from the 'fans'.

[The9]

Probably because he was playing well and then dropped for no reason.

 

Left out to give Boufal a chance, clearly. Same stuff with Stephens getting 3 months of games when it doesn't particularly matter. You'll only develop players if they're playing, and with the gap to the top 6 that has been there since January and with us not looking remotely like getting relegated, this was the perfect time to do that.

[benjii]

Wanyama and Schneiderlin used to win a lot of headers / second balls which helped. Romeu competes well aerially but our other midfielders and wingers offer nothing when it comes to competing for those second balls (with the slight exception of Boufal, who is actually more physical than people give him credit for).

 

We desperately need someone physical - doesn't have to be a man-mountain, just someone quick to react and combative - to give us more of a platform alongside Romeu and another central midfielder who is willing to get up near Gabbi and can actually shoot.

 

As The9 said though, I think most of our problems have come from poor decision-making and execution. You can drill players as much as you like on certain patterns and on shape but when fluid situations arise in games it's all about decision-making and composure.

[The9]

The best example was in the first half when he won the ball and flicked it off to Redmond and made an instant movement which needed a 5 yard pass to put him through on goal. but instead Redmond checked back onto his right foot and tried to chip it to Ward-Prowse on the right only to put it straight out of play. Redmond was then on sceeen with his arms out mouthing 'run', presumably at JWP which was astonishing because not only was it the wrong choice of pass it was an absolutely woeful execution. Gabbi, like Austin, needs quick thinking from the players around him, and it doesn't happen.

 

That was probably the one he could have played to Bertrand in space on the other wing as well - can't watch all the runs.

[benjii]

Left out to give Boufal a chance, clearly. Same stuff with Stephens getting 3 months of games when it doesn't particularly matter. You'll only develop players if they're playing, and with the gap to the top 6 that has been there since January and with us not looking remotely like getting relegated, this was the perfect time to do that.

 

I agree, but I think it should have been Tadic who was left out for Boufal, not Redmond.

[Zed]

Lots of sense in here. We also kick goal kicks at players who have no chance of winning the ball, too.

 

Aiming the goal kicks to Bertrand on the touchline is fine I would say. Spurs do it with Walker, and Bertrand is good in the air. The other side not so much, and when the ball has been back-passed to Fraser, spotting JWP in a decent position should not automatically mean hitting a hopeful ball to him. In the same sense as my previous post, Fraser could hit a long ball straight down the middle to Pelle, and he would compete and more often than not get something on it. It's best playing out as much as possible (not helped if the crowd get restless at the slightest press from the opposition!) but then we end up with slow play getting the ball forward.

[the saint in winchester]

This should be a golden thread as every post analyses the problem rather than insults other posters. I agree with you all. Gabbi was making the runs last night, but the other players were failing to reach him, in a lot of cases, even failing to try to reach him. Instead they were going for the easy option of playing it out to the free man, and then back inside to the free man. Sidewards crab football. I genuinely don't know if Puel has instructed this safe style of play or the players just lack the confidence to play the incisive pass.

[mrfahaji]

This should be a golden thread as every post analyses the problem rather than insults other posters. I agree with you all. Gabbi was making the runs last night, but the other players were failing to reach him, in a lot of cases, even failing to try to reach him. Instead they were going for the easy option of playing it out to the free man, and then back inside to the free man. Sidewards crab football. I genuinely don't know if Puel has instructed this safe style of play or the players just lack the confidence to play the incisive pass.

 

I was just thinking the same thing reading through - this thread contains all the things that the 'match reaction' and the 'puel out' threads should have!

 

As many have alluded to already, there was poor decision making in the final third. Whether this is due to the players or a result of some of the coaching is up for debate.

 

I like to see us put crosses in, but we need to do it a lot more from getting in behind and flashing it across goal from the byline. Because we play such slow build up, the chances to get behind the defence are few and far between.

[mrfahaji]

I agree, but I think it should have been Tadic who was left out for Boufal, not Redmond.

 

I would've gone with Boufal (not just in hindsight, said it in the build up), as I felt his ability to beat a man could have dragged the centre backs out of position, creating space in behind.

 

Boufal showed glimpses again, but was infuriating late on when everyone was up for a corner (or maybe free kick), and he tries to take someone on on the left wing. Another example of bad decision making - at times we really need someone with some individual brilliance, but when all our players are in the opposition box (for once!) is not one of them.

[Hatch]

Gabbiadini looks painfully shy to me, and therefore afraid to moan at his team mates for not passing to him.

[GGalpin]

Gabbiadini looks painfully shy to me, and therefore afraid to moan at his team mates for not passing to him.

 

Wouldn't say that myself, gave Romeu a bollocking for intercepting pass from JWP just outside the Arsenal box when he was winding up for a shot

[striker]

This isn't a new phenomenom, its been happening all season. Starting with Austin, who had the same thing happen to him. I think both Gabbi and Austin have proved they can score goals in the PL, what we are weak at is the transisition to attack. We need more attacking mids, this is what the forwards we lost we best at.

[The9]

I agree, but I think it should have been Tadic who was left out for Boufal, not Redmond.

 

Always difficult to know what the purpose of the decision is when we don't have access to stuff like the player blood tests and the like. Could have been one of those pre-emptive restings.

 

All in all, we're clearly happy to play players with the bigger picture in mind - though after a few sparkling moments early on, Boufal doesn't seem to have come close to his early levels since Bournemouth away when he was taken off after 10 minutes of being absolutely integral to everything we did.

[The9]

Aiming the goal kicks to Bertrand on the touchline is fine I would say. Spurs do it with Walker, and Bertrand is good in the air. The other side not so much, and when the ball has been back-passed to Fraser, spotting JWP in a decent position should not automatically mean hitting a hopeful ball to him. In the same sense as my previous post, Fraser could hit a long ball straight down the middle to Pelle, and he would compete and more often than not get something on it. It's best playing out as much as possible (not helped if the crowd get restless at the slightest press from the opposition!) but then we end up with slow play getting the ball forward.

 

If that's what I thought he was trying to do, fine, but wanging it just to the side of the centre circle at a cluster of relative dwarves has been decidedly ineffective, and yesterday there were a couple of goal kicks we didn't even compete for!

[The9]

Gabbiadini looks painfully shy to me, and therefore afraid to moan at his team mates for not passing to him.

 

He had a right pop at the entire midfield for not backing him up when he pressed and Arsenal had 20 yards of space around the edge of the box to half way to escape through, too.

[The9]

This should be a golden thread as every post analyses the problem rather than insults other posters. I agree with you all. Gabbi was making the runs last night, but the other players were failing to reach him, in a lot of cases, even failing to try to reach him. Instead they were going for the easy option of playing it out to the free man, and then back inside to the free man. Sidewards crab football. I genuinely don't know if Puel has instructed this safe style of play or the players just lack the confidence to play the incisive pass.

 

I think it's fairly easy to see when it's tactical choice and when it's the player's decision - eg in Milan Martina was tangibly taking the ball 10 yards forward, stopping, turning, playing the ball back to Yoshida/Van Dijk, and he NEVER took on the overlap - that was clearly tactical to prevent us getting caught too far up the field, to retain possession in a low-risk way and to burn the clock to try and get a point from the game without expending too much energy. It was similar (but more infuriating) in Prague, and we did it at home to Liverpool in the 0-0 even with Cedric at right back.

 

Meanwhile, at the start of the season when the players were getting used to what was expecting of them, we were incredibly reluctant to cross the ball against Watford and Sunderland - which was definitely player choice (and probably some misuncerstanding of the manager's message), because we were completely over it in the 3-0 win against Sparta, and also beat Swansea, Palace and West Ham without conceding a goal in the next 3 matches.

 

Last night Bertrand seemed happy to cross on most occasions, but in the first half he had one opportunity and didn't despite the lack of block attempt by the defender, and the ball ended up back on the half way line. I think that was just one of those things.

 

What we HAVE stopped doing is playing early through balls to Gabbiadini which had been giving the defence more than one form of attack to defend against.

[Whitey Grandad]

I agree, but I think it should have been Tadic who was left out for Boufal, not Redmond.

 

Always difficult to know what the purpose of the decision is when we don't have access to stuff like the player blood tests and the like. Could have been one of those pre-emptive restings.

 

All in all, we're clearly happy to play players with the bigger picture in mind - though after a few sparkling moments early on, Boufal doesn't seem to have come close to his early levels since Bournemouth away when he was taken off after 10 minutes of being absolutely integral to everything we did.

 

Redmond had signalled to the bench and then gone over and exchanged a few words a few minutes before his substitution. Whatever that was for I cannot say, he might have been ordering the post-match drinks.

[S-Clarke]

Redmond had signalled to the bench and then gone over and exchanged a few words a few minutes before his substitution. Whatever that was for I cannot say, he might have been ordering the post-match drinks.

 

I assume he was moaning about something. He spent the entire game moaning at someone or something. It was never his fault, always someone elses.

[mrfahaji]

Because this was such a ground breaking thread, in that most posts offered insightful analysis and balanced discussion, I thought I'd bump it to ask whether there should be a tactics-related thread? So no discussion of players sales, board ambition, Puel's boringness, whether 46 points is an acceptable tally etc, but instead looking at systems and individual players strengths/weaknesses. It could even extrapolate to suggestions of players who would suit tactics etc.

 

I've just posted (what I thought at least was) an interesting link on another thread, but can see that may be lost in the ether, just like this thread.

 

Is it a realistic ambition to have such a thread of tactical discussion, or will it inevitably lose traction and be overrun by squabbles between everybody's favourite posters?

[Joe Kirkup]

We could do worse than going in for Danny Drinkwater in the summer. At least his first thought is to get his head up and look for Vardy making a run.

We haven't had a midfielder who can spot a good run from the forwards since we've been back in the Prem.

[doddisalegend]

We could do worse than going in for Danny Drinkwater in the summer. At least his first thought is to get his head up and look for Vardy making a run.

We haven't had a midfielder who can spot a good run from the forwards since we've been back in the Prem.

 

 

Gabbi keeps making the runs but some of our players don't seem to be quick enough in thought to pick him out.

 

Also unlike Pelle or Lambert Gabbi doesn't seem to want to play like an old school CF instead of going for the ball he goes for the space it would help if his teammates hit that space rather than trying to hit his chest/head.

[Suhari]

Would like to see him in action in a quick-passing, high press set up.

 

His movement and on-the-shoulder style would lead to loads of one-on-ones for him.

[scotty]

It was never his fault, always someone elses.

 

He'd be brilliant for Liverpool then.