Edmonton Saint Posted 10 August, 2019 Posted 10 August, 2019 Another season and we are still starting premier league games with arguably the weakest centre backs in the league. The fact we have to play three at the back to try and cover their glaring deficiencies says it all. Vestergaard is 6ft 6 in but is terrible in the air. He hardly ever wins headers and his pathetic attempt at a header today led to the first goal. He is slow, cumbersome and lacks focus at key moments. He should be a beast at his height, but too often he is beaten by much smaller men who actually bother to jump. Stephens is and has always been cack. Our win record with him starting is abysmal. He lacks positional sense, is another one that can't head, tries to be too clever at times and gets caught out. It's a bit alarming that our managers keep on turning a blind eye to the goals he is conceding. They both panic under pressure and this leads to tension in the rest of the team. Centre back should have been the first position we strengthened this season, not the one we 'Strengthened' with 10 minutes left in the window.
bpsaint Posted 10 August, 2019 Posted 10 August, 2019 Vestergaard has all of the attributes needed to be a top level CB, there’s only one issue though - he’s **** As for Stephens we know he’s not cut out for the Prem. I don’t know how he would fare as CDM with the cover of two CB’s behind him but he is like Davenport mkII in defence. Do we have a First Team defence coach at Saints? Serious question. Is that a thing? I know there’s striker coaches, we need to some decent ex pros on the case, what’s Killer up to these days.
Bomosaint Posted 10 August, 2019 Posted 10 August, 2019 Vestegaard was bullied in the air by Glen Murray at St Mary’s last season, it was embarrassing
doddisalegend Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I'm going to criticise Ralph a little bit here. With the current options Ralph has at CB you have to question why he would pick Stephens over Yoshida? With the players we have Yoshida and Bednarek should be the first two CBs in the team. Ralph has also had all summer to work on the defence and a find a formation that best protects our fragile back line yesterday suggests he hasn't really done that and we looked no different from last season. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk
Batman Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I'm going to criticise Ralph a little bit here. With the current options Ralph has at CB you have to question why he would pick Stephens over Yoshida? With the players we have Yoshida and Bednarek should be the first two CBs in the team. Ralph has also had all summer to work on the defence and a find a formation that best protects our fragile back line yesterday suggests he hasn't really done that and we looked no different from last season. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk Yoshida on his way out?
Suhari Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Yoshida on his way out? My thoughts based on yesterday's selection. Getting older, saleable. A sale would fit our track record. Hope not though.
Batman Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 My thoughts based on yesterday's selection. Getting older, saleable. A sale would fit our track record. Hope not though. agree, would be another ridiculous decision by the club though
Convict Colony Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 **** it get Hoedt in for Vest and Yoshida in for Stephens if Danso isnt ready
Sunglasses Ron Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I genuinely thought Vestergaard was going to be a class player when we signed him. At that height, I was expecting him to dominate our back line and chip in with several goals. How wrong was I!
Toussaint Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I do not get the obsession with young players, centre backs are often very good into the mid 30’s, it’s one position you need some maturity.
Cabrone Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 If fit I'd have Yoshida and Bednarek in a 4-4-2 setup with the new kid on the bench, ready to be tried out. Vestergaard and Stephens aren't up to it, I think we've seen that enough times now. At least one 'positive' from yesterday is that after just 1 game Ralph should now know that they aren't up to it. I'd be quite surprised if he gave them a 2nd chance.
zurichboy Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Laurel and Hardy They were at least entertaining....
whelk Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 If fit I'd have Yoshida and Bednarek in a 4-4-2 setup with the new kid on the bench, ready to be tried out. Vestergaard and Stephens aren't up to it, I think we've seen that enough times now. At least one 'positive' from yesterday is that after just 1 game Ralph should now know that they aren't up to it. I'd be quite surprised if he gave them a 2nd chance. He has seen Stephens plenty and still continues to pick him
S-Clarke Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Yoshida on his way out? Surely Hoedt will be the first of the CB's out of the door. But yeah, don't count your chickens with the recruitment strategy at this flaming club.
beatlesaint Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I'm going to criticise Ralph a little bit here. With the current options Ralph has at CB you have to question why he would pick Stephens over Yoshida? With the players we have Yoshida and Bednarek should be the first two CBs in the team. Ralph has also had all summer to work on the defence and a find a formation that best protects our fragile back line yesterday suggests he hasn't really done that and we looked no different from last season. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk well I was told yesterday when I said the same that unlike Ralph I dont see them in training and how would I know better than him. To not have to watch those centre backs train day after day I consider a blessing because 90 mins a week is more than enough for me.
sadoldgit Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 well I was told yesterday when I said the same that unlike Ralph I dont see them in training and how would I know better than him. To not have to watch those centre backs train day after day I consider a blessing because 90 mins a week is more than enough for me. Perhaps they are perfectly fine in training? I read the other day about how good Mo was in training. Some of them it seems don’t have the mental ability to carry it through when the pressure is on.
Avenue_Saint Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 When Stephens plays I notice , everyone alongside him plays ****e too. Yoshida simply just play ahead of him. Hopefully Danso is good enough to slot in alongside Bednarek
Saint Pete Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 I'm going to criticise Ralph a little bit here. With the current options Ralph has at CB you have to question why he would pick Stephens over Yoshida? With the players we have Yoshida and Bednarek should be the first two CBs in the team. Ralph has also had all summer to work on the defence and a find a formation that best protects our fragile back line yesterday suggests he hasn't really done that and we looked no different from last season. Yep, first real question mark against Ralph in my opinion that he can pick Vestergaard and Stephens as first choice and leave Yoshida on the bench. Not saying Yoshida is perfect, but is generally considerably more solid than the other two so don’t understand the thinking in leaving him out at all. When Mark Hughes did similar, he was pilloried for it and rightly so.
Cabrone Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 He has seen Stephens plenty and still continues to pick him I wonder if after a full pre-season Ralph wiped last season's performances and selected from friendlies form. Regardless he gave them the opportunity to claim those positions and they ended up costing us the game. Enough IMO, it's time for a change.
RedArmy Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Vestergaard was at fault for all 3 goals in my opinion. The first goal is obvious. The second goal Barnes was his man to pick up, he was stood between the 2 marking nobody, he had no idea where Barnes was and as a result was completely beaten by the cross which he made no attempt to defend. Bertrand also should have given him a shout and told him to pick Barnes up. The 3rd goal he got bullied out of what should have been an easy header to win, and then too slow to get back and defend, didn’t make any attempt to tackle or at least block the shot once he got close. Useless player.
Baird of the land Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Vestergaard has an error in him(as yesterday showed) but he’s an ok squad option. Don’t agree with view that he doesn’t win aerial duals. Stephens while I think at times he looks good he switches off with startling regularity as with 2nd yesterday.
Manuel Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Remembering with pride when we had "the best defence in Europe" under Koeman. Losing 3 soft goals to a very average Burnley does not bode well.
striker Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 The scariest part is Ralph may try to fix this defense by bringing in Hoedt
Useful Idiot Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Hoedt is very poor, but I think Stephens might be even worse.
saint77 Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 The scariest part is Ralph may try to fix this defense by bringing in Hoedt He couldn’t possibly do any worse than Stephens and the big Dane
striker Posted 11 August, 2019 Posted 11 August, 2019 Sadly, both responses to my post above are true. Sorry state of defensive affairs.
red&white56 Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Dumb and dumber Shoulda kept Fonte.... How should we have done this when he wanted away?
Heisenberg Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 How should we have done this when he wanted away? Fonte gave a number of interviews after denying that. I'd probably believe him that a couple of submissive tabloids
ALWAYS_SFC Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 How should we have done this when he wanted away? He did indeed and was a bit disruptive.
sadoldgit Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 He couldn’t possibly do any worse than Stephens and the big Dane I dont know. He was slowing up and was often a penalty waiting to happen. He was dreadful at West Ham and has probably found his level in French football. It really doesnt matter now as he is long gone and would probably not be a starter if he was still here. He was offered a new contract which he turned down and made it clear he wanted out. Time to move on.
sadoldgit Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 The scariest part is Ralph may try to fix this defense by bringing in Hoedt Despite people telling us on here that this is happening, Hoedt has not been involved in any games so far. If that was the case I am sure we would have seen him in a friendly. I think we can safely assume he is on his way.
sadoldgit Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 I meant to add, our problem wasn't getting rid of Fonte, it was not replacing him with a player of similar, if not better, quality.
Lallana's Left Peg Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Remembering with pride when we had "the best defence in Europe" under Koeman. Losing 3 soft goals to a very average Burnley does not bode well. We also lost away to Burnley that season. That has nothing to do with our current defensive issues of course, but it does go to show that even one of our best teams lost away up there. I think its awful that our central defenders are so bad that we have to play three of them to have a modicum of defensive capability, and even then mistakes undermine it all.
Saint Garrett Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Hoedt is very poor, but I think Stephens might be even worse. Oh absolutely - and I'm not sure it's that close...Hoedt is just a more sellable asset, and a bit of a ****.
DT Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 agree, would be another ridiculous decision by the club though we seem obsessed with youth at all costs over ability. suppose it might work in League One.
davefizzy14 Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Was listening to the Saints Podcast last night and its funny how all the people that are slagging Jack off, Adam Leitch had a totally different view on it. He was actually at the game covering it for the Echo. He said Jack played ok and the problems were as a collective unit, not on a single individual. In my opinion Vestergaard was at fault for at least 2 of the goals on Saturday.
Nordic Saint Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Fonte gave a number of interviews after denying that. I'd probably believe him that a couple of submissive tabloids I think it's true that he would have gone to a top six club, although he wasn't forcing the issue, but he didn't really want to leave Saints and certainly not to go to West Ham. If Reed had made any effort to keep him here, he'd have happily stayed. But, instead, Les Reed made it clear to him that he was no longer welcome at the club and got the fan base on his side with his usual PR 'leaks', saying the player was disruptive. The words 'Billy Big Boll--ks" were clearly straight out of Les Reed's mouth and then got repeated on all the Saints fans forums, when, in fact, Fonte is a more modest character than either Reed himself or most top flight footballers. Anyway, it's all worked out well for Fonte, as he has had the best spell of his entire career at Lille, captaining them to the Champions League group stage, with the best defensive record in the French League, and winning another major European trophy with Portugal.
Nordic Saint Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 One major improvement since Reed left is that we no longer get the devious PR 'leaks' designed to turn the fans against players who are about to be sold.
Charlie Wayman Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Yoshida on his way out? Of course not, he'll be back on Saturday. As for the slagging off of Vestergaard (not you I hasten to add) his missed header for their first was the bloody wind taking the ball well beyond his reach. Far too early for all the criticism he is getting.
Charlie Wayman Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Vestergaard was at fault for all 3 goals in my opinion. The first goal is obvious. The second goal Barnes was his man to pick up, he was stood between the 2 marking nobody, he had no idea where Barnes was and as a result was completely beaten by the cross which he made no attempt to defend. Bertrand also should have given him a shout and told him to pick Barnes up. The 3rd goal he got bullied out of what should have been an easy header to win, and then too slow to get back and defend, didn’t make any attempt to tackle or at least block the shot once he got close. Useless player. Nonsense.
saints-til-i-die Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Bertrand isn’t faultless either! He seems to go under the radar. He didn’t want the ball as much and cost us the third goal. Don’t forget his error. He often makes mistakes which don’t get picked up.
VectisSaint Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Bertrand isn’t faultless either! He seems to go under the radar. He didn’t want the ball as much and cost us the third goal. Don’t forget his error. He often makes mistakes which don’t get picked up. He was partly at fault for the 2nd goal as well, both Vestergaard and Bertrand were not picking up the Burnley strikers' runs.
VectisSaint Posted 12 August, 2019 Posted 12 August, 2019 Despite people telling us on here that this is happening, Hoedt has not been involved in any games so far. Well, apart from Feyenoord and Preston.
sadoldgit Posted 13 August, 2019 Posted 13 August, 2019 Well, apart from Feyenoord and Preston. Yes, apart from those games.
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