Match Day Thread Stoke City v Southampton, Wed 14 December, KO 8:00pm

Long is good enough, he just needs to partner someone decent, and Jay is not that. Even before Jay got injured he fluffed a shed load of chances, he just had the pace to help make them. Our problem is that we play 3 CM in very defensive deep positions. Against Boro at the weekend, there would be a defensive header and our midfielders would be idling around the half way line. The tactics are unbelievably negative at the moment. We don't commit enough men forward and that's what costing us.

 

We can't even take much satisfaction from another clean sheet, due to the ten men (aside from those two five-minute aberrations against Hull and Palace, we've got the second or third best defence in the division, after Chelsea and maybe Spurs).

No CMs and a FB on the bench, rather than Sims, is something to regret. (I say it most weeks - the two CMs on the bench, whoever they happen to be each game, are good enough to be there in terms of being in our best 18 players. But do you really need two non-goalscoring CMs on the bench if you have other options in your squad?)

 

No idea how anyone can blame Puel for that. Players not delivering yet again when they need to. He's changed the system, and we look really good going forward until the final third. Need another attacking option in Jan. Thankfully our defense is very good.

 

We should have 3 points now.not going to question the effort the players put in tho.just cant score.still, a point is better than none

 

Fran stay away! because as usual we were apparently ****ing crap! (even though before the game were going to get whooped and after the game even though we completely dominated when playing away and Stoke had every player in defence we were still apparently crap) **** off

 

So much this.

"Shambolic and disgraceful" - no, that's just silly. Unless you were referring to the ref who was hopeless?

We knew we needed a striker before the game, and we still do. Boufal is great but sadly looks our only player that can constantly beat a man. Less crossing from deep from the rest of the team would be a plan too.

Puel is hamstrung here at the moment, so I don't blame him. He has nobody to bring on that scores with any regularity.

It's a decent point away, just a frustrating one given the circumstances.

 

Dont agree thats Puels fault. I think we are well setup. He's making good subs. Tactically we're not a shambles. Our strikers are in awful, awful, awful form.

 

All our cms are defensive minded, it's why they don't push forward. We have no attacking cm in our first team. That is the problem.

 

No. I want to be entertained when I watch Saints and there is none whatsoever at the moment. People who shelled out hundreds of pounds to watch this **** are getting ripped off massively.

 

Partnering him with anyone would be quite nice. Good or bad.

 

I could complain until the cows come home but ultimately the main issue can't be resolved for another 18 days yet, until then, we're going to have to dig in and make do with Jay and Long. I'll reserve my meltdown for February 1st IF the board haven't brought in a striker or two (Gallagher doesn't count).

 

I'm not sure you count looking good in the back and middle third, as looking good going forward?

 

Recall Gallagher. At least he's scoring goals. Ship out Rodriguez ASAP.

 

Its happened to better teams than is tom

 

Bang on. Which is why I'm not having a go at Jay or Long or any of them. We have what we have. And for now, we are stuck with it. But that doesn't excuse Puel for not bringing off a more defensive minded player for Tadic or Jay (or including Sims or another attacking youngster on the bench).

 

I agree the board need to give Puel a striker at least.

 

What's your solution then? Have you hidden an in-form striker up your sleeve you can trick the FA into thinking is registered for Southampton? If not, then you need to wait until January or hope that Long or Jay suddenly hit a run. The rest of our play today was okay and we're defensively solid.

 

You can never really celebrate a sending off at 0-0, especially against Stoke. It was obvious what their game plan would be and despite us not offering much, they also did defend pretty well. They have to take credit for that. Boufal seems to be on a different page sometimes, but I think that'll click after time and our other players wil become wise to the nice little dinked passes he makes. With the amount of clean sheets we keep, when we start scoring goals who knows where we could end up again.

 

Their GK kept them in the game, get real.

 

Is it really a lack of a top striker and let's face it we are never going to buy one of those. Or is it the fact that we create so few chances, that are strikers snatch at them as they know that will be their only chance. Both Long and Jrod have scored in the past, but noe they get so little practice in games as the ball is too busy going from side to side to back to side to back