The Premier League Thread

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St Badger said:
There were people on here who said Wijnaldum wasn't worth going for, but he is exactly the type of midfield player we need. One who will get into the box AND score a few goals.
Even before Lallana left, I wanted a second, similar type of player, so if one had an off day, the other might step up. Now we need two, preferably 6ft, powerful and athletic. I also think that is what Claude needs to get the team playing in the style he wants (although it still mystifies me as to why we employed a manager who would set about changing how the team played, given that the club had spent so many years recruiting players to play the so called Southampton Way).
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But what is that way? Since the Liebherrs have been here we have generally played with a target man type striker (Lambert,Guly, Pelle), creative midfielders (Lallana, Mane, Tadic), wingers (Chamberlain, Puncheon, Mane, Rodriguez) and 2 holding mids (Schneiderlin, Cork, Wanyama, Romeu). Looking at the squad now we have no target men, Tadic and Boufal as the creative midfielders, Redmond as the winger and only one proper holding mid in Romeu. If we are meant to play a certain way then the recruitment team haven't done a particularly good job of giving Puel the tools to play that way
 
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Saintmagic said:
But what is that way? Since the Liebherrs have been here we have generally played with a target man type striker (Lambert,Guly, Pelle), creative midfielders (Lallana, Mane, Tadic), wingers (Chamberlain, Puncheon, Mane, Rodriguez) and 2 holding mids (Schneiderlin, Cork, Wanyama, Romeu). Looking at the squad now we have no target men, Tadic and Boufal as the creative midfielders, Redmond as the winger and only one proper holding mid in Romeu. If we are meant to play a certain way then the recruitment team haven't done a particularly good job of giving Puel the tools to play that way
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That's the whole point.
We have, for many years, recruited to play in the way you describe, but have now employed a manager who doesn't like playing to that format, which is why we have players not playing in the position where they are most likely to make a positive contribution.
Square pegs in round holes.
 
St Badger said:
That's the whole point.
We have, for many years, recruited to play in the way you describe, but have now employed a manager who doesn't like playing to that format, which is why we have players not playing in the position where they are most likely to make a positive contribution.
Square pegs in round holes.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I follow, you think that we are not playing the way we have in the past because Puel doesn't want to? Not because we don't have the players to play that way? I personally think we are playing this way because Puel and the coaches have assessed the squad and decided that our best chance of getting results is to play this way as we are **** going forward, have very little genuine pace in the squad, a decent defence and have a lot of decent possession retaining midfielders. We are a squad built to draw 0-0, win by the odd goal or lose by the odd goal.

I may be completely wrong and Puel is actually complete gash and way out of his depth but I think it is too early to know that yet with the players we have
 
Saintmagic said:
I'm not sure I follow, you think that we are not playing the way we have in the past because Puel doesn't want to? Not because we don't have the players to play that way? I personally think we are playing this way because Puel and the coaches have assessed the squad and decided that our best chance of getting results is to play this way as we are **** going forward, have very little genuine pace in the squad, a decent defence and have a lot of decent possession retaining midfielders. We are a squad built to draw 0-0, win by the odd goal or lose by the odd goal.

I may be completely wrong and Puel is actually complete gash and way out of his depth but I think it is too early to know that yet with the players we have
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Per Puel earlier in the year, our playing style is intentional, and owed to the number of fixtures we had in the first half...he felt that it was important that we retain possession and control games. It will be interesting to see if that changes now; we still need more attacking talent to play the manner in which we became accustomed in years past, but more goals can be wrung out of this squad with a change in approach, as well.
 
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WBA's chairman is concerned about the drop in attendances despite Brom sitting 7th in the table....

"The drop in numbers is an obvious cause of concern. But to the supporters who have stood through the wind, rain and shine of another year in the life of West Bromwich Albion, our sincerest thanks."

They don't get it do they? You can be really high up that league table but if you are really boring and tedious to watch and most of your games end 1-0 or 0-0 a lot of fans won't bother, it's about entertainment. There be will hardcore supporters who'll turn up every week no matter what - but you aren't trying to attract or keep those supporters are you?

Saints really need to seriously think about the product they put out on the pitch - recently it has been a bit dull.
 
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