How's he supposed to apply himself to the team if he's not being picked? I've heard nothing about him being a bad trainer etc, but if you want to enlighten me then go ahead.
Remember when Tiss had a dip and Bally came in. First thing he did is get the team together and say "whenever you get the ball, get it to this guy, he'll win you games". It bolstered his confidence no end and he hit the form of his life. Now I'm not saying Boufal is the next MLT (far from it, but that's no criticism) but perhaps he needs that kind of confidence massage, rather than "here's 15 minutes, please try and win the game by trying far too hard in the short time you have on the field with a negative, demoralised and losing side".
http://readsouthampton.com/2017/08/25/southampton-interested-milan-youngster-tonin/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would give Boufal extended run in the team mostly because I'm not really impressed by what I'm seeing from Redmond and Tadić and I reckon he can't do much worse, but might actually improve and develop with regular game time. He has some real skill on the ball, but so do those football freestylers and it's it's still questionable how much of that skill is applicable in a real football match (usually none at all)
The thing is we're not really going to miss Tadic or Redmond at the moment, it's not like we'd be making a sacrifice to fit Boufal in. We also have two proper DMs again now, so if there was ever a time to give Boufal a run in the team it's now. I really hope he gets a proper chance.
Short version - I agree Long version - Boufal & Tadic has been tried several times and it's not worked, because both are not great at tracking back. I don't think it's effort, they're just not good at it and both of them take risks on the ball, so are more likely to give away possession. So we end up with less possession and two players who we want to give as much possession as possible too. Catch 22 For me Tadic hasn't delivered consistently enough over the last season and we know doesn't deliver many goals in open play. Boufal looks like a player that he needs an arm around the shoulder. We're not scoring regular without him, so we might as well try with him, but in a team where he is the creative hub.
My concern with Boufal is that I'm not sure his strengths are what they are cracked up to be. For example, Ramirez always had a nice touch with his passing and good vision. If all he ever had to do was to float around between the midfield and defense and look for throughballs to play or late runs into the box, he would be quite good at that. Problem is, we needed more than that from him. I think most PL teams do. But Ramirez was at least good at the thing he was supposed to be good at. It just wasn't enough to offset the weaknesses. Plus the injuries. Mane from the start you could tell that he was crazy fast, deceptively strong, and would go right at you. He had some flaws as far as inconsistent finishing, and knowing when to NOT just run straight at opponents. But again, you could see how nervous he made defenses even when he was not on form, and how good he could be if his game was more complete. But aside from looking good and the occasional ankle-breaker, Boufal isn't even that great at beating his man or holding possession. Which is the key thing for a skilled dribbler. If he was constantly beating one or two guys then running into a wall, then I would be more prone to say, yeah put him in the first team and hope that with experience he learns to play more intelligently. I would have expected Boufal to make the Wolves defenders look bad. But it was more of the same. And his effort was fine. He was willing to deep for passes. He looked to attack. But IMO, he never really threatened despite that so I have to wonder if he is all he is cracked up to be. I think it's too early to write Boufal off just yet, but I also can't see why he should be given a starting spot. People say we can't do worse than Redmond, but I would argue that Boufal just showed he is much worse than Redmond. He will have to earn his spot, and he needs to do much better to do so.
I've got absolutely no problem with giving Boufal a go from the start. But equally, I wouldn't be expecting him to do anything. But anyway, this is a transfer thread.
You'd be happy to start him, but think he'd do nothing....... Hmmmm, nah not for me, I'd rather keep it tight & leave with a point and perhaps annoy the internet with a dull game. Much more fun than carrying someone, conceding & not finding a way back into the game.
The point being that Tadic and Redmond are hardly on fire either. So pick whichever two you want, I don't really care. (I would absolutely favour playing two up front instead, but I suspect that is something of a fantasy). But anyway, as I say, this is a transfer thread. Not a Boufal thread.
Just to get us back on track, we're linked with some 16yo from Italy who we don't need, but would probably turn a profit in two years.
