Changing the formation works most of the time, regardless of how good a team is. Just need to look at West Ham, Chelsea, and even us two seasons ago. Don't get the argument that it won't help when we have the personnel and depth to play 3 at the back and push our wingers and fullbacks higher up the pitch.
No surprises. Same, same, same. Boring and frustrating. We are crying out for some leadership and drive. Nobody wants to make the move and more importantly we do not attack as a unit. Its the same every time. Push up as a unit into the third quarter and then look around at each other waiting for somebody else to show a bit of steel and drive. Eventually one person makes a half hearted attempt and gets shut down by three defenders. One person on their own will not get a goal in this league. We have to swarm them and have 3 or 4 players making moves and stretching things to create opportunities. I cannot defend MP2, there is no reason to start Redmond and Long YET AGAIN. Long on his own will not get us goals, never in a million years. We will not survive in the league by only trying to hold onto the ball and not concede. The other teams are too strong to hold them all out for 90 mins and draw 0-0. Gabbiadini and Boufal have to be starting games, they may costy us posession but they will eventually get us goals. and MP2 is talking ****, we will not win more than we lose, not in a million years. Frustrated as all hell. I want to see something different, just like I have for a year now. I can't get my kids to watch 20 minutes of us so how the leadership imagines we will be getting fans in China is beyond me. another season of this and the shirt and ticket sales will be looking pretty poor.
Spot on, we have to show a bit of ****ing hunger for the win and play the players that have a realistic chance of scoring a goal.
Well that last five minutes was pretty exciting. The confidence, focus, pace, commitment and attacking flair was all there. So why can't we play at that tempo for the rest of the match? Admittedly you can't always play with six strikers (including FF and VVD) but you know what I mean. My big frustration today is when we get into tight spaces (usually standing still with the ball allowing the opposition to close us down) we always seem to turn and pass back whereas you watch the Manchester teams and they forced their way forward into space. And when we do break, why do we slow it down at the 18 yard line. I just don't get it VVD had a good game. Tadic had his best game for quite a while. But Bertrand and Redmond were both off the pace. I agree a change in style would be nice but more and more teams are now playing 4-2-3-1 so don't hold your breath. MP will get it right I feel sure but I must admit, I struggle to relate to this team. VVD, Boufal, Lemina and Gabbi are all good players but in reality they are just passing through. I would much prefer to see Stephens, McQueen, Sims, Gallagher, JWP knowing they will be around a little longer
It's such a shame that Sims & Hesketh are too battered to play (injured) ... otherwise I'd be calling for them to be given a shot
I wouldn't bank on that. If any of them were any good the bin dippers would be knocking and they would be off chasing the cash.
Think Hesketh was always the more highly regarded of the two ... certainly was above Sims in the pecking order early last season before injury.
Thats because Hesketh is older and has been around a bit longer. I rate them both highly, and certainly Sims potential has been obvious since the day i first saw him play for the U21's when he was 16.
I wouldn't be adverse to throwing Slattery in there. Don't think he's ready, but perhaps "we're so desperate for creativity that we're putting our faith in a small child" will have some impact.
I hope the l legacy is ok , or recovering from his hangover , would have thought he would have posted by now .
Is it just the creativity we are missing? I think it is more the way we play in twos and threes and the pace we get into positions. I think we've set our style too rigidly. Here is a ridiculously lower level example of how that can happen: For years I taught my boys' team to pass to feet; pass and move. Drummed it into them. Pass and move, pass and move. They then got older and stronger, but whenever we went forward, with space behind the strikers and a striker surrounded with two or three defenders, they tried to pass to feet. They were programmed to do that. It took me best part of half a season to change them and for them to understand when to pass to feet and when to play into the space. They needed to see the change that was needed. Now I know that there is no comparison between 14-16 year old boys in the local park and professional footballers, but .... footballers often do what they are comfortable doing, same as most of us in our jobs. MP1 made a drastic and instant change when he came, but no-one else has and in his two seasons, the team couldn't keep that up.
Koeman did. Though he also got the attacking options (Pelle+ Tadic) that he presumably asked for. We have no idea, yet, what Pellegrino is asking of his players, or whether they are capable of delivering. We know something isn't working, but we don't know what the plan is, or even if there is one. Still way too early to panic. Saints are bit rubbish in attack, but pretty solid at the back. I imagine most supporters would sooner have it the other way round, but the effect is the same. There's plenty of time to improve, & if we don't, so what? I'm 56, Saints have been disapointing me for decades. If anything, the last 8 years have been the exception. Supporting a football team is a sickness, so you can't really complain when it makes you feel a bit sick.
I'm not complaining, just throwing some possible actions or reasons out there. I am complaining that you've quoted my post before I corrected it from MP2 to MP1....
I am probably the only one but I was annoyed DVD got back in so easily yesterday. Yosh and hoedt did little wrong in fact the opposite was true. There was no call to change that.
Of all the things to be annoyed about, I'd let that one go. As someone pointed out on here recently, we need our best players on the pitch. (That includes Gabbi imo).
