Match Day Thread Saints v Newcastle Sunday 15th October 16:00

Yeah but they have something about them which gives one hope that they can make a surprise win against the favoured opponent. We unfortunately don't give out that vibe.

 

Boufal has deserved at least 3 or 4 starts to see if he can make a difference in our team.
It's frustrating to see Redmond start every game when he's completely out of form and yet Boufal only gets the odd 20 minutes or so.

 

Yes, 100%.

I never heard a word of criticism around me, and when I debriefed the game with the four guys I go with on the way home, only positive words were mentioned.

But then all five of us would happily have Lallana back in the team.

If either CB had a poor game, it was Yoshida in my view. But he gets drowned out by Redmond and Fraser, and to a lesser extent Romeu and Tadic.

 

Yedlin should have been sent off, however Romeu could easily have gone as he should have been booked early on today too.

 

Anyway, glad to see we're not having too much of a meltdown but I'm out for a few drinks with the old man which has been a long time coming...

So I wish you all a good night and take care

I'll be back to argue in the morning

 

Agree that it's frustrating. But that is just us talking as fans. Think how frustrating it must be for Boufal himself. And potentially it could lead to one of two negatives. Potentially Boufal loses respect for the management, maybe doesn't put the effort in on the training ground, and his on field performances (when he actually gets the chance) - and possibly Saints career in general - suffer. Alternatively, when he does get game time, he tries to do too much in a desperate attempt to prove himself to the management. When in actual fact, both he and us would be better served by him settling into the game and playing on a more balanced level.

There is no doubt though that no-one can argue Redmond should play over Boufal based on today alone.

 

I don't think that's fair at all. He played well today.

 

BBC announcer gets it right in a nutshell. Possession only gets you so far.

 

With regards to Redmond we can do one of two things:
Keep playing him in the hope his confidence returns and starts performing, or
Drop him to the bench for a few games and see if that makes a difference to both him and the how the team plays.

The problem with dropping him to the bench is that it's hardly likely to improve his confidence.
However, I don't think our team at the moment can accommodate a player who is so out of form and takes so many shots with such a poor success rate.

I think a lot of the above would also apply to Forster but I'm not sure if we have a suitable/fit replacement.

 

Boufal has lost his place in the Moroccan team because of lack of opportunities. He needs to prove himself, so let him have the chance to do so.

I so want Redmond to do well but to be honest he is more a threat to our own goal rather than the opposition. Shake it up MP2

 

It’s about knowing your players - Redmond strikes me as a chippy little ****er, so it would probably fire him up to prove the doubters wrong. Or he’d get sent off. You’d get a reaction though imho.

 

Love Lemina. He looks like a great buy. I thought Boufal played well. A couple of wayward passes but tracked back well and won a couple of balls.

Wish we would have attacked Yedlin more after he had his orange card. Surely he had no more fouls left before he was off.

Friend was bad but same as so many others you start to get used to it. We don't seem to get one of the few decent ones just these kind.

 

I think we should stop molly coddling players and worrying about their confidence (which is I suspect what management do anyway). They are extremely well paid grown adults, if they can't handle being dropped then they chose the wrong career.

The rules are simple; best 11 starts, the manager wants to win every game.

By this token Redmond should be dropped but Forster stays (as we have nobody better).

 

Fraser Forster is a very good keeper................as long as he has a very tight defence in front of him stopping the other team from shooting

Get McCarthy in!!! or bring Boruc back.

 

Redmond was frustrating today, but he was also involved in all our good moves, including the first goal. Boufal got better and looked more comfortable the longer he was on the pitch. If it's a choice between those two starting, I can see a case for either - and I certainly wouldn't drop Tadic, frustrating though he also is.

Lemina was excellent throughout.

Gabbiadini's goal was a brilliant effort, just to get in the position to take the shot.

We are still pretty disjointed, but we are a work in progress, & for once there was actual evidence of progress. It took a bit of character to come from behind twice, & character is something we appear to have lacked recently.

Plenty of positives for those who want to look for them. Forster's performance was not one of those positives - sorry Frase.

Finally, I really don't get the people knocking VvD (well I do, but I don't think it has much to do with how he played). His body language? Ffs, he's always loped about like that, looking like he's never out of third gear. But he put in a decent performance imo.

 

I never wanted Boruc to leave, genuinely. I loved that crazy Polish bastard, but I'm not sure I want him back now.

 

Bit obvious? We need to get the ball to the striker? I know what you mean though. No idea why he has been dropped when the problem is service.

The first you can give the benefit of the doubt. Like a tennis player that just gets to a ball and then guesses to go the other side. The second he should have been better on the first attempt, either holding on to it or at least parrying it out for a corner. The second attempt went in because he left a 2 ft gap on the near post.

Straight red that should've been so definitely should've been a second yellow.

It was a penalty, lots of contact however.............Shane was already starting his fall before the contact.

What confuses me is why 3 managers have played Tadic on the right? When Mane came and Tadic got moved to the right, we all said he was better on the left. Why on earth is he being played on the right?

 

Completely baffling. Every time tadic goes over to the left, he creates a couple of chances. Then he goes back to the right and doesn't affect the game. How can successive managers not see what every single fan I know can?!

 

That's a very good point. I try not to comment too much about performances if I've not been there., for that very reason. It is definitely different being there to watching it on the television.

I miss being there.

I was there for the Watford game and he was definitely absent then

 

On the flip side, when you’re there you can sometimes become very influenced by the comments of people around you.