According to the media every manager in the bottom half of the table is fighting for his job this weekend. (that's everyone below Tony Pulis who is obviously as safe as houses) Tonight it's Chris Hughton vs Slaven Bilic. There are 6 has been Premiership managers on standby for a quick 2 million quid. We don't stand a chance vs Pulis so are you looking forward to the return of Mr. Pardew?
I don’t disagree, and have been recently advocating that Tadic and Redmond should be playing narrower, giving the wings to the full backs, but whilst they do remain out wide, it would be good to see them be less predictable.
Surely a good enough reason to drop Redmond then because it just ain't working this season so far... Anyone who has read my opinions over the last few years will know that i'm generally a positive poster, but i'm less than impressed with MP2 so far. I understand that he is feeling his way into the job but I feel that he should be a lot braver with his team selections and tactics. He has a lot of advantages over his predecessor who got a lot of flak for his slow, possession football, but at least Puel had good reason for those tactics. He said in an interview that it was a response to the punishing fixture schedule and designed to avoid burnout to key players. He also managed to integrate a good quota of academy products into the first team and still maintain reasonable results. I looked at the start of the Newcastle match and was frustrated by the slow start the team made in that game, we were the home team and should have been "at it" from the kick off, we have no need to conserve energy this season. I'm also a little disappointed that the academy players are not getting a look in at all so far and I thought that bringing through a quota was a big part of the club's business model and overall philosophy.
I was talking directly to Liam. The two of us have both been advocating 3-5-2. So I correctly said "our". Mine and his. I wasn't referring to the board as a whole. (And anyway, we're hardly the only two people wanting to see us give it a try)
If WBA do have to do without both keepers, then at least from their point of view they have almost the perfect away game for it.
Indeed. Though I'd a prefer a Chelsea style 3-4-3. It seems screamingly obvious that with our squad that we should at least try it for a few games.
I would actually play the same formation as predicted in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/20/southampton-west-bromwich-albion-match-preview I think that we ought to test the legs of the West Brom midfield as I don't think they have the engines of the Saints' equivalent and an open game like against Newcastle would be favourable as I don't think the Baggies would commit as many players forward in attacks.
This. And usually the winger won’t track the full back all the way, as soon as the fullback makes the run the winger will go with him until he’s in the defensive full backs “zone” and stops. The attacking winger cuts in taking the defensive full back with him and has a simple ball to the overlapping player, unmarked. Annoys the **** out of me, but then I play fullback and see this **** happen for and against me every week.
I'd take Chris Hughton But only if it didn't work out with MP - who deserves at least one full season.