Boufal deserves a start against Brighton. He was also effective when he came on against Newcastle and beat his man straight away which is something Redmond did not manage. I can't work out how Redmond got on to the pitch before him against WBA. He is probably overlooked as he is not a staid 5 yard ball passer and yes he is likely to give the ball away by trying one trick too many but would'nt we all agree that creativity is badly needed at the moment?
I though he had earned a starting birth against wba, he didn't, but he came on and got us the points. Wouldn't mind something similar again. Maybe with more minutes.
I am not saying he shouldn't start, but I think we have to take into consideration the time left on the clock. Boufal knew he only had so long to make an impression, and prove to MP2 he can play from the start. Every time I have watched him, he has always checked back, trying to beat his man again. Pulis had no attacking intention for the whole game, Saints just couldn't get through their defence, until Boufal scored. You could see they where tiring, it also didn't help when I believe Evans had to go off. Perhaps MP2 doesn't want Boufal to be so direct, just be the provider. Didn't Mane attack like that, when he played for us? Incidentally, I was hoping for Boufal to start on Saturday too.
What is sad about the goal is that I haven't seen too many people apart from Saint fans rave about it. If it was scored by Hazard or a player from the top 4 we wouldn't hear the end of it - shame!!! Also I hear that the media was peddling it as a poor and boring game, and that we were rubbish. I have seen poor and boring Saints games recently and that was not one of them. Ok not many goals, but that doesn't make it boring. One Baggies fan was even saying we were there for the taking and we were dire. If we were dire what does that make the Baggies
Football fans eh? What are they like? Having been loudly derided by one half of our support as the biggest waste of money in the history of the game, Sofiane Boufal is now lauded by the other as the second coming of MLT. Hopefully the coaches are capable of maintaining a bit of perspective. It was a ****ing brilliant goal btw. But when Matty picked up the ball in his own half, the entire crowd expected him to do something like that, and time after time he did. On Saturday, I expected Boufal to beat four men then give it away. I was delighted to have those expectations proved wrong. Now let's see if he can do it again - I suspect he can, but let's not burden him with too much expectation ffs.
I agree that that wasn't the dreadful game people make out....I bet a lot of people in the media are just repeating what someone else has said. Some people judge purely on goals scored.....there are 1-0 wins and 1-0 wins. Saints deservedly won that game.
http://www.planetfootball.com/in-depth/sofiane-boufal-enduring-value-physical-comedy-football/ Amusing look at Boufal's goal. Interesting comment that a worse player couldn't have scored it, but a better player wouldn't have done.
Probably some truth in that. It's hard for the manager to make big decisions when we're not winning matches, he would be criticised for benching Boufal whether he scored or not. But MP might feel like he made the decisions which won the game on Saturday, so the same starting shape could happen again.
I saw my friendly local window cleaner this morning (you know who you are) and he told me that the game wasn’t as bad as the media made out. So I watched MOTD this afternoon and, from what I saw, there was only one team in it and we had a good few chances to put it away. Fantastic goal and (I hope) the start of the best of Sofiane, which some of us have been wishing for for a while. Didn’t like the way he ran to MP and made the fuss, though. I understand that players want to play, but I’d hope that if he shows what he can do, then he’ll be in the starting line up every week. BTW - I thought Davis looked good linking up, or did I see wrong? (And apologies for my absence, I have been lurking, but life has been getting in the way of this forum!)
You're not wrong, look how the media went on and on about that Giggs goal against Arsenal all those years ago. Boufal's is every bit as good IMO, with the added bonus of seeing two WBA defenders knock the crap out of each other.
Give him the chance and he might bag 7-10 goals this season. Those goals aren't coming from anywhere else. He will also create a bit of chaos which would free up gabbiadini or long a little. What he won't do is hang around outside the box passing it sideways and hold onto it before passing back to the keeper. Different. We need different.
I expected far more from Krychowiak. Pulis flat back 8 really hinders his creative prowess. I'm really intrigued to see how they do in the next four games, City, Udders, Chelsea then Spurs.
I posted something similar yesterday about Pulis being in danger as the next manager to go. That was before Koemans fantastic last game for Everton.
j You've missed the point.....when a player from a big club scores a wonder goal it was obviously intended, whereas goals like Boufal's (because he plays for a tiny tiny club just making up the numbers) was surely a complete accident. I wonder that he had the nerve to celebrate.
Don't think they'll put up with turning in to Stoke 2.0 if the results don't start improving. Also unlike Stoke, West Brom have played some good football in the not too distant past.
