To those who think Boufal is the answer to our problems, how do you think he did on Saturday after he came on? Because I saw him beat the same man three times and give the ball away a lot. Very entertaining but I'm not sure how that helps, unless he's going to score a wonder-goal every game.
Well it is too late now but I have been saying since last season that he is comfortably our best attacking player in terms of ability. Yes he hasn't produced the end product too often in his time here but he really hasn't been given anywhere near enough time with regular starts and 70+ mins in 8-10 games consecutively. Something that has been afforded to Tadic and Redmond who both weren't producing. I would go as far to say that he is one of the most naturally gifted players I have ever seen at Saints, we just haven't used him correctly in my view. It may turn out to be that he isn't suited for the PL (like Ramirez) and can't change his show boaty ways or produce an end product often enough, but we haven't given him the chance to find out.
Tadic brings other people in to play though. I haven't seen Boufal do that. Loads of skill, as much as Tadic certainly, but Boufal never seems to look up, or see what's on.
We have brought in a lot of players from Europe who seem to play a different style to the premier. With out exception all have found the premier difficult not only because of the different style but because the Premier is a more intense league. Some from Europe thrive on that intensity just not the players we have bought......Just my opinion for what its worth.........
I put that down to having a small amount of time to try and impress and doing too much. That may or may not be the case but because he has never had someone say “just play your game as you are starting the next 7 games” or whatever I think he tries to do too much and we don’t know if he is just a show boater or if there is a very special player in there. Having a long run in the side would also give him a chance to know his teammates better and hopefully more chance to play the right pass/make the right decision as he understands their play more
Meanwhile Tadic has had about 3 good games in the past two seasons and is still seemingly pretty much undroppable.
I another important point is as we near the end of season. You will have teams just going through the motion, as in no need to win... unless there near the drop or need points for a European place?
I was questioning our signings and strategy since last season Those were seven that I could quickly think of. Here are some more then 1. Austin was a cheap option and always going to be a risk due to injuries 2. Carrillo - was hardly prolific where he used to play, so why was he our only signing in Jan. 3. Our forwards have been mis-firing for more than a season. 4. Not enough quality in depth in the back four. 5. We have persevered with poor management and players not in form. 6. With the money that we receive from Sky and transfers, we should definitely not be in this position. 7. What is the point of making a decent profit and then getting relegated. If they are so good why are we in this predicament. Why don’t you give me a list of 7 things that they have got right in the last 2 seasons
Beat Liverpool three times + draw; and didn't even concede a goal Beat Inter Milan Got to a Major Cup Final Finished in top 8 (again) Kept VvD (yes, I'm sure having hindsight is now a wonderful thing) Added more quality (Lemina, Hoedt) to squad (again, hindsight is now being used!) Got to the Wembley (again).... for yet to be decided semi-final tie Of course this season has been crap; but hey, glass still half full...... just ONE measly win from that game in hand would take Saints above THREE teams. Not to mention being ROBBED of two points by a certain result at Watford!
I’ve said about three thousand times, he needs to play games and a run of games. He’s going to give the ball away and lose it, but for me it is worth doing that for the moment that he could unlock a defence. It is also up to the coach to tell him where to try his magic It is probably too late now, but this should have happened months and months ago. He doesn’t need to score a wonder goal every game, but if you’re happy with a dogged midfielder running up and down never creating or scoring, then fair enough.
I am also a big fan of Tadic, however he has played every game and shown not to give us the answer, so time to try something or someone else? Einstein mentioned something about doing the same thing time and time again and not seeing a different result. I’d probably play both... maybe.
I am with you on Boufal. His main fault is knowing when to release the ball, especially when on one of his mazy runs, which is a shame as he regularly draws 2 or 3 players to him, which must mean someone is unmarked somewhere. As you say, more games would have benefited him and, IMO, the team.
Boufal reminds me of Fabrice Fernandez. Strachan found a way of getting the best out of Fabrice, but certainly not by basing the team around him. Actually, Fernandez was more of a team player than Boufal has so far shown himself to be.
So most of those positives were from last season where we rewarded Puel with a sacking We talk about always looking at the roles with a view to replacing them if something happens ie they get poached or are not very good. That would assume that we have some ascendency planning going on, so why were we so late to replace Puel, and to cap it MP2 has underperformed all season and we replace him with Hughes. You are not telling me that we were waiting for an under performing Stoke to sack him so that we could give him a job. Doesn’t sound like a lot of planning is going on at all. VVD goes and we all knew that was going to happen, and we didn’t replace him. It wasn’t like we had tight defence before he left either. This season has been an absolute disgrace
Let’s forget “basing the team around him” but just play the lad for the next 8 games. Nobody doubts his talent, so I’d take that gamble as nobody else looks like doing anything. The only other player I can think of who could be unpredictability creative, is Hesketh, but that’s a different gamble altogether. What is there to lose? It’s try it or go down with a whimper.
An embryonic "Le Tiss" maybe....... Agree that 'being the finished article' doesn't necessarily hapen immediately.
