we are definitely doing low percentage passes now. We don't mind if they go to the opposition so much as we press with the aim of winning it back. Lemina mostly does simple passes which is part of the reason he has good passing stats. he does those runs to get forward instead, and if he cant do that he will just do a quick sidewards or backwards pass to a players feet. The main problem i have with Lemina is that tends to slow the attack down. i remember one time. I'm not sure if it was against city or spam, where we were countering and he got the ball in midfield. somebody was making a driving run forward to his right but rather than playing it ahead of him he passed it to his feet. the player stopped, passed it back to Lemina and carried on. but a few paces forward Lemina passed it to his feet again and he again had to stop to pass it back. and then by that point the opposition had overtaken them and were getting back into position. What I'm trying to say is that while he can be skillful with his runs Lemina is in no way a playmaker. its kinda what we are lacking right now. Ings, Armstrong, Lemina, Redmond all like to make runs but we have no playmakers to play them in. This is part of the reason i think Hojbjerg has been so influential as he does see those incisive passes from midfield along with making runs and winning the ball. right now we're relying on out fullbacks like Targett playing a ball in behind or one of our attackers coming back to pick the ball up. infact our main threat is where we just win the ball back high up the pitch and run into the penalty area and score without passing it at all, which is why the low pass percentage isn't too bad for us.
Scary stat of the day: It's Game Week 21 and we have 15 points. Last season we surpassed 15 points as early as Game Week 13. Happy New Year!!!
Just seen that we did only take the smaller allocation... ****ing ridiculous decision Probably the joint second easiest trip to get to and subsidised tickets too, might have been able to go this ffs.
Prediction: McCarthy Valery Yoshida Vestegaard Bednarek Vokins Romeu Lemina Redmond Ings Armstrong Subs: Gunn, Stephens, Ramsey, JWP, Elyounoussi, Long, Austin,
I probably would have gone. But I snoozed and I missed it. Bit annoying. No work on Thursday either. Bollocks.
I took the second and third off so to leave the option if I wanted to go but then it sold out so forgot about it. No wonder it sold out so quickly though ffs, first time since we went that we haven't taken a full allocation. Really pisses me off when Saints do that, obviously it's understandable for some Northern games but to do it for a game in SW London really takes the piss.
Presumably they thought, just after Christmas, preceded by two home games, everyone skint, etc. Plus didn't they go on sale before we appointed Ralph? They probably look at how sales are going generally before deciding how many to take for specific games. There were loads of empty seats at Cardiff.
Which was shown as sold out for over a week before the game so presumably were players/staff ones. Like I say, I understand it for games up North but Chelsea is literally the joint (Inc. Fulham) easiest to get to excluding Bournemouth. We sold the 3000 comfortably last season (which was also in December). Our two away games over Christmas were Huddersfield and Chelsea and the club have decided that the same allocation of tickets is sufficient for both games despite the Chelsea game being 150 miles closer and a tenner cheaper. Silly decision.
You may be right and I hope we have done the right thing, but Ralph has a major challenge on his hands with levels of ability, attitude and, increasingly so, fitness across the squad. Could be that this is a record year for the lowest points needed to survive, if it is then we’ll be ok.
Lemina also offers himself in difficult areas and keeps the ball. He is one of our few players with the ability to go around opponents. He is top of the number of tackler and interceptions for Saints this season. Plus the way he owned Pogba in December shows he has talent, it's about getting the best out of him (he hasn't been so good last two games but reasons for this have been alluded to).
Which is why I find his passing so frustrating. He is very skilful and does the rest of his job well enough.
