They had a world class CM in Kante and a world class forward (that season) in Vardy though. If you put Vardy in our squad now we’d be mid table. He’s quick and can actually finish, unlike our strikers
Nobody knew Kante was World class at that point (when they signed him). I don’t think Vardy was or is world class. He had a purple patch of a season under the right coach and the right style.... which is my point. You just need your ducks aligned.
I said this during the match, we got into some great positions in the second half tonight but squandered it through a lack of quality.
Thank God it wasn´t the last game of the season. Celebrating a point away to Chelsea but slipping into the final relegation place. So really the battle is down to 7!!!
Yes, but nobody thought they were that August. Was Vardy really class before or even since in truth? I’m just making a random point that sometimes the sum of the parts can be just the bus ticket you need to outwork the talent, if the talent takes the train.... or whatever that prophet fella said. Ralph might just be the new messiah
Vardy is a superb goalscorer. Maybe he needs to be playing off the shoulder of the last man, and running into space, to really show his best. But he's not streaky imo, he's a top class finisher. You'd put your house on him finishing chances that would be, at best, fifty fifty for most strikers in this league.
I kind of get what you’re saying - but in my opinion him getting the very maximum out of this squad, we’re looking at a bottom half finish
I’m wondering if you’re thinking it too deeply Archers. That August, most people had them down for relegation. They were 5000-1 to win the league. That squad wasn’t great at the start of the season. All I was pointing out was , to have a good season you “only” need to have a bit of luck, a good wind and pieces falling into the jigsaw right. Usually it’s about having a great squad of quality players but not always. Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Drinkwater, Ulloa, Albrighton, Fuchs, King.... off the top of my head.
Yeah, I do take your point. And maybe we have some gems still waiting to shine. I'm finally confident we have a manager who can improve any player willing to put the work in; and a big part of a successful team is having 11 players on the pitch who all know what's expected of them. But in this league, you also need a bit of class - that indefinable word again. Some of the players we've had at Saints recently, you could tell more or less straight away that they have that bit of magic that actually can't be coached into them, because it's innate. Not really seeing that anywhere at the moment.
That's about it in a nutshell. We have enough ability in our squad, to finish mid table with the right manager. But anything better than 14th would be over achieving.
We are almost certain to finish in bottom third....though probably above bottom 3/4. How high we can finish isn't just dependent on Ralph...there is the start of a gap between us and the middle third of teams. I think there are only a few places that we can reasonably expect to finish unless a few teams really fall away. I'm reckoning 14/15th, but with a reasonable safety net above 18th with a few games to go.
Just got back from the game and had my dinner. Really great performance. Saints fans in good voice, saints team set up really well and defended as a unit.
I agree, but it isn’t that far from the imagination to wonder what Gabby could have been, or what Boufal May have done under the right coach for them from the start of a season. Ralph might not be the right one for them and they might not have it in then to do have done it, but.... Actually, throw Pierre into that at his best with those two and it is possible to imagine that’s the three positions to match the three players mentioned Fromm Leicester. No, I’m not saying they are as good as those players but they might have been as good as what we thought they were before that season started for Leicester.... Right I’m off to dream of Pierre closing Salah down, knocking the ball wide to Boufal who skips past three Liverpool players before threading a reverse angled pass into the path of Gabby, who then flicks it up (Ardilles style) over his and van Dickhead’s head, before crunching a curling, left footed volley into the top corner at Anfield to win us the league. Yes, the wine was good. Night John-boy
