Worth noting that Puel's style doesn't fit Vardy at all, and Vardy has actually noted that it's been tough working out his role. He's still on track to score in the teens, and he scored 20 a year ago. The right system certainly benefits him, but I think that he's a good enough goalscorer to bang them in regardless. 64 goals in 125 games over the past four seasons. Not Kane-esque numbers, but Vardy's probably been the second-best goalscorer in England over that span. Maybe equivalent to Lukaku.
Stat time from the Beeb: At 22 years and 346 days, Southampton's Gunn is the youngest English goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet on his Premier League debut since Ben Amos for Manchester United against Stoke in January 2012 (21 years, 295 days).
Saints spirited defence praised on MOTD, but one commentator questioned whether the team can keep up this level. It is hard for the team to get up to the fitness required by Ralph from a standing start. Ralph is trying to raise fitness levels, retrain the team, raise morale and at the same time assess every member of the squad...not a small task.
I was one of the first Saints fans to notice the flag for Morata's disallowed goal. There was an amusing moment where the Chelsea fans were celebrating, the Saints fans around me were holding their heads and I was ironically cheering and directing the Chelsea fans to look down the touchline. The fans around me were looking at me like I had two heads until they spotted the flag.
The key will be rotation. Easier to give everything for a game if you know you don’t have to do it again 3 days later. The other thing of course is that tired players get injured more easily, so again, rotation is vital.
Angus Gunn’s first clean sheet in the Premier League has come just over 24 years after dad Bryan Gunn’s last PL clean sheet. Bryan’s clean sheet was also against Chelsea - and Angus hadn’t even been born yet! There’s a stat for you.
Our goal scoring is going to be the problem. We have to be doing better than relying on Danny to get two. He's a talent but he's not Salah sadly. If redmond and Armstrong don't step up we are going to struggle without new additions. Sis returningh, Gallagher and Obafemi coming right with provide a big boost but no guarantees.
I don't think we would have spent £10m on a backup keeper if we didn't believe he could be no1 for us. I think it was always a matter of how soon he would be competing for the no1. Now he's had a chance and done well, it will be interesting to see what RH does from here. Will be tough on McCarthy if he finds himself drop back down to the subs bench after doing well for us since he stepped in.
Burnley finishing seventh is another example of getting the most out of players in a squad which is what I think you are eluding to.
That Chelsea team last night without Hazard are a top 8 team. Not much more. Utd will take their top 4 spot.
Ralph’s got us playing well without the ball, against the likes of Arsenal, City and Chelsea, and that’s important. It’s also exhausting, chasing shadows for long periods. We won’t have to do so much of that in our next few games; now let’s see what we can do with 50% possession.
I think with Ralph's guidance we'll survive, but that with the shortcomings of the current squad, it will be tight. before he arrived we were averaging 0.6 points per game, which over a season would be an embarrassing 22 points, in just six games he has raised that to 1.16 points per game, this, even without further improvement (which I think we'll have) would see us finish with 36 points, and in this shockingly poor season, that should just about be enough. A couple more to be safe though, would be nice.
Highlights from OS: https://southamptonfc.com/news/2019-01-03/highlights-chelsea-southampton-premier-league-1819
