Hopefully. Most of our recent signings have gone straight to disappointment, without bothering to pass hero, so I’ll take one spectacular season followed by clandestine meetings in Service Stations.
Or the young reserve left back we were all told was ready to be Bertrands understudy? Such an odd decision.
Everytime I listen to Blackmore he ALWAYS criticises the manager's team selection as if he knows better than a professional coach that has been on the training pitch with his squad preparing for a match all week and it bugs the hell out of me. I just wish he would stick to commenting on the action and not his personal opinion, Merrington is there for that.
Why bother though when we've got Bertrand? We need Djenepo around the box causing mayhem with Boufal and Redmond.
Yeah, I think very highly of Ralph, but the logic doesn't track at all. Want to be on the front foot? Let Djenepo get into dangerous positions rather than spending so much time in and around his own box. Really, we should just switch to a back four, especially if we're going to play with a lone striker. Replace Vestergaard with Bertrand, away you go.
I'll allow him to get it wrong and experiment occasionally if we ultimately keep picking up the results.
And that is the difference. Last season we would have bottled it down to 10 men against Utd, and would have conceded with their last minute corner today. Are we a great side? No. But I'll certainly take scrappy wins until they settle down, and hopefully Ralph can turn them into a half decent side later in the season
Yep. Obviously not against all sides, but there will be games (quite a few games) where playing all three of Redmond, Djenepo and Boufal behind a lone striker (whether that be Ings, Adams and Long - so far, the finishing of all three is leaving a lot to be desired) will very much be the front foot option. Djenepo might well provide us an attacking threat from LWB, but who wants him that deep or needing to worry about defending?
Thought Che had his best game for Saints today, but that defence worried me every time Utd. attacked.
Ralph has confused all of us at times with his team selections. What I've found particularly confusing is how successful they have been. For example, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like not to throw away a one goal lead with minutes to go.
Yeah, our personnel seems naturally designed to be a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3. The argument that we need to have three CBs for defensive reasons falls apart for me if we're using Djenepo as a wingback and Vestergaard is having to defend wide, something that he is about as comfortable doing as he would be (I suspect) performing ballet.
We threw away more leads under Ralph last year than we did under Hughes/Pellegrino before him. Granted, that's mostly because we had leads...
Yeah, right now i feel like Djenepo, Boufal and Adams are lacking somebody to really play them in behind as they are all runners rather than passers and are having to run past everyone on the pitch to get a shot at goal. Also Prowse is struggling to get involved on the right as he doesnt have the pace or skill to beat a man out wide, has no target man to aim for for an early cross and, like the other two, nobody to play him in when he's in space in the box. For me right now i would have a 4 2 3 1 with 2 out of Djenepo, Boufal and Redmond on the wings, and Prowse in the middle to play them into space. Personally think that suits everybody better. But we are 10th in the league with this squad so i can't really complain
