Agree with most if not all of the above comments...... Iverson - HAS to be given a run in the 1st team, he can't do any worse than Ward. Brilliant save just before their opener. Ricardo - Good to see back and will hopefully start on Sunday. Thomas - oh dear! but can we really expect players to come in from the cold and play out of their skin? Faes - Did ok and got Amartey out of the $hit a few times. Amartey - Shocking ball for their opening goal. Should have been replaced at half time. Tete - I don't think he is the answer to our problematic right winger position. Praet - Thought he was our best player on the pitch at the time of his bizarre substitution. Should have scored in the first half. I don't think Brenda really likes him. KDH - Kept going, but gave the ball away at times when we were in good positions. Soumare - Again some shocking decisions, but did get some important tackles in. He needs too much time on the ball. Barnes - Frustrating at times. He is at his best when he is running with pace at the full back. He'll go so far then stop and go backwards. Just keep going and get yourself in the box. Vardy - Someone said he had 9 touches in the first half! Is this lack of service or lack of movement, or both? Seems to be on his heels a lot and certainly lost 2 yards of pace. I thought all the subs improved us and perhaps all should have started, but hindsight and all that!! My team for Southampton: Iverson Ricardo Faes Soutarr Kristiansen Castagne Mendy Praet Barnes Maddison Iheancho
Only change I would make is KDH instead of Praet. As much as I like Praet I think we need the energy that KDH brings at both ends of the pitch.
I agree to a certain extent, however KDH is also responsible for loosing the ball a lot and putting us in trouble or breaking down attacks
Why Rodgers didn't give Vestergaard a run out yesterday is baffling ... the big lad they had up front won every aerial challenge ... don't we watch the opposition before playing them? ... Vestergaard is also our best long range passer from centre back too ... Rodgers ego is costing us now ...
With Maddison out there is a lack of creativity in the side. On Tuesday the only midfielder capable of trying to create space for others by taking on and beating opponents was KDH. Was Soumare ever going to do that? Or Praet? I think not. With Barnes in subdued mode again and Tete being non-combative, it fell to KDH and without the right support he's not going to succeed every time. The team are in a position where they need to scrap to pick up every point from now on. Unfortunately we don't have a manager who has a scrapping nature and who persists in fielding a side that he thinks can win by playing cultured football. That doesn't always work in these situations. He needs a plan B. Watching Man Utd v West Ham last night there was that young stripling of a player, Garnacho, absolutely terrorising the West Ham defence. If he lost the ball he went and got it back and tried again. He made things happen and got his reward. On the other side was Bowen, who is capable of the same. Where is that same tenacity in our equivalent wide providers? Vardy and Daka should never be on the pitch at the same time, or even at all. Neither can hold up the ball or beat an opponent. Nacho is our only viable striker. If he gets injured we will struggle to score goals. Where are the academy replacements to step up? It's time for someone in the manager's circle to prod him and see if he's awake and alive to the situation the team is in.
Was away and so taped the game, saw the result and deleted without watching. What has caught my attention is that attention seeking prat Danny Simpson. This is a guy who through some hard work but more luck and circumstance won a premier league. Since then, has found he can't get a game anywhere but he still craves the attention of media and the public so comes out with all sorts of drivel. Will never be a serious TV punter but craves the spotlight so comes out with sensationalism stories. I hope Clattenburg sues the ar$e off him.
Simpson has said in an interview that Clattenburg wanted City to win the title so didn't send Drinkwater off when he should have and told Simpson this during the match.
That’s interesting. We could do with a few favours from the refs this season. BTW Forest v Everton today is being reffed by John Brooks……….from Leicester!
If Iheanacho had taken his chances last night we’d obviously be feeling much better today. The fact we made the chances is encouraging, but time is running out now. The header at the start of the half and missing the target when he intercepted the goalies pass were shocking, just not his night. The amount of times when we’re building an attack and then suddenly stop and go back to the defenders drives me crazy. Is that Rodgers instructions or just lack of confidence? Barnes was truly awful, not once did he try to go past the full back, Praet was much more creative, but he’s a square peg in a round hole. Two more lengthy injuries to Tielemans and Kristiensen have come at a bad time. I’m starting to fear the worst now.
Not sure that making Maddison captain is right for him. It seemed to affect his game. He spent more time trying to 'conduct' team mates rather than concentrating on his own game. Saying that, Rodgers didn't have many experienced regulars to choose from. Really bad day at the office for Iheanacho. Usually so composed, he didn't show any in that game. Tete and Barnes were obviously competing for worst performance of the season award. Neck and neck, I'd say. And do we have to keep conceding the same goal every match? Good penalty save from Ward and, just as he was gaining superstar status in my mind, he lets in another like the Rashford one. From the angle the striker came in on, I thought Ward looked favourite to stop that one. Doh!
So Saturday will see the return of Wesley Fofana to the King Power... I imagine he will get rather a 'warm' welcomr...
Hopefully extra motivation for our players. Typical that their results have picked up just before we play them, they couldn’t buy a win for about two months. I think we’ve got a good chance, get in front and I reckon we’ll see it through, fall behind and then I don’t think we’ve enough belief to come back against a ‘big’ club.
Will Top be in attendance? The only hope we have is, if he is, Brendan usually pulls off a good result. Prolonging the agony of Top believing that he's a great manager and he'll hold on to him for a bit longer. The only other scenario is we're toast.
Has Rodgers suffered a bang to the head? At least he's tried to even that up with dropping Mendy. Wilf needs to up his game to justify his start. Stay goal side at all times and leave the attacking to those who can. If the team are to follow Rodgers' advice to be aggressive, run more and be more positive perhaps we'll cut out all that fannying about passing it across the back and get the ball forward faster and put the opposition under a bit of pressure. And leave Daka upfield when defending set pieces.
Am out of the country at the moment so haven't seen any match highlights. It's a good job we did get a point out of the match otherwise we'd be in the bottom 3. Was it a turning point in the season? I followed things on the BBC website and it sounded more of a battling display once they let us have a kick of their ball after 15 minutes. Iversen perhaps unlucky with the goal which apparently took a couple of deflections on its way in?
West Ham still to play and a result for them puts us back in the bottom 3. Ordinarily a point at a ground where the home team haven't lost since October would be great, but we need more than draws. Teams like Southampton Leeds and Everton seem to be regularly batting and picking up points so we desperately need some bodies back after the international break and then win at Palace. They may have a new manager by then and will also be targeting that game to kickstart a revival for themselves. In my opinion we are now too deep into the season to change managers so we have to believe Rodgers can turn this around.
