I mean, I agree to an extent (I like 4231). But I also think if we started with two DMs against the likes of Plymouth and Millwall at home, AND failed to score/get a result, then we'd all be complaining that 'you don't need two DMs against sh*t teams at home'. We've all seen that argument plenty of times before, notably with Southgate/England. Maybe we just need better box-to-box midfielders, in the old-fashioned sense. Players who can tackle, pass, and shoot. All of our midfielders seem too specialist; Downes great tackling but offers nothing going forward. Smallbone has a couple of good passes in him per game, but crap at tackling. Charles; can tackle and do basics; but passing is terrible. Stuie; excellent ball carrier/ best creative player; can't tackle so great. Smallbone and Charles don't get anywhere near the Leicester/Leeds midfields imo.
My current mood of high dudgeon over RM is only temporary. I will man up and get over it, a result at Leeds might help....
I seem to have done something wrong with my last post for it to merge with the one I was replying to.
I am still ambivalent about winning the play offs, there are as many pros as there are cons about getting back in to the Premier, VAR is the prime reason for not going, and the fact we haven't got the squad to survive, it would take massive investment to succeed and I can't see SR providing it.
If there were guarantees that we would consistently be a top 6 championship club I would rather stay.
Absolutely. A manager prepared to change systems depending on the opposition. What a world that would be.
I get what you’re saying but, in my mind, 2 defensive midfielders give the FBs more licence to get forward without leaving massive gaps to be exploited, and against the weaker teams, there is nothing to stop one of the DMs stepping further forward to give support to the attack. Schneiderlin or Wanyama would occasionally appear on the edge of the opposing box. I agree with the need for better and more versatile midfielders, but something we are lacking throughout the squad, except for 1 or 2 players, is genuine pace and power in all positions. The majority of the players seem quite pedestrian and we genuinely struggle to get players back quickly enough when countered, which is why I think having 2 DMs would be beneficial. The lack of pace also holds us back when we counter as well. I think we need a quite an overhaul of the squad for next season to remain competitive, because looking at the most likely youngsters waiting to step up, they are quite lightweight in terms of body strength and also not the quickest.
I’ve really enjoyed parts of this season, so much better to win games and go home happy, however, evaluating the season I feel we have won several games due to our superior squad strength rather than Martin’s tactical genius. He has been out coached numerous times and if those managers had our players I’m sure they would have won the games as well. With our squad the play offs were the minimum any manager should achieve. If we, as I fear, end this season with a whimper and lack of fight, I feel we should move on to a more adaptable manager. Rohl has done an amazing job at Sheff Wed with probably the second weakest squad in the league and were 11 points of safety when he went in. Cifuentes at QPR, another amazing job who has got the best out of the likes of Chair, Willock etc. Corberan @ Weat Brom, tactically strong and would flourish with better players. Just a few I would be exited to be at Southampton. With Martin remaining here next season we wouod just expect the same unless he decides to add a bit of steel and aggression to the team which I think is more important than keep ball to get out of this division.
I watched the Spurs, Arsenal game. To me Arsenal played a great mix of tactics, something that Saints should try and emulate. They play a good possession game, but mix it up with hitting it long.
That is what we were doing during our unbeaten run. The THB long ball to Fraser, became one of the more effective methods of breaking through defences.
RM talking about having or not having momentum going into the playoffs. Mmm. Where do we currently stand on holding our nerve in games of great importance? When it comes down to that first and second playoff game, it's about who can hold their nerve the best and who can stick to what they've done all season. It's about who can handle the occasion. Not going to write us off but I have already got myself ready for failure, although I reserve the right to be pissed off if we don’t put in good performances.
Arsenal are a great case study of the importance of two DMs. Last season it was often Jorginho-Partey, this season it has often been Rice-Jorginho (though recently it has been Rice-Partey). But every now and then Arteta decides to only start one, in favour of an extra attacker (usually resulting in Odergaard dropping slightly deeper), and the result is often that they are far more vulnerable. For example, he did it in our 3-3 draw their last season and he did it in their loss to Villa earlier this month. Playing high-possession football with only one DM is again something which arguably only City can get away with. There are various reasons as to why - eg their DM is arguably the best in the world, their RB is so rapid that he can help recover, their opponents often play so deep that they barely have the chance to attack City. The rest of us though are not City. Maybe one day Martin might learn that.
Yup, exactly. Echoing a post of mine from a few days back. It's screamingly obvious. Just a stat I heard today to give you an idea of how good Rodri actually is - he's unbeaten in 70 consecutive games that he's played for City.
Did he say that? Great that means literally no changing in any way the way we play. Does that mean whoever we get in the play-off the club won't look at what they do apart from set-pieces? This is possibly not going to end well. My ice-hockey team got absolutely out-classed in their play-off semi-final, 4-0 down after ten minutes and eventually lost 7-3.....to Leeds Knights. So I'm fully prepped at least.
I’d really like to see Charles and Downes together There’s a viewpoint that playing any format that appears more defensive is negative I dispute that, as an ability to win the ball back and then move it quickly on is better than having a bunch of attackers when you don’t have possession in the opposition half
