I think a clear difference between last PL season and this one is that the players are definitely being given clear instructions, rather than being sent out as headless chickens per Jones and Selles. Problem is; 1 Are they the right instructions? 2 Have we got players with the right qualities to enact those instructions? I certainly think point 2 is a no and if point 2 is a no it brings point 1 into focus.
Your point 2 is the most important. Let's say you want to be able to lift 200lbs above your head. Would you grab a 200lbs barbell and do it straightaway or would you start with 50, then maybe 75, then maybe 125 and so on, until you worked up to the 200lbs. The players need to get comfortable with the pissing around with the ball. do what is natural to them and slowly introduce it into their game. The result is that they will eventually play that way, but without the fear they have now.
We’ve been playing like this for over a season so we should be used to it by now (albeit there are new players still getting used to it) but the huge difference this year is we don’t have the luxury of time on the ball like we did last so for me it’s a bit of a catch 22. We need to get better at what we are doing but we can’t afford to take too much time to do it because by then it’ll be too late. And if (when) we do go down we lose the better players and are starting all over again. To give ourselves a chance of long term stability we need to get better quickly and that means changing tactics (or at least adapting on a match-by-match basis) or changing Manager. I agree the Leicester game is huge.
True but there is a big difference between playing this way in the Championship and PL. Same players may have been comfortable with the tactics last season, but uncomfortable now because of the extra pressure on the ball. Reading again that’s pretty much what you already said. I think Leicester is probably RMs last chance saloon. Less than a win and at best he gets to be cannon fodder for Pep before being shown the door.
If we're true to our Southamptonness, we'll go and beat Arsenal or City, and it'll be really confusing.
More likely we'll perform really well at Arsenal but lose narrowly and people will talk about a corner being turned and "if we play like that against Leicester" etc And then we'll lose 3-0 to Leicester.
To bloody true, yesterday's efforts wasn't the best of presents on the eve of my 75th birthday. The bottle of Bulleit bourdon Mrs Jab got me will ease the pain.
So he`s already announced that he was too loyal to certain players that got us promoted. Now he`s saying (rightly) that there was no fight in the players last night. Slagging the players off never ends well for the manager. Six games into the season, and he`s further away from knowing what his best side is. We`ve already proved that we can`t play his tippy tappy playing out from the back stuff in this league without giving away goals every game. First half last night the players didn`t seem to have a clue what tactics were. No striker was just bizarre. Our best player (KWP) spent the evening on the bench. His position is rapidly becoming untenable, if it isn`t already.
I suggested yesterday that RM needed to change the style of play against teams that press, by lifting the ball over the press into our strikers. Nothing sums up what I envisaged more than Bournemouth’s second goal when the ball was cleared up to Evanilson who had acres of space to chest the ball down and square the ball to an unmarked teammate, unmarked because both Lesley and Downes were so far forward that we had no midfielders protecting the back line. Initially Bournemouth, in this attack, had a 4 on 3 situation and although players got back and the goal was a deflection it was Downes, ironically, who got back so far that he played the scorer onside. I think Downes needs to play in a more disciplined way and stay in the holding position to give the CBs protection and to also allow the FBs to push forward in support. Fully expect to see 3 CBs at Arsenal and if we choose to start Stewart then I hope when we launch the ball long that the wide players will position themselves more centrally to be in a position to chase balls headed on, much in the way Arsenal used to do when they had the likes of Quinn or Smith up front. Also if we resort to doing that, Fernandes would need to be timing his runs from midfield to get on the end of potential passes. I’m beginning to think that Jones would actually get more out of this squad than RM is.
We are actually pretty suited to long ball football, probably because we have 35 players so there are lots of combinations possible that could suit different ways of playing.
I think blaming Martin might make us feel better but ultimately this team is nowhere near good enough to stay up. We dominated the first 10 minutes yesterday, with the commentators specifically pointing out that our setup was neutralising Bournemouth. The fact the players cannot adapt in game and let their heads drop when things go wrong is not really on the manager. I think we make criminal mistakes. Turning your back and walking away as they take a freekick is just abject. Lesley should not start again. Smallbone would at least have been savvy enough to stop that ball coming in.
I guess a good comparison is how do you think this squad compares to the relegated teams last year? Is it worse than Luton or Burnley? They obviously still went down with a whimper but it is appearing like a roar compared to our efforts so far
So we’ve paid about £30million on Archer, Stewart and Diaz none of them have scored in the league this.season. Honestly I live near Derby and my Derby fan friends are very hopeful that we will take the wooden spoon of them for the lowest points in a season.
I think Luton were a perfect underdog team. All spirit and hard work. I think Burnley were slightly better than us - with fewer kids in key positions.
