Thinking about it, if this whole first half of the season is being called a start, then wins against Bristol City and Brighton either side of new year for us should really be described as us having a great end of the season.
Every week on the Football League show it was "Southampton's best start in __ years", if we win the number goes up, if we don't then it drops a bit. Anyway, on another day we would have beaten Blackpool and Pompey. That's not to say we deserved to win either of them, but there's definitely no need for a massive overhaul going into January. In fact watching the Pompey game I realised that we we probably only need one player to get us right back on track. I would love that to be Billy Sharp but I think it's more likely to be someone we didn't really expect. The other good news is that we have two home games coming up which seem on paper to be very winnable.
I certainly agree that we need an alternative up front, just so that we can ring the changes when required. With a guaranteed no Barnard, who's largely untried anyway, no Connolly, and Forte almost certainly not being upto scratch, we have only Lambert and Guly, and sometimes that just isn't the best formation, even allowing for inconsistent personal performances. Yep, sometimes it is, but when it isn't we struggle to score. We need a quality striker, even if it means just so we can play Guly elsewhere, or rotate the formation during a match, or make a substitution with a striker replacement, rather than having De Ridder playing as a striker. Or even simply replacing Lambert or Guly for one match, while giving them a rest. It would give us so many more tactical options.
While i know that it is an excuse. We have only had one striker for how many games now? (And against Doncaster no strikers). If we were West Ham (who i know have lots of injuries/suspensions themselves but have a larger squad with quality throughout) or a prem team, a lot more would be made of the fact that we have only 1 striker atm and so Lambert was always going to be carrying us through this stage until hopefully we can strengthen in January. Luckily Lambert has proven himself more than capable but our firepower is weakened. Lallana and de Ridder are the only midfielders who would be classed as attacking (and de Ridder has not found his feet in English football yet). Hopefully Chaplow and Conners are back soon, and hopefully we can buy a few quality attacking additions in the transfer window, but until then i think it will be a case of grinding out the three points rather than handing out more thrashings. Until we have other attacking options, teams will know that if they can keep Lambert quiet then they will stand a good chance of stopping us from scoring, fortunately for us that is easier said then done!
Derby had a good start to the season. Thats how far off the start of the season we are. Hope that clears things up.
How did you work that out? More chances, more possession, more corners but we deserved to lose? hmmmm. Your logic is beyond me.
