De Ridder has impressed me once, I think, which was against Reading in a sub appearance (I didn't see him in pre season). Everyone sang his praises after the City game - I thought he was quite poor as his terrible decision making leads to a poor end product. Costing us the win vs Blackpool didn't help my opinion of him.
Fair enough if you think this on the basis of the season rather than just one game. I disagree and think he often looks really dangerous with his pace which is something we lack, I also think he will continue to improve.
Oh right, he must be ****e if people "involved in the game" say so. Steve Wigley is involved in the game, yet he knows jack shidt. De Ridder, player of the season for De Graafschap last season, wouldn't have received serious interest from clubs like Ajax if he didn't have something about him. The only reason they didn't sign De Ridder is because they felt he wasn't selfish enough. Perhaps he is trying too hard to play for the team and needs to be a bit more direct, but to write him off so early into his Saints career is a bit crass.
Steve Wigley is one of this countries best coaches. FACT! Just not a very good manager. Just because he's player of the season for a Dutch team does not instantaneously mean he'll cut it in English football. Look at Kuyt, banged in ridiculous amounts of goals over there yet came over here and is distinctly average, in fact i'm surprised he's still at Liverpool. No matter how much you want him to be, De Ridder will never be good enough for us.
The only reason this happened is that he is a left back. He looked totally out of sorts at right back and it is fair to say this should be the end of this little experiment. When ever they attacked him down the right flank rather than turning his shoulder and showing them down the line, as he would do on the left, he opens his body and almost invited them inside. I think he had a shocker but I don't think we can lambast him too much as he is totally playing out of position. The spine of our team so far this season has been Lambert, Lallana, Fonte, Chaplow and Davis (the players that have stood out for me). To only have one of these playing, and he's a goal keeper shows how light we are. I know it was a bad one, think of me I was in bloody manchester on business and was sat watching the game in a pub with 5 leicester supporters..... not fun. They didn't give up and kept running to the end which is atleast one thing but we just got done by a better team on the night. It happens sometimes and we just have to keep believing and get back supporting the team. I think we've all just got too used to seeing us steam rolling sides at home! If someone offered you this amount of points at the end of Jan at the start of the season I think we would have all taken it. In Nigel we trust...... we all have an off day sometimes!
on the topic of guly, his selection in justified by him being our top scorer from open play and also being our top assister, so overall easily our most productive player, judging by the stats even more so than lambert and lallana im not trying to say hes better than lambert and lallana but thats why hes always selected
Kuyt has pulled Liverpool out of the mire many a time. De Ridder may not be good enough for the Prem, but he's our best option at right wing
Can't be bothered to read the last 3 pages, but from what I have read I agree with most. Shameful performance, players stated in thread all suffered in the game and were by far worse in the game. If only Connolly had taken that bloody one on one chance, as Joey B said Martin was all over the shop but I still rate Martin and think he can do the job. First half I thought Morgan was excellant because he was the only one trying to play football and his passing was incredible (apart from giving it away once), sadly his second half was poor but it didn't help with the lack of enthusiasm and movement of the wingers and attackers. I actually thought Guly was 'decent', worked hard and when he did win headers they created some of the few chances we actually had. Shame it wasn't that often. Finally, some will disagree but I think De Ridder is going to be quality. Over time with experience in England and some decent coaching he is going to be one of the top players. Everytime I see him, he looks sooo dangerous. When he gets running at players they hate it, clearly Konchesky was getting frustrated and tried to injure him. Shame we didn't get him more on the ball yesterday. Don't get me wrong he still has a lot to learn, such as crossing and positioning but he is a talent.
I don't really agree with Joey abaout Connolly. I thought he played ok (although no more than that), and he's always below his usual high standards when Lallana isn't out there. However I agree completely with him over Harding, Martin and Hammond. All three were truly dreadful - Martin the worst of them all. We've always needed a top striker and a pacey winger, and that still remains the case. But after yesterday, you've got to consider a CB and/or a strong midfield enforcer as a requirement too. (It's all well and good Martin - and Harding for that matter - playing well against Coventry and Forest. It's Coventry and Forest!! But it's how they play against decent opposition).
Harding was truly f***ing awful. I literally cannot believe how bad he was, he should have to train with the kids as a punishment for that performance. I've never seen a full back look so out of his depth before, can't pick up a single good thing about his game last night - bring Dicko back. Hammond didn't really do anything bad but didn't do anything good either, brought nothing to the party except flat lemonade. Connolly worked hard but without Lambert and Lallana in the side there isn't really someone that he knows how to link up well with. And as for Martin; he was left exposed by Harding on a number of occasions so I don't blame him too much, but was probably his worst game in a Saints shirt thus far.
unfair on connolly, ok he had a shot that a 3 yeat old girl would be ashamed of, but he is not a lone striker as he has neither the strength or speed. he is still a quality player when played with someone else
That's very harsh.A lot of players find it very difficult to adapt to english football.Look at Nani for example,he was very average at Man Utd at first and now he is one of their best players.
Your last line about De Ridder is a good point. Walcott STILL has trouble with his positioning AND crossing a ball!
Some one whos valuation was around 12 million should be no where near a football pitch if they cant cross a ball
Agree with the majority. For what it's worth i've watched the game again and connolly, cork, hammond x2, guly, richardson and holmes had half chances during the game. Apart from the goals and hitting the post with a dodgy/soft freekick Davis had nothing to do really. Harding and Martin not great as discussed, I thought Hoover made some good interceptions and tried to drive the team on, he does sometimes head the ball to the opposition or out of play though. I thought Fox was pretty rubbish himself really apart from his set piece deliveries (which are quality) he did a lot of long balls up to Guly and Connolly which were awful apart from one, did better when he went in at CB. I thought Guly had some nice touches brought the ball down a lot, had one header that led to Corks effort. Cork himself didn't do great until he went back into the middle when hammond went off. Hammond tried his best but unfortunately there midfielders were much more technically better than him. Connolly wasn't great but lallana wasn't playing nor was lambert so his intricate passes wern't read as well, and we didn't pass the ball so pretty ineffective overall. I thought the subs did ok de ridder had a dribble or 2 scared konchesky to death, holmes tried but flattered to decieve and richardson did 100 times better than harding but that wasn't too difficult. I don't know why there is a loving over falque he didn't do a lot, backward passes to fox couple of over hit crosses and a shot when peltier was standing right in front of him. It was his debut and he knows very little about the championship probably but still I was expecting a bit more but saying that no one was performing at their best. Morgan tried his best, few good passes but apart from him, guly and hoover none of the other starting 11 really got going. Roll on Saturday !!
Cause one goal makes him suddenly a good player? ****ing hell, England missed a trick on Franny Jeffers didn't they?
