Relatively speaking of course. Hi all, this is my first posting although I used to have the odd rant on the old 606 until it became a forum for the illiterate (how do you spell that?). Anyway, my impression of the season so far is that we were brilliant early on and have not been quite so fluent in the second half of the season. Don't get me wrong , we have still played well and have managed some superb results when required. I would like to offer my views on why this is. Our starting midfield was Lallana on the left, Chaplow and Hammond in the middle and Cork on the right. I believe that this has been our most successful line-up. It was clear that Adkins was desperate to get Schneiderlin in the team, which is understandable as he is a classy player, and even put Cork at right back to accommodate him. However, that midfield was working so well that it picked itself. Until the Chaplow injury at Bristol and was a major factor in our 'decline' (as I stated at the start, its only a decline relative to our start of season form). I think Schneiderlin's game will be better suited for the Premier League (fingers crossed). Now that Chaplow is back I'm surprised that he is playing out on the wing. Lallana aside, he is the only midfielder who gets beyond the attackers and into goal scoring positions. With a bit more composure he could have scored twice against Middlesborough. So Chaplow's injury was a major factor. The second one is going to be a bit more controversial I suspect. Danny Fox. Up until the time he got injured, Dan Harding was one of our best players. He was a major player the previous year and was attacking and defending well. This was proven in that Adkins never dropped him for Fox but waited until his injury. Now Fox is no-doubt a talented footballer. Some of his crosses are superb and his corners just about the best I have see. However, it his inability to mark a winger that I find alarming. If you look at the home and away performances against Bristol City and Blackpool, these are just a couple of examples of where he was torn to shreds by decent wingers. Reading's first goal was another. I don't blame his awful cross field pass but I do blame the fact that he left the winger in acres of space to deliver a perfect, unpressurised cross. I cannot believe the management haven't noticed this, its almost as if they are saying, "let him cross and we'll defend it in the middle". I do appreciate that he has less help than whoever is playing right full back as Lallana is not the most defensively minded midfielder. So, teach Fox to mark or bring back Harding. My first post, please don't be too hard on me By the way, this is me until at least after the West Ham game -
have to diagree, our starting midfield had guly on the right, chaplow replaced him on the right due to a number of injuries around the squad, i don't think chaplow has played at cm at all this season. Schnedierlin has made a positive impact and is our best cm in my opinion. I also feel fox is far more competent defensively than harding who often loses his man. On top of that he has a better delivery and set piece. The only bad point would be that he does lose the ball in poor positions sometimes when switching the play. I think our main problem is that teams have developed a way of playing us, taking the game to us and minimize our threats. We were an unknown force at the start of the season, but teams now respect us.
Welcome Iff, nice post. There was a lot of chopping and changing done around December/January, for various reasons, which I think was an issue but I still don't think it's gone massively wrong. After all, being in the top 2 for the whole season (when most of us weren't expecting anything near that) shows that we've been consistent enough in my opinion to go up. But I agree that we haven't been at the top of our game like we were at the start of the season. We were flying and you could see the players had so much confidence. But I suppose it's part of football that you learn to adapt and overcome adversity like injuries, bans etc. Personally I think Harding started off quite well but he had a few icky games where he didn't play well so I would prefer to see Fox at LB. And I'd rather see Richardson that Butters at RB, he seems a lot more competent in going forward, balls into the box etc.
Your not allowed to say that about Fox on here, and wasn't our starting midfield Lallana-Cork-Hammond-Guly??
You are right, in our very early line up back in August, Chaplow was a actually a sub. It may well be as simple as other teams getting used to us. But I do feel that we don't get enough goals from midfield and that is because our midfielders don't get ahead of the forwards enough. I knew the Fox comment wouldn't be popular but even Mrs lff has noticed it.
Agree with all of this; I actually think there has been considerable development in Morgan's overall game this year - particularly since January; he's gone up a notch or two for me. Chaplow was brilliant from the season’s start - since his injury his game has fallen off; some of his ball control and passing of late has been abysmal. IMO he has gone from ‘first on the team sheet’ to ‘who else can we play on the RW?’. Teams have worked out how to play us and I would add in defence of the players - they have been playing under considerable pressure for a long time. It is an impressive feat to have been in the top two all season!
You will have to remind me of where we are in the league because I was not aware it had all gone wrong. Have we slipped out of the top six? I thought we had won 6 out of last 8 away games. Sounds impressive to me. One or two little blips and we have not won every game like Reading but 85 points from 45 games sounds pretty good to me and in the past 4 seasons we'd be promoted already with that total.
Sussex - good observation. How could I have failed to notice Please everyone, I was joking with the title!
Very negative post. Fox has played a major part in making Saints dominate the number 1 spot this season.
I think you raise some good points lff. It's true that our early season form was unbelievable and since then we've not been quite so fluent. There are many factors though. It's likely that earlier in the season other teams underestimated us and played into our hands a bit, and since we have been top of the table for a while they've learned how to stop us, by pressing hard and bullying our midfielders, marking Lallana more tightly (or at least, trying to), and so on. Additionally, some players have lost form, and we've had some unfortunate results which didn't reflect our domination of the games. Have to agree with others though, Fox is a much better player than Harding (and unlike some I think Harding is decent!), he gets very little defensive support from Lallana and the worst I can say is that maybe he lacks a bit of pace. I think we've had a relatively small squad for most of the season and maybe the fatigue is starting to show a bit for some of the players at this late stage of the season. Personally I think the end of it is coming at just the right time, and I'm glad we've got such an easy fixture to finish with — the playoffs might be a few games too many.
Grow up. I disagree and agree with your views on Fox. I think he's our best LB and has made some mistakes that have led to goals. I just think he's a class player and like you said his set piece is brilliant.
Iff, it's pretty clear your observations are made in good faith. It's not negative to have an honest appraisal of the teams weaknesses as well as strengths. I agree with you about the two Danny's at LB, Harding would be my first choice, but it would be interesting to know who Adam prefers to play in front of/overlap with. Fox is a bit more physically robust and his positional play is usually pretty sound, but I always felt Harding read the game better. I think we have struggled more down the right side, though, not the left. I'd much rather have Seabourne at RB than Butterfield, and please, not Jack Cork in that position. If we have had one consistent fault this season, it's that we can't shut teams out even when dominating possession. That's not down to Fonte or Hooiveld imo. On Saturday night I had to plaintively ask my Spurs supporting mate why, if Chelsea can shut Barca out for 90 mins, we can't close the door on Middlesborough. These are minor considerations though, this season has exceeded all expectations, and hopefully the best is yet to come.
This is not a negative post at all. It's what others have called for on a previous thread - an attempt to view our strengths and weaknesses dispassionately. Of course it hasn't "all gone wrong" but it hasn't all gone right either! If as fans we can't comment on what we see then this forum may as well be closed today. I agree that we've started to look a bit battle weary. There was definitely a lack of cutting edge on Saturday. We didn't play badly, we just lacked a bit of va-va-vroom. It is right to ask about best formations, strength of different positions and effectiveness of combinations. So good post Iff.
Defensively Fox isn't the greatest, scary thought of the players he'll be marking next year. Can only see one winner when he's against Valencia, Mata, Walcott and Adam Johnson
