Id like to see our strongest 11 start tomorrow.., but it does seem some aren't performing as well as expected. Davis Clyne Fonte Hooiveld Fox Spiderman Davies Lallana Puncheon Rodriguez Sharp
Not worried unless he has an injury. He knows the value of being as fit as possible having voiced on several occasions how much a higher fitness level at saints has helped his game progress. As far as I can remember, Lambert never has a good pre-season and can take a few games to get into the season and scoring goals too.
I invested in the bundle, good value and am not complaining, it just may be too much for others more impecunious than myself!
Yes. Especially with Lee out and the seemingly irresistible desire to play Rodriguez out of position. That leaves our striker pool as just Sharp.
Adkins says Rodriguez is such an asset because he can play anywhere across the frontline, but I had never seen him play in any other position for Burnley that wasn´t as central striker, so I don´t get why Adkins insists on playing him in a wider position.
He played on the left of a front three of him, Austin and Wallace at Burnley. He is versatile, though his natural position is striker. We have Lambert playing there as first choice, and if we want to play this 4-3-3 that Adkins seems keen on then maybe that's why Rodriguez has been pushed out wide instead of being pushed onto the bench.
They played a lot of 4-4-2 with Treacy and Wallace on the wings. Even so their 4-3-3 was far more narrow up front than ours with Rodriguez playing as pretty much an out and out winger.
I'm hoping it'll be quite fluid as a front 3 anyway. Last season Lambert kept popping up out wide so I imagine he'll do that a lot this year too.
Lambert is much less of a winger than Rodriguez and I guess in the new system, one of them plays wide if both play in the same team. Rodriguez is getting into scoring positons from his wide position and probably should have a few goals. Still, in pre-season the important bit is that he understands the role and gets into the right areas, sharpness will come. Rodriguez wide might defy your sense of order, but he's really quite good at the role. If he were hugging the touchline and trying to get crosses in, that would be a waste, but he's really not. He's getting in the box to attack the ball, which is where we want him.
And Rodriguez is in the team as a winger. So I suppose you can count Barnard and Forte if you want, but...
