No worries. Almost managed to get it back on topic! And if anyone is bothered. Rickie was interviewed after the match too: http://audioboo.fm/boos/917473
As I mentioned, Lallana was pants. Hopefully the scouts underestimate him on this game because he really can do a lot better.
........and, not sure about the new tarting up of the main reception area, all kind of minimalist grey slate thing going on, not as warm or welcoming as last seasons pub carpet ensemble. Clinical, like Nicola's mind, & Udinese's finishing............
I'll make this simple for you Lamberto......I am Saints fan who has been to more home and away games than you've had w..ks. I am the last person who wants to critsize our football club but I am concerned. We have done brilliantly getting back to the Prem but I want us to stay in it. My opinion is we haven't acquired enough players to acheive that. If you think we have and our current squad is good enough then yes, my opinion is not a valid one in your eyes.
We lost a friendly. Oh dear. If some of the reactions of twitter are an example of the season ahead, then I fully expect the boos to be ringing out from the plastics if we fail to be Wigan.
Good to hear the postmatch interview from Nigel. There may be a few times this season when we will need an Adkins-fix to get us over a poor result. Pleased to hear that he spoke to Nicola yesterday and that there were exciting things on the horizon, so I guess reports of Nigel or Nicola leaving the club are greatly exagerated.
Exaggerated or even made up. The dark forces behind the scenes spouting ****e will seemingly never go away until they finally get what they want - power.
Nigel a bit defensive of his change to 4-3-3. Says he knows he needs to bring players in to make that formation work really well.
Back from the game and beer has not helped me forget. Clyne was awesome and easily our man of the match. A real shame we didn't use him more as Udinese left more space down their left flank. Fox and Rodriguez didn't link up well at all. Agree Lallana went missing and at times the defense and schneiderlin lacked options to get the ball forward whilst in possession and ended up giving the ball away. In fairness to Saints, Udinese were a typical Italian counter attacking side and a back 5 gave little space to the frontmen and I doubt many PL teams will be as disciplined. As for the subs, very encouraging from Davis, who kept the ball well and provided that link between attack and defense better and was at the centre of our best move. Young Shaw had a shocker, but at 17 it's great experience but shows why saints are in for a left sided player.
I dunno... having watched the interview on Saints Player, Nigel looks very deliberately to his side when asked about it. Can't help but feel Nicola had a rifle squad lined up in case Nige gave the wrong answer.
Lala really needs to be in the space currently occupied by JRod, they are both playing out of position and it shows. Lambert needs to buck his ideas up but I would like to see him start with Billy Sharp, and if that isn't working we have plenty of options.
Hi guys - just got back in. Clyne was outstanding - great purchase on what I've seen so far. Jose was iffy first half and ok in the 2nd. Jos was good 1st half and iffy in the 2nd. Fox was poor. Poor passing, touch and too many aimless long balls. JWP looked lively. Morgan was a mixed bag. Some poor touches and sloppy passes but spread the play for us well too. Steven Davis is a box-to-box midfielder, and looks a good, comfortable PL player at that. Lallana was pretty anonymous first half, slight improvement in the 2nd. Puncheon struggled to get into it fully, and was marked out 2nd half. Lambert was really poor, and Rodriguez just does not look comfortable out wide to me. Just a quick summary of the starters.
Nigel looked to his left a couple of times but was smiling...judging by the noise, players were going by. Another interesting point was the fact that he was trying to get the first team to play the system that the academy age groups were all familiar with. Lambert also mentioned it and sounded like it was tough to learn a different way of playing.
Sorry I haven't read through the thread but where was Hammond? I think he is a great player defensively, works tirelessly for the team pressing and doesn't give the ball away much either. Any reason why he was out the squad? As for 433..Nigel should be playing a formation to suit the players not stubbornly setting a formation the players aren't good enough to play at this level. Very few teams play 433 and there is a reason for that..you get torn apart if you haven't perfected it when you play decent teams. We have good players for 442 and 4312..we are also much more familiar with them. I just think 433 is foolish in premier league.. especially since it's new to us one loss 0-4 isn't the end of the world especially in a friendly. hopefully gives us a wake up call for the season ahead, might have been perfect timing for it
In total agreement with the sentiment expressed. Our defence at times last season looked suspect - we leaked goals. As is shown every season the the EPL - you need to be tight at the back. We have done nothing to improve this over the summer, as yet, even if we did now - seems a little late. The pre-season has been poor; in terms of results and, in general, performance. There has been some good individual performances, but that is not the point; its team performance that counts. We actually looked better in preseason last season - appreciate the opposition may not have been as tough then, but we had shape and a style of play. We are a week away from the start of the season - some of the players still don't look match fit; I am sure anybody knows what formation best suits us at present - players, like Jay, are clearly uncomfortable in there assigned positions. We have no back-up at central defender (should have two). I am reminded of Pardew's start of his second season in charge and I have the uncomfortable deja vue feeling for this season. Two months ago I thought we had a chance of a 12-15th finish. I have seem nothing over the past month to support assessment.
I still feel that it is much to early to press the alarm buttons yet. I like a few others have asked for a CB or two and I still think we need a player or two for other positions as well. We have come so far in such a short time that though concerned by a seeming lack of movement in the transfer window, I am confident that this will soon be redressed. Nicola won't stand idly by and allow all that has been achieved go to waste.
