I don't think Adkins thought of it as two full-backs on the bench, I think he sees it as the 5 subs he would have picked if we only had 5 available like last year, plus two youngsters, which is probably a good attitude to have. If we had been winning with ten minutes to go then Shaw probably would have seen some game time.
There is always a chance of points...we just need to make chances (which we've done in both our games so far) and have that little bit of luck (like Rooney's injury...looked awful didn't it?)*. A handball by an opposition player...can turn on little things. * No, I do not think United are a one man team.
Also the whole of Arsenal's squad plays two games the week before our fixture. Ours get a week off except Davis and Fox.
Do Japan play? Tadanari has been called up. He is nearly fit again and Adkins has said he will start against Stevenage...could give us another option soon.
They do but I don't know if the squad is out. There might be an England U19 game which some of the players could be in also, I'm not sure. But it gives us two weeks of solid recovery/training time which is a big advantage.
Two more (likely) defeats down the line will you start to panic then? Not a wind up genuine question.
Realistically, we won't get points from Man U and Arsenal and that would be the same if we play them now or over the next couple of months, so no, I won't panic if we have no points after the Arsenal game.
Obviously anything can happen in football and we could win both games however unlikely that may be. However before the season started, most people would have predicted a maximum of 3 points out of the first 4 games (the 3 hopefully coming from Wigan, but alas that wasn't to be). So despite the lack of points at this very early point in the season, there is no pressure on the next two games because we are expected to loose anyway. If we are 4 games in with 0 points at least we have gotten Man City, Man U and Arsenal out of the way, will hopefully have a few new players and crack on from there.
I never panic about football. There are more important things in life. If we go down, we go down, if we stay up, we stay up. Either way, i'll be there next season. The people who really worry about relegation are those who haven't been to St. Mary's for the past seven years.
No, it is hardly unexpected that we should have no points after these first four games. If we have no points by xmas, then I'll be worried!
No, we will still be a long way from your record after Arsenal we have about 20 games which we can be optimistic about a result in. So no panic from me.
I do agree with the point made about the number of defenders on the bench. Whilst De Ridder and Chaplow might not appear to be PL standard players (note, I only said "appear to be"), I would have rather seen one of those two on the bench in these two games so far than Shaw. I don't see the need to have a RB, CB and LB on the bench, and on the basis that Clyne can play LB (and Seaborne is left-footed), then it's Shaw who should be missing out for me. Only having Puncheon and Sharp as attacking options yesterday did limit what Adkins could do from the bench once we went 1-0 down. I'd argue that's not enough attacking options on a five man bench, but certainly not on a seven man bench.
Totally disagree. Shaw needs first-team football to develop into the player we want him to. Seaborne and Richardson are probably about as good as they're going to get. We had enough attacking options on the pitch. Guly and Rodriguez are strikers and they were being played in midfield. If we wanted to change to a more attacking formation we can do that without the need to bring any subs on.
One more random observation, i'd say that even in Nicola Cortese's most vivid wet dream, no more than 50% of spectators were wearing the Liverpool kit.
No, but considering the club were trumpeting about three hour queue's and record sales, I just thought the stadium would be a red sea...
Stadium looked good - but agree that exterior could do with a good pressure wash. Team played Ok for me in first half and perhaps we were little unlucky not to be 1-0 up at ht. 2nd half we started well but after Wigan scored it went downhill rapidly for me. Thought NA's tactics were little suspect yesterday for a home game but he will make mistakes like the rest of us - should have had two strikers up front and not playing one wide imo. Towards end of the game i was shocked at some of our players attitude and some appeared unwilling to run for each other - Rickie looked like he was getting well peed off with some of his team mates at times. Appeared to be some very odd decisons by officials to me, and others in block 37 - especially linesman on Itchen side during first half. I always thought that some people were underestimating Wigan and predicted a 1-1 draw myself - to me they are a seasoned Prem team now with a very good manager and with a little luck going our way yseterday we may have won by the odd goal or at least drawn - it didnt and we lost. I am far from disheartened and as usual dont understand some of our supporters reaction to defeat - that why i enjoy away games much more than home games ! Dont like the new home kit at all - just doesnt look like Saints to me - however my boys like them and were both wearing the new shirts yesterday, so perhaps its an age thing. Hopefully we play well and get the rub of the green v Man Utd next Sunday - it can happen !
