Boruc 6 - I fail to see how he was to blame for the 2nd goal! Fonte should have done better but it was wet out there. Clyne 6 - Thought he had a good game considering who was running at him. Fonte 6 - Did alright bar the 2nd goal Yoshida 7 - Played really well although he should have scored Fox 6 - Some good balls into the box but too many chances came from his side of the pitch. Puncheon 3 - Happy when he was taken off. Slow and makes the wrong decisions. Schneiderlin 7 - Thought his distribution was good Davis 6 - Did his job 2nd half Lallana 7 - Creative and caused problems plus got back a lot. My Saints MOTM Rodriguez 7 - Ran tirelessly and good finish for the goal. Looked more confident after scoring. Lambert 5 - Second half he was quite good with some clever passes but first half was really poor. Mayuka 7 - Exciting player. Would love to see him start ahead of Puncheon. Caused lots of problems for Spurs. Guly 6 - Did alright for the time he was on Reeves 6 - Same as Guly. Ref 3 - Too many wrong decisions mostly in Spurs' favour.
Thank god!! Somebody at last who doesn't believe that the sun shines out of Schneiderlin's arse. Nice one mate. I'm with you.
I think, after watching MOTD2, I was a little harsh on Mayuka Always harder to judge when they're on the Kingsland side sitting near the front of the Itchen
So, yet another drab performance from Punch. Everybody constantly moaning about the defence, OUR DEFENCE IS NOT THAT BAD, but when you have players like Puncheon in midfield, whose tackling, passing, and attacking play is all substandard, and who makes no effort to win the ball back when he loses it, there is constant pressure. I know you all hate me for this, but Puncheon has to go! Pleeease. I hate being the only advocator of this. Either Mayuka or Reeves would be better.
Yoshida was great in the 2nd half, but made some mistakes in the 1st, so probably not MOTM for me. Rodriguez and Schneiderlin were the two players who were solid for 90 mins. Mayuka was excellent when he came on, and made one particularly delicious cross.
I thought Schniederlin was our best player, then perhaps fox and rodriguez who created our best chances. Yesterday's match really highlighted the value of fox's delivery, from free kicks and corners he delivered some brilliant balls in. One thing about schniederlin that impressed me was his pace he more than kept up with bale late in the game, also his nearly match winning strike was a big improvement on his shot against fulham.
That's a bit harsh on Puncheon, but I tend to agree. He sometimes seems rather lazy on defense, but there are other times where he works very hard. And he makes bad decisions too often. He tends to fade in and out, mentally. Overall he just doesn't offer quite enough. Because of his flexibility and his ability to go nuts in short bursts I think he is a useful guy off the bench but shouldn't be starting. Mayuka has looked good just about every time he's been on the pitch, but he also really hasn't had to test himself. His pace gives defenders problems, but we have to see if he can run that way for a whole game and if he understands when he needs to hold the ball and be patient. I think he deserves a start to see what he can do, but he may not be the answer just yet. Looks like he might have a bright future though.
Sorry to disagree on two points - Puncheon did not have his best game of this season - was possibly his worst performance this season and, overall, is playing better than manyin the side at present. The second point I disagree on is our defence is as bad as the stats show - especially at centre-back. If Defoe has his scoring boots on yesterday he would have got at least 2 or 3 goals. I lost count of the number of times he lost Yoshida or Fonte. Fox, in particular, is poor positionally; there always seems to be too much space behind him to slot balls through for Lennon - although Lallana must take alot of the blame for this, as Fox was left exposed to Walker and Lennon. Clyne will always be exposed for his lack of height and because he drifted off Bale and allowed him to attack the cross on the first goal was partly to blame. Overall - the team deserved a rating of 5.5; with Mayuka 7 and Jay 6.5.
I though Fox played well. Yes, there were a couple of stray passes but who doesn't have that. Anyone tell me Aaron Lennon was great? Must've been a reason why not?
That one moment with Bale is basically why you and others think he played well. Fox apparently wasteful with the ball yet higher passing than Schneiderlin . Schneiderlin the only player on the team not to make a tackle that started. Only made 2 interceptions. Bearing in mind he's been averaging ~5 tackles and 5 interceptions per game this season it shows you how badly he played. He really did have an extremely poor game.
I back you 100%. We all know Fox's weaknesses but against spurs i thought he kept Lennon fairly quiet. Lennon has terrorized bigger and better players than Fox so i concider it a job well done. If Ricky took his second half chance first time or Morgans bullet flew in the top corner then everyones ratings would have bumped up a notch i'm sure, but that should hide the fact he played ok.
I am begging adkins to not use Mayuka as a super sub. We should just put our 11 best players out on the pitch and go for it, its not like puncheon adds to much protection any way Any Keeper Clyne - Fonte - Hooiveld - fox/reeves/richardson Schneiderlin - Lallana - Davis/JWP Mayuka - Lambert - Rodriguez/Ramirez Im not sure why i gave my team on this thread but hey!
I just watched the extended highlights and mayuka was fantastic every time he got it he was able to run at the defense then play it into the feet of someone in space. He has some serious ability and we must start him against west brom.
Man of the match for me was Lallana. I know he doesn't shout as much as we would possibly like a captain to shout but really thought he led by example in the second half. He wanted it so badly and I thought he drove the team on. Thought ultimately Clyne was at fault for both goals (if you ignore the build up). Didn't challenge for the header and didn't react to Fontes goal line clearence but hey, **** happens. He is still a very good player. Rodriguez had a good game, a real handfull. Looks like he will force defences in to errors and was impressed by Mayuka when he came on. Yoshida played well but I'm still not convinced by Davis. I watch him and he tries very hard but Cork would be straight in the side when he's back if I was Adkins. Also If I was Adkins I would have written this in the form of a poem.
Schniederlin was average by his standards of this season. He and Davis sat so deep in the first half that Huddlestone had 30 yards of space. This was our problem in that half, so they can't be stand out for me (though normally they are). I'll agree with the other two. I also thopught Fox and Fonte did well. Fonte's only real howler was the free header in the second half around the half way line that looked like he had a "50p head" Adam worked his socks off.
