-------------Boruc------------ -Clyne--Fonte--Yoshida--Fox --------Schneiderlin-------- -Mayuka---Davis---Lallana- ----------Gaston----------- -------- Rodriguez--------- Gets our best players on the pitch except for Lambert who I think is more effective off the the bench away from home anyway. I am expecting a solid 80 minute performance with a poor 10 minute spell hopefully West Brom don't score when we go off the boil. Ramirez will be huge for us, probably won't be at his very best for this game but will still be vital for that final ball, dictating the tempo and keeping possession which we have been poor at without him. Especially against tottenham they controlled the tempo of the game and didn't let us get any momentum, ramirez will have the whole team working better going forwards I feel. 2-1 Saints
I am neither at the snakes belly level nor at the levels of some our lads above who think that Ramirez will play and be our saviour ! This is a football match and so predicting the result can be good fun but it is just a guessing game - this is Saints though and they have a habit of rising to the occassion when least expected + the reverse. I am heading up the A34 this afternoon looking forward to it. I will be surprised if Ramirez starts but if he does then goods news - though imo we havnt seen enough of him yet to know if he can keep us afloat a la MLT.
I think some people are already too infatuated with Ramirez and are seeing him as some sort of hero after two games. Let him earn this hero status first rather than just judging on a price tag. I am not for one minute suggesting he is a bad player, but he's played two games, and you can't judge a player after two games...
I agree but from a different angle. I think for the sake of Ramirez and his future with us, we must not expect the world when he has just come back from a nasty injury. Any player would be a bit careful when coming back. I expect to see him as a late substitution to get a run out...I will be happy if he comes through that.
I have not picked Ranirez to score because i see him as a hero . I just woulx like to see a couple of new names on the score sheet . Would hopefully ease the pressure on RL AL etc . And yes i know JRod scored recently .
Exactly, my thoughts entirely. Be great to be coming back tonight though with him having earned another little step towards such a status !
Is anyone else having flashbacks to PL matches played under the lights where we were decided underdogs? I seem to remember us doing rather well in most of them...
Whoever said Ramirez is seen as a hero and saviour because of his price tag is bang on , he has to earn that but also we have to be patient as he has come back from injury .
Anyone doubting whether Ramirez has the footballing quality to keep us up didn't see him play against Villa, the lad is a class above. How much better would he have had to play? If you only saw Ramirez's first time ball to clyne you could tell that he had tremendous quality. He played 4 other key passes and kept possession better than anyone that day. Whether he has the ability to stay fit and motivated for the whole season is my only question mark. But apart from one knock I have no great reason to doubt him on that front either.
We can look back at previous seasons in the PL, but it won't tell us anything. We are as new a team as Rangers Newco, except we never went out of existence. To console ourselves about getting out of this situation, we can look at other teams who have done it (such as QPR last season) as easily as looking back on our own history. Feeling a bit better after watching Adkins on Player...he mentioned this 'fantastic football club', 'honest hard-working players' and 'honoured to be manager of this club.' Bit like the old days. Was also pleased to see whole squad training for once, though he sounded not so sure about Richardson and Cork. He mentioned walking hand in hand with his wife in the woods, getting positivity from the trees. I went out to my garden to check...the hydrangeas are a bit worried, but the fuchsias are full of confidence
I saw Ramirez play v Villa and sure he performed well enough + i was the game v Everton where he scored early on and again played reasonably well. But these couple of games were not sufficient to tell me that he can keep us in the Prem like Le Tissier did. Give him some more games and we will be a bit wiser and a few more points better off, hopefully starting tonight. Getting that injury so soon was bad luck and we need to see how he recovers from this as well.
We have suffered a lot of injuries early in the season. Adkins has never been able to get a settled back four. I would suggest that our back four, even with no added personnel, would look more comfortable if they played in position and together on a regular basis. I reckon that it would be quite reasonable to suggest that we would have at least 2-3 more points under our belts if everyone had remained fit. Now is the chance to prove it against teams that are our rivals for safety.
Despite having praised him the other day (and rightly so, I still stand by that), I would drop Puncheon tonight if Ramirez is fit to start. I really think we need to revert back to three CMs in the middle of the park, at least away from home any way. So automatically for me, Jay gets dropped for JWP (although I would have Cork in there instead, once he is fit to start - which I get the impression won't quite be in time for tonight). And that leaves Puncheon, unfortunately, as the one to make for Ramirez, should he be fit to start. And in fact, even if Ramirez isn't fit, I still think I'd drop Puncheon because I feel that Mayuka's performance vs Spurs should be rewarded with a start, if possible. Gazzaniga Clyne Fonte Yoshida Fox Davis Morgan JWP Ramirez Lambert Lallana Boruc, Hooiveld, Reeves, Cork, Puncheon, Mayuka, Jay Far from ideal, because there's next to no width there at all. But, when fit and a form, we cannot be leaving Lallana and Ramirez out. That would just be shooting ourselves in the foot even more. And like it or not, our defence is so bad that I don't think we have much choice but to sacrifice one of our four attacking options, particularly away from home.
