Richard Chaplow on Twitter: "Take a point anywhere on the road in the prem, super Rickie again #shock where would we be without him #saintsfc"
POSITIVES: Adam is off his crutches/out of his leg brace - he was seen walking in to the ground with friends! ANOTHER game without a yellow card - sitting pretty in the fair play league so Europa League could still be beckoning. A point from Craven Cottage is a good result, most would have taken that before. Another very good performance from the defence, their goal actually came from Ramirez losing the ball and not tracking back. NEGATIVES: Ramirez doesn't seem anywhere near as effective out on the left, keep him CAM and start Jay-Rod on the left for example. Substitutions are consistently late in the game when most fans are calling for change a lot earlier in the game. Obviously we aren't football managers but we'd all like to see a bit more affirmative action being taken when we aren't in control of a game, especially when behind.
Ricahrd Chaplow has just shown the sort of mentality our players have with or without Lambert " Super Rickie again, where would we be without him"......thats why you never leave him out Nigel.
I agree, think we need a big man to stop Stoke and Yoshida doesn't fit that bill. Good observations, from what I saw Ramirez was better on the right than the left, cutting in on his left foot, but yeah Rodriguez looked busy when he came on and might be able to do a job on the left so Ramirez can play centrally. Have to point out though that to get into the Europa League via fair play, your league has to be one of the top three leagues in Europe for fair play — which is pretty unlikely — so don't hold your breath for that.
Good point, nice of Bairdy to help out his old team. For my money we definitely need to be playing Ramirez behind Lambert and not out wide. Seen a lot of criticism of Lambert recently for not being involved and being disinterested, just seems daft to me. This is Rickie Lambert, most of us are familiar with him by now, he's not a work the channels forward, he will move around the front line and pop-up in different places, but he's not going to make 30 yard runs to make himself available... That's just the player he is, and he's a darn good player too. He was isolated all game until we shifted Ramirez up field and then put Rodriguez up there, which meant he had little opportunity to have any effect on the game other than from the many over the top balls we played. He's not lacking any desire or interest, just starved of service and confidence. Ramirez not only has fantastic ability, but is the link between the team and Lambert, and their understanding has grown during the time they've played together to the point where both of them can supply each other. This obviously gives us a question mark on who to play outwide, but playing Ramirez out wide and Lambert isolated up top is very square pegs-round holes for me, as it means neither of them can play to their potential. That in my opinion was the main thing that stunted our attacking ability, and other than that I thought we played well not including some poor work from Kelvin.
I don't believe it! Absolutely incredible! We were given a penalty? No I can't believe that really happened Good point, happy with that.
HAHAHAHAHAHA oh god, just seen Satchell Face squirming his way through that BBC interview, Merry Christmas saints fans.
Would definitely be happy to see Hooiveld against Stoke, I was a big advocate of him starting against West Ham which was met with a lot of disapproval, but he absolutely dominated Carroll in that game and think he would do well against Stoke's big boys. Yoshida is neither a midget nor a weakling, but does not have the strength and power of Hooiveld and Fonte, and certainly doesn't match up well against Huth, Shawcross, Jones, Crouch etc.
Would Guly or Rodriguez be more suited to playing against Stoke compared with Ramirez? I think Shaw should be rested ready for the home game against Arsenal.
This is probably true, I have to wonder if it's more that Lallana's absence is affecting Lambert though. Though the combination of those two factors is obviously not helping him.
Lallana helps Lambert by driving on beyond him; however none of our other midfielders really get beyond the front man.
Yoshida is solid in the air. Him and Fonte are similar. I'd play all three and Shaw. Guessing Fonte would make the best right back. By no means a reflection on Clyne and I'd like to see him straight back in for the next game. Rather the fact he's weak and very poor in the air which isn't very good against such a physical side
Undoubtedly both, unfortunately as much as we'd all like to we cannot wish Adam back to fitness and cannot control his absence affecting both the team and Lambert's play, however we can control where Ramirez plays. And I think Lallana and Lambert did frequently link well together, in our run of results Lallana linked well with everyone, but I think when we were at our best was when Lambert and Ramirez, and Lallana and Puncheon looked like two pairs of conjoined twins. Puncheon has lost his sibling to injury, Lambert has simply had cruelly torn away from him, which must be causing him unimaginable heartache and suffering!
It's interesting, without Lallana we seem to be trying to get people in behind - most of the time it seems Puncheon is the one that receives the final ball - rather than linking up and working a chance from the edge of the box. This seems to better suit Rodriguez or Mayuka rather than Lambert who has seemed to have been marked out of the last few games and had very little influence. Due to the congestion of fixtures, I wouldn't get against starting Rodriguez ahead of Lambert for a few games while we adjust to a Lallana-less side.
Of course Yoshida is no mug aerially, I do not mean to do Maya any disservice, as I said he is not a midget nor a weakling, but whilst Fonte is around the same height he is a good deal stronger and Hooiveld is, put simply, a bloody big bastard. Yoshida can go head-to-head with the majority of strikers and teams in the league, however Stoke are a whole different kettle of fish and he simply doesn't match up well with the likes of Huth, Shawcross, Jones and Crouch who are all mountains. Playing the three of them is an interesting idea, and would certainly stand us in good stead in the aerial battle, however not sure any of them really have the makings of a full-back, Yoshida and Hooiveld certainly don't and Fonte is as you say the best full-back of the three, but not sure that is anything to be proud of haha!
Yoshida's not bad in the air by any means, but he is often outmuscled so that although he might get something on the ball he is off-balance and isn't able to make a good clearance, like for Sidwell's volley today. I think Hooiveld is much more suited to combatting Stoke's battering rams.
Nathaniel Clyne on Twitter: "Well earned point away from home. Thanks to the travelling fans for cheering us on #coyr"
