Do you not understand at all what happened with Osvaldo at Roma? He's not coming here to compete for a place or to be a rotation player. And we wouldn't have paid him that much money if that were the role we had in mind. It would be fantastic if we could just hoard a bunch of talent and everyone were happy just to play their role. Unfortunately, modern football (or any other sport) doesn't work that way.
Of course, but it's the "who is not going to play" bit that gets me. Who said hoard talent. We have to have an improved squad and the players have to take their chance and Pochettino has to manage it, that's his job. I continually read that when we sign someone, people worry about who is not going to play; don't worry, that's Pochettino's job. I it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. There is more of a "not getting it" by worrying about having players of top quality competing for positions. That is imperative to progress; ask Sir Alex. As I said, it's not difficult. I also didn't say Osvaldo would be a rotation player.
Part of the problem is that we tend to fall in love with our players...we remember their part in our story. It may mean that favourites don't see as many games, but you have to have a squad to fulfil all the fixtures. At the end of the last season, one player said that Mauricio always makes you feel that you could play if you work hard enough. He gives no sense that there is the 'team' and the 'others'. Obviously a good manager with the carrot. Osvaldo will be started if he is 'Mauricio fit' to give him the opportunity to gain experience of his team and the PL, but there are cup games and substitutions for the others. JRod and, especially, Guly will be relegated to these roles. We are lucky to have a team of riches.
I think you have hit the nail on the head there Fran . If we had been a premiership team for a few years now , we would never have had the loyalty to players that got us up through the different divisions , sadly now for us to stay up and push on , we have had to let some of them go , and it's not very nice , but it is necessary !
I'm quite worried though. Twitter will be more unbearable - the backlash over Sharp falling out of the team is unbearable, the backlash from signing Wanyama meaning Cork falls down the pecking order even spread to here, so if a genuine legend like Rickie Lambert starts playing less frequently then there will be a lot of unhappy fans.
Only if we are not winning! We are all fickle. Fact is if Pablo starts instead of Rickie and scores goals any moaning will soon stop.
Can't see Lambert dropping to the bench. Competition may make him play better....imagine that Osvaldo could play just off Rickie, but SRL tends to drop back so we may see more assists from him. He will still take all the penalties...if Osvaldo wants to keep his head attached to his shoulders.
Rickie mentioned yesterday that he was finding it hard playing against the two WBA CBs....in the future, the CBs would have to decide to mark Rickie or Daniel (bring it on!!).
The man cortese tipped as top scorer relegated to subs and cups? I see the point yes its not about the 11. Perhaps the question should not be "who will not play" but "with this guy what will our strongest starting XI be?" nb I realise that the starting 11 will vary depending on who we play, before someone points this out.
There's close to no chance Lambert will be dropped unless he's not fit. Osvaldo will play in front of him I think, with Lambo just floating around behind him.
Another nail on the head comment. Once again, all we need to do is go back to the Adkins sacking. Bar one or two people, all Saints fans now seem to agree/accept that it was the right move. So many times in the past 24 hours have a read Saints fans saying that we'd have never attracted Osvaldo with Adkins still in charge, for example. But yet when the sacking happened, so many people were up in arms; furious with Cortese. As understandable as it is, you can't be ruled by your heart. Thankfully, for the majority, the head does eventually take over should everything turn out fine.
Amen... and if one of those not selected, gets selected and keeps someone out the team, then so be it. If they throw their toys out, then Pochettino has to manage that; if he doesn't they leave.
I'm pretty sure the "tipping as top scorer" was nothing more than motivational speak, in terms of "if you apply yourself, you can be top scorer" rather than "you WILL be top scorer this year, we need you to be".
His goal celebrations include playing air guitar with the corner flag and pointing to the fans before pretending to machine gun them. Yes.
Ok I will re-re-phrase it. Assuming this guy is a regular starter (safe to say we didn't spend 15m on an impact sub) what will our rough line up be for the majority of games when we can play the high press? Said another way will we play with 2 strikers (1 deep) and 2 creative types or will we have 3 strikers with jrod to one side getting back to defend and rickie deep?
In 1995/96 Newcastle bought Tino Asprilla. He was easily their best player that year however, he upset the balance of the team and they failed to win the title that they looked odds on to secure. Even though he was good, as a team they played better without him. I put on the West Brom thread that although I thought Wanyama was superb, I also think that Cork and Schneiderlin together are better than Wanyama and Schneiderlin (I know that its very early days). Anyway, buying top quality players is not a guarantee of success as we all know. Much now depends on just how good a manager Pochettino is. He will have to manage disappointment and try and maintain our renowned team spirit.
