That's very true. It's the style of Pochettino that he never looks to play for less than a win. If he's winning 1-0 he wants to make it 2-0 or 3 or 4. Look out for Saints in the coming season, and in the next few years. This sort of thing is going to be no flash in the pan. The ambition at SFC is enormous these days. So big, us Saints fans are doubtful of it. It's still in its infancy and it is being driven along by the chairman Nicola Cortese. Forget what you hear in the media about him being unpopular. 99% of ordinary Saints fans think he's the best thing to ever happen to this club, backed by serious Liebherr money as well. Long may it continue.
Just watched the whole match again. Overwhelmingly positive but liverpool got in behind too many times for mine. When Schneiderlin or wanyama filled in the space between the fullback and the centreback this threat was effectively nullified, however given the nature of how we play it isn't possible for them to always cover the fullback and its a comprimise that is probably necessary. It must be said for the majority of the game we got back in numbers and Lovren and Fonte did well to ensure that this space was minimised. Perhaps its too critical but I'm not convinced by wanyama's defensive understanding, for moses shot on target wanyama could have got in between moses and the goal but held back, whereas schneiderlin when shaw was nutmegged was there to make the tackle and on other occassions tracked back and filled that space or made a meaningful contribution. In attack we look so much better, osvaldo and lambert's layoffs didn't always come off but its great to see us playing it quicker and running at the defence and for the most part we looked like a cohesive attacking unit. A couple of times, late in the game, Osvaldo had the ball under control near the penalty spot but no one to lay it off to, that's not a problem given the context but it shows he can offer other potentially effective attacking options. The lack of goals has been frustrating but having a defence that gives away nothing is very satisfying. Our back 5 is excellent and the widemen provide ample assistance, but I think there is quite a lot of improvement in the way the 2 cdms function defensively and in possession. Wanyama has shown a lot of promise and is probably better than Cork individually but I feel we would be a better team at least in the short term if cork came back into the team and reinstated the double pivot. Either way the wanyama-schneiderlin partnership will improve and cork is a great backup.
Wanyama's defense has been fine. Cork's defense was/is good as well. Just different styles. Wanyama is a big physical presence you don't want to test. He slows up the attacks and makes people loath to play long balls up the middle. Cork is the kind of guy who you think you can beat but he has such energy and pace that he pops up out of nowhere and takes the ball. Sort of similar on offense. Wanyama today received a couple bad passes where I thought he would lose it but he used his strength to maintain possession where I think Cork would have lost it. OTOH, so many times last season Cork would get the ball in a tight space and somehow weave through a couple challenges. He's a better dribbler than Wanyama, but also he's just so tenacious. You can take the ball of him, but he takes it right back. Wanyama to me, makes better passes than Cork when he gets it right... but also makes much worse passes when he gets it wrong. There is no doubt Wanyama gave the ball away too much today. What makes it more problematic is that unlike in some other games, Clyne and Shaw were both getting forward today so he had targets. But still, it was a clean sheet and despite some close calls Liverpool never really settled in on offense. That makes it hard to criticize any of the back five, though perhaps Cork could have done as well. Schneiderlin played well today. Was his usual active self, making tackles, passing accurately, doing what he needed to do. I thought we played better against West Ham and drew. But then again Liverpool away is a much tougher side. Overall it evens out. I have no major complaints about the last two games, and four points is a good tally. I've got trust in MP right now. If he wants to stick with this side against Palace, that's fine. If he switches a couple of players up, that's fine as well. It would be nice to see what Cork and Ramirez can do if given a chance.
Watched highlights on Sky and BBC...we played well. I enjoy the fact that we stick to our plan...goals don't change it. We are solid defensively, but don't add pressure to the defence by sitting back. We won this 1.0, but sometimes we will lose 1.0 (Norwich) or draw 0.0 (West Ham), but over the whole season we will do well. Lovren is rapidly turning into a God...they mentioned on BBC that he couldn't wait to get to the fans (HIS fans as he sees them). I have seen some fans suggest that Osvaldo doesn't want to be here...I don't know what they are watching...he seems happy enough with his team mates in the Gallery shots. Liverpool could have got a penalty...they'd have had to score past Boruc though! What the arguments show is that decisions would still be contentious even if reviews were allowed...all that would have happened is that time would have been wasted and the game interrupted. For heaven's sake, let's put that argument to bed. When asked about our 'offside' goals, Mauricio said that we would get some decisions over the season. Whilst not sure it was nailed on, I think we may have got away with one...in part, due to Sturridge trying to stay on his feet. Interesting interview with Mourinho after the Chelsea game on Sky. He said that Chelsea are in transition and are changing from diagonal long ball game to a possession-driven game played high up the pitch. Everyone without the ball has to work to get the ball back. Sound familiar. The pundits commented that he hasn't true wide players and his strikers can't seem to score...sound even more familiar.
I'd agree with almost all of that, although I think this was our best 90 minutes of the season by quite a stretch, we played well against West Brom for the first 25 and we were good against West Ham second half (we were **** first half imo) but they had a gaping hole in midfield whereas Liverpool while understrength going forwards had good protection and a good defence and we still regularly got within shooting distance of their goal. On the wanyama debate, its a good point about him being strong centrally, especially in the air and I agree with all your other points except a slight quibble about his defence. Schneiderlin had a very good game but I feel he would play better with Cork. Cork was very disciplined and was extremely reliable cover for schneiderlin and any of other defenders whereas as i said earlier I question wanyama's positioning when he's covering the fullback and I don't feel he covers schneiderlin as well as cork did. This will surely improve with training but he also needs competitive matches. The problem is that Wanyama, like you say, can be decent going forward so warrants more attacking licence than Cork and perhaps schneiderlin needs to be more disciplined at times, or indeed shcneiderlin might be best playing more of the cork role.
Well yesterday was the first time Dani Osvaldo had tweeted in English, and tweeted about Saints - so it must have been a good game.
Just watched Merson comments on yesterday's game he said we had more shots on target and on balance deserved the win,and said it was a bad day at the office for Liverpool. And he also says he sees a top half finish for us.....that must of hurt him to say that.
Just noted that Mauricio said the team would be back in training 10.00 am today because of Tuesday's game. That explains the pictures of the team eating pasta on the bus after the match...obviously straight back down south. May be reading too much into it, but also suggests a fairly strong team for Bristol City.
I still think that in certain games you could play Cork and Wanyama. I was recently looking at some old posts from just before the start of last season where people were moaning about Chaplow's crossing ability and it was mentioned how good Cork was playing wide right which I must admit I'd forgotten about. No doubt both Cork and Wanyama have their strengths as well discussed by ISIRTP, but If I was forced to choose either it would be Cork. That said, how can anyone really argue after such a result which happens about once a decade?
Strange that our last loss before this game was to you lot! I'd take being undefeated until then again Fair play for taking the chance but we were very poor yesterday! And with injuries to Glen, Coutinho, Enrique not fit enough etc. Team selection was very off kilter.
Quite underwhelmed by Wanyama since the West Brom game, he was easily our worst player yesterday and he looks like he is wrestling with the ball every time he gets it. Hopefully Cork will get a chance again in the Premier League, for me he is more useful in that position.
well done saints. have to admit i was disappointed at our display infront of goal against west ham and sunderland, but the approach was spot on yesterday. just hope the attacking players can continue to gel as i dont think they are playing to their potential still. Would like to think we can get a couple of players on the score sheet at home to palace The team effort in defence is great, shaw and clyne are massive positives, we will be a team that can handle quick attacking teams better than most.
I don't think Liverpool were anything like as poor as they are being made to seem. Tactically, it seemed a mistake to have 4 CBs, but that was pressed upon Rodgers, so they had to deal with it, and none of the names who came in are bad players. They also lacked creativity up front it's true, because Coutinho was injured. We'll not talk about Suarez as that's self-inflicted and Liverpool have done fine without him, so far. So let's look at it from another perspective. Liverpool were facing a side that has three new individuals in it, using tactics that are fairly new to them, and it's not going entirely well at present because they can't score. They fielded personnel who came through from League One and a few youngsters as well. What they can do is give any team a bloody good game with the high press tactics, and the defence has shored up immensely compared to last season. One doesn't sense any 6-1 drubbings anymore. Now we have those things in perspective, it's possible that Southampton produced a display, rather more of what they are potentially capable of, as they are still gelling, which stopped Liverpool performing, and released themselves when they had the ball. Nobody underperformed. It was rather more a case of who dominated who. I'm sure Liverpool would have won against a weaker team.
Alot of people think differently to you. Wanyama basically made it so Gerrard and Lucas didn't dictate the game. He left Morgan to go forward etc. I read some where that his pass completion rate wasn't the worst of the players as well. Yes when he does a crap pass it is awful but he is starting to learn. Or does he take over from Rodriguez as the guy you must have a go at?
