The good thing about this situation is that it wouldn't really be 'dropping' him, it would be more like not changing a winning team. Same affect, different psychology.
agree to a point , "we play better without him in the team" would I feel only have been a fair statement based on the Fulham game last Saturday . In regards to that as I said before yes Jrod and lambert played very well together , but i'm sure that you have seen as I have periods of games, and arguably full games where J rod has not looked very effective . Im not agreeing or disagreeing as I said I wouldn't like to be the man to make the decision , just stating that yes although J rod in particular earned his shirt last Sat , people are saying a lot of negative things about osvalso yet not one of our strikers has been outstanding all season .
I have just been through all of the newsnow articles for pre-match predictions, and not a single one predicted a Saints win. Confusing, as we are in outrageous form. I still fancy us. Steven Nzonzi is the man they rely on in midfield, and I think he will struggle against Morgan and Wanyama. We won't give him an inch. Still sticking with 0-2 Saints.
Yeah that's true and it seems to be the best thing for the team. The thing is, I think his biggest problem is that he's desperate to score goals and it's messing with his thinking. If he's on the bench and comes on for 20-30 minutes I could see him being even more desperate to impress/score goals and the problem could get worse before it gets better. I suspect Poch needs to convince him the goals will come, results are the most important thing etc etc. I reckon if he scored in a couple of games on the trot he'd start to settle down.
I think it takes a lot more than just getting people to notice how well we've been doing to change their gut reactions about us going into games. Journos and commentators, and even us as fans to some extent, still look at a game and think of what the Southampton team locked in the backs of their minds would stereotypically do. It's difficult to change that; I would say it needs at least a whole season "there or thereabouts", or even to have comprehensively won a top trophy.
I may be missing the point here, but on The OS, Pochettino is reported as saying that he will have a 'good' selection headache when Davis and Osvaldo are back to full fitness. This suggests to me that they are not yet fully fit, and will not appear tomorrow against Stoke. Mind you, this could just be the club not giving anything away about players' fitness. Edit: on re-reading the OS article, plus other OS articles, Davis and Osvaldo may be fit. They will be assessed before the team leave Southampton. But this still suggests to me (every silver lining comes with a cloud) that they probably won't play. Still, at least being pessimistic means you can be pleasantly surprised.
[video=youtube;--LX-r4LIdE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=--LX-r4LIdE[/video]
What he said in the press conference was that "they are better", not "they are fit" and that they needed to be assessed. Vin
I too find it strange that the media are reluctant to suggest we will win against Stoke. You would have thought (with our recent form) that they would go too far the other way and give Stoke no chance (which would also not be true). I think that although they are interested in us, they still feel that we are a bubble waiting to burst...let's call it the Lawro effect.
I'm a little worried a bit about this game - route 1 football is the best way to counter our pressing game; you can't go through the midfield but you can still go over it and with our CBs playing as high as they do, they can get caught on the break if our off-side trap fails or missed by the ref\linesman. If they stay with Hughes passing game, we'll be fine, but if they revert to Pulis-Stoke then they've ot a chance IMO.
I agree with CMFG on this. Its hard for people to realise that this is not the old Southampton. Its certainly true for me and I'm sure many other 'older' fans. We've had a history of doing well for a bit only to implode and its hard to get one's head around the fact that this just might be the real deal.
Lambert (on Player) says that the Fulham game was the best he'd been involved in. He said it wasn't that Fulham were poor, but that our whole team played well and would beat anyone in that form. Hopes it will carry on at Stoke (amen to that). Nice touch was that he said that despite being older he looks up to Adam. Says that preseason was tough, but very good for the team and especially Lallana (thinks it gave him a yard of pace). When questioned about his reported drop in form and not starting every game, he said,' Saints fans know me...I want what is best for Southampton, not what is best for me.' Got to love the guy.
I had similar concerns. But then again, they don't have the type of player to catch us on the break, i don't see Crouch and Jones capable of doing that. I think we might maybe struggle to score, but i don't see us losing this game.
