Since JRod played yesterday I expect he will start on the bench as will SD. I think we will see Dani, RL, Adam, and JWP up front.
Would you say you're a physical side? I don't mean dirty, I mean full blooded into tackles, hassling and closing players down quickly etc?
Actually, Saints are not a full blooded, sliding tackle type side. we tend to just harry people into giving the ball up by making them misplace their passing. Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Clyne, Fonte and Lovren will give people a proper hard time, but the rest just gang up on opposition players until they give the ball back. Clyne does tackle like a textbook defender. Brilliantly timed for maximum effect, and he doesn't touch the opposite player. He just gets the ball back. You should have seen Fulham the other week. On the rare occasions they got the ball they pretty much gave it straight back because they had nobody to pass to. All the avenues had been closed off and the player with the ball was being chased down. Tbf, Adam Lallana has this superb ability to nick the ball off people just by toe-poking it away from them. If he were doing it to me I'd kick the living daylights out of him, but it's really entertaining for us.
We play better against footballing sides, in my opinion, we don't do as well against physical sides, but we're getting better. I can't make my mind up if it's going to be a close fought, but fascinating struggle or if the two similar styles will just cancel each other out. I'm really looking forward to finding out though as I think it'll be a good marker for where we're at.
And his pal has predicted 1-0. They all think we're good..! It's too much, I can't handle all this pro-Saints stuff..!
Michael Palin predicted West Brom [I think] to win 8-1. In tribute to Barnstoneworth Utd. Barnstoneworth played in red and white stripes..! please log in to view this image Star player, Neville Davitt, if I'm not mistaken.
Not a physical side at all, a hard midfield in which we have installed a brick outhouse just behind them.
Plenty of hassling, and no team relies as much on closing down quickly and denying space, but you won't see much sliding into tackles except as a last-ditch thing, for practical reasons: the goal is to win the ball and transition quickly back to attack, and it's hard to make that first pass if you're sat on the ground.
A commentator on the Fulham game likened us to red wasps around opposition players if they managed to get the ball. Not fouling so much as limiting the opponent to only bad options.
To be fair, the way United and Arsenal look at the moment, I can see the Gunners thrashing them and getting revenge for that score. Not 8-2 though. That was a one off that will not be repeated for a very long time.
Really sorry that I can't find the link but someone on here posted an article that suggested we commit more fouls than most teams but they aren't in threatening positions so we suffer fewer bookings than other teams. Vin
