Fonte rested after knee issues, posted on his Instagram that he was having treatment yesterday in Newcastle. Lallana rested, presumably due to burnout and to give Rickie some game time. Busy period coming up, makes sense to rotate.
Formation means little for us. Lineup looks like 4-3-3, but previous uses of similar personnel have ended up looking like a 4-2-2-2 playing straight through the middle.
Well my hopes for this game have plummeted, I just don't think we can create from midfield with Rickie, JRod and Dani all on the pitch, whenever the three of them have been on together we have looked horribly disjointed to me. We'll either need to completely dominate in the air and feed off knock-downs or they're going to have to be dozy enough to allow Rickie to drop off freely to spread the play. Remy against Hooiveld gives me shivers down my spine, too. At this stage would be very happy with a point.
Very strange team indeed, but I fully trust Pochettino, hopefully it's some sort of tactical masterstroke. Looks to me it might be a 4-3-3 that we saw for sections of the City game, I think we fully expected Newcastle to play 4-4-2 as they're the right sort of team to play that direct football that Chelsea played to undo us; hopefully this team selection is to counter that threat!
If Fonte travelled, then it was a late change. Lallana must be not quite 100%...I'm not expecting a tactical masterstroke.
Jos against Remy concerns me more than the starting forward group, definitely. I don't like the three-striker look and limited passing that often accompanies, but I'm guessing the idea is to pile on the crosses and corners, as Newcastle doesn't always deal well with such things.
Praying for 4-4-2. As old fashioned as people say it is it's still the most effective way to play with two strikers in the team, which we're clearly doing.
Pochettino is never afraid to change things if they don't work as planned. All faith in his selection today. Strong bench too.
Indeed, it could be highly effective, but all it takes to nullify a large proportion of our threat will be to post a man on JWP and we're relying on set pieces and Luke and Nat's inconsistent crossing. Or of course our front three could be so fantastic that our wonky shape doesn't even matter... Fingers crossed. It's also just occurred to me that the difference today to other games this season is that our defensive-mid partnership has a much more ball-playing style to it, and with Newcastle playing a 4-4-2 with two defensive-mids it may free up Davis in particular to step up and pull the strings. A glimmer of hope perhaps...
I think this is a narrow diamond (or 4-1-2-1-2) if you like. It's becoming more popular among managers as a way of playing the possession game. Fergie did it a few times. Osvaldo and Jay up front with Rickie at the top of the diamond. Shaw and Clyne providing all the width.
Ref Lallana: We've had many games where he's come off after 60-65 minutes. Clearly there's some good reason for that (though fans around me think not - "Why can't Pochettino see that he's our best player; why's he being taken off"?). Perhaps MP has info that suggests "not 90 minutes" in which case why NOT play him at the end instead of the start? Vin
As others have said. Concerned that we are not going to have any link up play between midfield and attack. When we've had JRod, Osvaldo and Lambert on the pitch at the same time we've looked very disjointed and have created very little for our strikers. Big test for this team today, still missing a lot of key players and away to the form side in the league we are going to need effort and performance of the same level against Man City. I'd be very happy with a point.
Just been discussing the match on Sky. Complimentary about Saints though 3 pundits gone for narrow Newcastle win. Had interview with Rickie...he said that Nicola aims to win the PL...if we get top 4 this season, aim is win it next year. Someone said that if you look at Rickie's face you can see he believes it and all credit to Southampton for convincing the players of this. I liked the attitude of the panel...they didn't believe we would win the PL, but none were laughing or sneering...just complimentary. Also discussed Luke Shaw and suggest he should be in the next England friendly.
Not so much of a concern with Cork in the line up. He can play all sorts of fantastic passes from deep.
Don't think of lallana as being on the bench -he's an impact sub. And if he comes on against wearied legs then It's a tactical masterpiece rather than a rotation. Possibly
