Did you get the call from the Saints board to come in and run the medical team? No?.....Eh?.....No???
I don't think it's smart to change a winning team that's kept a clean sheet. Particularly when we previously hadn't won for six games or kept a clean sheet in eight games. I wouldn't mind him coming in though, as long as it was the only change. Calm down. It's not utter suicide. It's a matter of opinion. Cardiff put our keeper and centre backs under huge pressure today with the number of crosses they put it. They also played two upfront, Campbell and Odemwingie.
Also, Lambert definitely back to his best today. At the moment, he is a miles better option than Osvaldo.
It's a matter of opinion that every shred of evidence over the last few games would suggest is utter suicide. As was mentioned above, we won against a seriously demoralised Cardiff team and at other times we would have been punished for a couple of defensive errors, or if one of the Cardiff strikers had the balls to throw himself in there when Whittingham delivered some tempting crosses. Someone like Lukaku for instance. Lovren is by a long, long, long, long way our most capable defender, who also marshalls our entire defence. He was also a member of the second meanest defence in Europe before it was severely disrupted by injury. So if he's fit, it's crazy not to play him.
He played well today, absolutely. Good to see. He may be a better option currently, but not sure where the miles are from?
Just a heavy cold, probably passed to him by Luke? Yosh can probably produce a performance against lower teams, would struggle against top six or seven maybe?
That was a typical Yoshida game to me. He made a couple of superb tackles to save goals, but had the line been steadier those situations wouldn't have cropped up in the first place. A good performance from a backup but calling for him to stay in even if Lovren is fit is crazy talk, IMO. Gazzaniga looked inexperienced today and was mediocre at best. But he looked like a typical young GK thrown into the fire a little too soon, as opposed to someone who has no future as a GK at all. Lambert had a good game today, but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary for me. Mostly because I don't think Lambert was as bad as some people have been saying. His age is showing a bit, and MP's tactics don't suit him which has resulted in maybe a minor decline. But mostly, his role has changed. He's knocked down a few headers, made some nice passes, at times he's been starved for service. He's still the same Lambert-- or at least 90% of it-- that he's always been. The offense was pretty good but mostly Cardiff was bad. Medel probably would have helped, without him it was way too easy. A good win for Saints that we really needed, but I wouldn't say we "looked a whole different team" or that we should start changing our preferred starting XI.
Gotta go with everyone else here, the vast difference in quality between Yoshida and Lovren means the 'keep a winning side' philosophy goes out the window.
If the original post is to do with football, of course. I'm not having a pop at Olly as such, it just seems he has a very pro-Rickie/anti-Osvaldo agenda that is colouring his view of the events that happen on the field. If that's the case, it's not ad hominem, and I'm well within my rights to suggest that might be the case.... Either way, back to football. Cardiff didn't muster a single shot on target going by the BBC stats (though I'm sure there was one deflected save that Gazza pulled off....)
Just leaving the cardiff car park total gridlock mon! Fantastic 1st half couldnt fault them. Would have liked to see a few goals in 2nd half in front of the saints fans but we seemed to take our foot of the gas. No complaints though, gazzaniga played well and seemed to have more confidence. Good job lads!
Yep great win. Let's keep it going. 2 hard games coming up so let's hope we get a couple back from injury.
"Southampton FC ‏@SouthamptonFC 1m Two-goal Jay Rodriguez is currently speaking to Saints Player after helping #SaintsFC beat #CardiffCity." Two-goal? That's not right?
Our hold on 9th has improved and we are close to those above us. Very important for the league and for confidence. There can be very little between a win and a loss...it had to be our turn to win eventually as we have deserved more off the last few games.
