McShane wasn't good at all this week. He had the job of marking Pelle which is fine but twice he ran at Jak when the ball was between tbem causing confusion. He was subbed because he was weakest of the back three today.
Brady....looked very good first half Diame...same as Brady, second half they double-teamed him and he tired McShane....outstanding first half, we looked much more vulnerable in second half after he was subbed. For most of the first half we outplayed them. Second half subs didn't work esp Aluko.
McShane played well today both in his defending and when he pushed forward with the ball - he wasn't perfect but most of the team were guilty of sloppy passing and losing the ball when in possession - shouldn't have to wait for Bruce to be injured to get his chance - thought Southampton played well today - think we lost it in centre of midfield - Livermore was piss poor and Huddlestone not much better - thankfully we have Diame who puts more of a shift in than both of them put together - why we paid £7 /£8 mil for Livermore is beyond me
Diame .. only player today that genuinely looked like creating something brady .. steady and always available hernandez .. worked hard and brought others into the game
You must have been watching a different game to me, I thought Livermore was back to the sort of form we saw from him last season and Livermore wasn't far behind. Diame had a good first half (although he can be massively frustrating at times when he holds onto the ball too long even though there's an obvious pass available) but he was marked out of it most of the second half. Livermore Huddlestone Diame With Brady just missing out.
every time Livermore got the ball, rather than attack, he stopped , pissed about and passed backwards
I don't think we watched the same game. We matched the form team in the Prem (especially in midfield) and lost to a silly error.
what you talking about - we could have lost 3 0 today if Southampton had took their chances - Mane missed absolute sitter - Bruce said as much in his post match interview - it was one way traffic most of the second half
Looking at this page alone - you're in the minority about those views. Southampton may have made two other decent chances but what's the point in chances of you're not going to take them? One way traffic? More like diverted traffic going off route. First half we were better (Koeman admitted this) and second half they were better (Bruce said this). Two toothless attacks basically.
Absolutely. Some right ****e on this thread. We were kept at arms length the whole game, soton barely got out of second gear the whole game and still missed a few sitters.
I just feel that we're showing teams too much respect in games and especially at home. We needed to put more pressure on them when they had possession in their own half, as was shown on the few occasions that we did and we forced them into mistakes. The early goal today made it even worse, as they were just happy retaining the ball in their own half and we didn't put enough pressure on it early enough, higher up the pitch. We should be playing more of a 3-5-2 rather than a 5-3-2 especially at home but it didn't look like that today. Southampton were very solid but other than the two chances they created late on when we'd switched to 4-4-2 and were chasing the game, they didn't exactly put us under any real pressure. I think we are better than we think we are and for me Brucie needs to be braver with his tactics, especially at home.
The fans have named a total of 9 players in this MOM thread with Diame, Brady and Livermore the top three mentioned. Again I take note that nobody mentioned Ben Arfa (not once) who, although he only has one leg, did show moments of class but far too few and too far between and he is not fitting in or doing anything for/with this team at all. The game I watched showed that we are currently without an 'end product'. The commentator summed it up for me when he said "Look, there is only Hernandez in the Southampton half and he is surrounded by 6 Southampton players"!. How on earth are we to score goals under those circuimstances? We have Hernandez and nobody else until Jelly comes back and he is simply not equipped for a lone striker role. Would have been sensational if his late overhead scissors kick had have been on target but it was not to be. We have played three top clubs in the last three games so 2 points doesn't look too bad.
