As soon as I saw Jose Fonte take up advanced positions, lining up crosses, I flashbacked to Aston Villa at home last year. Delp/Shelvey mirrored each other, in that it was embarrassing how obvious it was that they were gonna shoot from distance and how preventable the goals were.
I've thought for a long time that JWP is just too lightweight. I still harbour concerns about Forster. Tadic was clearly off form and should have been replaced. Pelle good at holding up the ball but agree with a previous post he should be converting from within the penalty box, it wont happen but wish Rickie could come back here on loan.
I'd like to see Saints return to 3-5-2: Forster; Fonte, Alderweireld, Yoshida; Clyne, S. Davis, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Elia; Pellè, Mané.
Yeah, but the idea was to change formation/tactics to open things up. Not to substitute for a poorly performing player. I was a little iffy on the sub when he made it, and again I agree with you that looking back on it, it was mistake. More in that we started losing possession and weren't dictating the game as much. But Shelvey's goal was just a great strike. I am not sure Reed (or anyone else) could have done anything about it.
Very frustrated at that, probably because the game was there for the taking in the first half. Tadic was given time and space today, on what seemed like numerous occasions, and did nothing.
Likewise. Perhaps swap Elia for Tadic to have a little more passing ability, as Tadic's primary issue right now seems to be that he's playing on the right, and he simply cannot produce a decent cross with his right foot. Playing him more centrally behind a front two would help there, because if we remain in 4-3-3, we're forever facing a quandary where our three wide options are all far better on the left side.
Ronald made a mistake with the substitution only in retrospect. At the time it felt like an option on the right move. Mané got as close as anyone so it was very nearly a masterstroke.
Get a grip Jasper!... Seriously, I wouldn't want to be in the trenches with a lot of Saints fans, they give up so easily and the ones that booed at the end should be ****ing ashamed... Without Williams and Shelvey we would've won that game easily, but fair play to Swansea, we mugged them at their place. We have come through this tricky period without key players with only one defeat and a few should be back soon. #wemarchon
Nobody is questioning the decision to bring on Mané but at the time at least three of us questioned taking off Reed.
I must have been at a different game today because Pelle didn't hold it up well today. He is big and strong but doesn't use that strength well enough. He is always trying to flick it or do something before he has the ball. There was a centre forward who one most ariel balls and used great strength to hold the ball up properly ... He was wearing a white kit though.
Gomis was making a run to the near post and Dyer was making a run on the other side. The back four had to drop back to cover those two. JWP was coming back to cover Shelvey. JWP didn't sag off Shelvey, but rather overran him as Shelvey made a nice little cutback dribble to create some space, and then just blasted it from 25 yards out, maybe more. It was just a good/unlucky goal.
But I don't get this. Mane is the only player on the bench who can make the difference so he's the obvious option to turn to if the thing aren't going our way. And he should have came on (if you browse the thread, I suggested it on half time), but why for Reed? Of our three midfield players, Reed is the most natural defender. When he came off, JWP claimed his position, but he's not as useful there as Reed is. If Koeman wanted to swap a midfielder for Mane, it should have been JWP to make way, not Reed. By keeping JWP on the pitch we gained little, and by taking Reed off we lost a lot.
But JWP is far more likely to provide an assist/dead ball threat and RK likely didn't want to lose that. Perhaps in retrospect he would have wished he'd taken of Tadic, but there were good reasons for doing why he did what he did, and to claim it was some obvious tactical error is doing him a disservice. It could equally easily have worked. I personally think that today the focus should be on the defensive excellence of Swansea over any perceved failings on our part.
