Match Day Thread Everton vs SAINTS - 4/4/15 - 15.00 K.O

Dissapointing result. Dissapointing line-up today.

Not a huge fan of Elia, Tadic/Mane should have both started (although I accept there was a reason for Mane, he last playerd over a week ago!).

Still, onwards and upwards!

 

Oneof those days

 

Onwards and upwards, beat hull, which we really should and things will look a little more rosy. The got meyler sent off as well, don't know how much of a miss he will be though.

 

We weren't getting anywhere but pressure tells and even if we'd barely threatened row Z let alone the goal in the second half, with a 1 goal lead and Everton having a massively shaky season it was still feasible no matter how crap we were to create pressure by not letting them escape their box and just heaving balls in and hoping something bounced our way. Greatly weakening our ability to win second balls and giving Everton avenues to relieve pressure was nowhere near worth throwing on a talented but unproven creative midfielder at a time where we had no space for him to work I don't think. It's the obvious, easy move but that doesn't make it the right one or worth trying just for the hell of it, and I'd expect Ron to not make it.

 

Two remarks. Firstly, when I saw the starting lineup, I immediately expressed my disapproval. Tadić and Mane are our two most creative player and I could accept that one of them is left our, but leaving both is severely damaging our attacking potency, which was evident I think. Tadić can go missing sometimes, but on the left he usually delivers. His linking with Bertrand works very well, while Elia basically never looks for an overlap. Mane, we all agree, is the player looking most likely to score or carve some chances for himself.

Secondly, when we're chasing the lead, we don't really have a plan, do we? It's just randomly throwing vaguely forward orientated players and then leaving it to Fonte to hoof the ball aimlessly forward in hope that one will fall fortunately in dangerous position.

 

I haven't seen one minute of today's game. I heard we hit the woodwork and Howard made a good save just before they went one nil up.

I have read quite a few posts on here and I wonder if a lot of Saints fans have become spoiled brats. We lost 1-0 to an Everton team who have found a little form. it is not the end of the world.

I just don't get the expectation levels and even if the expectations are high, well bigger me if we're not one point of 5th in the league and at the very worst, we'll be 7th if Spuds win.

Get a friggin grip some of you and just be bloody grateful that we have a good club with a good management team on and off the field that is giving us a bloody good time.

I think I'll go read the election debate.

 

Lost 1-0 to Everton...quite within the realms of possibility. Their goalie pulled off some good saves...we've won games like that. Haven't seen any of the game, but Koeman says he was happy with the performance....good enough for me. These things happen...time to move on to the next game.

 

No nor did I, my point was we kicked everything long from that point onward.

 

I think Saints build up play is too slow. We seem to knock it round the midfield when we should be giving it to the pacier wide men on the break. Occasionally lumping it towards Pelle isn't the worst idea as our normal style is easily stifled when we concede early ( which we have developed a nasty habit of )

 

Was hoping for a draw especially after Liverpool got thrashed so disappointed with the result. Hope Burnley do us a favour tomorrow.... after all they're all Saints fans

Here's Ron

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JWP being positive as usual. Good lad.

 

"Lumping it towards Pelle" .... *shakes head*

I really don't think that some fans know just how easy that is for Premier League defenders to defend against.

 

I;m not saying to make it our main tactic but we are simply not making use of Pelle's aerial prowess for flick ons and the like. In case you hadn't noticed PL defenders have found it easy enough to deal with us anyway. Lumping it ain't pretty I accept but even the big sides do it in a time of need and so did we with Rickie when needed in L1 and Championship days. I'm not suggesting bringing in Pulis but a more direct route won't hurt especially considering that we have been quite toothless up front recently.

 

****ing hell I'm knackered. That was a ****ing long drive home.

 

For all his size, Pelle isn't really blessed with tremendous aerial prowess and most of his flick-ons are fairly directionless...very occasionally they come off (or come close to coming off), but not reliably enough that you can build an attacking scheme around them. He isn't Carroll/Fellaini picking out players with nodded balls.

 

No pass is directionless when Shane Long is around In all seriousness I do think we need to try something different up top every now and again. I admit purists like yourselves won't agree but I think the direct route every now and then would be effective. Long is surprisingly good in the air too.

 

It's not really purity, it's efficacy. If someone detailed conclusively that we could score 10 goals a match by having the whole side link arms and thunder up the pitch with the ball balanced on Wanyama's pectoral muscles, I'd be for it. Pelle just isn't a good enough target man for that sort of thing though...Long's probably better, but both are well short of ideal, and to turn that style into goals at this level you either need someone incredibly dominant in the air, or you need massive defensive errors. We have no one who meets the former need, and it's hard to rely on the latter.

 

Anyone reckon two up top could work for us ??

 

Yup. Provided Schneider and wanyama are in front of the best defence in the league, we have enough cover.

 

I reckon that they are the best defense in the league because of Schneiderlin and wanayma. They made Lovern look decent ffs.