Looks like a good team to me Other than Martina and a possibly well again Caulker we don't have any other defensive options, so it kind of picks itself. Think Romeu & Wanyama will be important. Don't know for a fact, but understand this team have a physical presence about them and it's important we don't concede an away goal. I would also be tempted to give JWP or Juanmi a game
I can see why the poster above would want Maya moved over to Left back. We have been blessed by brilliant defensively left backs for a few years and Target shows signs that he is not quite ready. Caught out loads of times last weekend and against Newcastle looked shaky too. Still time for him to improve though and he will only be there until Bertrand comes back. The Romeu-Wanyama part is important as another poster says. Davis is not brilliant when in a limited role. He showed that he is by far our best No 10 so to speak when he was moved there on Saturday which shows how we are struggling to replace Lallana still Beena worrying start to the season in my eyes. We have so much talent up front with Mane, Rodriguez, Tadic, Long but no-one to link in there. They all play wide or free/drifting but he we don't have a top draw person to control the attack. Not worried in a relegation kind of way, just that we need that No10 player now more than ever unless we are going to stick with Davis in there. Tadic can't play there, Mane is much more of a forward player and Prowse is much more of a diagonal ball from deep kind of player. It might be a long 'transitional' season
As stated above back 5 picks itself. Target didn't look great but was exposed, combined with Maya having a poor game. He has done ok when called upon of late tho. Romeu must start, important that we don't concede full stop- confidence! I would play Davis for about an hour to avoid too many changes. Long gets a rest, didn't do much wrong on sat but didn't have productivity. Still not sure what role JWP is supposed to fill? Will he be replacing Davis as he develops?
I think he will put out a strong team. While it is true this Danish side does not look up to the Saints standard they should not be taken lightly, after all they have reached the same stage as Saints!! Like a lot of you I have never heard about this Danish side before, so they will be out to make a name for themselves on the European stage. I am pretty sure Saints will be wary and treat them with the respect they deserve. Should be a good game I am sad that I cannot be there for it.
http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/39850/ An article from Ugly Inside suggesting that there may only be 23-24K at Thursday's match. Could be late sales, but sad if true. Makes me wonder if the result against Everton has put some off. Can't criticise too much as I no longer go to night matches....would have done 10 years ago...but now can't do it. An opportunity perhaps (with cheap prices) for people to take their kids when school the next day isn't a problem.
Just had a look at the ticket sales site and apart from the away section (Four sections and pretty empty, which must be close to 10% of the capacity) plus some at the back on the southern corners, it all looks pretty booked up with just odd seats here and there. Vin
Think you'll find there's seats available all over the ground. Which is a shame. Having been unable to go to the Vitesse game, I was hoping for a buzzing European night tomorrow. Does one defeat in the PL really cause support to melt away like that?
Having odd seats scattered round the ground may also be a problem for those wanting to be near their children....find that hard to imagine, but apparently some parents don't wish their kids at Jericho.
I'd go with a 3 5 2. The Danes will look to keep things tight, so need to outnumber them in midfield and play two strikers on their centre halfs. So play Romeu as a ball playing centre back between Fonte and Yoshida, the full backs are thrown forward, Vic is the anchor man between Tadic and Juanmi with Pelle and Mane as the strikers.
I don't think it's nuts. Pretty sure it is the Dutch way, and Ron and quite a few of the players would be comfortable with a formation like that. Requires a lot of hard running from the fullbacks though.
It's a complete turnaround in system though, and still leaves us with the issue of Vic being the only defensive minded midfielder, whilst putting Romeu in an unfamiliar, yet critical, position for his full home debut. It's a no from me (but then I don't really know what I'm talking about any more than anyone else! It could of course equally be a stroke of genius).
Appreciate your view LTL, but I am thinking that any footballers we develop, train, buy should be adaptable to playing in a number of positions. If the 3 5 2 doesn't work out then Ron can always change the formation without taking any player off.
A high line would be needed so the offside trap needs to be spot on. My theory is to overload the flanks, like Sevilla, go for the goal line with two of our players, thus taking two of their players away from the central areas, have one of our attackers on the edge of the area so when the ball is played into to him, he can lay it off, or turn the defender and go for goal , or dummy the marker thus creating all kinds of havoc in the defence. It will mean our midfield and the players on the other flank will need to be in the box to put away passes and deflections.
If I remember rightly, we set up like that twice last season (with Toby in the sweeper role). Couldn't tell you which games, but if memory serves, it worked well on the first occasion but had to be changed before half time on the second. So its a gamble for sure. Ron gambled on lost with Saturday's aggressive formation; does that mean he's more likely to be conservative tomorrow? Are we all talking balls? Dunno.
I don't think he needs to gamble or be conservative. He just needs to go to the tried and tested, but with Romeu in place of Morgan.
With a ref called Turpin, we`re going to get robbed. I wonder if he`ll oblige and wear one of those masks some players wear when the break their noses.
