Does anyone know - was cedric injured? I thought it was an awful decision to play yoshida. Can't believe he keeps getting played
I think Ron was concerned by Depay's physical presence, hence putting Yoshi there and using JWP on the right for his defensive awareness. Other than the backpass, as a defensive ploy it worked very well and the Depay threat was pretty negligible.
I think we gave Man U too much respect, sat back, let them keep possession and put pressure on us. Also we lacked width, something Cedric would have given us. Memphis isn't so good we should have sacrificed our first choice right back. Koeman got it wrong, Imo.
Maybe so. The bit that surprised me a little was bringing Cuco on (who didn't do anything wrong by the way) when Targett went off. I thought he should have shifted Maya left and put Cedric on.
I really think that JWP playing on the right is worth persevering with. He has a magician's wand of a right foot and can whip early balls in from anywhere without having to beat the LB, a la Beckham, it is definately an asset to the team.
The lack of full backs continues to cost us, though Matty Targett did okay before he got injured. I'm guessing Cedric is considered insufficiently robust to defend effectively in the PL, and will continue to be dropped for the big games until he's built his strengh up a bit. Yoshida is a perfectly decent defender. But he's no full back.
Yoshida is a good fourth choice CB, yet he is shoe Horned into the side at every opportunity. The mind boggles
I don't think he's exactly shoe horned. It's more a case of the other options not being ready or available. Which is a worry when you look at what we've lost from that defence.
I concur wholeheartedly with Tom on this. JWP was excellent there for the first 30 minutes. He made three or four clear cut chances. More than Tadic in the whole match... Maya is a very good defender and plays well across the back. He's generally solid but people fixate too quickly on any errors he makes as he is not the player they want there. I am more worried about Cedric than Yoshida. Why is he not considered good enough? Why is Juanmi not good enough? Is it all physicality? Are they on intensive gym regimes?
It's important to highlight a players errors, so that they can improve. Maya still makes basic game-changing mistakes. It's why he shouldn't be playing, let alone at full back. He is a very limited player and shouldn't be relied upon as much as he is IMO. (This is an opinion I've held for a long time not just based on one game.) He does improve with a run of games, and he is a great back-up CB but we should not be asking him to play at full back, it's madness, and it's costing us points.
Cedric has been guilty a few times of diving in, getting skinned or getting a card. I thought it was a strange selection but it did work OK, the main problem is we did not get the width going forward. If Target is not fit for tomorrow and its too soon for Ryan, I would would play the u21 left back, there is something about him that really catches the eye, Martina did himself no favours sunday
I think that could be said about a lot of our players. Clearly, this team is in a period of transition [hey, why can't we have that excuse when everybody else uses it] and they are not gelling as quickly as last season's squad. But I have high hopes for them. Saints weren't outclassed against ManU on Sunday, even though with the personnel that club has and the huge money they've spent, they might well have been. Personally, I thought we were fine at times. The basis is good, potentially excellent.
I have also noticed the media trotting out some 44 or 45 pass ManU video. They should learn how to pass. Morgan was involved in a bigger move last season which culminated in his goal against a by-then totally bewildered Newcastle. Of course, nobody made anything of it.
Incidentally, I loved Pelle's rugby try goal celebration. It might even get me watch some of the World Cup. I understand it's been pretty good so far. I don't know whether it was for fun, but he rubbed his shoulder after getting up, as to say, Ouch, that was a bit hard.
I'm confused. I thought the clique was made up of people who attacked posters who criticised a player? That's what I was accused of last time I was president of The Club.
