Match Day Thread Southampton vs Tottenham 19/12/15 ko 3pm

It seems to me that teams have worked out that crowding our men out (when Pelle had the ball he normally had 2 or 3 on him and at one point Mane had 4!) stops them playing - though I can't understand how that doesn't give some of our other players more room. Move the ball quickly seems to be the answer - but we don't seem to do it.
Confidence is the key - we don't have any!

 

Not impressed by the RK interview - moaning about the mental attributes of the squad - that responsibility sits with him. Interesting his first statement is his defence of Clasie - not sure what to make of that other than a justification of us buying him. Wants more physicality - yet bought Clasie, Juanmi & Soares... I think I might be missing something here? Sorry for the negativity, but one point in fifteen is deplorable and when one or two players are failing that is one thing, when the whole team is continually failing - then you have to start to look at the manager and ask if he has the confidence of the dressing room? I do hope he turns this around because I do like him and I enjoyed last season so much, but the signs are not positive at the moment.

 

Davis also tried to take a player down after he lost possession on the first goal. I'm not sure I buy it (us being too nice). 30 yellow cards (=6th), 2 red cards (=6th), 10.5 fouls per game (11th) suggests we aren't that nice.

Leicester have 7.6% less possession than us on average . They have the same amount of yellows, no reds, 11.1 fouls per game (9th=, same as 10th). Yet are top.

We could maybe be more cynical preventing counters, but so could all the teams in the league. I feel like Koeman is one of those managers that would give you stick for picking up a yellow for committing that cynical foul to prevent a counter and would give you stick for not doing it. In other words it's a no win situation, so don't give the ball away cheaply in the first place if possible!

 

Ron didn`t play any youngsters at the start of the season when we were winning games, and hasn`t shown any inclination now that we`re not. I`d certainly like to see Reed and maybe McCarthy (how long is he on loan for ?) get a game.
I fear for the futures at Saints of Turnbull, Stephens, Isgrove, McQueen, Hesketh and Co if they can`t get near the squad any longer, never mind the bench.
Anyway, good players don`t become bad players over a few games. Aberdeen started the season with 7 or 8 straight wins, then lost 5 in a row, now back to winning every week. Same can happen for Saints - keep the faith!

 

I think RK was referring to VVD's ole defense with his remarks. If VVD gets his body between the man and the goal instead of wildly whiffing a kick, it's an easy stop.

 

We are lacking confidence, that's all really. We don't believe we can win a game when we go behind, and are woefully inept at finishing at the moment. Ronald is frustrated, as are we, but goals will change everyone's perspectives.

I understand why people are downbeat, and I am disappointed with our form, but we aren't a bad side - just a good one with zero confidence.

 

He's very stubborn and never admits to his mistakes. Fact of the matter will always be that Clasie never needed to be bought. He had Reed, a young English academy player that has already performed brilliantly for us. He should have been getting chances after his performances last season. Didn't need Juanmi, Ramirez is better and more physical than him. If he's not happy with Soares' physicality then he should have bought another right back. Clyne always needed a back up anyway in the first place. If he wants physicality then why is he playing Clasie over Romeu or Reed. I could go on, Koeman needs to wake up and stop being so stubborn.

 

Are you sure that's Ron in your profile pic Tintin

 

Ergh, that felt a bit typical for the way things have been going. Tempo to start was fantastic, going through the first 25 minutes I thought it was gonna be Clasie's statement game and we had them all over the place. Perhaps the pace we started with before it went a little stale is what caused such frenetic defending, we lost our composure and then tried to force things, a high pace can just as easily flip to panic, for example Jose's attempted interception for the first goal, it was a tempter and a hallmark of Jose's game is aggressive interceptions but perhaps if we were a more settled confident side he wouldn't have committed. Same for Van Dijk, he's been as cool as ice but even he rushed something he usually would have just calmly defused. Them's the breaks when confidence and form are in the gutter.

I still hope we don't change too much honestly, it's not like we need a spark to get things livened up, the start showed we can crank up the speed it's just making it count, perhaps more so from the bench. I would rather see Gaston than Juanmi at this point, he may bring a mistake for every moment of magic and that's why he can't find his feet but at least he usually makes things happen, whether it's tripping over the ball trying to do a step-over or unlocking the defence, to this point Juanmi seems anonymous. I tend to not worry too much about personnel that are question marks though, if we haven't seen enough of them I don't worry about those decisions even if I disagree. Still only want new signings that we would make if were unbeaten in 6 not win-less in 6, if we can get legitimate improvements in, great, if not our squad whilst not perfect has more than enough quality.

One thing I definitely think is a big weakness of Ron is his changes when behind, they never feel like changes you'd think a man of his nous and coolness would make, they seem like changes a desperate fan would make. So many times when we're chasing a lead we just throw on our most attacking players, in theory sure, Long, Juanmi and JWP should add more goal threat than Tadic, Davis and Clasie, but we just lose any foothold in the game. When teams come from behind late, how often is it because a player like Long gets in behind or a Juanmi beats a couple of men or plays a cute through ball, and how many times is it just because they pin their opponents in and pressure them until they break? At the end of today's game we basically just had a 4-2-4, barely pressured Spurs defence and they killed the game with ease other than JWP's saved effort. It feels a bit backwards for me, I feel like Ron's ideal style is what fits best for trying to crack open a team late but when we are trying to do that we just get as many attacking players on the pitch as we can and lose any semblance of shape or flow. I know in the past people have been annoyed about late in games when we've had all of the ball, heaving diagonals up to the edge of the box and putting in endless fruitless crosses, but for me that time is when I want the Davis', Tadic's and Clasie's on, I want us to control the ball, keep them stuck in their own half, get balls in there even if we're hoping for a lucky bounce or a JWP set piece. Maybe Ron does lack the fabled 'Plan B', but if so don't just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, just stick to Plan A and stick to your guns.

 

But Davis and Tadic were both rather poor today. I think they both needed to be subbed. And I was okay with Juanmi and Long.

The debatable decision for me was JWP/Clasie. That is where Koeman had the option of doing something in the midfield-- either putting in Ramirez or Romeu vs JWP and taking out Wanyama vs Clasie.

Still don't think it would have made a difference.

 

Tadic was arguably our most creative player today. He created a few chances in the first half. Not sure how you can call him poor.

Ramirez wasn't on the bench, so he couldn't bring him on. Very frustrating.

 

*giggles*

 

I've just got back and had to read to the 18th page for a sensible post.

Nice one.

 

*unfriends*

 

I'm going to defend Ronald Koeman here and then go.

Nearly all the people posting during the game commented how well we started. That tells me Ron got the selection, tactics and formation right at the start. Ron's job done at that point.

Not Ron's fault that chances weren't taken.
Not Ron's fault that players who have been playing top flight football very well give the ball away.
Not Ron's fault that experiemced and excellent defenders suddenly defend like amateurs.

So for 40 minutes Ron got it right, no doubt about that unless some of you who said we started great were lying.

For me, the players need to sort themselves out unless there's something going on behind the scenes we don't know about.

 

Well Said - Ron got it right today, in my opinion, the players lost it themselves.

 

His original team selection was ok. I'd have liked Reed/Romeu over Clasie. But Clasie did ok today.

Taking Tadic off was not ok, nor was not having Ramirez on the bench. He keeps persisting with an ineffective Juanmi from the bench instead. But the defence was a shambles and wasteful (first 30 mins) however. One might argue the damage has already been done with previous selections (and decisions). Freezing out Reed and Ramirez. Playing Caulker against Liverpool instead of Yoshida. Playing Yoshida out of position over Soares seems to have hurt Soares' defensive confidence. And so on. It's been done to death now.

 

In all of the last ten or so games (yes I may be exaggerating) Tadic has started well and then disappeared. Same today, so I understand that decision, but come on TinTin please try and not be black and White today.... He made a decision on a substitution and could have taken anyone off really.

Ron wasn't the reason we lost today, the players were.

 

Cedric wasn't lacking confidence, He just wasn't paying attention. It's not the first time. Tadic was not very effective today. It would have made no difference whether Juanmi or Ramirez came off the bench.

 

Hang on, I can't go. I've just read your last bit.

Soares has lost his defensive confidence because Ron picked Maya on a couple of games .... Really mate?

And it's Ron that's stubborn???

Unfuckingbelievable