Saints fan here. I'm interested to know what your thoughts on Lallana are? I notice he's not scored yet this season in the league and has two assists. I have always been one that thinks he's hugely over-rated. A player with a good first touch, good ball control and not much else. The occasional fancy dribble. This sort of thing is pleasing on the eye, but his end product is woeful. The Saints fans loved him here, but I was never convinced. People that know me will know I always thought he was rather mediocre, because his end product and decision making is atrocious for a player with so much talent to control the football. If it interests anyone Gaston Ramirez (who is completely out of favour at Southampton, although I strongly disagree with Koeman on that. He's only played 10 minutes this season and got an assist. It was against you) has statistically had better direct end product in the Premier League than Adam Lallana has had. Yet Lallana was always the favourite here and Ramirez has fallen completely out of favour in the last two seasons (Koeman seemed to have his mind made up completely about Ramirez before even arriving) For anyone that likes stats..In the PL Ramirez has been directly involved in a goal every 201.4 minutes (scored the goal himself or directly assisted). Lallana he has been directly involved in a goal every 250.8 mins. Specifically for Saints in the PL Ramirez has been directly involved in a goal every 172.1 minutes. Lallana was directly involved in a goal every 242.9 minutes, despite having the luxury of long runs in the side as a starter and the captaincy. For me the Lallana thing continues to bemuse me. I'd really love to know what would have happened if Ramirez was English and Lallana was Uruguayan. I'll add that 3-0 looks bad for you today (and is bad), but who knows what would have happened if the first Watford goal got disallowed (which it should have been)
You're far too kind to him. Like putting one of those ball-juggling kids off a Brazillian beach in the Prem. Misses open goals, shoved off the ball far too easily. I was hoping he'd be like Terry McDermott when we first bought him. More like Terry Darracot.
The lack of end product is very true and something I mention often when talking to people about Lallana. Whether it's a final pass or shot he really is terrible at that crucial moment.
Not a great player. He's a handy squad player who does fit into the style but the problem is that he's just not good enough. It is a shame because he does have the tools but he lacks one major attribute - instinct. He doesn't play the ball quick enough and as a result, the attack breaks down. He hasn't scored or assisted many which is concerning but I've always felt that players can impact the game without even touching the ball. He fails to do that as well But he's not the only one who is struggling in this team - but he is oldest in the attack and possibly the most experienced. He should be doing better.
Yeah spot on, influence is essential to a quality player and too often he's a passenger on the pitch.
he is English, all that needs to be said really as it means they are normally over hyped and over rated, which sadly means the player normally has a bigger ego than is justified and put little effort in as a result.
He's a luxury and not even a very luxurious one. He's like leather seats in a Daewoo. You think he should be an improvement but actually he just gets on your tits 90% of the year.
To be fair, he does put in a lot of effort. He is the master of running around aimlessly, but he will put a shift in.
Pretty ****, how he keeps starting games is a mystery. The op mentions good first touch and fancy dribbling but I've seen none of that, in fact yesterday there were a few times his first touch made it easier for the Watford players to tackle him and as for dribbling.... when? But his biggest detractor is that he is so lightweight. Easily pushed off the ball, easy to tackle, never puts himself in the way, rarely goes in for tackles never mind hard tackles (sticking your leg out is not tackling) and looks completely lost when faced with a physical opponent. Add to that he goes missing in games and even his good games he doesn't really do alot. I was against us signing him in the first place, even more so for the price and I'd be happy if we could sell him on for half the price.
Seen a few praise Origi but I didn't see it, seemed to give possession away a lot to me. However, since everyone was playing ****, that was always going to happen since it meant he had no one to pass to. I didn't think Ibe did anything wrong but nor did he really make a impact.
TBF to Lallana (and this applies to a few others too), he was very good when Klopp first arrived. He does seem to have retreated to his old self again now though.
Even Gerrez is a lightweight Rooney though The worst thing about the lad is his brain (or lack of). He has talent but has absolutely no idea when and where to use it. I literally could have throttled him yesterday, losing the ball in our own half trying to do stupid tricks and flicks. Once or twice you can live with but after that you have to learn. Our defence will take a heap of **** for yesterday (and rightly) but we don't half put them under extra pressure by losing the ball so easily and so frequently.
