But you don't account for every fourth post on the board in the last month. The last month has been like a Tintin interview. Comment now for your opportunity to have Tintin answer.
He really only comments when we lose to be negative .......strangely quite when we are on a good run.
I like a good geeky debate about tactics as much as the next guy. Probably more than the next guy, actually. I was rather crap at playing the sport-- too small and too slow, so I was that nerdy kid who read about the game instead. But there's still comes a time when you have to forget about THEORY, and see how the match actually plays out. In this game, and others we have created enough chances. We failed to convert. If we had been pinned in our own half the entire game, with almost no possession and no chances, then you could say we approached the game too negatively. But that is not what happened. I am not a fan of 5 at the back either. But that is NOT why we lost. Really none of our games have been lost due to bad tactics.
I don't understand why when people talk about someone else being captain that the current captain of the over achieving Northern Ireland national football team who therefore has experience of being a captain at a high level and has played for the club for a while doesn't get a mention and this time it is someone who arrived a couple of months ago that gets the nod.
Yup - good point, Imp. My thought on that was that Ron often subs Davis and you really need your skipper to be there the whole of the game. But to be honest, I'd take Steven Davis as skipper on the field at the moment, if he'd kick the boys up the backside and get them moving.
Because Davis is also playing like poop. And IMO, his place in the lineup is much less assured than Fonte's. You want the captain on the pitch. I don't think we need to remove the armband from Fonte.
I think the days of a captain neing on the pitch for the whole game are long gone. Many clubs the band is passed from player to player once the subs start happening.
It's not the amount you spend in any transfer window on any one player or in total that make you a success. However, I think we spent a lot on players who are clearly not settled yet or never will be. So we don't need to spend big just buy the right players- look at Leicester. Our transfers last season weren't too bad but this season seem to be a dismal failure although hopefully next season they might improve. I have said it before and no one seems to comment, but how much do we miss Dave Mitchell as our head of recruitment?
Meh. The primary defense of Davis last week when I pointed out that he was not playing well was that he was just an average, hard-working player not expected to shoulder a big load. He was immune from criticism because he was not a star a la Wanyama and not a leader like Fonte. Now you want to make him captain. That makes no sense.
I didn't say I wanted him to be made captain, just asked why people want to make others Captain and not someone who has experience in captaincy. As for the criticism you have summarised what I said incorrectly. I said that less was expected from Davis and therefore he gets less criticism because less is expected from him. What that has to do with Captaincy fails me. A good captain might not be in the best 11 players on the pitch yet is there because of what he adds as a captain. The captain doesn't need to be a star player nor a player that plays that well. Many teams have captains like that. Arteta?
And this is what I am attempting to explain. Under your criteria, there is nothing wrong with Fonts. He has experience. He isn't the best player. But he loves the club. He has been here longer than Davis has and been through the League One and Championship trenches. And he stepped down a league to do it. Davis does not offer anything that Fonte does not. You'd make him captain for the same reasons. So it is not surprising to me that those who want the captaincy switched are not suggesting Davis. Obviously, they are looking for some other attributes in a captain. What that is, I have no idea.
Under my criteria there is everything wrong with Fonte if (as others have stated, not me) he is not a leader on the pitch and his captaincy is being called into question. I am not talking about longest serving either, just that we have someone in our ranks who has considerable experience as a captain and has been here a while compared to some suggestions of making players with no experience of captaincy especially not at this level and who have only been here a couple of months. If we had bought a player in the summer that had been captain at his former club or his country I could understand their name being put forward. I am unsure of Fonte's qualities as a captain because I think in the modern game it is pretty much a prestige thing. i.e. given to longest serving or the star man. however if it is still relevant then surely it makes sense for someone who has experience of doing the job and is settled and respected at the club (which I assume he is) to be considered as the prime candidate?
For me he is the one person that should be changed and upgraded. Creative midfielder he is not, so why is he playing in that position?
Every season you get one team who seem to have struck gold with every new signing, or older signings finding form. It happened to us and now its happening with Leicester, we will see how they do next season when they lose their 3 key players
I pretty much agree but I also think he is the player that we have tried to improve on several times and have always gone back to him. I would think we will try and get that AM replacement again in the summer and maybe this time it will work. He isn't the best No10/AM however that seems to be his best position and whenever we get in a player that should be able to oust him it hasn't worked. Personally I would only play Davis if he is to be in that role because he is no DM, RM or LM and plays poorly whenever he is pushed into those roles.
What makes Davis a leader on the pitch? Yoshida has captained the Japanese side. Clasie was captain at Feyenoord. VVD has captained Celtic. Wanyama has been a captain for Saints and is currently Kenya's captain. JWP captains England U21.
I've watched Saints for a long time too. The most games I've ever watched us in a single season (live) was when we were in League One funnily enough. I've certainly seen Saints through highs and lows too. Just saying this so you realise. There is no doubt our defence is shocking and make too many individual errors. That's mainly the fault of the player. If he isn't up to it then we can't blame the manager specifically. But we know that certain people respond to manager's and situations in different ways. Which players are playing badly because the manager's poor man management and tactics are getting into their heads? I don't have a clue about that. Maybe they are all just playing like utter ****. We'll never know for sure. But perhaps a new manager can turn it around. I don't really think there is an excuse for individuals. But in my experience running a side in the past you must stay positive and always mention a players strengths even when you criticise them. I don't see what goes on behind the scenes, but my gut feeling is Koeman isn't a very good man manager at all when the chips are down. We had no shots on target in the first half and lost to Palace 5-3-2 away in the league (didn't look like making anything happen in that game) yet he played 5-3-2 again. It's already a defensive system. He ditched it last time after 67 minutes and this time after 45 minutes. He needs to be more positive and more attacking if he wants to turn results around. It's all well and good someone saying formations aren't the be all and end all. But we played 5 defenders, Clasie, Romeu and Davis from the start. We had two goalscorers on the park, our most creative player in the squad on the bench (Tadic. I actually saw an amazing post about me apparently suddenly liking Tadic because of stats. It's obvious to anyone he's comfortably the most creative player in the squad. It goes without saying. We don't need stats for that. I mentioned them earlier in the thread to defend him with a fact. ) and our set piece takers on the bench. It's difficult to score goals and make things happen when you don't have your most creative player on the park and aren't going to score from set pieces.
