I know Gallagher has been generally thought well of, but I've mainly kept my opinions about his abilities to myself. I'm going to break ranks here and say that during the time Gallagher played in the first team, a season or two back, I thought he looked out of his depth. I'm not blaming him, CF is a bloody easy position to look poor in, but despite scoring the odd goal I thought he looked laboured, unbalanced, lacked speed and the instinct to be in the right position. That seems extremely harsh I know, but if youngsters are going to succeed at SFC it can't be at the expense of 1st team success. It's also not fair to other seasoned professionals who might be busting a gut to win a match and then they see a youngster not being able to hold his end up for the want of ability. Having his father die must have been an enormous blow to him, but he is in the best club to overcome that. Gallagher may come good and make it as a professional, but I think he'll end up not playing for Southampton.
The club quite rightly extended his contract when he was injured and his father died, but he would have broken through by now if he was going to.
Good point, but such examples are rare. He may do better to go to another team and rebuild his career.
They strike me as very similar players, not great technically, clumsy looking, but strong and an eye for goal. If Kane can do it, then I have faith in Sam to find himself again, the talent is there for sure. I was thinking of changing it today, everyone loves Young Thug.
Kane always had the knack of being in the right place for a shot but his finishing was woeful, his general game was good but was lacking that goal scoring knack, I do not know if it was confidence or practice that turned him around but he is a totally different player than 2 years ago. Some people say that players like Austin and Sharpe are lucky as the ball falls to them in the box, I disagree, finishing can be taught but alot of a strikers role is instinctive. Good to see McQueen play the whole game and get his first league goal
Talking about striker's instinct, has it passed through anyone's mind ever that Maya Yoshida has an eye for goal? When he scored against Everton earlier in the season I first thought... bloody hell, Maya's in there again. Scores a lot of goals for Japan and gets on the scores sheet a few times even though he's not a regular in the Saints side. Definite poacher's goal against WHU.
I mentioned on a forum that his off the ball movement was "Austinesque ", against WHU. His run from near the edge of the penalty area was perfectly timed.
Yoshida has always been a cultured player. He's gone for the overhead kick a couple times off set pieces. He almost always looks for the pass before the booted clearance, sometimes to his detriment. I felt like the stereotypical Yoshida move occurred last game. He had the ball, and time to clear it but he wanted to pass it and make something happen instead. West Ham pressed and he ended up playing himself into trouble and basically making a meal out of what should have been a simple clearance. But then he pulled off a nice Cruyff turn near the byline to get out of it. In the PL, he's not quite good enough to get away with some of the things he has been used to doing. Which is why he has made some crucial mistakes. But he does have some skills. He's maybe not a great CB (though he does alright), but he's never been a limited CB. A bit like Do Prado, I guess. Well-rounded player but not really good enough at the specific things they need to be good at to be a starter.
Yep but a back four of U18s (inc one 15 year old) playing against a much more experienced side. The U21 team due to injuries and loans is much weaker than it was at the start of the season
