Glad that I was in one of their boxes as my mate and his gang have their own executive box up their. Was a great night though, and after match had a beer with all the dale players. Proper club. Lol
I can understand fans and players being unhappy about today's result but I think we need to be very careful about incorrectly quoting and interpreting player comments. I've listened to both the Solent and saints post match interview with VVD And haven't heard the first or second part of the quote you originally put up. I know you've retracted the second part but the damage was already done. People will believe what they want to believe and you've succeeded in unnecessarily alienating a lot of people to Puel tonight. Add to that the comment that players are having a go at him with evidence, it seems to me, from the JRod interview where he does not mention Puel. Seriously? Personally, I'm yet to be convinced by the diamond, by Puel, and my the new tactic of possession over pressing. But it's too early to draw a conclusion. VVD is bang on the money with his comments. We need to adapt to the managers wishes. Drawing against Sunderland two years on the trot at home is not good enough. We need to be converting our chances. Nothing in the comments suggests to me criticism of the diamond. But if you want to believe it does, that's fine. Just important not to put it over as a fact. Either way.
He was visibly frustrated during the game. Had several animated yelling/violent gesturing sessions with various players where there had clearly been a miscommunication. But where are you seeing this on twitter? I saw his comments after the match where he said we weren't good enough and were adapting to the new system. But it seemed to me like he was more trying to say not to use the system as an excuse and instead to push on and adapt faster and play better. Not so much that the tactics were terrible.
Tadic is always, always at his best on the left wing. Has always been the same. Every fan knows it, yet two managers now have been playing him in different positions
Has it been missed that PEH absolutely gifted possession twice in as many minutes inside his own half, the second ending with the penalty? He was excellent first 20 but really poor after that.
I remember it so well. First home game after Pardew was sacked and I got in an argument with people when they were singing 'we want our pardew back' (urgh!) In the king alfred before the game. I also quote that game when I talk about fond memories of league 1. 1st round of the FA Cup, no international breaks, losing 2-0 at home to Rochdale. Ahhh those were the days!
Noted. Commented on it earlier. He has the ability to be class but he will need time to make the grade.
Where to start. Why, after a fairly decent first 15/20 minutes, in which we were in control and creating a few decent shooting opportunities, did it all go to ****? If the players can be so on top, for that period of time, is it fair to suggest that they do understand the new system and that it can work, when the application is there? What needs to be determined is why we let our control slip, and how can it be prevented in future games, so that will be a lot of video watching for Claude, whilst the players are away. Fonte either wasn't fit or wasn't up for the game. Even in the first few minutes he gave a dreadful cross field pass, to VVD, which VVD had to dive into a tackle, to prevent a Sunderland player running clear on goal. He seemed to be back on his heels for the entire match, which was worrying. The distance between the CBs, at times, and given the fact that we only have Romeu playing deep midfield, is extremely worrying. They should be closer together so they can communicate and organise. VVD, as others have said, was good, but he also made mistakes as a direct result of diving in to challenges, brought about, IMO, by the disorganisation. I don't get the "lack of width" criticism. We had width the entire game, through Targett and Cedric - just didn't have an end product from either, but then a lot of that was due to the slowness with which we were passing the ball to them and them being closed down. Austin, I thought, made some excellent runs, but wasn't picked out quickly enough, leading to the several offsides. Redmond, again IMO, was the catalyst for our second half improvement. The moment he moved into the number 10 position, he did what Tadic hadn't done. He turned and took players on, beating the first man, thus drawing players out of position, creating the panicky situations in the Sunderland defence, in the last 10/15 minutes. Long, oh Long. Really, really should have engineered a penalty in the dying minutes. When he pushed the ball past the defender, who went full length along the ground, he stepped over the outstretched leg, instead of running into it. I don't like suggesting that our players should initiate contact, in these circumstances, but you can bet your house that Defoe would have done it, so why not. Even Mason couldn't have missed that one. Still a work in progress, and as I said in the beginning, if the system is workable for 20 minutes or so, why shouldn't it be workable for 90?
that post was just a tad overboard eh? Beefy you must be proud of your influence. Managing to turn loads of fans against Puel
This made me smile. I agree with everything you say but a creative player behind 2 strikers in a 4-4-3 is precisely what the diamond formation seeks to achieve (see http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...balls-in-vogue-formation-the-midfield-diamond) . I keep referring back to RK's comments last season. The formation only indicates where players start the game. If we have a problem at the minute it is more likely the players adapting to the new tactics rather than the formation. I saw the issue trickle through half the team today in the first half. Fonte got caught off guard, blamed VVD, who lambasted Targett. Charlie Austin then came back to give Targett better support. For me, the issue is how we cover for the full backs going on as wing backs and leaving us exposed at the back.
Nah even if I had a crazy 5 mins and misheard what was said, players are still not happy. Jay must have said "I just want to play" about a million times. Tony Husband also said about the tactics (formation).
Ah I did have a brief look but couldn't find any comments. I like the look of him but feel we're all so desperate for him to be magnificent that we shift the blame onto others for his shortcomings
Once again we are in transition. New manager, new players, new formation. It's going to take time to adjust, not only to the new stuff but also to the Absence of the old. Remember Puel didn't choose for Koeman to move on, he didn't hire himself. He's here to fix a **** situation. I have worried from very early on that our Dutch players signed extended contracts before Koeman moved on, if memory serves a lot of players did, Koeman royally shafted the club by moving on IMO. If the players were down in the dumps about Koeman, Puel already had a hard road ahead of him. Just speculating but my point is that it's not the end of the season it's only the start and maybe in 12 months we will be settled and singing off the same hymn sheet. But not if we are kicking off and calling for people to get chopped all the time.
I don't think Beefy is influencing anyone. This is just a healthy debate on the current players / System / Manager etc. The vibes ain't that great, but as I said in a previous post, I personally will wait until transfer window shuts and we get to 11/12 games into the league ex Europa Cup games, before I feel we can truly judge Puel. It shouldn't be like that but if things remain as now, Les and the club will have a big decision to make as premier league survival is crucial to the clubs 5 year plan. I for one hope it doesn't come to that, but let's wait and see, but as always I'll be there cheering on and encouraging the team as always. COYR
Disagree with that. He barely put a foot wrong all game. First 20 he looked world class, but I counted 2 or 3 incomplete passes all game. He was massively solid, helped out Cedric constantly and his positioning throughout was fantastic. First time I've seen him live and I thought he was awesome.
Don't really care that much about Tadic, tbh. I will agree that it was stupid to play him on the right wing when the left wing was available. But he should be able to play centrally. And if he can't... too bad. Tadic even on the left could be great on his day, but he would go missing at times as well. I mean, it's not that I want him off the team or anything as but he's not like a superstar player I would build my tactics around. If he can't play centrally, that's why we got Boufal. Redmond looked pretty good there today as well. As did Davis. This was kind of why I wasn't totally keen on extending Tadic, but whatever-- we've done so now and it must be because the club and Puel felt he could be useful in Puel's scheme. I am more worried about our defensive situation (both on defense and when recycling possession) right now than attacking.
