Match Day Thread Leicester vs Southampton 02/09/2016 KO 2:15pm

ie, a tricky, quick and explosive version of Tadic. [Jeez, that's a heck of a player I've just described ]

 

Right, but I take it Tadic is not going out of this team...is he??

 

No, but Sophie Anne will take a ten type position. Might mean a shift in formation, or Dusan being rotated. We shall see. It's a nice problem to have.

 

Liquid diamond.

 

Thing is, which one will be shopping for a house in Penny Lane first.?

The thing with Tadic is, is that he's probably the first Saints player since Matty where I'm aware that my jaw has dropped suddenly because he's done something properly special. Dusan may be frustrating when he has too much time to think about things, but occasionally he does something marvellous. That back heel to Cedric, against WHU last week. That was sublime. Barely got mentioned in despatches.

 

I thought we were good today. Actually, we have been good the last few games, jut lack the cutting edge in front of goal...but a draw against the champions away is a good result, especially after a Thursday 4500miles away day.

I like the fluid diamond. We are good under opposition pressure. What did Sir Nigel once say? Pressure makes diamonds....

 

The overriding theme, from our recent games, is "control", IMO.
We seem to take the sting out of our opponents attacks with, on most occasions, relative ease, then play keep ball that stops prolonged pressure being built up.

At the moment, the only two things lacking - goals and the speed with which we transition from defence to attack, however there are signs that this is changing, the transition part that is.
Today, until Cedric was injured, we were looking a very decent, attacking team, as we did in the second half against Spam, so I am becoming increasingly confident that we will continue to improve on that front.

Regarding Austin's attempt to chip Schmeichel, he will probably realise, in hindsight, that Schmeichel, like his dad before him, stays up on his feet for as long as possible, in one to ones, so the better option would have been a low shot.

Romeu was absolutely immense, almost a 10/10 performance, save for that one misplaced pass.

 

Hmm, that is a surprise to me as I expected him to be competing with Redmond. If Tadic and Boufal can't play in the same team in this formation then it somewhat reinforces my main concern which is...

Hardly anyone plays two strikers any more and those who do succesfully (eg Leicester) have two distinct players supported by two fast wingers in a 4-4-2. We do not have any of that. It all adds up to a major lack of flexibility and players in positions (today filled by Davis, Hoj and Redmond) where they seem to have no real influence. We have the right amount of cover to play one no.9 striker with a possible second in support. But to play a combination of two for 90 minutes we are taking risks, when one has never played there and two are of questionable fitness.

It's true that we have defended well and Romeu has been my man of the season. Having Van Dijk and Forster helps. And it is strange to write all of this when we are on a winning/drawing run (of winnable/drawable games). But wouldn't this all work better with Tadic-Austin-Redmond/Boufal in a 4-3-3? Or some sort of 4-2-3-1 like the rest of the league is using?

 

Didnt watch the game but i am very surprised to see that Sky Fantasy football selected Steven Davis as MOTM. Wouldve thought Romeu was nailed on from the description on here

 

Probably Redmond on the bench for Boufal and that's it (because Puel insists on playing Austin as a left winger)

 

Short/readable version of what I was trying to say above. ^

 

That does seem bizarre.

 

Romeu, fonte, hoijberg all had better games than davis.

 

Davis was poor.

 

We'll all club together and pay you twice what you currently get for each match thread

 

I hear the Everton board are after him. They're going to make him the world's sixth highest paid thread starter.

As everyone knows, Rumplestiltskin is top...

 

Seen a few people saying davies was poor.i dont think he was.he had a couple of bad touches but other than that i thought he was ok.not motm tho. Oriol get that imo

 

He created nothing of note, his set pieces were almost all awful, and despite being rested on Thursday, he wasn't the non-stop "midfield dynamo" we are used to seeing. Perhaps he should have played on Thursday, then he might not have been quite so lethargic!

 

Agreed he was not at his best.would not describe his performance today as poor tho