I often think he looks the weakest part of our attack when played up front. That's not to say he's terrible, but I find it hard to see how he's going to make it as a striker. I'd like to see him back in his normal position, I think he's been 5/10 so far, and that's not entirely his fault.
The frustrating thing is, that was blatantly obvious throughout the summer and yet we failed to address it.
Mentioned it before, but I think it is odd that there are complaints that Austin is being played as a winger, and Redmond is being played centrally when they are playing the same position. I think Redmond is doing okay as a striker. Needs some polish, but he's young. He's a harder worker without the ball and on defense than I thought he would be. He's good at dribbling and taking on defenders. A better passer than I thought. Shooting skills need some work. And a general better understanding of the game which hopefully will come with time, although I will concede he's had enough experience now that it's fair to wonder about that a bit. Not sure what everyone expects would be different if he were playing wing. You'd get an extra cross a game, and one less through ball. He probably wouldn't have score that much because he didn't score much playing out wide either. He's getting more chances now at least. It would be bad if I felt like Redmond were burning chances that someone else would have put away. But he is like Long right now.. he creates a lot of chances for himself that maybe someone else wouldn't. And since the likely alternative is Long who isn't the world's greatest sniper himself, it doesn't really matter. We SHOULD have another striker. I agree with that. It's fair maybe to criticize Puel for his overconfidence in Redmond and thinking we were fine at the position. But nonetheless we don't have another striker, so we are using Redmond a lot. And with respect to Redmond, I have no issues. I actually think Redmond is slightly more effective as a striker than a winger, or not playing at all since we no longer play 4-2-3-1. It's all good experience for him, and I think it will serve him well even if he goes back to playing as a wing at some point.
Without the ball, the two strikers and Tadic as a forward three are often forced to rotate between defending as right and left wingers and being central. As it happens, Tadic is often central so furthest forward, and Austin and Redmond forced to track back out wide.
If, and it's a big if, we were to go shopping for another striker come January to take the pressure off Austin, anyone got any (realistic) preferences? The cynic in me thinks Jay Rod might have to go out on loan. I've got a lot of time for the man, but he is missing so much game time through injury, and looking at our bench yesterday, there wasn't anything that excited me to come on and make a difference - Long at this present time desperately needs the luck of the Irish and one to go in off his arse. If we were to bring someone in I'd imagine it will be from the continent somewhere (I'm trying to think like Les would). All hypothetical of course. A younger, cheaper Javier Hernandez, or that mould would be perfect.
Mauro Icardi appears to be the subject of a "Registration Rights" arrangement with Inter, who themselves are in some sort of trouble with FFP, so maybe we can do a deal while we're over there on the 20th.
So if Redmond is forced to track back out wide on defense. But if we win the ball, he will start his forward runs start from that position. So then is he playing any different to what he did when he was a winger who liked to cut inside? And Tadic is very seldom in front of Austin and Redmond. When he is, he typically holds the ball to allow Austin and Redmond to make runs ahead of him into the box. Exactly like they would do as attackers anytime the AMC has the ball.
I said all summer we needed another striker to replace pelle and we still do. We are a striker light. Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
If Claude looks at Nathan and sees a striker in the making, I'm tempted to accept his view as being somewhat worthwhile. Vin
For me, he has looked best when dropping into the number 10 position, because he runs at the holding midfielders and causes a bit of panic when he goes past them and exposes the back four. Needs to stop mouthing off at the ref, for petty things.
Well Tadic has been isolated on his own as furthest forward a number of times this season, as Austin and Redmond have had to track back to left/right midfield. I don't mind having Redmond up front, he effectively gives us another player at the top of the diamond in my eyes. If that means Austin has to make runs out wide then I'm not really buying into it though.
I thought he was a surprising signing. It always amazes me when some teams get relegated that there is such a frenzy to sign their players. Redmond may have been the pick of the bunch, but I don't think that Norwich really merited an EPL place. They looked good when they got promoted and also seem well suited to the Championship at the moment. Other than that, you can only suppose that the Saints scouts saw a lot of potential in Redmond. Having watched him at St Mary's this season, I don't think he is as bad as some people make out. His finishing in the last league match against Swansea was atrocious yet I think you need to be mindful that he is still young. The same can be argued with Ward-Prowse whose finishing in front of goal is not what it should be at this level. Obviously, even as a winger, he is no match for Mane and part of me thinks that , if Saints are looking to progress, they would be better off with someone of that calibre. Pound for pound, English players are over-priced and, if the EPL is moving towards a more continental style of play, I think that any players from the British Isles will need to progress. I have mixed feelings about this as I like the rugged and physical side of the British game, especially when played at pace. What I think is difficult to argue against as, taken in their respective positions, the youngsters we are producing ourselves (with the exception of JWP ) don't seem particularly inferior to the big-transfer man Redmond. How much would Targett be worth now? More interesting is the fact that Hojgberg looks a much better acquisition than Redmond and better value for money.
Redmond has been very promising so far. A threat, quick and hardworking, I've been impressed. If he can turn threatening into dangerous we will be onto a winner. 'He's not a striker' is pointless. When he's played as one, he is one. So far he's not a prolific one but that can change and it will, I'm picking him to score more than Long this season.
Tadic is often our furthest player forward. In fact if you go to somewhere like whoscored and look at the average position maps of our players Tadic's average position is regularly, maybe even usually, the furthest forward. This. Other players too. My gut response to this thread is to say I don't like Redmond and I think this is a big part of why. He often seems to act as though he's The Man and he's nowhere near that at this point.
IMO, the midfield struggled at times early in the season. I don't think it is as big a deal for Redmond, because with his speed and technical ability, he is okay receiving the ball deeper and running at defenders. It's not optimal, of course, but it happens. And it would be the same if Redmond were playing in a 4-2-3-1. If the midfielders can't hold the ball or we have trouble playing from the back, then Redmond has to drop deeper to help out. It's a bigger issue for Austin, who doesn't have the same speed or style of play and prefers to be in/around the box. But again-- if the midfield isn't ticking like it should, it would limit Austin's usefulness anyway, because he'd still have to either drop too far back, or be isolated on his own upfront. However, I don't think that has been as much of a problem recently. Austin and Redmond are both getting their chances. I wouldn't say we destroyed Leicester, but we were the better team on the day and between Austin, Redmond, and JWP's chances we should have scored one of those.
What did he say? I don't mind to see players (especially younger ones) give others a bit of a bollocking if they feel it's warranted, having strong characters and voices in the team is usually beneficial.
