With 3 central midfielders on yesturday, we were crying out for some more width especially down the right side of midfield, which came to me questioning do we have enough wingers (with pace) to really trouble full backs? I think Adkins should hand a start to Holmes or De Ridder or possibly buy someone in January if were going to maintain our league position.
We know this all too well, but there aint much we can do about it until the window. Holmes is too injury prone to be relied on and De Ridder is best as an impact player.
Schneiderlin IS NOT a winger - if Holmes is fit and on the bench I'm sure he is able to start then bring De Ridder on around an hour or so
Absolutely. Someone also mentioned last week that Schneiderlin should also be encouraged to shoot by getting him into the box. Well he's had more shots in the last few weeks than his entire previous Saints career, and has troubled the crowd more than any keeper. When he does get it on target it's a bobbler and straight at the keeper. Let Hammond go forward and keep Schneiderlin back. Many midfielders throughout the years could pass beautifully, but couldn't shoot for toffees. Spider is one of those, IMO.
That was the first away game I've seen this season, so I don't know if yesterday was typical. But not only did we lack width, we seemed to lack invention and confidence. I thought we sat very deep, even when we had possession, and we relied on a lot of long balls up to Ricky and Guly, especially in the frst half. When we did get numbers into midfield we began to look like the team who've been outclassing our opponents at st Marys all season.
I am sure Adkins has got it under control! Scheiderilin needs to feature in some way, he is gonna be a fantastic player when he is older, only gonna happen with game time
Poopey was the first away game I didn't go to, by our away day standards yesterday was a good day. I have said most of the season we badly need speedy wingers.
With the options we've got, I agree actually think Adkins chose the right midfield. Yes Morgan is not a right-winger, he will never be a right-winger. But Lallana is defensively suspect on the left-wing, so we couldn't afford to replicate that on the right-wing too - which would have been the case had De Ridder started. Yes ok, Holmes or maybe even Butterfield could have been option. But would they have offered us much more than Morgan? And I don't think either of those two could be classed as a right-winger either. We mis Chaplow out there, we miss Guly out there, and yes, we miss Chamberlain out there. Hell, we even miss Puncheon out there.
Recently a lot of our goals have come from the right flank!!! Richardson is given license to get forward and must be right up there in assists.
Joint 5th in the league, with 6 assists. The same number as Guly; you know that apparently dreadful, useless player who isn't worth his place in the team. (The four players with more than 6 assists by the way include Lambert, with 7).
Pretty damn good for a full back. My point is, full backs can be giving license to effectively get forward in the modern game if that teams formation allows for it. Given Richardson's assists NA obviously incorporates that into the way Saints play. So with that in mind I agree with people who say we might need a right sided midfielder but that player has NOT got to be a winger. We have an out and out winger in DeRidder and because of that I think he is going to struggle to get a start....Chaplow is not a winger but his partnership with Richardson looked pretty good to me.
His size has nothing to do with it....but like Lallana he'll have to come up through the ranks and when he's good enough he'll play.
Lallana has beefed up a lot in the last few years and is a much better player for it. He isn't big, but he uses his strength and low centre of gravity to be very strong on the ball. In the youth team, Sinclair is given license to run at defenders, which he wouldn't get in the Championship. The jump in standard is a big one and the transition needs to be done carefully.
Yeah,you're right he is stronger now that he used to be.Hopefully we'll see Sinclair in the 1st team soon.
AdamBanana...I'm sure we will see him in 1st team in the future alongside a few more of our promising youngsters.
We need pace, yet Adkins is reluctant to use de Ridder. Tells me that he doesn't really rate him except as an impact player. On Sunday, it may not have been pretty but Adkins nearly pulled it off. Saints were patient and had decided not to take risks until an opportunity came for Lambert. Did you see how slowly KD was taking kicks..we were taking our time, believing that in the end class or greater fitness would tell. We just couldn't see it out. We are a team that really needs to score more because we will often let in a goal. I think Adkins is getting more cautious as the season progresses because of our league position, so the team is playing with less freedom.
Looks like we are going to have to buck our ideas up, Palace have beaten Brum 1 0 tonight, they are not going to be a walk over.
