Actually it was going a country mile wide and in all honesty should have done much better with such a free header.
I thought Steeeve played well. He has drive and passion and took the ball forward himself when the others were passing it back or sideways, apart from overly-hopeful long balls over the top, which Rickie wasn't getting as he was mostly double-marked.
In hindsight, because of how rickie was practicably doubled up, rodriguez would have been a better bet as he can hold the ball up himself
Davis - 6 Clyne - 6 Fonte - 6 Yoshida - 6 Shaw - 6 Puncheon - 5 Cork - 6 Schneiderlin - 4 Ramirez - 6 Lambert - 5 Mayuka - 5 De Ridder - 6 S.Davis - 6 Guly - 5 Best saints player Shaw or Fonte
K.Davis - 6 Shaw - 7 Yoshida - 6 Fonte - 8 Clyne - 6 Cork - 6 Schneiderlin - 6 Ramirez - 5 Puncheon - 6 Lambert - 5 Mayuka - 5 De Ridder - 5 S. Davis - 6 Guly - 6 Saints MOTM: Jose Fonte Adkins - 4 (No JWP on the bench, and why not use Rodriguez??) Simple story really, nothing from the midfield forward worked, or looked like working all day..... 1) Mayuka's runs were poor, so he didn't get the ball often. 2) Both Ramirez (71% complete) and Lambert's (65%) passing were well below par (not aided by poor runs from Mayuka, but not the only reason). 3) Puncheon (1/7 complete) & De Ridder (2/7) the only players providing any width were absolutely woeful with their crossing. It also didn't help that without Lallana, the front four didn't appear to provide the usual level of support to Schneiderlin & Cork regards hassling the opposition and winning the ball back. I think we've signed/are using too many players as 'wingers' that are actually converted forwards or no 10's rather than tenacious midfielders (Ramirez/Rodriguez/Mayuka/Lee to name but 4!). De Ridder and Guly on the other hand can more naturally play that position but are not PL standard which leaves only Lallana and Puncheon as realistic PL level options for that position without messing up the balance of the side. I know many are in favour of a CB in Jan, but I really think we're even shorter regards needing options at winger from those who have some kind of defensive side and/or link up play to their game. Lat
Shaw and Fonte were the plus points in a very poor team display. Can't give anyone else more than a 5. Nigel Adkins 4: Sunderland offered very little attacking flair and this game was a great opportunity for an easy clean sheet. We only needed to be half decent in possession to avoid giving Sunderland anything silly and we only needed to go 4231 to do that. I got in a couple of minutes late and upon seeing Mayuka up with Lambert in a 442, my first thought was "oh ****". With the team out there, it was quite straightforward to play Puncheon right, Mayuka left and Ramirez centrally, so I don't buy personnel excuses. It's visible from space that we shouldn't play 442 against any halfway decent side. Beating Reading and QPR but losing to everyone else won't keep us up, so we should just consign it to the scrapheap and move on. Having it hanging round like a bad smell is detrimental to the club. Adkins gets a 4 for having the presence of mind to change it mid-match, but the damage had been done by then. All teams have bad days in front of goal, but even so, a 0-0 draw was very much there for the taking and bad tactics cost us.
Someone else who thinks they know better than the manager... Everyone's entitled to an off-day, and who can say we would have done better in a different formation? Fact of the matter is, if the players performed better then the formation debate would be moot.
Sorry mate that was not the case......The header was on target although it was cleared from in front of the line. I think it was a Fonte header. We were just by the goal and could see it very clearly. For me some of the markings are clearly off in my opinion. The only ones again in my opinion who can say they did their bit was Shaw,Fonte and Puncheon. Clyne for me was outplayed today he was clearly at fault for the build up to their goal. Ramirez just as well have stayed at home and Mayuka or what ever his name is, was hardly in it at all. Bad day at the races as they say.....!!
To be fair I didn't think Mayuka was that bad, in comparison with everyone else. I thought his touch and passing were very poor, but unfortunately that seemed the case with almost all our midfielders and attackers yesterday! However, Mayuka's positioning and run-making was actually good, and for me he stood out in that department. That's not to say he played well, as it's a but pointless making good runs if you're going to screw up when you get the ball, but I think saying he was our worst player by far, even saying he was our worst player at all, is I think too harsh.
Didn't see the MoTD was just behind the goal in question. I phoned both my grand sons who do have better eyes than me and they agreed and thought it was on target, but hey what does it matter it didn't go in anyway!! We certainly had the chances to win the game but didn't have the rub of the green at times.
I agree, thought adkins was losing it when he brought steve on initially. Although he tried hard and took players on, surprised me. Sham as everyone always says- no end product. Deserved a 6 IMO.
Surprised RLGB hasn't commented yet, we all know what rating he would've given to his favorite "overpriced foreigner" Gaston Ramirez...
I'm not a Yoshida fan, but I thought he actually did alright. Giving the ball away in the lead up to their goal aside, he's probably the only one of our players that I'd give a 7 to. Thought Morgan was our worst player by a mile. Thought he had a complete shocker. Didn't surprise me at all that Lambert was hardly in the game. Just seeing the names of O'Shea and Cuellar told me that would be the case before a ball was kicked. I said the same thing going into the Liverpool game with Agger and Skrtel, and I've just said the same thing on here about Stoke and Huth & Shawcross later this week. Experienced PL CBs (both themselves and their partners), who are strong men and know how to deal with the ball in the air. For the last three or four weeks now, I have been wondering if we do need to a quality striker to our January wishlist.
I don't get many chances to see us live any more, this is the first game I've seen since Sheffield Wednesday. A few things I noticed: 1) Doing an Adkins and taking the positives first, I thought we looked pretty solid at the back. Their goal had a bit of luck about it and they had few other chances. 2) We played a lot of 'attacking football' but, to be honest, we created next to nothing. Read somewhere we had 2 shots on target. Every time we had a good looking chance, we other screwed up or a Sunderland defender made a good challenge 3) We were second to almost every second ball. A number of times the ball bounced in their area and no Saints players challenged for it. We were flat all game and credit to Sunderland, they took advantage. An off day, but sadly a result that when combined with Wigan, Norwich and Swansea at home, we may well regret in May.
We definately don't need another striker, but we do need to make better use of the ones we have by getting the shape right and keeping the ball on the floor. A winger/playmaker type to add some depth might help with that though.
The question will remain that this squad not team squad is not good enough and the question will remain why? The who's responsible for this comes later.
I thought we had that awesome footballer Ramirez? How many wingers have we got? The thing is they are crap, are De Ridder, Guly and Rodriguez truly first team starters or rotation players if we mean to strive for better? Burnley must be laughing their smalls ones right off.
