A class Left Footed Centre Back for me, anybody know one? Second choice a big bustling Centre Forward, that can hold the ball up, and scores goals for fun, we have all the providers that we need.
CB for me, because as i have said on other threads although Fonte and either Martin or Seaborne seems a decent partnership if Fonte picks up an injury or suspension then i would be seriously worried about our defence. On top of that, Connolly is on form and Lambert is so important to the team with his link up play/vision and his goals. In fairness it remains to be seen if Lambert or Barnard can perform at this level, and if Connolly can last half a season without getting injured. But as things stand i think we can afford to stick with what we have and reassess the striker situation in January.
We could have moved Guly up front though, or included Forte on the bench. Personally I would like another striker (but they would have to be a TOP striker, who is proven at this level), but nowhere near as much as I'd like another CB. Having Fonte and Fonte Mark II in the centre of our defence would just be immense, especially now that we've added Fox into the mix as well.
Is there any info on what has happened to Barney, obviously picked up an injury pre-season but I though NA said he would be back soon.
We need both. I put CB, but without Goals we won't go up. Birmingham were tight (ish) at the back, but got relegated
We have got goals throughout the team, even Jose Fonte got 7 last season...Lallana, Guly, De Ridder, Chaplow and Hammond will get their share of goals too. I'm not against a proven Championship goalscorer being signed and I even had Jay Rod on my wishlist on the HCDAJFU & transfers threads, but the need for a quality Centre Back is greater. So if it is a straight choice, it is a quality CB for me.
Much as I love the idea of a team which plays to the tune of, we'll score more than you... I don't think it is any way to sustain a level of footballing progress. They may be able to win a league in any particular season with it, but they'll come unstuck eventually. A balance is always better. If Saints can preserve the balance they have a present, I will be overjoyed at the end of the season. 3-1 is a very nice scoreline indeed, provided it is always in our favour. BTW, a CB for me please.
Definitely need to focus on improving the side defensively. Torquay United had TEN attempts on target the other night! That's a bit too slack for my liking, especially given the quality of opposition. I used to coach youth football, and we would often play practise matches without any keepers, so that defensively players would work hard to make sure opponents didn't have any kind of effort on target. It certainly switches players on, and makes them alert to any kind of threat. On a positive note, it's really nice to see Saints hitting such a great conversion rate with efforts on target ... 50%! Lovin' THAT STAT!
Agree - we need both but would like a centre forward to cover for Rickie as we have no other big forward
That was purely down to Bart though. We don't want to depend on our last line of defence all the time. Better finishing, and our opponents will be out of sight in future. The point is, Torquay created 10 opportunities, with which, on another day, might have been our downfall. Let's not rely on other teams being bad, to make progress. But VERY PLEASED with Saints finishing. Just hope we don't play a side equally as lethal in front of goal. Forest afforded Barnsley just ONE shot on target last Saturday. Bristol City gave Ipswich just 4 chances, and they took 3! I think it's important we strike a good balance. Don't want to concede soft goals and see all that confidence fall away.
We took our chances in the Leeds game. We were guilty last year of converting only a few chances, but luckily we usually had 10 shots on target.This year will be more difficult against better defences. I'm going to take the first game as a positive sign and accept that the Torquay game was a typical cup tie.
