I'm not sticking up for Pellegrino here at all but he actually got a point here last season! I accidentally said Hughes and sent it to you just now, then quickly deleted it because of the shame!!
A positive. Cardiff had their run of nice games and got 0 points and a hammering to their GD Next five for them West Ham home Chelsea home City away Burnley away Liverpool home Freak results happen but if we can pick up points we may be sitting pretty come end of April
I'm not trying to put a downer on a good performance. But we won't play that way every game, which is what makes it disappointing to have not have come away with anything from such a good performance. Ultimately though, we still have our 2 point cushion and our GD is far better than Cardiffs despite them having one of their more winnable games today compared to us. Next round of games will be another big one. Cardiff home to West Ham (which they could really do with winning) and us home to Spurs, which you would expect us to lose. If Cardiff lose to West Ham next weekend then we really are in the driving seat and it will be down to us to put some more points on the board.
The one thing I will say is that he is sticking to the same formation and team (with occasional slight tinkering) and it is starting to show in the last two matches. It feels like he has found an identity and purpose with the players now and that is half of the battle. Whether we will remain to struggle against teams that sit deep we will wait and see but we can give virtually anybody a game that comes to play football.
Another positive is the return of Ings and Lemina. Austin has been awesome last couple of games and doesn’t deserve dropping however.
Having Ings back will be a boost. Even if it's just for a few games. But given Austins recent performances, and given that we are likely to lose to Spurs anyway, and given that after the Spurs game on the 9th, we don't play again until we play Brighton on the 30th...there's no way Ings should be playing against Spurs. Give him that extra time to get back fit for the much more important Brighton game.
As we have a break after Spuds, I'd make Ings sit that one out. Be better to have him back for the run in. And a long rest may well stop these recurring injuries.
You can also throw in Ings being unable to feature against Liverpool. So in the event that he isn't available for Spurs next weekend, the Brighton away game will be Ings' only game between now and April 13th. That's a lot of time to hopefully get him as fit as possible for the run-in.
I am so pleased about Charlie’s return to favour. Still reckon he can be a factor on our getting out of jail.
.................Gunn ....Bedders, Maya, Vester Valery..........................Bertie .................Oriol ........JWP...........Pierre ...............Redders ................Danny That's a pretty decent first choice XI going forward and I would say that I would be looking to bring in quality CBs first to possibly replace Maya and Vester first for next season. Danny's fitness is an issue but not as much as some think and a top quality goalscoring Striker is a necessary addition to the squad as well
After watching the first few minutes I thought we were in for a kicking. What impressed me about our defending was how often, when the ball was pinging around our box, we got to the second ball first and properly cleared the ball. Several times the defence chose to hit the ball into row Z, rather than twist and contort their bodies in an attempt to clear upfield, and mishitting the ball into a dangerous counter attack area. Gunn is so quick off his line, which is great when we play teams with the ability to find gaps where there are none. Yes the ref denied us a penalty, and I would like a closer look at the foul given against Chaz, when we had a shot deflected into the net. My stream was playing up at that time, so unsure if we woz robbed of a 2-0 lead, by one of many soft free kicks awarded to the home team. Best all round team performance this season, by far, and the reason we finally lost to United was because of them getting that slice of luck when they needed it. The pass to Lukaku was being played to foot, and it was only a lucky deflection off of Pierre’s heel that put it into the perfect place for him to turn onto it and hit it first time. Nice finish though. Could be a goal of the month competition just from that match alone. Well played Saints, now keep that attitude for the rest of the season.
I made a similar comment after the Fulham game, about us finding row Z more often that we're arguably used to since we returned to the PL. Yes of course I'd rather we still had defenders who are very comfortably on the ball. But the likes of Virgil and Toby are, in essence, freaks. They don't come along too often. Utilising row Z on a regular basis isn't going to win you many trophies, but it's also unlikely to get you relegated. There's a reason why certain teams/managers can see out a 2-0 lead so comfortably, despite having players of limited ability, and often that includes not being embarrassed or ashamed about finding touch.
In order, I'd say that our priorities are: - Good striker. - Good CB. - Creative attacking midfielder. Still likely need another option at RB, and other needs will depend on whether we sell regulars.
