I thought that was more down to Sulemana giving the ball away cheaply whilst we were out of position but I've not watched it back. Does anyone know why Manning and KWP swapped for a while before changing back?
He’s very much a last pick in the playground player. Probably competent for a mid to low championship side, but noticeably a level down on our other players.
Sulemana was crap, but first game back etc. Manning got totally done. Just real bad judgement. It happens to him a lot. Was funny when him and KWP swapped. The first thing the commentator said was, "Southampton are wide open on the right-hand side". Lol
I think they swapped as Martin thought that the guy on the left was good and beating Manning every time. "Let me put the Championship's best full back on that side to calm it down" They swapped and the right then was exposed. I think Martin realised then that Manning wasn't that good.
The whole team wasn't "at it" as Don Goodman and Franny said and it was just one of those games that started badly and just got worse. There could be many reasons for this, fatigue, lack of playing time for some but it doesn't take much for the equilibrium to change and you get a below par performance. I think that Downes missing was the obvious factor because Shea at this time is some way below his level and Smallbone is a great 8 but very much a mixed 6 and he probably needs a rest too. Adarma is just not as effective playing through the middle as well but if we want to accomodate Brooks then he would have to drop to the bench. The balance of the starting XI has been built up over a number of games but Russell has been forced to change it up because of fixture congestion and injury so it's interesting if he has learnt a few things after last night's match.
Think I read somewhere, not this season. Which given how long he's already been out is a concern. Poor lad.
If we *have* to accomodate Adarma and Brooks, I'd rather Adarma played left ahead of Edozie with Brooks on right, and Che/Mara through the middle.
I agree that defensively Smallbone isn’t a 6, but I understand why RM moved him there and shifted Charles out to the right side. Smallbone is more assured with the ball in tight spaces and Charles was making bad passes even when he wasn’t under pressure. I don’t see how you can attribute that to him being rusty as passing is a basic fundamental skill that they work on day in, day out. He was just poor. Having said that, and I mentioned it last night, our overall movement was awful. Bednarek was left hanging so many times when he brought the ball out of defence and was often just turning back and squaring the ball to THB. I couldn’t believe how often our midfield players were taking up positions that were directly behind Bristol players making it impossible to pass to them. I have read that RM doesn’t use dummies in training but I think he used a few last night. It’s a good ploy for everyone to have an off day at the same time, but only if they recover for the next one. Can you imagine how good Romeu would be in a RM team?
On reflection do you think it was the pressure of the possible 23 game without a loss that was playing on their minds? Over confidence perhaps? They didn’t seem to be on their game last night just the same as the early moments in the previous match. 6 goals against in two games is a tall order to understand.
I don't think it was overconfidence if it was - It was the pressure of having to keep the run going. Got that monkey off our back so hopefully all good now.
