but if you are keeping Morgan and Davis on the pitch who would you drop out of puncheon, lallana, lambert and ramirez.
The 3-4-3 has worked well for Wigan, but I think we need to have a formation which fits the personnel. Our strength in depth is in central midfield so I think we are right to have the middle three. If we adopted a three centre back formation then we would have no one good enough to defend/attack on the left.
I could be a little smug too, as I've clearly stated at least a couple of times that I consider the better all-round defender to be Fonte, rather than Hooiveld. Jos was immense last season, in that he came straight in and fitted very well, but one could see that he suffered from being a little too immobile. Thankfully, most Championship attacks weren't upto the task of making the most of his weakness. There were also his undoubted strengths, and his goal getting ability to bring many fans onside. But Premier League attacks aren't so carefree, and they will punish weakness. Last season, Fonte was having to be almost everywhere, on the ground, and he wasn't 100%, carrying a small injury almost throughout. No wonder he made the odd error. This season, he has shown that is upto the task so far, but he can't do one and half defending jobs, just his own. Jos will undoubtedly get several games this season. He is a perfectly reasonable PL defender in the right situation. Having played against the top 3 was perhaps a baptism too far for him, but he'll get easier games. They're all learning, after all.
Hard call, not an easy decision as all have been excellent however if I was to make a sacrifice it would have to be puncheon! For me there will be games in which lambert will sit out and maybe used as an impact sub if required. We have to remember he is not a natural born runner and is over 30 now so not a spring chicken...he will be vital and has been outstanding this season but we don't want him burning out!
Hooiveld was substituted because he picked up an injury not because he was ineffective. I don't think he was any worse than Fonte this season, though both of them are probably marginal in the Premier League. I feel like that's the same situation for all of our defense (and Davis as well). None of them are truly awful. You could probably get by with using one, two, possibly even three of them. But not that complete back four + SKD. As to who stays and who goes, it's just a matter of chemistry and also to some degree luck. At any rate, Boruc looks like he'll replace Davis, and Yoshida has replace Hooiveld (for now). And I think that after the January window, there will be a new LB and a new CB. Only Clyne will be left, as he is young and shows some promise. But even he will probably have to show some visible improvement between now and January (which I think he can). It will be hard for Hooiveld to get in the side now, but I think he was unfortunate in the timing of his injury. Had he not been hurt, I think it would have been Fonte to lose his place.
In the same way that we didn't write Nigel off after four defeats we shouldn't hang Jos out to dry. He was one of our best players last season. Of course it's a step up but he should be given the chance to learn from his mistakes. There are far worse defenders than him regularly starting in the PL.
Who's to say Hooiveld and Yoshida won't compliment each other well? Fonte looked very dodgy pre-season.
Tomorrow night will be the perfect opportunity to partner Hoof & Yoshida & try this out. I can see this happening personally as I think Adkins will field a team we all very much don't think will start ? Looking forward to it !!
This. I think our defensive problems are\were mainly to do with the CBs covering for Fox and Kelv getting caught at the near post time & time again. Fonte & Hooiveld are almost exactly the same standard - either will do fine playing alongside Yoshi. I suspect that they'd even do better than before now they have a Keeper who can command his area & a LB who they can trust to do his job.
I've said a fair few times before, the Southampton team is going to change a lot over the coming seasons. New players like Clyne, Ramirez, Manuya are joining Lallana, Schneiderlin, Cork, JWP, etc - [insert any I may have missed]... and I expect them to be here for a fair few seasons. There are also players who are going to move on sooner or later, because they won't be quite young enough or good enough for the expected journey. It means that some will move on and some will retire, but the team will improve and we know what the intention is there. Well some of us do.
