Quite an interesting article from regarding the signing of Wanyama. http://www1.skysports.com/news/18232/8820344/? So, if you had to chose two midfielders out of Schneiderlin, Wanyama and Cork who would they be?
This has been posted on the Welcome Victor pages but a cracking article none the less. I think Cork will be sacrificed for games when we attack but when we want to stifle then all 3 will play. Cork and Ramirez will prob interchange for the above reasons.
Cork is a good player but Wanyama and Schneiderlin are on their way to the top. I think it has to be them two.
I think cork has the potential to continue his rise, still young. I think people tend to think of him as the weaker of the pairing because he is less physically dominant. He is class and will still get plenty of gametime.
If we're only playing two, unfortunately Cork is the weakest of the three. None of them are remotely weak though, and Cork will still get plenty of games - just, he's not as good as Morgan and he's probably not as good as Big Vic.
I'd play Jack and Victor in front of Morgan with Gaston in front of them as a mid field diamond with Lickie Rambert and Jay Rodriguez up front.
Does this mean Lallana is on his way out. I think he has to step up...not sure what happened last season, but I was disappointed in him.
I can't call that until I've seen them play. Sometimes it's not about the better player, but about the better partnership. I am amazed that in all these threads I keep reading people talk about making a choice or 'a lot of players in that position'. Have we all forgotten our Nigel? It's about more than the 11. The really exciting prospect for me is that we will look at the bench and think, "great, we have options," as will those in the pitch, which should mean no slacking.
Mauricio will make tactical midfield substitutions work for us this coming season...imagine the opposition being run all over the pitch only for us to change one MF for a fresh one. How disheartening will that be? I can see bigger sides having to change their tactics to suit ours and not the other way round.
It very much depends on the set up of the team we are playing. Very hard to see Morgan as a non starter and Jack would appear to be the weakest of the 3, but I think he is one of those player that appears to drift through a game and not be seen even though his contribution is immense in most games. Remember how disjointed we were in the first 8 - 10 games last season? Like to see all 3 start, boss the mid-field and press the opposition.
I think we need to add Puncheon, Lallana, and James Ward Prowse to the mix. A brief look at strengths and weaknesses.. Big Vic.. We hope he is good at it all.. clearly hasn't been bought to warm the bench. Spiderman.. Ball winner, slick passer, added goals to his game last season, great engine Corky.. Saints improved when he recovered from injury. Good interceptor.. great close control.. continuity player.. no goal assists, no goals. Puncheon.. Fair share of goals, left footed, good understanding with Clyne produced penetration down the right, inconsistent. Ramirez.. Clearly gifted, fair share of goals, fair share of assists sometimes with the unexpected pass. Often wants too many touches, doesn't last ninety minutes. JWP.. Calm, picks a pass, shows promise in his all round game, but needs more games. Lallana.. Capable of the sublime, a game changer on his day. Understands Lambert's game better than any. Inconsistent following injury, patchy finisher, struggles defensively. So for me if we decide to keep it tight then all 3 (Vic, Spider and Corky) play, with corky most likely to substituted if we are chasing a game. Morgan given more license to get forward with anyone or two of Ramirez, Lallana or Puncheon making up a 4/5 . If they are all fit then the options from the bench could be awesome.
I might write this in my signature just to save time. Look, last year our only back up for Morgan and Cork was Steve Davis, who didn't really want to play there, and Ben Reeves. If Morgan hadn't played 36 games last year, it's not unreasonable that we might have got 6 less points than we did. So that's why we need to expand our squad, it's not about deciding whether to bump out Cork or Morgan.
Exactly and with our high work rate with pressing the opposite team we will need the better players for rotation etc.
One of the things I was VERY impressed with Mauricio last season was his ability (particularly in comparison to NA) to make tactically effective substitutions. I have no doubt that with better options from the bench that will become an ever more important part of our performances, particularly when it comes to closing games down.....
Cork is clearly the weakest. I can't see Pochettino changing system. So Schneiderlin and Wanyama. I can't see 3 of them starting together unless Wanyama was playing centre back.
