You only realise how much height we lack in attack when vvd surged forward in the second half. He looked like a giant.
Great to meet you guys again. Lovely to get to meet Isle of Wight and South Wales Royalty too; great company the pair of you. Glad we worked out where GreenSaint was hiding too!!
I think our recent three match unbeaten streak at Old Trafford is going to come to a spectacular end on Friday but hey ho, normal service is resumed I guess.
On the game: At half time I was taking to my Dad and Chilco about what was clearly not a brilliant first half performance, but I was ok with it for a couple of reasons. 1. It was the first competitive game playing that formation. It may improve. 2. For me, it only went wrong because we couldn't pass wind and so therefore the possession tactic (which is what the diamond is about) went tits up! 3. There still were some good creative moments. Tadic was excellent (pretty sure it was a good idea to give him a new deal) Pete is awesome. Should check his birth certificate because he plays like a 28 year old experienced midfielder - lovely. Tadic - Great VvD - Great Pete - Great Nathan - very good Romeu - he'll be wearing a yellow bib in training on Monday and he's probably parked his car on the wrong drive this evening
Spent the best part of 90 mins trying to work out what the new formation is and how it was supposed to work. Seemed the players did too; Romeu seemed to be too deep, Davis seemed too far up the pitch. Tadoc and Redmond both seemed to have a free role, of which I approve. Redmond and Hojberg are both going to be massive for us this season imo. I spent all last season banging on about our problems at RB. Still unconvinced by Cedric there, Pied might be the answer. To sum up, after a shaky start we showed some character, grew in confidence and were unlucky not to get all 3 points. Lacked shape throughout though; hopefully the midfield will learn what's expected of them sooner rather than later. More coaching needed.
We were very good second half. But I really don't understand the diamond at all, our best XI is obviously suited to 4-2-3-1: Romeu-Hojbjerg Redmond Davis Tadic Long/Austin I think that formation provides cover for Romeu's lack of mobility, will win us the midfield and give Tadic and Redmond more license to get wide and create. Redmond was much better in the second half when he was pressing out to the byline. Round legs, round holes please Puel.
So why do you keep going on about a covering one then! Look Tom, last word from me on this. You are the only person I've seen, heard or red who thinks it wasn't a red.
2 points dropped for sure but promising signs in second half. Not too worried about formation. It's about style of play and entertaining and there's enough there today to show we are moving in the right direction. Just need fans to be a bit patient. Everyone has a bad game here and there so not too worried about Romeu today. Clearly the line up on the bench suggests we will see a lot more rotation this season.
This. I would also add that Shane was a bit off the pace, another victim of the Euro hangover possibly? It was also the first game where the whole side had played more than played more than a few minutes together, so early days yet. As Fats said, the main problem was the appalling passing by most of the team in the first half, although Romeu decided to continue through the second half as well. Højbjerg completely changed the energy of the side when he came on, he is going to be great for us and has to be a starter next week please Claude. Definite red for me, no way the other defender would have got anywhere near Shane before he shot. Great to meet Helen, Fran, and Greensaint as well as the usual suspects before the game!
Thank God for Not606. I made the mistake of wandering onto Saintsweb (you lot need to post more!) and all my positivity abot the final hour of the game was sucked out. Okay, the formation has wrinkles, but we should have won - which means we are still pretty bloody good!
I say this every time Roger East has our games but I am sure it was common knowledge in ref circles (sounds fun I know) that he lived locally and used to go to St Mary's all the time. James Linington (4th official) is almost definitely a Saint as well.
He should have been sent of for a blatant foul. He didn't try and play the ball in any way what so ever. The law needs to be stricter on these types of fouls. The constant blatant cheating in the game is starting to really piss me off! And its only the first game
