Personally I'd start with Sam and bring Rickie on if we havent broken through. Think he deserves to keep his starting spot.
Agree with keeping Sam in place, gives Rickie a bit more time to rest and make sure the injury is fully recovered and I think Sam will be very effective away from home based on what I saw of him against Arsenal because he is very fast and mobile
If Rickie is fit I'd much rather we played him, Gallagher showed that he does not look out of depth at this level against Arsenal but realistically if we want to crack on for the rest of the season we need to pick up points in these upcoming 'softer' games. If Rickie is still not ready to go then I'm happy for Gallagher to get another go but if not Rickie is the better player and we have no room for sentiment to make our team weaker by giving a player a start as a reward for a decent full debut. Just being part of the squad and getting off the bench every other game or so will do plenty enough for his development for the time being.
Amusingly, Pochettino seems to be acting as Holtby's agent, trying to engineer a move to Fulham for him.
When asked how far Gallagher had come, Mauricio got his iPhone out and showed journalists a picture of Sam cleaning boots.
A Saints fan who has missed her first game in many years due to chemotherapy has just tweeted that she received this today... please log in to view this image
I would be inclined to play Sam upfront with Rickie behind with Davis missing out. Rickie has more of a creative edge to his game and Sam would learn so much with Rickie playing, its Fulham so we should take the bull by the horns upfront
Fulham season ticket holders get first picks of this area, so he offered to get me a ticket for in there. A good idea. I see Kvist has joined Fulham, he used to look a useful player, but not seen him for a while.
I think people are getting carried away because of his age, he looked good for a full debut but he did not show anything to indicate he is yet better than Lambert. He had two important shots, one where he did well to fire a powerful shot first time on the turn which forced a decent save, and one where he fluffed what most would concern an absolute sitter. He made no telling passes (in fact he only actually made 7 all together), no crosses, didn't beat a man with pace or dribbling, he didn't win a header and in reality made no real impact on the game other than you could argue costing us a 2-0 lead. I know it now sounds like I'm going in on the lad and I don't mean to as I think he did alright but that is the reality of things. He passed the eye test, didn't look out of his depth and certainly has younger legs than Rickie, which I think is enough to be happy with for a full debut but he did not show himself to be better or more threatening than Lambert. Lambert has not looked himself for most of this season but still has 6 goals and 5 assists to his name in 18 starts and is much more in-sync with the team, if both were fully fit and you asked Fulham which they wanted us to play, they would snap your hand off for Gallagher.
We were playing the league leaders remember. Not an easy full league debut to make. Saying that though, I'm with you, I'd go with Lambert any day of the week. People forget he has much more to his game than just scoring. When he has a good game, he is just immense. And I'm sure he still has many more good games in him yet. I figure we stick to bringing on Sam for the last half hour when the opposition are tiring. That will give him the extra advantage he will need.
Adam Lallana has 6 goals and 5 assists this season. Rickie Lambert has 6 goals and 5 assists this season... in fewer minutes. I'm not arguing that Lambert is as good as Lallana or that he hasn't dropped off a little from first half of last year. But I think those stats show that he is still clearly an important player for us. He also 5 assists all of last year. So he's simply taken on a different role and traded some goals for assists. Even then, all it would really take is one brace or a couple decent games and he will be ahead of last year's goal pace.
If Rickie is fit, he has to be played. He is our senior striker and has done enough over his time here (and some) to earn a bit of patience. He may have been carrying an injury for some time or may have been unsettled if attempts to sell him to WHU were true. That's enough to put anyone off their stroke. Also mustn't put too much on Sam too soon. Coming on for Rickie with 15-20 min to go would be the way to go.
