Hope this doesn't annoy too many people, I just feel that this wouldn't fit into one of the other threads. 1) Great atmosphere throughout the whole city yesterday, could really feel the buzz and inside the stadium it was brilliant. Good to see the ground full again and in such good voice. 2) The ticket touts are back. Also liked the three Japanese (I think) girls standing on the railway walkway with cardboard signs reading 'I need a ticket'. The Japanese arm of Saints fan club in full swing already. 3) If you are sitting between two larger people, it is a lot warmer. 4) Rain is going to be very annoying this season, in the front row my legs get wet, and I get the drips from the big screen. 5) The Intensity of Manchester United in the first 10 minutes was breathtaking. 6) Van Persie's first goal was sheer class. Immediate control after Clyne's slip, powered in from a highly acute angle. 7) Clyne needs longer studs. Or perhaps we need to stop watering the penalty area so much given Pat Rice-Evra's slip in the second half. Despite this I though Clyne had an excellent game. 8) All our players had good games today, except; i) Jason Puncheon was brilliant ii) Rickie Lambert played like somebody who had spent all their life in the premier league. iii) Ward-Prowse spent most of the match looking lost, and made several errors which showed his inexperience. However, he also did quite a large amount of good things showing promise for the future. 9) Schneiderlin got his first ever goal at home (iirc). What a moment it was. 10) Paul Scholes was incredible. He had so much time on the ball (a mark of a great player, but also possibly showing we were growing weary), and was able to just ping 40 or 50 yard passes out to the wingers feet. This meant our wingers had to tuck in and track back more and our fullbacks had to be less adventurous. This seriously curbed our attacking threat and made it harder to play out from the back. 11) The substitutions made a lot of sense. Mayuka has more pace than Puncheon, which could have been crucial against a side pressing forward, and Lambert had run himself into the ground. 12) Having said that, after the subs came on we played supremely stupid football. We sat back too much, which directly lead to their second goal. We also started hitting it long towards Mayuka at nearly every opportunity. Only problem with this is that Mayuka is 5'8" tall. He is never going to get much change from two highly accomplished 6' centre backs. So United just recycled the ball and launched another attack. The ONE occasion he got the ball at his feet he caused Ferdinand problems with his pace and trickery. We either needed to be brave, push out more and keep our passing game going (difficult given Scholes' range of passing was limiting our forward options), or put Guly/Rodriguez down the centre, or play the ball into space rather than into Mayuka, so he could use his pace (where he is better than Ferdinand) rather than his heading (where he is far worse than Ferdinand). 13) Rodriguez was once again ineffective. This may be a combination of him trying to fit into a new side, being played out of position and having to step up to play at a level higher than what he has experienced in the past. 14) Kelvin Davis must have one of the best records of saving Penalties in English football. It was his fault, but I believe he was playing to instructions with which he does not feel comfortable. Davis feels comfortable launching the ball downfield in the general direction of Rickie Lambert. He does not feel comfortable passing out to the full backs. However, it is clear he has been instructed to do the latter. This is what led to the penalty. 15) All in all it was an excellent match, but we need to pick up points soon. The longer we carry on with no points the harder it is to pick up that first point as pressure increases.
I am about the least critical of Saints players (to the point of blind stupidity), but I think the purchase of Rodriguez was a mistake. I hope to be proved wrong, but I feel he was bought early (for too much money) and subsequent purchases and experience of the PL suggests he may not fit in that well to our style of play.
Very harsh to judge Rodriguez already. He hasn't been given a game in his preferred position yet and he has mainly had defensive duties so far in which he's shown he's willing to work hard for the team even though it doesn't make him look good. Agree with pretty much everything else though.
I'm not judging him completely. I just think he looked ineffective yesterday, but ventured reasons as to why this might be. All of those are things that will hopefully improve. I should also add that he was possibly carrying an injury for most of the time he was on yesterday.
On Rodriguez - new position, new team, new league, and it's been three games and some people are already writing him off (I'm not saying you are, Wisescummer)
Rodriguez looked good up top against City - with Gaston coming in I doubt we'll see him played out of position too much again, and Rickie can't play all the games so he may yet turn out to be vastly important - its a long season
I just watched the whole game again, and in the last 20 minutes our passing was extremely poor. Not through a lack of skill but due to there being less options, as a result Hoovied and Fonte were lobbing the ball up front instead of the ball being played into feet. Also some players looked exhausted with s. davis, jwp and fonte struggling to intercept balls that were very close to them, this isn't a criticism of them just a symptom of extreme fatigue which hopefully they won't have to play under very often.
Players gave their all, but we needed a CM on the bench to come on with some fresh legs...I know corky is injured but how about Reo Coker on a free
Hi Fran. Was not long ago we were talking about this boy's England chances. He like many of our signings is a long term project and with a bit of patience I'm sure he will win over the fans soon.
