I'm slowly starting to believe Cork and Wanyama are our top two CMs. All three are fantastic players, but I think if I had to chose two to start it'd be them.
I would agree, I think they all played pretty well, but I think we look better with two rather than three as they're all fairly defensive, and both Wanyama and Cork are not expected to be goal threats, so as a team we've sacrificed an attacking player for a defensive mid.
If this had been earlier in the season, we definitely would have gone more attacking in the second half, and probably lost on the counter like we have a few times, you can't really say I wish we played like that earlier in the season, we had no desire to commit bodies forward so didn't leave ourselves too open at the back especially with Vic. I think this formation could work, just need practise on committing the centre-mids forward and leaving Vic to clean up. Can't expect Sam G to run down the opposition defence as much as Jay R but pleased with the performance and the three points
Perhaps if we had rodder's we wouldn't have looked so unbalanced. Perhaps a defensive move to see out future games?
I disagree with that. Cork is best as our most defensive midfielder and doesn't offer nearly enough coming forward. He's also not as good at DM as Wanyama so when they play together he's the more advanced of the two and doesn't do anything. Moving forward, if we want to be better at creating chances, there is no place for Cork in our strongest lineup.
Yes, it definitley confirms how much we missed him earlier in the season. He gives the confidence to the back four, like a decent keeper does.
Pochettino on BBC Radio Solent: - I think sometimes in football you deserve to get victories like this, where you need some luck - Overall, I think we played very well with great intensity - We managed many phases of the game very well - I think it's been a really long and gruelling season - We have a small squad and have experienced many injuries... and players leaving the club mid-season - I thank the fans who have been fantastic throughout the whole season - It's been a fantastic season away from home - We show a lot of personality and character, that needs to be recognised - We have achieved an amazing number of points - We are really happy and hope that in the future we will continue to get even more points at Southampton! - Yes, one more game until all the questions are about off-field things (laughs)
Schneiderlin, Davis, Cork, Wanyama, JWP and Ramirez have 5 goals between them, should be chipping in a few more goals than that.
- We are really happy and hope that in the future we will continue to get even more points at Southampton! That sounds positive to me
Yeah the with Wanyama back it feels more like the start of the season and I am almost entirely happy with the base of our team, in an ideal world perhaps we'd get a keeper who's similar or better to Boruc but less deranged or another Lovren, but I'd be perfectly happy to pick up a CB and a GK for £2-3m each to sit behind the incumbents. A striker is of course necessary and you'd assume will be our big splash this summer, but what I'm really yearning for is a left-footed JRod (although perhaps a little further towards winger on the winger/inside-forward spectrum). I'm perfectly happy to believe that Punch going was unavoidable but I do feel if he was still here we'd be above United right now.
Great work from the club, made an impressive display and a good day for all of our fans. Thanks to them! please log in to view this image
Steven Davis has been great this season, but this is the position in the team where we need to up the quality and have someone who can offer that defensive work rate and discipline but with a little more vision and perhaps a bit of extra pace. Our midfielders are all very neat and tidy, hold possession well and make the safe passing option, but we need an extra spark as an alternative to Lallana. Ramirez is our injury prone alternative, but his defensive play can make him too much of gamble. There must be a compromise out there which mixes Davis and Ramirez. I'm thinking Holtby, Hunt or Daehli
