...or is it..? Saints don't make a great deal of use of the pace in the side, preferring to beat teams by skill and guile when they attack. But there is plenty of pace in the team. Jay has shown that he can score by simply being too fast for defenders and frightening the living daylights out of them. Against Stoke, Davis ran the ball out of defence and charged upfield. While not being blisteringly fast, he doesn't lack speed either. Neither does Adam, even though there are one or two on here who think he's slow. He isn't, he's just not Nathaniel Clyne. So I'm starting the list of the players in the squad who I think are the fastest to the slowest. After all, they don't tell us, so we can only make up our own minds. By the way, before you say Lambert is the slowest, I expect the goalkeepers aren't exactly 100 metre runners. Who is after these two: Clyne Rodriguez ?
I would pay to see a 100m race between Rickie, Jos, Artur (who is certainly looking a bit more 'roly poly' recently) and Kelv. And since Radhi is frequently still roaming the halls of St. Mary's, get him involved too.
I think there are one or two around Luke's pace. Both Schneiderlin and Cork are pretty quick. Then Adam and Steven. So I'd say so far: Clyne Rodriguez Shaw Schneiderlin Cork Lallana Davis. S I think Dejan and Maya don't hang about either.
There's a difference between the pace you can run and the pace you do. According to Opta, Rickie was faster than Luke on Saturday (avge speed 4.1 vs 4.0 mph). Calum was as fast as Adam (4.7 mph)...though presumably that figure will be affected by the minutes on the pitch. The others in descending order were: Morgan/Jack (4.6), Davis (4.5), Fonte (4.4), JRod/Clyne (4.3), and Maya (4.2). Boruc ran at 2.3 mph, but covered an amazing 3.4 miles (must do a lot of pacing). Apart from a couple of Stoke players, we were generally faster. I remember one player saying that we may look as if we run further and faster than other teams, but it is the timing that matters. Energy isn't wasted, so it isn't as exhausting as people think.
They're all professional athletes, and they're all pretty fit. But jay is the only one with the turn of foot to frighten defences. Id back him in a standing start against almost anyone (except theo walcott).
Further to my stats fest: sprint speed may be more interesting. The fastest were: Clyne (21.6), JRod (21.5) and Luke (20.5).
When Theo was with us he certainly had the pace, but often lacked the control to get the cross in/shot off. I think that Shaw probably impresses me most in being able to get a cross in at pace. Adam usually just bamboozles the defender a few times to do this but without decent pace he would be nowhere near as effective; Adam running at defenders is my favourite view at St Marys.
Be interesting to see them in a straight sprint against each other. Lallana's average speed must be reduced by Cruyff turns and jinks
So, Adam is faster than Morgan ffs. OK. Tbh, I placed him so low because when we were in the Championship there were people saying Adam was like a tortoise. But fine, I'm happy to put him above Morgan and Jack. Clyne Rodriguez Shaw Lallana Schneiderlin Cork Davis. S Lovren Yoshida So that leaves: Davis. K Lambert Fonte Ramirez Wanyama Ward-Prowse Do Prado Chambers Gazzaniga Hooiveld Isgrove Boruc Reed Gallagher They say [the mythical they] that Gallagher is quite quick, though I've seen him in a chase for a ball, where he just about won it, but it was not staggeringly quick. I think Reed can shift himself. Ramirez can move with the ball at his feet, but I've never seem him run without it. I'm pretty sure that Chambers and JWP aren't slouches either, and I bet Do Prado can get those legs going, and I think Fonte isn't what one might call slow. Don't know about Isgrove. Wanyama..? Anybody seen him run..? I reckon I could keep up with the rest in a 50 yard sprint. Make that 30 yard. EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention. I do love it when Saints tear out of defence and charge up the field on the counter attack. There's something basic and powerful about it. Like a charging army, I suppose.
Good. A bit of info there. Obviously, Rowe isn't included here. Perhaps next season. OK, we'll go: Clyne Rodriguez Shaw Lallana Schneiderlin Cork Davis. S Lovren Yoshida Gallagher Isgrove Then the unsorted rest are: Davis. K Lambert Fonte Ramirez Wanyama Ward-Prowse Do Prado Chambers Gazzaniga Hooiveld Boruc Reed
It's not really possible to grade all the players for speed, because there are many different manifestations of pace/speed and very few players have a full armoury. For example, the fastest player away from a standing start wouldn't necessarily be quickest over 50 or 100 metres. It's the ability to change pace quickly that offers the biggest threat imo, not who can reach the highest speed given enough ground to get up through the gears. Jay has that ability to change pace quickly. Walcott is the quickest player from a standing start I can remember seeing, while Gareth Bale has always had the even rarer ability to quicken suddenly, and almost effortlessly, from an already fast stride, with the ball at his feet. Rodriguez does remind me of Bale a little in that regard. A bit like Alberto Juantareno, the Cuban 400m runner of whom David Coleman famously said "Juantareno opens his legs and shows his class".
Yeah, fair point. Also, we simply don't have the visual clues on many of them, because their game doesn't involve lots of outright speed. I saw Kenwyne Jones do that Bale thing, playing in the Development Squad once, though many people think he's a tortoise. The first time I saw Bale accelerate from quick to outright fast it slightly took my breath away. Plus, he had the ball. Did anyone see Clyne accelerate past the Stoke RB [can't remember who it was] on Saturday. It was another Bale thing, only without the ball. I think he did it to Assaidi in the 2nd half too. Incidentally, in Firefox, Juantareno isn't in its dictionary, so the word Transport is offered as the correct spelling..!
