I'm cool with that, I'm not having a go at you or pretending that he didn't make mistakes last season. Just seems like the main thing he has done wrong, is not being called Rickie Lambert. PS. I am not Fonte, or his publicist
I'm ever the optimist for the Man City game. Nigel Adkins' positivity is infectious and I'm feeling that no game is won or lost until 90 minutes are up. Our lads will be well up for it and we can be sure that any minds that were elsewhere in pre-season will be absolutely focussed on the job at hand. It's not just a case of Fonte and Hooiveld against Tevez and Aguero. If we think too much about individual battles, we'll get tonked. Both Tevez and Aguero are much too quick, skillful and clever to handle that way. We'll only get anywhere by being extremely stingy as a team and not letting their key have the ball in areas where they can hurt us. To do that we'll need to press hard and don't give the ball away in dangerous areas by making sure there is always an easy option.
Quite. Not many teams managed it, hence why they won the league. We'll just have to take comfort from the occasional team that has done it.
It's funny how Fonte has gone down in fans' estimation. He was suberb in League One but I didn't think he had a great season last year. I've only been to one of the friendlies (Ajax) and thought he looked a bit shakey. The negativity is a bit odd as so many fans wee saying last year that Fonte was one of the players who would be able to cope in the Premier League. Personally, I can see the defence being strengthened but whether this will be before the match ext week, I don't know. We will get hammered at City and I think we will probably struggle to acquire many points in the first few months. I reckon by the end of September we will be on six points having beatend Wigan and Villa. I'd expect City, Arsenal and especially Man Utd to destroy us. The season will then satrt in earnest for Saints in October. Any points in excess of 6 will be a bonus come the end of the season.
A lot will depend on how you set up against us.Parking the bus would be a disaster as they battered every team that tried that.The only teams to really give us a game at home were really in our faces and put us off our stride.Sunderland 3-3 should be the blueprint of how to play against us Doubt it's a game Adkins will lose much sleep over,the important games are against the stokes and wigans of the league Good luck and enjoy it
Would he have even played though? Zabaleta finished last season at RB (and from what I saw, he played well).
Thanks mate. Its hard to enjoy a game when your teams getting spanked but stranger things have happened, so take your own advice !
