We obviously think along similar lines mighty! This is the team that's come through pre-season and we should stick with it going into the season proper. Lallana might not be everyone's idea of a compact player, but he'll work hard to impress now that he finally has his big chance. He's the only player in the squad with the flair and technique to play that role.
The first few games will be a learning curve for not only the players and Adkins, but for the fans as well. If all is hunkey dorey...great, but a few losses does not mean that will continue all season or that things won't improve with experience. Nigel has shown that he is open to new information and new ideas. The problem is that all this will be conducted in the full glare of the TV cameras with constant media analysis. Apart from the last bit, I think we all thought the same at the start of the Championship and that turned out all right, didn't it?
Man City? Who the flip are they? A third rate second division side enjoying a brief moment in the sun. Time for Saints to burst their arrogant bubble. Damn, did I say that out loud?
We deliberately lost games in preseason so that Man City would be lulled into a sense of false security. It's worked...every Man City fan is confident. Fools!
I would pretty much go with that. Although I think Guly might start instead of Punch and feel Rodriguez is wasted playing out on wing. Also think it will still be Seaborne on the bench and not a new CB.
Good Luck, tough opener, but once you've got through that, you should survive safely. I think you'll "do a Swansea"- nice, attacking football to please the fans, and bring in results. For me, it'll be Reading, West Brom, West Ham, Sunderland and Wigan scrapping for survival. You'll be safe by February/March, in a respectable 10-12th. Enjoy the Premier League!
Even if Rio Ferdinand joined before the City game i would be surprised if he would start on sunday. While everyone wishes for reinforcements, i think we will have to just accept Jose & Jos will be our CB pairing for the immediate future. Im happy with that to be honest, give the pairing a chance early doors....they earned it.
Blimey you're in a good mood PFL considering your prospects in tonights game. For me who goes down will be decided by a decision to sack (Wolves), a decision not to sack (Blackburn), or maybe just a complete inability to get any points on the board after a good run seems to get you to half way to safety (Bolton). So it could be anyone in last year's bottom half really.
With regards to the team for sunday i don't think cork and davis have had a proper pre-season so i don't think they will start. My team would be: David Clyne Fonte Jos Fox Hammond/Chaplow Morgan Lallana Puncheon Rodriguez Lambert Subs: Gazzinga richardson seabourne Cork guly sharp hammond/chaplow I haven't posted here at all this summer so here are my views on what has happened so far: I don't see why everyone wants Lambert in the whole, he is our top striker, he scores goals and needs to be in the box and he won't be when he in the whole. Plus we have so many other players who can play there ie lallana who is perfect for that role. I don't think you can have sharp up on his own especially in the pl as does not have much of a presence. I am also not a fan of rodriguez in this LW role. We bought him as a striker and he scored 20+ goals last season and he have other players who can play there. The only game in pre season i watched was the ajax game and i was worried that Lambert wasn't going to get the right service, he had to do a lot of running in the channels which isn't his game, there was no strike partner for him to knock down to. There were also not enough crosses going into the post, how goals did he head in from running on the back post last season. I think we will lose to city by a couple of goals but overall i think we will be fine and finish in the 10th-15th region, if things aren't going well then we will buy in january.
Rodriguez is probably going to spend a lot of time drifting into the center, though; Lallana will move wide with regularity, and Lambert will drop deep. It's a tactic set up to be quite fluid, and our success will hinge on the awareness of our players and their ability to figure out the best point of attack at any given moment. 4-4-2, 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1...doesn't much matter, players are liable to be popping up all over the place. As for the result, I'm going with 4-1, City; two first-half goals from Tevez, some bright play for Saints (and a goal) before half, but ultimately not enough to keep pace with a team loaded with stars.
---------------------------------------Davis--------------------------------------- ------------------------Fonte----------------------Hooiveld---------------------- ----Clyne--------------------------------------------------------------Fox-------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------Morgan---------------------Davis-------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------Guly-------------------------------------- -----Puncheon---------------------------------------------------Lallana------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------Lambert--------------------------------------- Bench: Gazza, New CB, JWP, Sharp, Chaplow, Shaw/Hammond, Rodriguez Shaw didn't play for the development squad so expect to see either him or hammond to fill 7th place on the bench, although he may have just been rested. Interestingly both reserve CBs played a full game, so perhaps a new cb is imminent.
