Mario Lemina

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Lovelocum said:
That's a good point, but if he chooses Boufal and he goes missing in games the he takes the flack. If he plays, say, Davis, you kind of know what to expect. I agree that Boufal needs a run of playing every week with the same attacking players but I can see why he gets dropped and the manager is desperate.
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He gets flack whatever he does so might as well ignore he flack. Not playing a creative player smacks of someone desperate to not lose a game, rather than someone desperate to win a game.

He’d get flack if he started Long, Carrillo, Gabbiadini, Tadic, Boufal, JWP and Lemina in the next game, but at least it’s sbow me he was desperate to win a game. *

* I might be on to something here. Let’s play 2-3-4 Nobody ever expects an inverted Xmas tree. :)
 
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Davis over Boufal <yikes> Boufal should play a part of every game I think. Just not sure whether he needs to start and bed in to the game, or if he's better coming on as an impact sub. Davis, after Wednesday, should not be starting for us in the situation we're in, in my opinion.

In regards to Lemina - and Boufal actually - no one knows how they are in training. There's the potential for them to coast along expecting to start, so if they've not got the work ethic to show their stuff in training perhaps that's why they're benched. I have no idea whether this is true or not but it's a possibility.
 
fatletiss said:
He gets flack whatever he does so might as well ignore he flack. Not playing a creative player smacks of someone desperate to not lose a game, rather than someone desperate to win a game.

He’d get flack if he started Long, Carrillo, Gabbiadini, Tadic, Boufal, JWP and Lemina in the next game, but at least it’s sbow me he was desperate to win a game. *

* I might be on to something here. Let’s play 2-3-4 Nobody ever expects an inverted Xmas tree. :)
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Agree, he should go for it. But we still have 1 creative player in tadic who, when on song, seems to have better vision (i don't mean literally). I want Boufal to be a regular starter but he is not head and shoulders above other options.
Gabbiadini- should be played off a striker rather than lone
Tadic- when on form the whole team attacks well
JWP- regularly winning MOTM
Long- won't score but gives defences a hard time

Add to this we really need 2 CDM's and how Hojbjerg is playing I can see why he isn't playing every game- he's inconsistent.
 
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The whole "uninterested" thing is a bit of a subjective nightmare, really. There are players who always look pissed off (stand up Mr Bertrand) and there are players who always put in a 110% performance, even if nothing is working for them (that's you, Mr Long). The way I saw it on Wednesday, during the first half the whole team were simply terrified. The fear of failure was so great that they couldn't even run around properly, due to the knotted feeling in their guts. The crowd, was like a mirror image - it was unnaturally quiet before the game because everyone was so tense, just willing the team to do well. When the team didn't start with a bang, the crowd went further into their shell. The only players who seemed to "get it" and overcame the inertia were PEH and JWP. JWP in particular went hunting for the ball, ignoring the rigid formation and generally being disruptive. After the break, the substitutions added a breath of fresh air, Carillo was hassling their defence and knocking down headers that Long would only ever be able to flick on and Boufal is (in my opinion) basically a happy-go lucky person who was not really affected by the atmosphere.

All of which is nothing to do with Lemina. In my opinion, he has a chronic ankle injury. He thinks he's over it, but the evidence suggests to me that it is still affecting his play and probably he needs time to fully recover. I guess that MPs' idea is to bring him back very gradually, so that he does not relapse.
 
fatletiss said:
I’m not meaning in performance, but if you watch the second half back, you may see what I saw: he was on my side mostly in front of me that half.

For the first 10-15 minutes, he didn’t chase back like he normally does (and did later on) and played a few really awful passes and looked completely unbothered by it. Normally he looks annoyed with himself and apologises to team mates.

I’m not saying his performance was bad, just he started like he was pissed off, but not the whole half. It looked to me like he was pissed at being on the bench and as I said “when he came on”
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Okay, thanks, I hadn't noticed any of that.


Doesn't sound like he has the temperament for a scrap then.
 
Le Tissier's Laces said:
Why do we need to ‘scrap’? We get through this by playing good, attacking, fast football.
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I want to agree with you. But whilst MP is in charge, we'll be doing things his way.

As I highlighting yesterday, we could complete our mission of reeling Huddersfield in over the past six weeks. Through zero wins. Draw after draw after draw; PL survival the PL way.
 
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fatletiss said:
He gets flack whatever he does so might as well ignore he flack. Not playing a creative player smacks of someone desperate to not lose a game, rather than someone desperate to win a game.

He’d get flack if he started Long, Carrillo, Gabbiadini, Tadic, Boufal, JWP and Lemina in the next game, but at least it’s sbow me he was desperate to win a game. *

* I might be on to something here. Let’s play 2-3-4 Nobody ever expects an inverted Xmas tree. :)
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I couldn’t agree more. Play to win, not play to not loose. Subtle but important difference.
However signed a defensive manager to replace an attacking manager whose team don’t score, go figure?
 
Lovelocum said:
Agree, he should go for it. But we still have 1 creative player in tadic who, when on song, seems to have better vision (i don't mean literally). I want Boufal to be a regular starter but he is not head and shoulders above other options.
Gabbiadini- should be played off a striker rather than lone
Tadic- when on form the whole team attacks well
JWP- regularly winning MOTM
Long- won't score but gives defences a hard time

Add to this we really need 2 CDM's and how Hojbjerg is playing I can see why he isn't playing every game- he's inconsistent.
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I’ll try and word this a different way about Boufal. For me, he is the ONLY player we have who will run directly at the opposition and that is what I think is missing. He gets the ball and his first thought is to beat his man. We need one player doing that. I’m happy with the rest playing possession ball if we have at least one player trying to be a spark.

I agree with you about Tadic and his vision, when on song, but he doesn’t go directly at people. On Wednesday in what was not a particularly great Boufal performance, the Brighton defence had players pulled out of shape when Boufal tried to run at them. If he was given the games and coaching (he may be getting that) then I believe he could cause havoc, creating spaces by breaking up rigid defences like Brighton’s.

He is a different player to Mane, but one thing Mane did was to cause havoc by running at people, often losing it too. It causes so many problems and nondefender anywhere likes a tricky player running at them. Play him regularly from the start and hopefully he may iron out the mistakes and improve each game. What have we got to lose?
 
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fatletiss said:
Actually this is better:

Saints are predictable. Boufal is unpredictable. We need some unpredictability
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Absolutely. Heck, we need some chaos. Play him behind the striker and give him exactly two instructions: when we do not have the ball, position yourself so that you can be found as an outlet to trigger a counter. When we do have the ball (and we're not yet threatening their box) look to find space ahead of the guy with the ball, where you can take in a pass on the move rather than taking a sideways pass 45 yards from the goal. Other than that, have at 'er.
 
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