Well, actually, there are not any negative connotations to that. I'm at worse generalising, and expressing the source of my initial surprise. There is no judgement in there, nor any suggestion that I do not welcome him to the team (I do, with open arms), nor any expression of dislike, and I of course refer purely to activity on a football pitch. I merely point out where my own mind perceived comparative advantages to lie. I was being tongue in cheek with regards to the impeccable manners. If you are about to start suggesting anything more sinister, I would say don't bother.
People on here make me laugh with their short memories, it was only in his last game against Spurs that many were making Yoshida their MOM. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/176100-Saints-v-Tottenham-Match-Ratings-amp-MOTM
Agreed. I was surprised is all I was saying, and initially sceptical to the point of holding out my judgement until I had seen him play.
I don't think he is a bad defender as such, he does normally win the ball well, not sure I can blame him for his confidence being shot to bits at the moment. I would say he is definitely a better option than Jos. However, with the ball at his feet he is a terrible footballer, and his passes out of defence quite often put players under instant pressure as they are so badly weighted. That said, what is wrong with players moving towards the pass, a few times on Monday I saw players standing like lemons waiting for a pass to trundle up to them, only to have a WBA player nip around them and nick it.
Some people need to learn what a word means before using it. At least he spelt it right. How did he get banned after three posts, incidentally?
To me the whole team is set up wrong! We need to add a midfielder to the middle 3 and actually instruct someone to sit just in front of the centre backs and drop in as a third centre back when needed. Lallana needs dropping, he is a great talent but I he is a awful defender and offers no cover to an already crap left back in fox! For me if corky is fit great but ward prowse has looked great this season in the games he played to! We need to play more direct with a bit more balls!
Well, I'm in love with Japanese culture, so I might be slightly biased in my assessment of Yoshida's ability.
Nope, Fonte/Clyne have had individual good games, but overall they have been poor ... I'm not the only early riser today then Lamb
Nope starting a new job this morning so up early! Let's hope it's a positive day on the manager front!
I think he is going to turn in to a very good premiership defender, he has shown glimpses of what he is capable of. He wins his fair share of headers, he stays on his feet, only going to ground when absolutley needed, he is comfortable on the ball, has a good passing range when bringing the ball out of defence. His main problem at the the moment (and it is a critical problem) is his positioning on occasions is poor. I would put this down to the pace of the premiership and playing alongside Fox. Coming from playing in the Japanese and Dutch league to the premiership the difference in speed and quality is massive. I think the more he plays (in his preferred position) the better he will get. Also playing alongside a left full back who plays so far up the pitch and is constantly out of position doesn't help. Because of this when we are being attacked down our left hand side Yoshida tends to get draw towards that side. This in turn leaves a big gap between our centre backs and makes it almost impossible for a good defensive line.
I think to be honest people need to remember that CB's have to mark usually flare players Week in week out. Some of the players they are up against are really talented individuals. So by the very nature of things are going to have their good days and their not so good. If they are poorly supported by others IE the two full backs they are going to be pulled out of position while covering them. My only criticism of 3 of our usual back 4 (Fonte, Yoshida and Fox in particular) is that they do not recover very quickly if beaten up field. It is true in an example of Yoshida covering for fox and can be clearly seen. Fox as usual was down the by line, the move broke down, Lallana was almost level with Fox on the edge of the opposing penalty area. WBa's right midfielder was up-field just inside his own half. Yoshida was about half way up in his own half out towards his left. When the cross from Fox was blocked the ball was headed out to their Forward in the centre of the park who quickly put it out to their right wing. The ball was played in front of their right mid fielder into our half which gave Yoshida the chance to break the move down. Which in theory he did, he tried to first time the ball down the line presumably to Fox who was running back. Unfortunately WBA's midfielder second guessed what he was going to do, stuck out a leg, the ball rebounded down the line passed Yoshida and he was on it in a flash. Their forward came over and between them were on their own, on the corner of our penalty area!!! Where were Yoshida and Fox? Trotting back to cover, not Running, trotting!! Spider and Fonte moved to close down, eventually Lallana and Fox got back but Yoshida still had not got back to cover for Fonte because he was ball watching and trotting! That is an example of what was happening a lot during the first half not just with the players mentioned but with quite a few of the team. Their recovery at times was very slow and this has been a problem this season in particular. I only mentioned the first half as I could not bring myself to watch the second half. The concept though of slow recovery has definitely, for me been a feature this year!
