In terms of our defense. First would be obvious to point out what a shame it was that Frazer Richardson was forced off only 15mins into the match. The decision made to bring Jos on and shift Yoshida over to RB was not a great choice in my opinion. I know its easier to say this after the game but Maya's leadership in defense was missed. I would of personally bought on Chaplow, i know he is a midfielder but he has more pace and his solid in the tackle and that was you can retain the CB pairing of Jose and Maya. Ive always backed Fonte and would imagine you would all agree that he has been our best defender so far this season. Its like we have got the fonte of league one back without being league one standard. Apart from the goals of course his positioning was good and in the air was rarely beaten. A great sliding tackle to rescue Maya from trouble too. Fox ball watches far to often in his defense eh does not have to much support from Lallana. Puncheon was tracking back well and helping out Maya so not sure why we took him off, can he not do 90mins? The substitutions were poor bought of a hold up man in Lambert who often helped out massively at the back and took Punch off?! and put on Chaplow?! I love Nigel Adkins and want him to remain our manager but he also has to learn very quickly as he has made errors too often.
Nigel has got to learn that we aren't going to win games 1-0. The decision to take off Rickie and Puncheon (the most threatening player in the side) was ludicrous as far as I am concerned. He has done a fantastic job since he took over, but he didn't learn from what happened against Man Utd. We can't afford to take off Rickie with a quarter of the game to go. I was angry with Nigel when Fulham equalised and absolutely furious when Fulham went 2-1 up.
Have to say i would never sub Rickie unless i had no choice .He is not just a talisman for us but the team in general and he is never more needed than when we are under the cosh.Though he missed a chance or two today he can score at any time and he is pretty valuable in situations defensively when we are under pressure .He made a fantastic closing down block in the first half on our own 6yrd box when one of their guys was about to pull the trigger. I always feel taking off the kind of threat he offers in a close game is proves uplifting for the opposition .Please Nigel don't do this again.
This might have been said before, sorry, I've only just come onto this forum tonight. Where were Ramirez and Clyne? How bad are their injuries?
Sure I saw a tweet saying Ramirez will not go on international duty. Pretty bad dead leg by all accounts
