I think NA dropped a clanger today. With Saints well in the game, causing United some real problems in defence, we took off all our main threats? If he thought we needed fresh legs then good change one but not all three of our best players on the pitch! Tactical suicide! NA with such wholesale changes disrupted the balance of the team and from then on in we never really looked a threat! Attack or the threat of attack being the best defence? Especially as our CBs look vulnerable and Fonte literally running out of gas? ps Wasn't at the game but watched it on Sky maybe fans seeing it at St.Mary's have a different opinion?
To be fair you pretty much nailed it mate. From comfort to crisis in three easy subs. NA got it very, very wrong.
Agreed, no way should all of them had gone off. But Lambert looked ****** so I wasn't surprised he was taking off, surprised with Puncheon going. Again Lallana looked pretty knackered. A lot of people predicted a Saints mauling, once again we showed we can outplay top opposition, this is what hurts the most. I am very proud with the way we have played, just need to push it over the final line.
Agreed, Rickie & Punch were blowing out if their arses, however, they were still better than what we brought on. I felt sorry for the Zambian nipper. To come on against ManU in your debut as the only outlet is a very harsh.
Not a big fan of Punch normally but he was a class act tonight. Mayuka did nothing. Not even chase a single ball. Thought he was gonna be all guns blazing but sadly looked half-arsed. Two subs who should have come on in that situation were Billy Sharp and Dean Hammond... oh wait...
Yeah that's slag of Mayuka. He has to adapt to the game first ffs. Adkins shouldn't have brought him on.
I was at the game and they were KNACKERED, all 3 run into the ground. Surprised you couldn't tell that from Sky? I think the only mistake Adkins made was not naming a centre mid on the bench, even chaplow would have done.
Funny how I saw it slightly differently, I though Mayuka showed some good touches, tried to cause some problems for there CB when long balls came his way. Could've possibly chased a little more, but he did as much as I would've expected from him.
Yeah agree, he shouldn't of taken off punch who MOTM for me today. He must surely recognise now that it doesn't really work. We lost to Pompey twice because we made subs when it just wasn't necessary.
I shall try in the future not to sound so opinionated in my posts but try and add a more balanced approach. Tactical suicide? should have been with a question mark. Do you think NA with his wholesale changes..... would have been better. I read this board often and what strikes me the most is the vociferous nature of some of the posters. Ranging from know it all Senior members to shout out loud newbies. From watching it on Sky I could see that lambert was spent but no so much with Lallana and even less so with Punch. I agree that the bench seemed unbalanced and yes Chaplow would have been a credible alternative. Hopefully NA has a steep learning curve.
Agree with Blacky Blacko, Hammond would have been essential to this game. We just stood back and let them play, Hammond would have been right in their faces-Man Utd looked very composed when attacking us in the final third. Chaplow should have been named on the bench.
Lallana looked like he was limping slightly. Fresh legs were needed but think personally Rodriguez should of taken the front and Lee on the left. Mayuka didn't have the physical presence to trouble Ferdinand & Vidic. Lambert did take a knock in training during the week too.
I was screaming for Mayuka or Lee to come on, just to give us some legs up front. So I 100% backed Adkins' decision to replace Puncheon with Mayuka - even though Puncheon had been superb so far. Guly for Lambert was slightly strange, but hey I hardly made a big thing of it at the time. Without someone like Cork on the bench, I'm not quite sure what else Nigel could have done. Neither Richardson nor Seaborne really stood out at me as being players to bring on. And I don't blame him for not selecting Chaplow on the bench, as I never envisaged a situation where we'd be looking to see out the last 15 mins and hold onto three points!
I was sat 2 rows behind saints dug out and I can honestly say Adkins surprised me. I think he's trying to do to much he was standing on the touch line telling the players who to pass to and he was just confusing them. As for the subs. I don't think a team in the land would bring on 3 strikers when 2-1 up against man utd with 10 minutes to go. Very very poor subs imho
