Clasie may not have played too often, but I've seen enough to recognise that he is probably the best passer of a football, in our team. He hit two fantastic 40+ yard passes, to Bertrand, Saturday, with Bertrand not even needing to check his stride on each occasion. Get him properly fit, and keep the pace up top, and he could become a very good asset, with that ability. Some of his first time, volleyed passes, are reminiscent of Alan Ball, IMO.
Pochettino wouldn't have done better or worse than Koeman last season. He would have done the same because both of them play their favourite 11 whenever possible. Ramirez being here has nothing to do with Koeman, He has made it clear he doesn't want him so it is the board to blame if you want to blame anyone for him still being here. The real one to blame is Cortese as he is the one who bought him and negotiated and agreed his wages personally if I remember rightly. On Adkins I still wish he had been given the chance but he wasn't and it has been alluded to that Lallana and Co were unhappy with him anyway so suggesting he may have been able to keep them here is way off the mark. I am Adkins biggest fan and would have him back in a heartbeat but you do have to take in what others have said in the past. As for Clasie. Jury is still out. I don't really understand when people say he has been good in several games. HE was my man of the match in the Norwich game alongside Martina however that is the first game I have seen where he has matched the hype. I am still in the give him time camp though What I would add though (which I said straight after the match) is that when Reed came on we attacked more quickly with more purpose and he was the usual bundle of energy. Would he have been MOTM if he had started instead of Clasie? This is the toughie.
TinTin only really. He keeps his agenda up his sleeve and then it suddenly shakes free after a few days.
FFS I'm not going to bother posting. Just read half a dozen TinTinposts and it's like the cage door was left open. I really don't understand his agenda. Enjoy your evening folks.
Well no, because a number of senior players, including Lallana were internally vocal about their unhappiness with Adkins' training etc and we're making noises that he was out of his depth (which I agree with, for what it's worth). He was treated hard, but correctly. His record since leaving us would tend to bear that out too.
Agreed. I feel that RK has not been at his best with the press this past month - previously he was very adroit at dealing with them but now he's offered a few chinks that have given the press some mileage on running negative stories...
Although Adkins is ancient history now that shouldn't be brought up, Morgan was quoted as saying "he is a fantastic manager, who didn't get enough time in the premier league" in the guardian today. So that sort of puts the idea that he had lost the dressing room to bed. http://www.theguardian.com/football...d-nigel-adkins-old-trafford-manchester-united
It doesn't really put it to bed Os, it just says that Morgan liked him and thought he should have had more time. You can't take one player's comments and say that's the end of it.
Can't agree with this. He is being honest and that's all we can ask for. The negative spin on the comments are due to our poor form, but how others outside the club wish to perceive the comments does not make a difference. I watched the u21 game against Chelsea (which I guess is what Ron was asked about) and I was not impressed either. We gave away possession cheaply and were it not for Forster and some last ditch defending we would have lost. It was the poorest I've seen Hesketh and Sims play and I'd say only Reed and Little came out of the match with any serious credit. Rons comments should be a kick up the backside to the academy lads and a motivation that they need to improve if they want a chance at the first team. Far better to tell them they need to get better and not select them, than give them feint praise and not select them.
Aren't though Chelsea's U21s over the last couple of years repeatedly one of the best youth teams in Europe?
Yes and were probably clear favourites to win. Collectively they cost several million pounds and many get paid 5-10 times more than saints academy players. It wasn't a good performance by Saints and several players failed to shine like they have done in other games (but everyone has some bad days) but Chelsea had a plan to close down our best players and keep them quiet and it worked. Saints players will learn from it and have plenty of opportunity to right things as they have 4/5 games this month. Given that the had only played two games in something like 8 weeks prior to this I'm not sure how they can be expected to go into a big game like this and perform to the max.
Whilst it would be great if the team had been amazing, the important thing in a Cup is to get through. It would have been very depressing (in the present climate) if we had gone out at the first hurdle in a Cup we won last season.
Chelsea spend millions on their academy, they have some academy players on 40k. Ron knows given how we are playing now the comments will be used to paint our academy in a bad light. Hesketh has been good this season.
I wasn't talking about Chelsea. Whilst the opposition obviously have a bearing on the result, our players should be able to perform at a higher level than they displayed. They won and showed great character to grind it out and Seager showed that killer instinct and quality in the box which the first team have been lacking. But with the first team struggling and an FA cup game coming up. I didn't see an academy player put in a performance which demanded attention and would have given Ron a selection dilemma for this afternoon. Hesketh has been much better in games I've seen this season.
There's also the question of whether they can improve more playing still at youth level. Maybe what they need to improve their game is to be challenged on a higher, professional level.
U21 games are not competitive enough nor adrenalin making enough to get the best out of players. They need the real thing. 1st team players playing down in U21s rarely show 1st team quality. And the U21 team that contained JWP, Shaw and Chambers rarely performed better than this squad. They never won any competition. Those lads were still give a chance to have 1st team playing experience to show what they could do. I have it on good authority that the U21s are really fed up with the path to having a chance to show how they can raise their game and give a good account in a 1st team appearance is seemingly blocked. Young developing footballers need encouragement and Koeman is NOT an encourager. He hasn't spoken more than an odd word to any of the U21s. The players want away. I think part of the poor performance can be laid at the door of the people who are meant to encourage these young guns. I wouldn't be surprised if they are asking for loans now many of them. Koeman should not have discouraged them in this way.
