Hi Craig, taking your last sentence, I am more than happy with us keep passing sideways and back so much. If there is not a clear early pass forward available, I'd rather we keep passing it sideways and backwards. Rushing it forward when there is nothing on just gives possession to the other team. Next Thursday, we don't want them to have the ball and lots of possession.
I thought there was a mix. One poster earlier commented on how many times we lumped the ball forward to Pelle - well that's not Slow and lateral. The mix was ok. I always felt a goal/chance was just around the corner. We'll be fine next week.
My only issue wih your selections here is leaving Jayrod out. To me, he looks like he is making good steps and getting sharper every game. Thursday night he found himself more advanced than Pelle and very nearly "in" on goal. A game or two more and I think he'll be flying. He'd be a starter for me in the next 6 games to get him where we need him. On my point of Jayrod being more advanced than Pelle, a poster earlier said they didn't like that Pelle dropped deeper too much to get the ball. I am 180 degrees the other way. With Pelle dropping in and holding it up the way he did in the second half, not only did he look better as a player, but it pulls a CB out of position and gets another player (Jayrod on Thursday, but could have been Mane) in space behind him. I loved that and it looked more threatening. If you have your target man rooted at the furthest point forward, it makes the defenders job so much easier and encourages our defenders to lump it forward. Having Pelle drop in to receive the ball deeper reminded me of when we flowed forward with Rickie orchestrating. Pelle also isn't a player who "gets in behind" defenders. Mane and Jayrod are, so Pelle moving deep during play allows one of those to get in behind. To break a stubborn defence down you either shoot from Distance, or get in behind them. More of that please.
FLT, you are smashing it this morning. Completely agree with everything. I think people are forgetting how tough it is to beat even a poor team when they set up purely to frustrate the opposition. There was very little space for us to play into, and we are obviously not a gelled unit yet, however I don't think the performance was as flat as people are making out. On another day we could have easily won the game with the chances we created.
Rodriguez needs to be rested. Bring him off the bench near the end. Two starts in four days is not the best idea for him, considering how long he was out for.
Aww, I've only just had the chance to watch the highlights of this match, and Tim Sparv looked almost distraught that he'd scored against his first club. Quite touching.
8 in 200, thought he'd have exploded, big respect to the lad, we obviously meant something to him.......sign him up Les........
Fair point flt,that was what I meant in some form, just would like to see some decent options going forward and into channels,that then would help with the sideways but more backward passing that seems to lose momentum. But you make a sound and fair point
Will we have a new thread for the away leg? Its not a massive deal if not. Id just like to know, look forward to those shiny new threads.
Saints just need to remove the fear factor from their play. I don't know if it stems from the fans expectations that we should be beating a Danish team or something else. My message to the team is just go there and enjoy yourselves. It is not the end of the world if we fail to get to the Europa League group stage, disappointing yes but disastrous no.
