Yep agreed 100%, thought he was quite VVD-esque when he ran out of defence with the ball - it wasn't our general defence that let us down today, in my opinion. More the midfield and defending at set pieces. Did anyone notice pretty much the entire team screaming at Boufal, only for him to ignore them all, prior to thier third? The players were furious with him afterwards.
I agree, in fairness I didn't address positives in my post abd he most certainly was one Still feel my post is valid though. See, this is the sort of thing that gets peoples backs up There is NO Saints fans happy tonight, we all want the same thing at the end of the day. Some will just say how it (so blatantly) is Have a word with yourself mush ffs!
Boufal is a fancy Dan and not a team player at all. Some of you might be amused by this conversation overheard when a stranger was in conversation with Puel in Paris. Stranger: Comment gagnez-vous votre vie? Puel: Je suis le manager d'un club de football anglais. Stranger: Où, Ewood Park, Fratton Park, Selhurst Park? Puel: Non. Je travaille dans un ****ing Retail Park.
If internet had existed in season 73/74, people would have been baying for Lawrie's blood. Maybe they were when relegation followed but fortunately the Board at the time were patient, allowed Lawrie to build an FA Cup winning side, and again allowed him time to rebuild over two seasons to win promotion. We need to be patient with Puel. He is an intelligent man. I am sure he can get better out of the players as was proven in the EFL when Southampton look a different team, a team possessed when they display their "Hyde" characteristics. In the PL "Jekyll" takes over.
The only thing that is lacking is a bit of confidence which hopefully Gabiadini will bring. Boufal is quality but needs to recognise what he needs to deliver in the team. He's got the quality of Mane and the consistency of Gaston. Go figure. Centre back partnership looked fine. Goals were soft. I saw similar shots from Redmond and JWP in second half. Ours were easily saved; theirs went in. Sort of begs the question - 'Is Forster injured?' Special mention to JWP. apart from one 360 turn which drew moans from the crowd, he worked his socks off. Also, special mention to Andy Carroll. He's a donkey but we'd love him in or team wouldn't we? OK, maybe not.
Yeah. I wouldn't say that he really did anything wrong. Obviously he wasn't Virgil stand-out esque, but he was alright. Better than his CB partner, anyway.
Or we've got fiercely lucky in the cup games. Winning 5 games in a cup most teams aren't that bothered about doesn't make us a good side. We are an average to poor prem side who may go down
Boufal is obviously a talented player, but what does he actually bring to the game except some fancy flicks and back heel passes? As much reservations as I have about Redmond, I would still rather want him in the lineup. Obviously the defence is a big area of concern, but that's due to having Virgil injured, selling Fonte and not bringing anyone to replace him. But all in all, we're still playing defensively the same as we did for the whole of the season, which was not bad at all, but at the moment we have some weaker players there and it's not wonder some cracks are appearing. It's understandable. But what's with the attack? I understand we had a number of injuries which largely prevented Puel from putting together anything resembling a consistent lineup up front, but still...have we any idea or any expectation of how we want to play in the attack? Where's Long playing, left right or middle? Tadić? Boufal? Redmond? Which is our best attack? At what positions? Do you have an answer to these questions? I sure don't. Last point i want to make is that this formation doesn't suit at all the players we have at our disposal. You have a saying about pegs and holes which I think applies here.
I think I know what the problem was today; apart from the first 11 minutes of the first half, & the last 20 minutes of the 2nd half, we didn't play very well. And all three goals came from a spectacularly **** collective failure to defend. We'll have to sort that out. Confident we won't be that **** at Wembley. And we won't get relegated. Heartbreaking for Manolo, scoring a goal like that on his debut, but getting thrashed.
Don't entirely disagree, but with twenty five minutes to go and two goals down we had a free kick midway in their half,or if you are West Ham a potentially dangerous situation,we left four players marking their one back in our half and one more behind the ball on halfway line so what do our well trained players do? Yep kick sideways then back then across the park Twice before losing it.Now even his fiercest ally must see that's Puels bloody doing. Now I'm still not calling for his head but I am calling for someone to bloody well have a very long,loud word into it!! Not happy !!
It really is odd this season. Some games we have done well, quick movement, high pressing. Too many games though, we have seemed sluggish and lacking energy. Too many games. Today, we created plenty of chances but the Hammers just seemed to want it more than us. Don't think we will be fighting relegation personally. It only takes a couple of decent results and things will look much healthier.
Again I don't disagree but I also remember Notts Forrest being Far too good to go down,we need to be very careful.
That was a joke by me btw if it wasn't clear to everyone! I used to bet against us in individusl matches during league 1 as a kind of 'insurance' win-win thing. In a, Didn't care if I lost the money way, but if we did lose it was kind of a 'compensation' to have a few beers afterwards. I would never bet on us to get relegated though.
Getting a bit fed up now so I want to change the subject and give a thumbs up to the Wesr Ham supporters who were not only loud but actually funny. Of course, they're not used to winning away so were in an especially good mood but even so.........
