Some talk that he picked up a knock. But I just think it was because it was already on a yellow card, and Debuchy was bombing forward (and most likely not being tracked by Lallana). Couldn't afford to go down to ten men. But as you say, Fox had a mare when he come on. Oh well. If we had two brilliant players in each position, we wouldn't be 16th!
nice to see Southampton concede 4 goals, be interesting to see if we go after them or try and keep it tight
I do think your best chance of victory is to attack us. I would certainly feel a lot more comfortable seeing you try to keep it tight.
We haven't attacked anybody since the first half of the first game of the season, which we lost 5-0 at home. Then post traumatic stress syndrome set in. We looked really good for about 25 minutes then though.
For fear of having my head shot off from some of you guys, I'm not going to reply to that by commenting on Harry's tactics and team selections (And having never had Hughes as manager, I'm really not in a position to comment on his tactics etc).
Cheers. That Shaw fella looks very good, best LB prospect in the league imo. I'll be very happy if Fox starts against us instead of him
Defensively at least, I would say that he looks better than Bridge or Bale did at that age. And he's getting better going forward by the week. You just forget that he's only 17 years old. It's no coincidence that our season started to turn around (not that we're safe yet!!) the moment that Cork returned from injury and Shaw replaced Fox (those two things happening at the same time).
Southampton looked a proper team, very solid. I haven't seen anything yet this season to indicate that we might beat them. We can't even rely on them getting careless/lethargic like the "top" sides do when they face us. It's weird to say it out loud, but i think we'll need a minor miracle/massive slice of luck to beat Southampton away...
I think you're right, but Harry could at least pick a team to go out and have a good go at them. I could see Remy causing that defence a problem or two.
Hoillet gives us something extra in attack, and tarbs hasn't looked the same since his penalty miss, so based on current form i'd go for this: Cesar Fabio Samba Hill Traore Townsend Jenas Mbia Hoillet Remy Zamora Assuming Zamora comes off on 60ish stick samba up front and drop Mbia back, bringing on Granero or Derry . I have my doubts that Remy/Hoillet are fit enough for 90 mins yet, so just bring on Mackie & Tarbs as super-subs whenever they're required.
I'd go for this: --------------------Cesar------------------- Fabio--------Samba-------Hill---------Traore --------------Mbia-----Diakite-------------- Townsend---------Taarabt-----------Hoilett ------------------Remy--------------------
Since I saw Saints at Man City on the first weekend of this season I've thought they are too good a footballing side to struggle. That was well confirmed at Loftus Road and I think we'll be dead lucky to get a point next week. If we go for it we could be seriously embarrassed. Col's team looks the right formation. 4-4-2 would be suicidal...
All the lack of confidence is making me nervous already , hopefully we can cash in on the luck we didn't get at all today and get a few decisions next week!
That's an interesting lineup, i think i'd be worried that we'd struggle to retain possession in midfield with our two nutters starting though. Diakite has looked lost on the pitch during his recent starts, but maybe he picked up some form during the ACON. Mbia lost the ball on a lot of occasions yesterday, although improved after the break. It does frustrate me how he never seem to attempt to place his headers, as if he thinks winning them is sufficient and anything extra is a bonus. That's probably his background as a centre-back kicking in- and indeed i think he's looking more and more like he's not cultured enough for midfield. The header thing is endemic in our side, they never seem to go to a teammate. You'd drop Zamora to the bench? I think he's added an extra side to our game since he's been back, and it sounds as if arry' want him to strike up a partnership with Remy
Would you play Zamora as a one striker and play defensive players behind him? You might be right about 442, although from his recent interviews i think that's what Harry intends to start with from now on...
Zamora is not fully fit and looking at his last 25 minutes on the pitch yesterday he'd be better used as a last half-hour striker if we are still in the game. 4-2-3-1 offers a bit more security than going at it like headless chickens and we can always play two upfront later in the game...
