From sitting high up in the stand, it was so clear that Pelle was rooted to the centre and we weren't really stretching their defenders. That changed in the brief time Jay was on. Good foresight from Schad there. Jay also tracked back when Cedric was caught forward.
Their service wasn't great, but Pelle doesn't attempt to make a run to move a CB. The few times he did get it he again either flicked it or tried the killer ball. Last week when he kept it simple he looked a quality forward.
I thought he played well. Seemed to tire with his passing going astray in the last ten, but he did well today.
Although true, that doesn't tell you anything. Mane's pace and already caused them a couple of problems. You've got to be careful of those stats
You throw your toys out the pram and rattle out "not acceptable" at the drop of a hat Tom. Let's get Poch back. It's three games and the team haven't gelled. We've players to come back and still likely to add a good CB. Rome wasn't built in a day. It's a marathon not a sprint. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. and any other cliche you can think of.
Dude. You are seriously the world's greatest Pelle hater. Whether Pelle or Rodriguez played today made as little difference as who played right back against Myditytytdytland. There was no service. We were too slow and too sloppy playing the ball up from the back, and we just ended up resorting to bad long balls. No one can ever fault Long's workrate, sneaky positional sense, or ability to make a run (it's what he does after he gets the ball that lets him down) and he barely got a sniff.
So how long do they have to gel? 5 games? 10 games? 38 games? They've had 6 competitive games now. Now, I'm not saying they should be 100% gelled, but I expect to see some kind of improvement and today we were so disjointed in attack it was like they were complete strangers. OK, Mane's injury didn't help at all but that's still no excuse to put in such a limp attacking display.
Sinclair and Keown ripped into us. They said they can see why Wanyama would want to leave as we sell every one. Also said we have to hold onto Mane. Sinclair said Koeman chickened out by playing 5-3-2
Yeah am watching. Lots of people buying into a media generated situation - monsters under the bed. Can't wait until the window closes and we can get on with playing football.
Oh Tom, you used this phrase in another post, "get a grip". Maybe you should? We've had 6 competitive games. 3 in Europe, with two wins and a draw, with the draw having a second half where we camped in he opponents half and didn't get that bounce to win it. It wasn't that bad in the second half of Thursday's game. We've had three League games where we should have won the first, but missed a couple of chances at the end and then a pot game against Everton and today's game that showed an improvement defensively but not great in attack. You're reaction is of someone who thinks it must be like playing FIFA. Things sometimes take longer to work out and get right. Just ease off and give Ron time to get the team right. It's a bit daft to be blowing a stack after three league games, it really is. You make me laugh to myself when you say things like, "I expect" or "no excuse" or "totally unacceptable" - **** happens mate and sometimes things take longer to work out. You can't just press a different button on the controller. I'm not thrilled that I went to watch that today, but I'm not going to lose it after three league games. Ps, there'll be no excuse the next time you post on here that you're having a sickie off work, as it'll be totally unacceptable and I expect you to go to work
They are the same clowns that were tipping us for relegation before last season began. I don't watch that **** unless Saints win as they wind me up with their ill informed garbage.
The media only ever talk in the now. I was listening to commentary of West Brom v Chelsea whilst driving to today's game. Stan Collymore spent half an hour repeatedly saying Chelsea didn't look sharp or fit. Coming off at half time 1-3 up he commented on how they looked sharp and fit for the majority of the game. You couldn't make it up.
Back online - thoughts/ratings as follows... Stekelenburg - 7 - Wasn't tested, distribution was fine and claimed balls into the box, hard to rate him much higher Cédric - 7 - Did well defensively, especially after an early knock to his head - not so great going forwards, but offered something Fonte - 8 - Our best player. Lots of good challenges, blocks and also some good play Caulker - 8 - A real unit. Won the vast majority of his aerial battles and chipped in with some attacks too. Looks a threat from dead balls! Yoshida - 7 - Not quite on the same level of the other two, IMO, but still a good display and let nobody down Targett - 5 - Thought he was poor. Got done defensively and offered little going forwards. Romeu - 7 - Impressed me. Establishes a grip on the midfield and looked much better alongside Victor this time. Like his patter. Wanyama - 7 - Good shift from Victor. As above, really. S. Davis - 6 - Have to be honest, I forgot he was playing at certain points. Pellè - 6 - Some good bits, some bad. Failed to really threaten but not through lack of effort. Mané - 7 - Looked our best attacker while he was on, and if he had continued I think we'd have scored a goal. Subs: Long - 6 - Runs around a lot, tries hard but ultimately very little technical ability and never threatened to score. JWP - Not really on long enough to put a proper judgement down. Rodriguez - Same as above. Overall, it wasn't anywhere near fascinating to watch, but I come away from it feeling more positive and encouraged than I did going into the game today. Saw enough at Vicarage Road today to reassure me of the capabilities of Saints defensively, we just need to stick it in the net now. Think Clasie will help when he returns, and Bertrand will balance our attacking threat from wide areas. When Sadio is fit and Pellè has a better day, we'll be fine. If not, we've still got Jay, Dušan and Juanmi. Judgement: Still not getting into a flap yet. Ask me next Monday.
DTLW - were you there? Not bad ratings, although I couldn't give Caulker an 8. Agree about his ariel battles, but he needs to work on his concentration. There were a few occasions when he ball watched amd had no idea where his man was. I noticed Jose have a word with him about it a couple of times, so hopefully Jose and Ron can iron that out. The rest he was fine for sure. I actually did question Pelle's effort today. There were times when he didn't work to cover a team mate, make a forward run, or close down the defenders. He and Long seemed to turn their backs as soon as the ball was dead, rather than face up and stop opponents playing out.
