West Brom v Saints match thread

But Ramirez won't toughen up the flanks. He's a luxury player who won't track back.

 

I haven't seen anything that suggests that. He's a hard working midfielder, and more of an imposing figure than Lallana.

 

He tracks back far more then Lallana does.

 

Ok, but in my defence I've only seen him once, against Villa where he didn't need to track back as he was going forward all the time.

 

In fairness to Lallana he presses extremely hard. This is reflected in his tackles and interceptions per game that are very high. He does his defensive duties in a nontraditional manner.

 

Definitely. Ramirez has got to play behind the striker in a free role. We should play 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 with Ramirez available

I'd play Mayuka on the right also.

 

But Lallana's drifting inside is the thing that puts the most pressure on our **** defence.

 

But Ramirez would surely do the exact same thing, as he's not a natural winger.

 

It would be nice if he was more organised but he seems incapable. He gets overly exuberant wanting to lead from the front as captain it seems. Would have been better to give it to someone else because of that imo. I wonder if Adkins has mentioned to him to stay in position better when we lose the ball. He hardly did any defending at all the past few seasons compared to now, it's a role he's not used to

 

He's played wide a lot for Bologna and Uruguay. I do thing he'd cut inside a lot, but I also think he would have more of a physical presence to assert on the opposition's winger. Also he's probably got a better delivery than Lallana, so he'd still be useful if he stuck to the flank.

 

He's far more effective when he goes inside, it's a balance which I think he's getting better at. He did track back against Spurs, as Fox was tucked inside a lot of the time. But even then he wasn't particularly helpful defensively it has to be said.

I think we should play a more defensive left-wigner like Reeves or Fox to be honest. I don't want to advocate dropping Lallana but away from home or against the top teams we have to look for solidity first.

I think he's got to play centrally really, that's where we'll get the best out of him. I don't want him to wear himself out chasing wingers I want him to stay forward ready to receive the ball on the counter-attack.

 

I bet Ramirez would drift inside a lot, so would Mayuka and so does Rodriguez.

 

True, maybe it would be a good idea for Ramirez and Lallana to switch positions regularly. When Saints are attacking they can easily switch positions. When Saints are defending maybe keep Ramirez out wide to provide cover for Fox.

 

I don't think this is true, seen him tracking back for us and when I watched him playing for Uruguay he seemed to be everywhere on the pitch and was by far their hardest working player, his height is useful for defending set pieces as well.

As an aside, bit of light relief picked up from the #SaintsFC on twitter, Pompey fan attempting to cuddle up to WBA fans gets taken apart. http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=550&fid=255&sty=2&act=1&mid=2113833925

 

I doubt that Ramirez will start tonight, he might be on the subs bench.

 

I guess we'll see exactly how important he is considered to be.

 

I'd rather he was started, then taken off later in the game if he is tired. He's not going to make much impact if we are already 3-0 down.

 

vg point!

 

Based solely on the evidence of how Adkins has used Lambert in a couple of away games this season, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes down that route tonight with Ramirez. "He's probably not 100%, so we'll wrap him up in cotton wool, hope that the other XI guys can keep us in the game come 65 mins, and then unwrap him and see if he can nick us a win against a tiring defence."

 

Totally agree.