Jump to content

Alanh

Members
  • Posts

    949
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Alanh's Achievements

  1. Lambert was such a huge influence on how we could play then. His ability to hold up the ball was better than anyone we have had since and not having it now makes regularly playing a long ball out of defence too much of a lottery in terms of possession of the ball - which we all know is RM's primary philosophy.
  2. Given the options available - Charles and Aribo - I don't think putting them in in place of the starting three would have made much difference (assuming Hull played as effectively as they did in the first half). I'm pretty sure they would also have been man marked out of the game and wouldn't have been able to do much more that the starting three did on the night.
  3. He looks good when we are on the front foot and retaining possession as he makes late runs into the box and regularly provides an option in the final third. When he is marked tightly, like he was for an hour last night, he hasn't got the close control or confidence to play much more than a wall pass back to the defence. Last night we needed someone like Lavia who can play on the half turn and face up the opposition. Easier said than done though when their man to man marking was so tight and disciplined.
  4. I think you have got to give credit to Hull for their effort last night. They implemented the tactics that we are vulnerable to absolutely perfectly during the first half. They essentially man marked when we had the ball and their discipline was good. Our midlfield could not shake their markers to have any time to turn on the ball, hence so many wall passes back to the defence and why Mara was being followed by their CB into our half when he dropped deep for the ball. It looked like their discipline broke just before half time so their manager switched their tactics for the second half to sitting deep and attacking on the break. We had loads more of the ball but just struggled to find many clear openings. I was really surprised when they took off Seri as he was running the midfield and things did open up for us after he went off. Assuming they played as effectviely again, the only changes in the starting formation which I think would have made a difference would have been Adams for Mara as he may have held the all up better, and Sulemanna for one of the wingers as his pace might have made them stand off a bit more rather than man mark.
  5. FFP isn't about how much you spend, it's about putting a limit on how much you can lose over a 3 year period. Chelsea have big revenues from sponsors and had a transfer ban for a couple of windows so their recent spending is only one part of the equation.
  6. What a sense of entitlement! You make it sound like you expect 11 brave Saints lads to turn up and the opposition will just roll over. It's still a football match, there are still determined and sometimes well organised opponents to overcome.
  7. This is a freak year. Leicester AND Ipswich have got the top two most points after 20 games ever recorded. All of the top 15 in the list attached went on to be promoted.
  8. https://theathletic.com/5119607/2023/12/08/the-ludicrous-numbers-in-championship-promotion-race-and-what-it-means/
  9. It would be interesting to see how many players those promoted clubs have taken with them from last season into the EPL. We know that THB isn't with Burnley any more and was a mainstay of their defence. Also several teams (I think Forest are an example) have got promotion with teams full of Prem loans which have mainly been given back. If you have to do a big rebuild after promotion it will be a gamble as to whether you can compete as a newly promoted team.
  10. Alanh

    Underdogs

    With the draw for the FA Cup third round coming up in December I was trying to remember a time when Saints got drawn against a proper minnow - a team from non-league. Any recollections?
  11. The reason you felt we could win every game in that season was because we had proven goalscorers who had the confidence from two pretty good seasons behind them in League 1. At the moment we don't have a reliable goalscorer in the squad (and haven't had since Ings left), so we are trying to play a style of fotball that will get us points in the knowledge that we aren't likely to score many goals. The system is nowhere near perfect because we are conceding too many, but putting away more of our chances would take pressure off the defence and give the whole team the confidence that they could outscore the opposition. It would transform this team and allow it to live up to the idea that it's one of the best squads in the division.
  12. One part of the stats suggest that we ae not scoring as many goals as our Xg. If the team/system/tactics is creating the chances what change to the system would you suggest which will mean that more chances get converted into goals?
  13. This is the key. Move the ball, to pull the opposition out of postion and move the ball quickly when attacking. It's not easy, it's not always possible and it's not always desirable because you want to be able to change the pace to catch the opposition off guard - slow, slow, quick etc, but more often than not its the fundamental element that makes this style of play work effectively. When we have done it this season we have created good chances. We need to finish more of them.
  14. As a simplistic extrapolation you are obviously right, but if we have aspirations to be at the top end of the table, then 10% conversion isn't good enough. Rotherham converted 50% of their shots on target. If we had even got to 30% last weekend we would have been close to our Xg and would have won the match comfortably. We are creating chances and limiting the opposition's chances with the tactics we are using, but we just aren't finding the back of the net often enough.
  15. So, you agree that we created enough chances to win on Saturday but believe that we needed to create more. If we create more but continue to be crap at putting the chances away then the extra chances aren't really very useful. Surely if we just scored more from the chances we created (perhaps matching our XG for the match which was 2.52) then we win the match and the defence and midfield 'pissing about at the back' gets called game management instead. If we carry on as we are and keep creating chances but don't put them away then I agree we won't get promoted, but if we start matching or exceeding our Xg, like Leicester or Ipswich, then we give ourselves a real chance.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

View Terms of service (Terms of Use) and Privacy Policy (Privacy Policy) and Forum Guidelines ({Guidelines})