The9

I think the idea was that we shouldn't be clearing it in the air to begin with (which is not to say we shouldn't try and control it afterwards). I may have time later to rewatch on FF to see if that's the case. I don't think we played much long, but there's a bit of a difference in "heading" stats and "Fellainiesque" linking high balls to attacking team mates.

I think this position chart is pretty revealing - look at Lallana's "average position" and how advanced the fullbacks are. This is why line-based formations are history. We played 2-6-2.

Actually Lambert won one header, it says so in the stats. http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/614054/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013-Manchester-City-Southampton - whilst Rodriguez won twice as many (though all defensively and he was on the pitch twice as long). Guly didn't win any headers because we didn't cross the ball to him (our only crosses first half were 1 handballed by Zabaleta at source and the resulting free kick which was headed out for a corner, plus the corner, which was cleared). Our next cross was when Lambert came on. There was obviously a policy of not giving the ball away in those situations early on. The reason Rodriguez wasn't up top was because the idea was to use his fitness, passing ability and pace to defend against Zabaleta and break down the left when we had the ball. After Guly went there we let 2 goals in but as we were much more attacking generally so gaps were going to occur. Compare Rodriguez's tracking back with Puncheon losing Clichy when he should have scored. But that pass only came in because we were standing off Yaya Toure in midfield anyway. Also worth noting that Fox had more touches than any other Saints player. Ward-Prowse had fewer than Rodriguez in 10 more minutes. Those stats show an interesting story, but I accept they're still lacking info like how often a player passed due to defensive pressure or misplaced a header due to an opposing jump, etc.

You really are labouring an irrelevant point. MY point is that the entire team changed their attitude when given the go ahead to attack at 0-1 with 30 mins left. Your point seems to be that Lambert's single goal which put us level at 1-1 in a match that we lost, was equal to winning a gold medal in the Olympics or one of the best players in the world scoring goals in the World Cup Finals and that I shouldn't expect any better. And I thought you liked Lambert? It's still irrelevant, I feel I should repeat that he'll probably start against Wigan, as it looks like the sort of match we'll attack from the start and probably won't need a striker at left wing back.

He scored, and made one key pass (whatever that is). Nobody is suggesting Steve Davis changed the game but he scored as many goals. We consciously were playing low risk possession football and not attacking in numbers until Lambert came on. Compare the 5 man break (which didn't include Lambert) with the response to us going forward for the entire first half. When Rodriguez and Lallana broke down the left in the first half they had Guly to aim for and that was it. When Lallana broke away in the last half hour there were plenty of supporting midfielders and options. Ward-Prowse was up there, he made ONE significant run forward in the first half. It was as much that change to offensive-mindedness as anything any one player did, and that was due to Adkins giving them the nod to go forward, which coincided with introducing Lambert which was also a more attacking move. Until that point we had been just ensuring we didn't get thrashed for as long as possible. I have no problem with us changing tactics, I just wish people would broaden their minds and see the bigger picture. Aaaaaaanyway, Wigan game... WDL: 7-2-2 in their last 11 Prem games. No mugs.

As posted already, I'm on page 105.

I don't use Tapatalk. This is on a laptop, and on my work PC. Guessing it's in the Profile Settings somewhere, along with "don't show Avatars" which has also served me very well.

You posted that on page 103 of my view. This is on page 105.

Well, it's easier to see everything going on and the pattern of play from the top of the 3rd tier at Wembley - I'd be reluctant to say any central defender at a pro level who plays in a side which concedes 3 goals looked "immense", especially when one goal was an unmarked header in the box from a set piece. Japan weren't otherwise appalling or anything. He was decent, and he was also one of the players I was keeping an eye on. Nothing "bad", but nothing stellar by any stretch. As for the Etihad, I went, and I've also seen the highlights twice and am in the process of watching the whole thing again in full (up to half time so far). I've already posted similar comments about Guly in other threads (mainly in discussions about Lambert's role), as Neville said he made 3 or 4 runs off camera at one point. You're perfectly right that people can see different things at games though.

I was at Japan v Mexico and having seen him linked with us I kept an eye out and he didn't look anything special - Mexico scored a header from a corner and 3 goals, after all. Can't judge anyone on one match though, that Giovanni Dos Santos of Mexico looked decent for a start...

Yes, I can confirm that there is no possible way they can have sold out yet, as we're still in the first priority period. There were under 2800 fans (away capacity) at Man City, only fans who went to Man City have top priority (45pts) and there are 2914 tickets for Arsenal. Therefore, if every single person who went to Man City buys an Arsenal ticket (which they won't anyway), there will still be more than 100 left. I'd say there were about 2400 at City, so there will be at least 400 to go on sale to ST holders from 9am on Tuesday 28th August, when the second priority window opens, probably more like 600 when you consider people who can't make Arsenal, just don't want to go, or live up North and don't go to southern matches.

When I was in Portugal at Euro 2004 with a fairly fluent Spanish speaker, most Portuguese people were fine with the Spanish, but we had one (academic-looking) Portuguese taxi driver who absolutely did not understand a word of it, and amusingly I ended up doing all the directions in French.

Might be the case that they've screwed up the system again, maybe someone hit the wrong button when switching on the Arsenal away sales or something...

I can't even begin to comprehend what the hell you're getting at.

You seem incapable of noticing that I don't often criticise him for anything other than not being very mobile. And how's he "proven me wrong" ? I didn't say he wouldn't score this season, he was to all intents and purposes dropped (though I'd assume we were rotating the squad that's a MASSIVE change compared to last season when he was essential to everything) and his failure to be up with half of our team on the counterattack for the second goal nicely supports my point that he's not very mobile. I'm happy to repeat that I think Sharp will start more games than Lambert in the Prem this season. Again with the rider that I first made that claim before we signed Rodriguez who is probably going to play more than both of them.

I haven't seen many mis-spellings of Cortese; "Cortesse", but that's about it.

Is this whole thread just set up so I can say "Lambert" ? Cos I'm not gonna. I just think we have players better equipped than him, there will be some matches when his strengths are exactly what we need, but others (like Sunday) when we need other people to work for an hour in order to be able to use him. Fox's performance on Sunday was a level below the others, but he was also involved in assisting with our most constructive attacks in the first half.

That does actually work, as you can create an account on the checkout page.

If nothing else this thread is superb for discovering how many different ways there are to mis-spell "Bologna". So far we've had Bolgna Bolonga Bolnoga Bolgona Bollogna Bologgna Balonga and many many more...

Stevegrant all but announced this when Arsenal announced their pricing structure. We're their lowest category, so that's a good thing.

I think the fact I wasn't the first person to actually see it had been uploaded answers my commitment to that particular online "watch", but yeah, was looking forward to having the various bits of detail confirmed "officially". The various random kit drawings are presumably lifted from the drafts delivered to the club by the manufacturer, and as these are from different years, that would probably explain it. I note they've said "white OR blue" socks, though the pic is of the blue socks, and we already have white away socks with the narrow red hoops. Still considering just sticking Prem numbers on my yellow shirt and saving myself £30 for a new shirt though. Villa's kit just shows what an arm looks like folded. For some reason.

Guly didn't win a header because no-one passed the ball at his head, we were keeping possession over getting it forward. Gary Neville commented on "3-4 runs Guly made off-screen" at one point which still didn't end up with him getting a pass from Fox on the left wing even with him in space. We chose, as so often last season, to keep midfield possession rather than try to play any through balls and give the ball away. We barely got the ball into the box at all, preferring to attack down the left and not manage to get anything of note into a dangerous area even though Guly was often free. Rodriguez and Lallana's pace, passing and their workrates were the key to us being able to hold the ball in City's half, and we blatantly obviously only attacked down the wings to keep the ball away from Toure, De Jong and Kompany. Adkins himself said he was trying to keep us in the game for as long as possible and give us a chance to get a result. City's biggest threat for a while around the 25 minute mark was Yaya Toure dropping deep and knocking passes, until Guly started pressurising him from behind and forcing him to move the ball on. After the sub, Guly's abilities at "left wingback" probably weren't up to Rodriguez's standard but Lambert's "presence" for the goal before the rebound to him only involved him making a pass in the centre circle; and for Davis' goal, when he wasn't 1 of the 5 attacking Saints players on the counter. But we'd already changed to become more attacking at that point, we weren't chucking 5 players forward in the first 60 minutes. But what warranted Guly's selection was Adkins not wanting to wear Lambert out chasing the ball in the first half, he basically said so. To get back on topic, I don't expect we'll use the same tactics on Saturday and fully expect Lambert to start and be heavily involved as our target man. That's if Adkins doesn't prefer Rodriguez's mobility.

No, Roger, he didn't do a great deal. The statistics prove it. 16 passes, 81% completion rate, one shot, one successful header. We also conceded twice as many goals with him on the pitch in half as much time as when Rodriguez was on the pitch, why do you think that might be ? Oh, and by the way, remember my "Sharp will start more games than Lambert" claim ? It's currently 0-0. Though I am expecting Lambert to start on Saturday and would be surprised if Sharp did, but then Wigan at home is the sort of game I would expect us to play him in.

You never once said "the club had told YOU", and instead chose to argue that "the club had told everyone when the kit was launched", which as I've repeatedly proven, was utter cobblers. Even if you did know, you did a remarkable job of making it look like you didn't. PS It takes more balls to stand up for yourself than cave in to someone misrepresenting what they said to try and score points.

Nice spot, I've been waiting for them to upload that since Saturday, and thought it might be the first place it would be confirmed online - though last season's Handbook didn't actually come out until December !