Chez

He certainly worked hard, but in the first half he went to sleep on one occasion allowing Walker the freedom of the park. His lack pace doesn't help as he can't recover. Fortunately Spurs didn't score on that occasion, but from time to time he does ball watch and leaves Fox exposed.

Word of advice. Never listen to his interviews. He rarely says what he really feels, so what's the point?

I've seen him several time snow and each time I feel exactly the same. Great little footballer. Not a left back, but the fact he has dropped in there and done a great job shows what he is made of. He's in the Paul Scholes mould, plays with his head up and has a great eye for a pass. If he turns out to be even half as good he'll be some player. That said I'm not sure I'd pick him ahead of JWP, Morgan and Davis.

took him ages to get fans on his side afterwards (and some never did). I wonder how much of our hardcore away support reside in the Chapel? If the same thing had happened in front of the Northam I think it might be tougher for Boruc, but I get the feeling it will be quickly forgotten.

Make no mistake he was slow coming out. Mind you, even if he had been quicker, Defoe would probably still have got there before him.

Chaplow grafts up and down, but he's not an enforcer in any way, nor a genius. I like him, but don;t want to see him in the middle. His touch is not good enough, nor his passing. Davis and Morgan are the right people for the job. What Delldays wants is another central midfielder in there with them rather than an attacking player like Lallana or Ramirez. JWP makes sense to me, all that energy to close down opponents would be perfect.

does he ever get tight to the wide man when playing for Scotland or does he drop deep to prevent him being exposed by pace as he does for us?

I saw him in the pre-season game on Channel 5. He looked OK. No better or worse than Fox. But not much to go on, so I'll leave it to Adkins to make that choice. The fact Fox has been subbed twice (both when playing on Adkins side of the field) shows Adkins has issues with him, so if Shaw is ready he will play. If he's not playing its because he' s not ready (or fit).

Agreed. Yoshida was massively at fault. He just let Defoe do whatever he wanted

so what you're saying is we need to play JWP in the middle with Davis and Morgan. What about the left and right sides? Do we go for Lallana an Mayuka? Neither are naturally defensive, so don't help our fullbacks. Mor eof a 4-3-3 than a 4-5-1. Where does Ramirez play when he comes back?

I'm amazed there are a few on this thread that didn't notice this. One guy suggests we only played 4-3-3 for a few minutes! I mean if supporters are going to games and can't even identify a formation, how on earth can you trust their judgement on anything else? We start 4-4-2 to try and protect the fullbacks, it doesn't work because we make mistakes (ball-watching and not getting tight) and then can't get control of the ball in midfield so he gambles on taking charge of the midfield by shuffling Lallana inside and Rodriguez outside and it works a treat. I'd like to add that this puts to bed once and for all the theory that Cortese has any sway when it comes to formation. All week we've had people on here informing us that Adkins HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED to play 4-3-3 rather than has dictated to the rest of the club that they must play the 4-3-3 that he has chosen.

I like him, but no doubt about it he has made mistakes, all players do, it's human nature, unfortunately a couple of his have led directly to goals. Hopefully in the games coming up the mistakes we make will go unpunished.

yeah I thought we started well, without offering much if a threat. Mayuka coming on and moving to 4-3-3 made all the difference.

4-4-2 and we were ****. When we went to 4-3-3 we ran Spurs ragged. Mayuka made a huge difference nit only offering us something in attack but penning them back. The side followed his lead and we were camped in their half and really should have got a draw. Boruc 5 - slow off his line for the second goal, very little else to do Fox 3 - tough assignment, but yet another game where he did next to nothing defensively and just as little offensively. When playing on Adkins side of the pitch it becomes obvious how crap he is and is rightly substituted Joshida 4 - Felt the first goal came because he just didn't put any pressure on Defoe at at. So easy for him to collect the ball, dance inside and lay it off. Get tight and make it tough when he turns inside. Terrible distribution, which is important as he seems to be the guy responsible to bring the ball out from the back, time after time he put us in trouble or gave it away. Far from convinced. I think I would prefer Jos to be honest. Fonte 7 - thought he had a decent game, one poor header when he could have chested it down apart. Clyne 5 - ball watched for the first goal. Very very poor. You have got to at least try and out Bale off. How easy was it for Bale to head that goal compared to Yoshida's effort later challkenegd by Gallas. This sort of error is killing us. Decent second half keeping Bale quiet. But maybe more to do with the lack of service to him than what Clyne did.Got to cut these errors out as he has a great all round game. Lallana 7 - huge workrate, but all defensively in first half. Got caught dozing which could have hurt us badly. It didn't. When moved into the middle he ran the show. A real threat and they couldn't handle him. Davis 6 - terrible first half. Just horrid. Excellent second. Could not understand why he was subbed. We were totally on top at that point so no reason to other than fresh legs, but we've lost momentum several times doing that so concerned that Adkins has not learned his lesson. Morgan 6 - pretty much the same as Davis. Great second half. Boy is he quick. Out ran Bale in second half. That took some doing. Shame that thunderous drive didn't go in Puncheon 5 - less comfortable in the 4-4-2. Kept coming inside, which become predictable. Got caught in possession once and seemed to just give up. He then lost his bottle, choosing to boot the next ball rather than get it down and play. He wasn't bad, he just didn't offer any threat which meant their fullback was free to attack Lambert 4 - did nothing first half apart from a great defensive header. Struggled to win any of the lofted punts to him. Did a little bit more in the second, but reputation kept him on the pitch. Did chase hard though in second half to put the defenders under pressure. Rodriguez 7 - worked the channels hard in first half but service dried up and he couldn't be expected to beat three. The goal just filled him with confidence and he seemed to be everywhere for a period. Particularly impressed with his tracking of Lennon one occasion. Probably went unnoticed, but essential. Mayuka 8 - outstanding. Turned the game on its head. Pace, tricks, some great turns. Every time I see him he impresses me. Tore their left back a new one. Guly 6 Were the shouts of Guly or boos when he came on? Not sure. He did pretty well again, following on from a great display at West Ham. He usually does well in CM, that's where he is comfortable. Reeves 7 - Did more defensively in 15 minutes than Fox has all season. Great first touch, looks confident and got tight to Lennon. Lennon was snuffed out. Not sure he has the pace to play at fullback but he looks a brilliant prospect to me.

enjoy the game chaps.

not sure we have played him enough. Maybe my eyes have deceived me, but he looks a terrific player to me and ready to play now, especially at home, although I would want him at the front of the three having a bit more freedom than Davies and Morgan

what on earth has sacking long standing programme sellers got to do with removing racists?

So that's a left back, a centre back, a winger and another central midfielder that we should have added to the 8 we brought in? Lallana played in the middle last week at West Ham. I'm pretty sure Adkins also sees Guly, Ramirez and Puncheon as players that can also play in the middle. Reeves is another. How many is that? I know we are struggling right now, but the moaning about who we did and didn't bring in is getting a little boring. Adkins, Reed or Cortese, they all have a say and therefore they are all partially to blame if the new players are not to your liking. It was actually a damn good transfer window and most agreed as much at the time. We certainly strengthened the side and I'm not unhappy with any of the players. I'm glad we overloaded the attacking talent. Barnard, Sharp and Lee don't have nearly the attributes needed to pose a threat at this level so Mayuka and Rodriguez were both needed for me. If like Cork, Lambert had got injured and we'd only brought Rodriguez in there would have been uproar.

I put money on Reading so no worries in that game.

I meant watching that was like watching The Office again, cringeworthy. Shows he is under pressure in that he feels he has to learn a poem to avoid answering tricky questions about what's going on on the pitch.

why the hostility? He's never let us down. He has limitations, but he played an important role in many games last season.

`Office second time round' for me. Sorry. Never liked his interviews, but don't care so long as he keeps doing the business as a manager.

Boruc Clyne Fonte Jos Fox JWP Morgan Davis Puncheon Lallana Lambert

Could not agree more. If we are going to have wide men that leave fullbacks exposed Davis, Morgan and Ward-Prowse should be the middle three to hopefully fill some of those gaps. Not sure where that leaves Ramirez, but as he's injured it doesn't matter right now.

I like Cork and thought he had some terrific games last season, although don't forget he was dropped towards the end of the season, but I just have this nagging sense that he doesn't have that really tight control that will enable him to thrive at this level. I hope I am wrong. Wish some of these players get back soon as competition and choice can't do any harm.