saintant

Pretty much agree with that team although maybe give Cornet a go instead of Fraser. Also I wonder if Sugawara could play as one of the double pivots and put KWP at right back and Taylor left back. As you say, the double pivot offers us protection for the back 4 when defending and when attacking one of the two can advance forward to help out the midfield. Unfortunately I don't think this system is in RM's plans.

All the good sides excluding maybe Arsenal use 4231 and Liverpool have now switched to it this season under their new coach. Other teams that use it are Villa, Brighton , Bournemouth, Fulham, Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Spurs and West Ham. Strangely, these are mostly the best sides in the Premier League. Not sure why we are trying to buck the trend but this is a sign that all the more successful clubs are playing 4231 and I'm convinced we should be doing the same.

I still have a feeling there are goals in this squad played in the right formation.

Sugawara was on the bench today as Japan hammered China 7-0.

Hard to judge AA so far because the way we've set up and played has hardly been conducive to getting the best out of him. We are back to the old argument that he is not given enough chances so has to be clinical with the few he gets - last season he could afford to miss some and still score plenty. Shame he missed the one against Brentford but we've seen even the best strikers miskick the ball so that it hits the standing foot - yes, should have scored but it happens to the best.

I think we'd be better playing 4231.

Yeah I tend to agree. There is a player in there but now is the time for him to take stock, use his obvious disappointment at how things have panned out and decide how good he wants to be. He has the basic tools to become a good Premier League player and needs to take this loan opportunity, work incredibly hard and make it so the Anderlecht coach has to start him regularly. He has to put the work in. However, if he feels sorry for himself and is half-hearted he will make little or no progress - he must use this time wisely and I appreciate that he's away from home living in a country where he doesn't speak the language so it's going to be tough and he has my sympathy.

I'm not sure about this unless we do nothing and continue as we are. However, change course and, aside from Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool, I'd say we can take points off any other side if our strongest eleven is selected, tactics and set-up are right and games are managed well in terms of substitutes and tactical changes. We've done it in the past. This is a reasonable squad of players. Survival is a distinct possibility but there will need to be major changes in the manager's thinking which is the fly in the ointment.

Agree that these games and the next against Man Utd will be tough but we know there are no easy games in this league. I look at our squad and believe that there is a decent starting eleven there that could hold its own when played in the right formation and with the right strategy. It is up to RM to come up with the names to fit into that decent starting eleven and get them playing to their strengths. We have spent many seasons surviving the rigours of the Premier League and there's no reason why we can't do it again.

Is he on the grass yet? And by grass I don't mean the fairways and greens of a local golf course I mean the pitches at Stableford. We've been continually told for ages that he is two weeks away so I'm assuming he's training with those not on international duty. I certainly hope so because I genuinely think the guy deserves a bit of good fortune as he's been through what must have been tough times. He's untried at the highest level but I have a feeling that a fit and firing Ross Stewart would not look out of place in the Premier League if and when he gets some playing time under his belt. Good luck to him.

I think Lallana has a pretty good football brain and would do a decent job with our current squad.

I doubt anybody does. It's a forum and fans are entitled to express their views. Not surprisingly with 3 straight defeats and all the goals conceded in such a slip-shod manner there will be negative comments. Things may change but RM has already warned us he'd rather lose games playing his way than try another system.

Nah, we're clearly nailed on for a Champions League spot.

Played pretty well apart from the 2 silly goals - therein lies the problem that most of us are continually discussing after a game. You can play as well as you like but if you are constantly gifting goals to the opposition you will not collect many points. If RM cannot stop the silly goals conceded playing in his system he either has to change the way we play (which he's consistently said he won't) or his time as a manager in the Premier League will be a short one. Even if the owners are prepared to put up with it the fans won't and nor should they.

You missed out the next fixture Man Utd at home. I'm guessing you're thinking we'll lose that one 🙂

He has admitted on numerous occasions that he will make no compromises on how his teams play. It's pretty evident that he is not suddenly going to adopt different tactics. The most we can hope for is a few more long passes from Ramsdale similar to when McCarthy stepped in at the end of last season. I'm not overly convinced he has much more in his locker because I've not really seen him do anything much to change the course of a game by switching tactics. Bit of a one trick pony perhaps.

Unless something changes they will continue because opponents will be well aware that their press will induce these errors.

Edozie clearly needs this loan because he has not demonstrated that he can perform at the level we require. The attributes he has shown are that he is good on the ball and can get past an opponent. However, there has rarely been an end product plus his finishing is pretty poor. If he can work on and improve those aspects plus maybe work in the gym to build up his upper body strength he has the potential to make a very good winger. A season of hard work at a club like Anderlecht, assuming he gets plenty of playing time, could be the making of him. I wish him luck.

Is there nothing in between? Is the stark choice either what we are seeing now or what we saw when we last went down? From what I read many are arguing that RM needs to change his principles because they don't believe they'll work. We'll find out soon enough. However, his way is not the only way - plenty of good managers are showing that you can win football matches without this obsession to retain possession at all costs. He will live or die by his methods and that is his choice - my prediction is that he'll be gone sooner rather than later and this will be a damaging blot on his CV and will severely reduce his chances of getting another job above the Championship. Maybe, if that's what transpires, he'll have no regrets and you have to give him a little credit because he is sticking by what he believes in - for me, it's just that I don't believe in the project.

Latest is he's two weeks away from being two weeks away from being two weeks away from being two weeks away ad finitum.

I'm not even sure this is true. From what I see he wants to be best friends with all his players and that is not healthy. In my opinion he is far too close to the players and this often clouds his judgement and decision making.

Very good post!

Agree but more often than not the passes are short and that's when we get ourselves in a mess. The good sides who play out from the back well tend to hit longer passes at speed to wide full backs or advanced centre backs/dropping midfielders.

Yeah, maybe but could be worth every penny if he can stabilise our defence and help cut out the soft goals. He's a very experienced player so would have bags of influence at the back.

Come on, Ramsdale was an obvious pick in front of AM. As for taking off AA and WS at half time the reality is they should not have started in the first place.