CanadaSaint

There's not too much of this but it's worth a read: http://www.epltalk.com/a-tactical-look-at-southampton-man-united-and-liverpool-arsenal-46561?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EPLTalk+%28EPL+Talk%29 Extract: "But it was the introduction of Hernandez that helped facilitate the space for Scholes to work in. With the Mexican’s pace stretching the Southampton defense, it allowed Scholes the time to dictate the game alongside Carrick." I'm not sure we had the players on the bench to counter this - almost as though we expected to be trying to come back from behind rather than trying to stay ahead.

He's got two weeks to get over it.

Smirking, the only reason I'm responding is because you're misrepresenting what I said. As I quickly clarified, it was the second goal, not the third. And the problem was much less the clearing header (yes, it was certainly better than Fox's against Man City) but his slowness in getting out to help Rodriguez with the two-on-one that resulted from the header. That doesn't mean I'm making Guly the scapegoat - there were bigger defensive lapses than his, and others made far more mistakes than he did. It just means that IMO he should have done much better than he did in a situation that led to the tying goal. That's all. But because of the heavily polarized opinions surrounding Guly - and I've generally been a supporter - the response from some quarters has been ridiculous; you, for example, accused me of being "mental." FWIW I agree completely with your comment that we need to drastically upgrade our defensive coaching because we're making repetitive mistakes. Anyway, enough. Let's move on.

It also pulls opposing defensive (including midfield) formations apart, which ends up creating the space for the eventual (hopefully!) scoring opportunity. And that's apart from the fact that it can be great to watch, and the fact that it can give rise to the kind of superlatives many media types used to describe our play yesterday. Sure, we lost yesterday, but I felt much better about that loss than I've felt after some of our wins - and I'm a really bad loser.

Yes, that's a really good point that we shouldn't lose sight of. This season, at least, we are not competing with the United's and City's of the division but with those from about tenth place down. Sure, the Wigan result was a real disappointment but they're not the crap team that many seem to think they are - as their 23 out of 33 points at the end of last season demonstrated. We were undone yesterday by a guy who cost 24 million and another guy with 66 appearances for England. We sure as hell won't encounter that kind of quality every week. Yes, we have some serious weaknesses that should have been addressed in the window, but so do other teams that really are our competition. One of the biggest challenges Nigel faces is figuring out who to leave out of the starting midfield line-up, which is a really nice problem.

It was good to see him applauding the fans after the personal stuff he's taken from some quarters.

The interweb was around when Jimmy Melia was playing?

Fordy, thank you. I apologize. I should never have posted that. And I agree that we were fantastic today. It's unfortunate that this thread got started because there was far more to be positive about than Guly's role in the second goal.

I think that's as much an issue as the players trying to play it. Jos and Fonte often seem unsure who's taking whom, and the "decision time" is time we can't afford at this level. We know that Clyne is struggling with higher balls hit to the far post but if RVP comes into his "zone", it's his job to mark him. I hate it but I'm sure there's a good reason for playing it. At least I think there is.

I hope and think we're going to get some great value from our window signings, especially Ramirez, but if the competition they bring has the affect it seems to have had on Schneiderlin and Puncheon, we've improved our squad a hell of a lot more than we thought.

This one? That would be the Rodgriguez who was trying to close down two players, eh? Wouldn't "backup to that" mean Guly closing down one of them as quickly as he could, especially as his weak headed clearance had caused the problem? You didn't counter it at all - just kept going with the same nonsense. Rodriguez should have dealt with it, when he was trying to mark two players? Give me a break. And I've already said that others were at fault when the cross came over, so leave the Rio line out of it. Jesus Murphy, is Guly such a polarizing player that people choose to be willfully blind to his obvious errors as well as his undoubted qualities? I guess so.

He was tremendous today. I'd love to know how many miles he covered. It is going to be a hell of a decision to decide who to leave out of our midfield because I thought they were all tremendous and none of them did anything to remotely deserve being left out.

It was a generic comment, not one aimed at you. And I have no problem with your disagreement - I just don't agree with it. I was talking about those who reject criticism of Guly, however valid, by accusing the critic of being a Guly hater. There's plenty of it on this thread and it often descends into the pig-ignorant (Fordy) and the rather childish (Smirking). If they don't have a counter argument beyond "You're a Guly hater", perhaps they don't have a counter argument at all. Now, will somebody please put forward an argument for why he was not at fault (along with others, agreed) for the second goal?

Do you have anything remotely resembling a counter-argument to put forward, or is that just a torrent of half-witted abuse all you've got? Don't bother responding - I already know the answer.

I didn't hear MLT's comment on Sky. You can't be serious with the "warp speed" comment. It was his weak defensive header that initiated the problem but that wasn't the big deal because that can happen. The big deal, for me, was that it should have heightened the onus on him to close down the resultant problem, and he was extremely slow to react. Fox didn't do much either but it was primarily Guly's responsibility to close Raphael down rather than leave Rodriguez with two. Raphael had a ton of time to pick out his target, and he delivered. Guly wasn't to blame for the loss but he was culpable in that goal, and moments like this in the PL are very, very costly. It bugs me that even legitimate criticisms of Guly (and I've been a Guly supporter - other than when he IMO was slow to react at Fratton Park) are dismissed with the lazy argument that they come from Guly haters or people who want to make him the whipping boy. He screwed up big-time on that goal. I'll bet that 90% of people who work in the game would watch that goal and immediately point a finger at Guly - even if there were other problems when the cross came over.

No, it hasn't been my theme - I've seen a lot of positives in him. Providing reliable defence isn't one of them. And we should leave Rodgriguez out of it - he was trying to mark two out there.

Sorry, second goal. Weak defensive header (not a huge deal) followed by a p*ss poor attempt to close down Raphael - Rodriguez was trying to mark two out there. Guly and Fox stood marking space and ball-watching when it was vital to close the wide man down early.

Take another look at their third goal.

It looks really, really bad to a worldwide audience and they need to get it sorted ASAP.

Schneiderlin was superb but he has a lot of competition for MOTM.

I've been a moderate Guly supporter but I'm done with him now. A weak defensive header was one thing but to stand there alongside Fox, two ball-watching sisters marking nothing and nobody while the wide man had ages to measure his cross to Rio, was something else. I have no idea what would possess NA to put Guly on when we needed some defensive fortitude. Still, I'm much more positive than negative about today.

Very proud of the team - that's not a relegation side, and we still have players to bring in. Schneiderlin was superb, and Puncheon not far short, with others close behind. I don't but the "United didn't play" bullsh*t - they didn't get a chance to play. And I am now officially in the anti-Guly group. I don't blame him for the weak defensive header that led up to United's winner - I'd like to slap him for standing in the box after it, marking space instead of closing down the wide man who crossed it. He and Fox were stood there, marking nobody, like a couple of pussies.

I'm probably in the minority but I think it would be classy if Saints did something to recognize Fergie's 1,000th league game.

Darnit! I guess that is kind of official.