CanadaSaint

Well, four games in and we've already played what I think will be the top 3 at the end of the season. Zero points (no surprise) and -7 on goal difference (others, I suspect, will do worse.) Our midfield played far too deep in the first half, much better in the second. Fonte looked better - even more so for having Yoshida alongside him. I'd be inclined to play Yoshida at LB because Fox is constantly done for pace, seldom goal-side, and he ball-watches. Our middle two continually have to cover for his inadequacies which pulls us out of shape, and that makes us vulnerable down the other flank. And Kelvin was not at all good again today - his positioning for the free kick was pitiful.

Yes, and he's looked even better for having Yoshida alongside him. But I think we need Yoshida more at LB because Fox has been a big problem all day. All season, actually.

Our midfield has played (or been forced to play?) so deep that we've just invited Arse to keep coming at us. They've poured forwards in numbers because they had nothing to worry about defensively. And don't even get me started on Kelvin.

Is that Kelvin's third or fourth near-post goal this season?

With a left footer almost certain to take the kick, Davis covers the wrong side. Abysmal goalkeeping.

I agree with your comment but MLT's going a bit beyond "sticking up for hies friends", though: "Matt Le Tissier ‏@mattletiss7 @stateofplaylee no team interference? Ask the club who bought guly?"

Are you being serious?

I'd say we were prepared for it. Let's face it, for teams like us the brutally realistic goal is not so much to get a point from the City and United games (although that would be great) but to make sure that our goal difference doesn't take a hammering. On that front, we were -2, which I venture to suggest will prove to be much better than most of our "relegation rivals." Yes, the Wigan result was very disappointing but that's a team that went W8, D4 and L3 over the last fifteen games of least season, and they have - arguably - the best young manager in the game. They are not the crap team that some people think, and we should have been well ahead by half time. In one of the first three games Nigel's substitutions changed it for the better, but in two of them they changed it for the worse. He's learning at this level, just like the players, and I believe that we will continue to consolidate and end up somewhere between 12th and 16th. Sure, Villa is a big game but don't forget that Wigan - with a similar style but less depth than us - were dead and buried at Christmas.

I'm still not sure how much of our CD problem this season is the players and how much of it is the zonal marking, which seems to be a problem for them. I can see teams targeting Clyne at the far post by drawing their main striker out there (as United did with the first goal), but that doesn't make Clyne a bad defender.

And Cortese had a career in banking and finance. Did it ever occur to you that it might have been a financial decision rather than a football decision?

Perhaps so, whatever they are, although I very much doubt it. One thing I don't doubt, though, is that it won't be the intellectually- and socially-challenged "Boris" (aka SRS, I believe) who does it. He's inventing a whole new definition of "obsessed."

As excited as I am to see Ramirez in a Saints shirt, I'd be inclined to start with him on the bench - largely because he hasn't had the time to gain any familiarity with our systems and the various roles, tendencies and capabilities of his teammates. Apart from that, we have plenty of offence with Sunday's starting line-up, but Puncheon is likely to be more responsible in the defensive role that will be vital in an away game at Arsenal. For all the plaudits heaped upon Ramirez, a commitment to defence isn't one of them, and I don't think this is the game in which to give him his first start. It's about practicality rather than sentimentality for me. I'd certainly introduce him at some point though, circumstances permitting.

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.