Rod Le Shearer

For some matches, against teams who park the buss in their own box at SMS, playing with two strikers could be the better option. We completely dominated against both Sunderland and West Ham, and only drew because of poor finishing and bad luck.

But playing away, rotating Rickie and Osvaldo as lone strikers seems the better option.

And please, lets not forget how amazing Rickie has been in the lone striker/target man role during the years! I dont think Osvaldo can match Rickie as a target man/lone striker. And this sort of questions the signing of Osvaldo; He is too good to be an understudy for Rickie, but not good enough to displace him as a lone striker...IMO. Rickie suits our style of play immensly better than Osvaldo.

So were you at the game or did you have a live feed or did a mate go ...... or....... ?

 

This is a polite question asking for the source of your judgement. I am in no way question it BTW

If your question was directed at me, then yes; I was at the game. Miserable Norwegian Saints-fan over here..

No. I just made that up.

You must have, because Forren was awful. Rash, poorly timed challenges troughout, looked fat, slow and unfit, clearly lacked match practice, and didnt pose any danger at all when in attacking positions.

Based on that showing, we have (for the time being) 3 other CB`s who are head and shoulders in front of him in the pecking order.

What else to expect when Jos and Fox are playing. Slow, immobile & poor, poor defenders!

he really isnt....no one outside of SFC would say that

PLENTY of other fans say this. The first reaction of two of my mates (Villa and Newcastle fan), was to drivel over the unlikely prospect of having NA at their club. He`s held in great esteem throughout the football community- from fans, players, punters and colleagues alike!

Thank you very much, Nigel. You have made me feel well for 2.5 years, thats something money cant buy! Top man.

Ridicoulous decision, and totally wrong timing! To maximise our chance of staying up, NA should have stayed until the end of the season, regardless of percieved "long term benefits". Our long term benefit is depending on us staying up FFS, and this decision, at this time, could cost us our PL-status!!

**** Off Nicole C, you *****.

Because he leads the line very well, which anyone watching the Villa or Stoke game would see. Lambert was playing in a deeper role in those games, allowing Rodriguez to make runs in behind the defence. Rodriguez isn't lighting quick but is fast enough to worry defences, something Lambert can't do.

Whatever team we play against, Rickie is be ten times more usefull than Jay. Yes, Rickies work rate isnt as good. He isnt particularly fast. But the outlet he provides for the rest of the team means that 4-5 other players have to work less! the net positive effect is huge, and frankly I`m baffled if Adkins dont see that!

I assume he (Nigel) is forfeiting this game, and saving Rickie for saturday. From our last match against chelsea it was obvious we missed what Lambert offers, thats for sure.

He doesn't really sound like an improvement on what we've currently got?

Right now he`s about the same as Fonte. And thus a good replacement all the time Jose is injured. IMO Forren has much bigger potential, though. He can become a very good signing, if given time to accomodate to the EPL.

Also a norse. Agree with everything apart from that he's quick. If he goes to PL i think the tempo would be a major problem for him. Also, his defending is not up to premier league standards. But very good in the attacking parts of the game.

You`re right, he`s not that quick (when it comes to turning, reaction and moving sideways). Maybe the tempo would be challenging for him in that regard. But in a straight line he actually is pretty fast.

I`m norwegian. Have seen him play many times last year, both for club and country. He`s a modern centre back, from the same mould as Sergio Ramos and David Luiz. He has good passing, reads the game well and is pretty fast. He`s efficient in moving the ball out of defence. Although he is not the biggest CB, he very often look dangerous on attacking set pieces as well.

Out of our current CB`s, I would rate Forren and Fonte about the same. Both good defenders, but a little weak for my liking.

Only a point vs Fulham and Stoke gained without him playing.

 

Record without him playing in league is:

 

P 7 W 0 D 2 L 5 - 0.28 pts per game

 

Record with:

 

P 14 W 5 D 4 L 5 - 1.35 Pts per game*

 

* Includes Arsenal away where he came on at HT 4-1 down

Interesting. Those stats echoes my perception; the team plays a lot better with Gaston on the pitch. By the way, havent we lost a lot of points after he has been substituted aswell?

Absolutely. And Rickie seemed to enjoy the responsibility, playing like a deity. What a player!

We scored 4 goals, out which Ricky scored two, and was second or third last on three (!!). My vote goes to him. Although Gaston was very good, he shone the most when Villa had given up.

Stunning management by Adkins, taking off our 3 best players.

Stupid move by Adkins, everything went flat after that. And the three subs were invisible - both in defence and attack.

The trade off between having Rodriguez on the pitch and not was fairly evident from the scorelines. Rodriguez on, 0-1 in 60 minutes. Lambert on, 2-2 in 30 minutes. Rodriguez was used to keep the match close. That wouldn't have been the case without Rodriguez back there. Lambert didn't actually do a great deal when he was on the pitch - 16 short passes, won one header and scored (after bouncing his original pass off Lescott). He linked play in the centre circle on 2 occasions for us, one being his goal and the other Puncheon's chance later on but they were simple short passes followed by Lallana dribbling 20 yards up the pitch !

 

If anything having Lallana suddenly freed to go forward was the difference in our performance, which suggests it was a tactical change around Lambert's substitution, rather than his presence itself that made the difference. As I was there though I'll have to watch the whole 90 not just MotD to see what Lallana was doing until Lambert came on - I remember he was a strong defensive presence, but will have to see.

I don`t think its fruitfull to compare Jay and Rickie`s performances in this match, they played different positions. I guess my point is to question what warranted starting with Guly as the striker. Lambert won one header, Guly none. Lambert held the ball up/linked a couple of times, Guly was muscled off every time - and he did have opportunities to hold the ball. Lambert would IMO also have relieved a lot of pressure from the back four in those situations, and should (both on attacking and defending grounds) have started. It was also noticeable what effect Lambert`s physical presence had on City`s defence - something not measured by OPTA! Guly isnt exactly a workhorse himself, so I don`t buy that arguement either.

Guly played well when put in midfield, but a striker he just aint..

I've come to the same line-up as you, but for completely different reasons.

 

We weren't "toothless", we were defending from the front with Rodriguez, Lallana and Guly chasing down and all but Guly sitting deep. Adkins brought Lambert on when he could do more damage.

 

Had Lambert been on from the start he could have been too knackered to be where he was for his goal and place it as he did. Having said that, next week we'll be doing a lot more attacking, Wigan are likely to be one of the weaker defensive sides we play, and having him up there supported by Guly/Rodriguez (or even Sharp) will be more beneficial, we can switch him out later if needed but his effort is much more likely to be in attacking play.

Surely you cannot completely ignore the point made though? We didnt create anything until Lambert got on. Nothing. It`s not like Adkins told the team "Rickie is on , lets attack". Rickie completely changed the game in our favour, through his skills. We were the better team after he was put in. his touch, presence, strength, link-up play and finishing was superb - better than any other striker on the pitch.

To say we/he would have done worse if he had started is just speculation. Personally i rue the fact that he didnt get the nod from the off. If he created that much havoc in half an hour, how much could he create in 90 minutes - even against City ? The undisputable fact is we were dire when attacking in the first half, and lucky not to see the game put to bed before SRL got his chance.

Norwegian media (usually reliable) reports the deal as done and dusted:

http://www.tv2.no/sport/fotball/england/premierleague/southampton-snyter-storklubbene-for-ramirez-3853619.html#.UC4hSio-Kbo.facebook

Thanks for sharing, that was a good watch !

. Can you see why I think not having pace is an exception not a rule ?

But you`re wrong.

Having great pace is obviously much more rare than having mediocre pace. This is very logical, as the definition of "fast", is compared with an average - in this case all the strikers in the prem.

Saints have had two previous top goal-scorers in the prem: James Beattie and P. Crouch. None had more pace than Lambert. Infact, a players ability to score goals in the PL, regardless of team, over the last few years, seem to have no correlation with pace at all ! Van Persie and Holt this season;not one goal scored as a direct result of pace.

Drogba; almost never ran/run past players or in behind the defence. The list goes on with recentluy successful players such as Adebayor, Carroll, Yakubu, Felaini, Dzeko etc - all without much pace. If one does study the top ten goalscorers in the prem for each of the last ten seasons, you`ll find that under half of those players can be characterised as "fast". Other qualities can, and does, compensate for a lack of pace. Its all about playing to the strengths of your forwards, and no team does this better than Southampton does with Lambert.

Fonte and Hooiveld..Best centre forwards seen at the KC this season ! Thanks for sharing so quickly.

Congrats to Rickie. Fully deserved,the best player in the Championship by miles !

This pretty much echoes my opinion of him. IMO, he is a luxury we shouldn`t grant ourselves.

Oddly enough (given his experience) he seems to be the first player to shrink when we are under pressure. He performes reasonably well when the team is playing well, but is too often the biggest underperformer when the team is having a bad day. Anybody else noticed this ? This suggests to me he is relying on the rest of the team, and doesnt really add any value in his own right.

I wouldnt want him on the bench either,as he isnt an impact player. Release him ASAP, and use the wages on someone who make things happen,rather than waiting for things to happen.

..Was horrible last night - and has been ever since our first couple of games this season ! Recently he hasnt shown any glimps of any imaginable quality to justify his place in the team.

No pace, no strength, finishing like a schoolgirl, passing/decisions like a half-wit. Granted, he gets a couple of tap-ins now and then, but so would any other striker feeding of Lambert, Lallana & co.

No wonder Adkins is looking for new strikers. We need a back up for Rickie, and a new striker to partner him. Two strikers, Nigel, and promotion will be much more likely. Only Rickie is a forward good enough for a top two championship club, with Guly as an acceptable option for some games.