doddisalegend

what about Gallaghar's stats Vs Long, Carrillo and Gabbi...

I remember listening to Bertrand being interviewed by Blackmore earlier in the season who said (paraphrasing) that as a full back you only wanted to get forward if you were confident other players would cover the gap in defence you left behind. At the time I took it as a bit of a dig at the CBs and midfielders but I can imagine Cedric probably felt similar.

I'm resigned to Bertrand going this summer he is the only real saleable player in the squad right now so Les and Co will certainly be looking to sell him. Also wasn't he close to a move last summer? that and the fact he has looked barely bothered most of this season pretty much makes me think he time here is done. I just hope the club don't decide Mat Targett is a good enough replacement...

Just put mine and my sons STs up on the ticket exchange Itchen North if anyone's interested. I'll be watching number one son playing in his own cup final that day.

Well we do seem to have actually improved since Sofiane "the only player in the squad likely to change a game" Boufal has been sent to the naughty step ....

or is there? maybe batman is his second log in..

McCarthy punching Bednarek in the head turned out to be a big stroke of luck...

you know there are only six actual posters on this forum don't you...

well they haven't improved under him yet despite playing a formation designed to protect them as much as possible they are lucky McCarthy is in top form at the moment. I'm desperately hoping we are going invest in one (hopefully two) good CBs this summer

I'm not sure about Hughes being the guy that keeps squads happy certainly isn't the impression Stoke players and fans have been giving. As for Leicester their players seem to rule the roost. The last four managers there all seem to have fallen to player power.

I'd agree with that. His big weakness defensively is he is a short arse and other teams are quite fond of sticking a big CF on him to capitalize on that. Going forward he quite often takes up good positions when joining an attack and then wastes it with god awful final balls.

except our great format the end of Koeman's last season didn't transfer straight into the start of Puel's season...

every time Hoedt plays normally...

good to see Man city are already on the beach and won't be up for it Sunday ....

I'm glad we weren't relaying on catching Hudders because "they have terrible run in and won't pick up any more points this season"....

Hughes approach has been more defensive after the West ham and Chelsea games he has had us playing far more cagey, keeping it tight, keeping shape looking to play on the break. The difference is he has us playing on the counter better buy looking to go forward with the ball quickly rather than trying to hold possession like MoPes team did. A lot of recent games Leicester, Bournemouth, Everton and last night have seen us soaking up loads of pressure and defending in numbers quite desperately at times.

well he would say that wouldn't he

I think the big point about our top half finishes is it was built on a very good defense (good enough to make Forster look top class) protected by some very good DMs. If we want to get back towards the top we have re-establish a solid back line in front of McCarthy. The current back line are just not up to it.

Generally I agree with this post. Apart from the park the bus bit neither Puel or MoPe parked the buss we probably would have done better this season if MoPe was actually capable of organizing a team that could park the bus. Meanwhile Hughes has achieved success by making us far more defensive and trying to play on the break..

In a strange masochistic way the end to this season has been far more entertaining than finishing upper mid table of the last few seasons. The last few games every game has felt massive, the highs and lows are so intense and the sheer adreline of it match is pretty crazy. I'd forgotten what relegation dog fights were like..

Yep it felt more like the decision that was taken out of Hughes hands to extent rather than some stroke of managerial genius. I doubt he was particularly thrilled at the thought of leaving just Hoedt and Stephens at the back but the bench was pretty light on defensive options last night so his choice was limited. I'm not convinced that Hughes would have dropped the three at the back if Jan hadn't been knocked senseless. More likely he would have just swapped Austin for Gabbi instead imo.

Maybe it would be better if we could get a striker with pace who could also score goals...just a thought

This thread certainly highlights the state of the current squad that so many posters think we need a lot of players speaks volumes. Two bad years of recruitment mean we really need a big clear out and recruit quite a few new players. In reality though it just won't happen no way will we get rid of 5-6 under performers and bring 5-6 quality replacements. For me If I had to pick one part of the squad that needs a major overhaul it has to be the defence. Hughes has, just about, managed to nurse the current lot across the finish line but next year will be a struggle again if we have to rely on them again. Next season we need to build a rock solid defence and then we can build from that.

Perhaps we could put a really virus in the hotel as well...

good stuff Yoshida is probably the best CB we have the club now which speaks volumes about our **** poor recruitment the last two seasons...