doddisalegend

Hughes looks like he is going for 3 at the back this season. Not sure that is the way to go against Burnley at home who will most likely pack the midfield and defence out and play a lone striker up top. You'd think 4-3-3 ( or a variety of) would be the way to go.

So in a thread about what team to play against Burnley the Burnley team is irrelevant? what an odd way to look at it for starters Burnley's style and defence would effect our choice of attacking players would it not? Why you find irrelevant is because your post isn't really about the team for Burnley but just because you want to point out how weak you think our team is as if you are the only one to have noticed we have some issues in the team If anything what Burnley's team proves is how utterly average everyone outside the top six is a few teams have a stand out player like Vardy or Zaha but most are just a bit ****e what Burnley proved was a lot of hard work and team spirit (something we didn't have) can give you a decent season. Our team is utterly average but so are all the others outside the top six.

for comparison Burnley's team for the last game of last season Pope Lowton Long Tarkowski Ward Lennon Substituted for McNeil at 90+4' minutes Cork Westwood Berg Gudmundsson Substituted for Wells at 80'minutes Hendrick Wood Substituted for Vokes at 61' minutes

If we are going on pre-season hasn't Redmond got two goals and an assist so far

Highlights on the O/S for anyone interested. Filmed in shaky cam on someone's mobile by the looks of it https://southamptonfc.com/news/2018-07-28/video-highlights-dijon-southampton-pre-season-france-friendly

Yes they could but it's also a football forum, like it or not, dickheads come with the territory. If people are going to get the hump when people don't agree or believe them they are probably in the wrong place. Maybe there is an internet forum out there free from WUMs where everyone is polite, respectful and discusses differences like adults but I haven't found it yet.

Can't blame people for not believing alleged ITKs. We have had more than our fair share of shysters and WUMS pretending to be ITK on here over the years. A lot of alleged ITKs are bloody precious about it as well. If you want to share then share but don't expect everyone to believe you.

Who you going to play in the middle instead then? Three not very good holding midfielders in Hoj, JWP or Reed or an out of position Davis or Armstrong?

....

22 million for a player Newcastle are off loading because they don't think he can cut it in the PL...bet Newcastle are laughing all the way to the bank.

he is coming back from an injury only started back training a couple of days ago.

Brendan Rodgers is clearly one of the worlds best managers what he achieved with Celtic is a practically a miracle...

I watched us all last season my main take was ****ing ****e at defending we were. Seems like every time we took a lead we'd be pegged back within 10 minutes. In the end we where terrible at both ends of the pitch and need to improve both to have a better season.

Pep all day long plus he loves Redders and would turn him into a goal machine...

Are we still playing three at the back for this game I'm guessing so from the team sheet though in these pre-season friendlies you can never tell if someone is just playing out of position? It does look like Hughes is going to persist with the 3 at the back formation this season judging by pre-season.

you're wasting your time on him though he plays golf on matchdays anyway You make a good point though these days fans seem to get caught up in all sorts of stuff we never seemed to care about in the old days. Things like the publishing of the clubs accounts spark massed debate these days, how much players are paid, back room staff, club PR videos, what players do on social media, what the owner eats for breakfast etc etc all stuff as you point out I don't give a moments thought to when I'm at the game. Guess that's the internet for you.

We'd have more of threat if we went more direct. Last season we where awful at counter attacking inexplicably going backwards when a counter was on rather than risk losing the ball just looking to play the ball forward quicker would make us more of a threat against teams pushing up on us..

Well up for it like the start of every season. The world cup was ok but club football trumps international football for me every time. At the end of the day its a chance to get out of the house, spend some quality time with my son, meet up with friends and family, go for a couple of drinks and meal and watch some footie and support my club what's not to like?* *other than losing

I was talking about his time in general as a saints player rather than half a season. He was one of my favourite players the last few seasons but if it makes you feel better.... Tadic was average?

I agree Tadic was great and Armstrong is probably going to be a younger Steven Davis (not a bad thing IMO). As for who creates our chances I'd suggest its our full backs/wingbacks last season we put in the second highest number of crosses in the league only spurs put in more crosses than us https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_cross?se=79 I believe we have been in the top 5 for crosses almost every season, apart from our first, since we returned to the PL (and in the top 2 for 4 or those 5 seasons) that is where our threat comes from every season and makes our lack of a big CF target man pretty baffling to me.

TBF we were 8th in the league for big chances missed, last season, according to the PL official site. According to this we failed to sink 37 big chances better strikers might have sunk a few more of those and given us a few more points https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/big_chance_missed?se=79 we were also 10th for shots taken last season https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_scoring_att?se=79 and 6th for hitting the woodwork (15 times ) https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/hit_woodwork?se=79 which kind of suggests our finishing was a bit ****e last season. Better strikers might have done more with the service that was provided.

isn't Armstrong an attacking midfielder I was under the impression he was?

Take your pick I assume he means the first one but who knows with the OP.. https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/PITA

Defence for me. Burnley where best of the rest last season based on a very good defence and actually scored one less goal than us. Our success under Koeman was based on a solid defence (good enough to make Forster look decent) There is a lot of talk about our midfield not supporting out forwards but can you blame them when they know if the break formation the opposition will ruthlessly exploit the keystone cops at the back. Same for the full backs getting forward just leaves Hoedt and Stephens exposed. A good attack is built on a solid defence our midfield can get forward to support the forwards with confidence as can the full backs if the trust the CBs and keeper to do their jobs.

Weren't people on here last summer claiming his signing was a sign of ambition from Everton? Lot of PL teams (including saints tbf) are spunking a lot of money on poor signings these days.