captainchris

After England duty Lambert is always a yard short??????????? Becoming a habit.... Lallana didn't look that tired so why, when he is our best player is he subbed again? 442 has not worked at at all yet for us and against Arsenal for Gods sake you need a five there and your best players!!! We have hardly touched the ball since we went two up front ....

True it's not just Ezngland... The great thing is we are mostly thinking that watching England is not as good or organised as watching Saints. We have become a very organised team who are very good at keeping possession. England are not anywhere near that level. Well done Adam a good performance and unlucky Jrod who is probably going to find it difficult to Penetrate the England set up... As far as watching England is concerned - much prefer watching Saints to England. England football is too disjointed, too based on individuals performances. Chile had it right - base your strategy around keeping possession - England could not come up with an answer to that and will not get results in any major if they don't adjust the strategy. I would actually agree with some on here that it's better if our guys are not selected for the world cup.... Would rather watch Saints at the end of the day.....our players are actually wasted on England!!!

Really well composed message... Makes lots of sense...... Our guys will be pleased to get back to a decent well organised team...

Fair comment but his single most blindingly obvious issue is his ball retention which is frankly abysmal. Our game is completely built around this factor. He has to improve massively in this part of his game to compete for a place.....

Some straw clutching here I think....

Fox- but where was he when they scored their first goal? Granted he was slightly better than usual but well, still Fox - missing at critical moments....

This is a very fair summary Minty.

Do you know that is right - he is actually getting steadily worse and worse.....

Not all maybe but quite a few of which I one of the quite a few. Certainly 'outstanding' in my opinion is stretching a point......

Excellent call ....

A very precise assessment. He will never make it in this team. We would do better to bring someone else through and give a chance to..... Again we lost our dominance when he came on, he just cannot keep possession. I have seen more than enough of him now... On a very positive note the conditions did not suit our game but we played well considering. On a calmer day Stoke would have been swept aside....!

This is our best 11..... If we don't win today fair play to Stoke they will have beaten a very good team....

This makes sense.......

Palace, Cardiff , Fulham

This the best most well balanced post of this thread... There was a certain centre half too that didn't even play a game.... Not by any means is this guy covered in glory for our present success.... If Osvaldo doesn't make it that would be 30m spent on three players that were not good enough.... Let's not get carried away with the hype and keep feet on the ground and praise in perspective. Some very good players signed and some very average ones too.......

Definately winnable. Are Stoke better than Fulham? Maybe marginally but our amazing football, IF we keep the same team should surely see them off....

Those valuations are a real lol joke. Two year old valuations.....

Roger, you make a very worthy point. It's a shame that some cannot take any reasoned comment on the team and choose to be personally affronted by the least criticism or opinion that doesn't give every part of the team 100% every game. They are mostly attention seekers searching for a cause to martyr for.... It's sad actually - long may this be an opinion forum not just a fluffy blind pointless round of happy clapping. The team were brilliant today every one of em. The team were evidently much better without Osvaldo that was obvious today. Lambert is a better player than Osvaldo. Until Osvaldo is up to speed he should not be picked. Players should be picked on merritt and he has not merrited his place in the team.

Couldn't really give anyone less that 9 utterly awesom...

That's just how good we are without him. He is not good enough for this team end of ! Lambo is twice the player Osvaldo is .... SRL knits the team together, keeps possession passes it off to our players is strong on Possession and a threat-Osvaldo is - well bloody poor.... This team can really go places if they are not carrying him....

I think that pro-ratta that is about 4.5 goals a season which is roughly 3m a goal - at this rate. Wouldn't worry so much about the goals scored if the rest of the team contribution was up to the value we paid. Yes there is time but we have struggled to play flowing football with him in the team and his overal game has been very average 'plus' he doesn't look like scoring also..... Anyway let's se how he goes for another ten games whilst the other nine work their socks off for him meantime..... He might come good but looking at the evidence before us so far he has quite a bit to do - not just a little improvement. The rest of the team look great ( unless Fox plays) every one looking class but God there is often a groan when the ball goes to Osvaldo and he loses possession because a player of his value should be at least as good as what we have and at the moment He is lying 11th !!!

Glasgow - well said. Someone on here said you can't judge a player after ten games, however if after ten games he is going backwards, after how many games one wonders can you start to frame an opinion ? He was a very long way short of a decent performance yesterday and is starting to display a consistancy of poor performances - just like Gaston really........You cannot keep picking players 'hoping' they will pick up. Looking at his commmittment when he loses the ball too, I very much doubt this is going anywhere - touch, control, shooting, heading all very average.... Ricky is twice the player...

He is getting service but he doesnt create space for himself to receive the ball, he's actually quite static at times. More often than not he receives the ball flat footed and just gets the ball knicked off him... In contrast JWP always instantly makes himself half a yard to bring the ball under control and use it. Thought JWP was immense when he came on .... We moved the ball much quicker when he came on.

Not sure if trying and good enough are related. Watching him closely his chasing and closing were were not great so from the 'trying' side he was average at best but you don't mind if you a special talent on your hands.... However I haven't seen a shred of evidence yet that we can carry him much longer.... His touch is down right poor at times he is not dissimilar to Ramirez in many ways in that he often gets caught in possession and passes often go astray.... We have a great team here but I'm nor convinced Osvaldo is great at all.

Just watching Osvaldi giving his all chasing around ......Not!!!!! A poor example of a player .....