captainchris

So a player is gash for ten games and in your eyes that should earn an extended run in the team !!!! What kind of logic us that??? He didn't come from ice hockey to football ! He is a 27 year old mature 15m footballer who should be able to come in and play pretty quickly. If he was having a reasonable game or two you might have a point but he is clearly miles off the pace and a passenger so no way can we afford to keep hoping he will improve. There is not a shread of evidence to say that he will improve and meanwhile we are carrying him..... Mayuka is just as good if not better, come to that Billy Sharp would not have been worse..... In fact if Ramires is anything to go by Osvaldo could get worse as time goes by..... Actually .......

Two points: Ricky is far better receiving and retaining the ball than Osvaldo. Resorting to two up front against teams like Arsenal and Chelsea in particular does not work for us. We just can't get the ball to them so It is dissapointing that MP continues to persist in trying it. Osvaldo is too selfish to work alongside a partner too. He doesn't make space, is poor at ball retention and is really very static..... Our style is just not conducive to 442. There are probably several reasons but being one short in midfield cuts the options down for our passing game and we lose control of the game. The answer is we need some more pace to inject into the wide midfield to give us a different dimension from midfield the answer is not to take one out there and leave two players isolated up front.... Our first 11 is by far our best 11 at the moment and that does not include Osvaldo who is just not having any significant impact on the game.......

Ward Prouse and Lallana had AN off day granted but Osvaldo doesn't seem to have even one good day. He was brought in to improve us but clearly hasn't. To even begin to compare him with some of bright enterprising hard working skillful locals is certainly stretching a point on the evidence so far on view. There will need to be quite a dramatic improvement from Osvaldo if he going to improve this team..... We need to step It up if we are to compete with the big boys in this league and Osvaldo yet again did not look as though he can do that......

Ummmm a sophisticated well thought out addition to the debate - thank you for your well thought out reasoned opinion......

Yes but it's the here and now that actually counts and that aint impressive no matter how much you've seen of Osvaldo in years gone by........... Maybe he will come good but maybe he won't and so far he hasn't.........

Well JRod was not criticised by me.....! Sorry JRod is currently a far better player... It's not just that Osvaldo has had a couple of 'rusty' games he has been poor. If we had brought in a youngster in that position and he'd played like that he wouldn't have lasted three games let alone 10!!!!! For the money and our status we must have high expectations not low ones.......

Can I be the first to say Lord Duckhunter - an excellent post and along with the long article the thread linked to On the first post and very accurate appraisal of the situation....

Nailed on I'd say !!!!!!!! -))

Very good point. Our record buying players in is not that good so if we do look to bring in two or three then this time we either need to do Wenger and coach them fast or buy a lot more carefully.... Am a little surprised that we haven't managed to coach Rimirez and Osvaldo to play here...... They both give away possession far too easily. Both dwell on the ball far too long and both play with their head down.... So bl---dy coach them !!!!!!!

Why so brittle when Osvaldo is criticised ? He has most definately been poor so far..... There is nothing to suggest that this will change next week or next month or how long exactly do you give him ? The worrying thing is for me that he doesn't control the ball and pass to a team mate - he invariably loses possession. Watching him closely today the problem is that he doesn't get his Head up - he is permantly looking down. This results in him hanging onto the ball too long and getting the ball taken off him..... Invariably this kind of weekness cannot be cured or helped With 'more time' - at his age it's a permanent problem.....

NOTE TO MP: Osvaldo and Lamert DOES NOT WORK.................... Even a knackered AL is better than MPs alternative options. SRL has been well below par so why not bring him off when Osvaldo came on???? Odd strategy.......

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