S-Clarke

Great post, and it's this change in mindset which some are struggling to come to terms with.

Adkins suggested that it's not as bad as Corks knee injury (not sure what that says about the seriousness of Corks injury..!), but it's not a good one and he is touch and go for Sunday. That's probably a little optimistic, as he's done his medial ligament he's out for probably 3/4 weeks at minimum. Luckily we have an international break during that time.

He's injured and was missing yesterday, but it's still a chance he could return for Sunday according to Jol.

You can have the 2 best CB's in the world, but if your midfield leaves them as exposed as ours, then they'll still have problems.

Jeez, he actually says it was nice to see others questioning his ability? Why is that nice? Oh, maybe because he's still trying to prove his point which he lost around 18 months ago. Sad.

I think we'll sneak a surprise one along the line, but we'll need that certain side to have a serious off day. We're not even close to competing with that level of sides yet, not down to our quality, but our inexperience. I said in another thread that I think our squad could be a late developer this season and we could end up having a terrific 2nd half of the season, as we defiantly have the quality it's just the youthful inexperience that's costing us (and that's players, and at times, management). Luckily for us, I think Norwich and Reading are equally as **** but have less of a potent attack about them, so I think we'll still be in touch come January. They've also accumulated less (or equal) points with a seriously easier run of fixtures than ours.

You're right, it's not as easy as saying ''We need a new CB'' - It's the entire team setup, but it's also our lack of quality depth. There's not much we can do about that. Without Cork, and Morgan we all of a sudden look very week in the central area and as good as WP is....I think he struggles as part of a 2, and he gets outmusscled easily which is understandable. Davis if anyone should have got more stuck in yesterday. I think it also shows what Adkins thinks of SDR, pretty much the same as all of us. The most ineffective player in history.

With everton, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City in that group of 6 fixtures, I'm not massively surprised at our return. Wigan is the one game that bugs me.

Can you explain what formation he should have started with yesterday? I keep seeing it trotted out that he got it wrong yesterday, but not one poster who has criticized it has given a valid alternative. Puncheon has had a knock all week, so has Mayuka, Morgan was out. What we started with was the best we could have put out in a tweaked formation.

I was surprised at the ease they sliced through the middle at times, and were running straight out our CB's. Now, we cold buy the best CB's in the world - but if you give them no protection, then they're going to be pulled all over the shop. You guys came across well though, heard lots of saints chants - very little from EFC though as you said.

How did Ramirez look today? From the stream (apart from the goal) he looked a bit loose in possession and gifted it back too easily.

No, I wasn't there, but I did watch the entire game on a stream and even I can certainly say that we were not battered in the 2nd half. We were battered between 30-45mins in the first half, apart from that spell - where all their goals were scored - they didn't trouble us a great deal and we retained the ball well enough. Gazza made a couple of decent saves, but we weren't as open in the 2nd half as we were during stages in teh 1st half. Now that was probably down to a combination of us changing slightly, and Everton taking their foot off the peddle.

Yep, i've noticed him a few times! Also pops up in some of the pre-match vids. Must have a coaching background as well.

He came in as translator for Tadanari last January, but has actually become a fully fledged member of the coaching staff since.

I keep reading stuff like this, but I'm yet to see a valid answer from anywhere as to what mistakes he's made today. What on earth could he have done differently? Bearing in mind Puncheon, Mayuka were both nursing knocks. Morgan was out of the game. That doesn't give us a great deal of scope in terms of the wide positions, so you have to tweak it - which is what we did - and played slightly more central and relied on the full backs. It was always a long shot, but there wasn't much choice - we don't have the depth to go to a place like this if we get a batch of injuries. You keep saying he's made mistakes by changing it bla bla, and then justifying it by saying ''Ok, i know we had injuries'' - so what exactly are you try to get at?

If we keep playing, and creating the chances we are, we will win more than we lose. Everton are a well drilled side, but I must admit we made it very, very easy for them in that period in the first half. Apart from that 15mins though, it was an even contest (which was probably aided by Everton taking their foot off the pedal slightly). City, Arsenal, Everton, Man Utd in the first 6 is an horrific start for anyone, the fact we're above the bottom 3 - for me, is a huge positive to take. When reading hit the run we've had, or Norwich, or QPR - then I can't see them doing much better. I'm confident that NA is doing the right things, we're playing good football and control decent periods of games. The goals that we concede are frustrating, because they're down to the youthfulness and, at times, inexperience of the play - that's only going to improve with games, as we have a young side with very little PL experience. What we may see with this group is a blossoming in the 2nd half of the season, but we need to make sure we keep our head above water before then so we don't have too much to do. The foundations are there, the structure is there - let's not go knocking it down and starting again on a few games.

He's done his medial knee ligaments.

Sounds like Morgan's out for a few weeks.

Will we get threads like this after every defeat this year (there will be many more, as well). Football is a real fickle world, but I don't think NC is even that fickle.

We're not in the relegation zone, and we've had the hardest start to the season compared to any other team. That has to be a huge positive, I just hope the players don't lose too much confidence

Ditto. Well said.

Really? Don't rate him at all these days. Neither do Stoke, or Sunderland fans. Prob a championship sriker at best, CB's know all about him at this level now.

I think it is, Super Sunday 1:30 ko

Is it just me, or are no media outlet showing updated scores? Everywhere seems to be stuck on the score line from 60ish mins. Really odd.

And we needed one against Villa, which we got. Conveniently forgotten. What mistakes is he making, out of interest? I think he's just working with what he's got, and with injurys this is what we have.