Smirking_Saint

Well its either that or he looks like a sugar in a plum..... And Im not too sure what the **** boney m were on about so who knows

Yup think i can agree with that, I think we missed big Vic when he wasnt in the team under mopo for precisely the reason we were talking about, teams under pressure tended to hit longer balls to catch out the higher operating midfield. Vic's height and physicality added that extra buffer to the two centre backs who were often left exposed by our full backs. Koemans relaxed the high press, decided primarily as far as I can tell to drop the pressing line back towards the half way line. Now, I honestly think we may let more goals in this year but of course ultimately it could lead to you needed less of a defensive shape and hopefully, with less concentration spent on possession for possessions sake (which has its merits) should mean we will get more goals.

To-by alderwereild tra la la la la To-by alderwereild tra la la la la la To-by alderwereild tra la la la la To the tune of brown girl in the ring

Whats the best bread to bread with ? Bloomer ? French ? Precut loaf ? I imagine it depends on the toilet size and state. Pain au chocolate ?

Well, he did go more direct, hence playing a long ball when things werent really working, which was his only real direct option considering the lack of pace we had. Stop pressing so high, yeah can see that, though it has its benefits, the high press essentially stops the formation of meaningful attacks, generally you need to play a longer ball against it which tends to be easier to defend.

Ahh right, so what would you have done ? What was your magical plan B out of interest ?

It wasnt entirely his team no, he bought poorly in Osvaldo though it was obviously he wanted a striker able to get in behind, unfortunately that was a massive flop but there you go. His other buys werent all that terrible, lovren of course was excellent. Sometimes thats just what happens, it happens to the big squads let alone the smaller ones, one thing I will say was we were always competetive. Aswell as I can almost guarantee there were very few teams that would have enjoyed paying us. As per the Bielsa part, just making sure you knew exactly who you were talking about, if we are going to talk about poch's tactics its worth getting ONE of his antagonists nanes correct, it wasnt however the only influence to his style. On amother note, Ive not exactly worked out whats got into you, you never used to be a bad poster but seem to have taken on a more arguementative version of adrians pretentious tit role.

Um If you play a high press you tend to match that with a lit of possession as it allows thebpressing team to recover and the opposing team to continue to use energy attempting to regain the ball. I didnt see a lot of evidence of us tiring at the end of games.

In what way is Koeman any different or has changed things exactly ? Apart from playing 4123 apart from a 433 against West ham within which poch did last season aswell. So tell me, exactly what did you want to see as a vast change of tactics ? I saw poch play 4231, 433, 451 and the occasional 442 on occasion. So he wasnt stuck to one variant, he found a method that worked with the players he had, he had no other choices, we couldnt possibly play a quick counter, so he played possession with a long ball game if that didnt work, so tell me what part about changing systems and having players able to do so is drivvel Timothy ? Alternatively you could explain what your plan B would be against a team parking the bus ? And its Bielsa

Yup I think its because he knew the only man that would get inside would be J Rod, and he would be right in that assumption. Neither Lambert or Lallana had the real pace to play off the last man, so he used J Rod as a sort of wide shadow striker which allowed him less attention but also to provide the runs behind With this in mind he decided to primarily keep possession, to frustrate and tire. Personally like I said, once the other team reorganised Id rather have seen some long shots or some drilled crosses from wide to build pressure. But in reality the fabled plan B ? What would it have been ?

I keep reading this utter drivvel, how many teams have distinct plan a's, b's and c's ? Very very few. In fact, the majority of the most successful teams played in only one way, utd, liverpool and arsenal to memory have a singular game plan. The same that we did. In fact, poch was able to change things and often did, though its worth noting that to have a succesfull plan B means you need players that bring something different, which of course only really the big teams have. As for poch, if he is given time and money I think he'll get spurs into the top four, tactically he is excellent. We basically competed in every game.

I imagine, looking at the thing from a whole, aswell as how he is attempting to implement similar tactics at spurs, Id of said he may have tried a riskier approach should he have had other options upfront. Apart from jay rod he had nobody to get in behind, hence why I dont think we tried too many risky passes. That is all in my own opinion of course, but yes, my makn frustration was a lack of any risk at all

Pretty consistant with what I have seen. I said that we appeared to be dropping the pressing line back to around halfway instead of attempting to grab possession in their box, also its a bit more refreshing to see the use of a riskier strategy. One of my main concerns for poch was his insistance not to relinquish possession at any cost which seemed to nullify our own attacks at times, prefering not to shoot from long or try too many riskier crosses. All in all Koemans come in and has made subtle changes to a winning formula, Id of said his main plus however is his control of a much deeper squad this year.

Apart from the redknapp waffle thats pretty spot on in my assessment. Ideally however, Id hope someone has a word with Roy over the playing of a 433 variant in order to match with that of the lower age groups. Completely agree with CM, there just isnt any strength there any more, worth noting that Cork was apparantly very close (closer than Clyne apparantly) but indeed I dont expect him to be a regular until he features more regularly for Saints. The striking department is a little weak IMO aswell, until someone grabs Rooney by the balls and explains to Sturridge this is primarily a team sport. My one hope here is either for Welbeck to flourish under Wenger (personally think he is better than Sturridge) or the lad at sunderland to finally fulfill his promise (unlikely)

The system that applies tax works it out on a monthly basis, hence why when you go over the 40% treshold you dont end up paying masses more then you paid the month before etc. Of a monthly rate of, lets say, £1000, (this part uses obviously incorrect amounts) the first part is tax free, the next 400 would be taxed at a rate of 20% and the rest at 40% etc Therefore if you earned extra this month the algorithms will apportion part at a 20% rate, I imagine you'll get it back via a rebate. But yes, I can certainly share your pain in trying to get intouch with them.

Glad you turned up to complete that qouta

Its just terrible, Woy trying to defend himself in the press conference claiming we controlled the game and looked threatening was equally nauseating. He started with a 442, made an underperforming player captain and played a CB at RB ahead of some competant RBs. Henderson and Wilshere flatter to decieve, the latter put in a better performance then usual but still pretty poor. Sturridge bemusingly gets lauded as our saviour, despite the fact he is greedy, takes the wrong option and isnt as good as is made out. Its probably the poorest England squad Ive seen for a long time. Poor options at CB, a completely uninspiring CM and a lack of options upfront. Its very very poor I hope he goes 433 Monday and drops Rooney.... But he wont

I said I was dissapointed for the majority of summer as it seemed the good ship southampton was sailing into the choppy waters of the EPL without its vital supplies. Credit where credit is due they certainly managed to rescue the situation late on and we now look, with a bit of luck (players settling) a better outfit then we did last year. Ill still stand by what I saw, and heard early in the transfer window. A lot of the outgoings could possibly have been avoided if we acted sooner. The Poch debarcle should have been dealt with in a way whivh kept him or dumped him early, but the majority of that is by the by. I never believed that we were asset stripping, just that I thought they were naive and inexperienced. Very glad that they proved me wrong of course, made some excellent acquisitions and strengthened across the board. I said at the end of last season TA should be the sort of player we should be looking at and Im excited about the rough diamond thats Mane. The team remarkably has seemed to have gelled very quickly aswell which is very positive, thought we might start the season on the back foot and recover but the coaching teams clearly worked wonders. Happy to stick my hands up and say I feared the worst and have now moved from going into this season on a slightly worried base to being really excited again. Onwards and upwards COYR

I expect itll remain roughly at the same level, maybe slightly under or over dependant on what players like Alderweireld or Bertrand were pulling in.

Am I the only one that feels Sturridge is massively overrated ?

Theres embarrassing, then there is bar rafaelli sticking curling tongs up her ass embarrassing. Thankfully nobody wants to see naked smirking.

He could potentially play a 433 or 4231 and get away with two AMs, he has options now though.

The only way they'll get Gaston firing is by first making sure Ben Arfa doesnt bloody eat him. Had one too many geordie pies that lad.

We should have Alpine, Dune, Glasgow, Miltonroader and Deppo up there, as a form of warning to all who decide to pay the fiver

442 ?! Wilshere and henderson in the middle ? No thanks, Ill go to work instead