Smirking_Saint

-------------McCarthy------------------ Cedric -- Hoedt -- Yoshida -- Bertrand ---------------Romeu------------------- ---------Hoj----- ----Lemina--------------- -----------(tadic or boufal)---------------- --------Gabbi------Long----------------- 4312 for me, play either boufal in what I see as his best position driving through the middle or just play a lacklustre Tadic again behind two strikers. Gives both Long and Gabbi the help they will need upfront, hopefully will allow us to win a midfield battle that will be where IMO the game is won (Its where they beat us at home IMO) Width should come predominantly from the full backs, Romeu can drop in to the back 2 and operate as a 3rd CB in the attacking phase, Hoj and Lemina to provide the steal, the recycling of the ball and hopefully one will be able to push forward and make himself available when required. Realistically we will play the same way as he always has, have a great first 10 minutes, and then get overrun at which point you'll notice the players lose all faith in whats happening and we end up losing 2-0 Also expect one of two things, 3 like for like changes that effectively change zilch or some mental 5 upfront arrangement which further allows Watford to punish us. Posted this in the watford match thread, don't see any need to change the above really, and will probably post it next week too. Hopefully traffic is ok and weather isn't too bad sunday, unfortunately thats the only thing I think about going to St Marys right now, what a sad state of affairs being a fan is

If we move to HBA from Promes then I think i'll kindly donate my ST to Winchester councils bin collection agency

Brilliant player, will be more than happy with Promes.

Im hearing this too much to be honest, and I get it. I understand that there is a lack of reasonable managerial targets out there, unfortunately this list has dwindled down through our lack of any real action. But that said, we cannot carry on with MP. As this thread proves the atmosphere with all things Saints is now unfortunately completely toxic. From the forums, to the pubs, to the stands and social media we have fans arguing with fans and everyone bemoaning good ship Saints and all that sail with her. That can't be a situation that can carry on and has been caused almost completely by the lack of any action AT ALL from Saints, including a lack of any real communication (that isn't ill timed and ill perceived) The problem is that although there are no obvious replacements it is clear that the job he is doing is sub par. Im of course not a qualified manager but I have my coaching badges, have worked in football and played at a reasonable level so would like to think I know a bit about the game. The first thing that worries me is that he has not, from my memory, ever kept the same 11 at any point all year. His tactics, seem to almost everyone I speak to, to be at odds to what would get the best out of our playing staff and have clearly failed to work without a change all season. His substitutions are bemusing, reactive and often make no changes to the game whatsoever. And I feel I need to call into question his motivational techniques, due to our insistence to effectively roll over in the second half, or against any real pressure. As for replacements, there are a few out there, Im not saying how realistic they are, or how well they will do here but; Tuchel Bielsa Blanc Bilic Hughes Enrique All out of work And Wagner Jovanovic Johnson Rowett Are all I would expect to be able to prize away should we need to. (Rowett probably not due to his new contract)

Using my last post to agree with this What a ****ing mess

Leaders I agree with, I posted a long waffling twitter rant the other day that bemoans the lack of leaders throughout the club right now. I mean, who is accountable for this mess ? Gao and Kat are basically absent owners, we hear nothing we see little Krueger seems to be the PR mouthpiece with little actual understanding of whats going on, yet dodges any questions about whether he carries the can or not Reed is the footballing guy, who I actually think if you take everything as a whole has done a decent job, but now seems has the ability to make decisions as he see's fit with no repercussions. Like you say I can't see any leaders in the club from a playing perspective right now, Romeu maybe, but just doesn't seem the right type. Pellegrino seems to have the backbone of a flump. As far as the players are concerned, this is the same team, plus a new CB and DM and a full season of Gabbi that finished 8th, got to a cup final and had Europe to contend with. Theres no reason why they shouldn't be performing better than they are other than the fact that the manager seems to be inept and I would suggest, having watched every game this year the players seem to know that. It seems to me as soon as they come under pressure its as if they almost know it will only end one way.

I imagine MoPe's post match talk is going to be pretty heavy on the side of the fact it was a blatant handball, but in reality he handed the whole second half to them, YOU CANNOT SIT BACK FOR 45 MINUTES AND HOPE TO WIN I am completely lost at how he has not figured this out by now, I am usually a complete optimist but this guy is tactically inept, clearly unable to motivate the team, has little to zero game management, has proven how easily he is out manoeuvred by pretty much every other manager in the league. As I thought FF wasn't the problem, AM doesn't look any real improvement on him, I won't blame AM completely though, Dacoure was completely untracked despite having 3 DM's on the pitch. Why in the flying **** do we carry Tadic EVERY MATCH... I am not denying there is talent there, but he is pure luxury, he doesn't work at all, doesn't harry, doesn't track, doesn't tackle and right now doesn't really add anything creatively either so why leave him on IF he is planning to try to hold on ? The gap between our defence and attack in the second half was simply massive, so even when we did manage to nick the ball back from a Watford that were enabled (by us by the way, not necessarily by their changes) to camp in our half we have no where to go, our FBs are pushed back by their wingers and our DMs and attacking players are central, so relieving pressure is a near impossible task. We have no big man, Long works hard but look how easy it was for Watford and Palace to release pressure and build from Benteke/Okore/Deeney. Please for the love of god get rid of this clown, Im sure he is a lovely bloke but prem standard manager he very very much is not.

-------------McCarthy------------------ Cedric -- Hoedt -- Yoshida -- Bertrand ---------------Romeu------------------- ---------Hoj----- ----Lemina--------------- -----------(tadic or boufal)---------------- --------Gabbi------Long----------------- 4312 for me, play either boufal in what I see as his best position driving through the middle or just play a lacklustre Tadic again behind two strikers. Gives both Long and Gabbi the help they will need upfront, hopefully will allow us to win a midfield battle that will be where IMO the game is won (Its where they beat us at home IMO) Width should come predominantly from the full backs, Romeu can drop in to the back 2 and operate as a 3rd CB in the attacking phase, Hoj and Lemina to provide the steal, the recycling of the ball and hopefully one will be able to push forward and make himself available when required. Realistically we will play the same way as he always has, have a great first 10 minutes, and then get overrun at which point you'll notice the players lose all faith in whats happening and we end up losing 2-0 Also expect one of two things, 3 like for like changes that effectively change zilch or some mental 5 upfront arrangement which further allows Watford to punish us.

Realistically if Walcott wasn't originally a Saint, and we were not crying out for reinforcements would we really be screaming out to spunk 20-30m on him ? And pay him around 100k a week ? I wouldn't really, I can't see that he adds an awful lot more different than Boufal and Redmond offer us, put either in a better side and they probably wouldn't be a long way off of Walcott's contributions. Another thing is that signing him pretty much confirms we will carry on using a formation that just isn't working, as I can't see how you can squeeze him into a side that doesn't operate with wide men and strikers that the formation doesn't suit. I would say predominantly we need bigger striker that we can build attacks around, then we probably need another CB to replace VVD in some respect or another and only then, if we are still looking to spend look for a AM rather than a wide man, but thats just me. Walcott seems attractive from the outset, as I think most of us like the magic of a young player returning, personally I think we have more pressing needs. And I wouldn't blame him for buggering off to Everton for more money, a club in a better position and a manager that actually understands the game.

This really is a fantastic article which sums up where we are IMO

Not at all saying that this guy will be the player that changes things, I am sceptical, I don't think its unfair to comment on posters that may potentially be put off with spunking 20 million on this guy. His record hardly enthuses me with any real confidence. I have also seen him play a couple of times for Monaco, and never saw anything from him that made me excited in any way. That said, Ive been banging on in the stands about how we need a target man of sorts, Benteke didn't pose us too many problems in front of goal against CPFC but what he did do is act as an outlet, and a magnet for defenders. Not only that he made sure that the ball stuck in our half when they got there, something that we have lacked all year. Its not our retention that a massive problem, well, not until recently when Ive personally seen our movement dwindle. Its the fact that the ball comes back to us too quickly after poor passes and a lack of being able to hold it up in the final half. If Carillo can help with that aspect even a bit then it will help immeasurably. Pelle wasn't a world beater, but he was good at all the above, holding up, dragging defenders to him and winning headers, and that IMO is what we have missed over the last two seasons

I think thats more to do with the tactics MP employs which tends to see him everywhere except in the box where he is meant to be. There were a few times against Fulham (out of our very few attacks) that saw us break wide only to reach the box without a single other saints player anywhere near it, in fact I remember one where long was somewhere over on the Right wing

Pretty much spot on IMO We could of course try Gabbi in one of the AM slots behind long or Austin, personally I would play long as I think he offers more. I cant help but think however that removing our best striker from that position is daft though, the problem doesnt seem to be Gabbi's fault, he is making the right runs, just getting next to no service

Koeman? Pah. IMO Pochettino was the best manager we've had in the past decade - by a country mile. Now if we could have kept him... Both Poch and Koeman left for the same reason, the very same as Souness and Strachan under different boards. We are punching above our weight on a financial level. Hell, how can any sane fan actually moan at either Poch or Koeman leaving. Look at the opportunity they both have to build some sort of small legacy and build their own brand. Im sure we could afford a little more than what we have done over the past few seasons, but we have managed ourselves sensibly and sustainably. We could never afford to fund the ambitions that Poch/Koeman have to be honest even if we could afford the wages they believed they were worth

Ralph is very much in the 'Ill say what you want to hear' mould. So I remain to see whether our strategy changes significantly, and for that to happen then we would need to see a step change in spending to compliment what we have here already. We are still a selling club, in pretty much every sense of the word. Ive not got a massive problem with that, especially if we have actually found our backbone this year. If we keep showing improvements like we have been then theres no reason why we cant all be happy with that. Hoedt is exactly the sort of signing that is in keeping with that strategy though. Young, hungry, not too expensive, rough edges to smooth out. Of course long term the timescales and asking prices may have changed but ultimately its 'business as usual'

Get in the real world, we arent big enough to hold onto him any longer than another summer, and if we did it will likely damage our long term strategy. I know people arent a fan but our current model seems to be to allow ourselves to be a stepping stone for talented young players. That benefits us in the short to medium term, allowing us to progress under their talents and sell for reinvestible profits. Of course, we need to prove our back bone too, which hopefully we have in this instance. But you can only hold our nerve for so long. If he doesnt want to be here then you cant have a detrimental figure in the dressing room. Eventually the players that agree with Saints view point will gradually grow weary of the situation. Therefore our best bet is to have an informal agreement, so that we get the best of the player for another year, and he gets his way in the future. Theres nothing wrong with compromising here, its not a long term battle we can win. The important thing for me is to ensure that he remains here until next year, that strengthens our position, unless of course an astronomical bid is made late on, that we would be stupid to turn down. I do believe that situation is still very much on the horizon, hence our current crop of 6 CBs. Im also curious as to why Sakho is still at LFC, especially due to the relationship between him and Klopp. Expect a last minute scramble for VVD IMO, with Sakho being offered in some capacity.

Pretty much exactly how I read the situation. I firmly believe that VVD will stay, unless an offer comes in over and above our asking price. I fullu imagine the conversation has gone like this; "You arent being sold this window, settle in, help Hoedt get used to the prem and we will not stand in your way in Jan/summer" Id suggest that will still be subject to a reasonable bid being presented to us however. All in all very happy with the Hoedt signing. I think it spells the end of Gardos, but then thats been a long time coming, you may even see Bednerak move out on loan.

Hard to blame him for any of the goals at the weekend really, the first wasnt the best parry but he saw it late and his defence let him down badly. Other than that he had a good game. He is our best option for now, without spending rediculous money. He really isnt horrendous at the simple stuff, he looked a lot better thanhis englis counterpart for me this weekend, were you there ? Posting inflammatory threads/posts and massive knee jerks negatively against our players seems to be your go to thing

I dont see why you couldn't incorporate Austin and Gabbi in the current set up by playing Austin up top and Gabi in one of the three AM spots behind the striker, perhaps wide left like we did with Rodriguez and Lambert. The issue is the fact that Austin is very much a rigid player with one modus operandi which is basically just a box player, his link up pay isnt really developed enough to play as th central striker in our current set up either. Currently Gabbiadini, from what Ive seen, is pretty central to our attacks, dropping deep to recover posession and start attacking moves as well as his responsibilities as a box poacher. Theres also a reason 442 has fallen out of favour aswell, as its too rigid. Most sides these days play with more fluidity in atack and defence, allowing most positions to be interchangeable between the two. I.e wingers that track back, CBs that come out with the ball and wing backs becoming increasingly important in attacking phases. 442 doesnt really allow that, and so despite initially having more 'strikers' on the pitch you get better atacking thrust from 4231 which also allows defesive cover by creating a back 3 etc when the FBs bomb on. Its early days but our play in these two games has been encouraging, we just need a few tweaks in the final third to unlock defences. Personally I think that the team needs more freedom to try long shots and early crosses, what you will lose in possession you will make up for in better chances, opposition that can't 'guess' our plays. I imagine we will not see this until Pellegrino is more comfortable with our defensive shape though.

Pretty much how I saw it, and after watching MOTD again I would say that I would be happy to give Forster a 7 again for yesterday, he gets an awful lot of stick, but Id suggest that yesterday he had a pretty good game, and considering that everyone was banging on about wanting Hart over Forster, after yesterday I know who I would rather as Hart, especially his distribution, looked mediocre at best. As for Yoshida, I can only assume that Batman wasn't at the game, and is so attempting some sort of detailed analysis from text commentary ? From what I saw Yoshi looked pretty good, dealt with everything he could on the floor, made some crucial interceptions and tackles and generally battled hard and distributed the ball well. WHU, in the main, were pinging long balls wide to Antonio and Arnautovic, the CB's started moving out to try to win the ball but quickly reverted to exactly what I expected them to do, by ensuring that any flick ons were nullified and loose men picked up. I don't particularly want my CB's out winning headers by the by line, if you do Batman thats fine, but Id suggest, if that were the case you've never actually played at a level at which teams will look at that tactic to 'pull defences out of position'. Of course we are vulnerable aerially, I find it odd that Stephens doesn't win more headers, but it looks as if Yoshi was taking the dominant role, putting pressure on the header and ensuring that stephens was able to pick up the pieces. Just to clarify, yes, we lost a lot in the air, even Romeu was being beaten all ends up, but we dealt with it, letting them win headers and picking up the flick ons, it never, really, put us under pressure to be honest. Onto Forster, the first goal was a bit disappointing, but I've looked at it a couple of times now, for a start Romeu was arguably too close to Antonio, who spun him and got a shot off with his left foot, Forster was planted, he probably wasn't ready for it the same as I don't really think anyone else was. The real criminal part was Bertrand not shielding the parry, which I agree could have been better and fell to the very clever Hernandez. The second couldn't be landed at Forsters feet either, he made a cracking reaction save, only for this time Cedric to miss Hernandez who came around his blind side, but as Doddisalegend pointed out, the main point was there was a lack of any closing down of Cresswell, by JWP I think ? Who was allowed to weigh up all his options and complete a crossword before dropping an excellent cross onto Sakho's head. It was another of those games, we had a goal dissallowed, hit the bar twice and generally were the better team, we just don't make enough of our possession. I think Redmond deserves to be dropped, he just doesn't add anything, and Tadic needs to work on his crossing. We could also do with actually releasing the ball quicker every now and again, as its all too obvious that we will get forward, hold the ball up, look for the overlap or bring it back inside and recycle. Like Gabi's goal proved, sometimes if you take an early pass then you will reap the rewards. My last note is to say, lets get someone, anyone other than Tadic to take our penalties, he has not only missed our fair share but yesterdays effort didn't do anything to inspire anyone of his ability from 10 yards.

Well, I sort of explained, first goal all down to him, but he made some great saves, and the one he made for the second was outstanding and unfortunately it came off the bar to Chicoritos foot Ok... he probably shoulda got a 6

Well, It was always going to be one of those games really, despite buying a few decent looking acquisitions (well, they looked good before I saw them in the flesh) it seems that WHU are sticking to their Allardyce credentials and basically are the new Stoke. A tough battling side, played with two wide target men with Chicarito looking to pick up on the flick ons. And they did ok at that, Arnautovic looked a bit of a handful, he makes life difficult for defences at least, well, until he lost his head anyway. As for us, again the first 20 mins was pretty good, playing with the same intensity that we started the Swansea game, quick incisive movement and again trying to get behind the full backs. Gabbiadini again was starved of the sort of service that he craves and for his industry and movement deserves. On more than one occasion he was left screaming at his fellow teammates for ignoring another curving run. Thankfully Redmond did find him once, and he showed what he does when you find him in the box. Lamina looked ok, took a bit of settling in, and there were a couple of misplaced passes (and a header) but in the whole he looks a great buy, strong quick and positive in his play. A proper box to box player that should compliment Romeu very well. A note on the defence, Yoshida had a very good game, and Stephens looks as though he is developing into a very able young CB. We do, however, miss VVD, or someone like him. We screamed out for a real physical leader with real arial prowess, far too often we were caught out to WHU long balls. Cedric had a positive game, playing the majority at right wing, but seems to have a good relationship with Tadic down the right, hard to think he was getting calls to be dropped so often last year. Ratings - Forster - 7 - Had a pretty good game, and would have scored more if it wasn't for the 1st goal, unlucky with the 2nd after making a great save onto the bar Cedric - 7 - Another top game, I really like him, his crossing is pretty good and links up well down the right Stephens - 6 - Reasonably solid game, struggled aerially but nothing really beat him on the floor, comes out with the ball well too Yoshida - 7 - A long cry from the mistake a game player we knew a year or so ago, looks solid, could do with a dominant partner but very able player these days. Bertrand - 5 - Has looked uninterested for a couple of games, none any more than today, a couple of times he didn't bother overlapping or chasing the ball down, beat too easily all day by antonio. Romeu - 6 - Game bypassed him in the main due to WHU tactics, but what he does he does well. Passes excellently and always has time on the ball. Lamina - 6 - A few dodgy moments, but could be a real crowd favourite, quick, strong, positive and no fear of a challenge. Tadic - 6 - Frustrating, does a lot right, and then slows the game down too much, and is too one sided. Wasted far too many crossing opportunities today aswell. Davis - 6 - Im a real long time admirer of Davis, and he adds a lot of industry, but isn't creative enough really, completely ignored a great run by Gabi down the right. Redmond - 5 - I just don't see it, he has stopped running at defences, and strangely his left foot is miles better at shooting then his awful right, anonymous again today, was lucky to see the game out. Gabiadinni - 8 - I thought he was excellent today, and a real shame that he was brought off, make some brilliant runs, scored a goal, hit the bar and generally looked dangerous whenever he got on the ball. You can see his frustration, we really need to get the ball to him more. Subs - Long - 5 - Didn't really make much of an impact Austin - 6 - Again, not massively involved, but fair play to him for stepping up to take the penalty JWP - 7 - I know he wasn't on long, but got involved straight away, his crossing is brilliant, a real surprise that he was dropped after last week, I suppose he may have been too lightweight ? Sorry its long guys

You might want to climb down off of your horse and actually read the rule, thankfully you have to learn them as part of coaching licences, but ive done the hard work for you and will paste the url here for you. I take it you've not read the rules since 1980 and need to catch up (but im not sure you are anywhere near that old) Ill point out the main points which are; Handball is a deliberate action of moving the hand towards the ball, not the other way around And The position of the hand is not necessarily indicative of an offence Ill stick to my original thoughts that none were really penalty worthy, as theres no way they could have done anything about the ball hitting their hand. The tadic 'shout' was our biggest, but the plank does his best to win extra points for exuberant style, so can understand the ref ignoring that one too.

Id go with; Forster Cedric Stephens Yoshi Bertrand Romeu Lamina JWP Tadic Boufal Gabbiadini Davis and Redmond didnt do much at the weekend to warrant starting against WHU, JWP gets in for his industry and set pieces, not entirely sure what others saw at the weekend, I thought he had a good game. Lets hope we can actually get Gabbiadini involved properly.

As much as I live my life very much in the mould of 'each to their own' I find it a bit strong to use yourchild as some sort of social experiment. The gender neutral arguement does confuse me somewhat however, sex is determined biologically, you dont get a say in it, you of course are under no obligation to adhere to any social stereotypes.