mrfahaji

Yeah, thought it was slightly strange, Tadic seemed to be doing some good things...

I didn't see the first half but last 15 minutes have shown, or at least suggested, how much better we are when we don't play Tadic on the right and Redmond on the left.

Great determined play by Romeu, good spot & pass by Redmond (wouldn't have happend if he'd been on the left...). Couldn't believe we didn't score in the passage before that!

I had a dream that we lost 4-1, Pellegrino was sacked, we appointed Joey Barton as manager and I gave up supporting Saints as a result. A nightmare all round, hope none of it comes true!

On the face of it a fair argument, and one I’d love to agree with given I share a similar (maybe not quite to extent) loathing of that club as you. But a counter argument would be, were those players all top class when Pochettino arrived (or when they signed for Spurs)? Danny Rose and Kyle Walker were talked about as players who wouldn’t get in our side, at best “good going forward, dodgy defensively” but are now two of the best in the league. I think Poch got extremely lucky with the emergence of Kane but there’s no doubt that he and Alli have turned into stars during his tenure. I look at Spurs’ team and think “it’s one of the best balanced teams in the division, he should be near/at the top!” but would I have said that 5 years ago? Probably not. Pochettino may not be the best all round manager, but it’s hard to deny that a lot of players seem to improve under his tutelage.

The main reason I wanted Pellegrino gone was that he seemed reluctant to make the changes that most people could see were necessary. And then after some poor displays, he seemed to be happy with the performance. That all pointed to someone who couldn't identify where it was going wrong or what needed changing. Maybe with enough time he might have hit upon the right combination, but how long do you wait before that lightbulb moment? 5 games? 10 games? 20 games? Because it didn't appear to me that he was getting closer and closer to the right solution, just that he was trying different things on a bit of an arbitrary basis. If he has now started to work out the right changes, then credit to him, I would no longer want him sacked. I might still question why it took so long, and question certain team selections (though I largely agreed with the one at Man City), but as long as he has addressed the problems we've had up to this point, I'm happy. But at the same time, a few goals against a woeful team and a competent display at Manchester City, while encouraging, do not necessarily erase all the concerns from previous matches.

West Brom and Burnley two recent examples. I don't think it's the place of supporters to complain about other team's tactics unless they are dirty or blatant cheating. I think for things like time wasting it's up to the referee to put a stop to it. It's up to your team to break them down. That being said, if I were a fan of West Brom, I'd be questioning the tactics of my own team. It is quite a difference going to the Etihad, Anfield, Old Trafford and going all-out defence than it is to go to St Mary's, the Britannia or Vicarage Road.

I think LGTL has him in a back 3 with JWP as RWB. Either that or he's got Forster playing left back.

In fairness, the time is "minimum of 5 minutes" I believe, so the only incorrect thing to do would be to play less than 5. That being said, god knows where 5 minutes came from. Actually, I know where it came from - Manchester City, media darlings, weren't winning, so they got some extra time to help them. Makes me sick. Sterling is a little scumbag, hope he suffers a career ending injury asap. Add de Bruyne to the list, hideous pigface boy. And as for the commentators who can't help wnk over everything City do - they've had cheat mode enabled for about 10 years now, but that's not a problem is it? Who cares?! "Man City showed their class", no they didn't, cvntface, they showed how fcking jammy they are and how much help they get from everybody.

I thought it was a decent line up until I saw this comment. Not so sure now.

They clearly don't bother to research anything. Redmond pace 87, Long pace 83. Good one! Lemina worse than Ward-Prowse... I had Fifa 16 and PES 16, much prefer Pro Evo to be honest. Even though Fifa is 'better' is many aspects, I just find PES more enjoyable. Have edited an entire league on 17 though and that takes such a long time that I'll wait until next year before buying another one as they don't change a great deal from year to year.

You're *

PEH > JWP > Lemina > Romeu > Wanyama > Schneiderlin Purely based on ability and not on most recent 1 performances. Schneiderlin always impressed me with his tackling actually, amazing how many times he looked sure to either be beaten or give away a foul and would somehow come away with the ball. As much as Romeu and Wanyama are both strong 'tough tacklers', they are also more prone to giving away cheap free kicks. I could be wrong but that's something that struck me at the time.

Right. Btw although I was being cynical about your stats reference, I wasn't necessarily doubting your conclusion about our performance, your comments are just as interesting to me as more positive ones. Although I suppose it depends on the angle you're coming at it from (i.e. a) we've been good but unlucky all season or b) we're still not great but anyone would look good against Everton) As I said originally, I didn't watch the game and you can't really get an idea of overall performance just from highlights. I guess it's difficult to ringfence how much of your own performance is due to the opposition. Perhaps we'll get the best idea from our games with Bournemouth and Leicester.

Ok thanks, good to know. Shame that our next game is against City really, as it would be good to see if we could have maintained that playing style, but fully expect (and wouldn't blame MP) to see a super defensive performance at the Etihad.

Forster Cedric Yoshida van Dijk Bertrand JWP Hojbjerg Romeu Boufal Redmond Long Not sure about the two wide midfielders, but think Boufal might be helpful on the break while JWP will help defensively. Long and Redmond are midfielders here, with nobody upfront (!) Just think they could help out defensively while also being a threat on the counter attack, which is probably the only way we can score. Bit of a bizarre idea formation-wise but not sure how playing the same team in the same formation and the same tactics will get anything from the game.

I don't know how much to read into match stats with Saints though, we seem to play a brand of football that props them up. While I'm slightly cynical of the xG statistic, it's one of the more meaningful ones, as 70% possession and 20 shots on goal is misleading if it's all been passing between the defenders and shots from 30 yards. For example, against Burnley, I think the xG was 0.9? Ok, so we were unlucky to LOSE the game from their only real chance in the match, but for all our possession I'm not sure we were definitively the better side, as Burnley executed their game plan well. The 'core' stats don't tell you the tempo of attacks, the number of forward runs players make, number of times players get to the byline, bodies in the box for crosses etc, and those are the aspects of our game I think need improving.

Our results this year have been quite predictable in terms of the strength of opposition. Against the bottom 5, we have won 4 and drawn 1. Against teams placed 9th - 15th, we have drawn 3 and lost 1 Against teams placed 1st - 8th, we have lost 4 On that basis, we would replicate DT's predictions and get 6 points, but that really isn't enough so hopefully we can pick up a couple of extra wins somewhere.

I remember feeling positive after Swansea and Man Utd, but if we were 'as good' as Newcastle, WBA and Burnley then that's slightly worrying, don't think we were particularly good in any of those games! Maybe for the odd 15 minute period, but they weren't games where I thought "this could/should be 3 or 4 nil".

that's a new one! Now we have people annoyed that we were giving young players a chance!

Not sure money is the only reason players want to join Manchester United, especially if they appear to be good enough to get in the team there.

Ok thanks for the summary, certainly sounds encouraging! Strange that it's taken so long to get to this point, but maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.

What, score goals? I am being a little facetious, and I know what point you're making. But I'd also say that Gabbiadini, our alternative goalscorer (I think Long has strengths but wouldn't rely on him as our lone striker too often), has struggled to be 'involved' in games this season. I still think he's a good player, but his lack of action comes from the fact he is isolated and the only passes he seems to get are hopeful crosses lumped into the box. Scoring goals wins games. So we should be playing to suit the players who can score. Instead we set our stall out and hope that our strikers can fit in with that, then criticise them if they don't. I get that Austin isn't an accomplished all round player, but he's a bit more than just a goal hanger. His movement in the box doesn't just result in a higher chance of scoring, but it makes defenders more nervy, gives the wide players something to look/aim for etc.

Not sure about that... I do agree with the rest of what you say though. I think his recent performances have showed him to be a bit rusty and lacking match sharpness more than anything else.

Typical that this is the first game I haven't been able to watch in a while! (managed to see the last 10 mins but think the game was done by that point, plus I passed out when Davis scored from the edge of the box). I'm encouraged by the formation - although I think Boufal is more dangerous centrally, I'm pleased we put JWP out wide instead of Tadic. It sounds like we played quite well, but it's hard to know how much of the result was Everton playing badly. I just hope that Pellegrino picks the right positives from the game. One thing I'd say about the goals, is that they are two fantastic headers from Austin. If he isn't playing, those chances probably don't even fall to someone else, and even less chance of that player taking them. Instead we'd probably be lamenting a lack of good chances despite playing well. It's all very well saying Austin doesn't give you much in terms of an all round game, but it depends how the team go about things. I've seen plenty of games where Gabbiadini has done next to nothing, but mainly because we don't play in a way to get the best out of him. Two questions from the game, focused on the key reasons why I have been critical and doubtful of Pellegrino's ability: 1) Did we attack with a bit more urgency than usual? I.e. get more men forward, move the ball a bit quicker? 2) Did we continue to lump balls into the box from distance, or did we get round the back of the defence more than we do normally?