Leo_ARG

This formation suits Mane. Today he nets one at least. But in the midfield I'm not sure about Davis. I rather see JWP or Tadic there. I admit Davis played well against Newcaste so maybe he has earned it. Let's see. Come on Saints! If we don't win this one I'm gonna be ****ed

Are you sure your are getting something straight here? Because you can't be terrible if you don't touch the ball. They don't give him the ball and he doesen't ask for it. That's on him obviously but also on the coach. Koeman is great at judging talent, but let's face it: he is not great at getting the most out of his players. And here is some on this that I wrote in other thread. It's as simple as putting players where they can succeed: Tadic lacks pace, what he has is great decision making. He doesen't loose the ball, just doesen't have it enough. He disapears from the game. He gets too isoleted on the wings. To me, he is a number 10. Right now we are expecting Mane or even Pelle give a killer pass to Long or Jay. There is no cohesion, just too many players trying to get forward in the middle and not one of them enjoys to give that last pass. Juanmi and Tadic can do that, that's what's missing. Pelle can flick the ball to the wings but when he has in on his feet he NEVER takes the right decision. Yesterday he had to players all alone to pass and insted played a long ball to nobody in particular. Mane is a bit a of a ball hog, he is not a passer, he is a finisher. His pace is better suited for the wings. He is at his best when he recieves a pass coming from the wing to the middle between the opposition RBs and CBs. Tadic should give him that pass. And of course, Clasie when healthy. But if I were RK I would sit with Tadic and give him confidence and put him in a position he can succeed. While he has a gret cross, I think he is a player who need to be in contact with the ball and has the ability to keep the ball with his dribble. He either need someone who can speak his language in the middle (maybe Juanmi because Mane isn't that player) or to be the no 10 himself. Juanmi could also give you more passing and better decision making. We won't now if he is always on the bench.

Wanyama--Clasie Mane--Tadic--Juanmi Pelle/J. Rod Tadic lacks pace, what he has is great decision making. He doesen't loose the ball, just doesen't have it enough. He disapears from the game. He gets too isoleted on the wings. To me, he is a number 10. Right now we are expecting Mane or even Pelle give a killer pass to Long or Jay. There is no cohesion, just too many players trying to get forward in the middle and not one of them enjoys to give that last pass. Juanmi and Tadic can do that, that's what's missing. Pelle can flick the ball to the wings but when he has in on his feet he NEVER takes the right decision. Yesterday he had to players all alone to pass and insted played a long ball to nobody in particular. Mane is a bit a of a ball hog, he is not a passer, he is a finisher. His pace is better suited for the wings. He is at his best when he recieves a pass coming from the wing to the middle between the opposition RBs and CBs. Tadic should give him that pass. And of course, Clasie when healthy. But if I were RK I would sit with Tadic and give him confidence and put him in a position he can succeed. While he has a gret cross, I think he is a player who need to be in contact with the ball and has the ability to keep the ball with his dribble. He either need someone who can speak his language in the middle (maybe Juanmi because Mane isn't that player) or to be the no 10 himself. Juanmi could also give you more passing and better decision making. We won't now if he is always on the bench. To me, this players grow in confidence when they have the possession. We need to be a possession team again. The run and gun type works for teams that are build for the counter-attack and that isn't the identity of this team. That's not what brought success last season.

He played for his national team. You don't play in Spain if you are not good. Why he doesen't get in before Long is a mistery. Long is just too similiar to Jay Rodriguez. We need a different look, more creative players than just the run behind the defense that RK seems to like too much. I didn't understand how RK expected to score yesteray. How can you score if the creative players are in the bench? I would like to see Tadic in the middle for example. Give him the NO 10 role, he needs more touches, instead of being isoloted in the wings.

Exactly, sir. So happy to see this. I was getting worried, we needed this type of player badly.

Davis (especially in the 2nd half) Tadic, Pelle where good today. Martina and Long did well as substittutes. Jay Rodriguez, Wanyama and Targett were very poor out there. I was expeting to see Juanmi, a player who likes to create attack rather than get behind the defense all the time like Long and Mane. The problem was there was no link between the midfield and the attack, that's where we clearly missed Morgan. That's where Clasie should be a great help. It was no coincidence that the equalizer came when we held possesion for more than 5 seconds. There was also a lack of confidence by the the back to pass to the midfielders, there were too many long balls. They bypassed the midfield too much. Those long balls are easy for the opposition defense. The Saints are at their best when they control the tempo of the game. And you can't do that if you rush the play. When Davis said on the second half "OK, give the ball to me", when he was the brain of the team out there and we started to pass to feet... it was a world of difference. After this games I wouldn't jump to conclusions about Jay, Caulker, or Cedric. It's a long season with ups and downs. Cedric, looked OK to me. I like him. He linked very well with Tadic. Much better on the offense than defence. I think he will get better. I don't think we will miss Clyne too much. It's just that when he and Targett got cought up there was no recovery from Wanyama. Matty's side was a problem all day long, we missed Bertrant, too. Davis is not Morgan either. Morgan was always in position when something went wrong. That was the unbalance. It was to be expected, it's hard to replace a player of that caliber who is great on both sides of the pitch. Today there were too many long balls and the lines were too apart from each other, and when that happens you suffer on the back. Adjustments are to be made, I'm sure. All things considered, I'm pleased with the squad depth. There are a lot of options on the attack and defense, but we could really use a big and strong holding midfielder.

Finally some good news! I'd love to see this happen.

Hmm... I don't trust this reports. I think this is a move by Boca's president to say to the supporters: "Well, I tried but it wasen't meant to be". Letting Osvaldo go won't be a popular decision.

Scored some great goals but had some shocking misses too. At a first look it may seem that he doesen't care, but that's just his stlye. He is so confident in this ability, sometimes too much for his own good. He had some diving tackles, played with urgency when it was needed, he cared for the team and loves the club. The thing that impressed is his vision and intelligence to create offense. He made many goals for Boca's wingers. It seems that all that intelligence in the pitch takes all the space in his brain, well... taking away sex, I mean. I was loving him but ended up hating him, I can't separate the person from the player anymore.

No way. If have seen both of them play this year. All their games. Osvaldo would have made this team much much better than Pelle. Osvaldo can play as a false 9, the way he protects the ball, his passing game... way better than Pelle, a much more complete striker. He is stupid and a bad person, but... as football player he is world-class.

As a Boca fan I'm very saddened to see this. Can't complain with what he has done in the pitch. He is an amazing player. Way better than Pelle. He does things that not many strikers can, even in the Premier League. But he sure crossed the line, he is just too stupid, too unprofessional. What a waste of talent if he goes to the MLS. But he has no one to blame but himself.

http://footy.ml/page/1 HD here too.

Good to see my fellow countryman Gazzaniga get a chance. I really don't know much about him, only that he is a son of a former River Plate goalie.

You can draw it as you like, or plan it one way, but if you look on the pitch this is a clear 4-4-2, not 4-2-3-1. Mane is a striker right now, never gets back on defense, always making runs through the middle. Neither JWP or Davis are attacking midfielders. It doesen't come naturally to them. You need either Long or Tadic to generate something from the wings, it was all long balls for Mane or for the Pelle flick. It works because Pelle has been good and Mane great but we need more options. This game has to be a W. Oh. And remind me what are the qualities of Steven Davis please.

Vdubt25 is working. Watching the pre-game now

Jwp should have replaced Davis, not Tadic, who was having chances when started playing more in the middle instead being isolated close to the line. If you are going to take out Tadic, bring in Long to make runs and Prowsie in for Davis. I just don't get Koeman most of the time. But can't argue with the results I suppose.

Kodi: Vdubt25 has an entry for the game inside "Live Sports". 720 p.

Yeah! He has a habit of playing that long ball. I don't understand. Besides that brain-dead play he has been decent today. I didnd't like Davis. All the other guys are doing at least okay. Great game by Mane. And Yoshida-Fonte has been rock solid. Also, Stoke has been very, very poor. It's like they don't a have a soul.

Well, Dusan likes to go to the end of the pitch and cross for Pelle. Early on the season, that was how we created most of the chances. Tadic for Pelle is an effective formula. Having said that, it would help the team a lot if Dusan added that cut-in and shoot that other players do so well. It doesen't seem to come naturally for Tadic, but if he can work on it, it would do wonders for him, for the team, because it would also create more space for Pelle.

That had me standing up and clapping. Hats off to you, Dusan Tadic, you bring the best of football to this team. Come on RK, enough of this benching nonsense.

Koeman needs to start with Tadic. How long until he realizes this? It's just so obvious. We had no crossings at all from the left. Tadic can beat any defender off his dribble. Betrand and Mane didn't hook up once. Bertrand needs to make more runs forward, since Clyne isn't playing. The left side is the key on this match and both players there have been poor. Put Mane in the middle and bring Tadic on for Davis.

Thank you.

The one who did the crossing to the box was Long. Elia didn't show up. Was our worst player on the pich.

Long did okay, Pelle had some good touches early on but poor finishes (once again) and Ellia...well, awfull. Just a waste of space. I wonder if there is some dutch bias there. Koeman coaches like we had tremendous squad depth we DON'T have.We are not Chelsea. You can't have both Tadic and Mane in the bench at the same time. Those are your difference makers, the players that can produce the key dribble or the key pass we lacked in the final third.