Stoke Build Up

IMHO the *"manager" is far too scared of getting beat so that he won't really try to actually go all out and WIN.

He can't seem to grasp that British fans want fighters in situations like Saints are in not namby pamby wussies.

 

 

 

* As far as I am concerned he isn't what I call a real manager.

This

http:// http://www.soccerstats.com/formtable.asp?league=england

 

Some interesting reading regarding our recent form.

good job we have a decent manager to sort that out...... oh

basically, we are Appalling at home.

good job we have a decent manager to sort that out...... oh

And the stats show Stoke almost bottom of the away form! That should make for an exciting and quality game...

Something has to give on Saturday.

Need to drop Romeu, he’s been terrible all season.

He made several crucial blocks and clearances yesterday. I thought he had a good game.

Paul Lambert has been largely useless in the Premier League.

I’d take him in an instant over the worst manager in our history (incumbent)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’d take him in an instant over the worst manager in our history (incumbent)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That’s Branfoot.

That’s Branfoot.

Marginal, it really is

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That’s Branfoot.

This one is worse and I never thought I would be able to say that about anyone

And the stats show Stoke almost bottom of the away form! That should make for an exciting and quality game...

 

Something has to give on Saturday.

We are consistently woeful at home and never quite seem to know what to do.

I had Sims in my starting line up for the Burnley game. Surely he has to start vs Stoke? Would also play Gabbi instead of Guido in the hope that his goal will spark a run of confidence and form.

McCarthy

Cedric - Stephens - Hoedt - Bertrand

Hojbjerg - Lemina

Sims - Tadic - Boufal

Gabbi

Subs: Forster, McQueen, Bednarek, JWP, Romeu, Redmond, Guido

This one is worse and I never thought I would be able to say that about anyone

I agree with that. Branfoot was ghastly and wrong, but at least he had some sort of footballing philosophy, however rudimentary or neanderthal.

The current manager is just totally clueless.

That’s Branfoot.

Not anymore for me this clown we have now has taken his mantle

Not sure we should suddenly be dropping JWP when him and his set pieces have been the source of our only threat on recent weeks.

A win is an absolute must here. Puts us closer to 36pts, leaves Stoke in real trouble. The focus all week has to be about winning this and winning it well.

Unfortunately our esteemed manager will be thinking the opposite. Must avoid defeat. I swear he's trying to get 10 draws to finish the season on 37.

Not sure we should suddenly be dropping JWP when him and his set pieces have been the source of our only threat on recent weeks.

Exactly this.

Best corner / free kick / pen taker

Just how big is this game?

I think we all agree it's ludicrously massive, so I wanted to take look at our recent home results in the league to see exactly how we have done. Below are our home results from those games going back to December:

Southampton 1 - 1 Arsenal

Southampton 1 - 4 Leicester

Southampton 1 - 1 Huddersfield

Southampton 1 - 2 Palace

Southampton 1 - 1 Spurs

Southampton 1 - 1 Brighton

Southampton 0 - 2 Liverpool

- Not much of a shocker to say we aren't exactly dynamite in front of goal @ St Marys.

- Arsenal was probably our best all over performance that I can remember.

- You could take a fair few 45 mins from that to create a 'worst half of the season' contenders too.

thought we were a lot better against spurs than arsenal... over 90 mins anyway

Not sure we should suddenly be dropping JWP when him and his set pieces have been the source of our only threat on recent weeks.

Against the likes of Stoke just like Burnley, i think our best bet for a goal is from open play.

Mccarthy

Cedric Stephens Hoedt Bertrand

Hojberg Lemina

sims gabbi tadic

carrillo

 

subs

forster, bednarek, mcqueen, hesketh,romeu, long,boufal

 

Next 3 league games are huge, we need 6/7 points from them really

I would love to see that starting 11 - nice and positive from the start and would get the crowd right behind the team.

Sadly, I expect MP will probably pick Redmond, JWP and Romeu rather than Sims, Gabbi and Hojbjerg. Will be the usual cautious stuff from the start, with Sims and Gabbi likely being thrown on late again to try and salvage a point in the dying minutes.

I had Sims in my starting line up for the Burnley game. Surely he has to start vs Stoke? Would also play Gabbi instead of Guido in the hope that his goal will spark a run of confidence and form.

 

McCarthy

Cedric - Stephens - Hoedt - Bertrand

Hojbjerg - Lemina

Sims - Tadic - Boufal

Gabbi

 

Subs: Forster, McQueen, Bednarek, JWP, Romeu, Redmond, Guido

good choice sir

Not sure we should suddenly be dropping JWP when him and his set pieces have been the source of our only threat on recent weeks.

That's a pretty good advert for changing our setup IMO, even if it does mean dropping him.

That’s Branfoot.

There’s a lot of competition.

We aren't going to be dropping Carrillo. The key is can we get players closer to him without losing total control of the midfield?

On the handful of occassions that we have had two strikers this season (for more than 5 or 10mins) we have arguably been worse than with one striker - simply because we lose control in the middle and never have the ball.

Hencw why the only teams in the PL who use two strikers are either the very best teams like City and Spurs (if Alli counts as a second striker) or the dross who are happy to have 30% possession and play direct, which isn't Saints' game.

The weakest part of our game is that we have no wide players who are a goalthreat, hence why the signing of Walcott, Promes or similar was utterly vital in the cluster**** of a January window.

We'll start without Sims, Gabbi, and Boufal.

They will score on 65 mins, despite us having the better of it.

Sims, Gabbi and Boufal will all have come on by the 85th minute.

We'll start looking more effective. But all too late and the final whistle goes.

Someone will start a Newcastle build up thread.

Repeat.

We'll start without Sims, Gabbi, and Boufal.

 

They will score on 65 mins, despite us having the better of it.

 

Sims, Gabbi and Boufal will all have come on by the 85th minute.

 

We'll start looking more effective. But all too late and the final whistle goes.

 

Someone will start a Newcastle build up thread.

 

Repeat.

We'll start without Sims, Gabbi, and Boufal.

 

They will score on 65 mins, despite us having the better of it.

 

Sims, Gabbi and Boufal will all have come on by the 85th minute.

 

We'll start looking more effective. But all too late and the final whistle goes.

 

 

Repeat.

You're not wrong there, pal. It is like this every week.

Pellegrino praised Sims for the impact he had from the bench. I think that gave it away that he’ll be a substitute again.

I had Sims in my starting line up for the Burnley game. Surely he has to start vs Stoke? Would also play Gabbi instead of Guido in the hope that his goal will spark a run of confidence and form.

 

McCarthy

Cedric - Stephens - Hoedt - Bertrand

Hojbjerg - Lemina

Sims - Tadic - Boufal

Gabbi

 

Subs: Forster, McQueen, Bednarek, JWP, Romeu, Redmond, Guido

This but Gabbi in the hole behind Guido and Tadic on the left. But the clown will not do that...watch him start with JWP and Redmond with just the lone striker again. Yup that always works. Oh.

I expect a lineup similar to the Burnley side, if Pellegrino resists the temptation to go ultra conservative and play three defensive midfielders. It would not surprise me at all if Redmond starts again. He was alright at times against Burnley. I’m going to restrict myself to simply hoping that Pellegrino only plays two of Romeu, Hoj and Lemina.

The problem with all the suggestions of attacking lineups on here - Carrillo striking up a partnership with Gabbiadini, Sims starting, Boufal starting etc is you tend to feel a little disappointed when the reality of Pellegrino’s actual selections sinks in one hour before kick off. I’m pretty sure that Pellegrino regards Sims merely as an impact sub, to be used in tight games.

Saints have a particularly difficult time playing teams that press, and defending high balls. I wonder if Lambert selects his team and tactics accordingly.

It has to be time to drop Tadic. He has been awful for a long time. Romeu should be replaced by Hojberg too.

Not sure we should suddenly be dropping JWP when him and his set pieces have been the source of our only threat on recent weeks.

Agreed.

I’d honestly go 442 and have Hoibjerg and Lemina in midfield. Romeu looks like he needs a rest to me plus, hoibjerg and Lemina will offer more energy which we’d need in a 442. I’d then play either Gabbi up top with Boufal behind him or Carillo up top with Gabbi behind him.

Sims or JWP on the right.

This game is huge!! Lose this and we are ****ed imo.

Stoke will park the bus as they did at Leicester on Saturday. Then try to nick a goal. We will pass the ball sideways in front of their defence without really threatening. Like a lot of this season's home games really. 1-1 again.

Win would be nice. Draw would be not ideal.

A loss means relegation.

This could well be the ugliest game we have seen in the last two seasons...

It has to be time to drop Tadic. He has been awful for a long time. Romeu should be replaced by Hojberg too.

As a creative player he is better than anything the other relegation candidates have.

We don't have better players than him who aren't playing, despite how much some fans love to slag him off, which is the easy option because of the type of player he is.

IMO Tadic has been quite decent of late, considering the quality of the players he is linking up with.

 

As a creative player he is better than anything the other relegation candidates have.

 

We don't have better players than him who aren't playing, despite how much some fans love to slag him off, which is the easy option because of the type of player he is.

I reckon Shaqiri has more aggression and willingness with the ball, and probably a better range of passing. But Tadic perhaps with more ability to create in tighter spaces.

He is definitely still the most creative player we have, and the one likely to bring others into play.

Simply a must win.

Surely he has to change things up? We've played 433/4231 (thank you Mr Reed) all season and to put it simply, it hasn't worked.

I'd go 442/4411:

McCarthy

Cedric Stephens Hoedt Bertrand

Sims Lemina Hojbjerg Tadic

Gabbi

Carrillo

Carrillo looks like he's crying out for someone to play off him, Gabbi looks like he's crying out to play off someone.

Tadic and Sims as out and out wingers to get crosses into Carrillo with Hojbjerg offering 'better legs', than Romeu so will offer more going forward.

None of this will happen, he'll continue to play 4231 (although I suspect Sims might get a start with Tadic in 10 and JWP on the right) and we'll draw 1-1

Go for the throat. We are running out of games.

Think there is a fair bit of wishful thinking on this thread.

He will play exactly the same as all season, it will be cautious, drab and frustrating.

He will not start with Sims so you can forget that straight away. Ditto Gabbi, Boufal may be in with a shout but dont hold your breath.

If we are losing or drawing after 75 mins he will make changes.

If we are one up after 60 mins he will put on a defensive player to hold what we have, this will invite Stoke to attack at every opportunity and we all know what happens when teams do that against us.

Think there is a fair bit of wishful thinking on this thread.

 

He will play exactly the same as all season, it will be cautious, drab and frustrating.

He will not start with Sims so you can forget that straight away. Ditto Gabbi, Boufal may be in with a shout but dont hold your breath.

If we are losing or drawing after 75 mins he will make changes.

If we are one up after 60 mins he will put on a defensive player to hold what we have, this will invite Stoke to attack at every opportunity and we all know what happens when teams do that against us.

Sound so depressingly plausible.

I agree.

sims will start..... on the left and be largely ineffective and get brought off after an hour

that will be that.

sims will start..... on the left and be largely ineffective and get brought off after an hour

 

that will be that.

There is something to be said for his impact as a sub when we need to score.

I was thinking this morning before I read your post that if he starts, MP will probably have him pinned back on half-way.

There is something to be said for his impact as a sub when we need to score.

 

I was thinking this morning before I read your post that if he starts, MP will probably have him pinned back on half-way.

too attacking for MP though. we need to keep it tight in all areas of the pitch and retain possession etc

A win is an absolute must here. Puts us closer to 36pts, leaves Stoke in real trouble. The focus all week has to be about winning this and winning it well.

 

Unfortunately our esteemed manager will be thinking the opposite. Must avoid defeat. I swear he's trying to get 10 draws to finish the season on 37.

Well, I predicted (tongue n cheek) 36 draws before the season started. Could be closer than I thought at this rate.

This is simply a must win if we are to stay up after dropping points at Burnley. I would go:

————————— McCarthy ———-—————

Cedric —— Stephens —— Hoedt —— Bertrand

————— Lemina ——— Hojbjerg —————

——— Sims —— Boufal —— Redmond ———

——————-——— Carrillo —————————

I feel dirty saying this but part of me would rather a loss than another effing draw.

Another drab draw would continue the sleep walking of the last 3 months, a loss might be the wake up call the whole club needs.

I feel dirty saying this but part of me would rather a loss than another effing draw.

 

Another drab draw would continue the sleep walking of the last 3 months, a loss might be the wake up call the whole club needs.

No!

I feel like our best chance of a win is much like the 'Boro game from last season. A rocket from Boufal.

No!

 

I feel like our best chance of a win is much like the 'Boro game from last season. A rocket from Boufal.

That would be a win then, which is obviously my first choice.