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Some thinking to do about Leeds


TopGun

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A good result against Tranmere today of course.

 

But Leeds seem to do much of their attacking down the left with Robert Snodgrass a key component. I'm a bit concerned that Lloyd James might get too stretched and over run down that side next week but we don't exactly have many options with Murty out.

 

Not sure there is an answer to a possible problem. Any thoughts?

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Thomas at right back with Lloyd just infront, keep the right side tight and do our attacking down the middle or through Lallana.

 

What he said. Snodgrass is tricky, but quite lightweight, so if we play Thomas to bruise him a bit, James can do the running for him. Sorted.

 

2-1 to Saints methiks!

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I think we will lose this one. They are the best team in the division and I think this will be one too many

 

no disgrace in that though

 

But no doubt, you'll be entirely happy to be wrong AGAIN, TDD. :)

 

I think we might get a result, something like a score draw. I feel Tuesday night might be critical for the confidence factor. Obviously, a win on saturday would be dreamland. And what a message it would send to the rest of League One. The fact that we can contemplate it as a possibility is a measure of how far this team have come.

Edited by St Landrew
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I think we will lose this one. They are the best team in the division and I think this will be one too many

 

no disgrace in that though

 

All the pressure will be on Leeds, compared to them we've got nothing to lose.

 

If we can beat Norwich then we've won five on the bounce, loads of momentum going into the game and I would be expecting a win.

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But no doubt, you'll be entirely happy to be wrong AGAIN, TDD. :)

 

I think we might get a result, something like a score draw. I feel Tuesday night might be critical for the confidence factor. Obviously, a win on saturday would be dreamland. And what a message it would send to the rest of League One. The fact that we can contemplate it as a possibility is a measure of how far this team have come.

 

Tuesday might indeed be very important for the Leeds game.

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A good result against Tranmere today of course.

 

But Leeds seem to do much of their attacking down the left with Robert Snodgrass a key component. I'm a bit concerned that Lloyd James might get too stretched and over run down that side next week but we don't exactly have many options with Murty out.

 

Not sure there is an answer to a possible problem. Any thoughts?

 

Spot on!

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I think we will lose this one. They are the best team in the division and I think this will be one too many

 

no disgrace in that though

Have to disagree, I think we are better than them and we'll go up there and tear them apart, when we need to we turn it on big styleeee. Norwich will win the league above leeds. Huddersfield, Colchester, Charlton and then the red and white machine sneaking 6th.
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But no doubt, you'll be entirely happy to be wrong AGAIN, TDD. :)

 

I'm sure that's true. I was a pessimistic Saint before today's game as I have far too much experience of us losing games we should win. Happy too to be wrong. There are only a few posters on this board who _seem_ to be happy when we lose as it justifies their opinions.

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I'm in two minds about whether Saints should play a full team on Tuesday tbh. I know it's Wembley as a win (prob against Leeds too) but I think there is a bigger picture (i.e. play-off spot in the League that would also get us to Wembley).

 

Edit: I don't give a toss about the JPT actually.

Edited by TopGun
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When I look at both teams prefered starting 11,I cant see any reason why we shouldnt win.

player for player we have a better team,IMO.

 

A Leeds fan will say different though.

 

I expect they have never heard of Lloyd James, Hammond and Papa so they will believe there's is better.

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A Leeds fan will say different though.

 

I expect they have never heard of Lloyd James, Hammond and Papa so they will believe there's is better.

 

ofcourse they have heard of Hammond and Papa.

 

they have seen Leeds play Colchester many times the last seasons ! Hammond has been recognized as a very good midfielder at this level by most fans.

 

Papa Waigo has fairly big name due to the fact that he has played in serie A,I`m quite sure a person generally interested in football have heard of him.

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I think if we are going to get anything from next Saturday we will have to be firing on all cylinders.I know we won comfortably enough today but 2 or 3 players were not at their best,not through lack of effort but things just were not happening for them.Antonio for example was frankly quite poor today going forward,he worked hard to help lloyd james but he didnt provide the width that we will need to cause Leeds any serious problems.

David Connely was not as effective today ,a lot of his touches were a bit heavy and not finding our players.Even Adam Lalana was quiet by his own high standards.

I am not in any way slating these players because they did work hard for the team,but they need to have a bigger influence against a very good Leeds side if we are to take any points.

Edited by sad saints fan
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I'd forgotten Thomas can play right back. Maybe that is the best answer for Leeds. But then I'd want Trotters as the right CB for a bit of pace to help out if required rather than Perry. Plus a quick CB (and Jaidi and Perry ain't that) is a good move to stop Beckford (even if he misses the target many times... check out the stats on the FL site for L1 top scorer).

Edited by TopGun
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very clever, but I have tried that already & haven't found any Saints related links, or decent forum. perhaps were not as hot a prospect as we would like to think and I should try later in the week.

 

The second website on the link I gave is the most popular Leeds forum and has at least two Southampton related threads.

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I think Leeds will be in for a bit of a shock, their defence hasnt been tested enough recently and from what i have seen in the past on sky tv etc, its not all that. We also seem to perform better away from home when the home side attacks us, something in which Leeds will certainly do. Really looking forward to this one

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ofcourse they have heard of Hammond and Papa.

 

they have seen Leeds play Colchester many times the last seasons ! Hammond has been recognized as a very good midfielder at this level by most fans.

 

Papa Waigo has fairly big name due to the fact that he has played in serie A,I`m quite sure a person generally interested in football have heard of him.

 

Come on be honest had you heard of him before he joined us?

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A good result against Tranmere today of course.

 

But Leeds seem to do much of their attacking down the left with Robert Snodgrass a key component. I'm a bit concerned that Lloyd James might get too stretched and over run down that side next week but we don't exactly have many options with Murty out.

 

Not sure there is an answer to a possible problem. Any thoughts?

 

Snodgrass has been suspended I think. They played Gradel yesterday who's done well since he arrived from Leicester on loan. Will be a tough test for James or Thomas whoever starts for them. I would be tempted to stick Waigo at RM as he has done a decent job covering our fullback. Has certainly tracked back and is pacy- so might be an option.

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Leeds and Saints are clearly on a par with each other, which in football means that the game could go either way. Its probable that Leeds will not go all season unbeaten at home, and Saints must be a strong candidate to be the first away side to get a win at Eland Road this season, simply because we are one of the best 3 or 4 sides in the division.

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I know from someone who was at the Leeds v Charlton game earlier in the season that Leeds can be pushed back and their attacking insticts curbed when they are up against a better team, that match was particularly dull by all accounts.

 

That said, they do have plenty of attacking options and whilst harding should take care of Gradel, I would prefer to see Thomas at RB to take care of Snodgrass as he is a little lightweight - time for us to kick someone out of the game. Also agree that Trotman should be at CB with Jaidi just to add some pace (rather than Perry).

 

Other than that, lets see what Leeds can do to stop us scoring!!

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I know from someone who was at the Leeds v Charlton game earlier in the season that Leeds can be pushed back and their attacking insticts curbed when they are up against a better team, that match was particularly dull by all accounts.

 

That said, they do have plenty of attacking options and whilst harding should take care of Gradel, I would prefer to see Thomas at RB to take care of Snodgrass as he is a little lightweight - time for us to kick someone out of the game. Also agree that Trotman should be at CB with Jaidi just to add some pace (rather than Perry).

 

Other than that, lets see what Leeds can do to stop us scoring!!

 

Perry has been a lot better than Jaidi since he came into the side, would be very harsh to drop him.

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First instinct would be to play Thomas at RB and James in front of him, however I think AP will prefer for us to play our own game. Also, if James is not up to the job against decent opposition, then it puts AP in a good place when asking for the money to replace him in January (although I actually think AP will be sticking with most of the current team as the spirit in the camp is clearly spot on right now and he will not want to disrupt that too much).

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Pardew knows his stongest side - which subject to Murty's injury is the side that played against Tranmere. If Murty plays, James would go back to midfield ahead of Antonio or Waigo. The 4-4-2 keeps the pressure on the opponents, especially with such a potent pair of strikers, so I do hope Pards is not tempted to go back to 4-5-1 because that would be at the expense of Connolly, who is just too good to leave out and will already have Leeds worried that they can't just concentrate on stopping Rickie.

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Pardew knows his stongest side - which subject to Murty's injury is the side that played against Tranmere. If Murty plays, James would go back to midfield ahead of Antonio or Waigo. The 4-4-2 keeps the pressure on the opponents, especially with such a potent pair of strikers, so I do hope Pards is not tempted to go back to 4-5-1 because that would be at the expense of Connolly, who is just too good to leave out and will already have Leeds worried that they can't just concentrate on stopping Rickie.

 

I'd probably go with 4-5-1 against Leeds.

 

Drop Connolly and Antonio with Mellis and Waigo coming in. Keep Antonio and Connolly for the last 30 minutes, bit harsh on Connolly who's been our best player over the last month or so but I think we need the extra man in midfield at Elland road.

 

If we go 4-4-2 then I think it's got to be a Thomas/James right hand side.

Edited by Andy_Porter
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I'm in two minds about whether Saints should play a full team on Tuesday tbh. I know it's Wembley as a win (prob against Leeds too) but I think there is a bigger picture (i.e. play-off spot in the League that would also get us to Wembley).

 

Edit: I don't give a toss about the JPT actually.

 

That's exactly how I would play this one, but I don't see it happening. One good thing is that Leeds had that cup replay against Kettering going to extra time, along with their JPT semi final against Accrington Stanley, also on Tuesday.

 

The game at Leeds could easily be 4-0 either way, but I would definitely back our forwards if we have a midfield turn up. As already stated, putting Thomas and James on the right makes a lot of sense, with the option of Waigo if required. My fear is for Hammond who gets through all the work in midfield. If he cannot put a shift in, I am not sure who will. I would rest Hammond for Tuesday, but pretty sure Pardew would not accept that consequence.

 

I could see us winning the Leeds game easily, but I expect we will have left that performance against Norwich and get cuffed at Leeds. Hopefully Leeds will be more knackered than us, but there is nothing like a home crowd to turn that around.

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I don't lack confidence but I think we've got to be careful about billing this as the "game of the season" so far. If we do that and end up losing it could dent confidence and create a dodgy streak. Let's take it as "just another game".

 

Having said that, based on what I've seen I'm in the camp that thinks we're better on the front foot. So I'd be tempted to have a go at them from the start, using right-side width to stretch their defence and to help negate the threat of Snodgrass. If he doesn't track back to help his defence they will be vulnerable, just as we are if James is left to fend for himself.

 

In truth I'd feel more confident about picking up three points if Murty was fit but we can still get a result there.

 

And with regard to the JPT I'm all for putting our best side out. Some experience of an important game at Wembley could come in very handy next May.

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