Verbal Kint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Our central midfield won't contribute goals as they're all the same sort of player. Some of our main issues right now: - Midfield is too much of the same. Players happy in possession but not risk takers - Lack of pace and direct running in between the lines. - The build up is too slow, which enables the opposition to get themselves set and defend the spaces. - No one taking risks, players too cautious (not just the CM's). Happy to play another pass rather than taking attacking responsibility themselves. I'd buy an attacking central midfield player and play one of those in midfield, someone who is happy to burst between the lines and take risks and gambles. The calls for a striker is obvious as we don't score goals, but that's not just because we're missing chances. It's more to it than just not having a 'striker'. We could do with a focal point though, someone who we can build the play around in the final third. I mean it's not all bad, as we're still top half, very good in defense, but you do pay to watch football and be entertained. We are so pointless to watch. the GD says it all really. Completely agree with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Same old story. Keep possesion and have no clue what to do with it. Only one team has scored less than us. Two wins from the last 8. God knows how we are 9th. We have some really difficult games coming up now so I suspect we won't be there for long. Unless we can start scoring goals of course. Koeman is that you ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 This for the last 2 summers has been my dream Same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 I am so frustrated with our non goal scoring midfield, a game like required Davis or JWP to push on with the ball into the box instead of us pushing it out wide and crossing it in. Just gonna put the stats of the last 3 full seasons here for both of them. [ATTACH=CONFIG]2263[/ATTACH] One of the reasons I'm surprised Boufal is playing out wide so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Why will the cherries rip us a new one by the way? Interested in why people think this. We're very good defensively and are clearly setup to nullify the opposition. Nothing this season has suggested anyone will rip us a new one, we just can't rip them a new one. Because they will go for it. We rarely keep a clean sheet and so boring going forward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lallana's Left Peg Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Simply not good enough, we lost points tonight for no reason. I just dont get it, does Puel know he's allowed to put on more then 3 attacking players on the pitch? Why not keep Redmond or Long on the pitch and substitute a defender or a defensive midfielder instead. Put at least some more players in the box and change something ffs... Again, i dont get it. Quite clearly the sub we were crying out for was Tadic for JWP or Davis but he just went like for like and the same end result happened on the pitch. They were poor subs because they were done for freshness rather than to address the pattern of the second half which had us pressing up the pitch and seeing plenty of the ball but having zero cohesion or cutting edge in the final third. I had at least hoped that with the team devoid of ideas we may have tried to use sheer brute force by having numbers in the box to score a goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Why will the cherries rip us a new one by the way? Interested in why people think this. We're very good defensively and are clearly setup to nullify the opposition. Nothing this season has suggested anyone will rip us a new one, we just can't rip them a new one. I do hope we've got a plan to counter Daniels ambling to the edge of our box before we close him down this time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxi_sopez Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 point is always a good away from home. but yes we desperately need a striker. Pelle is on holiday in Brazil, lets get him back asap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InvictaSaint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Our central midfield won't contribute goals as they're all the same sort of player. Some of our main issues right now: - Midfield is too much of the same. Players happy in possession but not risk takers - Lack of pace and direct running in between the lines. - The build up is too slow, which enables the opposition to get themselves set and defend the spaces. - No one taking risks, players too cautious (not just the CM's). Happy to play another pass rather than taking attacking responsibility themselves. I'd buy an attacking central midfield player and play one of those in midfield, someone who is happy to burst between the lines and take risks and gambles. The calls for a striker is obvious as we don't score goals, but that's not just because we're missing chances. It's more to it than just not having a 'striker'. We could do with a focal point though, someone who we can build the play around in the final third. I mean it's not all bad, as we're still top half, very good in defense, but you do pay to watch football and be entertained. We are so pointless to watch. the GD says it all really. About sums it up for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimatt Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Minutes played / goals this season in the PL & Europa Long - 803 mins / 0 goals Jay Rod - 435 mins / 2 goals Tadic - 1239 mins / 1 goal Redmond - 1720 mins / 3 goals Boufal - 430 mins / 1 goal JWP - 930 mins / 1 goal Davis - 1286 mins / 0 goals Hojbjerg - 1123 mins / 0 goals Clasie - 749 mins / 0 goals Romeu - 1840 mins / 0 goals Austin - 1078 mins / 8 goals No Austin, No Southampton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warsash saint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 We rarely keep a clean sheet and Really:mcinnes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintant Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 With a dour Frenchman as our coach trying to force his ridiculous formation on the players I guess nobody should be surprised that we don't entertain, we don't attack with any speed, movement or purpose and we certainly don't score many goals. Football is meant to be enjoyable but this bloke must be turning people off in droves. There will be those who are content with that as long as we retain a reasonable league position but for me our team must always go out and try to play entertaining football. This dull, insipid fare is just so uninspiring and I don't think Puel can set a team up to play any other way. He fools nobody with the sideways, backwards propaganda football which soon fizzles out through lack of movement and imagination as soon as we get anywhere near the opposition goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalek2003 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Why will the cherries rip us a new one by the way? Interested in why people think this. We're very good defensively and are clearly setup to nullify the opposition. Nothing this season has suggested anyone will rip us a new one, we just can't rip them a new one. 0-0 I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stknowle Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Why will the cherries rip us a new one by the way? Interested in why people think this. We're very good defensively and are clearly setup to nullify the opposition. Nothing this season has suggested anyone will rip us a new one, we just can't rip them a new one. Whilst we had to help them rip it, Palace did sort of rip us one a couple of weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delmary Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Lots of thinking to be done by Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graffito Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Because they will go for it. We rarely keep a clean sheet and so boring going forward 12 clean sheets in 25 matches so far this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
View From The Top Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Only a moron,of which there are many on here, blames the manager for tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 How can they be knackered? 8 games in 26 days or whatever it is but how many individual players have actually played 8 games in 26 days? None have played every match, that's absolutely not the point. Redmond has played 6, with 3 of them back to back. Romeu has played 6 too, 4 on the bounce in the last 11 days. How is he supposed to maintain his usual level doing that? There's a core of half a team playing twice a week repeatedly, usually against opponents with more recovery time. Relative to the opposition they're likely to be more tired and less fresh. Half of the team in every match. Add to that additional travel and other teams having more time to plan tactics, and we're fighting an uphill battle to be creative or fresh from the start. Even so, today we needed to do things more creatively, more quickly, and even just more randomly to make something unexpected happen - we've got predictable as well as over-committing to the possession stuff. It's not unique to Puel, we lost to Stoke 18 months ago when they just launched stuff and made things happen in the box. We need the unexpected as well as a system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Clarkey & Convict are talking about a Sigurdsson or Ziyech. Goal scoring AMC's. How we need someone to step up. My current thinking on new striker is a target man now. A focal point who can hold play up. I'm not surprised we didn't score tonight. Just disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Minutes played / goals this season in the PL & Europa Long - 803 mins / 0 goals Jay Rod - 435 mins / 2 goals Tadic - 1239 mins / 1 goal Redmond - 1720 mins / 3 goals Boufal - 430 mins / 1 goal JWP - 930 mins / 1 goal Davis - 1286 mins / 0 goals Hojbjerg - 1123 mins / 0 goals Clasie - 749 mins / 0 goals Romeu - 1840 mins / 0 goals Austin - 1078 mins / 8 goals No Austin, No Southampton. Any chance of sharing the minutes played by the Stoke players this season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 12 clean sheets in 25 matches so far this season. Indeed. Comical b011ocks from the bat there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Tony Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Great work by Puel to improve the defence. Only one goal conceded now in three games. Really impressive stuff. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Look forward to the shut out then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Saints Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 We have no style, we have no cutting edge, we have no pattern of play, we have no end product. Changes needed IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micky Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 As somebody who only followed the game on the match thread (and the last 15 mins on Sky), got to thank the usual suspects for the entertainment. If you actually go back and read the thread from the beginning, most were waxing lyrical about how well we were playing. Once the sending off happened it all changed - we were total sh yte apparently. But I suspect the truth is that Stoke decided to revert to plan B, and not lose the game - and it worked. Yes, I can understand people getting frustrated about that, but in reality Stoke are a difficult team to break down these days anyway. I would have snapped your arm off for a point here before the game and so, yeah I'm a little disappointed, but hey ho, anything away from home is welcome. I guess it's all about expectations really, and mine were that we would not exceed last years points total, wouldn't win any cups, but would be about mid table - so we'er on track for that. And, for anybody who thinks that these are low expectations, then we can't be expected to better league position year upon year - it just isn't viable. (Leicester is a one off, a once in every 50 year happening). Do we need a striker - yep we do. Getting one in January though, is a whole new ball game. Nobody is going to sell you their proven '20 premier league goals a season' man, and we won't be the only club that is looking for that man. Anyway - as I said - it's about expectations really, in perspective, we are one point better off than we were yesterday. I'm fully behind Les, think he's done a great job over the course of his tenure, and I'm all for giving Claud Puel at least to the end of the season. If he takes us down (which he won't) then I wouldn't be surprised to see him go - but otherwise - give the guy some time. Anyway, once again - many thanks to the wristslitters that made the match thread so enjoyable - stay well away from the itchen bridge tonight lads - tomorrows another game. Onwards and upwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Because they will go for it. We rarely keep a clean sheet and so boring going forward Define rarely. In other news, we have third best goals against record in the division. And keep loads of clean sheets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Only a moron,of which there are many on here, blames the manager for tonight. Was this not the same toothless attacking we've seen against all sorts of opposition and with all sorts of different players on the pitch? Players will always bear some responsibility but I struggle to see what other common thread you see between these performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlesaint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Bournemouth will not take us to the cleaners, let's be honest, they only need score one and we are struggling to get a draw. If they score two we are ****ed and Eddie can tell them to conserve their energy for the Christmas period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graffito Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 A good away point at Stoke and we'll still be last on MoTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Because they will go for it. We rarely keep a clean sheet and so boring going forward Lol we have the most clean sheets in the PL bar Chelsea ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Are you two aware we are 9th? 2 points away from 7th. (what do you actually gain from posting endless drivel like this for the last 10 years?) 7.3/10 Bonus points for the graphics, even if somewhat derivative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintBobby Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 God, we're boring. Exceptional defensive record, but hell's teeth we need some new options up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Another frustrating game. Its clear we struggle to breakdown teams that park the bus (and, yes, I accept that we sometimes struggle to score against teams that don't too!) but I said to my son after the sending off: "Now watch Stoke sit back and resolutely play for a point" and so it came to pass. Looking at the positives... we're still in the top half of the table and within spitting distance of the top third. And we're now only 3 points away from our 20 game total of last season with 4 games in hand. We're perhaps one shrewd January striker signing away from keeping on track with last season's progress (or one of our existing strikers returning to form!) Still too early to judge how successful this season will be compared to previous seasons, but the increasing levels of frustration amongst fans about our style of play is understandable. I'm still maintaining a positive frame of mind but the next month or so could test my resolve somewhat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corky morris Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Just in from the game. Sending off looked nasty, but we were a long way from it. Clearly changed the game & we were pretty predictable thereafter. There were some really poor performances. Redmond, Ward Prowse, Tadic, Jay Rod & Long in particular. Redmond is so easy to defend against. Simply show him left because all he can do is stand on that leg. Ward Prowse free kick was embarrassing. Long looks short of confidence. I was supporting Jay Rod on Sunday, but the miss tonight was awful. Long wouldn't have got there, but it was easier to score. As soon as he missed the whole teams heads went down. Getting fed up saying this, but we move the ball to slowly to hurt anyone. Corners were total rubbish. Special mention for the referee who decided to not award anything to us after the sending off. How Ward Prowse got booked for boot up when Whelans head was a foot off the ground was beyond me. Stoke did what they had too. Got bodies behind the ball & wasted as much time as possible. Pretty niggly nasty team as ever. Joe Allen dived at every opportunity too. Very disappointing & starting to get worried about Mr Puel & his tactics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 I thought it was a decent game and an improvement on some of our performances lately. We just need to be a bit braver and stop swinging the ball in. We have Tadic, Boufal, Redmond and Bertrand all capable of making low passes to players making runs into the box. Trouble is, JWP and Davis don't believe they will score and wont make those runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suewhistle Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Claude will be delighted - He patently won't be. From what I saw he was hopping mad on the touchline. Boufal and Bertrand played pretty well, although the former should have shot when he had the chance. Martina just slows everything down with the odd half decent cross. Romeu will benefit from his enforced rest on Sunday, and Davis could do with one as well: some awful passes and crosses which is most unlike him. I can see why Tadic was brought on, to use his trickery and quick feet against a tight Stoke defence, but nothing was going right today. From early promise it turned out dire. Incidentally, all the Stoke players seem to have massive torsos: do they select them on that basis? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Just home from the game. Positives first: we retained the ball well and recovered it when we lost it. Defence, except for Martina looked as solid as ever. Boufal good at times. Sam McQueen showed the missing urgency when he came on (20 mins too late) Negatives: same old story. 71% possession, 15 shots but only 4 on target. Martina stops everything dead in its tracks. Too predictable, no sharp movement around the box. And when we get one clear chance, JRod shows that he's perfected the art of missing from 1 yard out. Redmond can look briefly impressive, then lacks a constructive pass or shot. Movement very poor too. Long had a disappointing game - but he needs space to run into and there wasn't any. I think part of the problem springs from rotation, with too many different combinations in attack not really getting to understand and anticipate each other. I'd have taken a point before kick off, but it feels like two dropped now. Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Christ we are dull, we've quickly gone from being one of the leagues more exciting teams to the dullest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Just home from the game. Positives first: we retained the ball well and recovered it when we lost it. Defence, except for Martina looked as solid as ever. Boufal good at times. Sam McQueen showed the missing urgency when he came on (20 mins too late) Negatives: same old story. 71% possession, 15 shots but only 4 on target. Martina stops everything dead in its tracks. Too predictable, no sharp movement around the box. And when we get one clear chance, JRod shows that he's perfected the art of missing from 1 yard out. Redmond can look briefly impressive, then lacks a constructive pass or shot. Movement very poor too. Long had a disappointing game - but he needs space to run into and there wasn't any. I think part of the problem springs from rotation, with too many different combinations in attack not really getting to understand and anticipate each other. I'd have taken a point before kick off, but it feels like two dropped now. Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk This sums it up perfectly for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austsaint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Frustrating night with the Boufal cross to J-Rod's missing left foot the critical moment - perhaps SB should have tucked it away himself. I found the central midfield set-up confusing tonight. Davis had a poor game; he seemed to be set up deeper tonight than normal, meaning the box-to-box runs he often makes were missing. JWP's brief seemed to be in a more advanced forward role; what we saw from him was no running with the ball, rather safe passes and then a run into the box as a de-facto centre forward or inside right!! I'm wondering why Hojbjerg wasn't given that role tonight - and Clasie who played so well on Sunday didn't get a look in either. Boufal and Bertrand were very good again and clearly our defence was rarely troubled. Ironically if Stoke had played all night with 11 we may have got the result. Long, Redmond and J-Rod all off the pace tonight - where has Sims got to? I'd like to see Reed, Hojbjerg and Clasie get the midfield spots v Bournmouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lickierambert Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 We are officially the most boring team to watch in Europe's top 5 leagues. Our game average of 1.89 is the lowest anywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfahaji Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Same. Whenever I see Gylfi Sigurdsson play I wonder if he's ever been a consideration. Realise he might not be available or affordable, but strikes me as the perfect example of the sort of player we need. And have needed for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunnery Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 Puel is a **** and the cherries will rip us a new one at the weekend So painful to watch now. Well done lesSpoken like a coward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunnery Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 What I don't get is why the forum 'Circle of Bellends' keep blaming our performances on Claude Puel being apparently 'dour' and 'boring' What the actual fück has his manner in interviews got to do with anything!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 14 December, 2016 Share Posted 14 December, 2016 There were plenty of Poch and Koeman performances with no cutting edge, no plan B etc. The same ones complaining now were complaining then. Pelle, Mane, Lallana and Wanyama used to get pilloried on here but are now heroes. I think we showed enough tonight that we are essentially a good team and not that far off clicking. I think JRod will come good again and we will become more effective. Boufal looked excellent, very excited to see him at Saints. We just seem to lack that bit of belief and try to do too much, to force a cross, pass or shot. Hopefully we can score early on Sunday and start believing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanghai Saint Posted 15 December, 2016 Share Posted 15 December, 2016 Slow, blunt, lacking conviction or plan and predictable. Tonight was a new low and bringing on like for like subs displayed a lack of ideas even from the coach. I don't see any improvement as players clearly do not buy into the system being promoted. Long and JRod have been and can still be capable strikers in the league but not under this manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 15 December, 2016 Share Posted 15 December, 2016 Clarkey & Convict are talking about a Sigurdsson or Ziyech. Goal scoring AMC's. How we need someone to step up. My current thinking on new striker is a target man now. A focal point who can hold play up. I'm not surprised we didn't score tonight. Just disappointed. What good would that do? A target man to hold the ball up for the rest of our team...who can't score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted 15 December, 2016 Share Posted 15 December, 2016 Leicester have got a lot to answer for. We're not a top 6 side, and never will be. 7th is our goal, and as we near half way through the season we're only 2 points shy of that. Sure, our entertainment value is below par at the moment, but one thing is for certain and that is that we aren't going to buy a solution to that in January. There is no club out there just sitting waiting to sell us their top-notch premier league standard striker in January. We have proven premier league strikers, but they are woefully off form at the moment. The answer is to get them scoring again. I have no clue how to do that, but I'm not a top notch football manager earning £3million a year. With a bit of patience we will get past this blockage, and we still have a pretty good shot at Europa League football again next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted 15 December, 2016 Share Posted 15 December, 2016 Minutes played / goals this season in the PL & Europa Long - 803 mins / 0 goals Jay Rod - 435 mins / 2 goals Tadic - 1239 mins / 1 goal Redmond - 1720 mins / 3 goals Boufal - 430 mins / 1 goal JWP - 930 mins / 1 goal Davis - 1286 mins / 0 goals Hojbjerg - 1123 mins / 0 goals Clasie - 749 mins / 0 goals Romeu - 1840 mins / 0 goals Austin - 1078 mins / 8 goals No Austin, No Southampton. These stats hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobes8 Posted 15 December, 2016 Share Posted 15 December, 2016 We ARE currently dull and boring, irrespective of league position. It's almost certainly because the players are knackered, but even so. Maybe you can explain the relevance of league position to entertainment value? Football is an entertainment business and we don't entertain. Boring, bloody boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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