Saints 1-0 Sheff Utd - Match Thread

[Miltonaggro]

13 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Harwood-Bellis looked much more assured tonight. He looks so much more comfortable in a four. 

Absolutely this. Looked a different side. 

[tdmickey3]

2 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

Absolutely this. Looked a different side. 

Yep, shame it wont be the same at weekend

[coalman]

8 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Yep, shame it wont be the same at weekend

At some point Tonda has to be practical about demands on his players. He's not going to be about to play the high octane style he wants every game due to the frequency of fixtures and sometimes, like last night, he's going to have to rotate some of the lesser squad members to make sure his core team are ready for the big games and hope he gets lucky. It's what all the truly great managers do and you could argue that his consistency in both playing style and personnel has been a key part of our results over the last couple of months.

[SaintsRoyalty]

Still think we need to replace him asap with an experienced manager but he has a point about us creating enough chances. Ok Sheffield United were poor but we could have had 6 goals last night if our players actually decided to shoot or could strike a ball semi well. Fellows might be the worst shooter I’ve seen at the club and that’s saying something. 
 

If we could get someone in who can at least strike a ball or have some instinct in the box we might make the play offs. The issue is average joes like Sesko and Gyokeres are going for £50m nowadays when usually they would go to a team like us first. If we can’t find anyone I still think Gabbiadini would be a great pick up on a free. We shouldn’t let the horror show which has been Romeu’s return cloud our judgement. You need legs in central midfield in this country, being in the right place at the right time is an art which he has.

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

 

I’m not dying on any hill. I think there are obvious tactical benefits for different formations but I’d much rather we as a team, squad, club address some of the underlying issues that it’s faced for a while now. We defended in a four two years ago and conceded lots. It’s not the formation that is making us give away silly goals. It’s not the formation that has us as a really wasteful team. 

Yes, we missed chances yesterday. We missed chances Saturday. We missed chances against Boro. We also gave away silly goals and will give away silly goals in a 4 too. 

It’s not a hill I’m dying on, it’s just pointing out the underlying issues will raise its head in whatever formation we like eventually. But if we have to go through more managers, systems and styles to eventually get there then at least I can continue to be so popular on here 😂

for me playing a 4 we dont play it along the back so much, this is the area where we make crucial mistakes due to the lack of ability

[CB Fry]

11 minutes ago, OldNick said:

for me playing a 4 we dont play it along the back so much, this is the area where we make crucial mistakes due to the lack of ability

Fabrice's point is we played in a four under Martin in the Championship, played it around at the back and conceded loads of goals, far too many to viably finish top 2.

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

I don’t actually disagree (the first bit, the natural death stuff happens to all tactics whether ‘hipster’ or not). Naturally having a player at the back to pass to rather than elsewhere will encourage passing it at the back and so okay, you change that and that option goes.

But would also point out that not having the smallest attack in the league is probably helpful in not passing backwards. Everything has to be so precise without someone to aim for and get us out of trouble. Player profiles on the pitch are more important imo. I’m sure we’ll play a four at some stage with Armstrong starting and find ourselves having little to pass to again and recycling possession. It’s why we should be so desperate to recruit a bigger striker. 

This is a good point & I strongly agree. 
 

But it doesn’t mean the formation had no impact. It also helped. Both things are true.  

[Miltonaggro]

18 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Still think we need to replace him asap with an experienced manager but he has a point about us creating enough chances. Ok Sheffield United were poor but we could have had 6 goals last night if our players actually decided to shoot or could strike a ball semi well. Fellows might be the worst shooter I’ve seen at the club and that’s saying something. 
 

If we could get someone in who can at least strike a ball or have some instinct in the box we might make the play offs. The issue is average joes like Sesko and Gyokeres are going for £50m nowadays when usually they would go to a team like us first. If we can’t find anyone I still think Gabbiadini would be a great pick up on a free. We shouldn’t let the horror show which has been Romeu’s return cloud our judgement. You need legs in central midfield in this country, being in the right place at the right time is an art which he has.

We do need to bring in / loan in a big mobile forward who can finish by close of this window. I was saying to my nipper last night, watch Stewart’s positioning when anticipating the ball, he was playing off the shoulder of defenders, looking to run through on slips. You could see if the ball fell to his feet he would shoot on target in his stride. We have missed this piece of the puzzle so much. 

[lambtiss]

5 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Fabrice's point is we played in a four under Martin in the Championship, played it around at the back and conceded loads of goals, far too many to viably finish top 2.

Totally unsupported by facts. The great unbeaten run we went on in the championship was with a CB pairing of Bednarek and THB.

Results started to deteriorate when Captain Jack returned to the fold and RM tried to Shoehorn him back into the team. 

Still, don't let facts get in the way of a story. 

Edited 9 minutes ago by lambtiss