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Comment | Pelle Not Scoring But Still In Form
at 02:52:59
I have to disagree. He is definitely not on form. I feel he looks jaded. If we had another centre forward, i think he would be given some rest. Obviously we do not have other options, so hopefully the 2 weeks break from the last match will spark him back into form.
Our squad definitely looks short on numbers in certain positions |
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Comment | Saints At Burnley The Verdict
at 03:29:11
At the end of the day we are just not good enough. The only important stats is how many you score and how many you concede. 2 goals in the last 5 games yield only 1 point. We need a lot more players to be able to compete with the top 4 |
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Comment | Hodgson Should Send Out Right Message And Play Clyne
at 03:02:03
Unfortunately the selection is based on the players that Roy Hodgson knows and not the players that are truly on better form.
With all respect to Rickie Lambert, Theo Walcott and Andros Townsend, they have barely played recently and they are all selected. They are certainly in based on past merits rather than current form, so if Chambers once again starts in front of Clyne |
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Comment | Saints Lack Cutting Edge Says Pochettino
at 03:58:25
For guys who think there is no such thing as a plan B, just look at Arsenal in the FA Cup. They were struggling until they decided to throw in another striker and use Mertesacker, Sanogo and Giroud's height. Imagine a team like Arsenal resorting to a plan B by playing long and high balls which is against Wenger's way of playing, why wouldnt our team need a plan B? Seriously we need to learn to win ugly. We have to learn to win when we are behind. It shows the inability to overturn games.
The 2nd half of the season shows more teams able to adapt to our pressing tactic by playing counter pressing, by exploiting the gaps in the flank etc. We must learn to counter against others. The biggest problem i have is that we use the same tactic against everyone and it does not work. When it does not work, Mopo cant turn it around once we are down.
I have mentioned numerous times that we are not creating enough or scoring enough for our possession even during our good run. Our defense was the real reason for our good run |
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Comment | 17 Games ! 17 Points !
at 03:03:17
Great article, we would have been in the relegation mix if not for our first 11 matches. We are definitely not as good as we think. Possession makes us think we control the match but we are merely passing the ball near the halfway line or outside the penalty box. The game has evolved so much that lots of team simply play on the counter and we are very susceptible to the counter due to our high line.
Pace is a very necessary weapon to open up defence. Nowadays our main attacking thread is usually from the overlapping run of Shaw.
MP is a 1 trick pony just like Southampton is a 1 tactic team as well. Did we alter anything tactically the whole season? |
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Comment | Saints Top Ten Credentials Strengthened
at 04:25:17
Top 10 was probably a great target before the start of the season. Now it feels like an opportunity lost since we had our best start to the season in our history. We finish 2nd for our previous best start.
I just hope we get better next season and not slump like Swansea although Swansea's slump could be due to their Europa League commitments |
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Comment | Saints At West Ham The Verdict
at 03:28:02
This has been the trend the whole season. I mentioned this even during our good run at the start of the season. We got more positive results then because of our stringent defense but we have never been able to really score freely.
The worse part is teams are starting to adapt to our tactics by parking the bus and then hit on the counter attack down the flank. That is the reason our away records are almost as good as our home records in terms of wins and draws. We play better when the teams open up but struggle when they play defensively. That is the reason why we need a plan B to change when the tactic failed. Chelsea beats us twice when they swapped tactics at half time. This is the importance of a good manager who can change when necessary. Our plan B currently is swapping out Jack Cork for Gaston Ramirez. Has it paid dividend so far? No, the results remained the same. This is the same reason why we never beat any team when we fall behind. We struggle to score goals and create clear cutting chances when the opponent plays deep.
5 shots on target out of 25 shows some poor shooting. I am actually sick of the manager coming out to say we deserve to win or we should have won. The fact is we did not deserve anything if we do not score more than the opponent. Possession, shots on goals are meaningless stats compared to goals score and concede. We have to be more clinical and we need a new striker. This formation does not suit Rickie Lambert that well as he is being forced to play like a right attacking midfielder. He can cross and pass well but does not have the pace to be truly effective. His movement to the right means there is not enough bodies in the box to take advantage of any chance in the box
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Comment | Saints V Stoke City The Verdict
at 03:27:19
The first goal was mainly due to the our high defensive line that we like to play. We will always have problem with a very fast attacker who can beat the offside trap. It is difficult to rectify unless we have a very fast GK or a very fast centrebacks. This is a flaw in the formation and system that we play
I am more concerned about the 2nd goal which could have been prevented if we defend better.
As shown in many matches this season, having more possession and more shots on goal does not mean for anything unless we got a positive result to match it. A draw against Stoke at home is definitely not positive. We need to learn to attack faster with more pace and penetration. We tend to hold possession for too long and the defense tends to get packed before we can do create a chance
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Comment | Saints At Sunderland The Preview
at 01:46:27
I hope we can get a good result and use it as a good statement that everything is still fine at the club. We have to hinge on last week's win to start another unbeaten run to have a real chance to climb up the table |
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Comment | Cortese Has Gone
at 03:35:32
I hope this is not the start to instability that has been plaguing the club before the Liebherr era. We shall see how MP reacts to this. |
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Comment | Saints V West Bromwich Albion The Preview
at 02:31:24
I think there is no reason not to go for a win today. Regardless of whatever reasons or excuses we had during our poor run, it should stop today. If MP thinks the squad is fine, then we shall respect his decision and hope the decision will not come back to haunt him. Lets hope we can finish as high as possible and the rot must stop with this game. |
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Comment | Crunch Time And Something Has To Change
at 08:59:08
131153, I understand your point. The biggest problem is that MoPo thinks the squad is fine and does not need reinforcement.I hope he is just saying for the sake of news reporting but all the comments in the past month says he is happy with the squad. That is the worrying part for me.
I actually find it a surprise that he did not add some players from Spainish La Liga in the last transfer window. I would have thought we would have a few Spanish player like what Swansea has done. |
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Comment | Crunch Time And Something Has To Change
at 03:17:19
It is easy to blame on injuries, a tough run of fixture etc but do remember that MoPo has a summer to change or add in to the squad. We have all seen how Fox, Hooiveld, Gazza, Kelvin Davis perform last season. None of us was convinced that they were Premier League standard and yet they are still here, so the problem with the depth of the squad was never solved. MoPo still believes the squad is fine and this is my biggest fear. I hope he is right although results recently have proven him wrong. Reasons why Newcastle & Everton are above us is because they handle the tough fixtures better than us. Their results against the top 6 teams are better than ours, so we are behind them.
Our tactics require the fullbacks to become more like wingbacks and overlap once we have possession. Chambers is not as good as Clyne or Shaw in the attacking aspect.
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Comment | Time To Put Out A Full Side In The FA Cup
at 09:47:13
Agreed. We must take this opportunity to get some goals, get a clean sheet and most importantly get our form and confidence back. We should put out a strong team as we will be back to playing just 1 game per week. We need to get back our form and confidence if we hope to climb higher in the league. |
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Comment | Saints V Chelsea The Verdict
at 02:26:48
I hate to say this but Southampton and MoPo are simply 1 trick ponies. Playing a high defensive line with all pressing allows players who are fast and skilful to break easily with a good long ball. The problem is Chelsea has many fast and skilful players and they break many times. This is a tactic that will always cause problems for us because of the way we play and the players we have.
When we attack, we attack with both fullbacks in advance positions leaving a defensive midfielder to guard the 2 centrebacks. The problem is all 3 of them are not pacey enough to track back. This is in fact similar to Spurs who uses Lloris as a sweeper GK to try to sweep the balls that come through. Kelvin Davis managed 1 fine block from Ramires when he had to come out to sweep. We collapse spectacularly when the defensive midfielder in the formation Cork was substituted. I think MoPo is out of tricks because this is his way of responding when we go behind. Did it work in our last few matches when Cork play? No, it usually mean we will end up conceding more and the opponent has more space and time in our half. |
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Comment | Saints At Cardiff The Verdict
at 01:34:58
I think it make a huge difference having Shaw in place of Fox and Yoshida in place of Hooiveld. Shaw offers a lot more pace and that made a lot of difference in both attack and defence. Yoshida was overall better defensive wise with more pace and better awareness. This is by far Gazza's best performance so far and we need him to keep it up before Boruc comes back.
We need to keep up the performance and get a result against Everton to maintain and keep up our position. Schneiderlin is suspended for Everton. |
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Comment | Saints At Cardiff The Preview
at 03:49:29
To put it simply, we are in more of a misery and crisis than Totteham. Our last 6 game form is probably the worst in the premier league. I hope we go for a win at Cardiff to stop the rot as the games after that is against Everton and Chelsea which is even tougher (no offense to Cardiff).
I hope MoPo changes his mind when he said the squad is fine. The last 6 games has proven the squad is not fine. Lets move on from good and bad signings, who sign them etc. Stop blaming on injuries as MoPo is the one who confirm the squad. He is the one who oversees the squad during the transfer window. He is also the one who believes Fox, Hooiveld, Gazza are all good enough despite last seasons' performance. MoPo is responsible for this slump just as he takes credit for our good run. I am not advocating for any change in management but i hope he takes a good hard look at the squad and get the necessary replacements in the coming Jan transfer window.
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Comment | Out Of Their Depth ?
at 05:15:12
I dont think we have any chance of a top 6 finish. Realistically speaking, our chance for that is gone in the current torrid 6 game run. Seeing the quality and the depth of the top 8 teams, we are quite far behind. Considering our current form compared to the top 8 teams, we are far worse. We should be looking over our shoulders and worry about top 10 position as other teams gain points and close in on our position.
Lets be honest and stop talking about positions in top 6 etc. We should be looking for a win to stop the rot at Cardiff. That is far more important |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | -1 | | Comment Votes: | 7 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 6 |
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