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Saints At Arsenal The Preview
Friday, 22nd Nov 2019 13:59

Can we win at rsenal ? Can we even get a draw ? hopefully they will be ranting on Arsenalfanstv about this one at 5pm on Saturday !

As I have mentioned earlier in the week Ralph Hasenhuttle needs to get back to basics on this one, with a squad low on confidence, organisation and leadership on the pitch, he needs to play in a formation where all those playing understand it and know their job in it.

Too often this season that has not been the case and even though the last three games have seen better defending we still conceded 7 goals and virtually all of them should not have been conceded.

For me this means playing a 4-4-2 formation and Ralh selecting those that have done it for him before and not those that have continually let him down this season.

I would stick with Alex McCarthy in goal and play a back four of Valery, Bednarek Danso & Bertrand.

I am not sure what Valery has done to annoy Ralph, but he is still the best option we have in this position as is Jan Bednarek at centre half and likewise Ryan Bertrand at right back.

I would partner Bednarek with Kevin Danso if for the only reason is we have never played him in his true position and given how badly Vestergaard, Stephens & Yoshida have fared, then we have nothing to lose by trying him there, yes he might be as bad as the other three, but you never know it might just work.

In midfield I would have the pace of Redmond & Djenepo on the flanks with a central two of Hojbjerg and Romeu to graft.

Up front Danny Ings may get some stick by some but he has the knack for scoring goals eve when he is completely isolated as he has been in some of the games he has scored in, don't underestimate either this skill or whatever else he has in his armoury.

That leaves one remaining position, I know I said 4-4-2 but in this final position we can be flexible, we could play James Ward Prowse to sit in front of the defence and try to get the ball and get it out wide or play in Ings or we could play a second striker.

If we did this then Shane Long could offer battle and the ability to hold the ball up and draw fouls to create set pieces or Che Adams could offer pace and running,.

Either of these three options could work, but just as much they could all be spoiled by some poor defending and this has been our downfall, I am not saying we would be challenging the top six, but without the atrocious marking in the centre of our defence we would certainly be well clear of the bottom three.

Putting it in perspective good defences can hold up good sides and win them games, in contrast a poor defence can cost good sides vital points.

The answer to our plight is simple, stop conceding goals though poor marking both from set pieces and from the break then we will pull out of trouble, don't do that and we are doomed, there is still a long way to go this season and survival won't be achieved by beating Arsenal it will be by beating the sides down there with us.

This is far from being a free hit, the fact that we have got only 1 point in our last 7 games takes that away, but if we lose it is far from the end, the season has to be kick started and Watford at home is the one that matters, that is the one when everyone needs to be kicking in the right direction, fans players, manager and the board.

Arsenal by their standards are in disarray, but for them that means being sixth in the League and that tells us a lot about what the Premier League has become.

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HythePeer added 15:07 - Nov 22
0

davidargyll added 16:48 - Nov 22
All very well put Nick, but reading between the lines I think you are desperately trying to say deep down that RH is not up to the job.
What do I base that on?
“...Ralph Hasenhuttle needs to get back to basics“
“...needs to play in a formation where all those playing understand it and know their job in it.“
“...selecting those that have done it for him before and not those that have continually let him down this season.”
“...atrocious marking in the centre of our defence...”
“...stop conceding goals though poor marking both from set pieces and from the break“.
But hang on, he’s now been with us a year and here we have the author of a Supporters blog telling him how to do his job!!! Really????
Come on for Christ’s sake. Either he’s spent the last year conducting one huge experiment and he is finally going to show us his cunning master plan.
Or...
He is utterly clueless..
No points for guessing what I - and I reckon most if not all on here AND YOU (!) - think.
Let’s face it, we are going to have to be very lucky to get more than a couple of points in the next week, and then what will you say? We’ve got a couple more points, the positives are great, we are on our way blah blah blah. Seriously?
ADMIT IT PURL-EASE, RH IS OUT OF HIS DEPTH. HE IS NOT THE MANAGER TO GET US OUT OF THIS HOLE. GET OFF THE FENCE NICK AND TELL HIM THAT HE HAS TO GO.
2

vanmans added 17:12 - Nov 22
Nick I like your team until you say we could play James Ward Prowse. Why would anyone want to play Prowse he is not good enough for the Premier League. Boufal would be much better.
5

1970 added 17:16 - Nov 22
If they get an early goal then we're f***ed especially if ralph plays people out of position the longer it goes without a home goal the fans will be fuming,
Arsenal are beatable unfortunately so are we so fingers crossed coyr.
1

Saintsforeverj added 18:37 - Nov 22
https://www.independent.co.uk/
Chaos caused by Gao confusion - surely not?
-1

TimSaint added 23:59 - Nov 22
Don't you think that Danso would have started at CB by now, had he shown something in training to warrant his selection ? Let's be honest, if he can't perform well in training, against the likes of our underperforming strike force, then he doesn't deserve to be picked. To say he should be selected because the others are poor is not a valid reason, as we don't know how he compares to them in training.
1

the_saint added 09:26 - Nov 23
What about giving bertie or romeu or hojberg a go there we have nothing to lose and maybe we may stumble on something and it's not like hasenhuttl doesn't like playing people out of position maybe just one last experiment
-1

the_saint added 09:28 - Nov 23
Saints 1-0 up ings
-1

the_saint added 09:29 - Nov 23
Get in there 2_0 readers
-1

the_saint added 09:30 - Nov 23
Oh my god che Adam's has just made it 3-0
-1

the_saint added 09:31 - Nov 23
😴😳 damn wife why you wake me 😥😥😥
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