26 Dec 2019 22:03:24
I'll keep on banging this drum!
We were one nill, then two nill, down for a while today. For the whole of that time we had two naturally deep lying midfielders on the pitch - no wonder we lacked creativity.
We need to take more chances!
26 Dec 2019 22:11:47
We started with 5 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders at home v bottom 4 team . but shhhhh don’t be negative frank got it right.
26 Dec 2019 22:16:08
There were so many issues all over the pitch J. Disappointed we lost so many 50/ 50 challenges, disappointed NO midfield player supported Tammy.
I am a great admirer of Dave but he can’t cross and Emerson today wasn’t much better.
We are still in fourth so let’s try and be positive but we were second best today and that’s not good enough!
26 Dec 2019 22:31:15
100% agree Matt. I had a feeling Lamps would pick a similar setup to the one that beat Spurs. Unfortunately for Frank he may have mistakened Southampton for Barcelona today.
Putting thenjokes aside and on a serious note, the lineup up was poor. 5 defenders, 2 deep lying mids, out of form CHO and Willian/ Abraham was a tough ask breaking down 2 Southampton buses.
26 Dec 2019 23:48:10
Werner is a must, can play wide, up top alone and in a two, gives us so many options, Tammy w/ Werner them two would cause problems, sancho is a 1 v 1 specialist and has end product, these two would cost a fortune but it’s the step up in quality we need, add James who can deliver a range of crosses ( our own TAA ) and when we have teams camped in there half waiting to counter we can get and this wouldn’t be a sacrifice to youngster but a Pedro / Giroud / replacements,
27 Dec 2019 12:21:58
As a whole Tom I'll be very positive about this season, i'd have bitten your hand off for fourth at this point of the season.
But there simply wasn't a single positive from yesterday's performance. It's therefore very difficult to mention it without being negative.
I didn't mind the 3-4-3, I wanted us to be set up that way. But James is injured, and Azpilicueta is not an attacking wing-back, plus Emerson was just woeful. Alonso, who was also injured, and James may have made a big difference.
I also didn't mind that Hudson-Odoi got a start, he needed it and on paper this was the perfect opportunity. But him, Willian and Abraham were all isolated too often when they had the ball. This improved in the second half when Mount came on. But when we did change formation, we reverted to a formation that hadn't been able to break down West Ham, Bournemouth or Everton during recent, similar, losses. We needed another advanced player with the skill to break them down - Kante and Jorginho offered nothing in this department.
Like I say, as a whole the season has been positive, but it was poor yesterday; from both those in the dugout and those on the pitch. There's no point in looking at it any other way.