Match Day Thread Saints v Burnley, Saturday 23rd October, 3pm

Tino was such a big threat in the first half, that it forced Dyche to deal with it at half-time, by moving McNeil to the other side. This nullified Tino to an extent, and had an impact on our game. Burnley started to get the upper hand in the second half, which shows that Dyche's game-management was on point. Ralph did nothing to counter this unfortunately. Would have been the perfect time to introduce KWP and push Tino up, as Dyche would have needed another re-shuffle. It could be that other managers start to focus on subduing Tino, so having the flexibility of moving him around would be beneficial.

 

Tino reminds me of another full back we used to have who also liked surging runs. Eventually Spurs converted him to a winger role and he never looked back. I wonder if Tino can take free kicks as well...?

 

Londoners? Or somewhere else in the Home Counties?

 

I'm a huge Redmond critic normally, and yet even I accept that he's easily been one of our best players over the last two games.

But at the same time, I still don't see him as a goalscorer. It's rarely ideal to have a forward who isn't a goalscorer - but particularly so with us, when our midfield contributes so few goals from open play. Only really Stu I would suggest scores an acceptable amount. So if Redmond playing means that AA misses out (I'm not fussed about Che or Long missing out), I do see that as an issue. We surely can't rely on Broja to replicate Ings by doing most of the open play scoring by himself?

Ideally, Ralph needs to find a way of unlocking Redmond's ability when playing as an attacking midfielder. If Redmond could reproduce his last two games from a deeper position, that's ideal. That's Redmond becoming a guaranteed starter and one of our most important players. A match fit Stu, and a Redmond from the last two games, playing behind Broja and AA? Yes please.

Alternatively, a change of formation may be needed. Maybe 4-3-3 (possibly using Stu as one of the middle three). Maybe 3-4-3 (possibly with Tino and Perraud pushed forward). Just something which allows us to select two goalscorers, whilst largely retaining Redmond down the middle.

 

Yep I think the Redders has been pretty good lately and he gets the occasional goal and assist but surely we can't start him, Mo El and Theo together in the front four again as their overall PL goals/assists history for us is poor. Stuey HAS to start now and I would like to see AA combined with Broja who looks like he can set up goals as well as scoring them.

 

That last bit in particular I agree with. Early days, but Broja really does look like someone who could set goals up. But that's only really of use if he has someone to set them up for.