How long should Ron get to turn things around?

The comment regarding race is very odd. I genuinely don't think that posters on here consider for one moment the colour of one of our players. Davis is not a flair player but he has a great work rate. Vic is normally so solid that I am used to opponents bouncing off him. Neither player is firing on all cylinders at the moment. Gaston is reputed to be a quality player but three saints managers didn't feel him worthy of a regular start- I don't speculate why. How is Bertrand playing? is it great? Does his colour have anything to do with that perception? I suggest that we leave that aspect here, or else this thread will get derailed.

 

I would be more down with this idea if it were not the fact that you want to play two holding mids. You want two guys who primarily tackle and play safe sideways passes. Then you want four guys hanging about the penalty box to poach goals or find gaps between defenders. There's a lot of space in between.

To me, there has to be a player charged with the task of bridging the defense and the offense. If we were to play a more mobile, less defense-oriented midfielder somewhere, then Davis's water-carrying services would not be as necessary and we could add a more creative player. But if you commit to two holding mids, then the other midfielder has to be a ball-mover/ball-retainer.

 

Davis is an automatic starter but he isn't good enough to be that in a top 10 side

He is neat and tidy, he battles well but his shooting is atrocious. 7 out of 10 type player.

 

Agreed.

 

Not sure I agree with the top ten stuff.

For two seasons in a row we have been top ten and Davis started nearly every game during this time...

 

Yeah but for those two seasons I would say we were built mainly on a sturdy defense. To me, an automatic starter is someone who is among the first four or five names on the teamsheet and you are perfectly happy with them. And for me that was always our back four, Schneiderlin, and Wanyama.

We made do with Davis as a starter and he didn't embarrass himself or anything, but that was an area that to me we needed to improve. At times, Lallana, Rodriguez, Mane, Tadic and to some extent Pelle and Davis have all looked good. But in general we've always been on the lookout for strikers, wingers, and attacking mid to improve the side. We ended up signing a lot more defenders and mids, but that's because we kept having to replace the ones that left. The fact that we've seen so many major losses at those positions to clubs with top-table aspirations, while there has not been nearly as much turnover upfront tells you where our strengths lie.

 

I want the DM's to pass it forwards to the three behind the centre forward whenever they can. I just don't want them trying to be trying play the centre forward in constantly, hit diagonals constantly or being over-elaborate that's all. I'd just want them to be a little bit more careful with possession and let the three behind the striker look to the killer passes. I don't want the three behind the centre forward pushing up too far. I'd like us to slow down slightly with our build up play. I'd also want the full backs to get forward quite a lot with 2 DM's playing how I mentioned.

 

I agree..He isn't a goal scorer or a creator. I don't like him at all in the three behind the centre forward in a 4-2-3-1, not with us in the form we're in. It's putting too much pressure on the other attackers. The opponent doesn't have to worry about Davis at all really. Davis' best position is probably CM in a 4-4-2, but we don't play 4-4-2 of course. He'd be in my team at CM in a 4-4-2.

 

Smug mode.

 

Simple answer? RK has until Boxing Day to sort this out....end of thread I think

 

What, tomorrow?
As in Boxing Day carries over to the next week day for workers, when it falls on the weekend?

 

Man, I forgot how crazy some of you people were.

 

I'm not going to say I was wrong to ask the question. And it was only one game however good it was so let's not go overboard. But it has restored my faith in Ron and the players.

 

I think we already understand what the result means and how unlikely it is that RK has turned things around completely.The lads on the whole played very well and got some of the luck that has deserted them of late. We got a decent win and for once we stuffed the opposition. Lets just enjoy that occasion and not even ponder whether it was a one off or the start of a decent run. Lets just enjoy that one and see how we do on the next game......Nice one Saints well earned victory!!

 

Weird isn't it. Bad runs occur. Even with the saviour of all football.

 

I forgot it was me who created the thread.

 

To answer the thread, I think we should let Ron go and see how he copes at another Premier League club