My view is that the rules of the game are, the bigger budget you have, the better team you have. Hillcroft have spent the summer trying to convince everyone that these rules do not apply under their management. My first point is that I do not want to know what they did at Rochdale, how successful they were there, how their use of Prozone enabled them to build on their inate talent. I only want to know about what they have done at Barnsley because that is the only team that I am interested in. The second rule of football is, when you change half the team, it will take them some time to settle. I felt that yesterday was more an illustration of this rule than it was of rule number one. The players must have an understanding of each others game before they can reliably play the passing style. To work, the passing has to be crisp, sharp and accurate if the team is to draw the opposition out of position and create space. This is not possible with a new team. The fans need to be patient, and the management team realistic. My next point is about the system. Until they changed it just before half time, all they managed to do was effectively isolate Davies. Addison was too close to the back four. Why was Butterfield playing so deep. Why was Doyle playing so far forward. Why was Haynes playing in a position which he clearly cannot play. There has been criticism on here about Haynes' lack of effort. I saw Glavin's first game for Barnsley when he was played out of position by Alan Clark. He was awful. But Clark moved him into central midfield, and the rest is history. So that is my third rule of football. Alway play players in positions in which they are comfortable. We changed the formation and at half time, I also expected us to change the personnel. What was the point of playing two defensive midfield players in the centre of midfield for another half hour, whilst wasting Jacob Butterfield in a position that he is not effective in. When changes were made in that area, they were too late and initially the wrong player was taken off. Supporters should not be deceived by the last 10 minutes. Ok, we made chances, but because we lost our shape, so did Southampton. Vaz Te is not the answer wide left. He does not work hard enough and does not offer any support to the left back. In conclusion, the match showed me which position we need to strengthen. If we are looking for two players, for me those players would be a left full back and a left winger. We also have too many players who's best position is in the hole behind the centre forward, so the team does not have the flexibility that Hillcroft advocate. However, rather than writting them off as many have done, I would urge patience because they have acquired some decent players who simply need time to settle. Hillcroft also need more time to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of their new squad.
Lot of good comments in there Regarding your point 1 though - if you spot the right players you can do it more cheaply - Id rather have someone who used a limited budget well than a large budget badly. Its too soon to say whether Hillcroft have used the limited bugdet well. Many on here have said that signinf 3rd division players is doomed to failure because they havent peoven themselves in the championship. Most of Southamptons team were in the 3rd division last year - same - even more so applied to Norwich the year before so its not an approach doomed to certain failure. Our biggest problem though is we looked good in pre season because we were given time on the ball to play pretty passes. Southampton had done their homework and were pressing us even when we had the ball deep inside our half. They gave a perfect demonstration of how to play the pass and move game we asipred to - and we are currently a long way away - how much is due to our players needing time to get to know each other and adapt to the style and how much is due to lack of ability to play that way we will find out in the coming weeks. at the moment I can see us springing a surprise result against someone who underestimates us and doesnt pressurise us when we have the ball - but not against sides who come prepared - we couldnt even defeat Morcambe when they were up for it Hopefully Middlesborough will underestimate us on Tuesday ( but I doubt it)
Quality post. The biggest frustration was the fact we were so slow with the ball. We were taking 3/4 touches and then passing - Southampton were one touch, move and sharp. We were 7 touches, stand still and slow before passing backwards. I agree it'll take time, but I don't think he has it considering the fan's reaction this afternoon which was the biggest problem.
Re: Lot of good comments in there What get me with some folk though, are those who say we shouldnt be getting lower league players, then in the next breath saying we need to buy ALF
