have just been directed to a saints forum...

[Redders Right Foot 22]

a friend posted a link to my facebook to a saints forum where they''re discussing the wednesday game.

it has all the usual boring stuff, underestimating the opposition, predicting rediculous scorelines, etc etc, but one thing that caught my eye was

I''ve already been told off by the wife for predicting Saints will win this one. I''m a bigger Saints fan than she is a Norwich fan though, so sod her, Saints to win 2-0. (Though to prevent frostiness in house, I''ll be saying draw.)

"...Lallana, Lambert, Ramirez, Puncheon. That''s a better attacking four than they can boast. (...and most teams in the bottom half of the table IMO.)"

would anyone on this site take any of those players (to be fair I wouldn''t mind lambert) over our current starting four attackers (Pilks, hoolahan, snoddy, holt.)?

[Redders Right Foot 22]

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?41449-Saints-vs-Norwich-build-up

I always forget to add the link.

[York Canary 28]

They''re all good players. I''d take Ramirez without a doubt. Class player and stunned when they got him. He''s the main one I''d have here. We need to stay close to those 4 and really suffocate them with Tettey and Johnson and then release to our front 4 and kill them. Would love it if Ruddy makes a comeback. Their keeper looks prone to the odd mistake and not particularly experienced..hopefully take advantage of that. If we can keep them quiet for the first half at least then I''ll feel quietly confident

[ROBFLECK 132]

Lallana is class imo. I''ve always rated him. So I would choose him.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

Lallana and Lambert would get in our team/squad. saints have scored 20 in league to our 10

[djc 0]

In fairness, van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez and Young are 4 half-decent forwards in this league - and they didnt do too much at Carra recently.

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="djc"]In fairness, van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez and Young are 4 half-decent forwards in this league - and they didnt do too much at Carra recently.[/quote]

... especially as Rooney didn''t play !!!  

[nutty nigel 7,528]

[quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="djc"]In fairness, van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez and Young are 4 half-decent forwards in this league - and they didnt do too much at Carra recently.[/quote]

... especially as Rooney didn''t play !!!  

[/quote]

 

Right on Moyo, great spot buddy!

 

Without Rooney Man Utd''s forwards are no better than Saints.

 

 

[Adycakes 5]

I have to be honest, most of what is written on there is quite respectful & not disrespectful in any way. Most seem to think the odd goal will win it or be very happy with a draw as I think we will be in fairness.

As for their front line, yes Ramirez is class & I also rate Lambert but the other two the jury is still out for me.

I''m not saying our forward line is better, I still think Snodgrass has to do a bit more & Pilkington is currently going missing for long periods in games. But I wouldn''t change either of those for Lallana or Puncheon. Not saying they''re bad players, just think Snodgrass & Pilkington for me have a little bit more about them but maybe at the present time are not firing on all cylinders.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

I think it''s difficult to assess the Southampton forward line, if they stay up it''ll be much more obvious who has the geniune talent for this level next season as there''s an element of surprise in your first season. A bit like we had last season with Hoolahan, Holt, Pilkington, Morison and E.Bennett, all looking good at different stages when they are almost unknown quatities, this season has been tougher due to lots of reasons but i think premier league defenders tend to work players and their weaknesses out quicker.

[Well I Never 0]

To be honest, Holt aside, I think all those four are the equal of our forwards. Puncheon looked very good on the ball against Newcastle. Hoolahan, Snodgrass, Pilkington, Lallana, Lambert, Puncheon and Rodriguez are upper champs, lower to mid prem level imho, Holt slightly better. Any of these players could step up a notch also, and I would have to say that Lallana, Snodgrass and Rodriguez would be my picks in that category.

[Redders Right Foot 22]

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="djc"]In fairness, van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez and Young are 4 half-decent forwards in this league - and they didnt do too much at Carra recently.[/quote]

... especially as Rooney didn''t play !!!  

[/quote]

 

Right on Moyo, great spot buddy!

 

Without Rooney Man Utd''s forwards are no better than Saints.

 

 

[/quote]

despite RVP carrying arsenal last season?

[ZLF 274]

I woudl say all 8 are of a very similar level,  Lambert and Holt,  wes and lallana, pilkington far better than puncheon with gaston probably better than snoddy or bennett.

 

If I was to pick four in order they would be

wes

pilkinton

lallana

holt  

 

Gaston could easily be the best but too soon to say

[shefcanary 2,393]

[quote user="kiwigreenandgold"]To be honest, Holt aside, I think all those four are the equal of our forwards. Puncheon looked very good on the ball against Newcastle. Hoolahan, Snodgrass, Pilkington, Lallana, Lambert, Puncheon and Rodriguez are upper champs, lower to mid prem level imho, Holt slightly better. Any of these players could step up a notch also, and I would have to say that Lallana, Snodgrass and Rodriguez would be my picks in that category.[/quote]

 

Yeah, that four looked good against the Toon, but without Coliccini in their side their defence is cr%p - bit like ours without Bassong.  The Toon are doomed unless Coliccini gets back soon.  Against Hoots well organised back line the Saints front four will look just like ManUre''s  powder puff stuff.  [If that isn''t the kiss of death nothing is!].

[nutty nigel 7,528]

[quote user="Javiers Deaf Translator"][quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="djc"]In fairness, van Persie, Rooney, Hernandez and Young are 4 half-decent forwards in this league - and they didnt do too much at Carra recently.[/quote]

... especially as Rooney didn''t play !!!  

[/quote]

 

Right on Moyo, great spot buddy!

 

Without Rooney Man Utd''s forwards are no better than Saints.

 

 

[/quote] despite RVP carrying arsenal last season?[/quote]

 

LOL

 

How would you have read Moyo''s post then Jav?

 

 

[Skerritt 0]

Very humble fans, fair play to them. Will be a tough game. Take a draw

[The Walking Man 13]

I think the issue isn''t necessarily to look at the attacking players but to look at the defences.

Gazzaniga, Clyne, Yoshida, Fonte, Shaw

Vs.

Ruddy, Garrido, Bassong, Bennett, Whittaker

Now personally i''d take our defensive 5 over their every day of the week. It''ll be a tight game and crucial we don''t lose but I''m more confident than I have been in years and years in our defence.

[ZLF 274]

like!  to walking man

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

Dont want to piss on any fires, but last time we had anything to do with Saints ( league 1 ) they beat us 3 times in one season. League x2 and Cup.We are gonna be tired and might be missing Ruddy, Bunn is not bad keeper but I think we would all feel safer with Big John.

[Guest]

[quote user="Nexus_Canary"]Dont want to piss on any fires[/quote]Likewise, we drew 2-2 away in the league and lost on penalties after another 2-2 draw in the JPT. In the game where they did beat us at Carrow Road I remember Darel Russell getting a ridiculously harsh red card.

[Bury Yellow 2]

Having lived on the south coast many years ago I have always had a soft spot for the Saints but comments from opposing teams supporters prior to playing us I always find amusing.

The vast majority underestimate us and I think a lot of that is down to strange editing of our games on MOTD. An example was Saturday. Edited out in the first half was Holt''s strong run and wide shot and Bassong''s header. In the second half it was decided to not include Pilks free kick.

Anyone who has not seen us play live this year and relied on MOTD would think we were a poor team at best.

A bit off topic - sorry about that and no I am sober but just off t''pub now!!

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

That is a very good observation, Bury.

[York Canary 28]

I did wonder why they missed out Pilks free-kick and the other chances, but that''s just normal for us now - usual biased. I don''t mind in a way though because as you say, it may favour us being underestimated.

 

I noticed they play about 50 thousand clips of Saints attacks against Newcastle and that will surely hype them up a lot and give them confidence. Just hope we go about our usual business in the usual understated, but efficient manner of late and get points from this game.

[Aggy 754]

The Bassong header missing from MOTD is a very good shout Bury. And in fairness, I''m surprised more hasn''t been made of it on here - free header, absolute sitter! Made up for it at the end, but my oh my what a chance!

I think a lot of teams underestimate a lot of bottom half clubs. To be quite honest, a lot of the teams between sort of 14th and 20th often do look distinctly average-at-best, and quite often look very poor. What other teams forget though is that a large majority of the teams in this division are actually no better!

[ZLF 274]

MOTD always have some odd omissions (and probably others teams fans say the same things)  but I did think the coverage this week was a fair reflection of the game and the summary praised our efforts - all said we were worthy of a point and got back into t he game well.

 

If that makes other sides underestimate us then that can only be a good thing :-) 

[Alex Moss 2,165]

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?41478-Grant-Holt-a-threat

A few tasty comments to fire up Holty who many seem to intensely dislike and underestimate - also seems one confused poster thinks our No9 represents Ipshite for some reason. Really think the Horse is going to have a belter tomorrow night against their centre backs...

[crabbycanary 2]

The commentator on MotD said that we deserved the point, but if you had just seen the highlights, you may have wondered where he was coming from. Let''s stay under the radar.

[marvin the martian 0]

Saints fans have the mentality of " it''s only Norwich " in the same way our fans approached the games against Wigan and Blackburn last season. There is no " it''s only " in this division , hopefully we''ll prove that tomorrow night.

[K Lo 224]

Using hostory as a guide, I expect Rob Rosario to score the goal of the season in a thrilling 4-3 win where we were 2-0 down at half time.

[K Lo 224]

make that 4-4.