Saints At Aston Villa Player Assessment's Monday, 21st Apr 2014 09:34 A look at each player's individual performance up in the Midland's for our scoreless draw with Aston Villa. Artur Boruc - Not a lot to do but did most of it competently, had a little spell in the second half where his kicking went awry but soon regained his composure. Nathan Clyne - Really didn't do himself justice, in the second half especially he seemed to be loathe to cross the half way line, so many times instead of running into space with the ball and attacking the full back he preferred to cut back, when he did get forward though he did well and should have had a penalty when his cross was blocked. Jose Fonte - Didnt have a lot to deal with and from the point of view of how many chances Villa actually had, did his job, his form of late hasn't been good so this was a step forward. Dejan Lovren - The same as Fonte, did his job in an unfussy manner. Luke Shaw - A decent game from haw who will take a step nearer the World Cup, he does need to improve his crossing though, too many times when he gets into decent positions he cant seem to find a man. Adam Lallana - Not his best game, but looked the only player who might change the game, his problem though is he has no outlet in the box without Rodriguez to play off him. Steven Davis - Usual game from Davis, works hard and moves the ball on quickly, perhaps the unsung hero of the team. James Ward Prowse - An undoubted talen and as the statistics show a great crosser of the ball, however he has to have an outlet like Lallana. Wanyama - Saints best player on the day, broke up Villa attacks and in the main kept it basic, sadly it means leaving out Jack Cork, if we could find a way to play them both it would be good. Morgan Schneiderlin - Not his best game by far, but we are all entitled to the odd off day when you are as consistent as Morgan. Rickie Lambert - A shadow of his former self, a year or so ago Rickie would have had at last two goals, but lacks the sharpness of old, I dont blame Rickie Lambert, he is playing in a system that just doesn't suit him, some would say Im too critical of Rickie, I would say this, think of most of his goals over the last few years and they all involve crosses into the box, or dead ball situations, very few involved him being fed through balls to go one on one with the keeper, our style just doesnt suit him. Subs - Sam Gallagher - May well be a talent, but at the moment is not experienced enough to come into a team that is disjointed, in his 20 or so minutes on the pitch looked completely lost and has not yet discovered the art of making the right runs. Jack Cork - 7 minutes on the pitch but the usual performance from him, if we are not careful we could lose him in the summer and i see him as a far longer term player for this club than either Wanyama or Schneiderlin. Harrison Reed - How can I give an opinion he was on the pitch for exactly 1 minute of injury time, what was the point of that, with two centre forwards on the pitch for the last twenty minutes perhaps he could have found the cross that won the game, he never got the chance. Manager Mauricio Pochettino - My worry about the manager is that he cannot change games, he is fine as long as he can play a certain way with the right players, once things change he doesnt seem able to react to rectify. It is no coincidence that we have yet to come behind to win a game all season. On Saturday we tried to fit square pegs into round holes, it didnt work, we then tried to play the system with two centre forwards, but why do that if you didnt have anyone in the side who could cross taking off JWP was strange. Likewise giving Harrison Reed 1 minute on the pitch helped no one, given our league position we should be trying to blood players, sometimes a moment can change a game and change a players career for the better. We are stagnating on the pitch, such is the ability of this squad that we can control games like this but we lack cutting edge we lack imagination, sometimes you have to do something different to change games, but we don't its always the same substitutions for the same players and always like for like. Perhaps some people forget how relatively inexperienced Pochettino is as a manager, he has only really managed in one situation both at Espanyol and here, that is taking a mid table squad, getting it to play in a system and making sure it doesnt flirt with relegation. There is nothing wrong with that, after all thats exactly the position we are in, but if we are to stay where we are and attempt to emulate Everton by building gradually into a position where we can genuinely take a step forward then we do need to be able to do something different. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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