Players to return?

[houseboy]

Looking like Tarkowski & Wood and potentially Bardsley could be fit for Southampton.

That still leaves Heaton, Defour, Brady and Walters. Tom is training now but will need some u23 games, not sure where Walters is but I think he's a few weeks away, whilst Defour & Brady won't be back until next season.

Walters never has been in the running mate. Don't know why we got him in the first place.

[ClaretTony]

Walters never has been in the running mate. Don't know why we got him in the first place.

Probably because he's a very good player who would give us considerable Premier League experience. He might not have been a starter at the beginning of the season but had he not picked up this injury he'd have played a considerable number of games for us by now, of that I'm sure. You might not know why we got him, but I bet Sean Dyche does.

[MACCA]

I'd be guessing at least 4 weeks until his return, possibly longer.

I think he would have been playing quite a few minutes over the last couple of months should he have been fit.

When ever he gets back on the grass with the group, it will be 2 weeks I'd have thought until he is even considered ready to return.
He's not even at the training alone stage yet.

[Spijed]

I know Dyche likes players to get a number of games under their belts to regain match fitness before a return to the first team but I can't recollect Wood having that many.

[claretcarrot93]

For me, the last place in the team for Southampton is between Arfield and Westwood, and it depends on whether Hendrick plays at the heart of midfield or whether he plays with more licence to get forwards. Personally, I'd go with the latter, so Westwood plays, and finally with Lennon on the right and Gudmundsson on the left we play the sort of balanced 4-5-1 out of possession/4-3-3 in possession we appear to me to have been aiming for all season. Hendrick is persona non-grata on here but he deserves a chance playing in a team which has the pace out wide to transform into 4-3-3 so he has runners breaking the line ahead of him, rather than having to check back all the time.

I don't think the idea of playing Gudmundsson centrally is ludicrous - he has enough of the attributes that made Elliott and Ings successes in that sort of role for it to potentially work - but I think there are three issues with it. Firstly, it involves removing probably our greatest attacking strength this season: the quality of supply Gudmundsson offers from wide. Removing a strength to plug a weakness is never an ideal strategy in my opinion. Secondly, Gudmundsson might offer us more in and around the box in that position, but he won't offer as much defensively and he'll weaken our strength in central midfield when we're defending, or indeed when we're building from deep.

Thirdly, it means someone else has to go out wide. If its Arfield, I'd prefer to see him and Gudmundsson the other way round, which I suspect is more natural to both of them. If its Nkoudou, then I'm not keen on the personnel - he's not done enough yet to justify a start and in a team that doesn't dominate the ball or create tonnes of chances, decision making in key moments is absolutely vital. I'm not completely sure that's Nkoudou's strength right now, although I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.

Finally, I'd play Vokes ahead of Barnes. He's a greater goal threat and if we can get pace running beyond him, he's a better link up man.

Agree with most of it,i would probably play arfield off Vokes and Hendrick in the two

[houseboy]

Probably because he's a very good player who would give us considerable Premier League experience. He might not have been a starter at the beginning of the season but had he not picked up this injury he'd have played a considerable number of games for us by now, of that I'm sure. You might not know why we got him, but I bet Sean Dyche does.

I know what you mean mate but all I keep hearing in his favour is that he has a great deal of PL experience, which is all good but what we need is a fast striker who can put a certain amount of fear in defences and he certainly isn't that. He is simply too old to be playing in that position in the PL.
As for what Dyche might think of him if there is a chink in Dyche's armour it is with strikers. Okay we've found a couple over the years he's been with us but his 'failure' rate (for want of a better term) with his decisions in that department seem to outweigh his successes. And this might be a natural fault that is understandable due to the fact that we have a manager who was himself a defender and obviously knows far more about that role. His style is defensive (that is not a criticism by the way I quite like good defensive football) and so his judgement may well not be as good when it comes to strikers. Please don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have anyone else in charge of the team and it's decisions, long may he reign, I'm just saying no-one is perfect and maybe, just possibly, Dyche is a little suspect with his striker judgement.

[MACCA]

[/code]

Agree with most of it,i would probably play arfield off Vokes and Hendrick in the two

That's what I thought he meant, kind of like

Lennon Cork Hendrick JBG
Arfield
Vokes

Wood in when he returns.
Looks good to me, then we're only a natural number 10 off having great options.
FWIW I think, number 10, striker, winger and CB are the only things on the shopping list this summer.
That allows for 2 forwards and Arfield to leave.

[TVC15]

Not so sure Houseboy - buying Gray who scored a bag full of goals to get us promoted and then selling him for nearly £20m wasn't a bad piece of striker work from SD !!
I also think Wood is a good striker - it's the hardest position to fill as all teams are after a goal scorer.

If you go through the teams in this league you will find many very expensive flops - a lot more than SD has spent on strikers.

The Wells transfer was a bit perplexing I agree as we bought someone who seemed to be on the decline at Huddersfield - a team that were a long way behind our championship team.

Jury is out for Walters. At the time I thought he was a decent signing as you do not play in the Premier League for as long as he did without having quality.
Though we have not seen much of him on the pitch the bits I did see earlier in the season I thought he looked a bit ponderous and slow - but I accept that he needs more of run in the team to show his qualities.
His injuries have been unlucky - he had real no previous track record of injuries.
Getting Tarks and Wood back will be a big boost.

[claretcarrot93]

[/code]

That's what I thought he meant, kind of like

Lennon Cork Hendrick JBG
Arfield
Vokes

Wood in when he returns.
Looks good to me, then we're only a natural number 10 off having great options.
FWIW I think, number 10, striker, winger and CB are the only things on the shopping list this summer.
That allows for 2 forwards and Arfield to leave.

Yeah agree, I think its why people are a little frustrated at the minute as we have the players to attack and have more of a go thn what we did at Swansea

[claretspice]

[/code]

That's what I thought he meant, kind of like

Lennon Cork Hendrick JBG
Arfield
Vokes

Wood in when he returns.
Looks good to me, then we're only a natural number 10 off having great options.
FWIW I think, number 10, striker, winger and CB are the only things on the shopping list this summer.
That allows for 2 forwards and Arfield to leave.

I'm open to that team, or to Hendrick playing slightly further forwards with Westwood in the team. The benefit of Westwood is he gives us a really calm, composed passing option - he's not as creative a passer as Defour but he can a similar job of keeping the ball moving under pressure and bringing others into the attack as part of a more carefully constructed build up. If we do that, though, I'd like to think there'd be a subtle shift in what we see Hendrick do - he ought to be deeper than Lennon (and on occasions JBG), backing up the play and providing defensive cover for either winger who runs beyond the line. This is, I believe, what we've been aiming for all season but without real pace on the flank it hasn't quite gelled at times.

But equally, I can see the logic of playing with Hendrick at the heart of midfield alongside Cork with Arfield doing the job outlined for Hendrick above, but perhaps also providing a more direct goalthreat with his intelligent runs. That would enable us to squeeze the play more, perhaps play a bit longer and with greater intensity. Both good options for me.

[BleedingClaret]

Taylor won’t get dropped. Been fantastic in the last few games.

He has been good and getting better game by game technically but he does look absolutely knackered towards the end of games and that's how injuries happen often.
Needs a rest, this 2 weeks will help I know, but in general he needs a bit of bench time imo.

[Lordlucan]

Walters has been a big miss. Not sure why people have such a downer on him. A bit like the Matty Taylor situation - when there are miles in the clock you benefit from the experience but risk a few trips to the garage

[burnley007]

Hopefully giving the lads a bit of warm weather training will be the boost they need to sort this awful run out. The performance at Swansea was terrible.
4 points from our next 2 home games and we're back on track.

[Rileybobs]

We’ve not won since award got injured. Taylor has done well but Ward is a much bigger attacking threat so should start when fit.