Huddersfield 3-1 Saints - Post Match Reaction

[NN2 Saint]

That was awful. New Season same old crap. Players weren't up for it from the start and no-one seemed interested felt sorry for the front 2 as they had no service what so ever. I'm sure Bristol Rovers wingers were told to hit the byline and cross the ball back don't remember one time when ours did that. Another great performance by Kelvin kept the score respectable at least because 3-1 flattered us should of been 6 or 7.

 

Was also dissapointed at seeing some of our fans clapping the players off after yet another lacklusture performance. It makes me wonder if they had seem the same rubbish that I had. Did enjoy the day though and hope we are still able to go to Huddersfield again next year.

[Block 5]

I live in eastbourne and our local team is in the blue square premier and at the monent its more worth my while to go down there. Its cheaper less hassle and the standard of football is pretty similar.

 

Wrong forum mate.

Jog on.

[gjphilsaint]

So who would you play instead?

 

There's our problem... no depth... had it ripped from us years ago!

[Junction 9]

Did the new loan signing have any involvement yesterday?

[S-Clarke]

Did the new loan signing have any involvement yesterday?

 

Came on as a sub, and by accounts of what people have been saying on here - he didn't disgrace himself.

[scotty]

53 minutes (Score 1-1): Saints Subs: Morgan Schneiderlin & Lloyd James OFF - Jake Thomson and Jacob Mellis ON.

 

Was this the main reason we turned a draw into a heavy defeat?

 

give the side a chance to gel, its a bit early to condemn them ffs. Mate of mine in dartford phoned me friday, diehard saints fan, he said we'll be lucky to get a draw at huddersfield. He had a point, pardews not had a decent run at it yet...

 

coyr

[captainchris]

Unless Gillett is injured or performing very badly during training , I don't understand why he wasn't in the squad. He would have added bite and energy to the midfield, that's for sure. Much preferable to Wooden.

 

Sorry but couldn't agree more - What is Wooden doing in the team?????????

More width needed. This isn't just about not having the players it's about hoofing it tactics which we are employing and poorish personnel selection too.

 

AP seems to insist on not playing anyone wide, we have NO WIDTH for Gods sake - no outlet. Oposition play wide players in wide positions against us and tear us apart.

 

Also we are lumping it all the time into no mans land or 'The Channels' as they so unprofessionally call it 'in the game'!

 

So far tactics are poor I'm afraid and I'm looking for much more awareness from AP. 3 out of 10 so far!

[captainchris]

Joseph Mills! And before you start, I know he's injured. But if fit he should be straight in the team.

 

You are joking - aren't you - yes you must be..........

[John B]

so..all those who are slitting their wrists over this defeat..

 

did you all predict a win..?

 

I predicted a loss but I am not particulary pleased with progress are you?

[Saint_clark]

You are joking - aren't you - yes you must be..........

 

Were you the guy say just behind me at Huddersfield who screamed abuse at everyone and anyone on the pitch - including shouting "Jake Thomson, what the f*ck is that useless w*nker gonna do?" as he was being brought on?

[shurlock]

Did the new loan signing have any involvement yesterday?

 

 

As somebody else has said, he didn't disgrace himself - a few nice touches and a one-two which almost saw him through on goal. Don't know what he brought defensively- not many tackles but he was busy closing people down in the disciplined Chelsea way. Would be tempted to start him Tues night.

[eastleighhalo]

Lets not hide from the simple fact that yesterday could quite easily have been 6 or 7 goals against if it wasnt for Kelvin .. we have a couple of usefull full backs and good strength up front.. but the rest of the team are getting steam rollered and bullied ...this league has no place for inexperience and timidness..and we had that in abundance at huddersfield. Unless we get 2 strong centre halves and at least two decent experienced ball winning leaders in the middle we will not be challenging for anything this season and may struggle to stay up.

The midfield yesterday was a complete joke defensively AND offensively.

Rant over !

[St Michael]

The only consolation for going yesterday was I live in Leeds and was home by 5.30pm. Oh, and their stadium announcer was quite amusing and gave us a warm welcome, which was quite a novelty. Other than that, abysmal.

[dune]

I went full of expectation and left with a big reality check.

 

The first point is that Huddersfield were sh*t hot, really good team.

 

Their centre forward (dunno his name) was big and strong and their tactic of releasing the ball down the centre of the pitch for him to hold up hurt us bad.

 

Kelvin played a blinder as did Ricky Lambert, but we desperately need two centre halfs. We're ****ed if we don't get 2 centre half in.

[Neil]

The postives from yesterday afternoon:

 

Theakston's Smooth £1.80

Town Terrier £1.90

 

That's pretty much it. Hopelessly outplayed from start to finish, with only Kelvin really earning his money. It looked like Huddersfield has 12 or 13 players at times.

Fitness concerns highlighted in stark fashion yet again.

That said it's one of the tougher games out of the way, and I'm still confident AP will sort this out. Need to pull one out of the bag at Swindon on Tuesday.

[dune]

The only consolation for going yesterday was I live in Leeds and was home by 5.30pm. Oh, and their stadium announcer was quite amusing and gave us a warm welcome, which was quite a novelty. Other than that, abysmal.

 

The fourth offical has indicated there will be some time left.

 

[ladysaint]

The only consolation for going yesterday was I live in Leeds and was home by 5.30pm. Oh, and their stadium announcer was quite amusing and gave us a warm welcome, which was quite a novelty. Other than that, abysmal.

 

Great when the stadium announcer announced at the end of the first half, that the referee had indicated that there is still some time remaining to play.

[Clifford Nelson]

The story at Huddersfield is no different from what AP pointed out to start with: We need 1-2 CBs; a strong CM and 1-2 strikers depending on whether Rasiak and/or Saga stays. So far we have brought in Lam. Great signing!

 

I'm afraid the team as it stands today is only going to confirm the same thing time and time again.

 

I don't quite know why we have signed an 18 year old on loan unless it is with a view of the long term, and to put him on in centre midfield seems a bit odd.

 

We have also a problem with wingers. Lallana isn't one, and neither is James. If we want ammunition from crosses they are unlikely to provide it, which means either we need new wingers or, we rely on the fullbacks. If so we could as well go with three across midfield with Lallana infront and behind the strikers.

 

Signings must come quite soon, before we slide back in the mindset of last year. I believe it will happen, but time is short.

 

By the way: What is the story with Gillet. Not coming on against Northampton and not even on the bench at Huddersfield. What is happening?

[hackedoff]

What amazes me is that people think that the poor team from last season will this season be good because now we are in a worse league playing weaker teams. I suggest that the poor team we have , have as yet still not found their level.

[Thedelldays]

What amazes me is that people think that the poor team from last season will this season be good because now we are in a worse league playing weaker teams. I suggest that the poor team we have , have as yet still not found their level.

do tell us..what is our level..?

[captainchris]

Let's not get over emotional - Pardew has only been here 5 minutes, once he gets the players in he wants, and has us working his way, we'll be fine.

 

Well positive words but what worries me is we are not even starting to play to a pattern, unless you call long balls a pattern! Also has even one person on here said they think Wotton should be playing, if they have I've missed it!

 

If we were working towards a new way of playing great but we're not!

[hackedoff]

do tell us..what is our level..?

 

A level in which our team can compete in,not get run ragged by the likes of Huddersfield.

[Thedelldays]

A level in which our team can compete in,not get run ragged by the likes of Huddersfield.

which is...?

[saintjinksie]

Yesterday was as poor as I have seen since... last season. rasiak might as well have been playing for another team, perry was shocking and james was his usual non descript self. Kelvin had a good game making some decent saves, lambert scored from a corner which deserves a MOM award for a saints player in its self! There was no midefield for the entire game, wotton had a shocker. P*ss poor, dont know why I go sometimes, same old sh*te

[Kaiser Soze]

Ironically we played better second half when all the goals went in.

 

Make no mistake this team needs serious investment. Priority must be midfield. Yesterday was one of the worse Saints sides I have EVER seen. Serious work to be done.

[Crab Lungs]

What amazes me is that people think that the poor team from last season will this season be good because now we are in a worse league playing weaker teams. I suggest that the poor team we have , have as yet still not found their level.

 

I made a point about two/three seasons ago that if you're rubbish ,you're rubbish - it doesn't matter what league you are in, if you aren't very good at football, going down the leagues won't make a jott of difference, so therefore I agree with what you say to an extent.

 

I think when I made the point I was referring to the likes of Jakobsson and Nilsson in the Prem, who I thought were ****ing abysmal. People said 'but they'd be good in the Championship'and that they were 'Swedish internationals' - for me though, it doesn't matter - if you're crap, you're crap - nothings going to change that. Djimi Traore for example. Pure turd. It's the same reasoning behind some of our current squad - they won't ever make a very good career for themselves because quite simply, some a pretty darn rubbish, or below standard. That said, some of our more talented players who do stand a chance quite possibly have such an ingrained habit of losing that only an extended loan period in a winning team or a move away might rebuild their confidence and career again. I'm thinking the likes of Thomson, White etc... although the jury has almost cast its decision on Lancashire though.

 

There are exceptions to the above rule (McSheffrey at Brum, excellent in Championship, not so in the Prem, same goes with Earnshaw) and their are cases where players I believe could have played at higher level and still done significant damage, despite being 'cloggers' or playing lower league for most of their careers (Howard - I know, he wasn't great but given the chance in the Prem again, he'd be OK, Jon Parkin, Darren Currie...) And, for what it's worth, Lee Holmes.... I'm actually a big believer that if gets himself fit and playing, he has the ability to play at a much higher level. We'll see, I suppose.

Edited 16 August, 2009 by Crab Lungs

[Saint Fan CaM]

Football is simple really. Pass to players on your own team- keep possession. Wotton does not do this. He is IMO 50% of the problem. The other 50% is shared by the CB's and wingers we do not have...so I guess that means AP also for not sorting out the mess.

[yorkie]

Well back to the pc after a weekend away.

 

The game was quite dire if you were a Saints fan. We were over run in every area. I thought Huddersfield played really well and how it remained 0-0 at half time only Kelvin knows. There were gaping holes in the centre of defence at times...and midfield looked non existent.

 

Watched the goals again...the penalty was down to some poor defending and we still nearly got away with it...our goal was a bolt out of the blue...the other two goals were just poor defending. Don't get me wrong Huddersfield are a good side going forward - but I think we made their job easier. We didn't pass to each other (one of the basics) and kept hoofing it up to Rasiak and Lambert. Rasiak was not at the races. We have a lot of work to do before we are going to reduce the -9 points!

 

Hudderfield seemed a friendly enough place. Some of the old members of TSF met in The Grove and sampled some real ale. The highlight of the walk to the ground was a rendition of OWTSGMI in a subway with a busker. The funny thing was the look on an old couples face when only 10 of us came out the subway with a couple of girls in tow...from the look on their faces it was a gang of nutters of around 200! Then someone started "Huddersfield...get Lallana" - don't ask! Oh and I got soaked walking to the pub!

 

Not a good day and looking back we are almost as bad as last season on some away games. TBH Huddersfield should have won by a bigger margin - but thankfully Kelvin was there to save the day.

 

It's going to be a long hard season - forget play offs at this stage, let's just concentrate on staying in this league!

[Chez]

just back after a long road trip and I have just about had the chance to calm down. After 25 years of watching Saints you'd think I'd have learned by now what to expect, but a performance like that is totally unacceptable IMO and if Pardew does not learn from that he never will.

 

We were embarressing. Make no mistake. Huddersfield were decent, but we were pitiful, Long ball ****e all game. The decision by Pardew to take Schneiderlin off and leave Wotton on beggars belief. Wotton is woeful.

 

We need two centre backs quick sharp. I have been saying it for a very long time now that Perry and Thomas are **** and this game showed all of their weaknesses. Crap in the air, slow, poor talking, poor decision making and some laughable marking. Get two decent centre backs and Gillett instead of Wotton and we might start to do something.

 

Davis 8 - two great saves in the first half and some very good sweeper work

Murty 6 - solid enough but never got past the half way line

Thomas 3 - garbage. Got steadily worse as the game went on.

Perry 2 - slow, terrible in the air and clueless

Harding 4 - given the run around in the second half

James 2 - did nothign, when he got the opportunity to get down the line he crossed far too early. Rightly subbed

Wotton 1 - non existant. So slow he never ever got near the opposition. Woeful player and performance.

Schneiderlin 6 - no idea why he was subbed. He wasn't playing great but he looked like one of our better players. Very poor decision by Pardew.

Lallana 3 - non existant

Lambert 8 - tried hard but far far too many long balls. We have become a hoof ball side

Rasiak 6 - worked very hard but won zero in the air. Terrible service to him though.

 

Jacob 3 - looks fast but hardly touched the ball in the whole second half

Lancashire 3 - amlost fell over every single time the opponent got the ball. Looks a poor player.

Thomson 2 - lightweight. Is he ever all that quick? One great opportunity to get to the byeline and what does he do, yes you guessed it, he crossed it early.

Edited 17 August, 2009 by Chez

[SaintRobbie]

 

Davis 8 - two great saves in the first half and some very good sweeper work

Murty 6 - solid enough but never got past the half way line

Thomas 3 - garbage. Got steadily worse as the game went on.

Perry 2 - slow, terrible in the air and clueless

Harding 4 - given the run around in the second half

James 2 - did nothign, when he got the opportunity to get down the line he crossed far too early. Rightly subbed

Wotton 1 - non existant. So slow he never ever got near the opposition. Wieful player and performance.

Schneiderlin 6 - no idea why he was subbed. Very poor decision by Pardew.

Lallana 3 - non existant

Lambert 8 - tried hard but far far too many long balls. We have become a hoof ball side

Rasiak 6 - worked very hard but won zero in the air. Terrible service to him though.

 

Jacob 3 - looks fast but hardly touched the ball in the whole second half

Lancashire 3 - amlost fell over every single time the opponent got the ball. Looks a poor player.

Thomson 2 - lightweight. Is he ever all that quick? One great opportunity to get to the byeline and what does he do, yes you guessed it, he crossed it early.

 

Chez's summary highlights our problems well for me. We need to see some improvement from Perry/Thomas or remove them.

 

James, Lancashire, Thomson, (although never seen) Jacob, all appear not good enough for this league. Sell them.

 

Lallana is a strange one. Potential, but bench player for me for now.

 

Wotton has been shocking since he arrived to be honest.

 

 

So, we essentially have a spine of a team of:

 

Davis, Murty, Harding (perhaps), Spiderman, Lambert and Rasiak (who is off with Sagga by the looks of it).

 

We need 5-6 players. ASP.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

do tell us..what is our level..?

 

As he said, they've still to find it. It might be interesting to find out what it is, but I'm sure most of us would rather not wait to find out.

 

Nevertheless with the players we have, it doesn't look like it's the top of the division we are in, does it?

 

So as Pardew says, he needs 2 CBs, 2 MF and probably 2 WMF, and another 2 S if Raziak/SagaImOffski finally go.

 

My worry is that Cortese said in his Echo piece that there would be "1 or 2".

Not sure he has a grasp of what's needed in this league yet.

[skintsaint]

Jacob, all appear not good enough for this league. Sell them.

 

give the guy a chance, he played 45mins with a team he hardly knows and also getting overrun by Huddersfield.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

Chez's summary highlights our problems well for me. We need to see some improvement from Perry/Thomas or remove them.

 

James, Lancashire, Thomson, (although never seen) Jacob, all appear not good enough for this league. Sell them.

 

Lallana is a strange one. Potential, but bench player for me for now.

 

Wotton has been shocking since he arrived to be honest.

 

 

So, we essentially have a spine of a team of:

 

Davis, Murty, Harding (perhaps), Spiderman, Lambert and Rasiak (who is off with Sagga by the looks of it).

 

We need 5-6 players. ASP.

 

Wotton - and we have him on a contract with 2 years left! Great signing by Hockaday!

Thomas - the lump has been almost continually injured since he came. He's on good money, and he's not up to it even in this division.

And our core depends on Spiderman?

 

Doesn't all this tell us just how monumental Pardew's job is? He's got to build Rome.

[hackedoff]

which is...?

 

You are obviously happy the way things are playingwise,probably just a case of us having different standards in life. In response to your question,to quickly fall into the home draw/away defeat scenario despite relegation and playing in an "easier" league,maybe league 2 ?

[The9]

53 minutes (Score 1-1): Saints Subs: Morgan Schneiderlin & Lloyd James OFF - Jake Thomson and Jacob Mellis ON.

 

Was this the main reason we turned a draw into a heavy defeat?

 

Actually Thomson had his best game for Saints by some distance and gave us everything, kept the ball well and looked like a threat, and Mellis showed the kind of energy we were missing all game when he got the chance (which wasn't often as we never really had the ball in their half).

 

James and Schneidelin were anonymous and Wotton and Lallana weren't much better - even the corner we scored from was a rubbish floating theing that Lambert did brilliantly well to get power into.

[The9]

Chez's summary highlights our problems well for me. We need to see some improvement from Perry/Thomas or remove them.

 

James, Lancashire, Thomson, (although never seen) Jacob, all appear not good enough for this league. Sell them.

 

Lallana is a strange one. Potential, but bench player for me for now.

 

Wotton has been shocking since he arrived to be honest.

 

 

So, we essentially have a spine of a team of:

 

Davis, Murty, Harding (perhaps), Spiderman, Lambert and Rasiak (who is off with Sagga by the looks of it).

 

We need 5-6 players. ASP.

 

Ridiculous slating of Thomson who was the only player in the second half that did anything commendable after we scored.

[The9]

As somebody else has said, he didn't disgrace himself - a few nice touches and a one-two which almost saw him through on goal. Don't know what he brought defensively- not many tackles but he was busy closing people down in the disciplined Chelsea way. Would be tempted to start him Tues night.

 

Not much point one player chasing the ball on his own, is there ?

[londonsaint1604]

So why did Pardew substitute Perry for Lancashire when we were chasing the game at 2-1 with 10 minutes to go? Saga was on the bench as well, seems like a very strange decision to me.

[Torres]

just back after a long road trip and I have just about had the chance to calm down. After 25 years of watching Saints you'd think I'd have learned by now what to expect, but a performance like that is totally unacceptable IMO and if Pardew does not learn from that he never will.

 

We were embarressing. Make no mistake. Huddersfield were decent, but we were pitiful, Long ball ****e all game. The decision by Pardew to take Schneiderlin off and leave Wotton on beggars belief. Wotton is woeful.

 

We need two centre backs quick sharp. I have been saying it for a very long time now that Perry and Thomas are **** and this game showed all of their weaknesses. Crap in the air, slow, poor talking, poor decision making and some laughable marking. Get two decent centre backs and Gillett instead of Wotton and we might start to do something.

 

Davis 8 - two great saves in the first half and some very good sweeper work

Murty 6 - solid enough but never got past the half way line

Thomas 3 - garbage. Got steadily worse as the game went on.

Perry 2 - slow, terrible in the air and clueless

Harding 4 - given the run around in the second half

James 2 - did nothign, when he got the opportunity to get down the line he crossed far too early. Rightly subbed

Wotton 1 - non existant. So slow he never ever got near the opposition. Woeful player and performance.

Schneiderlin 6 - no idea why he was subbed. He wasn't playing great but he looked like one of our better players. Very poor decision by Pardew.

Lallana 3 - non existant

Lambert 8 - tried hard but far far too many long balls. We have become a hoof ball side

Rasiak 6 - worked very hard but won zero in the air. Terrible service to him though.

 

Jacob 3 - looks fast but hardly touched the ball in the whole second half

Lancashire 3 - amlost fell over every single time the opponent got the ball. Looks a poor player.

Thomson 2 - lightweight. Is he ever all that quick? One great opportunity to get to the byeline and what does he do, yes you guessed it, he crossed it early.

 

Pretty much agree with that Chez.

 

Quite how Wotton stayed on when Morgan went off I don't know. I can understand Pardew wanting some height, steel and experience in the middle of the park but Wotton just doesn't give us enough - it's almost like playing with 10 men. I have reservations about Gillet and Morgan together in the middle but they simply cannot be any worse that what we saw on Saturday.

 

Perry and Thomas struggled at the back but they were pretty much under the kosh from the first minute and the pressure on them was relentless so I have some sympathy for them. At no point did the rest of the side give them any opportunity to take a breather and gather themselves, it was constant firefighting. AP needs to spend every minute of today and tomorrow trying to get a replacement for Perry though.

[Torres]

Actually Thomson had his best game for Saints by some distance and gave us everything, kept the ball well and looked like a threat,

 

I didn't think he looked any threat at all - never looked like beating his man and didn't put in a single decent cross. His best work was helping Murty.

[MongoNeil]

Rasiak was taking a lot of flak from the guys around me and while he did put in a very lacklustre performance, as stated by other posters he had no service really. It still amazes me though that someone as tall as him was second to nearly every high ball. Lambert was up for it and used his strength to win the ball but had no support.

 

I do feel that peoples criticism of Perry is a little unjustified. Thomas had such a poor game and was always out of position which meant Perry was trying to cover for him most of the game. Perry made some great tackles in my opinion.

 

In short, to echo most peoples sentiment, we need a decent centre back, a decent ball winning central midfielder who can pick out a good pass and some pace up front, be that on the wings on down the middle.

 

Be patient guys, AP will hopefully of noticed the same weaknesses and will work on them for Swindon.

[MorningtonCrescent]

don't often post an opinion post-match, as people do "see" things differently at games - dependant on expectation I guess...

 

FWIW.... I thought it was one of those days when we could've been there into the night and not looked liked scoring. Not because we are particularly poor, it just wasn't going to be our day - and Huddersfield played exactly as a home side should! They played a high temp pressing game that gave us little room to impose ourselves and prevented us from getting the ball down and playing as we would have liked.

 

I don't believe there was a singles Saints player that "had a mare" - this was certainly NOT a Sheff Weds performance where no-one gave a damn, as much as they tried, they weren't going to get anything from the game.

 

Ratings from me:

Davis - 9 - outstanding 1st half save and another penalty save too

Murty - 7 - tried hard, was pressed so hard by the Town winger that he seldom got the chance to go forward

Perry -6 - some good interceptions, but lacks pace (as we all know)

Thomas - 6 - the ref had a real problem with thomas all day without justification.

Harding - 6- one of his quieter games, probably for the same reason as that for Murty - little opportunity to get forward

James - 6- some nice play across the midfield but no thrust forward. often by-passed as we hoofed the ball away from defence

Sneiderlin -7- the only creative influence, when he got the ball he tried to use it productively

Wootton - 6 - did what he does - collects the ball and passes it 5 yards sideways or backwards, with the occasional hoof up towards rasiak and/or lambert

Lallana - 6 - tried to be creative but found plenty of dead ends rather than open spaces.

Rasiak - 5 - clearly has the ability but attitude is still not right. never looked like working well with lambert, they played too far apart and with no understanding.

Lambert - 6 - pressed their defence when he got the ball but was operating pretty much as a lone striker

 

Thompson - quick and fit but struggled in a team already up against the wall

Mellis - nice touches and added some spark to the midfield

Lancashire - brought on to man mark their CF and did ok but confidence is shot and needs time/patience to recover his form

 

AP - tried to gain a point away from home against a team in form and fav for promotion, it didn't pay off this time.

[Sour Mash]

Huddersfield looked MUCH the better team, the game could have easily ended 4 or 5 -0. Hopefully it'll ensure we bring in at least a couple of signings. Atmosphere was dead in the ground as well, can't remember much worse on a Saturday away from home.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

don't often post an opinion post-match, as people do "see" things differently at games - dependant on expectation I guess...

 

FWIW.... I thought it was one of those days when we could've been there into the night and not looked liked scoring. Not because we are particularly poor, it just wasn't going to be our day - and Huddersfield played exactly as a home side should! They played a high temp pressing game that gave us little room to impose ourselves and prevented us from getting the ball down and playing as we would have liked.

 

I don't believe there was a singles Saints player that "had a mare" - this was certainly NOT a Sheff Weds performance where no-one gave a damn, as much as they tried, they weren't going to get anything from the game.

 

Ratings from me:

Davis - 9 - outstanding 1st half save and another penalty save too

Murty - 7 - tried hard, was pressed so hard by the Town winger that he seldom got the chance to go forward

Perry -6 - some good interceptions, but lacks pace (as we all know)

Thomas - 6 - the ref had a real problem with thomas all day without justification.

Harding - 6- one of his quieter games, probably for the same reason as that for Murty - little opportunity to get forward

James - 6- some nice play across the midfield but no thrust forward. often by-passed as we hoofed the ball away from defence

Sneiderlin -7- the only creative influence, when he got the ball he tried to use it productively

Wootton - 6 - did what he does - collects the ball and passes it 5 yards sideways or backwards, with the occasional hoof up towards rasiak and/or lambert

Lallana - 6 - tried to be creative but found plenty of dead ends rather than open spaces.

Rasiak - 5 - clearly has the ability but attitude is still not right. never looked like working well with lambert, they played too far apart and with no understanding.

Lambert - 6 - pressed their defence when he got the ball but was operating pretty much as a lone striker

 

Thompson - quick and fit but struggled in a team already up against the wall

Mellis - nice touches and added some spark to the midfield

Lancashire - brought on to man mark their CF and did ok but confidence is shot and needs time/patience to recover his form

 

AP - tried to gain a point away from home against a team in form and fav for promotion, it didn't pay off this time.

 

 

Bit of a strange post this, if you don't mind me saying Mornington. You seem to imply it was the Gods that were against us and therefore it was not really our fault.

While I agree with you there was no lack of effort I thought we were woefully short of nous, class and organisation, not to mention skill, fitness and drive.

 

The ref did hound Thomas a tad but he did committ a couple of brazen fouls right in front. Thomas was awful and got worse and you really can't blame the ref for that. The bloke next to me said he must have had a bar of Toblerone on his head because whenever he tried to head the ball it went all over the place. (Thats Thomas not the ref btw)

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Well back to the pc after a weekend away.

 

The game was quite dire if you were a Saints fan. We were over run in every area. I thought Huddersfield played really well and how it remained 0-0 at half time only Kelvin knows. There were gaping holes in the centre of defence at times...and midfield looked non existent.

 

Watched the goals again...the penalty was down to some poor defending and we still nearly got away with it...our goal was a bolt out of the blue...the other two goals were just poor defending. Don't get me wrong Huddersfield are a good side going forward - but I think we made their job easier. We didn't pass to each other (one of the basics) and kept hoofing it up to Rasiak and Lambert. Rasiak was not at the races. We have a lot of work to do before we are going to reduce the -9 points!

 

Hudderfield seemed a friendly enough place. Some of the old members of TSF met in The Grove and sampled some real ale. The highlight of the walk to the ground was a rendition of OWTSGMI in a subway with a busker. The funny thing was the look on an old couples face when only 10 of us came out the subway with a couple of girls in tow...from the look on their faces it was a gang of nutters of around 200! Then someone started "Huddersfield...get Lallana" - don't ask! Oh and I got soaked walking to the pub!

 

Not a good day and looking back we are almost as bad as last season on some away games. TBH Huddersfield should have won by a bigger margin - but thankfully Kelvin was there to save the day.

 

It's going to be a long hard season - forget play offs at this stage, let's just concentrate on staying in this league!

 

Ah yes Yorkie, the "Grove" indeed was an excellent pub - 18 real ales and lagers to choose from.

Unfortunately the driver of our car (Lets B Avenue) took us to the other "Grove" in Huddersfield first and shall we say it did not quite match up to expectations. It was in the middle of a rough council estate, full of pitbulls, abandoned cars, boarded up shops and roaming gangs. When we walked in and asked where the 18 real ales were the barman looked at us as if we had just landed from Jupiter. The moral of this story is make sure you "google map the right pub". Valuable drinking time was lost and I tell you that performance by Saints you needed a few pints inside you to make it bearable.

[MorningtonCrescent]

Bit of a strange post this, if you don't mind me saying Mornington. You seem to imply it was the Gods that were against us and therefore it was not really our fault.

 

Of course I don't mind! Probably the reason I actually decided to post, when I normally wouldn't, is because my view seems to be different to many who were there (and many who weren't!).

 

Back in the day (!), people accepted that sometimes it just wasn't meant to be. I felt that Saturday was one of those days.... because Huddersfield played the perfect "home" game and we just weren't at the races as a result.

 

The ref did hound Thomas a tad but he did committ a couple of brazen fouls right in front. Thomas was awful and got worse and you really can't blame the ref for that. The bloke next to me said he must have had a bar of Toblerone on his head because whenever he tried to head the ball it went all over the place. (Thats Thomas not the ref btw)

 

Thomas was, indeed, unfairly treated by the ref and that surely affected his game? The yellow card he got was also unjust and clearly affected him in terms of his agressiveness (naturally).

 

The fact that the Huddersfield players went down like the preverbal sack of spuds when in danger of getting a yellow FOR FOULING A SAINT just shows their "nous" at playing the ref (or their bad sportsmanship?).. At least three times their player acted badly hurt to escape a booking and the ref bought it each time (one was a clear elbow on Thomas!)

 

Perhaps I wanted to bring some balance and realism to the debate on the performance, because this was not nearly as bad as many of our matches last season. Expectation is a dangerous thing and many Saints fans have still not come to terms with the situation we find ourselves in.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Of course I don't mind! Probably the reason I actually decided to post, when I normally wouldn't, is because my view seems to be different to many who were there (and many who weren't!).

 

Back in the day (!), people accepted that sometimes it just wasn't meant to be. I felt that Saturday was one of those days.... because Huddersfield played the perfect "home" game and we just weren't at the races as a result.

 

 

 

Thomas was, indeed, unfairly treated by the ref and that surely affected his game? The yellow card he got was also unjust and clearly affected him in terms of his agressiveness (naturally).

 

The fact that the Huddersfield players went down like the preverbal sack of spuds when in danger of getting a yellow FOR FOULING A SAINT just shows their "nous" at playing the ref (or their bad sportsmanship?).. At least three times their player acted badly hurt to escape a booking and the ref bought it each time (one was a clear elbow on Thomas!)

 

Perhaps I wanted to bring some balance and realism to the debate on the performance, because this was not nearly as bad as many of our matches last season. Expectation is a dangerous thing and many Saints fans have still not come to terms with the situation we find ourselves in.

 

Appreciate what you are saying especially when comparing Saturday to some of the abyssmal away performances over the last few years but I think the fact remains we just weren't at the races v Town and that was despite being "up for it".

 

As for Thomas I have heard some worrying things from people who would know about his mental strength. Although he a powerfully built defender there are stories than when the going gets tough he gets going and to me on Saturday that was increasingly evident as the game wore on.

I would not be surprised to find him injured for tomorrow's game. I'd like to be proved wrong here because, for a team that is far too lightweight we desperately need his strength and power but we also need determination and a cool head. Tomorrow will be an interesting test of his and our bouncibility

 

.

[Torres]

 

Back in the day (!), people accepted that sometimes it just wasn't meant to be. I felt that Saturday was one of those days.... because Huddersfield played the perfect "home" game and we just weren't at the races as a result.

 

Sometimes it can the case that it's just not your day - but even on those days you should be able to string more than 3 passes together which was something we seemed utterly incapable of doing on Saturday.

[Wes Tender]

Did enjoy the day though and hope we are still able to go to Huddersfield again next year.

 

I saw what you did there. Huddersfield are tipped for promotion this season, aren't they?

[Village Saint]

From last seasons team the only player who should be in the starting 11 after August 31st is Davis.Maybe keep Morgan,Thomas and possibly James in the side to Jan if we can't get the right players in.We need 2/3 midfielders,another striker if Rasiak goes and I would replace both centre backs ideally.

 

A pacy striker,brick house centre back,and controlling midfielder are a must to be competitive imo

 

Keep Thomas? I have kept quiet whilst others have somehow seen him as a potential saviour in central defence. Presumably no-one who was at the game will ever sugegst that again. His positioning is woeful; he was implicated in all three goals; and I cannot remember a single occasion on Saturday where we kept the ball following a header or 'pass' from him. Hopefully he will have picked up an injury on Saturday and will be out for the season.