Saints 1-0 Wycombe - Post Match Discussion

[St Will]

Just got back. We thrashed them 1-0. Should have been 3-0 at least. We didn't finish as clinically as usual - to put it mildly. I think Bart only had one save to make all night.

 

Papa was awesome apart from the ridiculous number of offisides (maybe as many as 8?). Given his pace it's maddening - he doesn't need to push that far up.

 

We were better when we switched to 4-4-2 after about 30 minutes. I prefer Papa as a centre forward than a winger.

 

As otehrs have said, Schniederlin was utterly amazing. A flawless display - and could develop into our "quarter back".

 

Hammond was a bit poor. Lambert was clearly knackered for the last ten minutes.

 

Antonio is as mad as a goose on stilts, but terrifies the opposition.

 

Jaidi was a brick wall and Perry's positioning and timing was top notch.

 

Overall, am pretty pleased.

 

Can't disagree with any of that!

[Saint Fan CaM]

Make no mistake, any other team in L1 would probably have whipped our butts tonight - some of the passing (including the hoofing) were pure comical circus tonight. The football for large parts was dire to be fair.

 

Lambert has a problem - don't know if its because he's ill, unfit or plain wants out for some reason. Jaidi on two occasions nearly gifted the opposition with gilt-edged chances with what appeared to be nothing better than casual negligence (but was a mountain for most of the game). Lallana, Waigo, Lambert and Antonio all missed incredibly great chances to score (particularly Lallana and Waigo).

 

BUT! We're out of the relegation zone and a clean sheet was kept by Bart. So onwards and upwards. AP has now got his 'dirty' win - let's hope there's many more pretty wins starting with another 3 points on Sat.

[Draino76]

Very happy. If Tranmere hadn't scored in the 85th I would be £896.50 better off; christmas sorted etc. Well there's always credit cards.

[NickG]

Make no mistake, any other team in L1 would probably have whipped our butts tonight - some of the passing (including the hoofing) were pure comical circus tonight. The football for large parts was dire to be fair.

 

Lambert has a problem - don't know if its because he's ill, unfit or plain wants out for some reason. Jaidi on two occasions nearly gifted the opposition with gilt-edged chances with what appeared to be nothing better than casual negligence (but was a mountain for most of the game). Lallana, Waigo, Lambert and Antonio all missed incredibly great chances to score (particularly Lallana and Waigo).

 

BUT! We're out of the relegation zone and a clean sheet was kept by Bart. So onwards and upwards. AP has now got his 'dirty' win - let's hope there's many more pretty wins starting with another 3 points on Sat.

 

did they have a shot on target? I don't remember one

[Saint Fan CaM]

did they have a shot on target? I don't remember one

 

 

They did - one. However, that's not the point - the reason we got away with an inept performance was because they were SO rubbish at finishing and could not take advantage of extremely an inconsistent standard of play that looked comical at times. Read AP's comments on the OS - even he has intimated we were poor.

 

Examples? Some of Bart's kicks and some of the defenders clearances barely reached the half-way line. Several occasions where the ball was overplayed and we lost possesion around their pen area. Jaidi casually backheading to Bart without looking and nearly gifting one of their players a golden chance. The list of elementary errors could go on. We got away with it tonight because Wycombe were rubbish - that kind of performance will see us re-join them in the relegation zone if AP and his team don't sort it out. (I should also point out that Morgan and Perry saved our bacon with sublime tackles on more than one occasion).

[SaintDonkey]

Make no mistake, any other team in L1 would probably have whipped our butts tonight - some of the passing (including the hoofing) were pure comical circus tonight. The football for large parts was dire to be fair.

 

 

Got to disagree. We could have easily scored five or six whereas Wycombe didn't have a chance worthy of the name. The conditions were atrocious and conspired to make us look worse than we were with anything in the air holding up in the wind while anything on the ground died in the puddles.

 

It was a terrible match to watch, but it was the conditions rather than the players who made it so.

[westofshannonsaint]

I just caught updates from the second half on ssn so thanks for everyone's reports.

 

...a win, a clean sheet (first in how many?) & out of relegation zone... sitting here in Eire how can I complain? were only 3/4 points off mid table (is it achievable by xmas?) & & 12 points off the play off spot.

 

i've just seen the goal on ssn, great play from Papa.

 

Pardew interviewed after..."they didn't have a shot on target & got away with it a bit, we should have punished them on the break, but were pleased, we go to Walsall now, were out of the bottom four & worked hard to get here and want to start progressing (looks up - the table i imagine)"

[RedAndWhite91]

Just got back. We thrashed them 1-0. Should have been 3-0 at least. We didn't finish as clinically as usual - to put it mildly. I think Bart only had one save to make all night.

 

Papa was awesome apart from the ridiculous number of offisides (maybe as many as 8?). Given his pace it's maddening - he doesn't need to push that far up.

 

We were better when we switched to 4-4-2 after about 30 minutes. I prefer Papa as a centre forward than a winger.

 

As otehrs have said, Schniederlin was utterly amazing. A flawless display - and could develop into our "quarter back".

 

Hammond was a bit poor. Lambert was clearly knackered for the last ten minutes.

 

Antonio is as mad as a goose on stilts, but terrifies the opposition.

 

Jaidi was a brick wall and Perry's positioning and timing was top notch.

 

Overall, am pretty pleased.

 

Spot on IMO

[Saint Fan CaM]

Got to disagree. We could have easily scored five or six whereas Wycombe didn't have a chance worthy of the name. The conditions were atrocious and conspired to make us look worse than we were with anything in the air holding up in the wind while anything on the ground died in the puddles.

 

It was a terrible match to watch, but it was the conditions rather than the players who made it so.

 

 

The weather was the same for both teams. We may have had all those chances, but we only scored one. I still believe that most other teams in this league would have scored more than once with some of the possession Wycombe had and won. Wycombe were just too awful to capitilise (and that's why they are where they are).

[BadgerBadger]

Good result - not too long ago we would've drawn or lost that game, not pretty but how many games have we played pretty and lost.

 

Cue TDD and the boo boys - 'we have a squad bigger than the division and should be winning 50-0'

[westofshannonsaint]

games remaining 27

points available 81

points required for playoffs (target 75) 56

points we can afford to drop 25

points per game required 2.07407407407407

[Hamilton Saint]

games remaining 27

points available 81

points required for playoffs (target 75) 56

points we can afford to drop 25

points per game required 2.07407407407407

 

 

Our average points per game for the last 8 games has been 2.12. But can we keep that going?

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Clean sheet and out of the drop zone. If we can win 4 of the next 5 the play offs will be a realistic target. Not going to be disappointed if we don't make it this year though - my expectation was for a top half finish, ending the season near the top on current form. Good job Pards.

[Chris Larkin]

COYR.

 

That is all.

[Professor]

Seeing some of the ultra euphoric reactions brings to mind words such as 'ground' 'feet' and 'keeping on'. Its great that we are up one more place, and its great that we are now in touch with the teams above us, but talk of win after win after win, is not the way Pardew is looking at it. Saint's current form on the last 5 league games is W2; D2, L1. That is mid-table form, and from where we are now, mid-table is a real prospect, but getting carried away about shooting up the table is just not realistic with too many weaknesses in the team. This is not a team for the future, but if it can do a job this year by ensuring safety, that should be enough. To be the Leeds of next year will definitely need more quality and less reliance on old pros who may be fading or are injury prone.

[northam soul]

Was it just me or was that the worst atmosphere at a saints league game ever. Even the back of the Itchen where i sit was very subdued.

[Teddy Nutkins]

Well done all at SFC, out of the drop zone in what was a very strange game.

It reminded me of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, you really could have put any result to that game.We won 1-0, it could of been 6 or 7, or we could have thrown it all away in the last 10 minutes. Wycombe were poor to say the least but we did our best to give them ample opportunity to get something out of the game.

We were so inconsistant, good at times, shocking at other, hooooooofff.What did amaze me, was how tired we looked in the last 20 minutes( esp Rickie). Are we unfit ? Have we become tired because of the amount of games we have played ?

Having thought about the game, walking home in the rain again, i think that during the 2nd half we had so many quick break aways which started from our back 4 that we just ran out of steam because the game was so stretched.We badly needed the 2nd goal to settle us down and the harder we tried the more frustrated we became.Special mention to Chris Perry and Morgan, good performances, in what was quite a comical game of football.

Well done lads, keep it going and who knows........

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Yay

3 wins on the trot, out of the relegation zone and first clean sheet in 15 games.

Does it get any better than this?

 

To answer your question I'm pretty sure supporting SFC could possibly get just a tad better than beating mighty Wycombe at home by one goal but a welcome result nevertheless .

[Thedelldays]

Good result - not too long ago we would've drawn or lost that game, not pretty but how many games have we played pretty and lost.

 

Cue TDD and the boo boys - 'we have a squad bigger than the division and should be winning 50-0'

 

Why am I a boo boy you ****? Is this all you have in your life on here ?

 

A reminder (again)

at the start of the season I was laughed at for thinking we should be producing this sort of form and called unrealistic for it. Now I am a boo boy?

 

Now we are producing the sort of form

our team should be. I want us to get better.

Is that unrealistic?

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Why am I a boo boy you ****? Is this all you have in your life on here ?

 

 

But placing people into neat little pigeon holes is a favorite pastime (or should I say 'hobby') of the feeble minded , it saves a lot of effort such as having to think .

[brightspark]

Was stunned when I saw the scoreline. 1-0 certainly is not a normal Saints performance... but thrilled with the result anyhow (even though it was 100% expected).

 

Important to kick on now against Walsall and win. We are good enough - we know we are a better side than them. A loss could put us back in the bottom 4 which would be a massive blow to the confidence of the players again.

 

Play Offs for me are still out of reach, just want to see the team playing well and getting good results for now... if the play offs start getting closer then we can think about that.

[NickG]

games remaining 27

points available 81

points required for playoffs (target 75) 56

points we can afford to drop 25

points per game required 2.07407407407407

 

Our average points per game for the last 8 games has been 2.12. But can we keep that going?

 

we don't need to, we can drop by 0.05!

[West End Saint]

We did thrash them 1 0 should have been 4 how papa didnt score I will never know thought Spiderman was fab 1st half great 1st touch & vision was really pulling the strings Murty did well & Papa caused all sorts of problems as did Antonio.

 

What a great feeling being out of the bottom 4 I didmt think we would do that by Xmas we are in great form AP has done a fantastic job I am loving watching my team keep it up Saints

[hutch]

we don't need to, we can drop by 0.05!

No we can't. We can only drop by 0.0459259259259

[Joesaint]

I thought Waigo had a decent game. He set up our goal and ran his socks off. He tracked back well too and even made a few tackles. Always looked a handfull for the Wycombe defence. His show of frustration when he was taken off shows that he cares and wants to play IMHO. I also think that some (at least 3) of his offsides were more down to late passes than early runs. I'd much rather see a player try to make runs to where the ball should be played than not bother. Although, many were down to poor timing. Overall, probably 6/10 would be fair for Papa Waigo.

 

Think he is getting better and better, after a few games I feel he will be a real threat, good vision for the goal as well I'd say well done.

[Thedelldays]

If waigo is an international player and fro

serie A he Shiism not need to get better. He should be able to adjust to the offside/pace of the game he is playing

 

any how. U hope we keep him, as for his frustrating moments he has memerable ones too

 

onething though, playing like he does will become a lot less effective the higher up we go

[SaintDonkey]

The weather was the same for both teams. We may have had all those chances, but we only scored one. I still believe that most other teams in this league would have scored more than once with some of the possession Wycombe had and won. Wycombe were just too awful to capitilise (and that's why they are where they are).

 

Yes Wycombe had lots of possession but they couldn't craft a decent chance out of it, we had possession and crafted at least half a dozen good chances.

 

I believe that most teams in the league would have scored more than once with the chances we had, and that most teams in the lleague would have created more chances than Wycombe did. That does not mean that most teams in the league would have beaten us. On the night it was us playing Wycombe - and we thumped them one nil.

[Nexstar]

Would vote James as MOTM as he had one of his best games for us, did some great play down the right and his set-pieces caused trouble all night. Why can't I vote him?

[tpbury]

If waigo is an international player and fro

serie A he Shiism not need to get better.

 

Eh?

[MbaleSaint]

To answer your question I'm pretty sure supporting SFC could possibly get just a tad better than beating mighty Wycombe at home by one goal but a welcome result nevertheless .

 

The same mighty Wycombe who inflicted Millwall's only home defeat of the season in their last away match. Makes this a good win.

[hutch]

After reading here, I thought some perspective might help. Here's how the WW mob saw it, from their forum:

 

"It was a disappointing performance from the Chairboys who never looked like making it three wins in a row, created virtually nothing going forward, and can consider themselves fortunate that the Saints didn't punish them even further.

 

The home side showed quality and pace going forward, carved Wycombe apart on numerous occasions and only failed to score more goals through some wayward shooting, a tendency to fall into the offside trap, and a few decent saves by Blues' keeper Scott Shearer.

 

All the Blues had to offer in the first half was a volley from Ian Westlake which went well wide, and blocked shots from Matt Harrold and Stuart Beavon.

 

The Saints on the other hand had a goal disallowed for offside, a header against the post, a header cleared off the line, several wild shots off-target and an unbelievable miss from Papa Waigo N'diaye, who somehow fired his shot over the crossbar from a few yards out with the goal at his mercy.

 

The Saints had been torturing Wycombe on the flanks and it felt like just a matter of time before they made it count, so it was no great surprise when a clever through-ball freed Papa Waigo N'Diaye on the right and his pinpoint cross was fired into the net by Ricky Lambert with the Wycombe defence chasing shadows.

 

It was more of the same in the second half, with Southampton's crisp passing and superior movement off the ball enabling them to open Wycombe up with alarming regularity.

 

Wycombe's best chance of the match came shortly after half time when John Mousinho fluffed a glorious opportunity to head Craig Woodman's corner kick past Saints' keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.

 

The introductions of Scott Davies, John Akinde and Matt Phillips for Stuart Beavon, Ian Westlake and John Mousinho, certainly improved Wycombe's attacking performance and gave the decent sized travelling support a glimmer of hope, but it still wasn't enough to get past a Saints' defence which rarely manages to keep a clean sheet.

 

The only three shots Wycombe had in the second-half all came from substitute Scott Davies. One long-range effort wasn't too far away, one forced the keeper to turn the ball round the post and one missed by a mile.

 

It wasn't just the result that was disappointing, it was the fact that a lot of the fighting spirit shown against Millwall and Brentford was missing tonight.

 

Without their on-loan players Wycombe don't look good and they couldn't afford to have two of them on the bench and one missing altogether tonight.

 

The defence looked ponderous against the athletic Saints, the midfield were slow and too easily brushed off the ball, while up-front the cutting edge was non-existent

 

 

Man of the Match

 

Scott Shearer"

 

HTH

[Scummer]

Eh?

 

Delldays has an iPhone and fat fingers.

[alpine_saint]

Very pleased by this result. Most pleased since we beat MK Dons after going behind.

 

Reason ? We defended a 1-0 lead. The defence did their job properly for once.

[Charlie Wayman]

What a strange match. We were frustrated all night by the offside trap and couldn't beat it and they were useless and never looked like troubling our defence. With Stuart Pearce watching you'd have thought Adam would have turned on the magic but he seemed to **** it up time after time by trying too hard when the simple thing would have netted him about 4 goals.

 

Superlative Schneiderlin, Mighty Murty, Peerless Perry and Juggler James... Wow! What stars, and Jaidi played a blinder as well.

 

What's happened to Hammond, he seems to be all at sea since AP gave him the skip-band, now it looks like he needs a band-aid!

 

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

[alpine_saint]

I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

WTF ?

[Teddy Nutkins]

WTF ?

 

Well put.Sorry Charlie, you are entitled to your opinion, i don't happen to agree with you.

[sandwichsaint]

Difficult game to call (difficult game to watch for long parts!), it could have been 4-0, it could have been 1-1. Saints looked lethargic from the start and served up a generous mix of misplaced passes and aimless hoof-ball for most of the first half, very hard on the eye and it rather tested the patience of a small and tetchy crowd. As has been said Wycombe were by far the weakest team we have played in the league this season and on this form they look nailed-on for a bottom four position, which only made Saints’ ineptitude all the more frustrating.

 

Saints started 4-1-4-1 but failed to make our superior numbers in midfield count as we constantly gave the ball away leaving Lambert feeding on scraps (again). The only bright spark in the general dross of the first half (on both sides) was Waigo who worked hard in attack and defence but was too often let down by the service to him after getting into some great positions (agree on the general offside thing, he is quick enough to hold his run by a yard, our midfield need to get on his wavelength as he has excellent early movement across the line and we need to play him in 5yds quicker than they were last night; and the lino needs to keep up and read him, I wasn’t in the best position to see but several in the first-half looked dubious at best). Saints then scored a goal that was out of keeping with most of what had gone before, decent build up, a penetrating long ball out wide to Waigo who easily out-paced his man to provide the perfect assist for Lambert to make no mistake. Visible relief in the team and the ground and a real platform for the second half.

 

The second half was infinitely better than the first and turned out to be quite entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. Saints had pretty much the run of the pitch for the first 15 minutes but couldn’t find a second as they contrived to miss the goal, shoot over, fall over, and shoot straight at the keeper on at least four occasions.

 

Just a word for their keeper, probably the worst keeper I’ve ever seen in a pro-game! Nil control of his area, stayed on the line for everything (except for the number of occasions when he rushed needlessly from his area), twice crawling after the ball in his own 6 yd box, he did block a number of shots that were straight at him but he never looked like holding anything and his rebounds were always straight back into the danger area, never away for a corner or out sideways, how didn’t we score from at least one of the six occasions he created mayhem in his own box?

 

All of which Keystone-copping led to an increasingly nervous last 15 minutes as Wycombe sensed they were in with a chance of a thoroughly undeserved point and actually played some constructive football against a tired looking Saints team but they offered no real threat for the whole 90 mins while we continued to mess and miss pretty much till the final whistle. In previous seasons we would have conceded in the last 10 mins and hung on for a 1-1.

 

I’ve seen several really good games this season but have to say I’d forgotten what ‘winning ugly’ actually looks like; obviously we can’t win pretty every week and the SMS faithful have seen two really good games in the previous two but have to say last night left a nasty taste. Really poor opposition, small crowd, poor atmosphere, poor performance from Saints; traffic was rammed after the game, got home at 12.30am.

 

Still, 3 points, out of relegation, and the Skates lost, happy-clap me up!

 

Bart 6, good to see him getting a chance, very little to do, looked tidy enough and hopefully his distribution will sharpen up with games played.

Murty 6, still getting back to match speed/match fitness, solid at the back but expected a bit more offensively if I’m honest (first time I’ve seen him live)

Jaidi 6, usual combo of rock and the occasional silly mistake, a real asset at this level

Perry 7, busy and efficient, played his part in what was probably the easiest clean sheet we will earn all season.

Harding 5, looked tired and very little attacking threat in this game

James 5, busy in the Wotton role, covered a lot of ground and won his share of headers and tackles, distribution still below par but clearly a future in this role

Waigo 7, my man of the match. I like his pace, his attitude, his enthusiasm, his positive attacking instincts, his workrate for the team. The sort of player we haven’t had for a number of years.

Hammond 5, work a day performance, got the job done (sometimes you have to do that), but clearly not his best game.

Schneiderlin 7, solid game, got stuck in and looked really good albeit against a conference-level side; can he do it (consistently) against the best teams? Leeds away will tell us!

Lallana 7, has added consistency to everything else he offers, looking physically stronger with every game he plays. Rather isolated at times last night but he has a real goalscorer’s knack of getting himself into goal-scoring positions.

Ricky 6, looked jaded from the off. A lot of hoof-ball that was nowhere near him in the first half, came alive for his goal but against their comedy keeper he must be wondering how he didn’t grab 3 or 4 last night.

 

Antonio 7, a sort of footballing Frank Bruno (‘you know what I mean ‘Arry?’). In a word, loveable.

Wotton, only on long enough to foul 2 people.

Mellis, forgotten man, can’t see Chelsk keeping him on our bench for much longer.

 

 

Ref 7, ‘fussy’ but not helped by the conditions or the number of times we were offside. Got most of it right and didn’t get a long wrong.

 

Fans 4, I thought I’d arrived by tardis. Ground emptiest I’ve seen it for a long time, atmosphere tetchy, temperature freezing, oppo fans nil.

 

Thoughts?

 

We won!

We will have to play a lot better to get anything at Walsall (I think we will on both counts).

Players looked tired which is a concern with Xmas coming up; concerns about our squad depth / rotation. Why do Lambert and Lallana play every minute of every game, he could easily have given Lambo 20 minutes off yesterday (or 45 last Saturday)?

I love my Saints and I love my football but last night was on those when we just have to take it and move on; I was a grumpy old man driving home last night and not feeling much better this morning!

 

GGGGRRRRRHHHH!

[Toadhall Saint]

We won on a terrible night for footie - WW got what 2 shots all night? we kept a clean sheet (for once) and another 3 points in the bag and out of the relegation zone.

 

A good night overall - job done!

[Rod Le Shearer]

What a strange match. We were frustrated all night by the offside trap and couldn't beat it and they were useless and never looked like troubling our defence. With Stuart Pearce watching you'd have thought Adam would have turned on the magic but he seemed to **** it up time after time by trying too hard when the simple thing would have netted him about 4 goals.

 

Superlative Schneiderlin, Mighty Murty, Peerless Perry and Juggler James... Wow! What stars, and Jaidi played a blinder as well.

 

What's happened to Hammond, he seems to be all at sea since AP gave him the skip-band, now it looks like he needs a band-aid!

 

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

Mate,hadnt it been for Lambert we would still be bottom by a mile.

He has been involved,through goals and assists,in over two thirds of our goals FFS!!

 

the only other player I can think of who has been so influential at any club in modern times,was Ronaldo at Man U. and even he didnt have the goal/assist tally of Lamberts standard.

the man is immense,and far,FAR too good for league 1.

[Saint_clark]

Interestingly we have 10 shots on target - really should have been more, their keeper and defence must have made some great saves/blocks.

Wycombe also had 7 shots altogether, more than I thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8377327.stm

[S-Clarke]

 

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

Do you really think that? honestly?

 

he's had a few off colour games, but when he's on his game he's as good as any championship forward.

 

To say he's not good enough for us is quite frankly laughable.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Difficult game to call (difficult game to watch for long parts!), it could have been 4-0, it could have been 1-1. Saints looked lethargic from the start and served up a generous mix of misplaced passes and aimless hoof-ball for most of the first half, very hard on the eye and it rather tested the patience of a small and tetchy crowd. As has been said Wycombe were by far the weakest team we have played in the league this season and on this form they look nailed-on for a bottom four position, which only made Saints’ ineptitude all the more frustrating.

 

Saints started 4-1-4-1 but failed to make our superior numbers in midfield count as we constantly gave the ball away leaving Lambert feeding on scraps (again). The only bright spark in the general dross of the first half (on both sides) was Waigo who worked hard in attack and defence but was too often let down by the service to him after getting into some great positions (agree on the general offside thing, he is quick enough to hold his run by a yard, our midfield need to get on his wavelength as he has excellent early movement across the line and we need to play him in 5yds quicker than they were last night; and the lino needs to keep up and read him, I wasn’t in the best position to see but several in the first-half looked dubious at best). Saints then scored a goal that was out of keeping with most of what had gone before, decent build up, a penetrating long ball out wide to Waigo who easily out-paced his man to provide the perfect assist for Lambert to make no mistake. Visible relief in the team and the ground and a real platform for the second half.

 

The second half was infinitely better than the first and turned out to be quite entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons. Saints had pretty much the run of the pitch for the first 15 minutes but couldn’t find a second as they contrived to miss the goal, shoot over, fall over, and shoot straight at the keeper on at least four occasions.

 

Just a word for their keeper, probably the worst keeper I’ve ever seen in a pro-game! Nil control of his area, stayed on the line for everything (except for the number of occasions when he rushed needlessly from his area), twice crawling after the ball in his own 6 yd box, he did block a number of shots that were straight at him but he never looked like holding anything and his rebounds were always straight back into the danger area, never away for a corner or out sideways, how didn’t we score from at least one of the six occasions he created mayhem in his own box?

 

All of which Keystone-copping led to an increasingly nervous last 15 minutes as Wycombe sensed they were in with a chance of a thoroughly undeserved point and actually played some constructive football against a tired looking Saints team but they offered no real threat for the whole 90 mins while we continued to mess and miss pretty much till the final whistle. In previous seasons we would have conceded in the last 10 mins and hung on for a 1-1.

 

I’ve seen several really good games this season but have to say I’d forgotten what ‘winning ugly’ actually looks like; obviously we can’t win pretty every week and the SMS faithful have seen two really good games in the previous two but have to say last night left a nasty taste. Really poor opposition, small crowd, poor atmosphere, poor performance from Saints; traffic was rammed after the game, got home at 12.30am.

 

Still, 3 points, out of relegation, and the Skates lost, happy-clap me up!

 

Bart 6, good to see him getting a chance, very little to do, looked tidy enough and hopefully his distribution will sharpen up with games played.

Murty 6, still getting back to match speed/match fitness, solid at the back but expected a bit more offensively if I’m honest (first time I’ve seen him live)

Jaidi 6, usual combo of rock and the occasional silly mistake, a real asset at this level

Perry 7, busy and efficient, played his part in what was probably the easiest clean sheet we will earn all season.

Harding 5, looked tired and very little attacking threat in this game

James 5, busy in the Wotton role, covered a lot of ground and won his share of headers and tackles, distribution still below par but clearly a future in this role

Waigo 7, my man of the match. I like his pace, his attitude, his enthusiasm, his positive attacking instincts, his workrate for the team. The sort of player we haven’t had for a number of years.

Hammond 5, work a day performance, got the job done (sometimes you have to do that), but clearly not his best game.

Schneiderlin 7, solid game, got stuck in and looked really good albeit against a conference-level side; can he do it (consistently) against the best teams? Leeds away will tell us!

Lallana 7, has added consistency to everything else he offers, looking physically stronger with every game he plays. Rather isolated at times last night but he has a real goalscorer’s knack of getting himself into goal-scoring positions.

Ricky 6, looked jaded from the off. A lot of hoof-ball that was nowhere near him in the first half, came alive for his goal but against their comedy keeper he must be wondering how he didn’t grab 3 or 4 last night.

 

Antonio 7, a sort of footballing Frank Bruno (‘you know what I mean ‘Arry?’). In a word, loveable.

Wotton, only on long enough to foul 2 people.

Mellis, forgotten man, can’t see Chelsk keeping him on our bench for much longer.

 

 

Ref 7, ‘fussy’ but not helped by the conditions or the number of times we were offside. Got most of it right and didn’t get a long wrong.

 

Fans 4, I thought I’d arrived by tardis. Ground emptiest I’ve seen it for a long time, atmosphere tetchy, temperature freezing, oppo fans nil.

 

Thoughts?

 

We won!

We will have to play a lot better to get anything at Walsall (I think we will on both counts).

Players looked tired which is a concern with Xmas coming up; concerns about our squad depth / rotation. Why do Lambert and Lallana play every minute of every game, he could easily have given Lambo 20 minutes off yesterday (or 45 last Saturday)?

I love my Saints and I love my football but last night was on those when we just have to take it and move on; I was a grumpy old man driving home last night and not feeling much better this morning!

 

GGGGRRRRRHHHH!

 

Very fair report back.

Antonio's mazy run towards their goal had us all clutching our sides at the end.

[The Godfather]

Relief just to get the win, although they never looked liked scoring but put us under a some pressure it was a real struggle. Hopefully the players will learn from it about putting the game to bed.

 

Bart 6 ( had nothing to do)

Murty 6 defended well but poor distribution, to much hoofing

Harding 6 as above

Jaidi 6 played well but marked down beacuse a few moments of casualness that nearly cost us.

Perry 8 outstanding at the back, with some great tackles.

Waigo 5 Probaly harsh but only because his offside fettish.

Hammond 5 wasn't at the races at all in midfield

Schnerderlin 8 outstanding game

Lallana 7 constant threat but no real support from midfield.

James 7 had a decent first half but went missing in the second half.

Lambert 7 ran his heart out , got the goal, looked Knackered at the end.

 

Pardew has to take responsibility for the first half hour as he got the tactics?formation wrong again but least he saw the problem and changed it.

[Greenridge]

Do you really think that? honestly?

 

he's had a few off colour games, but when he's on his game he's as good as any championship forward.

 

To say he's not good enough for us is quite frankly laughable.

 

I don't agree to the same extent as Charlie Wayman but something is clearly not right with Lambert at the moment. He's not reached anything like his previous form in the last 3 or 4 games. I had a distinct feeling that it was related to him playing the deeper role off Connolly but seeing as he didn't play last night then that theory is out the window. I see it posted that he's had some kind of virus / flu but can't recall seeing anything on the OS? Hopefully he'll be back to his former self in the coming weeks.

[SuperSAINT]

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

Yeah, I hate those £1m signings, who come in and end up as the leagues leading goal scorer!

[up and away]

What a strange match. We were frustrated all night by the offside trap and couldn't beat it and they were useless and never looked like troubling our defence. With Stuart Pearce watching you'd have thought Adam would have turned on the magic but he seemed to **** it up time after time by trying too hard when the simple thing would have netted him about 4 goals.

 

Superlative Schneiderlin, Mighty Murty, Peerless Perry and Juggler James... Wow! What stars, and Jaidi played a blinder as well.

 

What's happened to Hammond, he seems to be all at sea since AP gave him the skip-band, now it looks like he needs a band-aid!

 

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

Every year you get those horrible mid winter games, low crowd and little atmosphere, but we won this one rather than the usual 0-0.

Lambert and Hammond were poor last night, but this is the exception rather than the rule and if we want to move up the table it will be only because these two drag us up there. What I saw for the first time last night was the "expected" performers not deliver but the slack was taken up by performances from those not recently been faring so well. In reality it was a comfortable win but we have definitely tailed off from our earlier performances. What's going to be very interesting is how we perform at the weekend, because I am not sure that will be good enough or that the same players can fill in again! This maybe is just what winning "ugly" is actually like, but I am not 100% on that as yet.

[derry]

Big plusses for me, I felt much more comfortable with Bart in goal, Waigo despite the offsides gives us a cutting edge that is very difficult to handle.

 

Adam Lallana worked his socks off and is playing well down our left, tracking back and getting into dangerous positions when the play is down the right.

 

Morgan Schneiderlin is beginning to get the measure of English winter football and just needs to start driving for the box more when the ball is out wide.

[St_Tel49]

Mate,hadnt it been for Lambert we would still be bottom by a mile.

He has been involved,through goals and assists,in over two thirds of our goals FFS!!

 

the only other player I can think of who has been so influential at any club in modern times,was Ronaldo at Man U. and even he didnt have the goal/assist tally of Lamberts standard.

the man is immense,and far,FAR too good for league 1.

 

Agreed. We have one of the league's top scorers, works hard in all the games that I have seen, and its still not good enough to please some of our fans.

[Jez]

Bart 6 - Hard to mark him

 

I agree.

 

Would be offside all the time.

[RedAndWhite91]

After another woeful display of laziness and shooting incompetence amounting to grand larceny, I am convinced that Lambert is a waste of space even 'though somehow he manages to get his name on the score-sheet every week. He just isn't good enough for our team now. He was supposedly worth £1m, I'll bet Bristol Rovers have been laughing with their bank manager ever since.

 

What a load of ********. Just out of interest, do you go to every game? Have you made that judgement over the season, or based it on one match? If it wasn't for Lambert's goals and assists, hold up play and presence we would still be mooching around 24th spot. Who do you suggest we play instead of him if he isn't good enough? Maybe you should go and watch Arsenal, they seem to be scoring a lot of goals.