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Saints 3-0 Tranmere Rovers: Post Match Reaction


St Landrew

Man of the Match  

555 members have voted

  1. 1. Man of the Match

    • Bart
      7
    • Jaidi
      20
    • Perry
      8
    • Harding
      84
    • Antonio
      4
    • Hammond
      39
    • Schneiderlin
      13
    • Lallana
      15
    • Connolly
      38
    • Lambert
      327


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Just out of interest, as you are saying that Bart kicked it, does that mean it was off a goalkick? As I previously mentioned I haven't seen the incident so its a genuine question

Not a goalkick, he kicked it from his hands. As you rightly say, you cannot be offside from a goalkick but it's surprising the number of supporters and players who don't know that.

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There's a little bit in the Mail today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1235561/All-fizz-Coca-Cola-Football-League.html 'Cheap at half the price'. Where do they get this bit about 'cash-strapped Saints'?

 

Working in London I often talk to your average chelsea/spurs/arsenal etc etc fans who are still under the impression that we are still in administration and favourites for relegation.

 

They obviously read the daily mail and probably look at nothing other than the premier league. The most interesting conversations are invariably with the resident Brentford and Doncaster Rovers fans

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Working in London I often talk to your average chelsea/spurs/arsenal etc etc fans who are still under the impression that we are still in administration and favourites for relegation.

 

They obviously read the daily mail and probably look at nothing other than the premier league. The most interesting conversations are invariably with the resident Brentford and Doncaster Rovers fans

 

ahh let em think that, then we can sneak up on them in a couple of years....

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A good example of just this was the game against United when Kevin Phillips brought us back into contention and Van Nistelrooy scored the winner. At that time the rules had just been altered as I recall and they were questioned at the time by the commentator. I watched the game in a bar in Hong Kong and remember how cheated I felt. I also seem to recall us attempting to do the same in a match soon after, on the basis that if Man Ure had been allowed to get away with it, they had set the precedent for that interpretation. I'm pretty convinced that a lot of the decisions regarding the offside rule are wrong at this level because the linesmen are simply not good enough at keeping up with play and judging whether the player was ahead of the last defender at the precise time when the ball was played. As it is a physical impossibilty to be looking in two different directions at the same time, there ought to either be electronic aids, or an extra two linesmen. Naturally, the difficulty for the linesman is increased when he has to decide whether the striker has broken forward before the ball has been kicked by the keeper. I was behind the Northam goal and saw Papa as being onside when the ball was kicked. My perspective is not perfect, but at least I saw the while thing simultaneously to when it happened, which the linesman could not do from two thirds up the pitch.

 

The 1st phase/second/phase situation most commonly comes from free kicks or drop kicks. When running the line in junior football I was advised to stay in line with the last defender whilst glancing between them and the kicker; just as you anticipate the kicker striking the ball you look at the last defender and listen for the strike of the ball.

 

This could usually also be used in open play and worked well when there were just a couple of mums and a dog. Is it impossible to work this system in front of 19,800?

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Agree with the sentiment, but not entirely true about last season's team. Although this team is definitely better than last years', when Pardew was appointed, even last season's team wasn't available to him as players such as Skacel, Stern, DMG, Surman, etc', had already left. That made Pardew's building job in August a massive task, and virtually no backroom staff to help him do it. In public, he seemed to understate the size of the job at the time, but the reality is he put together a good squad in a short time, and then got Rhadi Jaidi and David Connolly as well, to make it even better.

 

The task was indeed huge and AP has gone about it in an astute way. I don't think that any of the players you mention, apart from probably Drew, would get into this eleven if they were still here. In the margin I've got my doubts (Antonio instead of Waigo) and the persistent long balls or headers out of defense, but I haven't lost my belief. The january window will be an indication of what kind of players he'll be looking at.

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My first match this season and my (5 y.o) daughter's first match ever.

 

First half was poor, but think this was mainly down to Tranmere showing why they had gone 5 matches unbeaten prior to this. That said, I wasn't worried about Tranmere scoring at all. There as no real attacking threat from them. Then again, there was no attacking threat from us either!

 

2nd half seemed a totally different game. Once the first goal went in (and a great strike is was from Harding) Tranmere had to open a bit more and we started passing through them. After that Rickie showed what we have been missing since MLT in how to take penalties and free-kicks. Two cracking strikes!

 

My thoughts of some players:

 

Bart - Seemed composed without really being troubled. Some of his kicking was way off.

 

Harding - What a great LB! How did we manage to sign him on a free?

 

James - I thought he had a good game. Watched him closely in the 2nd half and was quite impressed given the criticism of him I have read on here.

 

Morgan - Apart from a few very good long range passes I thought he was poor.

 

Antonio - As soon as he got beat for pace about 5 mins into the game (which I am sure shocked him somewhat) he didn't seem to have a clue what to do. Was quite dissapointed with him.

 

Connolly - It seemed to me that he thinks 10 times quicker than anyone else on the pitch. A quality player.

 

Rickie - A fantastic striker of the ball and a good battler.

 

All in all, came away very happy about the (2nd half) performance and it enhanced my belief in us being able to clinch a play-off spot.

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