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Colchester 2-1 Saints. Post match chat.


saint lard

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We had a lot of different views about another player in the past, so we obviously look at different facets. James curls the ball away from the keeper and towards the oncoming forward, to me he delivers the ball better than any other player in the team. His tackling etc..well thats a different thing

 

So what is a good position for him in the team? Instead of Murty? Instead of Waigo? Instead of Hammond or Schneiderlin? So far there has nearly always been an injury to cover for, but if everybody is fit?

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Derry Im really surprised at your impatience and sudden doubting of the manager. Surely you would like a lot of us, leart from turning against the manager. There has never been a manager who has played the team I wanted week in week out. I myself would like to have seen more of Holmes but thats football.

As for James i see weaknesses but he is a fantastic crosser of the ball and puts it in the right area.

 

For every good cross there is a bad one.

He needs to up his consistency levels.

I regard him to be a good bench player as he can fill in most positions.

 

He is also slow.

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We had a lot of different views about another player in the past, so we obviously look at different facets. James curls the ball away from the keeper and towards the oncoming forward, to me he delivers the ball better than any other player in the team. His tackling etc..well thats a different thing

 

I have a mate who came with me to the last three matches. He was a top class centre back and played at a high level. He felt that our crosses especially James's, except for Trotman's goal were just playing into the defence's hands.

 

He felt that they were the sort of crosses that defenders cope with easily unlike the crosses coming back from the byeline. I feel exactly the same.

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For every good cross there is a bad one.

He needs to up his consistency levels.

I regard him to be a good bench player as he can fill in most positions.

 

He is also slow.

We are playing L1 football, and so not all crosses will be spot on. In fact even the great MLT put them into the crowd and keepers hands on many occasions. If Murty was fit I would expect james to be on the bench, crossing and set pieces dont get you picked unless you are beckham.
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For every good cross there is a bad one.

He needs to up his consistency levels.

I regard him to be a good bench player as he can fill in most positions.

 

He is also slow.

 

I would be happy to have him on the bench, and I trust that he would always "do a job" when called upon, but he is now a guaranteed starter which seems a bit odd. He doesn't look like the first choice in any position IMO.

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To get into the playoffs with a ten point deduction the team would have to have performed as a top three team over the whole season something it has failed to do.

 

Well summed up. I don't think we're going to make it after the Leeds and Colchester games. With a 10 point deduction and the crap start we effectively had to perform like the strongest side in the league for the remainder of the season - sadly we ain't. That said a storming run from here on in (buoyed by the right aquisitions in January) and we can still make it - would need to check the stats but weren't Palace in the bottom six at xmas when Dowie took over the season they went up?

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I have a mate who came with me to the last three matches. He was a top class centre back and played at a high level. He felt that our crosses especially James's, except for Trotman's goal were just playing into the defence's hands.

 

He felt that they were the sort of crosses that defenders cope with easily unlike the crosses coming back from the byeline. I feel exactly the same.

I went ot a game with a top class centre forward and he said that a bullish centre forward would lap up a lot of the delivery that came from james. Getting to the byeline is great ( a bit of a common theme to you derry) but if you watch a lot of games there are few right backs who get to the byeline to cross. Especially if you lack pace to get back to defend.Wingers it should be a priority but that skill is a dying art, and again MLT rarely did so but stil provided much for Dowie to waste.
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I have a mate who came with me to the last three matches. He was a top class centre back and played at a high level. He felt that our crosses especially James's, except for Trotman's goal were just playing into the defence's hands.

 

He felt that they were the sort of crosses that defenders cope with easily unlike the crosses coming back from the byeline. I feel exactly the same.

Agree.

 

Nickh watch next time how crosses from the three quarter are always dealt with by the keeper or the defender. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted cross. Get to the by line and cross back across the defence with our players running onto it. The defence have to turn to meet it. James seems to think he will get a nose bleed if he crosses the three quarter!

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Agree.

 

Nickh watch next time how crosses from the three quarter are always dealt with by the keeper or the defender. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted cross. Get to the by line and cross back across the defence with our players running onto it. The defence have to turn to meet it. James seems to think he will get a nose bleed if he crosses the three quarter!

 

Thats one of my criticisms well, he crosses from far too deep - which is why (as i said on another thread) we need an out and out winger, who will take on players and cross from the byline, must be a priority for january. It would change the outlook of this team.

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Agree.

 

Nickh watch next time how crosses from the three quarter are always dealt with by the keeper or the defender. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted cross. Get to the by line and cross back across the defence with our players running onto it. The defence have to turn to meet it. James seems to think he will get a nose bleed if he crosses the three quarter!

Are you the top class defender then Weston? you sit with Derry and so no doubt have similar opinions. Most of james crosses come from 20 yards out with bend and pace. it vis AL's that are floated and easily taken by the keepr, hence why he is no longer on corner kicks

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I went ot a game with a top class centre forward and he said that a bullish centre forward would lap up a lot of the delivery that came from james. Getting to the byeline is great ( a bit of a common theme to you derry) but if you watch a lot of games there are few right backs who get to the byeline to cross. Especially if you lack pace to get back to defend.Wingers it should be a priority but that skill is a dying art, and again MLT rarely did so but stil provided much for Dowie to waste.

 

We don't have that sort of player to even contest for the ball which means that lofting crosses in to big defenders/goalkeeper is a waste. James won't ever get to the bye line and hitting in hopeful crosses to defenders is giving the ball away.

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We don't have that sort of player to even contest for the ball which means that lofting crosses in to big defenders/goalkeeper is a waste. James won't ever get to the bye line and hitting in hopeful crosses to defenders is giving the ball away.

 

Well most crossesc are lofted, if you play them all along the ground many wont get past the first defender. Who delivers the ball better?

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Are you the top class defender then Weston? you sit with Derry and so no doubt have similar opinions. Most of james crosses come from 20 yards out with bend and pace. it vis AL's that are floated and easily taken by the keepr, hence why he is no longer on corner kicks

 

More like 30+ yds out and Weston was with us.

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Thats one of my criticisms well, he crosses from far too deep - which is why (as i said on another thread) we need an out and out winger, who will take on players and cross from the byline, must be a priority for january. It would change the outlook of this team.

 

When was the last time we had a decent winger I cant remember

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Okay then: I thought he was MotM against Exeter! And not only for his goal & the assist for our second - but his all-round game was excellent on saturday. I know he gets grief for his short-comings, etc - but credit where credit is due. He earned his place in today's starting line-up.

 

We lost today and suddenly it's 'find a scapegoat' time. Well it isn't Lloyd James - as the fans at the game will verify.

 

I guess it really is a game of opinions. I thought he was absolutely hopeless against exeter. His crossing from open play and his corners were absolutely abysmal, as they have been every other time i've seen us this season. Couple that with the fact he's painfully slow and isn't a natural defender i really don't see how he's a regular in the side. But maybe i'm missing something?

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Agree.

 

Nickh watch next time how crosses from the three quarter are always dealt with by the keeper or the defender. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted cross. Get to the by line and cross back across the defence with our players running onto it. The defence have to turn to meet it. James seems to think he will get a nose bleed if he crosses the three quarter!

 

Absolutely spot on in my opinion

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Well most crossesc are lofted, if you play them all along the ground many wont get past the first defender. Who delivers the ball better?

 

Jesus H Christ Nick have you never heard of hopeful crosses described as lofting the ball in.

 

In any event despite your defence he hits in erratic, innaccurate, hopeful balls directly at the defenders and nearly always easily dealt with.

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Jesus H Christ Nick have you never heard of hopeful crosses described as lofting the ball in.

 

In any event despite your defence he hits in erratic, innaccurate, hopeful balls directly at the defenders and nearly always easily dealt with.

Well I dont see them as hopeful crosses. We should know that the lower leagues teams are normally well equipped for crosses.Normally each team has 2 lumps of centre halves who clear the ball and everyone else. In the main LJ crosses are in the correct area, and 7 assists does show not a bad return. i doubt there are many others up there from defence or midfield.

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how come his crosses are never brought into question..?

 

Apart from Lambert's shots from close in free kicks, James takes all the corners and free kicks in addition to lofting in his crosses from 30+ yards out.

 

Considering that 7 assists is a poor return.

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We don't have that sort of player to even contest for the ball which means that lofting crosses in to big defenders/goalkeeper is a waste. James won't ever get to the bye line and hitting in hopeful crosses to defenders is giving the ball away.

 

Most definitely agree. His is a lofted ball from a very deep position......If only he could cross with pace and get forward but he doesn't / can't. However, more importantly his defending is way off - he was asleep several times in the second half on Boxing Day.

 

He is an honest hard worker yes - very much so but where we are headed we need more than that ....

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Apart from Lambert's shots from close in free kicks, James takes all the corners and free kicks in addition to lofting in his crosses from 30+ yards out.

 

Considering that 7 assists is a poor return.

And AL being vaunted as a top class player who started taking all the corners, how does that leave him then?

Lambert takes all the pens and freekicks (some from 30yards+) and so is his returnpoor as well.

I think we are both criticising the wrong things here.

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Just back from the match after foggy drive up the A12

 

I agree with much of what has been said...game of two halves etc but they weren't great in the first...one shot (the goal...a good move f*ck 'em!) & a header. We just weren't penetrating at all & credit Pardew for changing it at half-time.

 

Second half was much better...Connolly oozes class when fed properly & he replaced Spidey who was muscled out of it (agree with the earlier comment about gamesmanship & nasty side of their game - the ball boys should have been charged with bringing ball-boying in to disrepute...tw*ts) but Colchester do play as a unit who know each other pretty well so not used as an excuse. Antonio, in my opinion, should go back or, if kept, just used late as a sub - it takes less than ten minutes for the opposition to suss his entire game. Lallana, Harding, Ricky, Lloydy & Connolly all worked their nuts off against a very organised defence & ours was good for the most part...we got caught twice by a couple of great passes but our luck in front of goal wasn't there today...their keeper made a couple of blinding saves & the post shot was desperately unlucky for Lambert. Couldn't really say whether the goal was offside - just that it was the best move of the game & deserved a goal. In fairness we didn't get much from a very below average set of officials.

 

Trotman worth a punt at £500k in my view, he has matured so his stay seems to be doing him good - however when he was substituted it did look like he was waving goodbye. Bit worried to see Jaidi (I think & Ricky, I think) bawling at each other & being separated after the second goal but it might have been Hammond - shows their desire to win though which is good.

 

To sunmmarise...we did ok, another day it might have dropped for us & we were a long way from being outclassed...a little more depth in the squad in January would enable us to sub with similar quality....I'd always start Papa in front of Antonio...Despite the murk at the match I'm not too despondent & while it's mathematically possible I trust Pardew to put out the right teams to hit the play-offs. We've come a loooong way in half a season!

 

Loved the 'Where are yer'?' chant in the fog!

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I think he is quite a good manager certainly gets results

 

In fact gets better results than our man.Much is made of us "capturing" Hammond from U's,but they don't seem to need him and i'm sure that they've invested the money wisely.I consider 2 league defeats by clubs we have given money to for their better players is a bit of a slap in the face.

AP has done an OK job but I think he needs to watch his step over spending and the results obtained by it.He also needs to put the bloody defence right so that we don't need to pack midfield with defenders to compensate for it. To me our defence is a big black mark for Pardew. Money spent, players signed but it still leaks like a sieve.Because the same 4 players are too old or too infirm to start every game. Remember the 4 Arsenal oldies,started every game at 35/38 years old.

 

What did Cortese say on Solent by the way?

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if it is just league games..

 

would put him 2nd and huddersfield

2nd at leeds

and top at colchester

 

im sure most teams have a player that takes most of the corners like him...and did lallana have that duty for the first fistfull of games..?

 

I've seen every home game and there has hardly been a decent cross.

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Do you think our 'equaliser' was offside? They said on the radio it looked a bad decision, and i think the way we were playing at the time it probably cost us the game as I think we would have gone on to win had it been allowed.

 

We were stood right behind the goal and were convinced it wasn't offside.

The linesman also gave them a goal kick, when it was a clearly corner, from which they scored their second goal. So we could say that the officials cost us the game but overall we were unconvincing in front of goal.

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We were stood right behind the goal and were convinced it wasn't offside.

The linesman also gave them a goal kick, when it was a clearly corner, from which they scored their second goal. So we could say that the officials cost us the game but overall we were unconvincing in front of goal.

 

Was Lallana onside then? it's not about Papa (for once)

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