Colchester 2-1 Saints. Post match chat.

[John B]

maybe not..but the facts are there to see...put him in most teams above us, he would be in their top 2 assists bracket...

 

harding has none, lallana has less than him...maybe the standard of this league is farking poor and he is pretty good for league 1..?

 

I did not realise you had become an Anorak Stato DD:wink:

[derry]

Interesting to see James with 7 assists. To put that into some perspective for people. That is more assists then anyone in our team last year had for the whole season. Surman was top with 6. To put that into further perspective that means he has a 1 assist every 2 games ratio. To put that into even further perspective that is over twice as good as Morgan, who most feel to be our most creative player.

 

To put it further into perspective those 7 assists came in about 28 matches and between 500 and 600 attempts at free kicks, corners and crosses, and were in the main either corners or free kicks.

[OldNick]

To put it further into perspective those 7 assists came in about 28 matches and between 500 and 600 attempts at free kicks, corners and crosses, and were in the main either corners or free kicks.

you are getting a tad desperate to justify your position Derry. You believe he cant cross the ball others disagree get over it. Your figures clutched from the air do you no favours. He is not responsible for 20+ crosses a game and even if he was the 7 assists were for goals scored not for finding the man or taking into account saves etc.

As DD rightly points out, to be fair you should now point your finger at AL , Morgan and dan Harding as their contribution is far less.

[Saint Fan CaM]

There will be more games like this one until AP sorts the squad out completely. Hopefully that will happen in January. Key issues are poor defence make-up and an unbalanced midfield. In short we need a RB, CB, CAM, LW, RW and a large mobile striker. Trouble is we also have OK players that are a bit of a luxury as they take up a squad place yet they not good enough to do a basic job. I refer to James, Waigo, Wotton, Antonio, Thomas for example. Even Lallana is a bit of an enigma - is he a winger, central mid, striker? He is a great player but who do you sacrifice to allow him a place? For me this is significant issue for AP - what is his first choice midfield four/five?

 

I am still of the opinion that this season is all about sorting out the squad and anything else is a bonus. January was always going to be a bit too late to sort things for a play off place, but it's still possible if AP is very severe in his squad surgery.

[derry]

what a bloody long and awful day. Over 4 hours to get there and a similar journey back. This reminded me very much of the old days. In between was two halves of `football' almost totally devoid of any football. They played it long, we copied. Why on earth we think that by booting it down the channels for Lambert to chase we are going to get anywhere I don't know. The alternative plan of smacking it long and high for Lambert to flick on is an equally crap plan.

 

I've suggested it to my pals for month or so now that we are perhaps flat track bullies and when up against the top 6 we are totally unproven. Yes we've beaten Charlton in the JPT and got lucky against Norwich in the same cup, but other that our record against the other decent teams is poor (allbeit that we faced most of them before AP got his team in place). But there are no excuses now against Leeds and Colchester. Both times we have failed to take charge in midfield like we do against the average sides and I have to ask the question again, is Hammond really top notch?

At Leeds I pointed to the missing Schniederlin, today he played but the 5 man midfield stole his space and he looked a little lost. James yet again failed to show enough quality, pace or power. Hammond also did his running in treacle routine and never made any second ball his. A passing team like us needs to dominate the middle and we simply never did. Again. Why James stayed on the field instead of Morgan I will never know.

 

Bart 5 - some truley woeful kicking. Even with time he still managed to drop kick it to Connelly rather than Lambert and surprise surprise Colchester won it.

Thomas - 6 solid game, no more than that

Jardi 7 won everything but we were undone by a slide rule pass and his lack of pace was exposed

Trotmann 7 pretty much the same thing. Distribution is not the best but solid showing

Harding 10 I thought he was outstanding. Won everything in the air, bullied the wide man and distribution down the line decent. Not sure what more he could have done.

Lallana 5 tried harder and harder but not quick enough to cause them any problems or close them down quick enough or pick up second balls. As we chased the game he came inside and stole Connellys space

James 4 worked hard enough, but simply not quick enough or good enough on the day

Schneiderlin 4 looked lost and unsure as to his role. Poor decision to take him off in my opinion.

Hammond 4 again gave everything, no complaints there, but they were sharper in the middle

Antonio 4 a couple of good runs right the byeline, but in congested areas his lack of tight control showed up. A much better player when coming on off the bench when the space opens up. Lets use him that way.

Lambert 4 no service, crap service, but he looks tired and that zip of a month ago is not quite there

 

Connelly 6 busy but not overly effective as the service was so ****. We improved when he came on though moving to 4-4-2

Waigo 5 didn't get the ball enough so couldn't hurt them. Pity as when he did get it we looked a threat.

Gobern 1 poor cameo, some poor control and passes. I think he almost cost us badly with a woeful pass, but then redeemed himself in the space of about a minute. Not sure as fog was so thick at that point.

 

We showed a fair amount of fight, but we didn't win nearly enough second ball which points to tiredness. Pardew got it wrong with 4-5-1 and he got it wrong keeping James on instead of Morgan. I also think starting with Waigo then bringing on Antonio is the right combination.

 

You've made a lot of good points about the players, set up etc and I agree with all your reasoning.

[ottery st mary]

As explained many times...We will not take charge of midfield with Spiderman there. He may have some talent and be improving and at most is a squad player learning his trade...We need a man in the middle alongside Hammond...Spiderman is not that man..fOR THIS LEAGUE..2/3 players in a few weeks and we will still make the play offs....just.

 

COYRs

[Simon_UK]

First half was very poor, we defended reasonably well arpart from the goal, but offered little going forward, Lambert was far to isolated up front on his own, with the midfielders being kept busy in midfield by a decent colchester side, 4-5-1/4-3-3 does not work if the midfield don't get forward to help out.

 

The defending for the goal was appaling, it was obvious what he was going to do, but neither of the centre backs picked up the runner as as went between them.

 

2nd half was mch better 4-4-2, I thought Conolly certainly added something to our game, we were getting close to an equaliser when we hit with a sucker punch on the counter attack, deserved out goal, but probably in the end unfortuneately 2-1 was a fair result.

 

The game desended into a farce as the fog descended, there is no way anyone in the home end behind the other goal would have seen the penalty.

 

oh and 1 other thing if anyone from Colchester is reading this sort you f*cking PA system out, we only heard every other word!

[derry]

can't agree with that at all. Waigo has put in some terrific crosses, as has Antonio and Harding. James often crosses from far too deep, but he swings in some decent ones every now and then (the last home game was not a good example). I think he doesn't go further forward as he knows he can deliver a decent cross without going further forward or maybe he just doesn't want to risk getting to the byeline and leaving us exposed should we not score.

 

ANother thing I'd say is that we've got to the byeline more times this season than the previous 10 seasons combined. Harding put in an absolute beauty from the touchline today. It reminded me of the Steven Gerrard vs Wolves goal during the week, only this time it was Gobern on the end of it and he showed zero desire. If he'd gritted his teeth and stuck his head in there he'd of scored but he never went for it at all. Very dissapointing.

 

Agreed there have been some decent crosses especially Waigo and Lambert, but as we are predominately right sided, when Waigo isn't wide right, it is James mostly knocking the ball in from deep. It is very difficult to get on the end of those crosses unless coming in off the left side attacking the cross, and as we are central the crosses are coming from behind and across.

[derry]

you are getting a tad desperate to justify your position Derry. You believe he cant cross the ball others disagree get over it. Your figures clutched from the air do you no favours. He is not responsible for 20+ crosses a game and even if he was the 7 assists were for goals scored not for finding the man or taking into account saves etc.

As DD rightly points out, to be fair you should now point your finger at AL , Morgan and dan Harding as their contribution is far less.

 

He takes possibly 10 corners every game, say 5 free kicks and 10 crosses all reasonable assumptions. Bearing in mind his assists have been mainly set pieces it's a pretty poor return and reflects our right sided narrowness.

 

I don't think James rates a place except as a stand in and a dead ball specialist he isn't.

[Thedelldays]

derry, no matter what you say

 

james is within the higher standard in this league...it is the league that is crap..maybe james is currently at his level

[dronskisaint]

'oh and 1 other thing if anyone from Colchester is reading this sort you f*cking PA system out, we only heard every other word!'

 

Agreed - when they were reading out the half-time scores you needed to ask the next stand round what the away score was...it seemed each stand got a word in sequence around the ground! Surreal!

 

I arrived early, drove up to the ground (sort of a Matchbox size version of a real modern stadium) to see how far away I'd have to park & a nice lady took a fiver from me to park within 50 yards of the ground. The benefits of the site are obvious & the lack of fans (we must have been 20% of the total & 50% of the noise...& we were quieter than usual - hangovers - or was that just me?) made the trip easy...getting out wasn't bad either & will be better still when the new junction to the A12 is done. Couldn't help thinking that's how our M27 site would have been for location.

 

After a night's sleep I still feel the same....a draw would have been fairer but how many days like those have we had & not many people get much at Colchester. The OS has Lambert saying that there were words in the dressing room - the desire is there & in reality this team has only been playing together for a relatively short while so the results we've had are pretty creditable.

 

One more pop at the ball boy situation - the one on the right of the away stand was lucky not to get lynched (I think they moved him away after one particularly bad bit of ball ignoring but I was the other side of the stand) - if they're too tight to pay enough ball boys for a one ball system then they should me made by the league to employ ones that get off their arses & do the job. The situation was ridiculous & summed up the small minded ethos of the team.

[John B]

'oh and 1 other thing if anyone from Colchester is reading this sort you f*cking PA system out, we only heard every other word!'

 

Agreed - when they were reading out the half-time scores you needed to ask the next stand round what the away score was...it seemed each stand got a word in sequence around the ground! Surreal!

 

I arrived early, drove up to the ground (sort of a Matchbox size version of a real modern stadium) to see how far away I'd have to park & a nice lady took a fiver from me to park within 50 yards of the ground. The benefits of the site are obvious & the lack of fans (we must have been 20% of the total & 50% of the noise...& we were quieter than usual - hangovers - or was that just me?) made the trip easy...getting out wasn't bad either & will be better still when the new junction to the A12 is done. Couldn't help thinking that's how our M27 site would have been for location.

 

After a night's sleep I still feel the same....a draw would have been fairer but how many days like those have we had & not many people get much at Colchester. The OS has Lambert saying that there were words in the dressing room - the desire is there & in reality this team has only been playing together for a relatively short while so the results we've had are pretty creditable.

 

One more pop at the ball boy situation - the one on the right of the away stand was lucky not to get lynched (I think they moved him away after one particularly bad bit of ball ignoring but I was the other side of the stand) - if they're too tight to pay enough ball boys for a one ball system then they should me made by the league to employ ones that get off their arses & do the job. The situation was ridiculous & summed up the small minded ethos of the team.

 

They beat us though

[OldNick]

He takes possibly 10 corners every game, say 5 free kicks and 10 crosses all reasonable assumptions. Bearing in mind his assists have been mainly set pieces it's a pretty poor return and reflects our right sided narrowness.

 

I don't think James rates a place except as a stand in and a dead ball specialist he isn't.

Ivan Golac he is not and i would rather Murty but i get tired of fans looking for scapegoats all the time. His crossing is not as bad as you make out IMO. I can promise you for personal reasons I could be very anti him, something that I cant go into on here.

[Clifford Nelson]

Surely there isn't anybody out there who wouldn't like to have a blisteringly fast winger who can cross regularly from the bye-line? I just can't remember seeing one for many years, so if you know of one, who?

 

I asked previously on this thread, but didn't have any suggestions: What is James' preferred position in the starting eleven, if everybody is fit?

 

And as obsessed as derry might be about width, I am about the risk of seeing Antonio in a saints' shirt beyond the loan period. Just what is it with this bloke who hasn't got a first touch, can't cross, can't read the game and who is far from as pacy as some may think, which warrants him to start any game? Last season's squad is full of players who lack these skills and them we are trying to get rid of. Why on earth would we want another one?

[Window Cleaner]

Ivan Golac he is not and i would rather Murty but i get tired of fans looking for scapegoats all the time. His crossing is not as bad as you make out IMO. I can promise you for personal reasons I could be very anti him, something that I cant go into on here.

 

Ooooooh, go on you know you want to;);)

[teamsaint]

At the moment we are the L1\equivalent of Graeme Hick- football's "flat track Bullies".

 

We have enough firepower to take apart most teams, but we simply don't control games enough to beat the good teams in the league.

 

What we have is a team that would be good enough to make the playoffs without the -10. For promotion next season we need to improve.

 

With a couple of good January signings and a great run we might still scrape the playoffs- I'm hoping, but thats all. The next month is critical.We HAVE to beat some of the better teams at home to have a hope.

[martel]

Boxing Day blues. When was the last time we won on Boxing Day?

 

2002 1-0 against spurs, one week later we beat them 4-1 in the third round of the F.A. Cup

[S-Clarke]

2002 1-0 against spurs, one week later we beat them 4-1 in the third round of the F.A. Cup

 

it was 4-0! Spurs didn't even get a sniff that day, it was one of the most complete footballing performances we have produced.

 

ahh bring back those heady days...

[up and away]

Why do I keep getting the feeling that Saints have somehow morphed into a real live version of ground hog day. Just go back to the start and we had a couple of basic problems always costing us points.

 

The main point was the midfield were not giving the defence sufficient cover or creating enough to over come this inadequacy. We found a very effective solution to this by playing Wooton in front of the back 4. I am not completely sure how it worked, but work it did, even to the extent it freed up the rest of midfield, such they worked far better as a unit.

 

The second point that unless we dominated weaker teams, we were hardly a threat going forward because of the lack of pace. When Waigo came we got that pace and though hit and miss at the start, created so much confusion with his pace it was always going to be the better option. Why he has not played more often in a forward position is strange, especially as his goal ratio is not that bad.

 

Everything I heard from that commentary against Colchester just reminded me of these two basic flaws we have had from the beginning. We seemed to have set up in such a manner to hedge our bets, neither one thing or the other and that's what we got. I still find it laughable that Pardew knew what to expect from Colchester, it's patently obvious he never had a clue on the day. This game seems to encapsulate for me that we have learnt very little from everything that has gone before.

 

You can blame James or that Lallana does not look so effective now he is taking his defensive duties more seriously, but we had those problems previously and found an effective way round them.

[SamyCM]

After watching the saint's in my first game yesterday (which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the result) I was surprised to see that we started off 4-5-1. It appeared that when Connelley came on he just as someone else had said oozed quality.

 

I thought as soon as Papa Waigo came on it livened up the crowd and the game, should have started I believe instead of Antonio. Was his goal offside, it seemed so?

 

I thought though in regards to the two Colchester goals, very similar and defensively need to work on closing the man down and not letting the ball through, but the officials could have prevented both of them. First one seem to be offside (open to be corrected) and looking at the highlights it could have been offside. Second goal was a blatent corner to us at the other end, after Lambert's freekick.

 

The ref in my eyes had a shocker, booking Trotman for complaining when Woldsworth clearly dived was awful. Then booking Thomas when the Colchester player clearly raised his hands on him, thought he could have been sent off for that.

 

Thought the Colchester fans were pretty boring as well, been hear them for long periods of the time and only really when they scored both their goals and the final whistle.

 

I would also as someone else say for Colchester to invest some money in a new PA system it was shocking!

 

I think though considering our position at the start of the season I'd of bitten someones hand out to be clear of the relegation zone and still having a chance of playoffs.

[lofty]

First half was very poor, we defended reasonably well arpart from the goal, but offered little going forward, Lambert was far to isolated up front on his own, with the midfielders being kept busy in midfield by a decent colchester side, 4-5-1/4-3-3 does not work if the midfield don't get forward to help out.

 

The defending for the goal was appaling, it was obvious what he was going to do, but neither of the centre backs picked up the runner as as went between them.

 

2nd half was mch better 4-4-2, I thought Conolly certainly added something to our game, we were getting close to an equaliser when we hit with a sucker punch on the counter attack, deserved out goal, but probably in the end unfortuneately 2-1 was a fair result.

 

The game desended into a farce as the fog descended, there is no way anyone in the home end behind the other goal would have seen the penalty.

 

oh and 1 other thing if anyone from Colchester is reading this sort you f*cking PA system out, we only heard every other word!

 

We're as peed off by the PA system as our visitors are and have been complaining about it since the stadium opened, God knows what the problem with it is. As for the penalty, we had no idea what was happening, only realised that it was a penalty when the players starting lining up on the edge of the box and only knew you had scored because of the cheer.

[Weston Saint]

Ivan Golac he is not and i would rather Murty but i get tired of fans looking for scapegoats all the time. His crossing is not as bad as you make out IMO. I can promise you for personal reasons I could be very anti him, something that I cant go into on here.

James credited with 75 crosses prior to the Exeter game.

[Arizona]

2002 1-0 against spurs, one week later we beat them 4-1 in the third round of the F.A. Cup

 

That was new years day 2003. We also beat them 1-0 on Boxing day 2001.

[Denzil]

Has your 3 year ban from all football stadiums for not being able to hold your drink finished yet?

 

Yes, thank you Bradley. About 6 months ago actually, do keep up. xx

[Tractor_Saint]

'oh and 1 other thing if anyone from Colchester is reading this sort you f*cking PA system out, we only heard every other word!'

 

I said to the g/f around half an hour before kick off that even though it was a small ground at least they got the P.A. system right. However, when the guy started to talk you could, as you said, hear every other word. I think what was happening was the P.A. was in a test mode and was 'round robin'ing around the ground in a big loop. Was fine for the music!

[Andy_Porter]

I have often said that for every one good cross of James' there are 5 or 6 absolutely shocking ones that either don't beat the first man or go straight to the keeper.

Not to mention he NEVER goes to the byline, even if there is no-one within 10 yards of him as happened a few times yesterday...

 

I think that's about right, I think you need to remember we're in league one - we're not going to have David Beckham smacking free kicks into the box every game.

 

Lloyd James is far from perfect with his delivery but his corners are a lot better than Lallana at the start of the season or Surman last year. Best we've had since Jermain Wright I'd say.

 

His crossing from open play is decent, could do with hitting the byline when he's playing out wide like you say, hopefully he will get a bit more confidence to do that with age and experience.

 

I can see potential in Lloyd James, I honestly think he will still be with us when we're fighting at the top end of the Championship. I know the majority on here will disagree but I think time with show me to be right. He's far from the finished article but there's not much ability wise he's lacking.

[St Landrew]

2002 1-0 against spurs, one week later we beat them 4-1 in the third round of the F.A. Cup

 

Hmm, so you don't think we had a very good defence back then, eh..? In reality, it was 4-0.

 

Just to jog those memories a bit more, the scorers were Michael Svensson, Jo Tessum, Anders Svensson and James Beattie.

 

And your year is wrong too. It was precisely, the 1st of Jan, 2003 for the 1-0 [beattie], and the 4th for the FA Cup thrashing of Spurs.

 

My memory is lousy, but my Saints yearbook is pretty reliable.

[Window Cleaner]

Just looked at the highlights, their 2 goals are bad,very bad,Trotman and Thomas at fault for both of them (and their offside goal).They just walked past us

[Chez]

suggestions...

 

Jaidi and trotman and thomas cant pass, all turn like a U boat and are all flat footed, not to mention how much they panic. Get rid of all bar Jaidi.

 

but boy can they win headers and at this level that is the single most important facit a defender can have.

 

Play lloyd James at RM

 

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Start with Waigo and then bring Antonio on. Works every time.

[up and away]

Hmm, so you don't think we had a very good defence back then, eh..? In reality, it was 4-0.

 

Just to jog those memories a bit more, the scorers were Michael Svensson, Jo Tessum, Anders Svensson and James Beattie.

 

And your year is wrong too. It was precisely, the 1st of Jan, 2003 for the 1-0 [beattie], and the 4th for the FA Cup thrashing of Spurs.

 

My memory is lousy, but my Saints yearbook is pretty reliable.

 

That 1-0 win against Spurs was one of the worst performances we put in at home, still cannot figure out how we managed that win. But the cup game on the Sunday was really special, a pity I never taped it. If I remember correctly, that was the turn around for our season that year?

 

Totally confused as to what year it was when we beat them at the Dell and the Spurs yoof trashed the bogs at the Milton Road end?

[St Landrew]

That 1-0 win against Spurs was one of the worst performances we put in at home, still cannot figure out how we managed that win. But the cup game on the Sunday was really special, a pity I never taped it. If I remember correctly, that was the turn around for our season that year?

 

Totally confused as to what year it was when we beat them at the Dell and the Spurs yoof trashed the bogs at the Milton Road end?

 

I did.

[scotty]

I did.

 

youtubed it?

[derry]

Surely there isn't anybody out there who wouldn't like to have a blisteringly fast winger who can cross regularly from the bye-line? I just can't remember seeing one for many years, so if you know of one, who?

 

I asked previously on this thread, but didn't have any suggestions: What is James' preferred position in the starting eleven, if everybody is fit?

 

And as obsessed as derry might be about width, I am about the risk of seeing Antonio in a saints' shirt beyond the loan period. Just what is it with this bloke who hasn't got a first touch, can't cross, can't read the game and who is far from as pacy as some may think, which warrants him to start any game? Last season's squad is full of players who lack these skills and them we are trying to get rid of. Why on earth would we want another one?

 

I'm not obsessed with width, I hate watching narrow teams playing hoofball and being picked apart by teams playing out to the touchlines.

 

Before this team can move on it has to sort out its left and right midfield never mind the centre of midfield and defence and right back positions.

 

Lallana was making a decent job of it for a few games on the left both attacking, defending and scoring a fair few goals but Pardew tucking him in close to the centre has made him inneffective again.

 

If Pardew would just give Waigo a regular right midfield start and either play Holmes wide left and Lallana in the centre with Hammond or Lallana as a proper left midfield it would make us a better side and be easier to pass and move, keeping posession without the congestion. That in itself would make us harder to break down.

[derry]

I think that's about right, I think you need to remember we're in league one - we're not going to have David Beckham smacking free kicks into the box every game.

 

Lloyd James is far from perfect with his delivery but his corners are a lot better than Lallana at the start of the season or Surman last year. Best we've had since Jermain Wright I'd say.

 

His crossing from open play is decent, could do with hitting the byline when he's playing out wide like you say, hopefully he will get a bit more confidence to do that with age and experience.

 

I can see potential in Lloyd James, I honestly think he will still be with us when we're fighting at the top end of the Championship. I know the majority on here will disagree but I think time with show me to be right. He's far from the finished article but there's not much ability wise he's lacking.

 

He is too slow.

[derry]

Ivan Golac he is not and i would rather Murty but i get tired of fans looking for scapegoats all the time. His crossing is not as bad as you make out IMO. I can promise you for personal reasons I could be very anti him, something that I cant go into on here.

 

I just don't rate him, he isn't bad but he is painfully slow and we need to have better players than him if we are going to go for the Championship/Premier. I'm not sure that any of this side will ever play in the Premier with us, or indeed are even capable of getting us there.

[Charlie Wayman]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

 

We have not beaten anybody in the top six all season.

 

This game more or less confirms that we'll end up about 12th at the end of the season/ In fact it looks more and more the case that this team having set themselves the goal of achieving comfortable mid-table status at the beginning of the season have now mentally settled for that - win at home, don't bother away and there you have it.

 

Guys! This is about as good as it gets this season.

[kpturner]

We have not beaten anybody in the top six all season.

....apart from MK Dons - who were third when we stuffed them 3-1.

[Andy_Porter]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

 

We have not beaten anybody in the top six all season.

 

 

As long as we keep beating the **** teams it really doesn't matter. Pick up a few points against the top 6 and beat every other team and we will be play offs or very close.

[ringwood]

LJ takes too long to turn, QE2 was quicker, his other faults are

1. losing his man over his shoulder when playing as RB

2. failing to recognise which foot the player opposing favours and then either forcing him inside or outside onto weaker foot

3. both the above compounded by lack of recovery speed

 

that said a rolling ball and he makes a wicked cross just make it stationary and far too often it either floats like a cloud or just fails to take off at all, hits it with no pace when stationary

[alpine_saint]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

 

We have not beaten anybody in the top six all season.

 

 

Bit of a red herring this, Charlie. We beat MK Dons when they were in the top six.

[Thedelldays]

we can still get there

 

we still have

 

Leeds

Hudderfield

Charlton

Swindon

 

all to come to SMS yet

[Chez]

we can still get there

 

we still have

 

Leeds

Hudderfield

Charlton

Swindon

 

all to come to SMS yet

 

we can beat anyone on our day, but we've got to improve on the last few games.

[RonManager]

We picked up 38 points in the first 23 games, and with a slow start to boot. I'm sure we'll improve on that in the last 23, so that ought to be enough to get us close, if not in, the playoffs. Either way it's going to get more exciting the closer we get.

 

COYR

[saint1977]

we can still get there

 

we still have

 

Leeds

Hudderfield

Charlton

Swindon

 

all to come to SMS yet

 

Two of those are next month so that will determine whether we can make a play-off push or not. Rhodes and Austin will be on a par with the best forwards we've faced so far and the midfields of Swindon and Hudds (Novak, Douglas) are a bit stronger than ours look on paper. I think we can live with these sides but our record is poor against these stronger sides so far so we need to break the chain somewhere. I’m confident we can and trust this set-up.

 

I think Pardew has done very well so far and like us, can see the defence is nowhere near good enough, even for L1. Exeter sliced us open far too easily and should have been 3-2 up even before they scored. Harding, Jaidi, Lambert, Waigo and Connolly have all enhanced the squad so we know Pardew can spot a player. After an excellent start, Hammond has been poor recently and has been found out against top 6 sides and we know James is not a wide player.

 

So the arrival of a first choice specialist right back and another centre-half (possibly more) will help matters and I would expect that these will be ready to make their debuts for our next league game judging by Pardew's frustration at the lazy goals we are conceding. The link to Lines suggests that he is not totally happy with the centre of midfield either.

 

The moaning about Colchester is a bit much - Boothroyd has done his homework so fair play. This club should not be bullied by anyone at this level and I've said this before - we are not ruthless enough and too soft. We are too lazy to put sides to the sword when on top whereas Hudds, Swindon, Col U (not least at Norwich but other times this season as well), Leeds and Norwich don't have a problem with sticking 5+ goals and kicking a side when they are down. Until we do that, we will remain outside of the top 6, -10 or not. Look at the Exeter and Northampton games, we were totally on top and should have been going for another 3-4 goals at least as the opposition were shattered. Instead, the effing cigars come out, we pussy out of 50/50s and they come back into it. We concede an injury time penalty at Stockport who are in admin and have lost their 10 games FFS, two more soft points chucked away.

 

Until we move beyond easy 3-1 wins, we aren't ready for the top 6 because we need the momentum for playing those better sides. I have faith that Pardew will bring the players in with the extra bit of drive we lack. When we regularly start smashing in those 5-1 wins and play 100% from minute 1-90, that’s when we are ready to be top 6 contenders. Even when we beat MK Dons, the second half was tremendous but the first half poor.

[Andover_Saint07]

Boxing Day blues. When was the last time we won on Boxing Day?

 

December 26th 2009 we won last against Exeter....

[OldNick]

James credited with 75 crosses prior to the Exeter game.

thanks Weston. That makes the ratio a little better.

[OldNick]

I just don't rate him, he isn't bad but he is painfully slow and we need to have better players than him if we are going to go for the Championship/Premier. I'm not sure that any of this side will ever play in the Premier with us, or indeed are even capable of getting us there.

Yes, but the blueprint that I see is that it is horses for courses.Use players who know their way around L1 then bring in players who know CCC and so on. It is no use bringing in players who are not cut out for the battle of this league.

I agree I dont see any of the team being PL standard and the same was whne we had AS etc. They were only ever CCC at best. Perhaps KD in his top form would make a PL team.

[Weston Saint]

thanks Weston. That makes the ratio a little better.

Not really. That is 75 crosses that only produced, at the most 3 assists as the 4th one was Trottman's goal against Exeter. To me it says his crossing is ineffective. Lambert will feed off good crosses. In fact Lambert has more assists and not from James initial croses.

 

James is a decent player but not at right back where he does not have the pace or experience and lacks that same turn of speed and effective crossing in midfield. It is no good crossing into the box if the defender heads out all the time or the goalkeeper collects. Crossing from the byline is the answer but James is not doing so. Why? pace and lack of skill perhaps?

 

This debate has gone on long enough so I will leave it there. If he does not develop a better crossing skill he is wasting his possible talent.