Saints 1-0 Luton - Reaction

[NickG]

Patterson sounded awful when he came on, running around like a headless chicken and making rash challenges. I thought he seemed like a good prospect, but now I really do think his future lies elsewhere. Bye bye!

 

Utterly ridiculous. You weren't at the game, how can you come to this judgement. I was well impressed with Paterson when he came on, he gave 100%, and was a breath of fresh air. He was unlucky not to have a goal. He got back and helped the midfield, and then got up and linked well with Lambert.

 

I was unsure of Paterson but if he plays like that then he'll have no problems.

 

agree - one of the most ridiculous posts on this forum!

 

He looked good when he came on, few nice touches and beat his man easily.

 

One really rash tackle!

 

How can people berate players without seeing them? Think some enjoy criticising this club.

[mulletsaint]

Good to see the same old faces having a pop at the young players. All players suffer bad patches, especially young ones. Many people were raving about Antonio earlier in the season, now he's ****e.

 

I didn't see or hear the game today so I can't comment on any performance but this sort of ****** (feel free to infract my scrawny ass) reminds me why I'm still yet to sign up to full membership of this forum and why I've been pretty absent recently.

 

We've had our club saved from oblivion, we have an incredibly rich owner who's already shown that he's willing to splash the cash on both players and facilities. We are in a better place in the league than we had any right to hope for this season given what had gone before and the minus 10. Without that penalty we would be nicely placed inside the playoff positions, not mid table as some would have us believe is where we deserve to be. Yet we're still not happy.

 

Yes I still hope and believe that we can make the playoffs, especially with more investment in the transfer window. And yes, I also worry that if we're not promoted this season we may end up losing some of our better players come the end of the season as some may not be happy staying in League 1. But, hopefully with our new owners it is only a matter of time before we do get promoted.

 

There are always cup upsets. No matter how narrowly we avoided one today we won. Through to next round. End of.

[Tractor_Saint]

Wow - what coverage on the tele tonight for one of the largest crowds of the day!

[Toadhall Saint]

Saints won - end of.

 

As others have commented - Patterson was good dod all the things asked of him amnf nearly bagged a goal.

[Smirking_Saint]

Sums it up perfectly.

 

Thank you VFTT, thank you, just wanted to remain realistic

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Saints unbeaten this year :-)

 

I'm sure if Saints won the Champions League some on here would still be moaning :-(

[rocknrollman no2]

Good to see the same old faces having a pop at the young players. All players suffer bad patches, especially young ones. Many people were raving about Antonio earlier in the season, now he's ****e.

 

I didn't see or hear the game today so I can't comment on any performance but this sort of ****** (feel free to infract my scrawny ass) reminds me why I'm still yet to sign up to full membership of this forum and why I've been pretty absent recently.

 

We've had our club saved from oblivion, we have an incredibly rich owner who's already shown that he's willing to splash the cash on both players and facilities. We are in a better place in the league than we had any right to hope for this season given what had gone before and the minus 10. Without that penalty we would be nicely placed inside the playoff positions, not mid table as some would have us believe is where we deserve to be. Yet we're still not happy.

 

Yes I still hope and believe that we can make the playoffs, especially with more investment in the transfer window. And yes, I also worry that if we're not promoted this season we may end up losing some of our better players come the end of the season as some may not be happy staying in League 1. But, hopefully with our new owners it is only a matter of time before we do get promoted.

 

There are always cup upsets. No matter how narrowly we avoided one today we won. Through to next round. End of.

 

Well said.Good post.

[Smirking_Saint]

load of carp that was, very lucky to have won. Antonio can go back to Reading now imo and Thomas proved he is not a CB.

 

Only something i have been saying, A. in Antonio's situation for 6 months almost and B. In thomas's for nearly 2 season's LOL

[Smirking_Saint]

Ok mate, and you just proved you aint got a clue!

 

LOL, at the irony here !!!!!!

[saint_stevo]

a tad worrying no players were rested, lambert had looked like he needed a rest for weeks and plays 90mins......wtf?

[Smirking_Saint]

a tad worrying no players were rested, lambert had looked like he needed a rest for weeks and plays 90mins......wtf?

 

He always does mate, i made a thread about it and got proper slagged off for saying it so good luck...........

[Saint_clark]

I definitely would have rested Lambert in this game, hindsight or not. However, there is a week for him to recover now, so maybe it wasn't that necessary.

At least we know Jaidi and Connolly will be fine.

[Saint Fan CaM]

We won and I thought AP got the tactics right too. I thought Hammond and Schneiderlin worked better together today, with the latter getting forward a little bit more and chasing/pressing in central mid. Lamberts goal was superb, however his all round game is lacking still and I remember Rasiak getting slated on here for similar displays. We need another Connolly type striker (inc. quality) as this player makes up for Ricky's shortcomings (Paterson is not good enough). I thought once they settled Perry and Thomas did OK, but the defence in general is need of repair and improvement. Antonio was not great, but Lallana was a bit 'blunt' today also.

 

We need RB, CB, CAM, RW, LW and ST to complete the squad IMO. Please let's be ambitious and get some quality signings in and then push for that play-off spot in earnest.

[greg_hill]

This is a game we would have lost under most of our previous managers of the last few years. Some people are criticising Saints but let's give some credit to Luton, remember they are only where they are because the FL decided to relegate them with a ridiculous points penalty.

 

Face it guys, we are in L1 with a squad dismantled and reassembled with virtually zero preparation time, and we are winning games. Be happy!

[Matthew Le God]

Luton, remember they are only where they are because the FL decided to relegate them with a ridiculous points penalty.

 

They aren't 7th in the Blue Square Premier because of the points deduction from the previous season though. All the points total did is relegate them. The current team is far from the best in their league as the table shows and they had no points deduction this season.

Edited 3 January, 2010 by Matthew Le God

[Jonnyboy]

Good to see the same old faces having a pop at the young players. All players suffer bad patches, especially young ones. Many people were raving about Antonio earlier in the season, now he's ****e.

 

I didn't see or hear the game today so I can't comment on any performance but this sort of ****** (feel free to infract my scrawny ass) reminds me why I'm still yet to sign up to full membership of this forum and why I've been pretty absent recently.

 

We've had our club saved from oblivion, we have an incredibly rich owner who's already shown that he's willing to splash the cash on both players and facilities. We are in a better place in the league than we had any right to hope for this season given what had gone before and the minus 10. Without that penalty we would be nicely placed inside the playoff positions, not mid table as some would have us believe is where we deserve to be. Yet we're still not happy.

 

Yes I still hope and believe that we can make the playoffs, especially with more investment in the transfer window. And yes, I also worry that if we're not promoted this season we may end up losing some of our better players come the end of the season as some may not be happy staying in League 1. But, hopefully with our new owners it is only a matter of time before we do get promoted.

 

There are always cup upsets. No matter how narrowly we avoided one today we won. Through to next round. End of.

 

Antonio has been poor apart from his first game

[Genk]

Antonio has been poor apart from his first game

 

Fair comment. Just seen him, gobern and bialkowski in whitehouse chilling. Said 'well played to him' to be nice but he didn't understand what I was saying.

 

Think we need a new winger to start games to be honest. However keep him as an impact sub.

 

Other than that, thought we were very poor today, and incredibly lucky not to have a replay. Who cares now, it's the cup, we got the win and look forward to a stern test againt Huddersfield now.

[Mmm Donuts]

I thought Thomas had a good game. Luton hoofed the ball up field plenty of times and he dominated in the air. He covered James well, who wasn't as quick as their winger. Other than that I thought Lalana was ok.

 

I wish the stewards would just sit down as they are starting to cause the trouble now. I know they are being told what to do, but maybe a little more thought from up high is needed. Why did the bars run out of pies? I demand an enquiry.

 

Their keeper was my man of the match though.

[dubai_phil]

Tricky game, motivated opposition. We won.

 

I understand the moaners saying they are worried we are not playing well, BUT, earlier in the season we played some wonderful football and won many but not all.

 

Heck we even had a thread about winning ugly. One thing that GOOD teams can do is to scrape out dodgy 1-0 wins when they are off form.

 

I'm actually happy that we are now able to do this. Football IS a results game, we got a result, we're in the next round.

 

Now, as for the reasons we aren't firing, from where I sat in fornt of my speakers, a midfield of Papa - Morgan - Hammond - Antonio never seemed to have the strength to cope with a well motivated opposition, sure it looked great from an attacking perspective on paper but it was lightweight.

 

I LIKE the fact that Papa & Antonio are cover for each other, but we still really need that other midfielder, whether it is at DM or LW is up to AP, but we are short there.

 

As for Lloyd James, again I go back to the games I have seen and there is a really simple answer, all his crosses (and our long throws) are LOOPED into the box.

 

He simply seems unable to "Whip the ball" into the box. No idea how it looks from the left side, but until James puts pace on the ball, hoofing it in from the right touchline near the halfway line simply relies on luck.

 

Watch Rory Delaps' long throws versus Antonio's, watch a video of MLT's crosses vs James. James is a competent squad player, AP has a problem in RB, does he wait for Murty to get fit? does he buy another "Mr Versatile" or does he get a proper experienced RB who can cross the ball?

 

Lambert is priceless in this league, but is Patterson yet ready to cover for him?

 

Connolly is not the same type of player so if we do need to rest Rickie or he picks up a knock then we have to change our system.

 

I enjoyed the commentary, we clearly didn't play well in the second half, but, at the end of the day it was an old fashioned banana skin cup tie. We're in the hat for the 4th round. Many a year we didn't even make it this far. Well played to Luton. They scared the krap out of us, yeah sure they could have won.

 

but they didn't.

[Windmill Arm 2]

Fair comment. Just seen him, gobern and bialkowski in whitehouse chilling. Said 'well played to him' to be nice but he didn't understand what I was saying.

 

Think we need a new winger to start games to be honest. However keep him as an impact sub.

 

Other than that, thought we were very poor today, and incredibly lucky not to have a replay. Who cares now, it's the cup, we got the win and look forward to a stern test againt Huddersfield now.

 

Players out 'chilling' FFS !!!! Sack the ****ers!!! what the **** is AP doing letting them out FFS, drink culture FFS PARDEW OUT FFS !!!!

 

 

:wink:

 

I'm sure comments like this will follow.

[John B]

Players out 'chilling' FFS !!!! Sack the ****ers!!! what the **** is AP doing letting them out FFS, drink culture FFS PARDEW OUT FFS !!!!

 

 

:wink:

 

I'm sure comments like this will follow.

 

Really

[eurosaint]

Players out 'chilling' FFS !!!! Sack the ****ers!!! what the **** is AP doing letting them out FFS, drink culture FFS PARDEW OUT FFS !!!!

[Window Cleaner]

Hammond not even in the poll !!

[Windmill Arm 2]

hammond not even in the poll !!

 

ffs hammond out!!!

[John B]

Hammond not even in the poll !!

 

You can only have ten in the poll

 

Arizona asked who should be left out

 

So Antonio and Hammond were left out after a little consultation on another thread

[Window Cleaner]

You can only have ten in the poll

 

Arizona asked who should be left out

 

So Antonio and Hammond were left out after a little consultation on another thread

 

I know about the 10 max angle, didn't see the other thread but I thought it was significant that Hammond didn't even make the poll,seeing as he usually gets a lot of rave notices.

[John B]

I know about the 10 max angle, didn't see the other thread but I thought it was significant that Hammond didn't even make the poll,seeing as he usually gets a lot of rave notices.

 

I think it was Nick G who said he did not play well and would not be man on the match something I fully agreed with

 

In fact he was substituted by Lancashire at the end

Edited 3 January, 2010 by John B

[Scummer]

You can only have ten in the poll

 

Arizona asked who should be left out

 

Pretty sure someone (Steve Grant?) realised last week that you can adjust polls to have more than 10 options.

[John B]

Pretty sure someone (Steve Grant?) realised last week that you can adjust polls to have more than 10 options.

 

Well tell Arizona then

[Window Cleaner]

Anyway far too much is being made of yesterday's performance, we won anyway.

Luton probably dragged us down to their level, it happens all the time in the cup viz Reading-Liverpool yesterday, what an awful game.It must be mentioned that Luton have played twice since the 11th December(12th and 28th) whereas we've had 5 or 6 hard games.

[Thedelldays]

Anyway far too much is being made of yesterday's performance, we won anyway.

Luton probably dragged us down to their level, it happens all the time in the cup viz Reading-Liverpool yesterday, what an awful game.It must be mentioned that Luton have played twice since the 11th December(12th and 28th) whereas we've had 5 or 6 hard games.

i thought it was all about match sharpness...another reason why people are against resting players..

 

who ever we get next (unless it is pompey) I hope we rest lambert, harding and hammond

[John B]

Anyway far too much is being made of yesterday's performance, we won anyway.

Luton probably dragged us down to their level, it happens all the time in the cup viz Reading-Liverpool yesterday, what an awful game.It must be mentioned that Luton have played twice since the 11th December(12th and 28th) whereas we've had 5 or 6 hard games.

 

Dont disagree but my brother and I dont go to many matches and we both felt that the games yesterday and on Boxing Day were disappointing which a number of the fans I spoke to agreed.

[Window Cleaner]

Dont disagree but my brother and I dont go to many matches and we both felt that the games yesterday and on Boxing Day were disappointing which a number of the fans I spoke to agreed.

 

Probably because you've got into an "expecting too much" attitude, when I used to go every week I went to see Saints win, how didn't bother me too much, because in football,at the end of the day ,winning is what counts. It's what wins you trophies,moves you up the Leagues and let's you compete with the best. We have seen in these last 5 years just how important winning at all cost is.

I think there is far far too much moaning and adverse comment about style, we won, leave it at that. AP says it's what counted and so it is. We have a limited team squad because a lot of our players aren't yet up to scratch, the lads are turning out every 4 or 5 days,that's what should be significant, not whether xx made 1 bad pass in 90 minutes or yy had a poor game.

[Window Cleaner]

i thought it was all about match sharpness...another reason why people are against resting players..

 

who ever we get next (unless it is pompey) I hope we rest lambert, harding and hammond

 

We won't rest key players unless we have obtained replacements by then, count on it.The players want to play every game, bet none of them are moaning about getting picked every week.

[Thedelldays]

We won't rest key players unless we have obtained replacements by then, count on it.The players want to play every game, bet none of them are moaning about getting picked every week.

i bet jermaine wright never moaned about being picked...doesnt mean he should have been week in...week out

[Guan 2.0]

Went to the game yesterday, and Chiquitos afterwards (which btw is an excellent place to recover from the bitter cold whilst you wait for the traffic to clear, a few other saints fans had a similar idea). Thomas was absolutely magnificent, especially in the second half, MOTM fo' sure. Thought Waigo was wasted out wide, should have been alongside Lambért for the Flick ons and knock downs, but hey ho. Antonio was dreadful and his injury didn't even win us a free kick. Talking of which, The freee kick which we scored from in excellent fashion should not have been given, but i felt we could have had a penalty in the first half. So swings and roundabouts. Best despair to joy moment for many a moon was had when their forward fluffed his feet from all of 1 yard out, superb stuff.

 

So recommendations for the next home game are:

Someone puts their arm around Morgan and encourages him to shoot, his nerves about not breaking his duck could be costly. He got into excellent positions yesterday, only to pass it to a worse placed team-mate.

Waigo or Connolly alongside Lambért in a front two in an orthodox 4-4-2.

Empanadas, Chimichangas (slow cooked beef) and Banana Taquitos.

[Window Cleaner]

i bet jermaine wright never moaned about being picked...doesnt mean he should have been week in...week out

 

And yet we missed him when he was gone. If we had had Jermaine Wright last season (and it was he who didn't want to stay) we might have got a few more points. Doubt that it would have saved us with admin and all that but if we'd had Wright and not,say Euell or BWP, we'd have been better, more solid and it might have made all the difference in terms of confidence and mentality.

People should stop knocking Jermaine Wright, he did some good jobs for us and probably allowed us to avoid relegation the season before.

There were plenty of wasters we could have done without last season, Jermaine Wright wasn't one of them.

[Thedelldays]

And yet we missed him when he was gone. If we had had Jermaine Wright last season (and it was he who didn't want to stay) we might have got a few more points. Doubt that it would have saved us with admin and all that but if we'd had Wright and not,say Euell or BWP, we'd have been better, more solid and it might have made all the difference in terms of confidence and mentality.

People should stop knocking Jermaine Wright, he did some good jobs for us and probably allowed us to avoid relegation the season before.

There were plenty of wasters we could have done without last season, Jermaine Wright wasn't one of them.

oh my christ....

[Saint Fan CaM]

And yet we missed him when he was gone. If we had had Jermaine Wright last season (and it was he who didn't want to stay) we might have got a few more points. Doubt that it would have saved us with admin and all that but if we'd had Wright and not,say Euell or BWP, we'd have been better, more solid and it might have made all the difference in terms of confidence and mentality.

People should stop knocking Jermaine Wright, he did some good jobs for us and probably allowed us to avoid relegation the season before.

There were plenty of wasters we could have done without last season, Jermaine Wright wasn't one of them.

 

 

I will agree with you that Wright would have been a good player at this level, however he was not good enough to meet the needs of a team trying to push away from relegation. Having said that, the double dutch management of the team was responsible for 90% of the problem. Pearson would have had us high enough up the league to be able to take the admin hit without invoking relegation IMO.

[Thedelldays]

I will agree with you that Wright would have been a good player at this level, however he was not good enough to meet the needs of a team trying to push away from relegation. Having said that, the double dutch management of the team was responsible for 90% of the problem. Pearson would have had us high enough up the league to be able to take the admin hit without invoking relegation IMO.

 

 

how can you say that when pardew is having to replace nearly everyone just to get us in the playoffs in league 1..?

[hypochondriac]

how can you say that when pardew is having to replace nearly everyone just to get us in the playoffs in league 1..?

 

I think we would have been significantly better off under Pearson. Not that it matter because relegation was one of the best things that has ever happened to us if you think about it.

[Alan56]

not really..we are a bloody good league 1 team...just short of numbers...our "starting 11" is pretty strong..trouble is, the key players dont really have a rest

 

Dont really have rest?? Poor darlings. How long do they train a day? They have precious little else to do and they are professional footballers who are in their prime for god's sake.

 

Have you ever considered the problem might just be the lack of discipline and intelligence, over inflated egos,city nightlife, booze and women?

[Andy_Porter]

how can you say that when pardew is having to replace nearly everyone just to get us in the playoffs in league 1..?

 

We lost McGoldrick, Surman, Skacel, JPS, Cork, BWP, Euell etc in the summer.

[Thedelldays]

We lost McGoldrick, Surman, Skacel, JPS, Cork, BWP, Euell etc in the summer.

DMG - not that great, hardly good for forest

Surman - a loss

Rudi - do me a favour

JPS - A loss

Cork - when did he play for us..?

BWP - yes, a real loss..lol

Euell - hmmm

 

I reckon lambert has more goals that DMG and BWP would have got between them in this league had we had them both instead

[OldNick]

Dont really have rest?? Poor darlings. How long do they train a day? They have precious little else to do and they are professional footballers who are in their prime for god's sake.

 

Have you ever considered the problem might just be the lack of discipline and intelligence, over inflated egos,city nightlife, booze and women?

I understand your postion but footballers to play at their best they do need rest.I agree they dont have another game for 7 days but they had quite a few over christmas as well as travelling. It would be good if they could get a little time to freshen and so perforn to their best.

Players get jaded and if yesterday is anything to go by they are now.

Please do not mention wages etc as that has nothing to do with over work.

The clubbing and womanising is anotehr thing of course and I dont think that has been properly addressed not only at our club

[Whitey Grandad]

Utterly ridiculous. You weren't at the game, how can you come to this judgement. I was well impressed with Paterson when he came on, he gave 100%, and was a breath of fresh air. He was unlucky not to have a goal. He got back and helped the midfield, and then got up and linked well with Lambert.

 

I was unsure of Paterson but if he plays like that then he'll have no problems.

He looked fresh and lively, and quick at times. I thought perhaps he was trying a bit too hard with the little flicks and lay-offs. Sometimes when the ball is pumped up to him he needs to make it stick so the attack has time to build.

[Hamwic]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but the match report in today's Observer is worth a read especially this from the second paragraph.

 

"... above all, could serve as a parable for their neighbours a short skate along the south coast..."

 

The article can be found here.

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=550514

[OldNick]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but the match report in today's Observer is worth a read especially this from the second paragraph.

 

"... above all, could serve as a parable for their neighbours a short skate along the south coast..."

 

The article can be found here.

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=550514

No it can't Lol

[Hamwic]

Sorry for the finger trouble. The correct link is below.

 

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but the match report in today's Observer is worth a read especially this from the second paragraph.

 

"... above all, could serve as a parable for their neighbours a short skate along the south coast..."

 

The article can be found here.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/02/fa-cup-southampton-luton

[benjii]

Lol - must be or have a mate who is a Saints fan to use "skate" like that. I don't think he's a fan himself as he thinks Markus Liebherr is an investment banker.