Wycombe V Saints - Post Match Reaction

[up and away]

i hope everyone commenting went to the game.....it was awful, not sure we put 3passes together throughout. The pitch was crap but really not an excuse at all, professionals should adapt. Serious lack of pace going forward. Not sure if antonio was injured but he was terrible, equalled by his replacement w****n. Why do we play long ball when we have no pace to feed off the flick ons? Davis making a wonder save earned us a point. Pathetic

 

Nope, never went, never even listened to it but I have a very good idea! We would not have gone back to all previous issues? no pace up front and could not create, midfield could not get a grip on the game?

 

I expected this to happen but not quite as quick, at least it puts the play off ******s to bed for the rest of the season. Just so glad Pardew sorted everything out at Norwich so we could really had a go at it, otherwise would not have even got the point.

[hackedoff]

We missed what 3 open goals tonight? that's why we don't win these games

because we have a 1/5 chance conversion rate.

 

Thats because most of these chances fall to midfielders, who are the weak link in the team.

[Liquidshokk]

That will never happen, and I'm glad of that. If we were of the ilk of Wycombe Wanderers, then perhaps we could indulge in a draw against a bigger team. But this is Southampton FC, only 5 seasons out of the Premiership. Let's have a sense of perspective, eh..? We can do a lot better. That's why this club doesn't have crowds of 4,000. It's one of those bigger clubs. It's about time we believed it.

 

I was talking about THIS season, not in general from season to season :cool:

 

Of course next season we'll kick butt.

 

Its just this season we keep hanging onto the slim chance of making it but its clear the playoffs ceased to be a realistic possibility some time ago.

[Thedelldays]

Of course next season we'll kick butt.

 

.

why do you assume that..?

[VectisSaint]

In the fifty or so years I have been following SFC the only really consistent thing is their inconsitency

Actually the real consistent thing in all of those years (don't quite get to 50 yet) is that we have nearly always always suffered when the heavy pitchs come along in Jan/Feb.

[Smirking_Saint]

Thats because most of these chances fall to midfielders, who are the weak link in the team.

 

Puncheon, lallana, Hammond ?? Weak link ??

 

Wotton ok, and Antonio ok ??

 

But i personally think we have a massively strong midfield, one that i would play 4-5-1 with.

[S-Clarke]

Puncheon, lallana, Hammond ?? Weak link ??

 

Wotton ok, and Antonio ok ??

 

But i personally think we have a massively strong midfield, one that i would play 4-5-1 with.

 

i think we're still lacking in there.

 

someone who will get the ball down and get us passing, someone who will drive forward from the middle and get goals.

 

i.e danns....maybe we'll revisit it in the summer

[Thedelldays]

i think we're still lacking in there.

 

someone who will get the ball down and get us passing, someone who will drive forward from the middle and get goals.

 

i.e danns....maybe we'll revisit it in the summer

how come swindon are not lacking with 0 pounds to spend..or colchester lacking with...err 0 pounds to spend

[Smirking_Saint]

i think we're still lacking in there.

 

someone who will get the ball down and get us passing, someone who will drive forward from the middle and get goals.

 

i.e danns....maybe we'll revisit it in the summer

 

Schniederlin plays the ball fantastically, and forgive me i can't remember the match, it was on TV so it must have been MK Dons ??

 

He played the advanced role with Wotton sitting and James putting a lot of energy in.

 

He looked fantastic then, this is the reason i wish we played 4-5-1. But with Hammond in the middle instead of Wooden.

[saint_stevo]

second away game of the season, first being swindon. Not sure which was worse. I wonder what AP's teamtalk and or tactics were tonight? I literally have no idea, at a guess- 'give it to our full backs, then they can lump it somewhere near lambert, and barnard just run about like a headless chicken a bit' we looked clueless offensively. Marginally better at the back, but still lacking pace, at one point they had a bloke just sunning diagonally with the ball, and not one of our players could get near him, luckily he scuffed his shot wide. Beckford will tear us apart in a couple of weeks.......

[Liquidshokk]

why do you assume that..?

 

Because I feel our main problem this season has been due to having so many new players and trying to get them to work well together. Also having a new manager whos been playing players in different positions trying to work out how good they are as he's only known them five mins, having a dilema every week about which of our million players to play in a game etc and so by next year we should have a crackin' team that have gelled (hate that term tbh) and that can walk over any of the teams in this league...

 

Just a hunch mind

[Thedelldays]

second away game of the season, first being swindon. Not sure which was worse. I wonder what AP's teamtalk and or tactics were tonight? I literally have no idea, at a guess- 'give it to our full backs, then they can lump it somewhere near lambert, and barnard just run about like a headless chicken a bit' we looked clueless offensively. Marginally better at the back, but still lacking pace, at one point they had a bloke just sunning diagonally with the ball, and not one of our players could get near him, luckily he scuffed his shot wide. Beckford will tear us apart in a couple of weeks.......

unless you went to the game..please do NOT post your comments..they mean nothing

[Liquidshokk]

That will never happen, and I'm glad of that. If we were of the ilk of Wycombe Wanderers, then perhaps we could indulge in a draw against a bigger team. But this is Southampton FC, only 5 seasons out of the Premiership. Let's have a sense of perspective, eh..? We can do a lot better. That's why this club doesn't have crowds of 4,000. It's one of those bigger clubs. It's about time we believed it.

 

I do agree about not settling for a draw by the way as we are better than that (or rather WILL be), but surely a draw wont hurt so much if we finally forget about the playoffs this season?

[saint_stevo]

unless you went to the game..please do NOT post your comments..they mean nothing

 

i went, it was hideous. Pass the blade

[PokingFun]

Be interested to see our goals conversion rate per game with Connolly in the side against when not

 

I think that this is actually a big factor. I'm not certain but the better league and cup form seemed to come when Connolly was in the side or that sticks in my mind anyway. A player of that quality is a big loss in a division like this.

 

I still think that Pardew deserves his 18 months as play-offs were seriously never realistic with the team we had available at the start of the season. He should be judged on next year.

 

Last 6 games we have played 5 of them away from home in the league and a 50% points haul is not actually that bad given that we played Millwall and Norwich during that spell. At this level, no-one wins much more than 50% of their away games on average. In fact even the top two have only just about achieved that!!

 

1 Norwich 33 13 2 2 39 18 8 4 4 30 18 33 69

2 Leeds United 32 11 5 1 32 11 8 4 3 23 14 30 66

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

3 Colchester 32 13 1 2 27 14 5 7 4 22 17 18 62

4 Charlton 33 10 5 2 34 19 6 7 3 23 18 20 60

5 Swindon 31 11 5 1 33 16 5 6 3 20 22 15 59

6 Huddersfield 32 10 6 0 39 12 6 3 7 19 21 25 57

[Redondo Saint]

Someone please tell Pardew how to beat crap teams on crap pitches - soon.

 

Who? You?

[SuperSAINT]

i think we're still lacking in there.

 

someone who will get the ball down and get us passing, someone who will drive forward from the middle and get goals.

 

i.e danns....maybe we'll revisit it in the summer

 

I think Pards thought Puncheon could do that job. I think if you want to play Puncheon in the centre, it has to be in a 4-5-1. Think he's a touch light-weight for a 4-4-2.

 

Your old pick of Racon would be the sort of player we need.

[S-Clarke]

I think Pards thought Puncheon could do that job. I think if you want to play Puncheon in the centre, it has to be in a 4-5-1. Think he's a touch light-weight for a 4-4-2.

 

Your old pick of Racon would be the sort of player we need.

 

he's a good little player too, may be available in the summer if charlton stay down.

[saint_stevo]

pass on the waigo option, go all out for simeon jackson. Much needed pace

[alpine_saint]

Are the stats on the OS true ???

 

That we had NO corners ?

 

FFS.

[saintjay77]

on the plus side we have more home games left than away games which means a majority of playing on crap pitches is behind us.

 

Isnt the standard to look to win your home games and get a draw away? on that basis we may look like we are behind but if we win most of our home games we could be right back in the thick of it.

 

should have been 3 points but at least it wasnt 0

[S-Clarke]

Are the stats on the OS true ???

 

That we had NO corners ?

 

FFS.

 

OMG

[alpine_saint]

OMG

 

Sarcasm ?

 

You may josh, but it does seem to indicate we were not exaclty attacking the Wycombe goal.

[ST Randy]

Just got home - it helps living just 12 miles away.

 

The conditions and the pitch were awful. The ball never ran true and often never made the touchline as it was held up.

 

Only AP knows why he started with so many attacking players in those conditions - Lambo, Lallana, Barnard, Punchy and Antonio. If ever a match was tailor made for Wootton it was this one. Fortunately AP realised this fairly early and made the substitution. I thought Wootton did well.

 

Kelvin was surprisingly shaky in the first half. He was their most potent threat at times!! He made up for it with a great second half save.

 

We never had a corner all match .... but we created some clear cut chances. How Ricky missed his sitter I do not know. It looked harder to miss. Adam also missed a great chance.

 

MoM for me was Fonte. He s one classy defender.

[Saint_clark]

pass on the waigo option, go all out for simeon jackson. Much needed pace

 

Jackson was overrated. Waigo is better.

[saintsmike25]

I dunno, I think we need to rest Lambert occasionally.. I'm sure Waigo can partner Barnard upfront and add some extra place, competition for places is healthy no player should rest on there laurels. I wasn't there but i'm not reading too much into it, 4 points from Wycombe and Norwich were to be expected, if we drew against Norwich and beat Wycombe this place would be more positive.

 

It's a reminder to the players they have to be up for every game even on poor pitches and hopefully Pardew has a plan B for bad pitches other than hoof ball which is so frustrating when all our players ARE far better than that!

[Griffo]

****. Atmosphere was probably one of the worst I have ever experienced at an away game ever too.

[doddisalegend]

I'll stick to being that miserable old sod who said "Told you so" weeks ago that anybody thinking the play-offs were even remotely possible after that bloody awful period just after Christmas were manically delusional. At ko last Saturday we had to win 16 of 18 to even have a sniff but it is no longer 15 from 16 as all our rival contenders for that 6th spot have pulled away from us tonight.

 

If the penny has finally dropped expect a gradual fall off in interest from now on with samller gates and so on.

Mr Cortese will not be a happy man to night, not a 'appy man at all and whilst it is unlikely that Alan Pardew will get his marching orders tomorrow it is not beyond the realms of possibility either. As there is nothing left to play for with 16 games to go there is more than enough time to bed in a new manager ready for next season so that he can sort out the squad and bring in one or two of his own....

 

Suits me the plastics can **** right off. I watch saints becuase they're

my team win, lose or draw FFS:mad:. The reason so many people are upset is because they've been kidding themselves that play offs where possible when we went on a bit of run they never where after our slow start to the season.

 

It's interesting that while fans talk of replacing AP the pundits and media all seem to think he is doing a good job. The fact is we aren't losing many games but we are drawing to many. I always thought the general rule is win your home games and draw your away games we're almost there we just need to improve our home form.

Edited 24 February, 2010 by doddisalegend

[TopGun]

Just got home - it helps living just 12 miles away.

 

The conditions and the pitch were awful. The ball never ran true and often never made the touchline as it was held up.

 

Only AP knows why he started with so many attacking players in those conditions - Lambo, Lallana, Barnard, Punchy and Antonio. If ever a match was tailor made for Wootton it was this one. Fortunately AP realised this fairly early and made the substitution. I thought Wootton did well.

 

Kelvin was surprisingly shaky in the first half. He was their most potent threat at times!! He made up for it with a great second half save.

 

We never had a corner all match .... but we created some clear cut chances. How Ricky missed his sitter I do not know. It looked harder to miss. Adam also missed a great chance.

 

MoM for me was Fonte. He s one classy defender.

 

Interesting that all the boo boys on here are having a pop at Wotton. Same people who had a pop at KD no doubt two years back.

[Saint_clark]

Suits me the plastics can **** right off. I watch saints becuase they're

my team win, lose or draw FFS:mad:. The reason so many people are upset is because they've been kidding themselves that play offs where possiable when we went on a bit of run they never where after our slow start to the season.

 

It's interesting that while fans talk of replacing AP the pundits and media all seem to think he is doing a good job. The fact is we aren't losing many games but we are drawing to many. I always thought the general rule is win your home games and draw your away games we're almost there we just need to improve our home form.

 

Speaking of our home form, we have won our last 8 games at SMS except for the Pompey game.

[doddisalegend]

Speaking of our home form, we have won our last 8 games at SMS except for the Pompey game.

 

Yeah our current home form is great but it was shaky at the start of the season, to be honest next year I can see st Marys being a real fortress with this team.

[saintsmike25]

We haven't lost in the league for ages, almost two months. It is frustrating when you don't beat teams you think you should easily beat but Wycombe are picking up a bit of form and beat Millwall and Bristol Rovers recently.

 

The playoffs were a pipe dream given it's only since January Pardew has had a properly settled squad, the pressure is on for next season to take us up and we have to hit the ground running. But go into the rest of this season with the mentality "play to keep your places for next season" even if we did get to the playoffs what people are FORGETTING is that you're not even certain of winning them! whilst our team is good enough without a doubt one bad game and that dream is over.

 

We have to really go into next season with a do or die attitude of only automatic promotion is good enough. One thing that worries me slightly if in our last two games we're in mid-table and no hopes of the playoffs which we won't probably have, I think we should try bedding in some younger players. It's all well and good buying the best players but the likes of Lallana and James were developed by being put into the first team, we also need to have a clear out of alot of players like Lee Molyneux/Lancashire/Thompson/Forecast/Gillet/ who are eating up the wage bill and never playing.

[Lets B Avenue]

Just back. Crap!

 

Our line-out play was non-existant and we knocked on too often. Why, oh why was Wotton brought on at Fly Half? Get Cipriani in on loan FFS.

[John Boy Saint]

Jeez we have a bunch of jokers on here, nearly everywhere we play it is the oppositions cup final a chance beat a big boy. Some people on here think we are Real Madrid! forget it we are Southampton Football club a FIRST DIVISION side, we are in this league on "merit" not through some corrupt evil doing by the football authorities (we were through the trap door before the -10).

 

What God given right do we have to steamroller every other team in this league, if you look at the league no one in the top 6 has been invincible, if we had not had the -10 then the view might be slightly different. This league is very even unlike the premiership where the top 4 get richer and richer making the remaining 16 teams cannon fodder of differing abilities. "Sack Pardew!!" What does that achieve; bugger all!! just puts us back into the old regime where sacking managers willy nilly achieved diddly squat! QPR, Leicester, fit that list.

 

People need to remember we were heading into the abyss not 12 months ago, having fallen a long way already, We watched no end of crap football: Rome was not built in a day................. Have some faith some of you.

 

On tonight's game Wycombe are becoming a solid team and no longer the mugs they were, plus they are fighting for their lives. Whilst frustrating a draw is better than a loss.

[saint_stevo]

Yeah our current home form is great but it was shaky at the start of the season, to be honest next year I can see st Marys being a real fortress with this team.

 

On what grounds?

[doddisalegend]

On what grounds?

 

How many times have we lost at home this season? The answer is four and two of those games where against EPL teams, we have had to many draws at home but most of those came early in the season, our team is better at home now and will turn those draws around I reckon.

[saint_stevo]

How many times have we lost at home this season? The answer is four and two of those games where against EPL teams, we have had to many draws at home but most of those came early in the season, our team is better at home now and will turn those draws around I reckon.

 

True, but until we can learn to kill off games/break teams down we will continue to draw these games

[Hedgehog]

When we were in the premiership, did we not get some of our better results, and memorable results against the top teams like Man u Arsenal etc. Even though we were lower down the league, fighting against relegation. We always played better against the better teams. Now a few years on, a different division and that is what the lower teams are doing against us.

Dissapointing as it is, don't think the top teams were about to cut their wrists for losses against us, as many on here feel the urge to do.

[Leicestersaint]

Steady on people - we did not lose - we are sill developing as a side. Yes it's disappointing but we need to have realistic expectations.

[saint_stevo]

Steady on people - we did not lose - we are sill developing as a side. Yes it's disappointing but we need to have realistic expectations.

 

Is it not realistic to expect to beat the team second bottom in the league?

[Arizona]

Is it not realistic to expect to beat the team second bottom in the league?

 

Millwall probably said that too. Leeds said it at Exeter. Norwich said it against us. C'est la vie.

[Andy_Porter]

We really missed Schneiderlin, we need quality cover in the centre of midfield, I'm not Wottons biggest fan, he does a job in a 4-5-1 but we will get no where if we play him as part of a 4-4-2. Schneiderlin is such an important player for us, as soon as we lose of our two central midfielders our performances go to pot. Where was Lloyd James?

 

Just like Brentford and Exeter away, they can blame the pitch and conditions but if we're going to get promoted we need to learn how to win games against those sorts of teams.

[BadgerBadger]

Everyone thinks we have a god given right to win these sort of games - not so in football land. We raise our game against the better sides, always have over the years and unfortunatley the other teams do the same to us BUT tonight should have been a win.

We have a problem breaking down sides and that's we need to address - too many draws against similar have cost us valuable points.

 

Still happy with the bigger picture though - happy clappers r us

[LA77]

Too many long balls to Lambert and not enough guile in my opinion. When we did get the ball down and pass it to Puncheon (not enough), we did look much better and we had a spell of good pressure in the 2nd half and created a few chances (puncheon to Lambert, and Lallana's chance).

 

It was as if we made our minds up before the kick off that the pitch was an excuse to not try and pass it. i'm more annoyed at the way we played than the actual result. If we tried to pass it and played more football, and we still only drew I could take that. The style we played tonight was more annoying than the 0-0. we know we're much better than that, as we proved vs Norwich. oh well onwards and upwards.

[The Cat]

A very dull game.

 

Could see why Pardew put Wotton on. At least it allowed Puncheon to play on the wing where he at least looked slightly dangerous.

 

Both teams had 2 good chances. Davies made 2 cracking saves either side of a comedy fumble. Lallana should have scored when put through 8 yards out but managed to drag his shot past the far post and Lambert didn't quite see a ball that came through a crowd and hit him when he was unmarked 6 yards out.

 

After seeing us play so well at Norwich it was a frustrating game. We should have concentrated on width, got the ball out wider quicker and stuck in crosses. Too many times we failed to do this and the ball got stuck in the middle of the pitch where it would randomly bounce around before someone fell over and it got hoofed off for another throw.

 

It was actually quite comical at times.

 

Can't remember us getting in behind the full back very often and cutting crosses back, and our midfield was slow to support the attacks; often getting into a decent area just as the ball was cleared past them.

 

Credit to Wycombe though, they defended well and won most of the second balls. They also worked hard to hassle us out of possession on the rare occasions we strung more than 3 passes together.

 

Oh well.

[LA77]

A very dull game.

 

Could see why Pardew put Wotton on. At least it allowed Puncheon to play on the wing where he at least looked slightly dangerous.

 

Both teams had 2 good chances. Davies made 2 cracking saves either side of a comedy fumble. Lallana should have scored when put through 8 yards out but managed to drag his shot past the far post and Lambert didn't quite see a ball that came through a crowd and hit him when he was unmarked 6 yards out.

 

After seeing us play so well at Norwich it was a frustrating game. We should have concentrated on width, got the ball out wider quicker and stuck in crosses. Too many times we failed to do this and the ball got stuck in the middle of the pitch where it would randomly bounce around before someone fell over and it got hoofed off for another throw.

 

It was actually quite comical at times.

 

Can't remember us getting in behind the full back very often and cutting crosses back, and our midfield was slow to support the attacks; often getting into a decent area just as the ball was cleared past them.

 

Credit to Wycombe though, they defended well and won most of the second balls. They also worked hard to hassle us out of possession on the rare occasions we strung more than 3 passes together.

 

Oh well.

 

Top post mate. Not enough width and we hardly put a cross in at all. The right back didn't overlap puncheon once. We carved them open once, when Fonte passed it to Puncheon instead of them long punts upfield. If we were going to carry on hoofing it, maybe we should've got Thomas on earlier. Utter **** match and one to forget.

[NickG]

One of our most inconsistent and work-shy players.

 

Superb.

 

clearly shows you know nothing about how we play apart from the results.

[SaintBobby]

Poor result. But don't panic. We will win the division next season.

[shurlock]

Back from the game - we deserved f**k all. And blaming the pitch just won't cut it. Advice to any team that plays us: man-mark Lambert and win your headers: the rest will take care of itself.

 

If we're so reliant on hoofball and only get the ball down in the final third, why not just be honest about it and sign another target man to play alongside Lambert. At least it gives the opposition more to think about while giving us another outlet to play our game.

 

Nobody stood out tonight. Puncheon showed that he's not a CM which still leaves us worringly short in that part of the pitch - Wotton did OK but nothing more. Lallana showed his old habit of drifting inside - we didn't have a left-hand side while Barnard was almost totally absent from the game - didn't win his headers, didn't link up play. On tonight's performance, Pards words of vindication seem a tad arrogant and premature. Defensively, we seemed troubled by their pace, especially on Harding's side.

 

Having gone on record that this is our best 11 (granted Schneiderlin was out tonight), Pards should now stick with the team and see how far it takes us. The temptation to chop and change will probably be irresistible, though and we'll continue to blow hot and cold -good one game, poor another- without really knowing whether Pards is right for us over the long-term.

[Arizona]

We really missed Schneiderlin, we need quality cover in the centre of midfield, I'm not Wottons biggest fan, he does a job in a 4-5-1 but we will get no where if we play him as part of a 4-4-2. Schneiderlin is such an important player for us, as soon as we lose of our two central midfielders our performances go to pot. Where was Lloyd James?

 

Just like Brentford and Exeter away, they can blame the pitch and conditions but if we're going to get promoted we need to learn how to win games against those sorts of teams.

 

We missed him at Norwich too. He was very average. Didn't stop us beating them. Saints can play well without him, we just didn't tonight. The whole team played poorly, it wasn't so much a case of having a missing link. The defence kept hoofing it and bypassing the midfield. The midfield just didn't impose themselves physically on the game, which isn't one of Morgan's strengths.