Saints V Swindon - Post Match Reaction

[Stu Man Do]

What got me last night was that Swindon had nullified us in exactly the same way they did back in August. Excellent defensive tactics 2nd half to get play stuck in the middle of the park and then break quickly to the wide players who would suddenly pull away when they had possession and leave our lot still wondering where the ball was!

 

Also as said elsewhere Connolly looked excellent when he came on, a bit more nous than Barnard but Waigo ... who had been told to get out wide constantly got into the middle with no effect and ended up running the same channels as DC.

 

Puncheon seemed to move into the middle after the last two subs and sort of nullified himself! not his best game.

 

Overall we got caught by a sucker punch and just faded away badly. Shame but not the end of the world.

[sandwichsaint]

What a diff a couple of weeks makes - two weeks ago I drove down on a Tuesday night to see Saints absolutely smash play-off hopefuls Huddersfield by 5 goals to O; WE'VE GOT OUR CLUB BACK, IN AP WE TRUST, HOW HIGH UP THE CCC WILL THIS TEAM FINISH? It was that good I almost happy-clapped all the way home.

 

Same scenario yesterday but what a difference; Saints were never really at it the whole game with no sign of the positive flowing football we saw a couple of weeks ago. Why were we hoofing long from the very start? If we are going to play MS and AL in the same team then we need to play football, with our feet, on the ground. If we are going to try to route-1, hoofball our way out of this league then we may as well get rid of the likes of MS, AL, Papa etc. and replace them with muck-and-bullets, identi-kit, lower league drones (how krap was their number 4 yesterday? The lumbering oaf in front of the back four, and they won the game!).

 

Have to say our players (our manager?) bottled it big-time yesterday, we were clearly scared (!) of Swindon's pace and passing ability and decided to lump it from the start rather than play them at anything resembling football. Harding and MS both had solid first halves but most of the rest of it was scraps and dross - once again we failed to take our chances and this is becoming a familiar refrain - in a lot of the games I've seen this season we have created pleanty of chances but we seem to need 8 or 10 chances to score one goal! Strange as it may seem as we have scored plenty of goals and have a very positive GD, AP's number 1 summer priority would appear to be 'finishing' - there will be plenty more games like last night and if we are serious about automatic we will have to battle for scrappy 1-0s and the occaisional 1-1 when other teams 'park the bus'. I though MS had a reasonable game last night but he missed three totally presentable chances in the first 45 minutes if any of those had gone in and it would have been a different game and prob a different result (shades of Lallana who TBF does have a decent midfielders strike rate but who also often scuffs and mis-hits when he could do so much better).

 

Have to say Swindon made much the better use of half time, as if to say, that's all they've got? we can get something here tonight boys. And that's exactly what they did, they got on the front foot, passed it and frustrated us, and waited for Saints to implode which they duly did - haven't seen it again but it was a comedy goal we gave away, Fonte unopposed in the centre circle following an attacking corner turned and passed back 40 yds to KD who made a right hash of it from which we never recovered.

 

Saints huffed and puffed last 20 minutes but the subs seemed to be rather random, Connoly looked good straight from the off but Waigo and James had very limited impact.

 

All-in-all same old, same old; KD's shot stopping is second to none (Brentford away anybody?) but his all round contribution on night's like yesterday is limited at best.

 

WT is whole hearted but not very good, he was given the run around all through the first half and could have been booked twice.

 

Fonte and Jaidi are rock solid against hoof ball teams - less comfortable when the opposition play football and try and play through them, Harding is solid and one of the players we missed mid-season (did AP really have a spare 6 games mid-season to look at Mills at LB while Harding sat on the bench?)

 

What was Puncheon on? Hopefully that's a one off because he has been very good previously; AL has had an outstanding season but last night was prob the weakest game he's had this season. MS was our best player last night, Hammond much less so but he looked lively for the first 20 minutes, are there fitness and injury issues there?

 

RL was very well policed and forced to do most of his work a long way from the danger area, and Barnard bustled and bristled but to no great effect. Best player on the pitch was their number 30 (Ferry? the guy that got sent off) - he never stopped working for his team in attack and defence, he did the dirty jobs well and then always had the composure to produce something with the ball, I lost count of the number of chipped and rolled balls he played in and around our back four, a sort of Division 3 Fabregas if I may be so bold.

 

Swindon were a decent side down there (decent manager too) and I for one wasn't surprised by their performance last night, they were gutsy, determined, organised, - everything we weren't on the night.

 

Let's hear no more of the pl--of-- word for the rest of this season, for me they went at Colchester and Millwall, with a final nail hammered in at Exeter (Wycombe was just an embarrasing footnote). On this showing AP still has it all to do to gain automatic next year, I'd guestimate somewhere between 4th and 8th looks more likely at the moment but will that be enough for NC?

[Turkish]

 

Well exactly I keep being told how great our new signings are but on tonights performance they are awful. They must have some talent judging by some of our recent results, but they looked average league one players to me.

 

This being the case you have to wonder if they where really worth the money we spent on them? if you spend 1.2 mill on a player you kind of expect him to be able to pass a ball to his own side. How much did we spend on Puncheon what ever it was it seems to much for a winger who doesn't get to the by line to put in crosses, pound for pound I'm more impressed by Antonio. Still i'm going up to MK Dons on saturday so we will see if I change my mind after that performance.

 

"AWFUL"? Are you sure? I wouldn't have said anyone was awful last night, (apart from Lloyd James)

 

£250k for Puncheon apparantly, this will prove to be a steal, the guy has got so much potential. He was superb against Leeds, last night was his first bad game that i have seen.

 

£250 for Barnard, good bit of business, for the second highest goal scorer in league one.

 

Agree that £1.2m is a lot for a centre half at Championship level and a huge amount at our level and think it might have been over the odds but Fonte is a class act and the best centre half i have seen this season.

 

There is no doubt, no doubt at all though that the Jan signings have improved the squad. i would say Fonte, Otsemebor & Puncheon have improved the side and were better than what was in that position before, Barnard was needed as we were crying out for another striker and Seaborne will improve.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Just had a quick read through of the thread and

as usual the glasgow fool is all over it because we lost,

when we win he rarely posts...wonder why???

 

Proof that he relishes the clubs troubles....

 

Sad, sad little man..

[doddisalegend]

 

"AWFUL"? Are you sure? I wouldn't have said anyone was awful last night, (apart from Lloyd James)

 

£250k for Puncheon apparantly, this will prove to be a steal, the guy has got so much potential. He was superb against Leeds, last night was his first bad game that i have seen.

 

£250 for Barnard, good bit of business, for the second highest goal scorer in league one.

 

Agree that £1.2m is a lot for a centre half at Championship level and a huge amount at our level and think it might have been over the odds but Fonte is a class act and the best centre half i have seen this season.

 

There is no doubt, no doubt at all though that the Jan signings have improved the squad. i would say Fonte, Otsemebor & Puncheon have improved the side and were better than what was in that position before, Barnard was needed as we were crying out for another striker and Seaborne will improve.

 

Yes awful, I Know they must be better than that after some of our recent results but last night they were crap. I hadn't been since the pompey game so I was looking forward to seeing all the new boys playing this great football everyone was telling me about. I was shocked to see the crap they served up last night. The team where playing better than that before christmas. Still I'm going to MK Dons on saturday so the players have another chance to prove me wrong.

[up and away]

But is it that Pardew had a good strategy and the players did not implement it, or is it that Pardew somehow failed to motivate the players?

 

Give Pardew all the plaudits for those great games against Pompey, Norwich, Walsall and Leeds, equally remind him of the errors of his ways against Exeter, Tranmere, Wycombe and Brentford.

 

I said after the Pompey game that we could easily beat Norwich playing like that, but equally that we could never keep it up for two games a week. The Swindon game was not that bad, it's not improbable that we could of won the game. But Swindon exposed our achilles heel, got control of the midfield to find our attack was neutered and the defence under pressure. You can blame the defence for hoofing it, but when you have a midfield in control all of a sudden you have so many more options to pass.

 

This is very simple, make sure you have control of the midfield. If that means an extra man, so be it because everything disappears when we do not have that control. You don't have to play 451, but have the players on the pitch that can if required. We have such a superior pool of talent to any other side in this league, we will still have more than enough fire power even if we have to play an extra defensive midfielder. As one manager recently said, Ricky Lambert covers all our transfer and players wages for the season.

 

Tactically Pardew has been left groping at fresh air several times this season, something he could easily address with a more safety first policy. Equally we never addressed the problem in the January window after it had already plagued us for so long. We have played superb football when the players have the stamina to make the system work, but watching Lallana against Portsmouth run around like a blue arsed fly, you knew it could never be sustained twice a week.

 

A lot of anger from last nights game as the pipe dream of the play off's were seen for what they actually are. If we do not address this problem we will be lucky to make automatic promotion next season.

[Window Cleaner]

 

Fonte, Otsemebor & Puncheon have improved the side and were better than what was in that position before, Barnard was needed as we were crying out for another striker and Seaborne will improve.

 

 

 

I thought we missed Semi yesterday evening, gets forward, has pace, can cross

and is usually available as an option. Wayne Thomas isn't a right back, just don't know why we persist with him there because he going to get skinned

by anyone with anything resembling a bit of pace. It's true we have no other options but for me at least Lloyd james can cross the ball..on his better days.

 

I hope we're preparing a good contract for Semi because without him we are foaked.

[Window Cleaner]

poor result..they had many players out and a trainee at the back..

 

poor result..I hope this set of players know how to win 7,8,9 games on the bounce home and away next season as the pressure will be on big time..

 

Lescinel you mean, he isn't a trainee; he's a 24 year old who's played in the Scottish Prem and at Paris St Germain and Sedan in their Cup year. I really don't know where Solent get their facts from.

 

In fact Swindon have acquired some decent players for nothing, loans from Leeds, Liverpool,Celtic, Skates.

Edited 17 March, 2010 by Window Cleaner

[derry]

Most of that assumes the players can do basic things like pass to the bloke in space not the one surrounded by blue shirts, actually pass to a guy in red and white stripes rather than a guy in blue or put in a tackle. The number of poor passes and bad descion making by players last night was shocking. I really don't think it had anything to do with tactics last night just to many players who where playing badly with little energy and little desire.

 

It did, because of the narrowness there was no room, as the opposition also compacted, this cut down the passing options which led to the long ball. The narrowness made it easy to double bank and close us down.

 

Because of the time to get wide, the opposition were able to get across goal side in numbers, at the same time our other side was in the centre of the field so we couldn't switch play. The lack of movement was purely a factor of the narrowness and the players being so close to each other.

[Toadhall Saint]

Swindon did the job - they pressed us and gave us no room to move. We lacked a clinical finish. Thought in general we were below par. Ah well theres always next season.

[OldNick]

 

Davis gives nothing to the football side of the game belting the ball long virtually 100% of the time. He doesn't take crosses, dominate the box or catch the ball, usually batting it out. He is a super shotstopper but that isn't enough. The goalkeeper has to pass to his team, giving away possession regularly doesn't help.

I assume he is doing what he is told by the manager. We seem intent on getting the ball quickly up the field to battle in their half. When will you finally accept that we are League 1 and keepers who are not only great shotstoppers but take crosses etc etc etc do not play in the 3rd tier of their leagues.

How many times in the last few seasons have we been thankful for KD for keeping us in the game?

Your and Westons criticism is uncalled for and churlish at best.(as you sit together it is no surprise that you hae the same opinion)

I will add i do not know him. I do defend him from these stupid attacks that always are in the undercurrent when we lose.

[OldNick]

Swindon did the job - they pressed us and gave us no room to move. We lacked a clinical finish. Thought in general we were below par. Ah well theres always next season.

Exactly, had we taken 1 of our chances first half then it would have been a lot different game 2nd half as they would have had to open up, that would have let them exploit them more.

[derry]

I assume he is doing what he is told by the manager. We seem intent on getting the ball quickly up the field to battle in their half. When will you finally accept that we are League 1 and keepers who are not only great shotstoppers but take crosses etc etc etc do not play in the 3rd tier of their leagues.

How many times in the last few seasons have we been thankful for KD for keeping us in the game?

Your and Westons criticism is uncalled for and churlish at best.(as you sit together it is no surprise that you hae the same opinion)

I will add i do not know him. I do defend him from these stupid attacks that always are in the undercurrent when we lose.

 

Nick, you are entitled to your opinion and like you I won't be changing mine. It has nothing to do with winning or losing, it is all about performance and he isn't going to take us to the Premier.

[OldNick]

Nick, you are entitled to your opinion and like you I won't be changing mine. It has nothing to do with winning or losing, it is all about performance and he isn't going to take us to the Premier.

and which of those players are going to take us to the PL? I am sure KD may be in his last 2 seasons ,but I appreciate what a star and loyal man he is to our club. I hate to see that loyalty repaid by people picking holes , when the problem is in the main elsewhere.

We all have our favourites and KD is not in my top 4 or 5 keepers we have had in the 40 + years I have watched saints, but he is probably the most loyal and least mercenary of the lot.

He turned down PL riches to stay at our club and unlike many others he didnt leave the sinking ship.

[Steeleye Saint]

To be honest' date=' I kind of feel better knowing it's 99% certain we won't be in the playoffs this year. All that desperately hoping we win every game nonsense to scrape in was beginning to get tiresome. To my mind, we should experiment with the players we've got for the rest of the season; work on formations, plans B, C & D, identify areas where we're short and who can be got rid of and get ourselves in a bloody shape for next year.[/quote']

 

What a sensible man you are!

[Clifford Nelson]

I have stilled my thoughts until now so that I am not influenced by a knee-jerk reaction. Having read the thread, there have been several good explanations for what we did wrong and what Swindon did right.

 

There are just a couple of things I would add.

 

In matches like this, a factor that seems to recur is that the defence and the midfield seem to consistently feel able only to play head tennis, thus giving possession away far too often. I always end up shouting "get the bloody ball on the deck and pass it!" Almost invariably, there is sufficient time for the player to trap the ball and pass it, but it is far easier for those with limited imagination or intelligence to get their thick heads to it instead. We did not do it against Leeds, but it was very much in evidence against Swindon and other matches we have lost or drawn.

 

 

 

But is it that Pardew had a good strategy and the players did not implement it, or is it that Pardew somehow failed to motivate the players?

 

I'm all behind you on the head tennis. Why are we afraid to take control of the ball?

 

With regards to strategy and motivation I do wonder: What strategy? (unless you count something simple like: 'an offensive 4-4-2') Unless it really is as simple as all that, what exactly is our strategy? With top motivation we often do well, but no manager in the world can achieve maximum motivation at all times.

 

Check out Man U, for instance. Not always playing the most inspired football, but always sticking to a perceivable game plan, and in 2008-09 won 23 and lost none of the games against the bottom 13. Against the top 6 it's another story, because they are nearly as good. A good position in the league comes from making sure you beat the bottom 2/3 of the league. Exeter, Brentford and Tranmere tells us that we're not doing it.

[Red&White]

why is it that whenever we win we're great but when we lose were sh!t?

 

Never that the other team played well.... get a grip people, we cant/wont win every game.

 

Spot on :smt108

[teamsaint]

Spot on :smt108

 

absolutely. All teams lose some games. Trouble is that recently we have had far too many substandard results. A draw at Exeter isn't the end of the world, but if you want promotion you can't have a a result like that along with moderate results at Wycombe, Brentford, Tranmere etc etc.Even the odd home defeat will happen.

 

That said, the line between success and failure can be very fine.Take away the equaliser at Millwall, and let in out two woodwork efforts last night, and we would still be looking hopefully at the tables.

 

Not time to panic- but the presesaon starts here.

[Goalie66]

Yet again last night it was the tactics. The narrow four man midfield stifled the movement. The central midfielders and defenders had no wide outlets so resorted to lumping the ball forward. Whenever we play with a bit of width we do well, as soon as we go narrow we are back to hoofball.

 

I personally have come to some conclusions regarding the team.

 

Pardew is essentially negative and sets up the team that way. It is absolutely stupid to have arguably the best squad in the league and hogtie them with this narrow formation.

 

Lallana isn't a wide midfielder, especially as he can't go outside, invariably comes inside or turns back and I can't think of anywhere else he could be played. I think the team would be better without him.

 

 

Davis gives nothing to the football side of the game belting the ball long virtually 100% of the time. He doesn't take crosses, dominate the box or catch the ball, usually batting it out. He is a super shotstopper but that isn't enough. The goalkeeper has to pass to his team, giving away possession regularly doesn't help.

 

Agree with everything youv'e said. Either we have to be able to change our tactics with the players we have or we get players who can. I also think Hammond blows hot and cold and does not read the game well so that he can influence any change of approach.

 

good post

[Tractor_Saint]

Many pages back but I've seen no highlights yet so am re-posting the links to a few vids in case anyone's interested / missed it cos I hardly every read a thread end to end that's more than two pages

 

 

 

[Plumstead_Saint]

and which of those players are going to take us to the PL? I am sure KD may be in his last 2 seasons ,but I appreciate what a star and loyal man he is to our club. I hate to see that loyalty repaid by people picking holes , when the problem is in the main elsewhere.

We all have our favourites and KD is not in my top 4 or 5 keepers we have had in the 40 + years I have watched saints, but he is probably the most loyal and least mercenary of the lot.

He turned down PL riches to stay at our club and unlike many others he didnt leave the sinking ship.

I don't usually agree with nickh, but he is spot on here IMO.

If the manager tells him to roll it out to defenders to play up the field, that's what he does. seen it happen.

On the other hand....

[Charlie Wayman]

It wasn't very pretty to watch was it? There's no magic solution, we rely too much now on tireless running and pace and little else so we come unstuck with well organised defences and lack the skill and invention to outwit them. The wingers were particularly useless tonight rarely beating their men to the by-line and their crosses were laughable.

 

Small crowd didn't help, Cortese looked miserable as he suddenly realised what sort of fan base he has inherited, 44000 pseudo fans demand for the flashy stuff on the North Circular but only the loyal core of 15000-odd show up when it really matters. Let's face it people are going to drift away in droves now so for the rest of this season SMS will resemble a morgue on a less busy day.

 

What puts the ***** up me is if the penny drops upstairs quickly and we find ourselves up for sale again.

 

This team is no way guaranteed promotion next season on tonight's showing; there have been rather too many performances like it since the turn of the year so we must wonder which is the real Saints, last night's or the one that turned out against Huddersfield.

[speculator]

I have stilled my thoughts until now so that I am not influenced by a knee-jerk reaction. Having read the thread, there have been several good explanations for what we did wrong and what Swindon did right.

 

There are just a couple of things I would add.

 

In matches like this, a factor that seems to recur is that the defence and the midfield seem to consistently feel able only to play head tennis, thus giving possession away far too often. I always end up shouting "get the bloody ball on the deck and pass it!" Almost invariably, there is sufficient time for the player to trap the ball and pass it, but it is far easier for those with limited imagination or intelligence to get their thick heads to it instead. We did not do it against Leeds, but it was very much in evidence against Swindon and other matches we have lost or drawn.

 

We seem incapable of winning a game on a Tuesday evening if we won the match on Saturday. Is it that the players are mentally tired, or that they believe that they somehow didn't need to lift themselves against Swindon having beaten Leeds? We fielded what is arguably our strongest team, but do they believe that their places in the first team are theirs just for turning up? Perhaps those who put in sub-standard performances need the kick up their backsides of being dropped for a game or two.

 

Some say that Swindon wanted it more than us. This really annoys me. It seemed that way to me too and it disgusts me that any Saints player should not have the will to win regardless of who we are playing and regardless of what the score is. And Swindon were without several key players, but did not come here down in the mouth, accepting that they would get a tonking from us.

 

Thank God that they didn't have their full squad to choose from, eh?

 

Something I caught on Solent on the way home from the match struck a chord. Merrington I think was reading out a text, when he said that Swindon out thought us and out fought us. He concurred that it seemed that Danny Wilson had planned a strategy that was effective in neutralising our strengths and that his players had strived to outplay us. Seems to me that there is validity on both counts.

 

But is it that Pardew had a good strategy and the players did not implement it, or is it that Pardew somehow failed to motivate the players?

 

Very good post and the question you ask in conclusion is key but one we can only guess at the answer. At the moment i sense its the players letting us down as oppose the manager but that said its time for him to be a little less diplomatic in his post match assessments. I also believe that having done the hard work we get nervous according to Fonte because of the allegedly no rift between manager and chairman.

[speculator]

I assume he is doing what he is told by the manager. We seem intent on getting the ball quickly up the field to battle in their half. When will you finally accept that we are League 1 and keepers who are not only great shotstoppers but take crosses etc etc etc do not play in the 3rd tier of their leagues.

How many times in the last few seasons have we been thankful for KD for keeping us in the game?

Your and Westons criticism is uncalled for and churlish at best.(as you sit together it is no surprise that you hae the same opinion)

I will add i do not know him. I do defend him from these stupid attacks that always are in the undercurrent when we lose.

 

Agreed as we clearly have the best keeper outside the premier league and one who resisted being wooed by a top flight team to stay loyal to us. A fact at many times this season i have been glad he did. Distribution may not be perfect but we would still be fighting relegation without his significant contribuion. Does not deserve an unjustified witch hunt by two posters who can at times come across as superior.

[Fair Oak Saint]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

[NickG]

it wasn't very pretty to watch was it? There's no magic solution, we rely too much now on tireless running and pace and little else so we come unstuck with well organised defences and lack the skill and invention to outwit them. The wingers were particularly useless tonight rarely beating their men to the by-line and their crosses were laughable.

 

Small crowd didn't help, cortese looked miserable as he suddenly realised what sort of fan base he has inherited, 44000 pseudo fans demand for the flashy stuff on the north circular but only the loyal core of 15000-odd show up when it really matters. Let's face it people are going to drift away in droves now so for the rest of this season sms will resemble a morgue on a less busy day.

 

What puts the ***** up me is if the penny drops upstairs quickly and we find ourselves up for sale again.

 

This team is no way guaranteed promotion next season on tonight's showing; there have been rather too many performances like it since the turn of the year so we must wonder which is the real saints, last night's or the one that turned out against huddersfield.

 

20,752

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

If that's true he might as well leave after Sunday week, so we can bed in someone else?

[Thedelldays]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

how would you know this...(if true) who is lined up..?

[dune]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

If true get rid now.

[doddisalegend]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

If this is true I'd be worried about the options to replace him, Look at the EPL Laws and Dowie are to of the most recent appointments there really is very little in the way of good managers out there to pick from. I know some (many) may disagree but I think APs got us going in the right direction we're not quite there yet but at least we're going the right way.

[trousers]

Curious as to why Sven has stayed out of the limelight the last few weeks. He usually walks from one job straight into another doesn't he?

 

Interesting. Perhaps.

[dune]

Where's Dalek?

[saintedwill]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

If this is true I'd be worried about the options to replace him, Look at the EPL Laws and Dowie are to of the most recent appointments there really is very little in the way of good managers out there to pick from. I know some (many) may disagree but I think APs got us going in the right direction we're not quite there yet but at least we're going the right way.

 

If it is true (which I doubt), Gary Johnson's available

[Weston Saint]

If that's true he might as well leave after Sunday week, so we can bed in someone else?

Ex Saints player Mark Hughes is out of work. So is Ex Reading Steve Coppell.

[S-Clarke]

Ex Saints player Mark Hughes is out of work. So is Ex Reading Steve Coppell.

 

and soon to be, so is -

 

Boss Gary Johnson set to leave Bristol City

[dune]

Ex Saints player Mark Hughes is out of work. So is Ex Reading Steve Coppell.

 

Mark Hughes would be alright, wouldn't want Coppel though.

[saint_stevo]

Gary Johnson for me

[Thedelldays]

Gary Johnson for me

very good manager

[doddisalegend]

Apparently at Hereford the chairman took on the roll of caretaker after getting shot of the manager. Maybe NCs plan all a long;) on the touchline in his tracksuit waving P45s at under perfoming players (might work)

[doddisalegend]

very good manager

 

Not according to the Bristol fans on 606 who all seem to agree he needed to go.

[Thedelldays]

Not according to the Bristol fans on 606 who all seem to agree he needed to go.

all things come to an end....he was generally very good for them...took brizzle from league 1 to the CCC playoff final on a very tight budget..

 

no manager will last forever and nearly all will stay too long..

[ludgershallsaint]

Apparently at Hereford the chairman took on the roll of caretaker after getting shot of the manager. Maybe NCs plan all a long;) on the touchline in his tracksuit waving P45s at under perfoming players (might work)

 

To be fair the Chairman is Graham Turner who, it is fair to say, knows a bit more about running a team than NC.

[speculator]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

Why the plural? If Pardew wants to leave there is only one reason and that has been apparent in the past few weeks. He does not appear to be happy in his job and the reason for that?

 

It can't be easy working for an unrealistic chairman who knows little about English football and who appears to have a very short memory. Given our recent history would anyone with an understanding of the game and our starting point this season have complained that we were not level with Charlton and Norwich having spent 2 or 3 million? Two teams who came down and managed to keep their squads pretty much in tact whereas we sold/released players to stay afloat and therefore not surprisingly have had to pay to strengthen and effectively give the rest of the league a 5 month headstart before our rebuild was starting to look effective.

 

Pardew is making errors and does not look happy and who can blame him and he should go if this is true. However, the blame for this if true is not at Pardew's door and all this unrest has been generated by Cortese's ill-timed and badly thought out press release before the Pompey game. All he has managed to do was demotivate his manager and make his team nervous of failure and it's to their credit in between 3 indifferent resultys they delivered 3 memorable home wins.

 

Cortese tells us there is no rift between him and Pardew? Really? I suppose he will be telling us next there is no nose on his face? Pardew has been hung out to dry in my opinion and deserves better but if true should do the honourable thing and walk away. In the meantime, I hope Cortese doesn't turn promotion from this league as his sole target in the infamous 5 year plan and turn it into fruitless seasons of near misses like Chelski's endless quest for Euro glory. Cortese can manage money but what about men?

[saint_stevo]

Unrealistic chairman? Or ambitious?

 

If Pardew's ambitions don't match up with the clubs then good riddance.

 

Hardly set the world alight anyway

[SnailOB]

So AP is looking to leave - says who ?

 

One poster !

 

So lets start looking for his replacement then - even if it might not be true !

 

And so normal practice resumes

[Saint_clark]

Pardew out ffs

[Thedelldays]

Why the plural? If Pardew wants to leave there is only one reason and that has been apparent in the past few weeks. He does not appear to be happy in his job and the reason for that?

 

It can't be easy working for an unrealistic chairman who knows little about English football and who appears to have a very short memory. Given our recent history would anyone with an understanding of the game and our starting point this season have complained that we were not level with Charlton and Norwich having spent 2 or 3 million? Two teams who came down and managed to keep their squads pretty much in tact whereas we sold/released players to stay afloat and therefore not surprisingly have had to pay to strengthen and effectively give the rest of the league a 5 month headstart before our rebuild was starting to look effective.

 

Pardew is making errors and does not look happy and who can blame him and he should go if this is true. However, the blame for this if true is not at Pardew's door and all this unrest has been generated by Cortese's ill-timed and badly thought out press release before the Pompey game. All he has managed to do was demotivate his manager and make his team nervous of failure and it's to their credit in between 3 indifferent resultys they delivered 3 memorable home wins.

 

Cortese tells us there is no rift between him and Pardew? Really? I suppose he will be telling us next there is no nose on his face? Pardew has been hung out to dry in my opinion and deserves better but if true should do the honourable thing and walk away. In the meantime, I hope Cortese doesn't turn promotion from this league as his sole target in the infamous 5 year plan and turn it into fruitless seasons of near misses like Chelski's endless quest for Euro glory. Cortese can manage money but what about men?

hi rupert

 

:smt058

[Give it to Ron]

Pardew wants to leave for personal reasons, but, has agreed to see out the season.

 

Heard Mark Hughes was interviewed.......it came from a taxi driver so must be true.

[SNSUN]

Bang goes the season then. Pardew says he hasn't given up hope, but he might as well realise now that we're only playing for pride. The JPT Final will give us all something to get behind our team for, and if we do win it, then the season won't have been a write off. (which I don't think it will have been anyway. The progression we've made since the start of the season has been phenomenal.)

 

I will be cheering my head off four more times this season, and I expect the players to fight to the end. Next season promises to be amazing.

[derry]

I assume he is doing what he is told by the manager. We seem intent on getting the ball quickly up the field to battle in their half. When will you finally accept that we are League 1 and keepers who are not only great shotstoppers but take crosses etc etc etc do not play in the 3rd tier of their leagues.

How many times in the last few seasons have we been thankful for KD for keeping us in the game?

Your and Westons criticism is uncalled for and churlish at best.(as you sit together it is no surprise that you hae the same opinion)

I will add i do not know him. I do defend him from these stupid attacks that always are in the undercurrent when we lose.

 

Firstly I've seen plenty of decent goalkeepers below the Premier. Secondly in my opinion to improve the team he should be replaced. Thirdly he didn't go to WHU because his family didn't want to move and I'm sure apart from the contract, sitting on the bench week after week didn't appeal to him when set against a decent contract insitu with regular football.

 

As for loyalty, there is no such thing in football. If the player is good enough and he is happy he stays. If he is surplus to requirements or can get more money/better football regularly he will move no matter how long a contract is to run.

 

If we are to fulfill the ambition of the Premier in another four seasons it is highly possible that none of the current side will still be first team regulars then. With that in mind I happen to think that all the present first team are expendable if we can improve their positions as we move forward.