Saints V Swindon - Post Match Reaction

[doddisalegend]

Spot on....how many times did Morgan get the ball look up and have the 2 wide men alongside him?

Kelvin looked like an old man...well older than me going down for 2 of those shots he could of walked across and picked one up it was going that fast and he pushed it for a corner!

What was the James substitution all about? Good idea bring on a ful back that pings it in from 40 yards out and cant beat the first man!

 

Their goal came about after a shocking period of play yet we set and faffed about warming up players...why when they did that at half-time.

We were clearly losing midfield and should of put Waigo wide right and James in the middle 4-5-1 with Lallana tucked in .

Poor from Pardew last night IMO.[/QUOTE]

 

Poor form from the players IMO. AP got his subs right shame they couldn't be anymore bothered than the rest, no manager can regulate for professional players not being able to pass to each other, or make the right desicion for the pass, or take up the right postion on the pitch these are professional players who should be able to manage these things without the manager holding their hand.

[doddisalegend]

Sven

 

I hope the **** not!!

[Liquidshokk]

I thought St Mary's was flat on atmosphere last night, the build up to the match etc and the performance and result matched it.... totally flat

 

Yeah I agree.

 

No offence to older folk but my god I was surrounded by the silent oldies around block 9 row H and you would have thought someone/thing had died (Must have been Saints play off chances)

 

Thank god for the Northam lot as the rest of the stadium was silent for most of the game.

 

Is Itchen north the best bet for singing, cheering etc without drunken fans falling on top of you? Despite last nights result Im so excited about getting my first season ticket...

[eelpie]

For all those who say the season is over:

 

It is not. We still have to avoid relegation. Serious. We need a few more points to be mathematically certain. A slump from now on would be a disaster.

 

We have a Cup to win.

 

And it's essential we end the season on a good run and a high. The pressure to reach the play-offs is off now.

 

And we must prepare for next season.

[S-Clarke]

For all those who say the season is over:

 

It is not. We still have to avoid relegation. Serious. We need a few more points to be mathematically certain. A slump from now on would be a disaster.

 

We have a Cup to win.

 

And it's essential we end the season on a good run and a high. The pressure to reach the play-offs is off now.

 

And we must prepare for next season.

 

we are not in any threat of relegation.........we need 1, possibly 2 more wins to be 100% sure. We will get that with room to spare, i'm not even thinking of relegation. We're 14 points away from it.

 

If we do amazingly actually go on a slump from now until the end of the season that ends in relegation, then Pardew will be sacked and will never get another job in football management.

[Liquidshokk]

For all those who say the season is over:

 

It is not. We still have to avoid relegation. Serious. We need a few more points to be mathematically certain. A slump from now on would be a disaster.

 

We have a Cup to win.

 

And it's essential we end the season on a good run and a high. The pressure to reach the play-offs is off now.

 

And we must prepare for next season.

 

I cant see there being any chance of relegation now. Yeah we played bad last night but did we not recently win 2-0, 5-1, and 5-0 against big teams? 12 games left and those results show we are better than most in the league so should win most of those. Especially as we've pretty much got all the big teams out of the way now havent we?

[doddisalegend]

For all those who say the season is over:

 

It is not. We still have to avoid relegation. Serious. We need a few more points to be mathematically certain. A slump from now on would be a disaster.

 

We have a Cup to win.

 

And it's essential we end the season on a good run and a high. The pressure to reach the play-offs is off now.

 

And we must prepare for next season.

 

I'm not in the slighest bothered about the big R. It actually makes a refreshing change not to be worrying about relegation for a change. To be honest for most of our seasons for years (bar maybe two) the only reason our season hasn't ended in March is becuase we are fighting relegation anyway.

[Liquidshokk]

I see Pardew mentioned that the playoffs are still possible after last nights game..... :confused:

 

Surely its time for him to admit its over now too?

[doddisalegend]

I see Pardew mentioned that the playoffs are still possible after last nights game..... :confused:

 

Surely its time for him to admit its over now too?

 

He can't he has to show NC he has intent, but I think most of us now agree it's not going to happen. Just gives us a longer pre-season to weed out the chaff and get the players understanding how to play well together consistently, something they can't seem to do yet.

[dune]

I see Pardew mentioned that the playoffs are still possible after last nights game..... :confused:

 

Surely its time for him to admit its over now too?

 

AP thinks this - what a dimebar.

[SnailOB]

Austin? I agree with your sentiments but unlike most of our players Austin and his team mates displayed cool heads and a desire to win the ball back, a desire that was lacking in our side tonight. Austin looked quite useful and as he was plying his trade for Poole Town last season you have to ask yourself why did Swindon pick him up and no doubt for peanuts and not us. Surely our scouting network stretched to Poole?

 

Puncheon had an awful game but at least he tried to provide some width unlike the headless Lallana and if the word consistency needs to be applied to any part of our team its in our wide positions where it is most applicable.

 

Our central midfield were too deep and poor when Swindon had possession standing off and giving Swindon every opportunity to play. When we had the ball and and kept it simple we looked very good but to often we reverted to long lobbed punts up field that their centre backs just hoovered up with simple ease. These balls were fruitless but we didn't have the intelligence to work it out and kept on even when James had come on presumably with some form of managerial instruction.

 

Defensively, I thought Fonte and Harding had good games because when they can at least they look to play the ball from defence whereas James, Thomas and Jaidi passing/crossing was very poor and hence their continual resorting to speculative hoofs, especially Jaidi. There was one brilliant peice of attacking playing in the first half when we played the ball from centre to left and switched it to the right only for Thomas to put in a ball that makes you wonder how some footballers can earn a living let alone get taken on professionally. I defended Thomas at right back after the Leeds game but based on that showing tonight we only have one option at RB and it isn't James.

 

We didn't have enough width and anything we did create was usually initiated by Harding. Our CM pairing don't get forward enough to support the strikers and neither did the wide men hence Lambert was having to drift wide leaving Barnard to deal with two small houses in their central defence. Also in the first half our CM's had opportunities to run into space in front of their defenders or shoot at goal from about 25 yards out and they always played it square.

 

At times we are too cute and casual and if the big 'I am' arrogance was on display tonight it wasn't in a blue shirt. Consistency only comes with the right attitude and we didn't appear to 'want it' enough tonight and we need players to be more direct and aggressive and play with their heads and not just use it as an opportunity to show off some fancy tricks and casualness as if we 3-0 up and coasting - Lallana, Puncheon and Waigo especially.

 

All that said we hit the woodwork twice, had a disallowed goal (not playing with our heads) and had a shot cleared off the line and they only really came close with Austin's cross shot in the first half that beat Davis so frankly we should have won, even if we weren't value for it.

 

Time for AP to start pre-season now and giving opportunities to other squad members to ensure next season we don't have a squad heavy in numbers but shallow in cover in key areas. Pointless moving players on for them to go elsewhere and do a great job and the time has come for AP to start challenging some of the permanent fixtures in the side to see what else we have at our disposal and inject some much needed urgency and intelligence into those who are showing signs of a casual attitude. Once he has done that and shown us all what he has to work with then he can give Cortese his shopping list because we are nowhere near ready for a top 2 place next season with this squad.

 

Mainly sums up how I saw it.

 

Defensively - biggest problem was distribution. Passing from the back by Thomas, jaidi & Fonte was shocking. Against leeds and the hoof game they played these guys could just defend and put power and pace on their headers. Swindon kept the ball down mostly and when our defence had time on the ball their distribution just put us straight back under pressure.

 

Basically Swindon played our game better than we did. That said we had more chances and if not for the post / bar etc... it could have been our day.

 

As for debate on AP - i would still want to see him given the start to next season because we really have played some great football this year. Just annoying when you see players put in a great performance one day and then play shockingly the next. Is this APs fault ? - Not sure but unfortunatley always the manager takes the blame.

 

Tired of knee-jerk reactionaism that calls for managers head all the time. I'm not going to start spouting off about where we have come from, what AP had to start with etc.. but try and judge on how we have played recently. At the moment its jumped from sublime to poor so consistency is the key. But i still think AP can deliver and like i said some of the football has been a joy to watch recently.

 

AP knows our weakenesses and he has done his best to look at every problem we had from day one - No scouting network (now in place BUT probably too late for finding the likes of Austin), No backroom staff (now in place), Poor squad (now addressed, signings so far have been good), problem goal scoring (certainly addressed this season) - next aim, consistency, and I am willing to give him the opportunity to address this next season, unfortunately its not my call.

[mickyp]

in my opinion Swindon were well up for the game and are guys just looked as they were a little off pace, with maybe to many games in a short space of time. However it is there job and they should be able to play a game of football, it not like they do anything else. We are not going to reach the play offs so over the next few games rest Lambert, Adam and few others that are important and go all out for winning the Wembley game.

[Liquidshokk]

in my opinion Swindon were well up for the game and are guys just looked as they were a little off pace, with maybe to many games in a short space of time. However it is there job and they should be able to play a game of football, it not like they do anything else. We are not going to reach the play offs so over the next few games rest Lambert, Adam and few others that are important and go all out for winning the Wembley game.

 

Good plan, (whilst keeping a beady eye on the distance to drop zone)

 

Will be quite an anticlimax to the season if we dont win the JPT despite it being a fairly insignificant cup in the grand scheme of things.

 

I hope for Pardews sake that the team come out with something to show for the season.

[The Cat]

Mainly sums up how I saw it.

 

Defensively - biggest problem was distribution.

 

We were saying that during the game.

 

Our defenders gave cheap possession away far too often last night which hasn't happened for the past few games.

 

This caused the team to lose it's rhythm as the midfield then spent most of their time closing down the Swindon players rather than gaining territory and position with the ball at their feet.

 

Puncheon looked lost without an attacking full back creating space for him. Without any overlaps down that side it allowed Swindon to effectively double up on him as there was no one making runs and taking a defender away.

 

Hammond seemed fairly anonymous which was unfortunate. Definitely under par last night.

 

I'm sure we'll improve on Saturday away at Franchise and hope for a win if only to derail any hope the Fake Club have of making the play offs.

 

Oh, and anything that annoys Paul Ince is fine by me.

[LostBoys]

I think we need to get real about last night's game. We played poorly Morgan excepted but still could have scored from six clear cut chances that I can remember. We lost to a well organised side trying to hit us on the break.

 

We should have reached the playoffs even with the shambles of the early part of the season and the -10 points but we have not. Some great performances have been balanced by some poor ones and this has to be sorted out by the posts about replacing the manager or that its a done deal already is ridiculous. Have we learned nothing from the history under the last regime of one manager per year almost?

 

I have enjoyed this season after the recent ones and been to away grounds that I never thought I would and now it looks that I will be going to them again. Disappointing but nowhere near a suicide inducing position after the spectre of the Blue Square at the beginning of the season.

[thefunkygibbons]

pants

[Avenue Saint]

sat in kingsland, thomas didnt do a lot wrong but then james comes on and lost count how many times he lost possession or crosses didnt beat first man.. so so frustrating overall

[Genk]

Nothing really went for us last night and we never really clicked as a team. When Thomas didn't score the header from the free kick at the end of the first half, you started to wonder if it would be our night.

 

Pretty much every single player played below average last night and the team looked quite tired. To be fair Swindon looked comfortable in the second half, knocking it around us with ease at the start and we didn't give them enough to worry about. Wilson worked out how to play against us and his players executed this at the same time as our guys being below par.

[Bailey]

Some people are over-reacting once again.

 

Take nothing away from Swindon, they played well and fully deserved the 3 points. They executed their game plan perfectly and could have had more. Having said that, despite playing poorly throughout, we still had chances and on another day we would have won. I got the feeling that had the game gone on for another 90 minutes, we still wouldn't have scored.

 

Admittedly the play-offs are unlikely now, almost impossible, but we must go into the game at MK Dons with the aim of putting right yesterday's wrongs. Our season is not over, we still have the JPT final and we need to finish the season in a rich vein of form to begin building for next season's promotion push.

[saint_stevo]

Some people are over-reacting once again.

 

Take nothing away from Swindon, they played well and fully deserved the 3 points. They executed their game plan perfectly and could have had more. Having said that, despite playing poorly throughout, we still had chances and on another day we would have won. I got the feeling that had the game gone on for another 90 minutes, we still wouldn't have scored.

 

Admittedly the play-offs are unlikely now, almost impossible, but we must go into the game at MK Dons with the aim of putting right yesterday's wrongs. Our season is not over, we still have the JPT final and we need to finish the season in a rich vein of form to begin building for next season's promotion push.

 

How is it an over-reaction to be annoyed at losing at home to an injury hit Swindon Town?

[Andyb1]

For all those who say the season is over:

 

It is not. We still have to avoid relegation. Serious. We need a few more points to be mathematically certain. A slump from now on would be a disaster.

 

We have a Cup to win.

 

And it's essential we end the season on a good run and a high. The pressure to reach the play-offs is off now.

 

And we must prepare for next season.

 

Settle down, we aren't going to go down. Jesus.

[dune]

Andyb1 do you play tombola bingo? I'm sure i've seen you on Emerdale.

[Andyb1]

Andyb1 do you play tombola bingo? I'm sure i've seen you on Emerdale.

 

eh?

[Bailey]

How is it an over-reaction to be annoyed at losing at home to an injury hit Swindon Town?

 

Wasn't specifically accusing you of over-reacting saint_stevo, but I do think some people are going a tad over-board with their views.

 

Yes, losing at home to ANY team in this division, yet alone an injury-hit Swindon side is disappointing and hugely frustrating, especially given our current form, but at the end of the day, we were beaten by the better side on the night and we didn't deserve anything from the game. I just find it odd that after one poor result, people start to question whether we're any good, whether we're heading in the right direction and even some asking if we're going to get dragged into a relegation battle!?

[mikey_boosh]

Mainly sums up how I saw it.

 

Defensively - biggest problem was distribution. Passing from the back by Thomas, jaidi & Fonte was shocking. Against leeds and the hoof game they played these guys could just defend and put power and pace on their headers. Swindon kept the ball down mostly and when our defence had time on the ball their distribution just put us straight back under pressure.

 

Basically Swindon played our game better than we did. That said we had more chances and if not for the post / bar etc... it could have been our day.

 

As for debate on AP - i would still want to see him given the start to next season because we really have played some great football this year. Just annoying when you see players put in a great performance one day and then play shockingly the next. Is this APs fault ? - Not sure but unfortunatley always the manager takes the blame.

 

Tired of knee-jerk reactionaism that calls for managers head all the time. I'm not going to start spouting off about where we have come from, what AP had to start with etc.. but try and judge on how we have played recently. At the moment its jumped from sublime to poor so consistency is the key. But i still think AP can deliver and like i said some of the football has been a joy to watch recently.

 

AP knows our weakenesses and he has done his best to look at every problem we had from day one - No scouting network (now in place BUT probably too late for finding the likes of Austin), No backroom staff (now in place), Poor squad (now addressed, signings so far have been good), problem goal scoring (certainly addressed this season) - next aim, consistency, and I am willing to give him the opportunity to address this next season, unfortunately its not my call.

 

I saw it the same as you and Speculator. It almost reminded me of us against Leeds but in reverse. We had our fair share of problems: looked unmotivated/tired, poor distribution, poor movement, etc. but I don't think you can take anything away from Swindon. They were thoroughly organised, played to feet, and their one touch passing made ours this season look sloppy. One of the better sides I've seen in this league.

 

You could say we were unlucky, hitting the post, clearance of the line etc. but they could have scored before when their striker missed a one on one with Davis.

[Whitey Grandad]

I saw it the same as you and Speculator. It almost reminded me of us against Leeds but in reverse. We had our fair share of problems: looked unmotivated/tired, poor distribution, poor movement, etc. but I don't think you can take anything away from Swindon. They were thoroughly organised, played to feet, and their one touch passing made ours this season look sloppy. One of the better sides I've seen in this league.

 

You could say we were unlucky, hitting the post, clearance of the line etc. but they could have scored before when their striker missed a one on one with Davis.

All these are a fair summary of the game, in my opinion.

[Andyb1]

sat in kingsland, thomas didnt do a lot wrong but then James comes on and lost count how many times he lost possession or crosses didn't beat first man.. so so frustrating overall

 

Almost fair, but i think you have to take in account the fact that Thomas didn't get himself into any crossing positions to mess them up. His distribution is shocking truly shocking.

 

Just to note this isn't me protecting James i think he is rubbish, just that Thomas is no better

[BARCELONASAINT]

Football and the fans are a very funny lot and more so with our collective fans.......we win a game and AP is the best thing since sliced bread......we lose a game and he's a crap manager with no tactical know how.......

 

Amazing how some people forget we almost had no club to support 12 months ago and had endured 5 of the crappest seasons i can remeber in a row....

 

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

[gordonToo]

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

 

It comes down to whether you think Pardew is a winner, i.e. can he consistently motivate, organise and get the best out of the squad. The evidence so far is that he's not.

[saint_stevo]

Football and the fans are a very funny lot and more so with our collective fans.......we win a game and AP is the best thing since sliced bread......we lose a game and he's a crap manager with no tactical know how.......

 

Amazing how some people forget we almost had no club to support 12 months ago and had endured 5 of the crappest seasons i can remeber in a row....

 

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

 

The phrase 'CHANGE THE RECORD' comes to mind :mad:

[doddisalegend]

Football and the fans are a very funny lot and more so with our collective fans.......we win a game and AP is the best thing since sliced bread......we lose a game and he's a crap manager with no tactical know how.......

 

Amazing how some people forget we almost had no club to support 12 months ago and had endured 5 of the crappest seasons i can remeber in a row....

 

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

 

Maybe. I've generally been happy with this season, I like AP, we've played much better football this year than in a long time and we've assembled a good team (well so I'm told but after last night I'm not so sure).

 

However last night was shocking. I can take losing it's the manner of the loss that bugs me. There was just no fight,passion and very little skill on display last night and to me thats unacceptable. To lose after a battling game where the players give their all (like the pompey game) is one thing, just to give up and resort to punting it long and hoping is something else all together.

[Thedelldays]

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..

[Miffy]

Some people are over-reacting once again.

 

Take nothing away from Swindon, they played well and fully deserved the 3 points. They executed their game plan perfectly and could have had more. Having said that, despite playing poorly throughout, we still had chances and on another day we would have won. I got the feeling that had the game gone on for another 90 minutes, we still wouldn't have scored.

 

Admittedly the play-offs are unlikely now, almost impossible, but we must go into the game at MK Dons with the aim of putting right yesterday's wrongs. Our season is not over, we still have the JPT final and we need to finish the season in a rich vein of form to begin building for next season's promotion push.

 

I agree. Although I am irritated that we lost, and our performance wasn't anywhere as good as the previous 3 home games, with a bit of luck we would have won last night.

 

We hit the post and bar, had a goal disallowed and numerous goal mouth scrambles where the ball wouldn't drop quite right. We had more shots on target and off target, greater possession and more corners.

 

Dissapointing, but not worth slitting wrists over.

[trousers]

Pardew will not be here next season. Already been agreed.

A new manager has already been lined up.

You heard it here first.

 

9 posts in c.4 years = ITK

[alpine_saint]

Football and the fans are a very funny lot and more so with our collective fans.......we win a game and AP is the best thing since sliced bread......we lose a game and he's a crap manager with no tactical know how.......

 

Amazing how some people forget we almost had no club to support 12 months ago and had endured 5 of the crappest seasons i can remeber in a row....

 

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

 

As does the word BOREDOM at the same excuses being trotted out for the 50000th time...

[70's Mike]

not posted until now,but imo with a bit of luck we could of won the game.

Swindon had been well prepared and double teamed Puncheon and Lallana which really restricted our attacking play.

On another day we could have been 2 up at half time but thats football

[Clifford Nelson]

I think we've been here before. When everything goes fine and the team is fully inspired they beat most opposition put in front of them with a good margin. And then comes the days when inspiration fails, and suddenly we look rather desperate in our attempts to get back into a game which is running away from us, and we're trying increasingly frenetically to do what we already found difficult to do at a slow pace, like passing the ball, for instance.

 

I don't buy this "consistency" thing. It seems to mean that hopefully we could play on top of our game on every occasion, but that is never going to happen, not for us and not for anybody else either.

 

If we are to persevere with the current rather run-of-the-mill 4-4-2 then at least we need to have a plan B to revert to when things don't go well. And I don't mean for the manager to come out with sudden new instructions. I mean for the players to be fully aware of what they need to do when plan A fails. It was very clear last night that they only tried time and again to do what they had done from the start of the game, but with more and more desperation, so not very surprisingly we kept giving the ball away, whilst Swindon gave us a valuable lesson in moving, passing, and keeping the ball.

 

Yes, it might have been different if Schneiderlin's shot had gone in rather than hit the post, but the fact of the matter is it didn't, and then we need a plan, or a strategy if you will, for how to work our way back in and grab hold of the game again. And we haven't got it.

 

From that we should learn that Wembley won't be a cake walk; next year won't be a parade towards the title, and the CCC would be a similar story yet again. If that is good enough, than so be it, but I doubt very much that it will be good enough for Mr Cortese.

[NickG]

As does the word BOREDOM at the same excuses being trotted out for the 50000th time...

 

 

 

 

or the same moaning with very limited knowledge?

[hughieslastminutegoal]

not posted until now,but imo with a bit of luck we could of won the game.

Swindon had been well prepared and double teamed Puncheon and Lallana which really restricted our attacking play.

On another day we could have been 2 up at half time but thats football

 

Interesting point. That ought to have given us a 2 man advantage if only our midfield could take advantage of it, but despite Morgan's undoubted technical ability there is little real thrust from midfield into danger areas. That was our problem against Poopy too.

[Liquidshokk]

I think we've been here before. When everything goes fine and the team is fully inspired they beat most opposition put in front of them with a good margin. And then comes the days when inspiration fails, and suddenly we look rather desperate in our attempts to get back into a game which is running away from us, and we're trying increasingly frenetically to do what we already found difficult to do at a slow pace, like passing the ball, for instance.

 

I don't buy this "consistency" thing. It seems to mean that hopefully we could play on top of our game on every occasion, but that is never going to happen, not for us and not for anybody else either.

 

If we are to persevere with the current rather run-of-the-mill 4-4-2 then at least we need to have a plan B to revert to when things don't go well. And I don't mean for the manager to come out with sudden new instructions. I mean for the players to be fully aware of what they need to do when plan A fails. It was very clear last night that they only tried time and again to do what they had done from the start of the game, but with more and more desperation, so not very surprisingly we kept giving the ball away, whilst Swindon gave us a valuable lesson in moving, passing, and keeping the ball.

 

Yes, it might have been different if Schneiderlin's shot had gone in rather than hit the post, but the fact of the matter is it didn't, and then we need a plan, or a strategy if you will, for how to work our way back in and grab hold of the game again. And we haven't got it.

 

From that we should learn that Wembley won't be a cake walk; next year won't be a parade towards the title, and the CCC would be a similar story yet again. If that is good enough, than so be it, but I doubt very much that it will be good enough for Mr Cortese.

 

Good post. About sums it up

[Wes Tender]

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?

[Smirking_Saint]

Football and the fans are a very funny lot and more so with our collective fans.......we win a game and AP is the best thing since sliced bread......we lose a game and he's a crap manager with no tactical know how.......

 

Amazing how some people forget we almost had no club to support 12 months ago and had endured 5 of the crappest seasons i can remeber in a row....

 

The word FICKLE springs to mind :mad:

 

Yeah, fair point, i no longer wish to support a team with any competetive capacity as we could have had no team.

 

Silly me,

 

who are we playing sat ?? Not that i care what the result would be, we might not have had a team and all.

[Chez]

we had no excuses last night and in the second half we were woeful for so many reasons not least the gung ho substitutions and formation so soon after going behind. Seeing Jaidi playng centre forward for about five minutes with half an hour to go make me wonder what the hell is going on. We did play well in the first half against a decent Swindon side. Needed to take one of those chances. The second half was a shambles. Why are we panicing at 0-1?

 

Davis 4 spilled some easy chances, some poor kicks, some sensible safe kicking

Thomas 5 ran ragged by their wideman, but through a fair degree of fouling he just managed to contain him. The yellow left him exsposed.

Fonte 7 a terrible ball forward from him that was easily cut out left him out of position and lead directly to the goal. Thought he had a decent game apart from that

Jaidi 4 very poor second half and was done several times

Harding 8 Decent game and at times was left terribly exposed.

Hammond 7 very good first half, got overun in second and then subbed. We got worse when he did.

Morgan 8 Brilliant in the first half, gave everything.

Lallana 5 not bad in the first half but the formation left him with no where to go.

Puncheon (9 first half, 0 second) reasl jackal and hyde operformance. Looked totally disinterested in second half and HE should have been subbed.

Barnard 6 quite a few half chances that he either didn't get under control or scuffed

Lambert 6 great strike to hit the bar and won a lot in the air.

 

James 2 no one to pass to, but when he did cross it was ****.

Wagio 5 not helped by the narrow formation that saw him Lambert and Connelly all treading on each others toes

Connelly 6 bright but not fit. see problem above.

[View From The Top]

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?

 

Saints, throughout my lifetime, have usually followed up a win against a "big" club with a defeat by a "small" club.

[70's Mike]

Interesting point. That ought to have given us a 2 man advantage if only our midfield could take advantage of it, but despite Morgan's undoubted technical ability there is little real thrust from midfield into danger areas. That was our problem against Poopy too.

 

THEY were clever on how they did it, but as soon as the ball went wide they changed shape, as if to say we do not think Hammond/Morgan can hurt us.

They nearly came unstuck when Morgan hit the post but the plan basically worked with Lambert drifting out to the wings especially in second half where Puncheon disappeared

[Window Cleaner]

Still Wilson has a really good track record of doing something with nothing.

This is the man who took Barnsley to the Premier League remember.

 

Not much too add about last night but I really do wonder if our coaching staff (not the manager) are really up to the job.I think that is an area where we need fundamental change.

[The boy done well]

I've always been a supporter of AP but something's not right.

 

We have a better team on paper than probably all of our rivals and often completely dominate games only for the opposition to make a switch (frequently at half time) and immediately put us on the back foot.

 

I'm thinking of the games away at Exeter (we lost control in the 2nd half), Brentford (again 2nd half), home to Leeds where they negated our complete 1st half dominance in the 2nd half and might just have snatched a goal, and Swindon where at half time I think most of us would still have been expecting a win. It may have been the same at Tranmere (I didn't go) and other games too if we go back.

 

My point is that when the opposition change their tactics we don't seem able to change ours. Putting Waigo on for Barnard isn't a tactical change nor is James for Thomas. Maybe this is the weakness of our present regime.

[OldNick]

Swindons 5man midfield out ran and out passed our 4 men.

They pressed and were composed and always had the threat of their forward , who took his chance beautifully.

Their keeper made a wonderful save to keep out Thomas's header and had we scored they would have ot have opened up more.

A draw would have been fair although we did a bit more.

To read Westons summary criticism of KD is unfair. Their keeper spilt a lot more shots than he did and was never at fault with their goal. I do think the haste we try to get the ball up to Lambert does make his kicking skew. I cant see the point anyway as Lambert wins little against the defences in the air.

[derry]

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.

[doddisalegend]

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.

 

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.