Saints v Notlob Match Thread

[SaintNeil90]

I honestly thought Lambert didnt look interested tonight. Not saying he will leave but it really reminded me of Beattie before he left.

[alpine_saint]

Just back from the match.

 

An entertaining game that we dominated for about 80% of the time. Apart from their goal, Kelvin wasn't bothered that much apart from a couple of occasions, whereas their keeper was by far the busier. We had a succession of chances and should have scored at least a couple with better finishing. It was typical Saints, playing much better against supposedly better opposition. Being a Premiership team, Bolton at least did not come to park their team in front of their goal and try to hit us on the break like LO and Plymouth. They tried to pass it around, allowing us to show what we could do too. And most impartial observers would say that we were the higher division team. At least we looked up for it and won most of the midfield balls with snappy tackling, but with a referee too ready to blow up for fairly innocuous tackles we risked having a player sent off, Schneiderlin being the most likely candidate. Most of the team put in good performances, with Puncheon being the frustrating one having an off day. A succession of corner kicks he took failed to beat the first man, although he showed some good touches at times. Lambert also didn't seem to be quite himself either, blasting a couple of free kicks into row Z, which isn't like him.

 

I think most will have gone home happy that we had done ourselves proud against a team two divisions above us. It took them half an hour to break us down and then it seemed as if they were hanging on for most of the rest of the match.

 

It's lucky for them that we didn't play our new Brazillian player tonight, or we would certainly have won it.

 

Out of the Carling, but I'd prefer to have a decent FA Cup run, although this season we could do without too many distractions.

 

Thanks for the detailled summary, but it has left me worried.

 

I believe you and others who say were the better team by far, but :

 

1. Bolton didnt come and park a bus. The League 1 teams we will play will do this. Although we obviously have a quality side and could hold our own at Championship or maybe even PL level, it is NOT what is needed for a promotion campaign in League 1, it seems.

 

2. We...still...didnt...score - despite all the pressure and possession.

 

Look, I am just pointing these things out. Last nights performance doesnt translate into consistent League 1 tonkings and promotion, I am afraid...

[FMPR]

Not on a windup just genuinely asking this.

 

Do you honestly believe your starting 11 could hold its own in the Prem over the course of a season? (working on the very unrealistic basis of no injuries or suspensions to anyone)

[dubai_phil]

Not on a windup just genuinely asking this.

 

Do you honestly believe your starting 11 could hold its own in the Prem over the course of a season? (working on the very unrealistic basis of no injuries or suspensions to anyone)

 

That's almost as funny as the poopey thread.

 

Don't be silly we were playing notlob.

[alpine_saint]

That's almost as funny as the poopey thread.

 

Don't be silly we were playing notlob.

 

Probably not, but it might not be far from being able to. And Bolton are not that bad -look at the current PL table. They wont go down.

 

I understand AP has his sights on the Championship and wants to build a team for the rigors of a season there, but he's got to get there first.

[sadoldgit]

Let's look on the brightside. A lot of people here said our cup runs cost as a play off place last year. Best get knocked out of them all early doors.

[Wes Tender]

Thanks for the detailled summary, but it has left me worried.

 

I believe you and others who say were the better team by far, but :

 

1. Bolton didnt come and park a bus. The League 1 teams we will play will do this. Although we obviously have a quality side and could hold our own at Championship or maybe even PL level, it is NOT what is needed for a promotion campaign in League 1, it seems.

 

2. We...still...didnt...score - despite all the pressure and possession.

 

Look, I am just pointing these things out. Last nights performance doesnt translate into consistent League 1 tonkings and promotion, I am afraid...

 

I think that your worries are the reason for the thread asking why we have stopped scoring. Against a Premiership defence we had plenty of chances, but couldn't convert any. We know that we have plenty of players capable of scoring goals, as evidenced last season, so I can only hope that it's a confidence thing and that when they start scoring they will not stop. I'm not that bothered about 3rd division teams parking a bus in front of their goals, as we have the players to penetrate it only takes one goal before those teams have to chase the game.

[Saint Billy]

I think that your worries are the reason for the thread asking why we have stopped scoring. Against a Premiership defence we had plenty of chances, but couldn't convert any. We know that we have plenty of players capable of scoring goals, as evidenced last season, so I can only hope that it's a confidence thing and that when they start scoring they will not stop. I'm not that bothered about 3rd division teams parking a bus in front of their goals, as we have the players to penetrate it only takes one goal before those teams have to chase the game.

 

I agree but it begs the question, why on earth have they got no confidence? I could easily jump to conclusions here but am resisting it.

[West End Saint]

Enjoyed the game thought we played well can consider ourselfs unlucky it was nice to see us play well and keep creating chances in both halfs.

 

A lot more positives than negatives in this game we needed the game to help with fitness good run out against a decent robust side

well done to Aaron Martin played well against Davis Klasnic & Elmander will do a lot for his confidence. Punch Lallana Spiderman & Fonte also played well.

 

It was nice to see us play a prem team we played good football nice passing created chances and they didnt create that much against us, yes we lacked the killer final ball sometimes and should have taken at 2 of our chances but fair do's to Bolton they defended very well.

 

I dont think we are far away from finding our form just keep playing & creating & the goals & wins will come, fair play to the fans last nite kept the faith and clapped the team off

[OldNick]

i did nt go but was al ittle concerned seeing Fonte limping as they walked off.

Davies seemed to push our centre back for their goal and Coleman on Sky said the same.

IMO we went out fighting and lost by a single goal to a PL side. perfect as we dont need distractions of this cup. JPT and the L1 is all i want us to fight for

[alpine_saint]

I agree but it begs the question, why on earth have they got no confidence? I could easily jump to conclusions here but am resisting it.

 

Its a good question. They should have been riding the crest of a wave after last season (like many of our fans...) and bubbling with confidence.

[Pilchards]

When we played 4-4-2 the team looked dangerous at times, however with 8 minutes to go they went 3-5-2. Bolton then hit us on the break more and looked more likely to score again, Is 3 at the back a suicide option as I feel we was really getting into them with our normal formation?

[Bucks Saint]

Thanks for the detailled summary, but it has left me worried.

 

I believe you and others who say were the better team by far, but :

 

1. Bolton didnt come and park a bus. The League 1 teams we will play will do this. Although we obviously have a quality side and could hold our own at Championship or maybe even PL level, it is NOT what is needed for a promotion campaign in League 1, it seems.

 

2. We...still...didnt...score - despite all the pressure and possession.

 

Look, I am just pointing these things out. Last nights performance doesnt translate into consistent League 1 tonkings and promotion, I am afraid...

 

We...will...not...play...teams...as...good...as....Bolton....very....often...if...at...all. chill

[alpine_saint]

We...will...not...play...teams...as...good...as....Bolton....very....often...if...at...all. chill

 

Its not a matter of being "good", its a matter of style/mentality.

 

Did you actually read my post ?

[kpturner]

I honestly thought Lambert didnt look interested tonight. Not saying he will leave but it really reminded me of Beattie before he left.

Perhaps he is still trying to get up to speed having missed a lot of pre-season? Of course he looked interested!

[kpturner]

2. We...still...didnt...score - despite all the pressure and possession.

To convert chances you need a certain amount of luck, and we haven't had much in the way of luck so far apart from Lamberts deflection against Orient. Both keepers in the last two matches pulled of unexpected saves to keep us out. Pretty soon a team will kop all our luck in one game - let's hope it is Saturday. If you watched this match live, you would not be worried......HTH

[eurosaint]

i did nt go but was al ittle concerned seeing Fonte limping as they walked off.

Davies seemed to push our centre back for their goal and Coleman on Sky said the same.

IMO we went out fighting and lost by a single goal to a PL side. perfect as we dont need distractions of this cup. JPT and the L1 is all i want us to fight for

 

I must say that was my instant reaction !

It seemed a clear two handed push but I am waiting to see the highlights just in case I imagined it in the heat of the moment !

[sammysaint]

Play like we did last night and were be winning most games this season DH MS worked there socks off and bossed midfield and AL JP looked very creative and hopefully will keep that going through out the season and RL LB DC and maybe a new striker can get on the end of there crosses and passes to fire us up the table.

[alpine_saint]

To convert chances you need a certain amount of luck, and we haven't had much in the way of luck so far apart from Lamberts deflection against Orient. Both keepers in the last two matches pulled of unexpected saves to keep us out. Pretty soon a team will kop all our luck in one game - let's hope it is Saturday. If you watched this match live, you would not be worried......HTH

 

Hmm, so despite spending x millions of pounds, we are still dependent on luck ?

 

Not buying it, I'm afraid.

[The Kraken]

Apart from the fact that we didn't score, which is a worrying trend, last night's result does not bother me at all. A good, battling and positive display against a Premier League team and a swift exit from a cup which we're never going to win or get too much benefit from. And if we came away from the night with no injuries then all the better.

 

Time for the squad to turn these good displays into a positive win on Saturday.

[trousers]

Hmm, so despite spending x millions of pounds, we are still dependent on luck ?

 

 

I don't think anyone is saying we are wholely "dependent" on luck, just that, as with any sport, luck (to a certain degree) plays a factor in the outcome.

 

But, yes, the better you are the less susceptical you are to the 'luck factor'....

[The Kraken]

Not on a windup just genuinely asking this.

 

Do you honestly believe your starting 11 could hold its own in the Prem over the course of a season? (working on the very unrealistic basis of no injuries or suspensions to anyone)

 

No.

[trousers]

http://www.bwfc.co.uk/page/General/0,,1004~2133702,00.html

 

Manager: Tough Tie And A Good Night's Work

 

Posted on: Tue 24 Aug 2010

Speaking after the full-time whistle at St Mary's Stadium, Owen Coyle acknowledged that Wanderers were given a real run for their money before they progressed through to the third round of the Carling Cup.

 

The Manager paid particular reference to Southampton's resilient display, saying that Bolton had to apply their Premier League quality to conjure up Ivan Klasnic's match-winning strike in the first-half.

 

Coyle also had words of encouragement for Adam Bogdan, who made a series of top-drawer saves on his competitive debut for the Whites.

 

The Gaffer said: "We were always going to have to work hard.

 

"It was hard-fought game and we knew that at this stage of the competition it was the hardest draw that we could have had, given Southampton's quality and that we arrived here on the back of a game in London.

 

"We had to score a terrific footballing goal to win the tie. It was a great cross from Sam (Ricketts), the skipper does what he does best to knock the ball down and then there was a typical finish from Ivan (Klasnic).

 

"You could see that Southampton were motivated and were fired up. They put us under pressure at times but, to be fair, the lads stood up to everything and when the defence was breached we had young Adam Bogdan in goal, who dealt with everything they had.

 

[Bucks Saint]

Its not a matter of being "good", its a matter of style/mentality.

 

Did you actually read my post ?

 

Yes. you are worried. you said (after 2 league games, and now a narrow defeat to Prem side) that it is NOT what is needed for a promotion campaign in League 1, it seems. I am not worried.

[Charlie Wayman]

Good to watch.

 

OK, Bolton played their second string and we matched them but it was mainly Brit players v Brit players; if foreign imports had never happened this would have been a good measure of where we are. However, Bolton 2nd XI as seen last night will be about lower nPC level, if we do what we are supposed to do this season that's where our level is as well - so, no surprise at all that we about matched them but couldn't best them.

 

What Buit the reality check for us in the Itchen was how far removed we are now even from the 'survival' level of the Premier League e.g., Fulham or Everton.

 

Coyne's post match remarks were chilling when he said the CC competition begins seriously in the next round, suggesting that Bolton were strolling last night using the opportunity to get some of their second string match fit - and we still couldn't match them!

 

Pardew seems to be seeing some very positive signs from this game. I'm not so sure, plenty of the same old flaws but Mills and Chamberlayne look like good prospects on their late showings.

 

Rumours linking Lallana to Bolton won't have been assuaged by his 90 mins of daring-do - part of the courtship intended to impress Bolton even more? Come and get me in January?

[trousers]

Davies seemed to push our centre back for their goal

 

[video=youtube;V4SSeg6uv-M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4SSeg6uv-M

[Wes Tender]

Good to watch.

 

OK, Bolton played their second string and we matched them but it was mainly Brit players v Brit players; if foreign imports had never happened this would have been a good measure of where we are. However, Bolton 2nd XI as seen last night will be about lower nPC level, if we do what we are supposed to do this season that's where our level is as well - so, no surprise at all that we about matched them but couldn't best them.

 

What Buit the reality check for us in the Itchen was how far removed we are now even from the 'survival' level of the Premier League e.g., Fulham or Everton.

 

Coyne's post match remarks were chilling when he said the CC competition begins seriously in the next round, suggesting that Bolton were strolling last night using the opportunity to get some of their second string match fit - and we still couldn't match them!

 

Pardew seems to be seeing some very positive signs from this game. I'm not so sure, plenty of the same old flaws but Mills and Chamberlayne look like good prospects on their late showings.

 

Rumours linking Lallana to Bolton won't have been assuaged by his 90 mins of daring-do - part of the courtship intended to impress Bolton even more? Come and get me in January?

 

Your opinion, but not based entirely on facts IMO. Bolton did not play their second string. It was a mix of players who featured in their first team, together with some who were second choice. Look at their teams that have played so far this season and most of those that played last night have played in the Premiership matches or been on the bench. And it wasn't a case of matching them. I'm certain that the stats for possession, corners, shots on goal, etc, would show that we dominated the game, but lacked the finishing to score, or that their keeper made some very good saves. And the counter argument is that we also played some second string players like Martin and Mills and a kid of school age.

 

Coyne's post match comments as shown above, were honest enough to admit that our players had given his team a really good testing. An equaliser for us and he would have had a nasty fright, as he had used up all of his substitutes, but although those subs had been made presumably mostly to attempt to shore up the team where we were exploiting weaknesses, we still continued to have the majority of the play and to create chances for ourselves.

 

So quite how you can say that they strolled it and we couldn't match it is beyond me. Perhaps we weren't watching the same match, or it looked different from where you were sat.

 

And even then, their goal should have been disallowed looking at the video of it, whereas most reckon that Lallana should have had a clear cut penalty. The referee was very poor and things could have been a bit different.

[saintant]

Regarding the question of us needing luck to start winning....as Gary Player once said, 'The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get'.

[kpturner]

Hmm, so despite spending x millions of pounds, we are still dependent on luck ?

 

Not buying it, I'm afraid.

I take it you don't participate in any sports yourself? You also don't actually watch many of the matches you feel qualified to pass comment on it seems. Without a certain amount of luck we may have lost against Orient, as you may have noticed if you had been there.

[kpturner]

Regarding the question of us needing luck to start winning....as Gary Player once said, 'The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get'.

When the referee and linesman in the England vs Germany match missed Lampards "goal" were the Germans lucky, or had they been practising for such eventualities?

[Alanh]

I agree but it begs the question, why on earth have they got no confidence? I could easily jump to conclusions here but am resisting it.

 

Didn't go last night but have been to the two league matches and it didn't look like a confidence thing at either of them. Barnard in particular looked full of confidence. If anything it looked like we were trying too hard. I think that we do tend to panic a bit and revert to pumping long balls forward in the last 20 minutes if we are not in the lead and we would benefit if we were able to keep calm, up the passing tempo and stretch the opposition defence. Bringing a bit of pace off the bench would help us achieve that so Alex O-C is going to be important in these situations this season.

[RonManager]

Didn't go last night but have been to the two league matches and it didn't look like a confidence thing at either of them. Barnard in particular looked full of confidence. If anything it looked like we were trying too hard. I think that we do tend to panic a bit and revert to pumping long balls forward in the last 20 minutes if we are not in the lead and we would benefit if we were able to keep calm, up the passing tempo and stretch the opposition defence. Bringing a bit of pace off the bench would help us achieve that so Alex O-C is going to be important in these situations this season.

 

AP alluded to this in the post match interview (see Para.7). He took Rickie off in order to make them play through the defence rather than slinging balls in.

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2133786,00.html

[Alanh]

Not on a windup just genuinely asking this.

 

Do you honestly believe your starting 11 could hold its own in the Prem over the course of a season? (working on the very unrealistic basis of no injuries or suspensions to anyone)

 

Hell no. We would be relegation certainties with our current squad. IMO we will need at least 10 new players to build a squad that could hold it's own in the Prem. The only players that might be able to cut it over a whole Prem season are Davis, Fonte, Lallana and Schneiderlin.

[ghq]

First game for a couple of seasons. Overall I came away with the impression that Saints played a standard of football a bit above the third division. Whether or not that will be enough to get promotion remains to be seen,but was definitely heartened by what I saw.

On the downside, I was concerned that after Connolly replaced Lambert, Davis still was kicking long down the middle to the advantage of a defender half a yard taller than Connolly! Also have reservations about Martin. Hopefully he will improve.

To reiterate, didn't see too much to be concerned about last night.

The referee seemed to demand centre stage all night, to the detriment of both sides. Self serving prat.

[RonManager]

The referee seemed to demand centre stage all night, to the detriment of both sides. Self serving prat.

 

Yes, it was like he wanted to get round everyone throughout the match and have a (not so little) chat with them. He must have used up a good 5 minutes with his seminars. He then missed Davies' push on Fonte and booked Lallana for a pretty blatent penalty.

[benjii]

Why do people assume that if a striker fails to score he, or indeed the team, must have a confidence problem? It doesn't follow. It might be the case but there's no evidence to suggest that at the moment, in fact the contrary is true.

 

The reason we've only scored one goal in the last two matches is down to misses, mistakes and good goalkeeping. Simple as that. We've been "unlucky" in as much as a few players have committed these mistakes at the same time (for example, Lambert missing a fairly easy header on the same day Barnard hit the post twice and Orient's keeper had a blinder). It is quite clear, however, from our ever improving performances that confidence is not an issue. Barnard's performance against Orient was one of the most confident I've seen from him since he joined us. Some of our play was superb at times. We couldn't have played the way we did without confidence.

 

Granted, if we continue to fail to win then confidence might become a problem but it's not at the moment. Based on our play we could have won our last two matches and scored five or six goals in the process and no one would have thought it unjust or undeserved. Thankfully our team and manager have sufficient backbone and emotional maturity (unlike some of our fans) not to naval gaze or throw the toys out of the pram after a couple of annoying results.

[S-Clarke]

AP alluded to this in the post match interview (see Para.7). He took Rickie off in order to make them play through the defence rather than slinging balls in.

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2133786,00.html

 

It was great to hear that from AP - he is doing the right things, we just need that break.

[Whitey Grandad]

Never mind the question as to whether Davies pushed Fonte, ask yourself why two of their players were unmarked on the 6-yard line.

[kpturner]

Never mind the question as to whether Davies pushed Fonte, ask yourself why two of their players were unmarked on the 6-yard line.

Who are you addressing?

[St_Tel49]

Good to watch.

 

OK, Bolton played their second string and we matched them but it was mainly Brit players v Brit players; if foreign imports had never happened this would have been a good measure of where we are. However, Bolton 2nd XI as seen last night will be about lower nPC level, if we do what we are supposed to do this season that's where our level is as well - so, no surprise at all that we about matched them but couldn't best them.

 

What Buit the reality check for us in the Itchen was how far removed we are now even from the 'survival' level of the Premier League e.g., Fulham or Everton.

 

Coyne's post match remarks were chilling when he said the CC competition begins seriously in the next round, suggesting that Bolton were strolling last night using the opportunity to get some of their second string match fit - and we still couldn't match them!

 

Pardew seems to be seeing some very positive signs from this game. I'm not so sure, plenty of the same old flaws but Mills and Chamberlayne look like good prospects on their late showings.

 

Rumours linking Lallana to Bolton won't have been assuaged by his 90 mins of daring-do - part of the courtship intended to impress Bolton even more? Come and get me in January?

 

You must be the complete cynic. I saw Lallana do nothing yesterday than he doesn't do most other games. He is a premiership class player and it shows whenever he plays. Bugger all to do with impressing Bolton. And if you thought that Bolton were cruising last night you obviously weren't at St Marys. If you were you must have been reading the Sun's advanced report which clearly was not based on watching the match. ("Bolton got a deserved lead"!!!!!!!!!!)

[ericofarabia]

Flicked the finger at The Reebok Stadium as we drove past there yesterday afternoon.

 

Humourous outcome of the photogate saga is Notlob fans wondering why there wasn't a match report in The Mirror up here ... LOL