Post reaction !!

[Chez]

 

We're not a million miles of, BUT, we are a long way off when we conced...

very good point. Last season when we conceded I thought we would always get back into it, right now I don't see it . No options off the bench doesn't help.

[ottery st mary]

Get the Rochdale manager in now....Mr Hill it is now your time.....

Edited 4 September, 2010 by ottery st mary

[martel]

Not impressed!

 

First thanks to Jamesfp1 I got the live feed, so I was really delighted to able to watch a Saints game, to cut a long story short I shut the computer down when they scored their second; dismal, no ideas and could not finish to save our lives; as opposed to being favorites to go up, it could be reversed to go down at this rate.

[Clifford Nelson]

I've just watched a team with a crisis of confidence, and trying toreplace it with desperation. Again, though, it wasn't different from Plymouth and the Orient, it is just getting increasingly desperate. The tactics remain those of an ineffective steamroller. It isn't working, and I don't envy Wilkins trying to deal with this on a short term basis. Saying this, his changes in the second half looked like those of a desperate caretaker manager as well.

 

For individual criticism I must single out Puncheon. Finally played on the left he nevertheless showed such an aversion to try to get to the byline so that it amounted to rebellion. Together with getting himself into trouble most of the time for not releasing the ball and being unable to hit a cow's whatnot with a banjo. I also think that Lambert must reasonably still be carrying his injury, since he's hardly a shadow of his old self, and in spite of a lot of industry Connolly isn't looking like scoring today or any other day.

 

The next manager has got a lot to sort out in super short time if promotion is to be achieved. So far we have demonstrated relegation form, but it isn't very surprising. Since the beginning of pre-season we haven't prepared ourself for building confidence by winning games, and there were a few of us that worried about that. We are therefore again in a situation where somebody will have to do it all again without the benefit of a few friendlies. We shouldn't be in that situation a year on, and I do think it is something that AP is responsible for, and can't understand the idea that everything was fine until he was sacked. What, for instance, is the purpose of the singing in the Northam? There isn't anybody believing that he might come back, is there?!

[Saintandy666]

Puncheon for all his faults was by far our best player. At least he TRIED to do something and why he is frustrating when he hogs, you feel like he CAN do something. We did a lot of passing today and not much breaking through. Connolly isn't up to it, Lambert should be but he is fecking useless at the moment. Oxlade-Chamerlain was good today, I also felt liek he could create something at any time...

 

What we miss is Papa Waigo, he came on in games like that last year for us and changed it up. He always delivered something. I miss him

[dellgirl]

The next manager will be Morgans' 5th-great for his morale and development don't you think in just over 2 years at the club...

[fire&skill]

The season has been blown already ,Cortese and I think that you may well know that now.

 

Don't panic - season certainly not over in September

[Viking Saint]

totally ****ing unacceptable....this is what you get for ****ing about with a team that's making progress....the new appointment had better be bloody good.....

[Window Cleaner]

I couldn't say at what time he got the call, whether it was before the match, at half time or afterwards but at some time today Morgan got told that he has to be at Clairefontaine as soon as possible to play against Malta on Tuesday 5 o clock,think he was bitterly dissappointed not to get a call up for the 2 bleuets matches but as a couple of silly sods got needless cards last night in the Ukraine he has to fill in at short notice, not good for a young player to get that sort of call on matchdays really,although I think he may see his future elsewhere anyway.

 

Other than that just don't have anything to add about today,AP got some good results with what to me was a very poor coaching staff, Dean Wilkins in charge of players such as ours is just a joke, must have been something extrordinarily serious for NC to give them all the order of the boot with no ready made solution in hand.

[derry]

I've just watched a team with a crisis of confidence, and trying toreplace it with desperation. Again, though, it wasn't different from Plymouth and the Orient, it is just getting increasingly desperate. The tactics remain those of an ineffective steamroller. It isn't working, and I don't envy Wilkins trying to deal with this on a short term basis. Saying this, his changes in the second half looked like those of a desperate caretaker manager as well.

 

For individual criticism I must single out Puncheon. Finally played on the left he nevertheless showed such an aversion to try to get to the byline so that it amounted to rebellion. Together with getting himself into trouble most of the time for not releasing the ball and being unable to hit a cow's whatnot with a banjo. I also think that Lambert must reasonably still be carrying his injury, since he's hardly a shadow of his old self, and in spite of a lot of industry Connolly isn't looking like scoring today or any other day.

 

The next manager has got a lot to sort out in super short time if promotion is to be achieved. So far we have demonstrated relegation form, but it isn't very surprising. Since the beginning of pre-season we haven't prepared ourself for building confidence by winning games, and there were a few of us that worried about that. We are therefore again in a situation where somebody will have to do it all again without the benefit of a few friendlies. We shouldn't be in that situation a year on, and I do think it is something that AP is responsible for, and can't understand the idea that everything was fine until he was sacked. What, for instance, is the purpose of the singing in the Northam? There isn't anybody believing that he might come back, is there?!

 

Wasn't it just.

[Tractor_Saint]

Puncheon for all his faults was by far our best player. At least he TRIED to do something and why he is frustrating when he hogs, you feel like he CAN do something. We did a lot of passing today and not much breaking through. Connolly isn't up to it, Lambert should be but he is fecking useless at the moment. Oxlade-Chamerlain was good today, I also felt liek he could create something at any time...

 

What we miss is Papa Waigo, he came on in games like that last year for us and changed it up. He always delivered something. I miss him

 

I'm still undecided even after reflection tonight on Puncheon... Overall he had a good game today. HOWEVER, there were some very basic mistakes he made and I doubt he could have finished a rice pudding.

 

Chamberlain was the best Saints player on the pitch today. Running after everything, looking to move into space and pick the ball up, good passing.

 

Chamberlain aside, I kept a special eye on the midfield in in general today. Unbelievable. Someone mentioned Sunday league football, it really was at times. Someone breaks on the wing and you expect to see the midfield storming forward to assist but, no, they're sat back reading Womans Weekly and polishing their nails. Atrocious display from them.

[rocknrollman no2]

Im not sure i buy into this "Lamberts injured" rumour.Looking at his body lauguage today it seemed like he wasnt bothered.Everytime i looked,his head was always down and he didnt want to put any effort in.I hope im wrong and am just reading too much into this,but either way he cant go on like this.

As for the team being happy now Pardews gone,well you couldve fooled me.We win 4-0,then when the manager goes,we lose 3-0 and 2-0.

Also im sorry but i think Dean Wilkins is Steve Wigley mk11.The players like him and think hes a great guy.That just means they are allowed to get away with very little training.Wilkins is not good enough and we need a manager sooner than later.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

I'm still undecided even after reflection tonight on Puncheon... Overall he had a good game today. HOWEVER, there were some very basic mistakes he made and I doubt he could have finished a rice pudding.

 

Chamberlain was the best Saints player on the pitch today. Running after everything, looking to move into space and pick the ball up, good passing.

 

Chamberlain aside, I kept a special eye on the midfield in in general today. Unbelievable. Someone mentioned Sunday league football, it really was at times. Someone breaks on the wing and you expect to see the midfield storming forward to assist but, no, they're sat back reading Womans Weekly and polishing their nails. Atrocious display from them.

 

Chamberlain was the best player on the pitch today - so why take him off?? Worst decision ever. Thought Punch was very in and out -some good touches but more miss than hit for me. Need someone to take responsibility at home. Seams teams have worked us out at home so perhaps we need to look at the formation. Maybe play three at the back and use harding more as a wing back. We just seam to be totally unable to break teams down at the moment. Plymouth and Rochdale have both done smash and grabs on us now and it happened on numerous occasions last year at home.

[CWD]

I'm starting to worry that Lambert isn't carrying an injury. He's just playing terribly. An Everton fan (who went along with his mate) I met on the train on the way home pointed out a few things. Firstly he said that Lambert is ****. couldnt believe he scored so many goals last season. And an intersting thing he saidd was about the complete lack of leadership in defence - he said that the back 4 play as individuals as opposed to a unit which was a fair comment I felt.

 

Puncheon was OK, ppl need to understand that he will frustrate at times but he looked more eager than the other jokers in the team.

 

Impressed with Martin. Alex is quality - he scared them ****less when he ran at them. Dont believe he was taken off!

 

Overall, an embarassing performance really. I took a few mates along today and they were amazed we were favourites for promotion!

 

Feel really empty about saints atm, really hope something happen to cheer us all up this week

[Cestrian Saint]

Today's result would have never happened if AP was still here. Well done NC, you ****!

[teamsaint]

What a complete shambles. And I don't mean just the performance against Rochdale.

 

Whoever was making decisions over the last 3 months has made some bad ones.

 

This club is desperate to get out of L1, and to maximise the chances of that happening we needed to go into August with a fit squad with quality cover....we can presumably afford it.

 

To be fair, we strengthened the defence................but.............

 

the loss of Antonio and Waigo has not been addressed at all really.With e the sqaud we had last season we JUST did promotion form over about 30 games... predictably, having lost two matchwinners we find ourselvews light. Whats more, we went into the season a striker light. We have 3, of whom one, DC, seldom looks 100%,and in any case has a horrendous history of injuries.

Thye Ox looks a cracking prospect, but really a club in our position really shouldn't be having to use him other than JPT or as a late sub.

 

Also, we clearly lack quality cover in CM, although Guly may come good.

 

To be fair to AP, he concede that we were short of cover, saying that we were waiting for quality loans.... well we waited, and its cost us at least 6 vital points.

 

As for today, I presume that DC was not 100 %.......and if he wasn't, and RL clearly isn't, why on earth did we not play with one up front, and 5 in MF....at least we would have had 10 fit players.

 

Oh, and PLEASE SAints, get David Armstrong in to training, to show the players that the first requirement to score a goal is that the shot has to be on target. puncheon needs to learn this lesson, though again he did at least look bothered, unlike most of them.

[Saintandy666]

I'm still undecided even after reflection tonight on Puncheon... Overall he had a good game today. HOWEVER, there were some very basic mistakes he made and I doubt he could have finished a rice pudding.

 

Chamberlain was the best Saints player on the pitch today. Running after everything, looking to move into space and pick the ball up, good passing.

 

Chamberlain aside, I kept a special eye on the midfield in in general today. Unbelievable. Someone mentioned Sunday league football, it really was at times. Someone breaks on the wing and you expect to see the midfield storming forward to assist but, no, they're sat back reading Womans Weekly and polishing their nails. Atrocious display from them.

 

The midfield were useless, just loads of pretty passing between themselves without ever actually moving anything forward. Unsurprising we had 57% of possession.

[doddisalegend]

In fairness to Lambert he got a lot of flick ons today but no one in our team is picking them up. Last year people like Lallana, papa, Barnard and Antonio (ummmm none of those played today) where getting on the end of Lambets headers and flick ons to score we quite often won the second ball. Connolly was never in the right place and was dropping deep a lot and no one was coming in from midfield either.

 

Also how many times did our players run into each other or get in each others way there is no communication out there at all.

 

To sum up todays display = B o l l o c k s

[mel1961red]

Well I have been a season ticket holder for ten years in the Northern and to me the team although the same team do not perform the same for Wilkins as they did AP hence the song from us "theres only one AP" then we got called a load of Stupid c---s for singing that as its AP Team from a prat in front of us Im sure we know that but the fact remains that they are not playing the same for Wilkins as they did for AP ok Im a woman and what do I know about football actually Im a quallified FA level 1 coach but just cos its the same team doesnt mean to say they will play the same for god sake open your eyes Cortese and wake up and smell the roses and realise that not everyone works for the manager in the same way its like people work differently for different managers and this one is not the right one, sort it out and quick we need someone to bring back the moral and the memory of Marcus and remind them what they get paid for and its not the s--t I saw out there today !!

[Saintandy666]

Wow, look at these stats.

 

Attempts off target

 

Saints: 15

Rochdale: 1

 

Shocking :/ We really were just hit and hope today.

[1976_Child]

My post game reaction:

 

There is a reason that Manchester United is Consistently Good At Playing Football. It is because one man has overseen that club for long enough for a real winning mentality to set in. No club will ever progress unless there is stability in:

 

a) The board room

b) The 'locker' room.

 

Love them, hate them; but you can not disagree, Manchester United - arguably the greatest football club in the world for the the last two decades - did not happen upon that greatness by accident. They had one man in charge, one way of doing things. And that is why they have achieved greatness.

 

Cutting and changing managers is a fool's game. It is nothing more than boardroom venality.

 

I long for a time when we can have a manager who stays with us. Is allowed to stay. No manager arrives at a club with all the tools to do the job; but give him and the TEAM time and they will fuse.

 

Modern day football mimics our crap consumer lives. We use, we chuck away, we forget.

 

Today was utter rubbish. I hope Cortese knows the bridges he has to rebuild.

[Saintandy666]

My post game reaction:

 

There is a reason that Manchester United is Consistently Good At Playing Football. It is because one man has overseen that club for long enough for a real winning mentality to set in. No club will ever progress unless there is stability in:

 

a) The board room

b) The 'locker' room.

 

Love them, hate them; but you can not disagree, Manchester United - arguably the greatest football club in the world for the the last two decades - did not happen upon that greatness by accident. They had one man in charge, one way of doing things. And that is why they have achieved greatness.

 

Cutting and changing managers is a fool's game. It is nothing more than boardroom venality.

 

I long for a time when we can have a manager who stays with us. Is allowed to stay. No manager arrives at a club with all the tools to do the job; but give him and the TEAM time and they will fuse.

 

Modern day football mimics our crap consumer lives. We use, we chuck away, we forget.

 

Today was utter rubbish. I hope Cortese knows the bridges he has to rebuild.

 

That one man also has total footy control, no interfering. Fergie wouldn't take it and he is also unsackable... so total total control by him.

[Chap in the Chapel]

I don't think I've been as angry about a result since the Forest defeat in December '08. It is quite unbelievable how frequently Southampton Football Club manages to lock, load, and then aim vertically downwards. Rochdale were absolutely hopeless - we easily carved through them when we got the ball down on the ground and passed through them, only to blow the one-on-one chances. There was a moment in the first half when Schneiderlin had the chance to send Hammond in on goal with a simple pass, and proceeded to smash it at him as if clearing off his own goal line. That typified us today. We are, quite simply, rudderless with Wilkins in charge and lacking in sufficient attacking options. The latter is probably Pardew's fault, but I don't think that with him in charge we'd have had a 5-0 aggregate defeat this week. What a waste of a cup run; what a waste of a league game. I hope that Mr Cortese is a faster learner than his unlamented predecessor as far as managerial turnover is concerned. Simply appointing a "name" manager this week is not enough - the results must follow. Choose wisely, signor.

[derry]

Why don't we win at home it's a no brainer FFS. Lambert isn't fit - leave him out until he is fully fit. Play the wide midfielders out on the touch lines and go for the byeline. If necessary until Lambert is fit and Barnard is back play Puncheon up with Connolly purely for the movement. Whilst the wide player is going for the byeline the strikers should be trying to pull the central defenders out of the middle and simultaneously the two central midfielders and the wide player on the blind side should be driving into the goal area to try and overload the defenders.

 

Our biggest fault is the slow buildup allowing the defence to mass then trying to batter the door down by attacking inside which compacts an already massed defence. The away team strategy of nullifying our pedestrian attacks is working, we have to strike quicker and turn the defenders.

[kpturner]

Chamberlain was the best player on the pitch today - so why take him off?? Worst decision ever. Thought Punch was very in and out -some good touches but more miss than hit for me. Need someone to take responsibility at home. Seams teams have worked us out at home so perhaps we need to look at the formation. Maybe play three at the back and use harding more as a wing back. We just seam to be totally unable to break teams down at the moment. Plymouth and Rochdale have both done smash and grabs on us now and it happened on numerous occasions last year at home.

Mike - it is "seem" not "seam" FFS!! What were these numerous occasions last year BTW? Brighton, Swindon and Bristol Rovers perhaps....hardly numerous though.

[Arizona]

Davis - 5 Couldn't really tell from the Northam, but he looked pretty badly possitioned for the first goal. I still crap myself whenever the ball goes back to him and his distribution is one dimensional. Had little to do other than pick the ball out the net twice.

 

Butters - 7 Got forward quite well on occasions I though and was solid enough at the back

 

Fonte - 5 Didn't look anywhere near as composed as usual today

 

Martin - 7 Much better than Jaidi. Chased a few balls back which would have left Jaidi in deep sh*t chasing shaddows.

 

Harding - 6 Did alright, nothing fantastic. Is clearly very frustrated at the moment.

 

Chamberlain - 7 Lots of good runs first half. A real prospect. F*ck knows why he was taken off.

 

Hammond - 5 Did f**k all

 

Morgan - 5 Did bugger all. Slightly different to f**k all.

 

Puncheon - 4 Gave the ball away with ridiculous frequency and I can remember 3 appaling shots. Occasional flashes of brilliance, but nobody was on the same wavelength. Never deserved the abuse he got from some f**kwits in the Northam.

 

Connolly - 5 Some good movement and build up play, but his game was ultimately fruitless.

 

Lambert - 4 Looks a shaddow of 2009 Rickie. Needs a strong manager to get a rocket up his arse.

 

Subs:

 

Guly - 3 Looked complete gash on this showing.

 

Mills - 2 Did absolutely f**k all.

[kpturner]

A "3" for Do Prado is a bit harsh I think. On Tuesday I would agree, but today I think he looked much better in the CM and could be useful. Very difficult circumstances to come on and make difference in a team playing collectively sh!te IMHO - should have done better with Lamberts pull back though.

[Arizona]

He came on, misscontrolled it a bit, put a shot over the bar... that's about all I can remember him doing TBH.

[Tractor_Saint]

Chamberlain was the best player on the pitch today - so why take him off?? Worst decision ever. Thought Punch was very in and out -some good touches but more miss than hit for me. Need someone to take responsibility at home. Seams teams have worked us out at home so perhaps we need to look at the formation. Maybe play three at the back and use harding more as a wing back. We just seam to be totally unable to break teams down at the moment. Plymouth and Rochdale have both done smash and grabs on us now and it happened on numerous occasions last year at home.

 

Blimey - we agree

 

Got a feeling that Harding was being kept out of the picture / passes in the first half. I'm in Kingsland North and there was good use of the wing with Puncheon (good to see him this side!) and Harding was in excellent position on numerous occasions but the ball was never passed to him. Not sure if there was some kind of falling out there.

 

I'm really hoping that the L1 teams haven't been watching last years videos of our game play and figured it all out. Results suggest they have - erk.

 

As for Rickie - the only reason he seemed to be at St Mary's today was to pick up his award pre-match. He certainly wasn't there for a game of football.

[dan17]

You've pretty much summed up what I was going to say. To answer your question I would have to point to the past and how we have not learnt anything from it. This road-crash was seen first in the Prem with Wigley and then again in the CCC with the Dutch duo. It's Saints version of groundhog day but now it's League One. Cortese needs to pull a big ******* rabbit out the hat very soon and be absolutely certain of his decision, because I can see another repeat once again at Xmas, except next time we'll be talking about a candidate to save us from relegation rather than take us to the Prem.

 

this.................................is what worries me

[Leicestersaint]

too many mediocre players

[shurlock]

Broken record but Schneiderlin and Hammond remain the problem - what i don't understand is that Schneiderlin went on a really powerful, direct run at the start of the second half and got a decent shot away. Obviously he has it in the locker but why oh why have none of our managers encouraged him to do it more often? Hopefully a better manager than Pards will get Schneiderlin to step up and fulfill more of his potential. Hammond is another matter...

[derry]

Broken record but Schneiderlin and Hammond remain the problem - what i don't understand is that Schneiderlin went on a really powerful, direct run at the start of the second half and got a decent shot away. Obviously he has it in the locker but why oh why have none of our managers encouraged him to do it more often? Hopefully a better manager than Pards will get Schneiderlin to step up and fulfill more of his potential. Hammond is another matter...

 

I've never understood how they can be allowed to be so one dimensional. That run was unusual for him but it should be the norm, as you say Hammond is another matter.

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Mike - it is "seem" not "seam" FFS!! What were these numerous occasions last year BTW? Brighton, Swindon and Bristol Rovers perhaps....hardly numerous though.

 

Oldham....... that was definately one, millwall on the opening day, colchester united, brentford added to Brighton, Swindon and Bristol Rovers...... Not all defeats but teams that know how to come and play against us, and stop us playing..... These six couple with the three games so far this season imo = numerous

[ooohTerryHurlock]

Blimey - we agree

 

Got a feeling that Harding was being kept out of the picture / passes in the first half. I'm in Kingsland North and there was good use of the wing with Puncheon (good to see him this side!) and Harding was in excellent position on numerous occasions but the ball was never passed to him. Not sure if there was some kind of falling out there.

 

I'm really hoping that the L1 teams haven't been watching last years videos of our game play and figured it all out. Results suggest they have - erk.

 

As for Rickie - the only reason he seemed to be at St Mary's today was to pick up his award pre-match. He certainly wasn't there for a game of football.

 

Nice that we agree for once.... also agree with you about Waigo - missed that bit on your op. But though Waigo was great at nicking a goal or making something happen. The crowd loved him as well and i think he loved us... big miss for me not signing him although chambelain looks like he could turn into something very special.

[harvey]

Is Dean Wilkins taking the ****, just read his review of the match on the OS..............

[saint1977]

I hope Cortese and the Liebherr family get on well because he's going to need another big injection of funds for free transfer and loan signings. I totally agree with Shurlock on Hammond and Morgan, poor by Pardew to not bring another player in that position over the summer, Ryan Dickson is a good player but priorities!! I liked Pardew but I'm not sure he'd learned from Charlton where he also allegedly stockpiled certain positions leaving others short. Morgan did at least make one decent break today but Hammond needs transfer listing, he's just not Southampton quality and never will be. Give Fonte his armband.

 

The only bright spots were the two youngsters, Ox-C and Martin who were excellent I thought. Why was Ox-C taken off FFS? My ratings:

 

Davis - 5 No chance with the second goal but beaten too easily for the first

Butterfield - 5 Good first half but bypassed too easily in the second

Harding - 5 The extra competition has actually made one of our best players last season go backwards

Fonte - 6 Not one of his best today but keeps talking to Martin and tried at least

Martin 7.5 - Will make mistakes as he learns but reads the game, has pace and good in the air. What more do you want in a young centre half? Let's hope our coaching staff don't ruin another good prospect!

Hammond - 3 Slow, Slow, Slow. Apart from clattering his opposite number, what does he add? Captain Cr@p

Morgan 4 - Little better but an extra point for at least leaving the centre circle the odd time

Puncheon 1 - Needs to grow a pair and show the Northam wrong. Awful second half miss, anyone on this site would have scored it. Can't cross, can't run and never gets his head up. This is Southampton, not Barnet. Go back to Barnet if you can't play in front of crowds.

Lambert 2 - I think he is genuinely injured

Connolly 1 - Big mistake not to limit him to pay as you play. Enjoyed last year's cameo but well over the hill.

 

Mills - 4 Nothing against him but not a patch on Ox-C

Guly 5 - Hard to come on in that situation. Still finding his feet but hard to draw conclusions playing with that load of donkeys

 

Overall - We'll do well to finish in the top 6 without an urgent injection of a tough, disciplined and shrewd new manager, several players with pace in the CM (X2), wide p layers and 2 new strikers (better to get Lambert fixed than leave him half-fit). We need a leader as well.

[saint1977]

Whoops, forgot to add Ox-C, rated 8 and our best player. Him and Martin showed up the so-called senior players. Hope they feel as embarassed as were made to feel as fans today.

[Deppo]

Thought only Puncheon, Hammond, Fonte and Connelly came out of the match with any credit. The rest need to take a long, hard look at themselves.

[paris]

Oh dear head on collision coming up .......................

[kpturner]

Oldham....... that was definately one, millwall on the opening day, colchester united, brentford added to Brighton, Swindon and Bristol Rovers...... Not all defeats but teams that know how to come and play against us, and stop us playing..... These six couple with the three games so far this season imo = numerous

Smash and grab draws :-) LMFAO!

[doddisalegend]

Whoops, forgot to add Ox-C, rated 8 and our best player. Him and Martin showed up the so-called senior players. Hope they feel as embarassed as were made to feel as fans today.

 

This ^^^ says something when our best two players where the youngsters.

[Arizona]

The next manager will be Morgans' 5th-great for his morale and development don't you think in just over 2 years at the club...

 

Poortvliet, Wotte, Pardew...

[doddisalegend]

Poortvliet, Wotte, Pardew...

 

Wilkins? depends if we're counting caretakers I suppose

[hypochondriac]

QwAn. Has

[dubai_phil]

How the hell did we lose that game yesterday?

 

Seriously.

 

We played magnificent technical quality football throughout the game. Precision, at pace and with movement.

 

It was played to a standard that made one think of the style of most teams at the WC (careful neat patient possession football), even playing football in an Arsenal way came to mind.

 

Technically superb.

 

And there is the problem. Technical quality football of an International style being played against kick and rush teams aand teams with limited technical ability compared to our players but with far more PASSION.

 

That was the thing. It was Passionless. It was scientific football to satisfy technical purists. It was everything the coaching manual says you must do to be a wonderful coach.

 

And it had Sod all to do with winning a football match in League 1

They aren't good enough when it comes down to that final split decision, to shoot or pass. Very neat and tidy when they have space, just llike training, but when they get close to the box or pressured, pop the opposition are up the field and scored in less than 14 seconds.

 

It is not the tactics it is not who plays where, it is the ingrained technical style of football thgey want to play. It will be fantastic if we were in the PL with PL players, but it is NOT WHAT IS NEEDED in League 1. Too technical too passionless and ultimately BORING