Coventry 4-1 Saints - Post Match Views

[Rasiak-9-]

I'm not hitting the panic button just yet, if you had offered me 6 points from our past 3 matches i'd have jumped for joy, but all we can really do is hope that today was a one-off and thank our lucky stars we've got an international break before one of the "easier" games in the league.

 

Still, that doesn't take away from the fact that today genuinely was our worst performance of the season and improvements will have to be made, regardless of what our target for the season is.

 

Today was indeed terrible but in the grand scheme of things, we're doing ok. I don't think anyone realistically thinks we're going to be challenging for the play-offs at the end of the season but the targets i feel we need to achieve for this one are 1) an improvement on last seasons position and 2) an improvement in the general style of football, effort and work from the players, both of which are on course to be achieved. Was today's game a shambles and our worst game this season? - yes. Should we be hugely worried about the way things are going at the moment? - at least not yet, we are on a slow, but upward, curve.

 

My point is simply to lets try and be level headed about things.

[Nexstar]

Not too bothered, two good wins and peformances before this and alot of injuries. International break now which gives them time to recoup

[Colinjb]

Just got back from the Ricoh (yes, that is how close I live to it)

 

It was Boys against Men.

[rocknrollman no2]

He didn't actually play that bad. Unless you are talking about David.

 

Have to disagree with you Calvin.

I thought BWPs looked like he couldnt be bothered(like everyother game hes been in this season).

Can he actually run?

I cant remember the last time BWPs looked like he wanted to play for us,which is strange because given his recent history,you would have thought he would want to prove himself.

[Calvin]

Not too bothered, two good wins and peformances before this and alot of injuries. International break now which gives them time to recoup

 

And me. I can't take this anymore!

[doggface]

this season will continue to be up and down. my thoughts are.

 

Every team targets our right back, sorry but Lloyd James is no where near good enough at present. every thing goes down that flank and he was out of position alot. one of our main problems is square pegs in round holes all over, stick cork in at rb.

 

lancashire also is just not ready and these too were the main reason cov looked like they would score every time. that said i think mills has got potential.

 

i like blending in the youth as much as possible but not for the sake of it when they are not good enough.

 

Surman looks much better in the centre than anywhere else on the pitch. bwp did well when he came on but gillett i believe has not got it, he gives the ball away far too much whenever I see him play. tonight was qpr mark 2.

 

We looked better after the 3 subs but i would like us to go 4-4-2, I am not convinced by our system and having 2 wide forwards is ineffectual and means we have no cutting edge in and aound the box. felt sorry for robertson.

 

I like the football the lads try to play but with no cutting edge with our system and a china thin defense we are on a hiding to nothing.

 

a re think is required.

[LostBoys]

Dreadful performance all round poor passing very poor finishing Tyro league defending and that is an insult to the Tyro league. James will never be a full back and Mills is simply not ready - too many amateurish mistakes. All Coventry had to do was play on the two full backs. Embarassing. I fear if Svennson remains unfit and we do not get in two proper full backs it is going to be a hard winter. I thought we would be bottom of the league by the end of October and then I hoped that with recent results I would be completely wrong.

[Ponty]

At the start of the season we virtually all declared that we'd be happy to survive this year by winning a few at home and picking up the odd point away. That's exactly how it's panning out at the moment, we are not in the danger zone and we're picking points up here and there. I think the last couple of wins have given us all a false expectation, because if someone had offered us 6 points from the last three games every one of us would have said "Thank you very much."

 

We're a young side and not a particularly good side, but we have been seen to be improving and will hopefully continue to do so.

 

All of us knew this season of pretty football would not actually be pretty but if the season finished today we'd still be in the CCC. Let's get some perspective.

[Calvin]

Have to disagree with you Calvin.

I thought BWPs looked like he couldnt be bothered(like everyother game hes been in this season).

Can he actually run?

I cant remember the last time BWPs looked like he wanted to play for us,which is strange because given his recent history,you would have thought he would want to prove himself.

 

I honestly thought he played well today. But I agree with you on some aspect.

This season, yes he has been the worse performer so far. but I don't get why people think he played so awful today but ah well. thats people's opinions.

[doggface]

oh and mcgoldrick was ****e and needs to up the work rate and learn to pass to his team mates when they have a open goal!

[Calvin]

oh and mcgoldrick was ****e and needs to up the work rate and learn to pass to his team mates when they have a open goal!

 

He is trying but has no confidence.

[alpine_saint]

I am starting to wonder what DMG has over JP.

 

He was absolutely crap and needs to be dropped, but Jan seems to love him

 

Lowe, not JP.

[alpine_saint]

He is trying but has no confidence.

 

Really ? He was banging them in a month-and-a-half ago.

 

Personally, I think he is a lazy, sulky, arrogant little tw*t.

[Guest Hacienda]

It was Boys against Men.

 

Not for the 1st time and not for the last time.

[Calvin]

Really ? He was banging them in a month-and-a-half ago.

 

Personally, I think he is a lazy, sulky, arrogant little tw*t.

 

I actually agree with that

[gjphilsaint]

Maybe beating our relegtion contenders is the best we can hope for:(

 

because if we don`t....

 

Even that isn't good enough if you refer to my thread.

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1783

[rocknrollman no2]

this season will continue to be up and down. my thoughts are.

 

Every team targets our right back, sorry but Lloyd James is no where near good enough at present. every thing goes down that flank and he was out of position alot. one of our main problems is square pegs in round holes all over, stick cork in at rb.

 

lancashire also is just not ready and these too were the main reason cov looked like they would score every time. that said i think mills has got potential.

 

i like blending in the youth as much as possible but not for the sake of it when they are not good enough.

 

Surman looks much better in the centre than anywhere else on the pitch. bwp did well when he came on but gillett i believe has not got it, he gives the ball away far too much whenever I see him play. tonight was qpr mark 2.

 

We looked better after the 3 subs but i would like us to go 4-4-2, I am not convinced by our system and having 2 wide forwards is ineffectual and means we have no cutting edge in and aound the box. felt sorry for robertson.

 

I like the football the lads try to play but with no cutting edge with our system and a china thin defense we are on a hiding to nothing.

 

a re think is required.

 

This is a very good post.

James is too lightweight in defence and Gillett runs around not doing too much.

We need better strikers and a better defence............oh and a better midfield.

[Saint In Exile]

first one

 

Oh come on... that ball should never have been allowed to be crossed into the box in the first place.... You can't blame Mills for that just as you can't blame Kelvin for not saving it.

 

None of the team played well today, and overall the defence was poor, but to single out Mills amongst that defence is a bit unfair!!

Edited 4 October, 2008 by Saint In Exile

[Arizona]

Really ? He was banging them in a month-and-a-half ago.

 

Personally, I think he is a lazy, sulky, arrogant little tw*t.

 

If you call banging them in 2 goals against Exeter in the Cup, one against Cardiff and a penalty then yes.

 

However he has only ever scored one goal from open play in the CCC.

[rocknrollman no2]

Not sure if its been mentioned here but our downfall was trying to play them offside.

 

I think our downfall was thinking we could send boys against men and expecting Kelvin Davis to act as goalkeeper and defence.

[gjphilsaint]

It's the second CC game when we have let in 4. Sadly that will happen at least once more this month (maybe twice!!).

[St Marco]

As i said last week to those saying we were awesome because we had some major luck and beat a ****e Doncaster and Norwich, luck will only get you so far. This game was just the same game i have seen all season. Start off the game poor with some dodgy tactic by JP to play 1 up front in a defensive formation. Only problem is we can't defend....Wotten again showed he is not up to this level anymore. He was at fault for so many of their chances just like in the previous games.

We had 20 shots, that sounds great doesn't it? 14 of those were long shots from beyond 25 yards that were not anywhere near the goal. This shoot from long range policy does not work. I would rather we kept the ball and looked for an opening.

When we got to half time we were lucky to be only 2-0 down i felt, we were poor. The second half we changed to a more positive formation and looked much better. Sure Coventry had fallen asleep by then but we looked better playing that way then the first half. JP needs to accept some of the blame for that result. Dodd and Gorman or even Burley/Pearson would of been slated for that.

 

As i said in the prediction thread we have to start taking the chances we have rather then rely on luck and to stop giving the other team the chances they have been getting. Our defence is probably the worst i have seen it. If you give teams with good attackers 4-5 clear shots on goal you will lose.

 

There is a long long way to go and if we could get in a few defenders who can stop the clear chances we will do so much better. Why is it always our defence that is the problem

[Under Weststand]

Right here are the positives we are playing some nice football going forward & creating chances.

Now for the negatives, unfortunately the best chances created were snatched at & failed to even make there Keeper work. DMG being the biggest culprit. And the defence was a car crash waiting to happen , I don't want to come down to heavy on James as he is being played out of position, but he is not up to the job he is being asked to do. It was obvious once Coventry started to get on top they targeted him using Mckenzie at every opportunity, And we are hopeless at corners etc thrown into our box.

I think the roller coaster ride will continue & hope to keep picking up a couple of wins here and there to keep our heads above water (21st or above). Hopefully we can start to get some consistency by Christmas.

My big fear at the moment is what happens in January as we are likely to get bid's for Surman, Lallana & Davis If we can keep them then we can build this side up lose them & I fear for us

[alpine_saint]

If you call banging them in 2 goals against Exeter in the Cup, one against Cardiff and a penalty then yes.

 

However he has only ever scored one goal from open play in the CCC.

 

I was thinking about pre-season too.

[geoffnut]

What a dreadful performance both in attack and defence. Please don't put any live games featuring our team on tv again, I just couldn't bear to watch.

Let's have a manager who has some knowledge of English football and knows what it takes to defend even against poor teams like Coventry!

I'm off for a pint or two.

[gjphilsaint]

Current stats suggest we will get about 49pts this season... I think we will be lucky to get that many.

[badgerx16]

Don't know why, but this result hasn't got me as down as it might have done. Maybe it was just too predictable that after two ( slightly lucky ) wins we would come down to earth with a bump. As has been said elsewhere, this was always going to be a roller-coaster ride, with the likely outcome a near thing, ( hopefully not needing a last day escape ), flirt with relegation. At least all the uber-positives are keeping their heads down; maybe scabby is starting to realise the 'golden' duo are more akin to pyrites.

 

Still positive slant on the table, we are 4 points above 23rd, and 4 points behind 5th. Other than the top three this is a poor, and consequently highly competitive, league.

[swesaint]

Terrible performance overall. Did allright for about 20 min in the second half. Team for next game:

 

Davis

Cork-Perry-Svensson (if fit)-Mills

Surman-Gillett (looked good today)

BWP-Lallana-Skacel

Pekhart

 

Subs: Forecast, Wotton, Schneiderlin, Robertson, White

 

 

James, McGoldrick and Lancashire should be dropped on todays performance

[It's There]

At the start of the season we virtually all declared that we'd be happy to survive this year by winning a few at home and picking up the odd point away. That's exactly how it's panning out at the moment, we are not in the danger zone and we're picking points up here and there. I think the last couple of wins have given us all a false expectation, because if someone had offered us 6 points from the last three games every one of us would have said "Thank you very much."

 

We're a young side and not a particularly good side, but we have been seen to be improving and will hopefully continue to do so.

 

All of us knew this season of pretty football would not actually be pretty but if the season finished today we'd still be in the CCC. Let's get some perspective.

 

agreed

[corky morris]

At 3-1 McGoldrick was through 1 on 1, he hit a very poor shot straight at the keeper. If he had scored I think we may well have got a draw.

Lancashire & McGoldrick are not upto yet. They may well be eventually, but at the moment bothe need a break. Cork was poor in the middle & our back four in general were very poor.

Stand by what i said at the start of the season. We will finish 16th, lose more than we win, but will do just enough to stay up.

I cant blame the players. They are all kids. Kids who need our support.

Jan, give McGoldrick & Lancashire a break please.

[bungle]

What's the point ?

 

It will be the same stuff spouted by both sides of the argument.

 

alpine finally admits he says the same thing no matter what. The mods should be able to ban him now and just auto-post for "it" instead,

[bungle]

oh and mcgoldrick was ****e and needs to up the work rate and learn to pass to his team mates when they have a open goal!

 

I have no problem with a striker shooting from that position. It was a poor shot, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I would want him to shoot 10 times out of 10 from there.

[Dog]

boys against MEN.

No fight in the team, defence are a joke, forwards couldn't hit a cows ar5e with a banjo. Manager no passion.

BWP looked good, should've played TP from the start.

Should've been 5~0 at half time, but it was worth the entrance fee for probably the worst penalty in history.

RIP ~ Southampton Football Club.

[Wade Garrett]

I wish you would all stop being so negative.

 

After all, we did well to keep it down to 4 -1.

[Big Ron fan]

A couple of wins against poor sides doesn't alter the fact that the coach is tactically inept. Even with the current limited squad, in my view we would be doing much better with a decent manager.

 

The person who I thought was worst (other than James, who is clearly not a good enough right-back for this level) was Wotton. His first touch was poor and he doesn't seem to offfer anything in midfield. Those who've been going regularly, is he any better at centre-back?

 

Based on what I saw against Blackpool, I can't see that Killer will improve things at the back by the way. Those saying there is no organisation there, why isn't Perry, with all his experience, organising things?

[rocknrollman no2]

I wish you would all stop being so negative.

 

After all, we did well to keep it down to 4 -1.

 

Well we have two more games on tv.

Lets hope we dont get thrashed yet again,twice more.

[brmbrm]

Hmmm. Total cr ap really. I think we need to get a realistic view of what we can achieve and play to our strengths which are, errr, ummm, ....... get back to you on this.

 

i suppose its a cheap way to run a footy club, which is pretty much what you get from RL. Cheap and nasty.

[rocknrollman no2]

Positives so far

Kelvin-fantastic keeper.If it wasnt for him we would be bottom.

Perry -I think hes the one decent defender we have.

Lallana -great going forward and an asset to the team.

Surman-great at running down the wing and crossing the ball.

Apart from those ive mentioned,i cant think of any other players that make that much difference.

Out of a team of eleven thats not a lot of positives is it?

[corsacar saint]

Gary Birtles said on co - commentary that we do not defend long throwings well.

We do not defend period.

[Totton Red]

Poor finishing cost us just as much as poor defending tonight. We had more than enough chances to get something from the game, but you can't fail to mark people like we did tonight and expect to take any points.

 

Yep....could have been 4-5? Really intelligent response.

[cf saint]

this season will continue to be up and down. my thoughts are.

 

Every team targets our right back, sorry but Lloyd James is no where near good enough at present. every thing goes down that flank and he was out of position alot. one of our main problems is square pegs in round holes all over, stick cork in at rb.

 

lancashire also is just not ready and these too were the main reason cov looked like they would score every time. that said i think mills has got potential.

 

i like blending in the youth as much as possible but not for the sake of it when they are not good enough.

 

Surman looks much better in the centre than anywhere else on the pitch. bwp did well when he came on but gillett i believe has not got it, he gives the ball away far too much whenever I see him play. tonight was qpr mark 2.

 

We looked better after the 3 subs but i would like us to go 4-4-2, I am not convinced by our system and having 2 wide forwards is ineffectual and means we have no cutting edge in and aound the box. felt sorry for robertson.

 

I like the football the lads try to play but with no cutting edge with our system and a china thin defense we are on a hiding to nothing.

 

a re think is required.

 

Spot on.

[rocknrollman no2]

Hmmm. Total cr ap really. I think we need to get a realistic view of what we can achieve and play to our strengths which are, errr, ummm, ....... get back to you on this.

 

i suppose its a cheap way to run a footy club, which is pretty much what you get from RL. Cheap and nasty.

 

 

Cheap -is the team.

Nasty-that will be Rupert.

[rpb]

At 3-1 McGoldrick was through 1 on 1, he hit a very poor shot straight at the keeper. If he had scored I think we may well have got a draw.

Lancashire & McGoldrick are not upto yet. They may well be eventually, but at the moment bothe need a break. Cork was poor in the middle & our back four in general were very poor.

Stand by what i said at the start of the season. We will finish 16th, lose more than we win, but will do just enough to stay up.

I cant blame the players. They are all kids. Kids who need our support.

Jan, give McGoldrick & Lancashire a break please.

 

Spot on - a sensible summary at last.

[Channon's Sideburns]

At the start of the season we virtually all declared that we'd be happy to survive this year by winning a few at home and picking up the odd point away. That's exactly how it's panning out at the moment, we are not in the danger zone and we're picking points up here and there. I think the last couple of wins have given us all a false expectation, because if someone had offered us 6 points from the last three games every one of us would have said "Thank you very much."

 

We're a young side and not a particularly good side, but we have been seen to be improving and will hopefully continue to do so.

 

All of us knew this season of pretty football would not actually be pretty but if the season finished today we'd still be in the CCC. Let's get some perspective.

 

Sorry Ponty, I'm not at all happy with being 'happy to survive' - its not the dream ticket that the PR dept promised, basically it balls....big hairy ones.

 

We need to readjust - RB is a problem area, almost all of our conceded goals come from that side - anyone can look back and check.

 

We are still teetering on the edge - its not Jan's fault, what else can he work with?

 

BTW, any news on Gasmi or Pulis???

[Arizona]

Yep....could have been 4-5? Really intelligent response.

 

To me Steve's comments would suggest that they were both equally large problems and I'd tend to agree.

 

If we had been 2 goals better up front AND in defence, we'd have won 3-2.

 

We're not going to win games this season only scoring one goal. With this defence, even on a good day, we'll need to stick 2 or 3 away on a regular basis to get any decent results.

[Calvin]

A couple of wins against poor sides doesn't alter the fact that the coach is tactically inept. Even with the current limited squad, in my view we would be doing much better with a decent manager.

 

The person who I thought was worst (other than James, who is clearly not a good enough right-back for this level) was Wotton. His first touch was poor and he doesn't seem to offfer anything in midfield. Those who've been going regularly, is he any better at centre-back?

 

Based on what I saw against Blackpool, I can't see that Killer will improve things at the back by the way. Those saying there is no organisation there, why isn't Perry, with all his experience, organising things?

 

That is the most positive comment that I've heard regarding our current players, on this forum

Edited 4 October, 2008 by Calvin

[Channon's Sideburns]

Positives so far

Kelvin-fantastic keeper.If it wasnt for him we would be bottom.

Perry -I think hes the one decent defender we have.

Lallana -great going forward and an asset to the team.

Surman-great at running down the wing and crossing the ball.

Apart from those ive mentioned,i cant think of any other players that make that much difference.

Out of a team of eleven thats not a lot of positives is it?

 

Sad thing is, I reckon three of those four poor ba$tards will be sold in January...which leaves us with.......

 

Hmmmm....not a lot.

[Totton Red]

To me Steve's comments would suggest that they were both equally large problems and I'd tend to agree.

 

If we had been 2 goals better up front AND in defence, we'd have won 3-2.

 

We're not going to win games this season only scoring one goal. With this defence, even on a good day, we'll need to stick 2 or 3 away on a regular basis to get any decent results.

 

Like the fence you sit on and pour me a Top Deck!!

[saintjay77]

how can you possibly play someone as inexperienced as mills when skacel is available im sure even with a lack of match fitness he can do a better job!!!

 

until then we will continue to leak goals

 

and lose matches

 

dont think todays preformance comes down to mills.

 

defending was woeful with only Perry doing the right things at the back. midfield was full of players that wanted to look good in front of the cameras and constantly ran into trouble and ballsed up there passing.

 

Having a big guy up front just led to punts from nowhere far too many times.

 

on a positive though. after the 1st 10 to 15 mins and even after going 1 goal down I thought the only thing we had to worry about was the ref. the good things we were doing i thought were going to lead to goals and once in front i thought there would be space to exploit as coventry would have to come out.

 

what i dont understand though is by having a young fast team why cant we afford to have more players behind the ball when defending? conventry had there back 4 and 2 or 3 midfielders mixing in with them by the time we got anywhere near the 18 yard box. if we had a similar set up then we have more chance of soaking up there attack and breaking quickly with the passing that we are capable of doing.

 

lesson we need to learn from this game was tought to us by coventrys TEAM defending.

 

will be a few more games like this throughout the season mixed with some neat play and a few cracking results. Still think we will be ok although a big improvment will be needed if we ever want to aim for playoffs.

[Big Ron fan]

That is the most positive comment that I've heard regarding our current players on this forum

 

You obviously (and reasonably!) ignore Scooby then.