Coventry 4-1 Saints - Post Match Views

[rocknrollman no2]

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.

 

I agree totally with you CS.

Come January we will be up the creek with all the loans going back and Lowe having sold any players that have made a difference.

I guess the gaps will be made up by any academy players we have left.

Great times to be a Saints fan.

Edited 4 October, 2008 by rocknrollman no2

[instinct]

james let them cross in from the left

 

mills was so out of position, always let him man get in front of him

 

shambolic defending

 

poor, poor performance

 

its lovely to be able to pass it around in the middle of the pitch, but you need to be able to defend and have a cutting edge!

[Ash]

Just got back, I really cannot believe we lost four one. Not our day today, the referee had a shockeroo. A lot of the spirit came out of the team and the fans after their second goal. Reading the OS report it says the protests were for offside but it looked to me to be a foul throw (two in fact), I thought that is what the players were complaining about but I have probably missed the point. We need a striker who can bury chances, Mcgoldrick should have had a couple of goals.

I wouldn't worry about the season ahead based on tonight's performance, I know some people will have raging boners about whinging about League One being inevitable but relegation is no more likely after that than promotion was after two wins on the bounce.

P.S- The Ricoh Arena is a soulless vapid experience,the worst of the new stadiums around the country.

[Ash]

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.

Well said, some people need to get a little perspective. For example:

RIP ~ Southampton Football Club.

[Torrent Of Abuse]

Terrible, terrible defending. It was like Coventry could have scored every time they got the ball in our box. Probably a little unfair to criticise our own strike force as by the time we got chances, it was 2-0 to Coventry and we were rushing every chance. How can a team hope to win matches when its defence lose 2 goals before the attack has a chance to make any impact?

 

Midfield looked capable, and we certainly seemed to have strength in numbers there (and that's not just down to the number of people in there - I've seen Saints stretched in midfield when we've been playing a 3-5-2) but too often it seemed that we'd take one touch too many, fluff our control at an important moment and then be left flat-footed when they sprayed the ball wide.

 

The defence was laughable, with the full-backs most culpable. The 3rd goal us 2-on-2 at the back, and the 4th was possibly worse.

 

I saw enough to convince me that we can pass the ball well, create chances and score goals - but I also saw that we get hurt badly when we lose the ball. I just hope that the poor touches which ended most of our neat passing in midfield was down in part to the bad conditions rather than anything else. Like I say, I'm hoping...

 

I'm a bit lost for a man of the match...

[Alucard]

.

 

The defence was laughable, with the full-backs most culpable. The 3rd goal us 2-on-2 at the back, and the 4th was possibly worse.

..

 

Try havin a look at Chris Perry. Jumped under the throw in for the second, committed himself on the halfway line and hadn't made it back into the box for the third and a poor defensive header put Eastwood through to set up the fourth

[Phil the Saint]

I was disappointed that Wotton was brought back in and Surman moved left against Norwich Cork & Surman did well and I would have left it alone. Wotton was slow in the tackle and passed poorly and was rightly brought off I can understand Jan bringing him back for experience but he didn't look fit. Our young team will have off days and we have to accept that we will lose and lose badly at times but they are learning and it is all about staying up this year and then hopefully pushing on.

[RedArmy]

4 cheap, avoidable goals. Tough to swallow.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Another crap TV performance. Another false dawn. Another Saints fan fades away by death of a thousand cuts. 13,000 at SMS next game anyone?

[harvey]

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.

 

But I thought that was obvious as soon as Rupert arrived and appointed J.P.

 

The target (as far as R.L was concerned, in my opinion), was to develop the youngsters at an early stage. Enough to attract attention from possible buyers, to sell players in January to satisfy the bank. At the end of the day they're a commodity and nothing else.

[Rebel]

we desperately need two full backs and a real bruiser of a centre half on the pitch

 

Wayne Thomas if he is ever fit could be at bruiser we need - lets hope so and it looks as though Killers fight is over

 

Cork could also be answer at right back - and god forbid Skacel the answer at left back for now

[St_Tel49]

TBF not one of the goals can be attributed to Mills.... 3 of the 4 came from moves down our right side and the other was from a long throw...

 

By all means have a moan, but make sure you're blaming the right people... Mills has been doing a decent job.

In two of the goals Mills was caught on the wrong side of his man. He was good in attack but his defensive play was very poor. Mind you he was not the only one at fault there. Do they do any work on defence in training??

[puff the magic dragon]

But I thought that was obvious as soon as Rupert arrived and appointed J.P.

 

The target (as far as R.L was concerned, in my opinion), was to develop the youngsters at an early stage. Enough to attract attention from possible buyers, to sell players in January to satisfy the bank. At the end of the day they're a commodity and nothing else.

 

Until Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC dies the club will always be about making money for shareholders/protecting their interests as best as possible. SFC is all about what is best for Rupert Lowe and the rest of them who jumped on the gravy train when the times were good.

[Andy Durman]

Poor defending cost us dear, but I am really happy with our team generally and enjoyed the game.

 

We really played some neat stuff and had we had a finisher today, hen maybe we could have got 4 or 5 today.

 

Keep up the good work Saints I am very positive for the future.

 

Just learn to defend.

[SaintDonkey]

Positives - the first 15 minutes and the postive effects of the substitutions - BWP actually looked good! Surman was far more effective in the centre.

 

Negatives - pretty much everything else. James was targetted mercilessly, we have to start Cork there next match (although he was pretty poor today). Strikers? four of them on the pitch, none looking like they wanted to have a shot.

[Saint Johnno]

That was so awful. No defence, always appealing for offsides instead of letting the ref decide,passing to the invisible man,....I could go on and on.

It could have been 5 nil at half time.

Come on guys, you are professional footballers,you can do better.Cov were only one place above us in the table at the start of the match. Now they are 6th and we are about 20th. What a chasm!

A very sad day for all people who love this club.... but we will still support through thick and thin. We will be back. You have read it here.

[Micky]

My first post of the night. Been sitting here thinking of positives that we can take away from todays game - but there appears to be very little to reflect upon that we can feel good about.

 

Yes we (apparently) had lots of attempts on goal, but how many of them were actually on target and how many of them actually made the goalkeeper work - not many.

 

The only positive I can come to is that after a performance like that, hopefully, the lads will want to put in a good show against Watford (6 pointer..!!!) in order to put things right.

 

It's going to be a roller coaster season this year - let's just hope that it ends like last season, on a high.

[Micky]

That was so awful. No defence, always appealing for offsides instead of letting the ref decide,passing to the invisible man,....I could go on and on.

It could have been 5 nil at half time.

Come on guys, you are professional footballers,you can do better.Cov were only one place above us in the table at the start of the match. Now they are 6th and we are about 20th. What a chasm!

A very sad day for all people who love this club.... but we will still support through thick and thin. We will be back. You have read it here.

 

In terms of places maybe - but it is only 4 points, so hardly insurmountable.

[Mr X]

My first post of the night. Been sitting here thinking of positives that we can take away from todays game - but there appears to be very little to reflect upon that we can feel good about.

 

Yes we (apparently) had lots of attempts on goal, but how many of them were actually on target and how many of them actually made the goalkeeper work - not many.

 

The only positive I can come to is that after a performance like that, hopefully, the lads will want to put in a good show against Watford (6 pointer..!!!) in order to put things right.

 

It's going to be a roller coaster season this year - let's just hope that it ends like last season, on a high.

 

surviving on the last day thanks to the results of others u mean?

[Micky]

surviving on the last day thanks to the results of others u mean?

 

Offer me that scenario right now - and I'd rip your arm off. Let's face it we look a team a million miles away from a play off place.

 

My expectations for this season were at best low - I've now lowered them further, therefore if they are not met - we will not be in this division next season. The only room for manouvre is upwards - god help us...!!!

[exit2]

I just keep thinking that always at the far post we are missing defenders. This is basic football ffs. Is it inexperience? Our young kids in defence just seem to be drawn to where ever the ball is and then we concede especially the fall backs

[um pahars]

Didn't think Coventry were that good, but what worries me was that they could have been 5 up at half time!!!!!!!!!

 

The defending was very poor and the number times we are being killed by crosses into the box and at the far post is just murdering us.

 

Up front McGoldrick for me is not hte answer. We did not deserve it, but we had a chance to et back in to the game but it was fluffed.

 

We will stay up, mainly because there are three worse teams than us, but if we start selling the only talent we have come January, then we will struggle this season and for future ones.

[Micky]

Didn't think Coventry were that good, but what worries me was that they could have been 5 up at half time!!!!!!!!!

 

The defending was very poor and the number times we are being killed by crosses into the box and at the far post is just murdering us.

 

Up front McGoldrick for me is not hte answer. We did not deserve it, but we had a chance to et back in to the game but it was fluffed.

 

We will stay up, mainly because there are three worse teams than us, but if we start selling the only talent we have come January, then we will struggle this season and for future ones.

 

Agreed this mauling could have been a lot worse - missed penalty, saved by the woodwork, KD saving 1 on 1 - the list goes on. Amongst it all, I can only think of DMG's chance for us where we have worked their last man.

 

I hope you are correct about there being three other teams worse than us, they maybe worse at this moment in time, but what worries me is whether they invest during the transfer window, whilst we stick with the squad that, lets face it, are currently struggling to tread water in this league.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

"Poortvliet is not overly concerned"

 

Pasted from his os verdict

 

Does that worry anyone else like it does me?

[cambsaint]

Quite frankly, the youngsters surprised me, I never thought they had a chance against a reasonably well-balanced, experienced and moderately good championship team; however they played better than I thought they would and at times showed great promise.

 

However the fact remains that even if you are lucky enough to have a team of outstanding youngsters, you ensure that they are guided by experienced players.

 

Our defending was woeful, but that is hardly surprising when you play only inexperienced youngsters with no physical presence.

 

If we could add in at a minimum, one experienced full-back, one experienced central defender with a physical presence, one defensive mid-fielder with a good football brain, and a striker; then these youngsters would probably be able to take Saints forward.

As it is all I can foresee is the best-Surman, McGoldrick being picked up by Prem clubs to be nurtured, the remainder becoming thoroughly demoralised and disillusioned and relegation and financial melt-down.

I don't blame the youngsters, they're in an impossible situation.

It is also not in their best interests to be exploited in this way. They won't develop properly under this strain, they are more likely to have their careers ruined.

 

Without knowing the constraints that the manager is under I cannot wholly blame him, unless it is his and his decision alone to send out boys to do man's job.

 

For the first time ever I'm glad that I live too far away from Southampton to watch them regularly.-and that includes every single season from the early sixties to now.

 

In conclusion-Sorry Lowest, your plan has one fatal flaw-It just won't work.

 

What's more the money you save in wages will be much less than that lost by plumetting gate receipts from falling attendances.

Supporters, particularly in this financial climate just won't pay to be demoralised and upset watching a good team of youngsters be ritually humiliated by experienced pros

 

Cambsaint

[Torrent Of Abuse]

I think the problem with the team is that the 4-2-3-1 formation puts heavy pressure on our full-backs but that is precisely where we have the least experience. We will probably have more games like this before they learn how to stop the ball coming in from wide time after time.

 

If we had any more in the transfer kitty, I'd ask for two experienced £3m rated full-backs to shore up the team - and even then we'd probably still give away two big chances every game simply from having such an open formation.

 

The upside for me was the tight passing in midfield. I felt we actually looked good in midfield until the defence committed suicide. More able full-backs would have given the attack-minded players a chance to show what they could do. As it was, we were chasing the game after 25 minutes. The last 30 minutes of the game only improved when we seemed to go 4-2-4 and abandoned even the pretence of defending.

 

I must say that Robertson's touch looked to be suspect today. He'd get two touches and the third one seemed to bobble off his feet straight to the opposition. Still he wasn't the worst by any means.

 

Let's hope the kids' football education is a swift one.

[Totton Red]

Quite frankly, the youngsters surprised me, I never thought they had a chance against a reasonably well-balanced, experienced and moderately good championship team; however they played better than I thought they would and at times showed great promise.

 

However the fact remains that even if you are lucky enough to have a team of outstanding youngsters, you ensure that they are guided by experienced players.

 

Our defending was woeful, but that is hardly surprising when you play only inexperienced youngsters with no physical presence.

 

If we could add in at a minimum, one experienced full-back, one experienced central defender with a physical presence, one defensive mid-fielder with a good football brain, and a striker; then these youngsters would probably be able to take Saints forward.

As it is all I can foresee is the best-Surman, McGoldrick being picked up by Prem clubs to be nurtured, the remainder becoming thoroughly demoralised and disillusioned and relegation and financial melt-down.

I don't blame the youngsters, they're in an impossible situation.

It is also not in their best interests to be exploited in this way. They won't develop properly under this strain, they are more likely to have their careers ruined.

 

Without knowing the constraints that the manager is under I cannot wholly blame him, unless it is his and his decision alone to send out boys to do man's job.

 

For the first time ever I'm glad that I live too far away from Southampton to watch them regularly.-and that includes every single season from the early sixties to now.

 

In conclusion-Sorry Lowest, your plan has one fatal flaw-It just won't work.

 

What's more the money you save in wages will be much less than that lost by plumetting gate receipts from falling attendances.

Supporters, particularly in this financial climate just won't pay to be demoralised and upset watching a good team of youngsters be ritually humiliated by experienced pros

 

Cambsaint

 

Couldn't agree more apart from the fact that Coventry are not a moderately good Championship team. Average is complimentary!

[SuperMikey]

I seriously thought we had a chance to pick up 3 points today, or at least a draw. How wrong I was.

 

Davis 7 - Kept us in the match, but even with a shaky defence, conceding 4 goals isn't good. Congrats for him saving the penalty though.

James 5 - We seriously need to drop this guy. Surely we have other options in the squad who can play right back? Hatch?

Mills 5 - Looked quite promising but his marking was very poor, he wandered around too much and didn't keep tight on the defenders. Did look quite good going forward though.

Perry 7 - A cool head in defence. Bailed out James, Mills and Lancashire repeatedly and made some very good challenges.

Lancashire 6 - Showed promise, worked well with Perry and improved as the game went on, but didn't keep tight on defenders and gave away a stupid penalty that could easily have seen us lose 5-1 were it not for Davis and a spot of luck on the shoddy penalty taking.

Cork 6 - Had a quiet game. Better at RB imo.

Wotton 7 - A bit of physical presence in the side, finally! Looked strong in midfield and we were a lot worse when he went off. Marshalled the passing and generally bossed the midfield. A very good captain.

Surman 8 MOM - A good performance. Passed very well and linked up with the rest of the midfield extremely well. Why have we been playing him at LB when he can produce performances like this in midfield? Also scored a good goal which reduced the defecit slightly..

Lallana 7 - Didn't get much of a chance to shine. Was bullied by the Cov defence and tightly marked throughout the game. We lost the midfield sparkle when he went off injured (any injury news on him btw?)

McGoldrick 6 - We need to drop him to the bench just for a game or two. He's not scoring and has a seriously bad attitude. He never passes and dribbles the ball until he loses possession. I'd like to see Jamie White play up front instead of him next week while he sorts himself out.

Robertson 7 - Looked good on the ball but again given very little lease to perform by the Cov defence. Doesn't work well as a lone striker.

 

Subs:

Gillett 7 - A better performance. Didn't give away possession as much as he had previously and passed the ball around well. If he can improve his passing abilities he ought to be starting in midfield.

BWP 7 - Looked good out on the wing, his pace scared the defence a bit and he made some nice touches. However, he seemed a bit lost and should've got into the box a bit more. He needs to be poaching goals but you can't do that when you're standing outside the box.

Pekhart 6 - Looked slightly uncomfortable on the ball but linked up well with BWP and DMG nonetheless. Ought to start.

 

One question: Where the f*ck is Stern John?! We need him up front because we simply don't look dangerous when we attack. His goals kept us up last season, maybe he can do the same this season.

 

Team for next match:

---------Davis-------------

Cork--Perry--L'shire--Skacel

----Wotton--Gillett---------

-White---Lallana---Surman--

----------John-------------

 

Subs: Bart, Mills, James, BWP, DMG

[solentstars]

Just got back, I really cannot believe we lost four one. Not our day today, the referee had a shockeroo. A lot of the spirit came out of the team and the fans after their second goal. Reading the OS report it says the protests were for offside but it looked to me to be a foul throw (two in fact), I thought that is what the players were complaining about but I have probably missed the point. We need a striker who can bury chances, Mcgoldrick should have had a couple of goals.

I wouldn't worry about the season ahead based on tonight's performance, I know some people will have raging boners about whinging about League One being inevitable but relegation is no more likely after that than promotion was after two wins on the bounce.

P.S- The Ricoh Arena is a soulless vapid experience,the worst of the new stadiums around the country.

thats the way i see it,but i am keeping the faith.

[Deano6]

We have 2 points less than this stage last season. And we stayed up then by 2 points

[Andy_Porter]

lol @ knee jerkers.

 

Sack the board.

Sack the Manager.

Sack the defence.

Sack them all.

[Andy_Porter]

50 percent chance of being in league one.

 

The defending was ****ing awful.

 

WHY DO WE PLAY ONE STRIKER UP FRONT. DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

MCGOLDRIK. HOW DO I SPELL HIS name.. He really needs a break from the first team to sort his head out. after what I saw today, I feel so disappointed in him and have for a while because I thought he was a major future prospect judging by the hype people were giving him. This guy really needs to be dropped.

 

We play one up front because it means we can play another man in midfield. Playing 4-5-1 makes perfect sense, every team in the world play 4-5-1 at some stage, it's hardly some new idea we've picked up.

 

McGoldrick must be the new Jermaine Wright, I didn't think he was that bad really.

[Andy_Porter]

We have 2 points less than this stage last season. And we stayed up then by 2 points

 

Certain relegation!

 

at least until we win again and everyone is sure we will be in the play offs...

[Andy_Porter]

One question: Where the f*ck is Stern John?! We need him up front because we simply don't look dangerous when we attack. His goals kept us up last season, maybe he can do the same this season.

 

 

Injured.

[Andy_Porter]

I think the problem with the team is that the 4-2-3-1 formation puts heavy pressure on our full-backs but that is precisely where we have the least experience. We will probably have more games like this before they learn how to stop the ball coming in from wide time after time.

 

 

 

Why?

 

It shouldn't be any extra problem at all. It should allow the full backs more room to attack but infact we just end up the same amount of attacking play as we would playing a 4-4-2.

 

I honestly don't understand why the 4-2-3-1 formation would put James and Mills under more pressure than a 4-4-2, our formation should be more defensive than the traditional 4-4-2.

[SaintRobbie]

Sick of saying 'I told you so'.

 

Coleman and SISU versus Lowe and youth.

 

Appalling. Predictable. Lucky not to be 7-1. Lovely passing football in midfield with appalling defence at left and right back and no end product.

 

We are going down under Lowe/Wilde/JP and the kids.

 

We had a choice in the summer...and the board chose Lowe.

 

Sorry but it's time to really make life difficult for Lowe and Wilde. If we continue to allow their ineptitude to continue we are destined for a VERY poor season.

 

WE MUST START SINGING FOR A BOARDROOM CHANGE WHILST THERE'S STILL TIME.

 

(sigh) why oh why couldnt we have got Chris Coleman?

[SaintRobbie]

Quite frankly, the youngsters surprised me, I never thought they had a chance against a reasonably well-balanced, experienced and moderately good championship team; however they played better than I thought they would and at times showed great promise.

 

However the fact remains that even if you are lucky enough to have a team of outstanding youngsters, you ensure that they are guided by experienced players.

 

Our defending was woeful, but that is hardly surprising when you play only inexperienced youngsters with no physical presence.

 

If we could add in at a minimum, one experienced full-back, one experienced central defender with a physical presence, one defensive mid-fielder with a good football brain, and a striker; then these youngsters would probably be able to take Saints forward.

As it is all I can foresee is the best-Surman, McGoldrick being picked up by Prem clubs to be nurtured, the remainder becoming thoroughly demoralised and disillusioned and relegation and financial melt-down.

I don't blame the youngsters, they're in an impossible situation.

It is also not in their best interests to be exploited in this way. They won't develop properly under this strain, they are more likely to have their careers ruined.

 

Without knowing the constraints that the manager is under I cannot wholly blame him, unless it is his and his decision alone to send out boys to do man's job.

 

For the first time ever I'm glad that I live too far away from Southampton to watch them regularly.-and that includes every single season from the early sixties to now.

 

In conclusion-Sorry Lowest, your plan has one fatal flaw-It just won't work.

 

What's more the money you save in wages will be much less than that lost by plumetting gate receipts from falling attendances.

Supporters, particularly in this financial climate just won't pay to be demoralised and upset watching a good team of youngsters be ritually humiliated by experienced pros

 

Cambsaint

 

 

Agreed. Cambsaint - I watched the game in the Sir Issac Newton pub in Camb today and wished i hadnt! Fancy meeting up for a beer? pm me.

[ToreSF]

we'll be back. simple as that.

[Thedelldays]

more car crash football

[gordonToo]

Similar game plan to the Donny match but this time the opposition were more direct and sharper and could have been 5 up at half time. We had our chances too but once Coventry had sussed us out there really was only one team in it. As someone else has said, the only brightspot was the worst taken penalty I've seen in over 50 years!

 

I may be wrong on this but it looks to me that training under JP consists of honing the neat passing game we're so good at in the middle 1/3 of the pitch. Unfortunately, that counts for nothing if there is no sharpness in the final 1/3 (Surman's goal excepted) and the defence plays like a poor Dutch Div 2 team.

 

We'll do well to stay out of the bottom 3 but many more results like this and confidence will be shot completely.

 

It may not be relevant but JP stayed in his bunker for much of the match which for me is not a good sign. NP would have been going ballistic if he'd been in charge.

[egg]

Why?

 

It shouldn't be any extra problem at all. It should allow the full backs more room to attack but infact we just end up the same amount of attacking play as we would playing a 4-4-2.

 

I honestly don't understand why the 4-2-3-1 formation would put James and Mills under more pressure than a 4-4-2, our formation should be more defensive than the traditional 4-4-2.

 

Are you serious?

 

In this system our full backs have no cover whatsoever. The wide midfielders/attackers (for the last half hour they were in fact BWP and McG - 2 alleged strikers) do not know whether to get back or not. The point was in fact made by the sky commentator.

 

The 2 midfielders cannot get over to support otherwise we get overrun in the middle of the park.

 

The best 2 full backs in the world would have a tough time with no cover. Lloyd James is never going to be the next Cafu but he is so exposed he looks worse than he is.

 

Further up the pitch the widemen looked awful and the rest of the team completely disjointed. We looked a whole lot better when we went 424, or whatever it was, following the subs. We had 2 "normal" strikers and 2 "normal" CM players and looked much better.

 

If we went 442 it would give cover to the fullbacks, give us more strength and options up front where we are plainly lacking.

 

Based on the last half hour, and assuming Schneiderlin is still crocked, we have 2 of Gillett, Surman (those 2 would be choice), Cork, Wotton and James (before you laugh I have seen him play loads of times at CM paired with Gillett and they play really well together). The wide berths could be filled by Lallana, Smith, Surman orThomson. I know we have loads of centre forwards with recent expereience as wingers but I prefer to see round pegs in round holes.

 

I have never really been a believer that systems make much difference but having seen us get battered down the flanks and look gash up front most of the season it is bloody obvious to me that this system is not the best for us.

[Andy_Porter]

 

It may not be relevant but JP stayed in his bunker for much of the match which for me is not a good sign. NP would have been going ballistic if he'd been in charge.

 

For all Pearsons shouting his win ratio wasn't as good as JP's.

 

Everyone is going way OOT with this result. We where crap but it's not the end of the world, it's a long term strategy anyone who expected anything above mid table from this season is an idiot.

 

We where crap last year year, we didn't really spend much money to bring in players and we're still crap the only difference is our young players should improve and hopefully we will be in a position to challenge in this league in 4-5 years time.

[Andy_Porter]

Are you serious?

 

In this system our full backs have no cover whatsoever. The wide midfielders/attackers (for the last half hour they were in fact BWP and McG - 2 alleged strikers) do not know whether to get back or not. The point was in fact made by the sky commentator.

 

The 2 midfielders cannot get over to support otherwise we get overrun in the middle of the park.

 

The best 2 full backs in the world would have a tough time with no cover. Lloyd James is never going to be the next Cafu but he is so exposed he looks worse than he is.

 

Further up the pitch the widemen looked awful and the rest of the team completely disjointed. We looked a whole lot better when we went 424, or whatever it was, following the subs. We had 2 "normal" strikers and 2 "normal" CM players and looked much better.

 

If we went 442 it would give cover to the fullbacks, give us more strength and options up front where we are plainly lacking.

 

Based on the last half hour, and assuming Schneiderlin is still crocked, we have 2 of Gillett, Surman (those 2 would be choice), Cork, Wotton and James (before you laugh I have seen him play loads of times at CM paired with Gillett and they play really well together). The wide berths could be filled by Lallana, Smith, Surman orThomson. I know we have loads of centre forwards with recent expereience as wingers but I prefer to see round pegs in round holes.

 

I have never really been a believer that systems make much difference but having seen us get battered down the flanks and look gash up front most of the season it is bloody obvious to me that this system is not the best for us.

 

The lack of cover is because of the people playing in the wide positions, not the system. If we changed to 4-4-2 and had McGoldrick and BWP on the wings it would be exactly the same.

[egg]

The lack of cover is because of the people playing in the wide positions, not the system. If we changed to 4-4-2 and had McGoldrick and BWP on the wings it would be exactly the same.

 

Disagree. The whole point of a 42121 (?) formation is that the widemen do not give defensive cover - they play in attacking roles. This is why strikers are being played in those roles.

 

In a 442 system the widemen operate in front of the fullbacks and get up and down the pitch.

 

I agree that if we went 442 and played McG and BWP were out wide then things would not be much better. I am suggesting we go 442 and play wide midfielders/ wingers in those roles. They will know the role and offer support to the defence and attack as needed.

[Saint Billy]

At least Nigel pearson is having a shocker in league 1.

 

 

 

 

Not!

 

Well done Lowe, another one of your well planned and trusted decisions based on stability and youth. At least you kept you merry band of followers pleased.

[derry]

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.

 

You really have to be joking. He should have passed the ball 5 yds to his left for Pekart to tap into an open goal.

 

I would want him to pass to a better placed colleague every time.

[teamsaint]

all very simple. With a defence this poor, it reallly wouldn't matter if we had Chelseas's front 6 we would still struggle in a lot of games.

 

IF we ever get a half decent back 4 we will do OK, (not that doing OK in the CCC is anything special!).

 

IMO a back 4 of

 

Skacel Wotton Perry Cork played every week might soon gell into something reconisable as a defence, at least perhaps average for this division.

[Andy_Porter]

Disagree. The whole point of a 42121 (?) formation is that the widemen do not give defensive cover - they play in attacking roles. This is why strikers are being played in those roles.

 

In a 442 system the widemen operate in front of the fullbacks and get up and down the pitch.

 

I agree that if we went 442 and played McG and BWP were out wide then things would not be much better. I am suggesting we go 442 and play wide midfielders/ wingers in those roles. They will know the role and offer support to the defence and attack as needed.

 

I imagine that JP is telling the widemen to get forward whenever possible but still track back. Obviously the wingers aren't sure when they should be defending and when not, that's where the problems are coming from imo. When we had Holmes on the left he really put in a good shift up and down the left and covered Surman well, now we are lost in the wide areas.

 

I honestly don't think it would change if we just shunted it around to a 4-4-2. We would need to play two proper wingers there like you say, I hear we have a decent Czech winger waiting in the reserves? Even then I think the 4-2-3-1 would work much better with two proper wingers.

 

We could really do with Euell, John and Skacel in the side, build the team around those three and then mix in the likes of Lallana, McGoldrick, Surman, Lancashire, Schneiderlin etc.

[rpb]

At least Nigel pearson is having a shocker in league 1.

 

 

 

 

Not!

 

Well done Lowe, another one of your well planned and trusted decisions based on stability and youth. At least you kept you merry band of followers pleased.

 

If Pearson had stayed you would have been attacking him (and Lowe) after every defeat.

[Wes Tender]

I watched half the match on TV, then had to go to a party in Salisbury, so listened to the second half on the radio, having missed the third goal in the 5 minutes that it took to pack stuff into the car. I'm glad that I've had a few hours to sleep on this defeat, to put it into perpective without a knee-jerk reaction.

 

At the time I felt angry that we hadn't seemed to be capable of beating a team like Coventry who are one of those who were directly our peers just a short while ago and who now seem to be quiet a way ahead of us. But now I just feel numb; I'm not sure that I'm that bothered about it anymore, I'm apathetic.

 

Just when it seems that we might have turned a corner, that we string together a couple of half decent results and are moving in the right direction, along comes a game like this that gives us a reality check. It shows that we are still all over the place, the defence is weak, the attack has little cutting edge and the midfield during the half I watched didn't have control and preferred to pass backwards too often. I thought that the essence of our football was that we should pass quickly and incisively towards goal, or out wide to stretch defences, not p*ss about allowing time for the defences to pack their boxes.

 

Early on in JP's season I thought that we were too one dimensional and that teams would quickly suss us out and learn to negate us. Perhaps it is time to ditch the current formation and revert to a home 4-4-2 and an away formation that packs the midfield and defence and hope to score on the break. And I can't help wondering how Scacel might have been able to add some class and experience to this shambles.