Post Brighton 0-0 Reaction

[doggface]

I thought we were poor tonight & if anyone deserved the win it was Brighton IMO.

Jaidi was a liability 2nd half and I struggle to think of another saints player who performed at their best tonight other than kelv who did well.

 

Capable of much better, chaplow a big miss tonight.

 

Point not a disaster but definately an anti climax - disappointing.

[alexdawkins]

pathetic interview from adkins. i still think we may well go up automatically this year, but this hype surrounding the team, and particularly adkins, at the moment is completely unwarranted. adkins had a tactical nightmare at huddersfield, we were fortunate (though deserving) winners against oldham, fortunate at notts county, scraped past shrewsbury, and adkins got it wrong again at carlisle.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Just back. One of the best 0-0 draws you will ever see. Saints by far the better side first half but couldn't score (good defending by B&HA).

Second half they came at us and at times we were rocking a bit.

To those not there 0-0 will sound disappointing but just like Saturday when 4-1 sounded great to those not there then this result is better than it looks.

Brighton are no mugs.

 

Good atmosphere tonight, an old fashioned match with the crowd really up for it.

 

Downers? Chamberlain was shackled, Lambert again not quite there.

Positives? Lallana at times looked awesome.

[doddisalegend]

A wholy inadequate response to last Saturdays result and the significance of tonights game.

 

Our midfield doesnt seem to make things happen when Chaplow is not there and Schneiderlin is playing. I hope we sign Chaplow permanently.

 

Our midfield was excellent Hammond was like a different player tonight constantly closing down and tackling Morgan was very good too unlucky to get a card for a nothing tackle.

[thorpie the sinner]

Thought Dickson had a stormer whereas Hammond had a shocker!! Really thought we missed Chappers as Morgan was anonymous!!

[toofarnorth]

Well i've just got home and am very proud of our boys. They gave everything but the ball just wouldn't go in. Thought Hammond was very good in the middle after a shaky start and glad KD prevented the ref from ruining the game.

 

If we play like that for the rest of the season we will score goals and we will go up automatically, of that i'm sure.

[Thedelldays]

pathetic interview from adkins. i still think we may well go up automatically this year, but this hype surrounding the team, and particularly adkins, at the moment is completely unwarranted. adkins had a tactical nightmare at huddersfield, we were fortunate (though deserving) winners against oldham, fortunate at notts county, scraped past shrewsbury, and adkins got it wrong again at carlisle.

oh my god...we dared to lose a couple of games....

 

adkins has dared to lose two whole games..

 

adkins out

[Micky]

I thought we were poor tonight & if anyone deserved the win it was Brighton IMO.

Jaidi was a liability 2nd half and I struggle to think of another saints player who performed at their best tonight other than kelv who did well.

 

Capable of much better, chaplow a big miss tonight.

 

Point not a disaster but definately an anti climax - disappointing.

 

Just back. One of the best 0-0 draws you will ever see. Saints by far the better side first half but couldn't score (good defending by B&HA).

Second half they came at us and at times we were rocking a bit.

To those not there 0-0 will sound disappointing but just like Saturday when 4-1 sounded great to those not there then this result is better than it looks.

Brighton are no mugs.

 

Good atmosphere tonight, an old fashioned match with the crowd really up for it.

 

Downers? Chamberlain was shackled, Lambert again not quite there.

Positives? Lallana at times looked awesome.

 

Yikes...! Which one was it fellas, or were you at different games....!

[S-Clarke]

Wasn't bad, bit of a frustrating one as i felt we could have won it if we just gave that little bit extra. Chambo was well handled by them so we lacked a threat that could run at them and cause them problems.

 

On the other hand though i felt we dealt with them excellently, their winger Bennett wasn't involved as much as i feared as he's an excellent player and we didn't allow them to play football at all - much in the same way as we played against p'boro, in their face forcing them to misplace passes etc.

 

Hopefully chappers is back for the next game though as we badly missed his forward running through midfield. Although our midfield harried and tackled brilliantly, we didn't have that attacking edge to it.

 

0-0 isn't a bad result at all, especially with Charlton dropping points so the gap hasn't really changed too much.

[toofarnorth]

Not sure why theirs was a penalty and ours wasn't?

 

Ours was stonewall. Their chap clipped lallanas ankles after he glided past him. Just so obvious and frustrating!

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

You can understand his misery (this time at least). It's weird, and annoying we've never been top two. Not this season, but for years and years. Not even for one game?! So many poor starts make it impossible. What's our record, 4th in the top flight? 4th in the championship, 6th in league 1??!! That is pathetic. Most clubs get a spell at the top even if a false position. Yet in 20 years we've never managed it!

 

I notice you conveniently cut your time span down to 20 years! It was only just over 20 years ago (24?) that we actually finished second in the top flight! I'm pretty sure at some stage in that season we were actually top as well.

[Micky]

Our midfield was excellent Hammond was like a different player tonight constantly closing down and tackling Morgan was very good too unlucky to get a card for a nothing tackle.

 

Thought Dickson had a stormer whereas Hammond had a shocker!! Really thought we missed Chappers as Morgan was anonymous!!

 

Doooh, see comment above (post #60)....!

[Weston Saint]

Just back. One of the best 0-0 draws you will ever see. Saints by far the better side first half but couldn't score (good defending by B&HA).

Second half they came at us and at times we were rocking a bit.

To those not there 0-0 will sound disappointing but just like Saturday when 4-1 sounded great to those not there then this result is better than it looks.

Brighton are no mugs.

 

Good atmosphere tonight, an old fashioned match with the crowd really up for it.

 

Downers? Chamberlain was shackled, Lambert again not quite there.

Positives? Lallana at times looked awesome.

Agree with your assessment Duncan. Downer for me was Chaplow out and the poor showing of his replacement Schneiderlin who failed to get forward.

 

Good overall performance but Brighton were well organised at the back. We were closed down a bit too easy at times thought.

[Gordon Mockles]

Countdown conundrum: Teh rfeeree si a wknaer.

 

Shocking officials. Is handball now allowed in League One? Chop us down. No pen. Time wasting. Fine. Cynical fouls. Huh? Decisions against us for being barged...outrageous. Where did they dig up this special class of idiot? Even the lino made more wrong the right decisions. RNIB League's Association. Frustrating!

[buctootim]

Yikes...! Which one was it fellas, or were you at different games....!

 

I'd go with FF. Its amazing how many people who go to games think when we dont win that we wre crap or didnt play well. Sometimes the opposition is actually quite good, tactically well set up and god forbid have a say in how the game goes.

[saints-cris]

Before the game I said I would only be happy with a win, anything else would be a dissapointment. Now, im half and half. Not happy, but not overly dissapointed. Sounded like we ran out of ideas but we definately had chances early on.. got a few easy fixtures now so i reckon we'll get right back in the thick of it.

 

The table is so close at the moment that wether were 9th or 2nd, theres barely anything in it. Once a few sides, hopefully us being one of them, start putting a run together, thats when we can start panicking or not. Just because we havnt been in the top 2 doesnt mean we wont be.. plenty of sides have hung in there and then nicked it at the end of the season so im sure we can do that too. Think of millwall last year.

[barney]

Cheating,time wasting budgies.Totally battered a defencively sound brighton, the only reason were not in the top 2 is down to the poor form of RL.

[.comsaint]

Kelvin you bloody hero!!!

 

If that had gone in - plenty on here tonight would now be ****ing blood from a slashed wrist. Cracking save.

 

Yes we should have scored at least once tonight - and probably twice - and had a penalty. But we didn't. You have to win your home games it's true - but Brighton aren't top for no reason & so - with hindsight - a point was acceptable bearing in mind Kelvin's superb save from their spotkick & how other results went.

[doddisalegend]

Before the match I'd have taken a draw against the league leaders, last season they ripped us apart at SMS. After watching the match I thought Brighton were bloody awful. They came for a draw wasted time and defended really well but beyond their defence they were very ordinary I was told played good passing football but other than passing back to their keeper a lot I didn't see much evidence of it. We should have won that game first half was pretty much one way traffic second half a bit more even as we tired.

 

For me Hammond was the best I've seen in ages closing down and good strong tackles (poor shot in the second half though), Kelvin had a good game not a lot to do but did it well (and saved a pen) adam and oxo struggled I thought as they seemed to be double teamed all the time but even then broke through a few times.

 

on balance 2pts dropped for me

[saint77]

didnt you go to the game then

 

I thought we were poor tonight & if anyone deserved the win it was Brighton IMO.

Jaidi was a liability 2nd half and I struggle to think of another saints player who performed at their best tonight other than kelv who did well.

 

Capable of much better, chaplow a big miss tonight.

 

Point not a disaster but definately an anti climax - disappointing.

[madruss]

pathetic interview from adkins. i still think we may well go up automatically this year, but this hype surrounding the team, and particularly adkins, at the moment is completely unwarranted. adkins had a tactical nightmare at huddersfield, we were fortunate (though deserving) winners against oldham, fortunate at notts county, scraped past shrewsbury, and adkins got it wrong again at carlisle.

Yeah, nice ignoring of the 6 consecutive home wins.

 

Christ if every manager was only judged on defeats they'd all be shiyte. Old ancelotti is currently the worst manager in the premiership using your logic.

 

As for adkins' interview, I thought it was excellent. Asked "will it be saints and Brighton fighting for the title at the end of the season?" He responded with..

 

"only if they can keep up with us"

 

Quality. And completely true on tonight's showing

[doddisalegend]

oh my god...we dared to lose a couple of games....

 

adkins has dared to lose two whole games..

 

adkins out

 

Three surely?

[The Kraken]

Just back from the game.

 

Overall a good performance, particularly in the first half when we really made them look ordinary and totally dominated play. If it hadn't have been for their goalkeeper we might have even dominated posession, he must have had 50% all on his own. Dire, stalling tactics from the start; not exactly the flowing football this lot are supposed to be famous for.

 

Our problem tonight was similar to the Plymouth game opening day; for all our posession and dominance we really didn't create enough for their keeper to do, and ultimately could have been completely undone by a sucker punch. Also, I think Adkins got it very wrong with his double substitution of Morgan and Barney for Guly and Holmes. As completely ordinary as Morgan was, he at least put in a shift in the middle and closed them down. Without that, and with no real hustle up front, we completely played into their hands.

 

Anyway, my player ratings:

 

Davis: 8. Very solid performance, good distribution and a great penalty save to keep us in it.

Richardson: 7. After a few shaky performances he's starting to look like the player we signed, and could turn out to be a great acquisition. Very strong in defence, and starting to get forward well.

Dickson: 8. I really like the way he gets forward so well; with Lallana cutting inside so much we're reliant on the full back to get to the byline, and I think Dicko does that better than Harding. Almost got caught out defensively in the first half but recovered well.

Fonte: 7. Decent display and showed his class on occasions, but still slightly suspect.

Jaidi: 6. The problem with Jaidi is that while he will comfortably win everything in the air, we look so suscptible to balls in behind him, he's just so slow now. Good performance on Saturday, but got a little found out today against a higher standard of opposition.

Hammond: 7. Did well, broke up play well and controlled the midfield.

Schneiderlin: 5. Defensively he did ok, but those people who are convinced he can cut it at a higher level should judge him on this game. Tackling wasn't great, range of passing very average, and did nothing going forward. Chaplow will walk back into side after that showing, and rightly so.

Chamberlain: 6. Lots of willing run, and looked like he could always be a threat, but the ball didn't quite fall for him tonight. Still a good enough performance without too much end product.

Lallana: 6. A frustrating night, as we know how great he can be, but like Oxo it just didn't come off for him tonight. Typified just before the end when he broke away past two defenders, had just one to beat and decided to pass to Guly who was clearly offside.

Lambert: 5. I've defended him an awful lot this season, but this is starting to get silly now, he's so far away from the player he was last year. Should have scored in the second half with a header but put it over from 6 yards.

Barnard: 7. Lots of willing running and gave their defence no time at all, really missed when he was taken off.

 

Subs:

Holmes: 6. Not the same impact as last week, but still lots of promise.

Guly: 5. I just don't see him as a striker, and certianly not up there with Lambert, we had very little movement with them as a pair.

Butterfield: 5. Not enough time to be noticed.

 

Oh, and I give the new Banksy street art on Mount Pleasant Road an 8.

Edited 23 November, 2010 by The Kraken

[alexdawkins]

oh my god...we dared to lose a couple of games....

 

adkins has dared to lose two whole games..

 

adkins out

 

i don't mean that at all. sacking him would be as ridiculous as it was to sack pardew. i think we'll probably go up as champions, but i don't think adkins has done anything special - he has been tactically naive. but to be honest, the saints job must be one of the easiest in the football league this year.

[doddisalegend]

Yikes...! Which one was it fellas, or were you at different games....!

 

FF got pretty spot on I'd say. Don't know what game Dogface was watching.

[LGTL]

They were playing for time after 5 minutes, quite unbelivable. Both penaly shouts were nailed on, I can't believe ours wasn't given, I suppose the linesman was on the wrong side. They were niggly and defensive, the South American way, and they weren't interested at all in playing any football. Overall 2 points dropped but a great Saints performance 1st half and i'm satisfied.

[NickG]

A wholy inadequate response to last Saturdays result and the significance of tonights game.

 

Our midfield doesnt seem to make things happen when Chaplow is not there and Schneiderlin is playing. I hope we sign Chaplow permanently.

 

totally wrong. We bossed the game - particularly in first half, midfield did well - if you have to look for blame it would be forwards.

 

team clear at top was time wasting from early in fisrt half and celebrated getting a draw.

[Crispypie]

Another vote for FF's analysis, Brighton defended very well and on a couple of occassions had the luck to go with it. We were found out somewhat in the second half and rode our luck a bit. We should have had a pen, great save by KD. Odd realy feels like we should have had all three but glad we held on to one point!

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

There seems to be a lot of people having a go at Schneiderlin when last season he was the one who could do no wrong! Personally I think he has always been slightly overrated, but I think the issue is more to do with what strengths the different midfielders bring to the team. Schneiderlin is not great at going forward, but he is good at picking out a pass, whereas Chaplow is more attack-minded but perhaps not as good as Schneiderlin at passing.

 

The question for me is where does Hammond sit in this conundrum? My guess is that there will be some matches where the best combo would be Spider and Chaplow, whereas at other times the other two combinations of these three players will be preferred. It is NA's job to work out when to use which combination. Perhaps tonight the Chaplow-Schneiderlin combination would have been used if Chaplow had not been injured. Who knows?!

[doddisalegend]

Jaidi's run and link up with OxO in the first half was pretty special if Jaidi had put that in the net it would have been a great goal. Mind you running the length of the pitch probably means he'll need three games off to recover now.

[buctootim]

i don't mean that at all. sacking him would be as ridiculous as it was to sack pardew. i think we'll probably go up as champions, but i don't think adkins has done anything special - he has been tactically naive. but to be honest, the saints job must be one of the easiest in the football league this year.

 

Wow. A manager who will get us up as champions whilst being nothing special and tactically naive. Post of the day.

[doddisalegend]

They were playing for time after 5 minutes, quite unbelivable. Both penaly shouts were nailed on, I can't believe ours wasn't given, I suppose the linesman was on the wrong side. They were niggly and defensive, the South American way, and they weren't interested at all in playing any football. Overall 2 points dropped but a great Saints performance 1st half and i'm satisfied.

 

it's funny really becuase Poyet said they were coming to win it in his pre match interview looked like they came for a point. Last season they gave us a bit of a football lesson at SMS this season they where very poor.

[scotty]

merrington kept saying brighton were playing a pretty cynical game full of professional fouls and bodychecks just short of yellow cards, is that accurate? (was meant to be going myself tonight but couldnt, I blame the welsh)

[Stanley Saint]

Thought that we were the better team, but the game needed a moment of Lallana or Chamberlain magic to win it and the ball didn't quite break for them tonight. Thought Brighton were niggly and time-wasting, but well-organised and hard to beat. Thank god for Kelvin - great penalty save and also for the save from the deflected shot just before half-time. Worth remembering that they beat us at home last season.

[buctootim]

They were playing for time after 5 minutes, quite unbelivable. They were niggly and defensive, the South American way, and they weren't interested at all in playing any football.

 

Tacticaly quite smart though. They know Saints like to keep it moving, quick throw ins, high tempo. Dragging it out was a way to unsettle our rythmn imo.

[del boy]

Just back. We didn't do much wrong really, and a lot of really good stuff.

 

I'm not too disheartened. Brighton definitely came to slow the game right down and were quite a niggly, dirty team I thought. They could also be quite composed at times playing from the back - - oh, and lucky!

 

If the game was won on points we would have walked it, but as it turned out we were grateful to Kelv for keeping us in it, funny old game, but lots of positives.

[Gemmel]

A wholy inadequate response to last Saturdays result and the significance of tonights game.

 

Our midfield doesnt seem to make things happen when Chaplow is not there and Schneiderlin is playing. I hope we sign Chaplow permanently.

 

You couldn't be more wrong and I would go as far as to say that we were better today than last Saturday.

I'm temtpted to say especially first half, but we were just as good until the final 10 minutes, when the legs went.

We pressed and hounded them out of sight, we played some lovely football and some excellent pieces of individual skill. We played as a unit, with shape and a togetherness that I havent seen for a ling time. We will be just fine playing like that and go up with an automatic place.

Yes, we do need to brush up on our finishing, but please do not underestimate tonights performance, we made top of the league look like school kids. We didnt get the rub of the green, but that's football.

 

Your post, supports the theory that there should be a separate thread for those that went to the match and those that didn't.

I'm sure those that went will be as equally as gutted as i am we dont have all three points, but don't let that detract from an execellent performance.

The team is as one and has a purpose - Fair play NA

[K,Billy's supersound]

happy with the point when we could if not for davis have ended up with nothing. 1st half we dominated most of the play and looked good. 2nd half was far more even and we did start to tire with 10mins left the boy's did alot of running.

i think all the players did well and it was important that we didnt lose to maintain our momentum and to stay up and around the playoff's. coyrs

[doddisalegend]

merrington kept saying brighton were playing a pretty cynical game full of professional fouls and bodychecks just short of yellow cards, is that accurate? (was meant to be going myself tonight but couldnt, I blame the welsh)

 

yeah they were niggly and playing for time seemed to get away with quite a bit too, none of the free flowing footie I was lead to believe the Seagirls played was on show.

[Saint Pete]

Sounds like a decent performance, but unable to get the all important first goal that would have opened the game up for us.

 

Lambert's form definitely a concern now though. Our bench today showed that we need at least one more scoring threat to come in soon. Anyone know where Connolly was today? Sounds like a game that was made for him to come on and get the breakthrough.

[WinchesterSaint]

We played with a real intensity tonight and battered them first half, to their credit they defended well and throw bodies in front of everything but we should have been in front at half time. No surprise that we tailed off a bit in the second half but were still dominant.

 

We just lacked a little bit of creativity at times, thought lambo looked to be getting sharper bur he would have burried two of tonights chances last season.

 

Nothing to worry about, if we play like that every week and take one of our chances we nailed on for a top two finish.

[Denzil]

Pathetic.

[del boy]

I think maybe the Brighton goalie mis-heard the rules - thought he could keep the ball for 6 minutes

[doddisalegend]

Pathetic.

 

eh????????

[Weston Saint]

By the way Schneiderlin out on Saturday with suspension for 5th booking. No loss

[Joey-deacons-left-nut]

just got back... good crowd, we played well.. ref was appaling and my god Brighton were DULL!

 

Nice to watch Poyet throwing a mental for most of thegame... very animated that guy!

[S-Clarke]

By the way Schneiderlin out on Saturday with suspension for 5th booking. No loss

 

oh well, we best hope that chappers is fit! or give young gobern a go.

 

either way he is a gifted player but after seeing what chaplow has offered us, he's not the be all and end all.

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

Sounds like a decent performance, but unable to get the all important first goal that would have opened the game up for us.

 

Lambert's form definitely a concern now though. Our bench today showed that we need at least one more scoring threat to come in soon. Anyone know where Connolly was today? Sounds like a game that was made for him to come on and get the breakthrough.

 

Interesting that Adkins took Oxo off to bring on Butterfield towards the end. Was that a recognition that he had made a tactical mistake with earlier subs or was it that we needed beefing up at the back to withstand a Brighton onslaught? Could he have brought on Gobern or Doble instead in the hope that one of them could have nicked a goal or were we under siege or something?

[DrunkenSaint]

A wholy inadequate response to last Saturdays result and the significance of tonights game.

 

Our midfield doesnt seem to make things happen when Chaplow is not there and Schneiderlin is playing. I hope we sign Chaplow permanently.

 

infact morgan and chaplow are better than hammond but managers never drop the captain, just because it was hammond and chappers on sat and we won does not make it our best central midfield partnership, everyone has been saying Hammond has not been that good this season. Brighton and Peterbough are different teams if we had the same team we had on saturday it does not mean that we would have won tonight.

[Nexstar]

Brighton must have watched the video of us at home to Oldham last season based on their ridiculous timewasting. They came for a draw plain and simple. Put men behind the ball and defended well and clear-cut chances were few and far between for us.

 

First half we completely dominated but again they defended well.

 

Second half Brighton looked a bit stronger and it was our turn to defend well. The ref gave them the penalty he denied us and Kelv made a great save.

 

At the end of the day if they're top we should comfortably be able to break into the top two in the next 28 games, especially when spending money in January (which Adkins again hinted at in his post-match interview)

 

Thought Lallana had a fairly poor game (I guess he was due), he showed he usual spark with a few runs and pieces of skill but his passing, decision making and crossing let him down. Hammond was well up for it but wasteful with shots.

 

Onwards and upwards