Saints 0 Brentford 2 - Post Match Depression

[Window Cleaner]

I wish we still had Nile Ranger, I'd like to see yer Brentford's and Carlisles faced with that sort of percussion.They'd give Lambert

acres of space then.

[derry]

I have never rated Davis as he is purely a linebound shotstopper. The biggest criticism I have is that he shows poor judgement and is flaky. He doesn't come off his line to dominate the box and undermines his defence by indecision. I will be glad when he is gone and we have a proper goalkeeper. At fault today and showed all his shortcomings without the shotstopping.

 

The central midfield was appalling. The last thing we need is two pedestrian negative players. Schneiderlin is a luxury we can't afford in the face of mobile athleticism. His sole thought is to unload the ball and move sideways. We need athleticism, pace, forward driving movement and aggression from our midfield not comfort zone meaningless, slow, square and backward buildups allowing defences to consolidate.

 

We were dominated today by an aggressive, athletic, hard working side but with a decent goalkeeper might still have got something out of the game. IMO we need a keeper, centre back, two central midfielders, two strikers, and two wide players. We are a very slow side, lacking pace, so from now on it should be a requirement that any player we sign to get us out of the Championship (stated aim of club's transfer strategy.) must be athletic and quick.

[alexdawkins]

Bit harsh! The team he put on the pitch should have been good enough to perform better than that, and I doubt they had specific instructions to lump it. Looking at the bench it was difficult pick a player that could make any difference to that shower of sh1te.

 

Connolly?? If i was David Connolly i would hand in a transfer request in the morning. you sit on the bench watching that absolute garbage only to be given 8 minutes...? outrageous. although he may struggle with his fitness, connolly is a class above most of this lot and a very intelligent player.

[barney]

Total lack of effort today and that is unforgiveable,squad is wafer thin reinforcements are badly needed.

Some players inc RL are now playing for their saints careers in the next few games and i dont believe thats being too dramatic.

[Appy]

Reminded me alot of the Doncaster and Forest games from 08/09.

 

It was terrible, some serious momey needs to be spent.

[corsacar saint]

Derry is basically spot on,although 4/5 players maybe nearer our requirements with Fonte,Chaplow and Barnard to come back.

Also I do not think it is fair to castigate NA until he gets some of his own players in.[The substitutions today were far too late,but did he have any better offensive options on the bench][Maybe the fitness of Connolly is not up to much more than a cameo role?]

[Chez]

As has been said by others it was a poor display from both individuals and a team. Adkins wants the side passing out from the back yet all we saw in the first half was long balls up to the two big strikers. In the second half we started to pass from the back but that only lasted for about ten minutes and was far too deep and square. A new striker is a must, but also having Guly as our cover for wide right is a worry. Puncheon or Guly? Easy choice for me.

 

Davis 4 Two great saves and some very good distribution. But itIt wouldn't matter what good things he did though as the mistake for the first goal was Robert Green like. Not sure if he was at fault for second. I can forgive him, he has saved us so many times its noit true.

Butterfield 2 Woeful display. Didn't tackle, didn't win headers, let the ball bounce, didn't get tight, poor passing, poor throw ins and some crap crosses. Worst display from him since he came here.

Jaidi 6 Won a fair bit, but not everything. I also liked the fact he brought the ball down and passed to a white shirt. He is often criticised for his distribution, but it wasn't too bad at all today.

Seaborne 4 got worse as the game went on. I've said it so many times, he does not win enough in the air and that costs us in the end. Distribution is normally pretty good (he is a decent footballer) but it was poor today.

Dickson 7 worked his socks off and was up and down that line all day long. Great engine and desire.

Hammond 7 Also worked his socks off with Chaplow like runs in hte second half. Unfortunately I didn't see enough movement from the two centre midfield players to recive the ball from throws and from fullbacks especially in the first half. AT least one needs to offer himself, but they didn't.

Schneidelin 3 I rate him highly, but this was a poor display. Stationary in the first half (see above) and not strong enough in the tackle. He did improve in the second but then was far far too deep. Hammond and him do not work well together, they don't know what each other is doing. The manager needs to sort this out.

Lallana 5 started brightly but I don't wanbt to see him collecting the ball and crossing from deep on his left foot, I want to see him driving to the byeline or into the box which he didn't do enough in the first half. The one occasion he did he nearly scored. Gave the ball away too much in the second half with misplaced passes.

Chamberlain 4 I blame Adkins for not switching him back to out wide having tried him up front and it not working. Gave the ball away far too often though after what was a fantastic start. He is a winger, lets give him and Lallana the ball all the time and get them running at these fullbacks. Neither sees enough of the ball IMO.

Lambert 5 Not a great deal of service, but not sharp enough today to be first to what did come his way. Still not a threat, actually when has he last been a threat? Doesn't combine well with Guly at all, but was left with no partner when Chamberlain moved into the middle as they were miles apart from each other. Unfortunately he got injured just before the only half chance came his way - which he volleyed tamely wide - that hampered him. Badly needs a goal to kick start his season.

Guly 5 Chased lost causes hard in first half but offered no threat at all. Out wide he offers nothing at all.

 

Connelly 8 minutes at the end, why not bring him on earlier? Adkins had a shocker and to think Pardew was slated (wrongly IMO) for not having a plan B.

Edited 11 December, 2010 by Chez

[kpturner]

Connolly?? If i was David Connolly i would hand in a transfer request in the morning. you sit on the bench watching that absolute garbage only to be given 8 minutes...? outrageous. although he may struggle with his fitness, connolly is a class above most of this lot and a very intelligent player.

 

Perhaps Connolly may only have 10 minutes in his legs ATM? He is a class act, but he has not played enough football - although I agree he may warrant more than 10 minutes, but I don't agree with your assessment of NA.

Edited 11 December, 2010 by kpturner

[Fitzhugh Fella]

What worries me is a lot of posters on here think the January transfer window is the answer to a lot of our problems - it is not that simple.

 

I can honestly say I never saw such an abject disorganised perfomance like that under Pardew.

 

We seem to be going backwards.

[PaulGilchrist_76]

Total lack of effort today and that is unforgiveable,squad is wafer thin reinforcements are badly needed.

Some players inc RL are now playing for their saints careers in the next few games and i dont believe thats being too dramatic.

 

Totally agree - the lack of effort was very noticeable. So many players just stood there doing nothing. I am unimpressed by Atkins so far. We have managed to win some games but in general the performances have been quite awful.

 

I think we have an average manager and an average bunch of players.

 

This season represents a wasted opportunity for Saints.

 

Will Mr Cortese be tempted to change things????

 

One things for sure, he won't be pleased with our league position.

[doddisalegend]

Why is it his final warning? He's lost 3 games. THREE GAMES. (One three days after he took over). Grow up. Santa won't be coming to see spoilt children this year.

 

eh four? surely

[doddisalegend]

I have never rated Davis as he is purely a linebound shotstopper. The biggest criticism I have is that he shows poor judgement and is flaky. He doesn't come off his line to dominate the box and undermines his defence by indecision. I will be glad when he is gone and we have a proper goalkeeper. At fault today and showed all his shortcomings without the shotstopping.

 

The central midfield was appalling. The last thing we need is two pedestrian negative players. Schneiderlin is a luxury we can't afford in the face of mobile athleticism. His sole thought is to unload the ball and move sideways. We need athleticism, pace, forward driving movement and aggression from our midfield not comfort zone meaningless, slow, square and backward buildups allowing defences to consolidate.

 

We were dominated today by an aggressive, athletic, hard working side but with a decent goalkeeper might still have got something out of the game. IMO we need a keeper, centre back, two central midfielders, two strikers, and two wide players. We are a very slow side, lacking pace, so from now on it should be a requirement that any player we sign to get us out of the Championship (stated aim of club's transfer strategy.) must be athletic and quick.

 

Ah Derry old chap where's this amazing football you said Nigel was going to give us. You'd be tearing the old manager a new one after today.

Edited 11 December, 2010 by doddisalegend

[doddisalegend]

Derry is basically spot on,although 4/5 players maybe nearer our requirements with Fonte,Chaplow and Barnard to come back.

Also I do not think it is fair to castigate NA until he gets some of his own players in.[The substitutions today were far too late,but did he have any better offensive options on the bench][Maybe the fitness of Connolly is not up to much more than a cameo role?]

 

Sorry he has the most expensive squad in league one at his disposal, he shouldn't need loads of new players. At the very least he needs to make the ones he's got look like they give a f uck like they did last season becuase today they looked like they all wanted to be else where.

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

We've lost the unpredictability and pace both Papa and Antonio gave us last year and it's a big loss. Their pace alone would often mean defences wouldn't keep a high line, which had the added bonus of giving us space in front of the back four. Now, there's f**k all chance of Rickie beating anyone for pace so they can squeeze the play making it difficult for us to create anything.

 

Big changes required in January. Keep Chaplow for starters to give energy to the midfield then spend on 2 strikers and at least one winger. Any shrapnel left and a centre half wouldn't go amiss either.

[scotty]

I was working on board a cruise ship today so didnt even catch the commentary, were we really as bad as this thread makes it sound?

[LostBoys]

Dreadful - we will regret this loss of three points as a lot of results went our way

[doddisalegend]

I was working on board a cruise ship today so didnt even catch the commentary, were we really as bad as this thread makes it sound?

 

Worse, did you see the the Tranmere game at SMS, becuase we made that tranmere team look PL class today. No passion or fight from the players at all.

[Thedelldays]

Feck me.. We were poor and lost

 

I thought I was bad at the knee jerk reactions

[Chez]

I was working on board a cruise ship today so didnt even catch the commentary, were we really as bad as this thread makes it sound?

 

we still created four good chances (they had two shots all game) and if Davis had not ****ed up for the first it might have been very different. With Richardson, Barnard, Fonte and Chaplow back next week we'll get back on track.

[DT]

bring back Pardew

(joke)

(ish)

[doddisalegend]

Feck me.. We were poor and lost

 

I thought I was bad at the knee jerk reactions

 

No you've mellowed, I on the other hand I'm getting right ****ed of with this season:sulk:

 

After NCs interview and the feel good factor it created it was nice to see the players helping to reinforce the message with an abject display like that. It hardly screamed PL by 2014 today. Of course it's only one match (but some our displays of recent weeks have shown this was coming) but I get ****ed off when the players look like that couldn't care less (like they did today)

[Roger]

Its easy to blame the talisman of the game all the time in lambert. But lets take this game on its own. Lambert was the best player on the field for us today imo. I saw him win a lot of balls in the air especially in the first half and I thought his touch was very good today. It wasnt his fault today but pretty much everyone elses. Butterfield I thought was okay.

Marks are:

Davis 4-However doesnt make many mistakes and not a problem for us.

Butters 6

Jaidi 5-Played fine other than his fault for second goal partly.

CBourne 1-Awful buy rubbish player.

Dickson 4-Not good enough for me.

Oxlade chamberlain 4-Too early for him, hes an impact sub. Punchon should be playing imo.

Hammond 3-Doesnt do anything.

Morgan 4-Adkins isnt playing him in right postition. Hes a holding midfielder.

Lallana 4-I think he isnt as good as people make out. His final ball is poor at times.

Guly 3-Rubbish display.

Lambert 6-Played final other than not scoring again which is concern. Lay off him not his fault today.

Jury is out on adkins. Starting to think getting rid of pardew was a mistake and when we did should have got better than adkins. I just dont understand why we sent punchon on loan. Stupid. We knew holmes was injury prone. Can we call him back? I know he was off form but so was everyone else?

[kpturner]

I just dont understand why we sent punchon on loan. Stupid.

He fell out with Crosby ;-)

[alpine_saint]

That ladies and gentlemen is a prime example of why this team are going to face yet another season in this league. It has a punchless attack, uncompetitive midfield, porous defence and lacks bottle thoughout.

The manager and chairman can say what they like but the stark truth is that this lot is way,way short of promotion. End of.

 

Yep.

[Roger]

He fell out with Crosby ;-)

 

Well then crosby should have handled it better then. We can afford to lose him at this time because oxlade chamberlain isnt ready to start every game yet. Punchon would hold the ball better against teams like this. Can we call him back? Stop moaning at lambert when he was better than lallana today

[Chez]

Its easy to blame the talisman of the game all the time in lambert. But lets take this game on its own. Lambert was the best player on the field for us today imo. I saw him win a lot of balls in the air especially in the first half and I thought his touch was very good today. It wasnt his fault today but pretty much everyone elses. Butterfield I thought was okay.

Marks are:

Davis 4-However doesnt make many mistakes and not a problem for us.

Butters 6

Jaidi 5-Played fine other than his fault for second goal partly.

CBourne 1-Awful buy rubbish player.

Dickson 4-Not good enough for me.

Oxlade chamberlain 4-Too early for him, hes an impact sub. Punchon should be playing imo.

Hammond 3-Doesnt do anything.

Morgan 4-Adkins isnt playing him in right postition. Hes a holding midfielder.

Lallana 4-I think he isnt as good as people make out. His final ball is poor at times.

Guly 3-Rubbish display.

Lambert 6-Played final other than not scoring again which is concern. Lay off him not his fault today.

Jury is out on adkins. Starting to think getting rid of pardew was a mistake and when we did should have got better than adkins. I just dont understand why we sent punchon on loan. Stupid. We knew holmes was injury prone. Can we call him back? I know he was off form but so was everyone else?

 

I certainly agree that Lambert has become an easy target but to suggest he was our best player today is rediculous. He did nothing. I can't recall a single decent thing he did all game. Mind you, you have given Butterfield a 6 and I thought was our worst player (I sit in the Kingsland so he was right in front of me second half so that might make a difference) and Dickson just 4 and I thought he had a very solid game. Hammond getting less than Schneiderlin? Very strange marks. Its a game of opinions I suppose.

[jawillwill]

Even though we were very poor, we did at least create a few good chances. On another day we may well have scored 4 or 5 goals. Northam were in good voice 2nd half I guess.

[scotty]

Well then crosby should have handled it better then. We can afford to lose him at this time because oxlade chamberlain isnt ready to start every game yet. Punchon would hold the ball better against teams like this. Can we call him back? Stop moaning at lambert when he was better than lallana today

 

I got the impression those bridges had been well and truly burned.

[Chez]

Even though we were very poor, we did at least create a few good chances. On another day we may well have scored 4 or 5 goals. Northam were in good voice 2nd half I guess.

 

tremendus support second half considering the poor quality of football we were watching, shame it had no effect at all. The players have no excuses about not getting the backing from the home fans.

[Jonnyboy]

Yep.

 

you wanted rid of pardew no?

[Jonnyboy]

Thats the last time I start a Pre match Build up thread

[Thatchamsaint]

Terrible performance complete lack of enegy and enthusiasm from the whole side.

On another note I spoke to Lee Barnard before the game he said he had a hernia operation on Wednesday,so i doubt he will be back for a couple of weeks at least unfortunately.

[SuperMikey]

Simple explanation of today's result: Brentford are in form, we are not.

[doddisalegend]

Simple explanation of today's result: Brentford are in form, we are not.

 

I think Nick G has produced numerous threads/stats that prove we are in form.........

[simo]

The whole team had a BAD day from where I was sat guly man of the match silverlining ? We cant play much worse!

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I think Nick G has produced numerous threads/stats that prove we are in form.........

 

which just goes to prove stats can be very deceiving.

 

apart from one game this season at home (Tranmere) we have not gelled. Something is not right - even both Cup games we flattered to deceive.

I am no tactician but the two central "crabs" posing as our midfield must be the source of a lot of our problems.

 

I'll say it again; under Pardew he had us playing a lot more "organised" football after just a few couple of months.

Yes Adkins must be given a chance to bring in his own players but as a previous poster quite rightly pointed out he did inherit a more than decent squad who finished last season as the best in the League.

[kpturner]

apart from one game this season at home (Tranmere) we have not gelled.

Southampton 4 - 1 Peterborough

[doddisalegend]

Southampton 4 - 0 Peterborough

 

I remember watching the football league show after that match spent several minutes pointing how bad the posh were basically implied anyone could have scored past that shambles of a defence on that day. Missed that game though so I couldn't say.

[BGF]

What annoys me is that you have to go back to the Hoddle/Strachan days to have a team that gelled both Strachan and Hoddle had teams that went back to basics and battled to get a result, no manager since has appeared to match them.

[Thedelldays]

I remember watching the football league show after that match spent several minutes pointing how bad the posh were basically implied anyone could have scored past that shambles of a defence on that day. Missed that game though so I couldn't say.

 

Could say that against any team we play against

[Thedelldays]

which just goes to prove stats can be very deceiving.

 

apart from one game this season at home (Tranmere) we have not gelled. Something is not right - even both Cup games we flattered to deceive.

I am no tactician but the two central "crabs" posing as our midfield must be the source of a lot of our problems.

 

I'll say it again; under Pardew he had us playing a lot more "organised" football after just a few couple of months.

Yes Adkins must be given a chance to bring in his own players but as a previous poster quite rightly pointed out he did inherit a more than decent squad who finished last season as the best in the League.

 

Last season we would have finished 5th if given the points back.. The cracking home game against Oldham when it really counted tells me we were not better than Norwich or Leeds

[Saint in Paradise]

After reading these pages it seems very much like the match against Rochdale, which I did see live at SMS

in case anyone asks.

After that game I was not very confident about KD in goal and reading here it seems he is still no better.

Bart must be brought in and if he fails then a new goalkeeper is needed in January. Team confidence starts

with the goalkeeper.

[doddisalegend]

After reading these pages it seems very much like the match against Rochdale, which I did see live at SMS

in case anyone asks.

After that game I was not very confident about KD in goal and reading here it seems he is still no better.

Bart must be brought in and if he fails then a new goalkeeper is needed in January. Team confidence starts

with the goalkeeper.

 

yes we did play badly against Rochdale, but Kelvin has had plenty of good matches in between, today he was bad though but so was the whole team.

[Dalek2003]

What annoys me is that you have to go back to the Hoddle/Strachan days to have a team that gelled both Strachan and Hoddle had teams that went back to basics and battled to get a result, no manager since has appeared to match them.

 

Both managers had pedigree and were class acts. Both managers had the respect of the players who listened to what they said. the appointment of Sturrock (the result of a very selfish minority of fans), started the rot.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Brentford wanted it more and that is just TERRIBLE MANAGEMENT. Adkins is qulaified in sports psychology ffs. Why were we not ready for this game? We need to want it more EVERY game, until we are ten points clear at the top. Cortese needs to lay it on the line with Adkins.

[Appy]

We've spent serious money. None of the teams at the top have. Why must serious money be spent?

 

How else are we going to improve our squad?

 

Huddersfield and Brighton are 2 teams who have spent big money.

 

So you are saying that because we have spent money already that more shouldn't be spent to strengthen what today looks like a paper thin squad? Get real.

[SaintNeil90]

Personally I wish we still had Pardew. At least he could motivate players and made sure they fought for every game. Last season under him I was confident we would get a win or draw everygame. Now Im not even confident we can score!

[Appy]

Personally I wish we still had Pardew. At least he could motivate players and made sure they fought for every game. Last season under him I was confident we would get a win or draw everygame. Now Im not even confident we can score!

 

Move on, he has gone, get over it.

[Dalek2003]

Move on, he has gone, get over it.

 

Yer, move on, don't learn, bury your head in the sand etc. That way we never learn and we keep making the same mistakes over and over. FFS !

[alexdawkins]

jaidi and guly were the only players who came close to performing today - though guly was poor in front of goal. adkins was dire, as ever. seaborne needs his contract terminating. lallana also very poor - held on to the ball too long almost every time he had it.