Saints 4 Exeter 0 - Post Match Comments

[sfc4prem]

forgot to mention guly. I think he can be a little greedy , there was one time just before he scored his first that he should have laid the ball out to llanna

but Im not moaning as a made a few pounds by betting on him to score the first goal

 

Same could be said for Lallana who when one-on-one with the goalie with Dickson to his left, decided to go alone when a simple tap in for Dickson would have been another goal on the scoresheet.

 

It doesn't matter anyway because we still won convincingly.

 

Guly was awesome today and if it wasn't for that amazing goal-line clearance would've had a much deserved hattrick.

[Clifford Nelson]

The only criticism I can think of today is Seaborne's irritating crossfield balls in the vein of "why six yards if sixty will do". Can't make my mind up between Lallana and Guly as MOTM. In the attacking third we looked unbeatable, but in the defending third we didn't look quite as solid as we might wish. Schneiders had one of his better games, I think, and confirmed that either him or Hammond, together with Chaplow, is a better choice than to play them together.

 

Exeter wasn't a bad team, full of positive play and passing football, but they collapsed when we scored the third. Tisdale is doing wonders down there with his collection of leftovers from the rich men's tables.

[SuperMikey]

What a result! 2nd in the league, team gelling well and playing successful attacking football, what more could we want for a start to 2011?

[Saint_clark]

I wasnt the only one after losing to Brentford and being 0-1 down to Huddersfield.

 

Anyway, enough of the diversion. This feels like a win of massive proportions in more ways than one today. We have finally broken into the top 2. The only thing that can deny us auto promotion now is ourselves, imo.

 

Interesting times ahead, definitely.

 

Going to look for comments about Lamberts contribution now, since I see that as the major black cloud on the promotion horizon. We won 4-0 and he didnt score.

 

Surely that's a GOOD thing? He was brilliant today, by the way.

[niemi14]

What is going on with Tisdale's matchday attire?

[fanimal]

What a result! 2nd in the league, team gelling well and playing successful attacking football, what more could we want for a start to 2011?

 

Pompey getting beat 3-0 - icing on the cake!!

[Joey-deacons-left-nut]

Was he wearing a flat cap???

[captainchris]

Go on admit it, who got very worried when at 3.0 down Exeter City still had the awesome Jake Thompson to come off the bench!!!!!!!!!

 

This sums up the gulf between the two clubs.

 

I would say Paul Tisdale has worked some sort of minor miracle getting that bunch of guys to mid table - was there one Exeter player that would have even made our bench?

[Lighthouse]

My thoughts on the players:

 

Davis - n/a Can't think of a save he had to make. Just picking up fairly routine back passes.

 

FR - 7 Didn't do much wrong, supported Chamberlain well and caused them a few problems going forward.

 

Fonte - 7 Kept it clean at the back, but was never troubled that much.

 

Seaborne - 7 A bit hoofy but did his job well.

 

Harding - 7 Reliable as always.

 

Chamberlain - 6 Looked a bit quiet, maybe having the midweek game took a bit out of him. Great run and cros for Guly's second though. Completely did their LB first half only to get sythed down. Not even a booking.

 

Morgan - 7 Played it around very well. Looks happier with Chaplow than Hammond.

 

Chaplow - 8 What a signing. It's great to see his commitment in midfield. MOTM.

 

Lallana - 8 He is sooo freakin' good. Anyone else see him control Seaborne's hoof first half. The ball was up out of the stadium, dropped 100ft out of the sky and Lallana stopped it dead on his toe. Unbelieveable skill.

 

Lambert - 7 Didn't score, but put himself around a lot. Getting better.

 

Guly - 8 Hot and cold. Two well taken goals, but was also capable of putting a shot out for a throw in. Getting better.

 

Subs:

 

Barnard - 7 Could have had a couple if he'd been sharper.

 

Dickson - 7 A good option to have on the bench.

 

Gobern - n/a Not really much time.

Edited 1 January, 2011 by Lighthouse

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Great game and we're right in the grove now - for those who were not there we really were toying with Exeter like some lower league Man Utd for much of the 2nd half. Alas being the Saints we'll probably mess up again before very long.

The best part for me was that my regular 'neighbour' in the Chapel had a £92 bet riding on us winning 3-0. It was hilarious seeing a life long Saints fans despairingly praying we didn't score a 4th goal and for a long time it seemed his luck was in after we missed chance after chance after chance - as you can imagine my joy at seeing Lee Barnard's extra time shot go in was unconstrained !

 

Schadenfreude is a terrible thing you know.....

[up and away]

amazed at people moaning about Rickie' date=' the team has scored 8 goals in 2 home games, he is leading the line, creating space for Chamberlain, Guly and Lallana, and draws 2 players every time he gets the ball. football is a team game and all 11 plus subs contributed to the victory now we need to re produce the performance on Monday[/quote']

 

I am not going to moan about Rickie, but he is in no way deserving the adulation some are giving him. Even in his worst period, all I would suggest is that he does not play away from home. Ricky played very well today, but most of his good stuff was more than a pass away from goal. No wonder Adkins wants Guly to run in behind the defenders, someone has to do it and Ricky's a distance away. The way we are playing at the present is mainly down to Guly, Ricky can't do that and against a tighter defence without the space, it's going to take something really special from Lallana or Oxo and will need an end product already attached to it. I have not rated Schneiderlin for a while now and thought Um Pahars recent description was right on the money, but I have to admit that after watching the replays against Huddersfield, he is worthy over the last couple of games. I swear Fonte maust have some magic wand, he has this classic trait of trying to do everyone else's job that he forgets to do his own. He should have cost us two goals against Huddersfield and was wandering again today. Then with just a classic couple of shear class moments and all is forgotten, back up there for the MOM. I coffeed the screen when I read his peice on the OS about how much he had improved! We have a lot of talented footballers coming into peak form and fitness and there's no reason why we should not rip this league apart, but we do have issues. This was a great game of football, but we are always going to allow the opposition in unless we sort out the defence. We have to tighten up away from home against the better teams, otherwise we will come unstuck. You can't beat the amount of excitement from these last couple of games, almost heart attack material after the festive period. Lallana and Oxo were exceptional and combine that with so many other options going forward, we were different gravy.

 

A lot of our style over the last couple of games is down to Guly and although we are looking to sign him, I think we may have a problem. Unless there is something else in his background, I am wondering how they are going to get over the visa issue?

[Wes Tender]

The scoreline could have been anything up to seven or eight. Once we overcame our nerves in the early quarter of an hour when it seemed feasible that they could be a decent team capable of beating Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield and therefore by extension us too, we settled down and started to play some very good football. We now seem to be playing with the belief that we are better than anybody in this division and our rise up the table must be making teams nervous of what we might be capable of doing to them if they allow us to play open passing football. We now have the players with the ability and skill to do the job of getting us promoted.

 

Once again, Lallana out wide on one wing and the ever improving Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other are proving a thorn in our rival's side. But since the Huddersfield win, Adkins seems to have decided that Chaplow would form a more formidable partnership with Schneiderlin than Scneiderlin forged with Hammond and so it proved. Chaplow forages forward causing problems to defences and often wins the balls to start attacks. Schneiderlin was good today with some incisive passing and beginning to show the class that he possesses. Up front, Gully put in a greatly improved and assured performance and could have had a hat trick but for some good goalkeeping. Lambert also had a good game, but although he didn't score, it is encouraging that in the past couple of matches we are scoring also from the midfield and defence. A few times though, I noted that Lambert was often to be found out wide on the right when he should have been in the centre linking up with Gully when the ball was crossed in. What is that all about?

 

Earlier in the game, we were playing rather narrowly, but as we began to assert ourselves, we played with much more width, leaving us the space in the middle to pass out wide or through the centre. I really would like us to have players across the pitch when we have a goal kick or free kick, as we have the players to exploit the space freed up by it. Chamberlain's pace in particular is a weapon we should use in those situations. On one occasion he had skinned their left back and was through into the box had he not been deliberately tripped. So why was the professional foul not punished by a yellow card? The referee and the left side linesman in particular were both poor, the referee blowing up and disrupting the flow of the game for little reason, but on balance favouring Exeter wherever possible.

 

After we had scored our third, Exeter seemed to lose heart, or perhaps it was a case of damage limitation by that time. We began to play some really delightful football, eliciting chants of "it's just like watching Brazil", perhaps for the benefit of Gully to make him feel at home, even though he had been substituted by then. Great to see Barnard back too and although he skied an opportunity, his goal was well taken. We made some changes to the line-up, perhaps bearing in mind the run of fixtures we have over this Christmas period, so Jaidi was probably rested but deputised well by Seaborne. We do have some decent depth to the squad to accommodate these changes and when they are needed, players like Jaidi, Dickson, Richardson, Butterfield, Gobern, slot in fairly comfortably. So long as we can keep the key players fit, we have the spine that should see us through the season.

 

Although it had looked as if we needed further strengthening in the January window, it increasingly becomes a connundrum as to where those replacements are to be.

[Saint_clark]

Go on admit it, who got very worried when at 3.0 down Exeter City still had the awesome Jake Thompson to come off the bench!!!!!!!!!

 

This sums up the gulf between the two clubs.

 

I would say Paul Tisdale has worked some sort of minor miracle getting that bunch of guys to mid table - was there one Exeter player that would have even made our bench?

 

Ryan Harley would get on the bench as back up winger. That's about it.

[sidthesquid]

A brilliant alround performance today - everyone gets an 8, BUT.....

My concern is this - playing against teams that come to SMS to play open, attacking football on our fantastic pitch, as Huddersfield & Exeter did, we are genuinely unbeatable. What continues to worry me is when we come up against teams that play 9-0-1, or just chase and harry with no desire to compete ability-wise, but are up for the fight, we look highly beatable. And many more games are going to be like that this season than what we have seen this week. Having Chaplow is a big plus, as is having Barnard fit again, because we have to win ugly in some of those trench warfare games to stand a chance of going up.

[Chez]

another very competitive and entertaining game. Exeter were a good side and only when they switched to a 4-3-3 at 2-0 down to chase the game did we really take total charge. Until then their three in the middle against our two, plus their short patient passing game caused us a few problems. We played well again. Our goals came at good times the first owing to a fair bit of good fortune, but our strength and quality out wide told. Very few negatives, Fonte is not as steady over the last few games as he has been, Lambert still isn't influencing enough and a few wasted opportunities...not much really which says a lot about how things are going right now. Loving it, and not before time as I ws very worried this season would never get going.

 

Davis 7 not much to do but swept well and kicking fine

Richardson 8 Strong and not beaten, very comfortable on the ball

Fonte 6.5 No bad, but not great. He was stretched early on and not winning quite as much in the air. He has set such high standards and just falling a fraction short of them of late in my eyes. Needs to stop trying to do everything and being oulled out if position. A settled defence will help.

Seaborne 7.5 solid as a rock, the better of the two for sure, won everything in the air in second half. I'm not a big fan but credit to him. Chipped passes not great today.

Harding 6.5 just off the pace a little at the start, but got better as the game went on. Not back to last seasons best but needs a long run perhaps

Lallana 9 Everywhere and immaculate again. Right on his game at the moment.

Chamberlain 7.5 not quite as good as against Huddersfield, but still very good and we are now a threat on the break too.

Morgan 8.5 broke down their play so often in second half. He is so quick to jump on oponents mistakes. Passing good today and despite him and Chaplow being against three cetral players they held their own whicnshows how well they played.

Chaplow 8 less runs into opposing box but understandable as he needed to hold his position against their three. Another great game hussling opponents.

Guly 8 great finishing and some nice link up play. My only criticism is that at times he is a bit stationary and we have two strikers that aren't stretching opposing centre backs, but what we lose there we gain in height and presence up the middle

Lambert 6.5 Does Guly just steal his space? Other than more confidence with his shooting this ws the same as many games. I just didn't see the `run a game Lambert' of last season. Better but not his best.

 

Barnard 6 goals and misses. Looks keen but a little rusty.

Dickson 6 is he ever going score? He is going to be a very good player, and an excellent sub offering loads of energy and endeavour

Gobern I like him, but he needs game time if he is to improve.

Edited 1 January, 2011 by Chez

[Charlie Wayman]

I'll have 3kg of that variety please!

[supersonic]

Go on admit it, who got very worried when at 3.0 down Exeter City still had the awesome Jake Thompson to come off the bench!!!!!!!!!

 

This sums up the gulf between the two clubs.

 

I would say Paul Tisdale has worked some sort of minor miracle getting that bunch of guys to mid table - was there one Exeter player that would have even made our bench?

 

Ryan Harley would make our starting 11

[Jesus Reigned]

JUst goes to show that football truly is a game of opinions; I've noted the negative comments about Richardson and don't agree at all.

 

He made a superb run and pass in the first couple of minutes that should have led to a goal, his passing was fine IMO and I felt very comfortable that his flank was secure.

 

I was actually quite impressed with Exeter for the first hour or so; I felt nervous at 1-0 as I could see them scoring, and I thought their passing was better than ours until they lost the plot in the last half hour.

 

I think their overall problem was that they tried to beat us at our own game, and no-one in this league will achieve this at St Marys; however Tisdale is definitely one to watch in the future I think, as bearing in mind that his team probably cost 10% of what ours did their style of football impressed me. The only shame from their point of view was that they forgot to defend!!

 

Solid performances all around the park today, although I did think that Seabourne was shaky in the first half and (as someone else has mentioned), his attempted 60-yard crossfield passes were all a bit aimless.

 

The difference for me in the second half was that Chaplow was pushing forward much more than in the first half, and this made us an entirely different proposition. He makes some excellent forward runs and even if he doesn't get the ball he creates a lot of space for others.

 

Guly was MOM for me, and he proved that he can finish with two good goals. I don't think he's a natural centre-forward by any means (which isn't his fault as he's only doing what he's told), but he was involved in most good things we did going forward and I really hope we get him on a permanent deal.

 

I'm slightly concerned by the fact that we've now played 5 more home games than away games, but if we keep playing like that at home and at least not losing away we will finish in the top 2.

 

We really need to back this up with a good win at D&R on Monday now!!

[Saint_clark]

A brilliant alround performance today - everyone gets an 8, BUT.....

My concern is this - playing against teams that come to SMS to play open, attacking football on our fantastic pitch, as Huddersfield & Exeter did, we are genuinely unbeatable. What continues to worry me is when we come up against teams that play 9-0-1, or just chase and harry with no desire to compete ability-wise, but are up for the fight, we look highly beatable. And many more games are going to be like that this season than what we have seen this week. Having Chaplow is a big plus, as is having Barnard fit again, because we have to win ugly in some of those trench warfare games to stand a chance of going up.

 

I think having Guly up front helps a lot. He is very intelligent - his movement and off the ball running will help create space in the "ugly" games.

[Griffo]

Seabourne rarely played the ball out along the floor. Hoofed it 90% of the time.

[latter day saint]

The scoreline could have been anything up to seven or eight. Once we overcame our nerves in the early quarter of an hour when it seemed feasible that they could be a decent team capable of beating Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield and therefore by extension us too, we settled down and started to play some very good football. We now seem to be playing with the belief that we are better than anybody in this division and our rise up the table must be making teams nervous of what we might be capable of doing to them if they allow us to play open passing football. We now have the players with the ability and skill to do the job of getting us promoted.

 

Once again, Lallana out wide on one wing and the ever improving Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other are proving a thorn in our rival's side. But since the Huddersfield win, Adkins seems to have decided that Chaplow would form a more formidable partnership with Schneiderlin than Scneiderlin forged with Hammond and so it proved. Chaplow forages forward causing problems to defences and often wins the balls to start attacks. Schneiderlin was good today with some incisive passing and beginning to show the class that he possesses. Up front, Gully put in a greatly improved and assured performance and could have had a hat trick but for some good goalkeeping. Lambert also had a good game, but although he didn't score, it is encouraging that in the past couple of matches we are scoring also from the midfield and defence. A few times though, I noted that Lambert was often to be found out wide on the right when he should have been in the centre linking up with Gully when the ball was crossed in. What is that all about?

 

Earlier in the game, we were playing rather narrowly, but as we began to assert ourselves, we played with much more width, leaving us the space in the middle to pass out wide or through the centre. I really would like us to have players across the pitch when we have a goal kick or free kick, as we have the players to exploit the space freed up by it. Chamberlain's pace in particular is a weapon we should use in those situations. On one occasion he had skinned their left back and was through into the box had he not been deliberately tripped. So why was the professional foul not punished by a yellow card? The referee and the left side linesman in particular were both poor, the referee blowing up and disrupting the flow of the game for little reason, but on balance favouring Exeter wherever possible.

 

After we had scored our third, Exeter seemed to lose heart, or perhaps it was a case of damage limitation by that time. We began to play some really delightful football, eliciting chants of "it's just like watching Brazil", perhaps for the benefit of Gully to make him feel at home, even though he had been substituted by then. Great to see Barnard back too and although he skied an opportunity, his goal was well taken. We made some changes to the line-up, perhaps bearing in mind the run of fixtures we have over this Christmas period, so Jaidi was probably rested but deputised well by Seaborne. We do have some decent depth to the squad to accommodate these changes and when they are needed, players like Jaidi, Dickson, Richardson, Butterfield, Gobern, slot in fairly comfortably. So long as we can keep the key players fit, we have the spine that should see us through the season.

 

Although it had looked as if we needed further strengthening in the January window, it increasingly becomes a connundrum as to where those replacements are to be.

agree with this summary,especially the bit in the 3rd paragraph about the ref & lino

[Chez]

Seabourne rarely played the ball out along the floor. Hoofed it 90% of the time.

 

not his best game passinfg wise, but bloody hell he was good in the air (his weakest facit in my eyes) and defensively superbe.

[doddisalegend]

Good match, getting into second is excellent.

 

Pros

Chaplow MOM for me his energy in midfield makes such a difference.

Lambert looked more like his old self unlucky not to get a goal, at least one Exeter defender will be nursing a bruising after getting in the way of Lamberts shot in the second half.

The second part of the second half we looked totally in control the football was a joy to watch.

The defence looked very solid, which was good becuase Exeter had some good spells of possession in both halfs (Exeter played some execllent football I thought)

 

Cons

Missing Lallanas goal becuase I had to take my 5 year old to the toliet........

The atmosphere was a bit flat (to many hangovers?) despite a good sized crowd.

Quite a few chances went begging, we still need to be more clinical in front of goal at times.

There were times when Exeter really gave us the run around in midfield (they had two good periods of possession in both halfs)

Ryan Harley (no 7) of Exeter, people have touted him as a HCDJFU on here so I kept an eye on him fraknly I didn't think he was anything spiecal (couple of little bits of skill) certainly not better than Morgan.

 

We have to keep this going now the top of the table is so tight one bad result can see slip down several places.

Edited 1 January, 2011 by doddisalegend

[LaptopSaint]

I'm slightly concerned by the fact that we've now played 5 more home games than away games, but if we keep playing like that at home and at least not losing away we will finish in the top 2.

 

We really need to back this up with a good win at D&R on Monday now!!

 

Yeah I was a little shocked by the fact that we've only played 8 away out of 21... and we've lost half of them. Great win today, but really need to beat D&R away to keep things going.

Time to crank it up Saints...!

[niceandfriendly]

Seabourne rarely played the ball out along the floor. Hoofed it 90% of the time.

 

I wasn't at the game today but I already knew this was the case. This is Seabourne's biggest weakness in my opinion. He hoofs it way to regularly.

 

Having said that I do like him and think he's probably number one choice to partner Fonte at the moment, despite Jaidi's good performances recently.

[Appy]

Ryan Harley would make our starting 11

 

He was dreadful today.

[saint_bert]

Any one near the corner when AOC was hacked down 1st half right by the by-line?

 

Looked dreadfull from where I was, and the ref didnt even book the guy.

[theyin]

A pleasing couple of results but let's not get carried away, the table doesn't lie and we're a loss or two from dropping off the pace. I'll be a lot happier once we have a few away wins under our belt. I just hope we don't hear 'the mid winter pitches at away grounds didn't suit our game' comments over the coming months.

[corky morris]

Lallana & Morgan were awesome today. I actually thought Exeter were a decent side & played some tidy football. Second goal killed them & they chased the game. Fair play to Guly. He took his goals well & I thought Rickie contributed a lot. Another 3 points on Monday would be excellent.

What happened to Hammond?

[NickG]

A pleasing couple of results but let's not get carried away, the table doesn't lie and we're a loss or two from dropping off the pace. I'll be a lot happier once we have a few away wins under our belt. I just hope we don't hear 'the mid winter pitches at away grounds didn't suit our game' comments over the coming months.

 

table doesn't lie - in that we are in automatic promotion place?

[NickG]

Lallana & Morgan were awesome today. I actually thought Exeter were a decent side & played some tidy football. Second goal killed them & they chased the game. Fair play to Guly. He took his goals well & I thought Rickie contributed a lot. Another 3 points on Monday would be excellent.

What happened to Hammond?

 

flu. Think Morgan and Chaplow did enough to start.

[Chez]

A pleasing couple of results but let's not get carried away, the table doesn't lie and we're a loss or two from dropping off the pace.

 

the tables says we are the second best side right now. Enjoy it and worry about longevity if this form another day.

[itchen_dan]

Any one near the corner when AOC was hacked down 1st half right by the by-line?

 

Looked dreadfull from where I was, and the ref didnt even book the guy.

 

Yep. He was taken from under his feet. Defender knew what he was doing and knew he'd get away with it because it was early and his 1st tackle he made.

 

Definately a yellow card. No question.

[Colinjb]

My ratings for what it's worth.

 

Davis - 6.5. Not much for him to do, didn't put a foot wrong but I panic every time the ball comes near him.... will take a while for the trust to return.

 

Harding - 7. Excellent forward running and did what he needed at the back, good game.

Richardson - 6. Decent game, again, good going forward. His distribution wasn't great.

Fonte - 7.5. Read things superbly as usual. Lynchpin.

Seaborne - 7. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOF. Read play well, made some good interceptions, but he really needs to learn some culture.

 

Lallana - 8.5. Tisdale himself said he is the best player in the league. Good point well made. Ran the show for us. Says a lot that his stand out performance wasn't overwhelmingly the best on show today.

Chamberlain - 7.5. Another good showing for the nipper. Not his best but learning all the time.

Chaplow - 7. I rate him as a footballing god. He is a central midfielder who can tackle, shoot and pass. Name us another player like that we've had over the last decade? He worked well today, cog in the machine.

Schneiderlin - 7. Showed occasional flashes of brilliance in his passing. Got into some good positions, a good game for him.

 

Do Prado - 9. Almost a complete performance today for him. Created chances, hassled the centre backs and converted. Cracking day at the office.

Lambert - 7.5. Deserved a goal today but didn't quite deliver. Was always a threat to the Exeter backline, they were terrified of him.

 

Subs:

 

Gobern - 7. Looked alright when he came on, covered a fair amount of ground and got into good positions. Would like to see more of him.

Dickson - 6.5. Didn't do much.

Barnard - 6.5. Rusty as hell but took his goal well.

[ottery st mary]

Well done Saints/Nigel Adkins..

 

Much improved performance from Spiderman..keep it up and more and more of the same please.

 

Chappers you are a star..Luv your game and attitude...Just the right guy to help take us forward.

 

Very well done to Guly....At times I wonder but overall I can't fault what you give the side..

 

With Barnard returning and always there or there abouts we will get goals. Rikee ever getting fitter and working very hard.

 

AOC and Adam Lallana..Great young players who scare the hell out of the opposition.

 

Lallana is my star player followed by Guly for his two goals..

 

More of the same at Dagenham please chaps.

[bpsaint]

Yep. He was taken from under his feet. Defender knew what he was doing and knew he'd get away with it because it was early and his 1st tackle he made.

 

Definately a yellow card. No question.

 

Even at that early stage of the game I was shocked he didn't get a yellow for that. Other than that I don't think the ref had a bad game, just inconsistent. Played a cracking advantage in the build up to our first goal.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Finally we walk through an open door and take an opportunity to join the party at the top. Very very pleased with that emphatic result. If we can win at Daggers we will start to look a bit more consistent than others around us. Come on Saints, win that one, top off a terrific holiday period for us and put a bit of slack in the rope.

[ThorpG]

Lots of people here giving Harding a good score for his performance yet critical of Richardson. This seems a bit odd to me as in the first 20 minutes or so it was on Harding's side that Exeter put us under pressure. Also saw Lallana have to put the in the last tackle in the left back position a few times giving away corners, with Harding way out of position. Richardson by contrast got caught out less in defense (which is when all said and done the main job of a defender) and appeared to give more going forward, albeit some of his crosses were way over hit. Harding gave one of the weaker performances for the team today imo.

 

Lallana head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch, touch and technique simply belong to a higher league. Lambert very effective in joining up the play while Guly played really well. Chamberlain OK, at times effective, at times ineffectual, but hey he is 17 and has only played a handful of games. Chaplow is doing the engine role perfectly, and again showed the dynamism we missed early on in the season.

 

27 chances. 4 goals. Can do better, but nice to be able to win 4-1 and 4-0 and still have areas of improvement. COYR!

[Appy]

Lots of people here giving Harding a good score for his performance yet critical of Richardson. This seems a bit odd to me as in the first 20 minutes or so it was on Harding's side that Exeter put us under pressure. Also saw Lallana have to put the in the last tackle in the left back position a few times giving away corners, with Harding way out of position. Richardson by contrast got caught out less in defense (which is when all said and done the main job of a defender) and appeared to give more going forward, albeit some of his crosses were way over hit. Harding gave one of the weaker performances for the team today imo.

 

Lallana head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch, touch and technique simply belong to a higher league. Lambert very effective in joining up the play while Guly played really well. Chamberlain OK, at times effective, at times ineffectual, but hey he is 17 and has only played a handful of games. Chaplow is doing the engine role perfectly, and again showed the dynamism we missed early on in the season.

 

27 chances. 4 goals. Can do better, but nice to be able to win 4-1 and 4-0 and still have areas of improvement. COYR!

 

I have to agree, i think Harding was our weakest player today.

[Roger]

lamberts unfit. before too long he'll be benched because of the likes of lallana and barnard

Absolute garbage. If you watched today you would know that some of his play last 30 mins was awesome and hes certainly fit. Bringing people into the game today.

[Roger]

Here's my scores on the doors for a game we could have won 8-1!!!!!!!

 

Davis - 7 - A couple of good saves and looked fairly comfortable

 

Richardson - 7 - Some good play in the first half, but faded in the second half.

 

Fonte - 7 - Looked a bit ropey at times and was lucky to get away with quite a bit of man handling (he can certainly play much better).

 

Seabourne - 6 - Probably our weakest player, would prefer someone else in there with Fonte.

 

Harding - 7 - All sweatbands and effort. Played pretty well, particularly going forward. Messed up a couple of simple balls.

 

Chamberlain - 8 - Very impressive at times. Skinned their left back on numerous occasions.

 

Chaplow - 8 - That something we have been missing. the perfect midfielder for this division.

 

Schneiderlin - 7 - Despite my reservations, thought he was much better today and even got forward. Missed too many challenges in the middle of the park though.

 

Lallana - 9 - First class, just wayyyyyyyyyyyy too good for this division. Some of his skill, control and vision was phenomenal.

 

Lambert - 7 - Played a good role in the win today, just needs to be a bit more mobile and get a couple of flukey goals.

 

Guly - 8 - Very good, should have had a hat trick though. Typical confidence player who after he scored his first was just really up for it.

 

Subs:

 

Dickson - 6 - Think he missed the sitter at the end.

 

Barnard - 7 - Also missed a chance but scored a decent goal and was always in the thick of it.

 

Gobern - 6 - Not really on long enough to make an impact.

 

 

They should have had a goal early on, but we really did create 8 or 9 gilt edged chances. A very good day at the office and very happy to be starting the New Year in an automatic spot.

 

Dont get me wrong chaplow played well but how people can mark him above morgan today is beyond me. Morgan was wonderful last 30 mins as was ricky.

[Lighthouse]

Just seen our 20s on FLS. Lallana had no right to score from there, 'keeper definitely at fault. Good finishes from Guly and a really poachers goal for Barnard.

[doddisalegend]

Dont get me wrong chaplow played well but how people can mark him above morgan today is beyond me. Morgan was wonderful last 30 mins as was ricky.

 

Sadly players need to play for more than 30 when were 3-0 up. Morgan was pretty invisible for large parts of the match at times it looked like Chaplow was playing CM on his own Chaplows energy levels and ball wining have been something we've missed for some time. Morgan is technical very good, but he too often looks like he would rather be some where else this season.

[sandwichsaint]

Great results over Xmas (unfortunately I've missed both games, I was sitting on tickets for Walsall charlton and daggers for my Xmas Saints fix). Let's hope we have something in the tank for Monday... COYRS!

[Mattio]

we WILL walk this league

[rooney]

Rickie did well today laying on passes for the others and never gets pushed off the ball. GHuly did well and Chamberlains skills are a joy to watch, but Lallana was simply out of this world especially in the seconed half as we attacked the Chapel End. There was one moment when he turned the full back inside out and just ghosted past him from a tight position. Amazing.

[PokingFun]

I wasnt the only one after losing to Brentford and being 0-1 down to Huddersfield.

 

Anyway, enough of the diversion. This feels like a win of massive proportions in more ways than one today. We have finally broken into the top 2. The only thing that can deny us auto promotion now is ourselves, imo.

 

Interesting times ahead, definitely.

 

Going to look for comments about Lamberts contribution now, since I see that as the major black cloud on the promotion horizon. We won 4-0 and he didnt score.

 

No need to worry about Lambert Alps, he is getting better and fitter in my opinion and is now having the confidence again to take on shots where a few weeks back he might have looked for another option. He had a decent game yesterday and with a bit more luck would have got on the scoresheet. Unfortunately for RL teams are virtually doubling up on him now but that does create space for others and his link play remains excellent.

[Kingsland Codger]

Several comments above about how little Kelvin had to do (which is mostly true) but let's not forget his wonderful save in the first half when he had to leap very high, very quickly to tip a goalbound shot over the bar.

 

Another thing about KD - before we scored out first, Kelvin was kicking the ball up the pitch. The defenders were all heading towards the halfway line and he had no opportunity to pass or roll the ball out. Once we had scored, the defenders then made themselves available with the CBs dropping into the FB positions to accept a pass/roll out. This was clearly a policy rather than mere happenstance - but for the life of me I can't think why ...

[Saint_John]

The goals from BBC iPlayer (Football League Show) are here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xbl8r/The_Football_League_Show_2010_2011_Episode_22/

 

(54:47 to 55:40)

[skintsaint]

The goals from BBC iPlayer (Football League Show) are here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xbl8r/The_Football_League_Show_2010_2011_Episode_22/

 

(54:47 to 55:40)

 

out before saintsplayer...least i know im paying good money