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Fantastic results recently!


modern matron

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I just meant that it raised expectations greatly, they mightve been better off keeping schtum and perhaps then some fans wouldn't expect the team to be playing the arsenal way.

 

Absolutely. If we had said we aim to win games, get promoted and be successful whatever it takes people would have expected success - anything else is a bonus.

 

But claiming we should also play in a certain way means people will, quite rightly, want to see us play in that way.

 

But IMO, only a fool would fail to see that attractive football comes second to winning games.

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I suspect the clubs which end up being promoted will be the ones who are united - where the fans, team, & management are all pulling in the same direction. They will be the ones who deserve to go up.

 

It also seems that we have a minority who appear to be waiting for the team to slip up (which is bound to happen, as every team loses a game now and then), just so they can say "told you so". It's funny, but during our premiership relegation scraps, when we were sometimes awful, we seemed to be more united in the belief that we would stay up, no matter what the odds. And we did stay up, time after time. Perhaps a bit of that kind of belief wouldn't go amiss now.

 

Yes, we could be playing better, and I think we will hit top form again, but as we're in spitting distance of 2nd place, I'm a bit bemused by the criticism.

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Which games do you think we should have gotten better results at, since the start of this year (the time on which this thread is based)?

 

(edit) Also, give me some examples of English teams who do meet your expectations for consistency, results and the level of performance you expect.

 

Notts County at home.

Tranmere,away.

Peterborough away.Travesty we gave away a 2 goal lead,twice.

Hartlepool and Walsall.

I will throw Brentford away in also,although your time frame does not allow it.....any other boundries you would like to put in place?

 

Any other sides who i think are/have been exceeding expectations? see it's all relative to what you have at your disposal.......Brighton and dare i say it Bournemouth.

Peterborough.

Swansea,Notts Forest,Chesterfield,Wycombe.rotherham.

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Form since 28th December -

 

Home - Played 6, won 5, drawn 1, lost 0, scored 16 conceded 2, 16 points

Away - Played 9, won 5, drawn 2, lost 2, scored 20 conceded 10 17 points

 

pretty good eh?

 

 

I think that this shows how ell we have been performing over a long period, and bodes well for the run in! I presume this will silence the Adkins doubters?

 

Thank you modern matron - a very good set of results. If we can maintain this we should be OK for second place.

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Notts County at home.

Tranmere,away.

Peterborough away.Travesty we gave away a 2 goal lead,twice.

Hartlepool and Walsall.

I will throw Brentford away in also,although your time frame does not allow it.....any other boundries you would like to put in place?

 

Any other sides who i think are/have been exceeding expectations? see it's all relative to what you have at your disposal.......Brighton and dare i say it Bournemouth.

Peterborough.

Swansea,Notts Forest,Chesterfield,Wycombe.rotherham.

 

So in other words, you are not happy unless we win every match that we play. The OP pointed out that we had won 33 points from the last 15 games. If we had won the games you had listed here, we would have won 45 out of 45. If these are your standards, then I suggest that you are always going to be disappointed - whichever team you support.

 

Until now I had respected your views and could folllow your argument. Now I see the standards to which you aspire, I realise that you are never going to be satisfied.

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Oh well,that makes it alright then.

Shame he can't combine winning and attractive football.

I thought that was the case for his appointment,fast fluid football with width.Exciting English manager that we should be lucky to have.

Or is it cunningly disguised as hoofball.

 

He should be done under trades discription.

 

You really don't have a clue at all do you?

 

Saints are playing winning football and for the best part we do try to get it down and play but equally we can mix it up and go more direct when necessary (usually on **** pitches away from home). Its to NA's credit that he can get the team to play different styles and still win games. It keeps the opposition off balance.

 

I don't think you will ever be pleased with performances as you really are an Adkins hater.

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Why dont you STFU ?

 

Even I think saint lard is wide of the mark on this one.

 

Thing is Alps, apart from the humourous inputs in the match thread, at least when you pick up on something to have a moan about you do actually go into some detail (not always well argued) but you do come up with Proposals from time to time.

 

Saint Lard though just comes across as a very sad person because not once in the waves of negativity on this or any other subject do we see any actual Proposals.

 

So Stl - what do you PROPOSE we do?

You want us to sack Adkins? Who are you going to get in?

Was that before Saturday's game?

 

Or do you propose we go and buy 10 new players? conveniently forgetting the window is shut .

 

Obviously living in Gosport is grim, we know that most of us have had the misfortune to go there once or twice, and being a single parent is very tough, but hey, leave the manic depression in the TV room please

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If pitches are terrible (which by all accounts they seem to be for away games - not seen any games myself though) then it is impossible to play a free flowing, passing game. How anyone can argue that 33 points out of 45 is not good enough is beyond me.

 

Adkins has not had as much money as his predecessor (Pardew) and inherited a low morale, losing team. Now we are a wining side, albeit by the sounds of it somewhat inconsistent, that is scoring, on average, over 2 goals per game and conceding relatively few.

 

Can''t understand the constant grumbling myself.

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Not jaw-droppingly amazing..Really?? That equates to over 100 points in a season form

 

About 100 points should have been our target at the start of the season.

 

We have the best - and certainly most expensive - squad by far.

 

Finding one chunk of the season where we're averaging a bit over 2 points is good, but not amazing.

 

Over the last three games, we've won 9 points. That "equates" to 138 points in a season...

 

But over the whole season so far, we've been whipped by Brighton FFS.

 

I'll settle for 2nd and think we'll get it, but that won't be an amazing achievement, it'll be a little bit below expectations to be honest.

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If pitches are terrible (which by all accounts they seem to be for away games - not seen any games myself though) then it is impossible to play a free flowing, passing game. How anyone can argue that 33 points out of 45 is not good enough is beyond me.

 

Adkins has not had as much money as his predecessor (Pardew) and inherited a low morale, losing team. Now we are a wining side, albeit by the sounds of it somewhat inconsistent, that is scoring, on average, over 2 goals per game and conceding relatively few.

 

Can''t understand the constant grumbling myself.

 

I think the problem on this forum is that attitudes seem to polarise into those who seem to think things are really grim and those who think they are really great.

 

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

 

I'd say our performance this season is mildly disappointing, but I can understand the argument that it's been just about satisfactory.

 

Things have picked up after (another) dismal start, but we've never really hit a totally blistering run of form (apart from a short run over Xmas/New Year).

 

I'd also say in recent matches, we've been a tad lucky - i.e. our results have been better than our performances. Walsall is the exception that proves this rule.

 

I'm not a wrist slitter, just remain a bit underwhelmed by our season so far. I'm very confident we will be promoted, but was hoping we'd achieve it with comfort.

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About 100 points should have been our target at the start of the season.

 

We have the best - and certainly most expensive - squad by far.

 

Finding one chunk of the season where we're averaging a bit over 2 points is good, but not amazing.

 

Over the last three games, we've won 9 points. That "equates" to 138 points in a season...

 

But over the whole season so far, we've been whipped by Brighton FFS.

 

I'll settle for 2nd and think we'll get it, but that won't be an amazing achievement, it'll be a little bit below expectations to be honest.

 

But it will be a very good one should NA achieve it given the start he was left with by the previous management team.

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Given the difference in points accrued per games in the above table, it would seem some of the harsher critics of StLard may be just that, overly harsh.

 

I don't necessarily subscribe to his views, but let's not get carried away because his views are not our own. Some on here take great delinght in ridiculing others and frankly it's not a good thing for the overall enjoyment of a particular thread. Just of course a different point of view.

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But it will be a very good one should NA achieve it given the start he was left with by the previous management team.

 

I think it would be a pretty reasonable achievement - not a very good one.

 

To my mind, we underperformed appallingly this season pre-Adkins but have also probably underperformed just a tad since his arrival as well.

 

For me, the low points have been losing at home to Plymouth, Brentford and Rochdale. That should have been 9 points (or maybe 7), rather than zero.

 

I hate losing any game, but accept that you can't have anything like a 100% record away from home. Over the course of a season, losing to the odd Tranmere or Walsall - or getting pegged back by an excellent Peterborough side - will happen.

 

Actually, our away form is about the best in the division. But our home form only is only 6th (on a points per game basis).

 

If we don't go up, it will probably be because we didn't win a home league game until October (we also got whacked 0-3 by Swindon at SMS in the JPT early on, of course)

 

So, Nigel Adkins definitely started with a handicap - but it's one I hoped and expected him to overcome more easily.

 

I'm still confident of 2nd. And I'd probably make us favourites if we have to settle for the play-offs - although one bad bounce can stuff you in the play-off lottery, of course.

 

Promotion will be mission accomplished. But it all could and should have been so much easier...

 

One Faustian pact that keeps running through my mind is whether I'd prefer to seal 2nd or have a guarantee of winning the play-offs. Obviously the latter. But what about 2nd or a 90% chance of winning the play-offs? Or 80% or so on?

 

Having said all that, we'll now probably win 12 games in a row and win the title with 97 points....(I don't wholly rule this out, btw)

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Obviously living in Gosport is grim, we know that most of us have had the misfortune to go there once or twice, and being a single parent is very tough, but hey, leave the manic depression in the TV room please

 

OI **** you. Gosport is quality!

 

It diks on Dubai anyway ;)

 

The long and short of this argument is, we are playing EFFECTIVE football. Pardew had us playing sublimely at times and I do think people are a bit too quick to ignore how good we were last season, but I honestly think Adkins' style is more likely to get us promoted. We are very hard to beat.

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So i'm not the only one that thinks we are underachieving.....

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?28847-Playoff-place-secured

 

Couple of comments regarding the playoffs and that 'we would'nt stand a chance' and it 'would be a lottery'.......my point exactly, we are poor in comparison to others,,we should really fear no one with this squad...but unfortunately it is not being utilised correctly.

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So i'm not the only one that thinks we are underachieving.....

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?28847-Playoff-place-secured

 

Couple of comments regarding the playoffs and that 'we would'nt stand a chance' and it 'would be a lottery'.......my point exactly, we are poor in comparison to others,,we should really fear no one with this squad...but unfortunately it is not being utilised correctly.

 

how are we poor when we are 2 points from 2nd with a couple of games in hand..?

you are poor

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how are we poor when we are 2 points from 2nd with a couple of games in hand..?

you are poor

 

put me on ignore then.

 

Can't deny some of the comments,are they poor too?

Strange considering one of your remarks on that thread.

You are obviously lacking some confidence in this expensively formed squad also it seems.

 

We play pretty ****e football for what we have at our disposal.

As i say,use the ignore button.

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I think that whilst playing poorly, I am happy to accept the recent results and will happily accept poor performances if it means we grind out results (but longer term would like us to find an attractive style of play, the sooner the better!) The problem for me comes with games like Walsall where we play poorly and lose against a relegation contender (unacceptable.) I am beginning to have more hope for us of late though thanks to that excellent Bournemouth victory away from home (which has been our weakness this year. Consistency has been our downfall so far so it would be brilliant to go on a long unbeaten run now.

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put me on ignore then.

 

Can't deny some of the comments,are they poor too?

Strange considering one of your remarks on that thread.

You are obviously lacking some confidence in this expensively formed squad also it seems.

 

We play pretty ****e football for what we have at our disposal.

As i say,use the ignore button.

 

we are division 3...most of the football is utter ****e

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Some people are such moaners attractive football is just a bonus, i couldnt honestly give two hoots wether we hoof it up field and the ball dribbles over the line as long as we are winning games and scoring goals then i am happy! This league isnt about attractive football. Its more important that we get out of this league and back in the championship where we belong. Looking at a three nil win etc on paper and saying your not happy cos it wasnt "attractive" is pathetic, is there no pleasing some fans?

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we are division 3...most of the football is utter ****e

Ahh,so that's alright then.Do we just carry that logic into the CCC,not hoping to be better than the other ****e football played.

And by all accounts we have the best squad in this division,no?

And a squad that cost shed loads for this league.

 

Both individually and collectively,couple that with supposedly the great Adkins we are nothing more than...Meh.

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Ahh,so that's alright then.Do we just carry that logic into the CCC,not hoping to be better than the other ****e football played.

And by all accounts we have the best squad in this division,no?

And a squad that cost shed loads for this league.

 

Both individually and collectively,couple that with supposedly the great Adkins we are nothing more than...Meh.

yes..we do carry it on..the real quality games in this league over a season could probably be counted on one hand...the standard..no matter what is fed to us in the media/official sites is plain ****e.....

 

like it or not..we are one of the best division 3 sides....sorry to tell you this

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I think that whilst playing poorly, I am happy to accept the recent results and will happily accept poor performances if it means we grind out results (but longer term would like us to find an attractive style of play, the sooner the better!) The problem for me comes with games like Walsall where we play poorly and lose against a relegation contender (unacceptable.) I am beginning to have more hope for us of late though thanks to that excellent Bournemouth victory away from home (which has been our weakness this year. Consistency has been our downfall so far so it would be brilliant to go on a long unbeaten run now.

 

Sorry but read the original post, since dec 28th we have been consistently good.

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yes..we do carry it on..the real quality games in this league over a season could probably be counted on one hand...the standard..no matter what is fed to us in the media/official sites is plain ****e.....

 

like it or not..we are one of the best division 3 sides....sorry to tell you this

 

Should that be some kind of revelation?,hell no, we should be one of the better sides,yet amazingly we have to be looking over our shoulder at what the likes of peterborough do.And on there budget and resources too.

And before you say it,we have to win the games in hand.

We will never agree,i say we are not playing to our full potential and you are happy as it is...****e football for a ****e league.

Maybe my aspirations for this playing squad is way to high,perhaps it would have been better to have kept some of the cash spent in the coffers.

Maybe then we could be overachieving with the likes of Brighton,Bournemouth,Peterborough.

Blimey i have missed it all along.....Adkins needs a side with no expectations,resources(the best in this league) to get the best out of them,a'la Scunny.

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One thing i noticed about Adkins in his pre match interview on the pitch was how genuinely excited he seemed. I think he enjoys the pressures of the big matches and the business end of the season.

 

His post match interview was a bit more subdued and got the feeling he wasn't overly impressed with the performance, but acknowledged the fact the players responded to him at half time.

 

He's growing on me

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From Um Pahars on another thread......

 

"Would have to agree that a number of players seem to be playing somewhat below their capabilities, but on the plus side once they all start to click and fulfill their potential then hopefully we will go on a decent run until the end of the season finishing a comfortable second. Hopefully recent results will give us a big confidence boost and we can push on from here. But I do think that collectively and individually we have to up our game.

 

Nothing wrong with suggesting we playing under par at the moment and to say we have ground out a few results is a fair observation (and also perhaps the sign of a successful team)."

 

Succinctly put,although i would not completely concur with the 'sign of a good team'...more a manager not getting the best out of one.

 

Apologies to Um Pahars for the plagerism,but thought it summed up my thoughts reasonably well.

 

Will he get pelters.........

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I just meant that it raised expectations greatly, they mightve been better off keeping schtum and perhaps then some fans wouldn't expect the team to be playing the arsenal way.

 

More to the point just ask anyone from other clubs about the football we play and they'll tell you they wish they played like it. We do actually play decent ball to feet football most of the time. But this is League One and sometimes you have to admit that on a cr3p and often small pitch you have be prepared to change your game and stick it in the mixer. Actually under NA we haven't always done this. We did it brilliantly at the Daggers and Exeter but at Hartlepool we insisted on trying to playing it on the ground through them and it nearly came unstuck against their very very direct style. We were also a bit late in switching at Walsall and we went down. Overall though much happier that under NA we can get the way points which we couldn't always manage in the run in last year.

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QPR became rich earlier than us, much richer than other teams in their division - they are not gaining points at as high rate as Adkins.

 

Man City became rich earlier than us, much richer than teams in their division - they are not gaining points at as high a rate as Adkins.

 

This theory of as we put some money into the team (albeit didn't have much of team to start with) so we should be averaging 3 points a game shows a lack of understanding of football and is more from fantasy football games imho.

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Should that be some kind of revelation?,hell no, we should be one of the better sides,yet amazingly we have to be looking over our shoulder at what the likes of peterborough do.And on there budget and resources too.

And before you say it,we have to win the games in hand.

We will never agree,i say we are not playing to our full potential and you are happy as it is...****e football for a ****e league.

Maybe my aspirations for this playing squad is way to high,perhaps it would have been better to have kept some of the cash spent in the coffers.

Maybe then we could be overachieving with the likes of Brighton,Bournemouth,Peterborough.

Blimey i have missed it all along.....Adkins needs a side with no expectations,resources(the best in this league) to get the best out of them,a'la Scunny.

that comments shows you have no idea what you are on about...

quite a few posh players are better than ours

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Jesus Christ guys...70% of the season has gone and we're fourth...FOURTH....in the third division and arguing about whether our style of football should be prose or poetry.

 

If we were fifteen points clear and experimenting with different formations, fair enough.

 

We ain't.

 

So, at the moment, I favour any system of play that gets us promoted.

 

IMHO, that isn't "hoof it up to Rickie", but neither is it attempting back heels in your own penalty area (ask Cesc Fabregas).

 

Basic strategy should be to release the ball down the flanks (to Chamberlain and Lallana, our two most dangerous players), try to beat one man (or draw a free kick) and then cross it in for Barnard or Lambert.

 

Anything else is a bit of a luxury at this point....

 

Plan A will still probably get us promoted.

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Jesus Christ guys...70% of the season has gone and we're fourth...FOURTH....in the third division and arguing about whether our style of football should be prose or poetry.

 

If we were fifteen points clear and experimenting with different formations, fair enough.

 

We ain't.

 

So, at the moment, I favour any system of play that gets us promoted.

 

IMHO, that isn't "hoof it up to Rickie", but neither is it attempting back heels in your own penalty area (ask Cesc Fabregas).

 

Basic strategy should be to release the ball down the flanks (to Chamberlain and Lallana, our two most dangerous players), try to beat one man (or draw a free kick) and then cross it in for Barnard or Lambert.

 

Anything else is a bit of a luxury at this point....

 

Plan A will still probably get us promoted.

 

well said!

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We do to other 3rd division outfits what Man Utd did to us in the FA Cup a few weeks ago - play only moderately well for long periods - give the opposition a chance - but ultimately beat them with that little bit of extra class we possess. Even yesterday despite a convincing final scoreline you couldn't really claim in all honesty we were the better team in the 1st half could you ? And that inconsistency is (as I see it) the story of our season.

 

We are a good team that fully deserves its top 6 place, but one that remains rather less than the sum of its parts.

 

Well put... for me we were starting to combine bioth the results and style in performance before the lallana injury and crap in the paers about Oxo... and have struggled to regain that form since - possibly also Guly seemed to go off form a bit after we signed him full time... given where we are in teh season though, I'll take points over style right now as funnily enough in calculating the legaue table we only get points for winning games not for style ;-)

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