Saints V Millwall 1- 0 Post match chat!

[smithy]

Seaborne is a bit of a hoofer, had some composed moments but generally panicked. Good defender and there is a footballer in there somewhere, he just needs to keep his head.

[SNSUN]

That was actually a really useful win ahead of Leicester, Forest & Birmingham.... nothing to lose now in these games and they will all be very, very scared!!!

 

With the form we've been displaying, we could very well get all 9 points from those games, but I'd be satisfied with 4 or 5 points. 7 is very achievable, Leicester haven't started as strongly as people were thinking they would, Nottingham Forest are a shadow of the team they have been but are still going to be tough to beat, and Birmingham, like Leicester are presently underachieving, even with just 4 games on the board. Burnley and Cardiff after that won't be a walk in the park either, we're definitely entering the tricky bit, but with a foundation of 12 points, we can do it without too much pressure.

 

I've been working and getting the Twitter updates - if anything it was probably the best way to go, after hearing about all the pressure we were under. Still a win's a win, and the run goes on. Leicester away - I'd have had a loss down in the prediction league, but we've shown today we can win ugly, and so I'm plumping for a draw.

[Give it to Ron]

Great battling display and jut what we needed for me as I now know we can really compete with the teams in this division.

Millwall are a tough, physical side and have a very good manager.

Cork was outstanding but MOTM for me was Seaborne and I am not his biggest fan.

Fonte was a bit dodgy today for me.

Lambert held the ball up well at times and his flicks and headers were decent.

Adkins substitutions were spot on for me.

[Colinjb]

 

Seemed like we were being a bit too clever and tippy-tappy without any resolve to go forward at times.

 

Completely agree.

 

I would suggest that Adkins' problem is balancing our delicate football with the direct impact that is sometimes required against certain sides. We really missed a big old lump at the back today. I miss Jaidi.... well the younger Jaidi.

[Roger]

Great battling display and jut what we needed for me as I now know we can really compete with the teams in this division.

Millwall are a tough, physical side and have a very good manager.

Cork was outstanding but MOTM for me was Seaborne and I am not his biggest fan.

Fonte was a bit dodgy today for me.

Lambert held the ball up well at times and his flicks and headers were decent.

Adkins substitutions were spot on for me.

 

seaborne wasn't man if match lambert was. If jaidi was playing they wouldn't have had as much joy with long ball IMO

[ericofarabia]

God, I dread to think what that Ipswich fan is going to say to his webcam this time. LOL.

 

I think somebody should warn The Samaritans and send somebody down to his gaff sharpish !!

Edited 20 August, 2011 by ericofarabia

[martel]

With the form we've been displaying, we could very well get all 9 points from those games, but I'd be satisfied with 4 or 5 points. 7 is very achievable, Leicester haven't started as strongly as people were thinking they would, Nottingham Forest are a shadow of the team they have been but are still going to be tough to beat, and Birmingham, like Leicester are presently underachieving, even with just 4 games on the board. Burnley and Cardiff after that won't be a walk in the park either, we're definitely entering the tricky bit, but with a foundation of 12 points, we can do it without too much pressure.

 

I've been working and getting the Twitter updates - if anything it was probably the best way to go, after hearing about all the pressure we were under. Still a win's a win, and the run goes on. Leicester away - I'd have had a loss down in the prediction league, but we've shown today we can win ugly, and so I'm plumping for a draw.

 

I agree with all of that, I think Leicesters problem is too many players brought in at once, far better to evolve than change things that radically, that said, if they do not pick up soon Sven will be gone and the new manager will pick up results, they have to be a real force by mid season as they start to gel; but I have been wrong before I hasten to add.

[Give it to Ron]

seaborne wasn't man if match lambert was. If jaidi was playing they wouldn't have had as much joy with long ball IMO

 

Can you type that in English??? What joy with the long ball?

Seaborne won nearly every header. Jaidi is injured not much chance of him winning a header at the moment!

Not a scoobie what you are on about with Lambert.

[ericofarabia]

I've been working and getting the Twitter updates - if anything it was probably the best way to go, after hearing about all the pressure we were under. Still a win's a win, and the run goes on. Leicester away - I'd have had a loss down in the prediction league, but we've shown today we can win ugly, and so I'm plumping for a draw.

 

There is no way in a million years I'd have predicted 4 straight wins when the fixture list was published, but now I get a semi on just looking at the league table. I like the term plumping though

[Jackie@home]

Could have done with Jaidi today. Still, in days gone by we would have cracked under that pressure, but we're really made of sterner stuff nowadays. All these wins in a row! Incredible - that's even without Lallana firing on all cylinders. It was really hot out their today and this league is unrelenting. Just showed how fit Harding is when he made a great run into the box right at the end of the match.

[Guan 2.0]

lol....paul jewell will be out of a job very soon

4-1 to the posh before HT and down to 10 men

:lol:

 

But what barrrrrrrrrgaaaaainnnnns are to be had in poundland?

[sammysaint]

Great result today for Saints, if i didnt have a game i would of been ther, so glad were doing so well PROUD SAINT here..

 

Hope everyone that went had a good day and got back safe if the rumours of kicking off afterwards was true.

[Thedelldays]

posh 7 - 1 ipswich (and tractors down to 9 men)

 

 

lol

 

also, the ipswich keeper has made some good saves lol

[oracle saint]

A very competitive game. Stand-out players for me were Davis, Guly and Lambert. Davis took charge of the 6-yard box and made a couple of great saves. Lambert was a great outlet; controlled the ball well and passed intelligently. Guly was terrific although I wasn't entirely certain what position he was playing for large portions of the game. He took his goal well though the fact that he was on the left inside forward position was symptomatic of his peripetetic positioning. On several occasions he and Lambert seemed to swap positions - maybe NA should try this formation as it struck me as pretty effective. Saints were particularly good in the first half; played a high tempo game and were very competitive in the midfield; the defence was not unduly exercised. This very much changed in the second half mainly, I think, because we passed the ball less well and often played it to Millwall or a man under pressure. I was surprised by Hammond's substitution and we seemed less effective as a result. I was less surprised by Adam's substitution; he had been fairly subdued and didn't seem to be providing much attacking threat. I enjoyed the de Ridder cameo and thought Saints retained possession intelligently towards the end.

Defence - I thought the centre backs coped pretty well and demonstrated they could cope with a pretty robust direct attack; Richardson provided a few nervous moments but Harding was fairly solid. All in all a pretty good Saints performance.

This may be a somewhat provocative view but I thought the ref. put in a good performance; he was pretty even-handed but allowed a fair amount of physicality which I quite enjoyed. I also appreciated the fact that the players themselves played fairly; refreshing to see a player on the wrong end of a physical challenge just pick himself up and get on with the game.

The bubble will inevitably burst at some stage but I think credit to NA - I think he's managed something very special in moulding such an effective team; I suspect on the evidence thus far we'll be top 6 after another 42 games.

[saintscottofthenortham]

posh 7 - 1 ipswich (and tractors down to 9 men)

 

 

lol

 

also, the ipswich keeper has made some good saves lol

 

Deary me.

[Chez]

tough old game not helped by Millwall lumping it up to Henderson all day and the heat sapping our strength towards the end. Guly especially suffered from 70 minutes onwards offering almost no support or movement to Lambert, which meant we had no one to collect lambert's knock downs. That said we played very well in the first half and deserved our lead. We rode our luck a little in the second but gave our all and got the 3 points. I thought the substitutions didn't work. I didn't think Hammond was having a bad game (was he injured) and we didn't control things in the second half as they bypassed midfield. De Ridder did well when he came on and worked hard, but he didn't ever beat his man or get a cross in. He doesn't have genuine pace and hasn't shown the confidence to try and beat a man using his tricks. He did get to the byeline though which is great to see. We didn't come and collect the ball short from Davis in the second half. Not sure why. We ended up going long, which isn't us.

 

Davis 7 couple of point blank saves, two decent catches. Kicking good. Thought he should have come to the edge of his area twice to collect to help Richardson

Richardson 6 Given a real tough time by Boazzam who skinned him all ends up twice. He fought hard and did well with the angled ball. Showed good composure a few times. Distribution (often criticised) was pretty good.

Fonte 7 Tough battle with Henderson. Fought well. Dived in several times giving free kicks away in very dangerous areas. One of those occasions was because he was outpaced. It's his weakness (diving in) and it could cost us this season.

Seaborne 9 Outstanding. Won everything in the air and tight on the deck. Hoofed once and the fans got on his back, but it wasn't the worst choice. Thirty seconds later in a similar position Morgan got it down and put us in trouble and the fans moaned again. You can't win sometimes. I thought this was Dan's best game in a Saints shirt, maybe the Exeter game apart - but much tougher opponents here. Anyone that doubts his ability on the ball should look at the pinged ball over their leftback to put Fox in. Quality ball.

Harding 6 Never beaten. Didn't get forward, didn't notice him much. Looked uncomfortable to the angled ball (he always does) but that was only the once.

Lallana 5 didn't do anything and was subbed. Felt that ended our ambition to score a second as he has that ability to keep the ball and create

Hammond 7 I thought he was playing pretty well. Usual hussle and bussle supporting Cork well.

Cork 9 Another strong game. Brilliant in the first half and worked ever so hard in the second

Guly 7 Very good first half, kept the ball well and passed and moved. Took his goal brilliantly. When he goes through like that there is never any doubt that he will score. He is brilliant at it. When moved up front he was poor. He was a statue. He looked knackered and offered nothing which hurt us.

Lambert 9 Won a lot in the air and his knock downs were excellent. The ball stuck to him like glue. He worked very hard. Needed help towards the end.

Connelly 7 Not bad, worked hard. Hard to know what to say. Neat and tidy, but his lack of pace is sometimes a hindrance. He drops short as does Lambert when at times we need someone working the channels a bit more. Looked gutted at being taken off...again.

 

Morgan 6 started brightly but the game passed him by due to the number of long balls from their defenders straight to Henderson. Kept the ball as always. Felt he was just a little deep at times.

de ridder 7 worked hard and gave us an out ball. I am ever so slightly concerned that he doesn't have the pace to make the most of his dribbles. He also doesn't seem to have the confidence yet to really look to beat the fullback. All his crosses were easily cut out and he simply just ran to the byeline without really doing the fullback. Plenty of time for him to shine. Good brought start to his career here.

Fox 5 tied an end up. Nothing more. Maybe that was what he was asked to do, but I thought he needed to do a little more to make him self available, but we didn't pass to him enough. Looks a left back to me. On this 30 minutes I'd rather play Dickson at left midfield. Looked strong and with just enough pace. Hard to know if he will oust Harding soon.

[Saints foreva]

It was very embarrassing to hear "I'm forever blowing bubbles" sung today.

[SaintBobby]

Satisfied with that. We never truly clicked and had to soak up a lot of pressure in the 2nd half.

 

But, fought hard for the win.

 

Sometimes dropped too deep and invited Millwall on to us.

 

Lallana was very average and I think we can only play really well when he is.

 

6.5/10 overall.

 

Jack Cork MOTM with honourable mention for Seaborne.

[70's Mike]

great result

[rick1976.4.38]

not half as cringe worthy as when we sing it at theirs

[CitySaint]

Guly, Seaborn and in the majority Cork were the stand out players. Very nervy, but Millwall were very 'football league'. Hoof it to Henderson and feed off the scraps. 12 from 12 though.

[Roger]

Can you type that in English??? What joy with the long ball?

Seaborne won nearly every header. Jaidi is injured not much chance of him winning a header at the moment!

Not a scoobie what you are on about with Lambert.

 

Specksavers!

[shurlock]

Guly was my MOTM. Seaborne and Lambert also had good games.

[thefunkygibbons]

all good

[monosaint]

Millwall clearly came with a game plan to stop us playing and then trying to catch us on the break. I would not have begrudged them a draw as they worked hard and I think shaded the second half. Having said that I think our full-backs played well and I would give Richardson my MOM. He had to work hard against a speedy winger and handled him pretty well. Not all teams are like Millwall som let's not assume that all teams will adopt that tactic at St. Marys. Some will believe that they can outplay us and that willo help us I think..

[Saint Without a Halo]

Almost 10% of the season over and we are well ahead of the reqired 2 points a game. Last season we only ever hit the 2 points a game average in the very last match.

 

What a great start ! long may it continue

[Give it to Ron]

Specksavers!

 

Do you mean Specsavers??? I have a mate who is an optician if you need his number?

Seems you should read others posts on this thread that agree with me.

[Roger]

Do you mean Specsavers??? I have a mate who is an optician if you need his number?

Seems you should read others posts on this thread that agree with me.

 

I did it on purpose knowing that you'd pick me up on it. I thought seaborne had a very good game mate, sorry.

[doddisalegend]

Hard game. Millwall were physical, it was hot and the passing game never really got going. We rode our luck at times but we won...which was the most important thing.

 

Kelvin was very good today a couple of good saves, Richardson was about as good as I've seen him in a saints shirt...

 

Morgan look good when he came on as did De Ridder.

 

Does anyone know why Dean was taken off? Injury or tactical?

[Give it to Ron]

Hard game. Millwall were physical, it was hot and the passing game never really got going. We rode our luck at times but we won...which was the most important thing.

 

Kelvin was very good today a couple of good saves, Richardson was about as good as I've seen him in a saints shirt...

 

Morgan look good when he came on as did De Ridder.

 

Does anyone know why Dean was taken off? Injury or tactical?

 

Nigel said in interview him and Adam had run themselves to a standstill.

[ericofarabia]

A very competitive game. Stand-out players for me were Davis, Guly and Lambert. Davis took charge of the 6-yard box and made a couple of great saves. Lambert was a great outlet; controlled the ball well and passed intelligently. Guly was terrific although I wasn't entirely certain what position he was playing for large portions of the game. He took his goal well though the fact that he was on the left inside forward position was symptomatic of his peripetetic positioning. .

 

Help .... WTF does this mean.

[ericofarabia]

I did it on purpose knowing that you'd pick me up on it. I thought seaborne had a very good game mate, sorry.

 

Good response with the small s but at least go the whole hog and spell Seaborne with the extra U for bonus points!!

[doddisalegend]

Nigel said in interview him and Adam had run themselves to a standstill.

 

Good I was a bit wooried he picked up an injury. I did think it was a brave call by Nigel to take off Adam we looked poorer without him, but in fairness Adam did look knackered.

[hutch]

... Guly was terrific although I wasn't entirely certain what position he was playing for large portions of the game ...

 

One of the main reasons we are where we are is because we can bring players of the quality of Schneiderlin, de Ridder & Fox off the bench.

 

2 games in a row we've ended up with both Harding & Fox on the pitch at the same time. I didn't see that coming.

[View From The Top]

Cork was excellent, really the missing link that we've been searching for, and Seabourne was also very good.

 

Two fantastic saves from KD.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

A good result but the moment we scored today all the 'fizz' just seemed to disappear from our beautiful 'champaign football' and we went very flat indeed. Excuses butter no parsnips of course but the August heat and a double hard Millwall midfield seemed throw us off our game completely. I wonder if our energetic style of fast, free flowing football is entirely compatible with a punishing 3 games a week fixture list ?

 

Nevertheless, our start to the season is the stuff dreams are made of ....

[doddisalegend]

A good result but the moment we scored today all the 'fizz' just seemed to disappear from our beautiful 'champaign football' and we went very flat indeed. Excuses butter no parsnips of course but the August heat and a double hard Millwall midfield seemed throw us off our game completely. I wonder if our energetic style of fast, free flowing football is entirely compatible with a punishing 3 games a week fixture list ?

 

Nevertheless, our start to the season is the stuff dreams are made of ....

 

yep - we still won but I felt like we were lucky today.

[Chez]

seaborne wasn't man if match lambert was. If jaidi was playing they wouldn't have had as much joy with long ball IMO

 

Jaidi certainly is the daddy in the air, but Seaborne was outstanding winning absolutely everything. What joy they had was against Fonte and when Henderson pulled out on to the shoulder of Richardson. I have criticised Dan for not being strong enough in the air, not dominating, not getting into the best position and making the striker push him out the way (foul), but he did all of that today. I couldn't fault him. One hoof all game if bloody good and if Jaidi had played he'd of hoofed the odd ball too.

[Chez]

yep - we still won but I felt like we were lucky today.

 

a little bit, but you need a bit of luck to win most games at this level. We worked damn hard and fought tooth and nail too. After the post Oldham fail last season I was worried we'd be flat but we were out of the blocks quickly and deserved our goal. Adkins made defensive subs and went for the 1-0 and got it. We'll have to start our total football again next week. See you there.

Edited 20 August, 2011 by Chez

[View From The Top]

yep - we still won but I felt like we were lucky today.

 

We rode our luck at times but it was good to see us weather a storm, look strong mentally and see it through.

[SamKimish]

Seaborne may have won everything in the air but for the majority of the second half (excluding the pass to Guly) he had a tendency to 'hoof' it aimlessly forward when caught with possession.

 

Cork was my MotM tbh as he was brilliant in the centre of the park and that through ball for Guly's goal would have split any defence in this league.

[up and away]

A good result but the moment we scored today all the 'fizz' just seemed to disappear from our beautiful 'champaign football' and we went very flat indeed. Excuses butter no parsnips of course but the August heat and a double hard Millwall midfield seemed throw us off our game completely. I wonder if our energetic style of fast, free flowing football is entirely compatible with a punishing 3 games a week fixture list ?

 

Nevertheless, our start to the season is the stuff dreams are made of ....

 

That is a real worry because when it happened last season it seemed to take a long time to recover. Luckily we now have time to build up our stamina with no mid weekers for a while. This will be a real test for the back room staff, but it would not surprise me if this carried over to Leicester.

[Saint Charlie]

Seaborne clipped a lovely ball to Harding in injury time where we won a free kick to pretty much seal it. Yes he clears the ball, but when he has time his left foot is pretty good IMO. Certainly far better on the ball than either Martin or Jaidi.

[oracle saint]

Help .... WTF does this mean.

 

Apologies; this should read "peripatetic"

thesaurus defines it as itinerant, nomadic, travelling, drifting, rootless, roving.

See what I'm getting at?

[beatlesaint]

I'm quite surprised not many people have praised Rickie today. I thought he was outstanding. He won everything in the air, his touch and his passing was brilliant he put in a hell of a lot of work with little reward/protection from the ref. Man of the Match for me by a country mile, Cork and Seabourne also worthy of a mention.

 

Very impressed by NA's substituitions today. Takes a lot of bottle to take off your skipper and the crowd favourite - both of whom were not having the best of games - and I think credit where credit is due to him for that. Had it backfired and we had lost I'm sure he would have been crucified on here tonight. So as well as the players, well played the manager too.

[LGTL]

Lambert motm today in my opinion.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I'm quite surprised not many people have praised Rickie today. I thought he was outstanding. He won everything in the air, his touch and his passing was brilliant he put in a hell of a lot of work with little reward/protection from the ref. Man of the Match for me by a country mile, Cork and Seabourne also worthy of a mention.

 

Very impressed by NA's substituitions today. Takes a lot of bottle to take off your skipper and the crowd favourite - both of whom were not having the best of games - and I think credit where credit is due to him for that. Had it backfired and we had lost I'm sure he would have been crucified on here tonight. So as well as the players, well played the manager too.

 

You're absolutly right, the referee gave Ricky Lambert no protection at all - given that is was Andy Bloody D'urso again this should come as no surprise to any of us.

 

A disgrace to his profession who should not be allowed anywhere near a professional football match in my view.

[View From The Top]

I'm quite surprised not many people have praised Rickie today. I thought he was outstanding. He won everything in the air, his touch and his passing was brilliant he put in a hell of a lot of work with little reward/protection from the ref. Man of the Match for me by a country mile, Cork and Seabourne also worthy of a mention.

 

Very impressed by NA's substituitions today. Takes a lot of bottle to take off your skipper and the crowd favourite - both of whom were not having the best of games - and I think credit where credit is due to him for that. Had it backfired and we had lost I'm sure he would have been crucified on here tonight. So as well as the players, well played the manager too.

 

Rickie was immense but Cork shaded it for me.

 

You're spot on about Adkins and the substitutions.

[SaintRobbie]

All I wanted was 1-0 and a clean sheet for Kelvin as a confidence booster.

 

 

 

 

he he he he he he he! Ace!

[Chez]

Seaborne may have won everything in the air but for the majority of the second half (excluding the pass to Guly) he had a tendency to 'hoof' it aimlessly forward when caught with possession.

 

you are seeing things. "Majority". ********. He hoofed it once when he perhaps had time to bring it down. Far too many people have made their minds up about him and don't judge him on the 90 minutes before them. If he plays like that every week he'll never be dropped.