Gemmel Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Christ, they weren't that leggy, stop p1ssing your pants. It was a hot day and Millwall, credit to them, gave us a really, really hard workout. We'll be fine. Actually for the first time in a long time, I thought the oppositions superior fitness showed. Don't get me wrong, the football we played in the week and for some parts of the game yesterday, really does take it out of you. High tempo, pass and move football, eats away the fitness levels, pretty quick. As you say we will be fine, but we will need to find a balance and that's just a part of working out this league. A two goal cushion, would have made a big difference. But they stuck to it and came out on top..... They are still learning and in the grand scheme of things, yesterdays game and result were almost the perfect scenarios (And we all slagged off mike70's) Adkins will be very pleased and at the same time, still have things to work on. Happy, Happy days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Actually for the first time in a long time, I thought the oppositions superior fitness showed. Don't get me wrong, the football we played in the week and for some parts of the game yesterday, really does take it out of you. High tempo, pass and move football, eats away the fitness levels, pretty quick. As you say we will be fine, but we will need to find a balance and that's just a part of working out this league. A two goal cushion, would have made a big difference. But they stuck to it and came out on top..... They are still learning and in the grand scheme of things, yesterdays game and result were almost the perfect scenarios (And we all slagged off mike70's) Adkins will be very pleased and at the same time, still have things to work on. Happy, Happy days In hindsight, you're right - I have to say, it's finding the balance. With the way we start games at the moment I'd imagine that the 15, 20 minute flurry of intense pressure is quite sapping. I'm also confident NA will adjust tactics accordingly throughout the season, too - knowing that the opposition will be wanting to stifle and figure us out; I think he'll keep most clubs guessing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 In hindsight, you're right - I have to say, it's finding the balance. With the way we start games at the moment I'd imagine that the 15, 20 minute flurry of intense pressure is quite sapping. I'm also confident NA will adjust tactics accordingly throughout the season, too - knowing that the opposition will be wanting to stifle and figure us out; I think he'll keep most clubs guessing i think we suffered yesterday with the only 5 subs rule, i think yesterday with 7 Forte could have come on to protect Richardson, as Fox did Harding because imo our big weakness is when teams get down our flanks because Lallana and Guly are not good at going backwards which is going to be required in some games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmel Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 I'm also confident NA will adjust tactics accordingly throughout the season, I was a big fan of pardew and unimpressed with NA's appointment........ Week in and week out and keeps making me look stupid :) Long may it continue :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miltonaggro Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 I was a big fan of pardew and unimpressed with NA's appointment........ Week in and week out and keeps making me look stupid :) Long may it continue :) I was with you on that at the time, and would have loved Keegan. Adkins has both the insanity and ability to become the Latter Day Brian Clough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanimal Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Been thinking, the diversionary nature of the Wall assault on the plastic seats and netting after Guly netted prevented the Northam breaking out into the 'South Coast Brazil' song, which would have been a nice homage to a class finish. Still cant believe they were selling tickets on the day to Wall who were clearly out of their skulls - I though they only sold to theirs at the Den and on a database? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopkins Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 No idea if it has been mentioned but did anyone spot Harding retching for the majority of the second half? Looked like he was about to puke up for most of it and they had some guy feeding him water and reporting back to the dug out. Bit strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 That, my friends was a close call, far too close for comfort. I'm not sure we deserved to win but we did. Just hope the lads can recover in time for Saturday as we'll need to be at our best to even get a sniff at that lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up and away Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 dont agree at all..this is just a fuking hard league...we will get beat at home as will every single other team in this league will......just got to get lucky at times and take your chances.......we will probably lose at leicester as we will probably lose at home to some crap team....just the way it is in the NPC You could well be right and the answer may lie elsewhere or somewhere in between, hindsight will all give us the edge on that one. You have acknowledged the major obstacle in getting out of this league, because it is so ...... hard. It's then a question of opinion as to how you get out of this league, play sublime football in bursts until stamina reverses results or a more cautious approach. If you go back to last season and consider the two approaches of Brighton and Saints you have the perfect example. Saints undoubtedly had the better players, but Brighton the better team. No one is going to convince me that Brighton were not the far better option in the long run because they factored in the ......... hard league. The Leicester result will not be the definitive answer, but if our performance were to be compromised by fitness and stamina, then the question is really valid. The Millwall game has shown that we cannot impose our brand of football without certain energy levels in key players. In the past playing at such stamina levels has induced injuries to key players such as Lallana, which then has a snowballing effect for the period he is absent. This is just speculation at the present because if we have no fitness / stamina issues against Leicester, then it never becomes valid. I feel that if we had a strong, quick striker that could take on defenders on their own, stopping their back four from pushing up, we could employ a 451 which could easily give us the option of seeing out games with minimal energy expenditure. We don't have that option and as yet I am not even sure we need it. But when players are getting to half time with nothing left in the tank, it's something we have clearly witnessed previously and gone on to cost us. Trying to play at the same standard without the energy levels will always lead to far greater injuries. I would like to have that alternative of playing the lone, quick striker, even if it is never required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 We performed well on the back of two long away trips in the space of a week. If we looked knackered, then for me, the effort put into Barnsley & Ipswich away showed a little. Without a midweek game, we'll be more "96 minutes" against Leicester next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 No idea if it has been mentioned but did anyone spot Harding retching for the majority of the second half? Looked like he was about to puke up for most of it and they had some guy feeding him water and reporting back to the dug out. Bit strange. Yes, what was all that about? The guy with the bottle was on the wireless intercom a couple of times. There were plenty of other bottles alog the touchline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Not sure if I've missed any mention of it on here (can't see anything), but anyone know what was up with Lallana? Definitely didn't look his usual self yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Not sure if I've missed any mention of it on here (can't see anything), but anyone know what was up with Lallana? Definitely didn't look his usual self yesterday. Just fatigue according to Adkins, i'm sure he will be fit and firing at Leicester next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Not sure if I've missed any mention of it on here (can't see anything), but anyone know what was up with Lallana? Definitely didn't look his usual self yesterday. I think he was just totally and utterly knackered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 21 August, 2011 Share Posted 21 August, 2011 Cheers. Guessed it might have been that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West End Saint Posted 22 August, 2011 Share Posted 22 August, 2011 Very pleased with the win nice to see we can grind a result out when required Saints of old would have cracked under the pressure but we defended well great football for the goal. The run continues records keep getting broken I am loving being a Saint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWD Posted 22 August, 2011 Share Posted 22 August, 2011 I thought we looked tired, but we were still obviously the better side imo. Not many teams play at the intensitiy that we did against Barnsley and Ipswich. Some Millwall fans on the train afterward were saying that they were lucky it was only 1-0 coz we were all over them all game - so don't panic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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