Saints 0 Leicester 2 Post Match Chat

[sfc4prem]

I'm not for singling out players, but Cork was utter dross.

 

The players should take full responsibility for that performance.

[adrian lord]

My worst fears on reading the line up before kick off were realised. A scratch team. Result not a surprise, but still very painful.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Complete lack of passion and commitment from the players and complete lack of tactical nous from the manager. I hope no other games are televised cos tonight was even worse than against the Skates. Everyone concerned needs to get their act together and ensure that we can cope with pressure on us.

[hypochondriac]

My worst fears on reading the line up before kick off were realised. A scratch team. Result not a surprise, but still very painful.

 

Result wasn't the hard bit. The manner of the result was extremely concerning.

[trousers]

The worst that can happen now is that we finish mid-table. Which happens to be the position that *most* people reckoned we'd finish before the start of the season.

 

We obviously won't know for sure until the end of the season but it could well be that our unexpectedly exceptional first half of the season has simply given us all a false sense of perspective.

 

Before the season started I happened to have a hunch that we would do better than most predicted and forecast a top 2 finish. So, for me personally, a mid-table finish would be disappointing. But, for those who predicted a season of consolidation, which the majority did, then all that's called for here is a re-adjustment of perspective - resetting your expectations back to what they were in the first place.

 

That said, there's an outside chance I could be talking out of my hat.

 

:-)

[madruss]

Bad day at the office, file under Brentford, Rochdale, Ipswich as a hopeless 2-0 home defeat that we never looked like winning.

 

On the plus side, if we beat Cardiff next week we'll be 4 points clear in the auto promotion slot

[ThreeSixty]

Just got back. DREADFUL performance, trying not to be too negative, we have a lot of big players out but no one looked like they even wanted to win tonight.

 

Still, Booing the team off at half time was a joke, our fans are ******s

[S-Clarke]

The worst that can happen now is that we finish mid-table. Which happens to be the position that *most* people reckoned we'd finish before the start of the season.

 

We obviously won't know for sure until the end of the season but it could well be that our unexpectedly exceptional first half of the season has simply given us all a false sense of perspective.

 

Before the season started I happened to have a hunch that we would do better than most predicted and forecast a top 2 finish. So, for me personally, a mid-table finish would be disappointing. But, for those who predicted a season of consolidation, which the majority did, then all that's called for here is a re-adjustment of perspective.

 

That said, there's an outside chance I could be talking out of my hat.

 

:-)

 

You make some good points trousers. The squad IMO has over achieved and we lived on the momentum generated from last year, especially at home. Now we've become unstuck at home we've started to slide, that's all that's kept us at the top.

 

I'd be gutted to finish mid-table now though, it'll seem such a waste of a first half of the season and it's not the sort of feeling you want going into a new season. Because I think all the players would now see it as a failure if we didn't finish top 6.

 

I just feel we need to grab the massive opportunity we have, because we may never ever get to 50pts at this tage again - which is why I'd love to see us add to the squad. They need help.

[up and away]

Originally Posted by up and away

 

Nothing to be too disappointed about, we were not that bad but Leicester were very good. They took the midfield away from us and their forwards linked very well. We weren't 10/10 in midfield but as good as the the Forest game. Leicester gave us zero time on the ball that we trying to get rid of it rather than pass it on.

 

I think we may have been able to get away with that performance against Cardiff, but that was a very good, disciplined performance from Leicester.

Are you taking the ****? We were ******* crap tonight. If we played like that against any team, even Forest we would get beat.

 

Just take the emotions out of the viewing and we have always been the same. Our performances will drop off the side of a cliff if you get on top of our midfield as Leicester did. This is nothing new, something that has happened before. Forest never manned up against us last time out, Leicester did and did it very well, the best performance from a visiting team. I didn't see much difference from Saints against Forest, but I saw one hell of a difference from what Leicester did compared to Forest. I said so at the time against Forest and I really doubt there will be another midfield that will take us apart like Leicester did. Bearing in mind we were missing a lot of key players, you just have to suck it up and give credit to the opposition.

[Ashby Saint]

What did we learn tonight? What we have known for a while:-

1. If Lambert is out of the team we have not got a like-for-like replacement

2. Guly can have brilliant moments, but most of the time his first touch is poor

3. Chaplow's injury was the start of the downturn in our form

4. Lee Holmes is not good enough - had a chance to shine tonight and fluffed a clear goal-scoring chance

5. If the opposition close us down quickly high up the pitch, we can't get a passing game going and build pressure

6. Lambert, Lallana and Fonte are our key players

7. We need re-inforcements in this transfer window

 

8. We must close down wide players more quickly. Too much time to cross and it's wreaking havoc in the box.

[hypochondriac]

This is 100% spot on. We have had a great season so far, and do not think we did much wrong in the summer, but in this window it was clear we needed to act fast. Today like the Reading away game Leicester got at us, and in our face, and we could not settle.

 

On the back of this I still think we will sign a couple more players, but maybe not the main ones we were after, but just how much over the odds do we pay for the maynards, hoopers, and Sharp of this world. Do we gamble and break the bank, when it might not pay off. We also do not want to buy for the sake of buying if they are not up to the tankard we already have.

 

If we don't want to take a small gamble then we need to explore other avenues. Fannying about making joke bids for Hooper and Rhodes has done us no good at all and delayed getting players in that can actually give us strength in depth. I do question the effectiveness of our transfer policy. The reason we were so desperate for reinforcements in this window is because we didn't have the foresight to get in some strength in depth in the summer or even a loan or two subsequent to that.

[Rasiak-9-]

Hooiveld and Fox can hold their heads up high after that performance - as bad as things got and even though no-one really played well neither of them gave up when everything was going against us. Fair play.

 

I personally think that the two players who funnily enough get too little praise when we play well and get too little criticism when we play badly are Cork and Schneiderlin. They need to prove they can be a midfield pair at the highest level of this division.

[Saint]

I am an optimistic Saints fan, and always will be. But that was the worst performance I've seen since the Liebherr take over, at least at home. I don't want to take anything away from Leicester because they completely deserved to win tonight. We didn't even deserve a point.

 

There was no leadership at all. We desperately missed Lallana's creativity and Chaplow's energy. Leicester had us sussed and didn't let us play. I believe we had only 38% possession at one point. Awful.

 

I've seen us lose loads of times, but I've never come away feeling shocked. It was truly truly poor. Not a single positive to take from tonight. Let's hope we can stay second after next Tuesday.

[MOSaint]

The worst that can happen now is that we finish mid-table. Which happens to be the position that *most* people reckoned we'd finish before the start of the season.

 

We obviously won't know for sure until the end of the season but it could well be that our unexpectedly exceptional first half of the season has simply given us all a false sense of perspective.

 

Before the season started I happened to have a hunch that we would do better than most predicted and forecast a top 2 finish. So, for me personally, a mid-table finish would be disappointing. But, for those who predicted a season of consolidation, which the majority did, then all that's called for here is a re-adjustment of perspective - resetting your expectations back to what they were in the first place.

 

That said, there's an outside chance I could be talking out of my hat.

 

:-)

 

Anybody who would be satisfied with mid table, considering we're 2nd with 19 games to go is out of their minds.

 

Would be utter failure and don't think NA would keep his job if it were to happen. NC doesn't strike me as a patient man.

[trousers]

@joshooiveld20: Well.. What to say to this? I think NOTHING! Every word is one too much abt this game. Terrible performance from us! Hate the way we lost.

[hypochondriac]

I am an optimistic Saints fan, and always will be. But that was the worst performance I've seen since the Liebherr take over, at least at home. I don't want to take anything away from Leicester because they completely deserved to win tonight. We didn't even deserve a point.

 

There was no leadership at all. We desperately missed Lallana's creativity and Chaplow's energy. Leicester had us sussed and didn't let us play. I believe we had only 38% possession at one point. Awful.

 

I've seen us lose loads of times, but I've never come away feeling shocked. It was truly truly poor. Not a single positive to take from tonight. Let's hope we can stay second after next Tuesday.

 

I said that. Normally I try to look for positives but there simply wasn't one today. A truly dire performance.

[S-Clarke]

Nice and honest from Jos - let's hope it's not just hollow words and we see a reaction to this.

[hypochondriac]

@joshooiveld20: Well.. What to say to this? I think NOTHING! Every word is one too much abt this game. Terrible performance from us! Hate the way we lost.

 

Yep. That is the main disappointment.

[Rasiak-9-]

@joshooiveld20: Well.. What to say to this? I think NOTHING! Every word is one too much abt this game. Terrible performance from us! Hate the way we lost.

 

Hold your head high son. No-one played well today but you're a credit to the club and a true Saint. We all love and admire your spirit and passion - now turn that to hard work in training over the next 8 days and a win against Cardiff next Tuesday. Time to show us what you can do.

[dronskisaint]

Disappointing for me but this didn't feel like any other performance I've seen this season - this really wasn't us.

 

We played like a team that didn't know each other for the first half and I agree that Harding should not have been continued with at RB...good enough against a Forest but that was a motivated team out there tonight with skill and commitment and they were too good for our, lacking in key players, side.

 

Couple of positives...Jos - what a buy he's turned out to be...just hope he's not out for long. I thought Cork tried to make up for the lack of support around him and I don't think anyone could be called out for not givving their all...it just didn't come off with the players available tonight. Kudos too to the loud bloke in Block 37 about Row X or Y...you did your best mate...loved the shout of 'Did you leave your vocal chords at the ticket office?' The whole evening just never got going.

 

The negatives other than a below our standards performance...those that booed! Exactly what were you booing you sad f*cking twa*s? I've been supporting Saints since 1959 and have yet to boo our own players and none deserved it tonight...in my opinion those that did are spoilt and pig f*cking ignorant. Other negatives..Nugent and his gesturing...skate c*nt...I'd love to see him fined for it!

 

But overall I'm not alpining, daleking or any other words for portending doom of the direst kind...tonight we lacked our influential players, too many missing, but they'll be back. We may strengthen too but the team out there wasn't really us of this season and sadly, for whatever reason, the crowd weren't right there where we've been this season either. Sky? Maybe - we're a long way from being out of the automatic race...others will have nights like this when we're winning again. There are shed loads of points to play for.

[Micky]

I'm not for singling out players, but Cork was utter dross.

 

The players should take full responsibility for that performance.

 

Sorry, but amongst all the doom and gloom going on right now - that really made me LOL...!!!!!

[Micky]

Nice and honest from Jos - let's hope it's not just hollow words and we see a reaction to this.

 

Problem is, that if one player can hold his head up after tonight - it was Jos.

[CanadaSaint]

For me the pivotal problem was Harding, and it spawned a number of other problems.

 

He was unforgivably beaten on the inside (his "good" side) for the first goal. He was still trying to get back for the second goal, which caused Martin to head out to cover for him, leaving us that crucial man short in the middle.

 

From that point (0-2) we were chasing the game, which just made many of the same problems worse. Harding got caught time and time again, which sucked our midfield (especially Cork) back on covering missions, so no quick counter-attacks.

 

It was not a good tactical decision to pit a left-footed full back against a fast, left-footed, line-hugging winger.

 

I think that Nigel was badly out-managed today but I'm not heading for Alpine territory because we'll get a hell of a lot better with our returning players.

[shirleysfc]

Connolly was w*nk!

 

Harding was a rabbit in the headlights.

 

Yago didn't stand a chance.

 

The clown sat in front of me blamed Guly for their first goal!

[sfc4prem]

Nice and honest from Jos - let's hope it's not just hollow words and we see a reaction to this.

 

I don't quite see what you're getting at here? Jos was one of our best players today and showed commitment the likes of Cork could only dream of today. Jos isn't a man of hollow comments.

 

Weird comment, I mean he didn't have a bad game, as you imply by saying "let's hope we see a reaction". Unless you are suggesting he is responsible for the whole team performance. As I said, weird comment...

[trousers]

Anybody who would be satisfied with mid table, considering we're 2nd with 19 games to go is out of their minds.

 

Would be utter failure and don't think NA would keep his job if it were to happen. NC doesn't strike me as a patient man.

 

I tend to agree in the main but I guess the analogy I'm grasping at is that of a marathon runner.....

 

Take the marathon runner who everyone expects to finish in the middle of the field.....yet he runs the first half of the marathon in world record record time....

 

Do you:

 

(a) think he will go on to win the race at a canter

 

or

 

(b) suspect he may have gone too fast, too soon and will be dragged back into the chasing pack in the second half of the race?

 

Ok, not one of my best analogies, but my drift is that the performance of an athelete, or a team, in the first half of a 'race' is not necessarily an indication of how they will perform in the second half of the 'race'.

 

Sport isn't a linear equation like that.

 

Just an observation.

[S-Clarke]

Connolly was w*nk!

 

Harding was a rabbit in the headlights.

 

Yago didn't stand a chance.

 

The clown sat in front of me blamed Guly for their first goal!

 

Kingsland? There was a guy near me that blamed Guly for everything.

[Ampersound]

Shocking performance. We lack pace. They scared the living daylights out of us when breaking forward with pace.

 

Oh how I hate ex-skates scoring against us. Mills one wound me up more than nugent's!

[RedArmy]

Can we stop playing Guly now please?

 

If we lose to Cardiff, we'll be looking over our shoulder at 7th before we know it, Blues are flying and our away form is sketchy to say the least.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Really really poor tonight.

 

Some mistakes made by Nige tonight:

 

1) Playing Harding at RB - just terrible for the whole game I thought - Frazer should have started if fit enough (which it appeared he was when he came on and did a good job)

 

2) Throwing Falque straight in there - have been surprised by the positive comments on here about him after that, looked like a fish out of water I thought and was glad to see De Ridder come on. Hoping there's more to come but wasn't particularly encouraged by tonight's showing.

 

Other than that, I don't think he could have done much else and it shows how dreadfully thin the squad is. I'm all for keeping a close knit group, but its plainly obvious that we can't make that impact change from the bench when things aren't going our way. Players like Holmes (hate to pick on him but feel the need to after tonight) weren't good enough for us in League 1 and he definitely isn't a player worthy even of a place on the bench for a team supposedly challenging at the top of the Champ. There's no doubt that teams like boro and WHU would struggle if they were missing as many key players as we are but they have got a much better quality of replacement.

 

What worries me is that its all well and good saying we've got key men to come back, but they won't just step in and immediately be performing to the level they were prior to their absence and that is what we need to make sure we get back on track.

 

Tonight is the night I really started to doubt we could go up automatically - Cardiff are closing in on us fast and will take the **** out of us next Tuesday if we play like we did tonight. What is so annoying about the current situation is that the league this year is very very poor, and we are (on our day) better than any team in the division but I really think we might have run out of gas this season.

 

Nige seems to have run out of ideas when plan A doesn't work, the worry on his face after the game was clear for all to see.

 

Finally, why oh why haven't we been more decisive in the transfer market? Its been clear for weeks we've needed new blood but none has materialised (bar Falque and Lee, although not here yet). Its a dangerous gamble to sign players like Lee who may not settle and have taken almost the entire January window to arrive! As for bidding for players like Hooper, its great to show ambition but doesn't matter a jot if they don't sign and therefore can't make an impact. We need some new faces now, but I doubt we'll get them and fear we'll blow a very good chance of promotion this season.

This

[kpturner]

He was still trying to get back for the second goal, which caused Martin to head out to cover for him.

Picky though it sounds - trying to get back from where? It was a corner.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

If we don't want to take a small gamble then we need to explore other avenues. Fannying about making joke bids for Hooper and Rhodes has done us no good at all and delayed getting players in that can actually give us strength in depth. I do question the effectiveness of our transfer policy. The reason we were so desperate for reinforcements in this window is because we didn't have the foresight to get in some strength in depth in the summer or even a loan or two subsequent to that.

 

A fair analysis

[CanadaSaint]

Picky though it sounds - trying to get back from where? It was a corner.

 

Not picky at all - you're right. It was a half-cleared corner and Harding wasn't trying to get back but marking space in the box while Martin headed out to cover the wide man.

 

Other than that I'll stick with what I said.

[dan17]

Really really poor tonight.

 

Some mistakes made by Nige tonight:

 

1) Playing Harding at RB - just terrible for the whole game I thought - Frazer should have started if fit enough (which it appeared he was when he came on and did a good job)

 

2) Throwing Falque straight in there - have been surprised by the positive comments on here about him after that, looked like a fish out of water I thought and was glad to see De Ridder come on. Hoping there's more to come but wasn't particularly encouraged by tonight's showing.

 

Other than that, I don't think he could have done much else and it shows how dreadfully thin the squad is. I'm all for keeping a close knit group, but its plainly obvious that we can't make that impact change from the bench when things aren't going our way. Players like Holmes (hate to pick on him but feel the need to after tonight) weren't good enough for us in League 1 and he definitely isn't a player worthy even of a place on the bench for a team supposedly challenging at the top of the Champ. There's no doubt that teams like boro and WHU would struggle if they were missing as many key players as we are but they have got a much better quality of replacement.

 

What worries me is that its all well and good saying we've got key men to come back, but they won't just step in and immediately be performing to the level they were prior to their absence and that is what we need to make sure we get back on track.

 

Tonight is the night I really started to doubt we could go up automatically - Cardiff are closing in on us fast and will take the **** out of us next Tuesday if we play like we did tonight. What is so annoying about the current situation is that the league this year is very very poor, and we are (on our day) better than any team in the division but I really think we might have run out of gas this season.

 

Nige seems to have run out of ideas when plan A doesn't work, the worry on his face after the game was clear for all to see.

 

Finally, why oh why haven't we been more decisive in the transfer market? Its been clear for weeks we've needed new blood but none has materialised (bar Falque and Lee, although not here yet). Its a dangerous gamble to sign players like Lee who may not settle and have taken almost the entire January window to arrive! As for bidding for players like Hooper, its great to show ambition but doesn't matter a jot if they don't sign and therefore can't make an impact. We need some new faces now, but I doubt we'll get them and fear we'll blow a very good chance of promotion this season.

 

Nutshell

[Rebel]

Yago Falque was terrible - too small for Championship football - and a bit out of his depth with the pace and physicality of it all. I imagine he would look like a much better player in the Spanish Leagues with a bit more time for tippy tappy football.

 

And it certainly wasn't the game to give him his debut - maybe the last 15 minutes when we are 3-0 up would have been more appropriate.

 

He lived up to my expectations though - I really hope Tandanari Lee doesn't!

[S-Clarke]

Yago Falque was terrible - too small for Championship football - and a bit out of his depth with the pace and physicality of it all. I imagine he would look like a much better player in the Spanish Leagues with a bit more time for tippy tappy football.

 

And it certainly wasn't the game to give him his debut - maybe the last 15 minutes when we are 3-0 up would have been more appropriate.

 

He lived up to my expectations though - I really hope Tandanari Lee doesn't!

 

Bit harsh, it was his first appearance for us.

 

It didn't help that the team shape around him was poor, and he wasn't provided with anything to work with - other than long balls up field. What is he supposed to do with those?

 

He did look a little lost at times though, but that's because we seemed to lack drive and any shape today. I don't think he should have been thrown straight in like that, but I'm sure we'll see better moments from him.

[Rebel]

Sean St Ledger was immense tonight.

 

Yet is available (according to our 'tater) for around 650k.

 

Wellens & Danns covering for the missing Andy King made our 3 CM's look awful. Danns was a freebie.

 

Yes the mentality and team dynamic is critical to us but there are players out there WCDAJFU and would be better cover than we have

 

Only problem is St Ledger, Danns and Nugent all joined Leicester for more money then we were willing to pay I expect - plus I don't think many people thought we'd be in with a chance of promotion at the start of the season (maybe they were right though) whereas people seemed to think Leicester would be contenders (maybe they were right there too)

[tobes8]

Our tactics at home really baffle me. We basically played with 3 holding midfielders in our midfield tonight with, hammond, cork and schneiderlin which meant that Leicester never had to worry about and pace in behind them or from the flanks. This allowed Leicester to pish their fullbacks right up, condensing the space. You have to play with at least one wide man at home.

[Tractor_Saint]

I don't need to put money on a prediction.

 

Tell you what - it was worth doing today. The only positive from this match!

 

[Chez]

Adkins has to take his share of the blame for this display IMO. Why on earth we are playing Harding at right back when Richardson is fit is beyond me. Harding unbalanced the side against Forest and was woeful tonight. But that was just for starters. When Jos went off, why not put Harding at CB? Fox got done in the air time after time as he is short. Surely Harding would have made more sense?

 

Falque is another story. Quite clearly he can not play on the wing, in fact he looked totally out of his depth full stop, so why the hell did we start with him there? We must have known he is not a wide man so why play him there? We carried the guy and this immediately put us on the back foot in what was always going to be a tough game. It felt like playing with 10 men. Adkins solution was to bring him into the hole as part of a diamond and move Morgan out to the left where he doesn't like it. The diamond has not worked all season yet still he persists with it. We carry Falque for the rest of the half, only now we look even more unbalanced and give the whole right side to Leicester.

 

The solution was simple. Bring either Lee Holmes or de Ridder on at half time. What does Adkins do? Move Hammond to the left of the same bloody diamond, with us still carrying Falque. 0-2 down, playing like chumps and he fails to solve the problem. Instead he waits 15 minutes before making a double substitution (just as Hammond has got his act together I might add) when we only needed to bring on one wide player. But why not make the sub at half time?

 

Very poor management. Yes we have injuries etc. but Adkins made serious mistakes tonight. As I said he must share some blame.

 

As for the game itself, well you all watched it so no need to describe it, but why on earth isn't de Ridder getting more game time, and when he does, why on earth do we not feed him all the bloody time? Just get the ball to the right back, pass it down the line and let him do the rest. Simple. Has to be better than passing it to Fox and letting him smack it 40 yards for de ridder to challenge Konchesky in the air. Crazy and very frustrating. Fox, FFS stop playing that pass. It is ****.

 

Davis 7 couple of great saves, the one against Beckford was very brave. Did he get a touch on the free kick?

Harding 2 played out of position leading to terrible positional play, got worse as game went on until moved back to where he belongs.

Fox 4 diagonal hoof is still a hoof. Never gets tight at left back and too shirt and crap in the air to play CB. Good effort when he did though I suppose

Martin 5 got the run around by Beckford completely and bullied too. Distribution and decision making woeful.

Jos 6 thought he also got bullied a bit by Nugent too. Hamstring pull could be very bad news.

Cork 6 did nothing in the first half, but tried and tried right till the end. never gives up. Just nit good enough today all over the park.

Falque 1 played out of position, but still a lightweight hands in the sleeves waste of a shirt. Carried him from start to finish. Yes dropped in, but he didn't even look busy. He can only get better I suppose.

Morgan 5 some horrible misplaced passes and never made that second ball his. Danns showed him the way.

Hammond 4 did nothing at all in the first half and just got moving and was subbed

Connelly 3 can't kick a ball more than 15 yards. Been saying it for a while now, he simply has no power left in the legs. No threat. No service. This game summed up why pace combined with movement is very much required in my ideal forward line. Connelly moves, but pace?

Guly 4 poor touch kills him, but he battled back when he lost it so I'll keep forgiving him. Still had the opportunities to get something out of this game but he didn't take them this time. Not a lot of service but boy did he hide in the last 20 minutes.

 

de ridder 6 a threat, but needs the ball all the time, why nit give it to him. Liked to have seen him get to the byeline though.

Holmes 4 one run that will stick in the mind, well it was a one two and then a missed shot on his right foot. Everything else was backwards. Its nearly always backwards. Why? Cos he is so slow and that its the natural route for him. Safe and sounds backwards. Why have we not bought a left sided player. I don't rate him, but more importantly Adkins doesn't rate him. So why have we no left sided player as cover for Lallana. If Falque is that cover, send him back now and try again.

Richardson 7 looked his usual self. Why did we not start with him at right back? If you are fit for the bench you are fit for the start otherwise we should have Stephens on the bench.

Edited 23 January, 2012 by Chez

[dan17]

Tell you what - it was worth doing today. The only positive from this match!

 

 

Good effort!! How much you put on??

[trousers]

@joshooiveld20: RT @Sports_Greats: You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose. -Lou Holtz

Nicely sums up the post match reactions on this forum over the season!

Edited 23 January, 2012 by trousers

[trousers]

@joshooiveld20: Go tomorrow for a scan, think its not too bad though. #hopethebest

[S-Clarke]

@joshooiveld20: Go tomorrow for a scan, think its not too bad though. #hopethebest

 

phew...I'd rest him for Milwall either way though.

[Chez]

Yago Falque was terrible - too small for Championship football - and a bit out of his depth with the pace and physicality of it all. I imagine he would look like a much better player in the Spanish Leagues with a bit more time for tippy tappy football.

 

And it certainly wasn't the game to give him his debut - maybe the last 15 minutes when we are 3-0 up would have been more appropriate.

 

He lived up to my expectations though - I really hope Tandanari Lee doesn't!

sadly I agree with you. He reminded me of many of the players that graced the shirt in the relegation season. I have to ask who scouted him, because he is never a wide man in a million years, so we ****ed him positionally, but even in the hole his movement and workrate was poor. Massive lack of effort. I have to ask also why we would sign another in the hole central midfielder when we have Ward Prowse and Reeves here. If he was a winger then no problem, but he isn't so why is he here. I hope I am set my self up for a fall here, but I just don't see him contributing to a promotion winning side.

[Chap in the Chapel]

Ouch! We haven't been that bad in a long time. The injuries and suspensions really, really bit tonight and Leicester's hard work completely paid off. They deserved the win and Danns had one of the best games I've seen an opposing player have this season, totally controlling matters. I didn't think Leicester were tremendous defensively but too many of our lads had absolute shockers (Schneiderlin was the worst of them) and we failed to trouble them for any length of time. Lambert, Lallana, Chaplow and Fonte (or adequate cover) are desperately needed back, especially the latter if Hooiveld is injured. The poor run of form has now lasted for two months though and we are looking genuinely wobbly. This is Adkins' second big test, the first having been the 'no blink' contest with Huddersfield in the last two months of last season. He's now got to put us back on the straight and narrow, and quickly. Keep the faith - he passed that first test.

[trousers]

I don't think many people thought we'd be in with a chance of promotion at the start of the season (maybe they were right though) whereas people seemed to think Leicester would be contenders (maybe they were right there too)

 

Nail on head. Leicester had a poor first half of the season but are shaping up to have a cracking second half. Possibly the complete opposite of our season (if the SWF doomsayers are correct).

 

We could well end up with a similar points tally as Leicester, yet, merely because of the patttern of results (ours front loaded, Leicester's backloaded), our season will be deemed to have been a failure and Leicester will be chuffed to have put things right.

 

Funny old game Saint.

Edited 23 January, 2012 by trousers

[Channon's Sideburns]

Falque reminded me of Fabrice Fernandes.

 

Hope he improves.

[CanadaSaint]

sadly I agree with you. He reminded me of many of the players that graced the shirt in the relegation season. I have to ask who scouted him, because he is never a wide man in a million years, so we ****ed him positionally, but even in the hole his movement and workrate was poor. Massive lack of effort. I have to ask also why we would sign another in the hole central midfielder when we have Ward Prowse and Reeves here. If he was a winger then no problem, but he isn't so why is he here. I hope I am set my self up for a fall here, but I just don't see him contributing to a promotion winning side.

 

I don't think it's fair to make a judgment about any new player after a game and an all-round team performance like that. If he'd arrived in the middle of our good run he'd likely be hailed as a budding superstar.

[Chez]

Falque reminded me of Fabrice Fernandes.

 

Hope he improves.

he couldn't lace FFs boots.