Dimond Geezer Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 That was awful. It wasn't the defeat, it was the manner of defeat that disappointed me, I can't recall us playing so bad since our relegation season in the Championship. The only players who came out of it with any credit were Hoover & Davis. We need to get the injured back asap & I believe normal service will be resumed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Billy Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Bad day at the office my arse, our form started to slide weeks ago. Injuries and suspension have not helped but it does prove that we are seriously lacking in quality once our reliables are not available. A struggling bottom side would have beat us last night. After a great start it was always going to depend on how we coped with the inevitable dip in form and injuries etc and it dont look good folks. As far as transfers are concerned I feel that we have wasted time going for unachievable targets and unless something is done in the remaining days of the window the slide will continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brizzie Saints Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Just read Danny Fox's take on last night game on the OS, think I must've watched a different game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carljack Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 We were poor against Bristol we were even worse last night! we lack creativity and possibly a little "muscle" that you must have in this division, looks like the play offs on current form but things can change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Lots of bad performances, Guly and Harding stood out for me. Harding was so slow to close down and got skinned a fair few times. Guly was awful. His first touch was ending up 5 yards away from him, and if it wasn't for a blind linesman in the 1st half, he would have had 6-7 offsides against him before HT. Literally every goal kick and long ball to him, he was off. Got found out by a competent linesman in the 2nd half. We just didn't play as a team. Leicester closed down well and we didn't have any ideas. And when they had the ball, we let them have it. Quite clear that without Lambo, Lallana, Chappers and Fonte, we haven't got the backbone that we need. We looked too lightweight to take on a physically strong Leicester team. Usually skill and good passing gets us through against teams like that, but we had none of that either. Fuming that that cvnt Nugent scored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabrone Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Was not surprised at the result but the performance sounded really dissapointing. With about 25-30 mins to go Mark McGhee (who was commentating on R5) said that we looked like a beaten team. I don't mind us losing - it happens esp against what I think is a strong Leicester side (wish we had Danns in our midfield) - BUT to lose so lamely is a real downer. I know we were missing 4 key players but still, we are top 2 and I'd expect a lot more passion before taking a home defeat like that. With Ricky back and RC + Jose + Adam hopefully coming back soon we'll get better but NA has to somehow motivate them to keep their heads up else we're going to slip out of top 2 in the next couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 (edited) There was a lot wrong last night, some of it could well be put right by the inclusion of Lambert, Lallana, Fonte and Chaplow but we desperately need a couple of rabbits out of the hat this transfer window. An experienced centre back in the Hoiveldt mould and a striker that can play with and up front without Lambert. Leicester were a good side last night but we were very lightweight. The team selection was one of two main causes of our problems. Harding out of position couldn't cope with the pace and tempo whilst Falque was a peripheral figure and should never have started. Both were quite rightly substituted but should have been replaced after the second goal as it was obvious then it wasn't working. Destperation prevailed but swopping Connolly and Falque which was no improvement and just wasted time. Richardson and De Ridder should have started, didn't but should have replaced Harding and Falque after the second goal. The second cause was the slow tempo which started with the rediculous amount of time Davis took to release the ball and the lack of intensity in the midfield to grab hold of the breaking ball and the overuse of long balls and especially from Martin heading the ball back to the opposition. Edited 24 January, 2012 by derry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashby Saint Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Only saw the first half an hour but it reminded me of the away game. Two down early after sloppy defending. We almost climbed the mountain that day with full strength team but we had no chance tonight without Ricky. There are three problems as I see it: (a) The full backs don't snuff out wide men quick enough. They are very slow at closing down. This must be tactical / coached. Once the ball comes in - all hell usually breaks loose. (b) Without Lambert we are not physical enough up front. Connolly is talented but too light weight for this division and he is easily bullied off the ball. Guly is physical but his reactions seem frustratingly slow and he sometimes charges about like a headless chicken. This is a lack of players problem. © We sometimes play a bit too much like Arsenal (and not in a good way). Lots of playing the ball square and back. We sometimes lack the quick and decisive penetration required to turn / unsettle defences at this level. Part coaching / tactics and possibly a lack of players too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanh Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Bad performance last night. Leicester deserved the win as they were better than us in every department. They closed down our defence when they had the ball leaving them with few passing options. Guly is not a 'hold up' player so was never going to be able to play the Lambert role. DC looked like he had a Bart sort of game after fluffing the early chance. The midfield could not get hold of the ball for any period of time because Leicester pressed so hard and once they had the two goal advantage knew that they just had to cut off our supply lines to the attacking players. We won't play that badly with Lambert, Lallana, Fonte, Chaplow in the side and the addition of Lee should help. I'm guesing that Falque and Harding started ahead of De Ridder and Richardson because the latter were both unfit for a full 90 mins. Hope the injury to Hooiveld isn't too serious but we need CB cover in anyway - someone in the Jaidi mould would do the job for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disintegration87 Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 2nd place in the Championship! Great Stuff. Win our next 2 matches and we'll be top again! COYR. Figure out a way to pass the ball around when the oppostion's wingers are closing down our wing backs and we'll be fine. We're a good side with good players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 2nd place in the Championship! Great Stuff. Win our next 2 matches and we'll be top again! COYR. Figure out a way to pass the ball around when the oppostion's wingers are closing down our wing backs and we'll be fine. We're a good side with good players. I agree with the first part but last night the second was certainly not true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Nelson Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 One of the things which has happened of late is that our opposition has cottoned on to how we like to play out from the back. Now we have added long balls as an alternative, with little or no effect. Last night felt as if we lost not only every second, but also first ball, which compared poorly with Leicester. Their every header ended up with a blue shirt. It is really a challenge how we can assert our way of playing if this is how we can be stopped so effectively. We were outfought, outplayed and outpassed and a large number of our players looked out of their depths. Guly, however much I like the guy, had a shocker. A target man he isn't, but yesterday he had no control and couldn't pass either. He has become too complicated and likes to take a number of touches which plays him into trouble. He didn't use to play like that. Yago, given all the excuses one can think of, was even worse. I would have thought that with all the talent he is supposed to have he ought to have shown some sign of it, but no. Connelly also poor together with Cork and Harding, who was easily made ineffective by players who realised that he was left footed. At half-time I wanted Holmes and De Ridder on to spread the game and give us an outlet. De Ridder did more good than anybody else when he came on, but Holmes was shut down entirely. I am not an enthusiastic 4-4-2 man, but maybe I rather see something like a stable formation instead of just tinkering with midfield from wide to narrow and back again. If we played a basic 4-3-3 formation it can be adjusted to 4-5-1 or 4-2-1-3 or even 4-3-1-2 etc etc. without fundamentally changing the system. As it now is every change seems to cause more confusion. It isn't time for wrist slitting, but thinking, in order to put things right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 (edited) I find it amazing that nobody is really hitting on one of the major causes of our lack of intensity and momentum. FFS the bloody goalkeeper takes forever to make his mind up what he is going to do next. He knows what he has to do but in his case appear to do. The manager wants to play from the back, well if he wants to do that, he needs to get in a keeper that wants to do the same. Davis stands over the ball, the defenders spread out, the opponents already know what's going to happen so they close up tight at the back and hold off just far enough at the front to entice Davis to eventually bite the bullet and pass the ball to some poor unfortunate, who is likely thinking FFS why me, now deeply in the mire being closed down rapidly. Then it either gets passed to some other poor unfortunate and lumped, gets lumped or more often sent back where it came and Davis lumps it first time to the centre backs and we lose possession again. If he's going to lump it he might as well do it straight away and hit it out wide. What I don't understand either is that about 15 players wander off to one side and De Ridder is on his own on the other side so Davis lumps it into the crowd. Why doesn't he try and hit the open space with our quickest player in it. It was all right up to a point and we got away with it with a full strength team and Fonte capable of breaking forward but with Martin's poor control, Harding on the wrong foot, and no target man the slowness made a ponderous midfield comprising three players that don't gel and a talented but lightweight new boy even worse causing us to be comprehensively outplayed. To cap it all Harding decides to let Nugent come inside onto his good foot and hit a screamer, send him down the line you prat. And Martin sells himself, turns his back like a junior league defender and lets the opposing centre back walk round him and cross for the other centre back to score. Boy does that say something that the two centre backs feel that free to play in our box. We need a striker that can cope without Lambert and a strong centre back in the Hoiveldt mould to give us more viable options. We are now left with too many fit lightweights that can't perform when pressured as we are going to be more and more as teams realise a high pressing tempo unsettles us especially when the manager keeps picking a side where the blend just doesn't work. It's no fluke that we play better when only two of the three central midfielders are on the field. Edited 24 January, 2012 by derry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Harding and Connolly were the worst. I'd give them both 1/10 and they only get 1 for not being Darren Powell.tough to smile after that display, but this comment brought a grin to my face. Thank you sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintant Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Lack of tempo caused by having a midfield including Hammond, Schneiderlin and Cork was a massive problem last night. If you want to play a pass-and-move game (which we aspire to do) you have to zip the ball around at a high tempo so that the opposition have no time to get in your face. With these three in midfield we don't and can't do that hence we play a pass-and-move game at slow tempo which is akin to committing football suicide. Leicester swarmed all over us like a rash forcing us to hit bobbly five/ten yard passes that regularly arrived around the recipients shins or knees or to lump the ball in any direction. Add the fact that Harding cannot play right back (a point obviously not lost on Pearson) and it is no surprise we were comrehensively dominated all over the pitch. Not our finest hour in terms of tactics and team selection. If we are serious about our ambitions to win promotion I think we need to quickly identify at least two possibly three realistic targets to bring to the club this window. If we are not willing to dig deep and pay the bigger money for the likes of Hooper or Rhodes let's at least make sensible bids for players within our accepted budget as the squad needs strenthening if we are not to fall by the wayside. It could be a long time before we find ourselves in such a strong position at this stage of the season and inaction in the transfer window could prove extremely costly when taking into account the rich rewards of reaching the Premiership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Nelson Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 (edited) You got it right, Dave. Davies doesn't offer any alternatives to slow pass to CB or hoof it long. How many quick throws have we seen.... By the way, I thougt that NA had understood that Hammond and Schneiderlin in CM doesn't work. It is totally predicatable. They are too much the same. Either of them need to have a Cork or a Chaplow to play with. Me thinks that NA is suffering from wanting to let all the boys get a game. Edited 24 January, 2012 by Clifford Nelson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick1579 Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 If we collapse like that I'll be disappointed and unhappy. But everything is relative. You don't have to be brilliant for 9 months a season to get out of this league. You just have to be better than 22 others teams for automatic promotion - and you can be that with indifferent form. Yes it is concerning, but it isn't something that impacts how well the season is going - I'll judge that come May. As Adkins just pointed out in his interview, tonight wasn't very good but it doesn't mean the end of the world. At the start of the season tell me that at the end of January we'd be second after a 6 week wobble I'd have snapped your hand off. But because we're in the moment if feels bigger than it really is. If you don't trust Adkins to address it then feel free to be negative - and you shouldn't be shouted down if you do. But I trust Adkins, the players, and the club to get it sorted and we see how we go for the next 3 months. How refreshing; a balanced and measured view. A rarity on this site of late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingwing Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Such a frustrating game to watch, just no reason to play Harding where he was, 3rd game he's been there and you could see within 2 mins how bad it was going to be (even with him on the left Nugent had the complete measure of him). The score line flattered us. I can't see why Adkins hates Butterfield to the extent that Harding (the 5th choice rb behind Richardson, Butters, Cork and Stephens) gets favoured. Leicester have been turned around by Pearson and deserve some credit for making us look terrible, a real master class in how to play hoof. Stick 8 players behind the ball, put the line as high as possible and have 3 pacey strikers to cause havoc with our back line. We couldn't cope, we panicked and played hoof back. At the best of times our hoof is appalling, today we looked like a pub team doing it wrong. Connelly looked useless not being able to jump Mills standing up! Guly can't jump so I don't see why anyone persisted with a tactic that doesn't and no matter how much training we can't develop the players we have to be able to do it (there's no way to make Connelly grow a foot, gain 3 yards of pace or teach Guly how to jump). Someone should have cancelled Homles' contract by now, he can kick a ball well but honestly doesn't look like he could stand a chance in L1, Johnoquick would have been more effective to at least run with the ball... (but still tied for the award of one of the most pointless players at the club). I don't see why people were screaming for Steve, he was let down by service massively (no idea why kelvin didn't punt the ball his way once in a while) but when he did he couldn't deal with anyone putting him under pressure. Just frustrating to watch. Jos was good, really pleased we have him and Kelvin made a few nice saves to keep the score line sensible but no one else really looked all that. Fox annoys me so much now, those "cross field balls" that he's so confident in doing should be beaten out of him with a sock of oranges. Didn't work at pomp, hasn't worked all season, just such a stupid waste of possession, time, money and air. No matter what you can say about any players performance last night, there is no place in our team for this rubbish! Beat that out of him and teach him to pass on the floor down the left or into the middle and we'd have an amazing left back, but with this nonsense of "cross ball magic" he is just creating another problem for the team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 You got it right, Dave. Davies doesn't offer any alternatives to slow pass to CB or hoof it long. How many quick throws have we seen.... By the way, I thougt that NA had understood that Hammond and Schneiderlin in CM doesn't work. It is totally predicatable. They are too much the same. Either of them need to have a Cork or a Chaplow to play with. Me thinks that NA is suffering from wanting to let all the boys get a game. Adkins is to blame for this slump. At BC when Chaplow was injured he didn't think about it he left Hammond and Cork in the middle and stuck a square peg in a round hole and we lost. Against Hull he hadn't learn't anything and started the same side, we were hopeless and 0-1 down. When he brought De Ridder on for one of the midfielders and we quickly scored two to turn it around I thought he had cracked it, but no we started the next three games with the same team. That team played four and a half matches against nobody, scored twice one a Fox free kick to Lambert at Pompey, conceded 7 and gained two points. SDR was fit all that time. Against a poor Coventry again he had two midfielders and added Cork at half time and we won, Same again against a poor Forest nearly one half against ten men. SDR and Richardson were obviously fit last night but same again against a team that was coming off a 4-0 win with good players and boy were we found out. It's all very well being liked and looking after the boys but he is paid not to keep some of the players happy by compromising. When we were flying he only played two of the three central midfielders and left the other on the bench. They might be better players but the team suffers when three of them play together. We have had poor results with them together it is time he learn't it will cost us promotion. This slump hasn't been helped by the injuries and suspension but it also hasn't been helped by not having adequate back up at centre back/striker and Adkins failing to pick balanced sides that blended. Adkins was and still is my No 1 choice but he has to make the difficult decisions and leave out a player that doesn't fit. Two works but three messes us up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Adkins is to blame for this slump. At BC when Chaplow was injured he didn't think about it he left Hammond and Cork in the middle and stuck a square peg in a round hole and we lost. Against Hull he hadn't learn't anything and started the same side, we were hopeless and 0-1 down. When he brought De Ridder on for one of the midfielders and we quickly scored two to turn it around I thought he had cracked it, but no we started the next three games with the same team. That team played four and a half matches against nobody, scored twice one a Fox free kick to Lambert at Pompey, conceded 7 and gained two points. SDR was fit all that time. Against a poor Coventry again he had two midfielders and added Cork at half time and we won, Same again against a poor Forest nearly one half against ten men. SDR and Richardson were obviously fit last night but same again against a team that was coming off a 4-0 win with good players and boy were we found out. It's all very well being liked and looking after the boys but he is paid not to keep some of the players happy by compromising. When we were flying he only played two of the three central midfielders and left the other on the bench. They might be better players but the team suffers when three of them play together. We have had poor results with them together it is time he learn't it will cost us promotion. This slump hasn't been helped by the injuries and suspension but it also hasn't been helped by not having adequate back up at centre back/striker and Adkins failing to pick balanced sides that blended. Adkins was and still is my No 1 choice but he has to make the difficult decisions and leave out a player that doesn't fit. Two works but three messes us up. You talk some c**p sometimes. De ridder played against donny, crystal palace and bristol rovers (two of which we lost). He was injured after that and only returned to full fitness this week -hardly NA's fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicestersaint Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 I thought Fox was pretty poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaSaint Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 You talk some c**p sometimes. De ridder played against donny, crystal palace and bristol rovers (two of which we lost). He was injured after that and only returned to full fitness this week -hardly NA's fault. I think the point was less about individual players and more about shape and balance - both of which we had in abundance during the good run and neither of which we've really displayed since. That's no coincidence - and yes, put me in the "we miss Chaplow like crazy" school. But these are supposedly high-level professionals and it is possible to ask them to play a role outside of their preferred role so that we maintain shape and balance when key players are missing. Where I draw the line is on things like playing a left footed full back against a fast, line-hugging winger and asking him to give us attacking width as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 You talk some c**p sometimes. De ridder played against donny, crystal palace and bristol rovers (two of which we lost). He was injured after that and only returned to full fitness this week -hardly NA's fault. Against Doncaster the three midfielders played with Schneiderlin in the hole ,that worked. Normal team v Crystal Palace won 2-0, Bristol City out worked us but the damage was done in the five games the three played together except Hull when we were 0-1 down at halftime and De Ridder came on and changed the game. Adkins is at fault he picked the three midfielders together and it doesn't work. The results speak for themselves. They should never have played together again after half time of the Hull game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northant Saint Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Only saw the first half an hour but it reminded me of the away game. Two down early after sloppy defending. We almost climbed the mountain that day with full strength team but we had no chance tonight without Ricky. There are three problems as I see it: (a) The full backs don't snuff out wide men quick enough. They are very slow at closing down. This must be tactical / coached. Once the ball comes in - all hell usually breaks loose. (b) Without Lambert we are not physical enough up front. Connolly is talented but too light weight for this division and he is easily bullied off the ball. Guly is physical but his reactions seem frustratingly slow and he sometimes charges about like a headless chicken. This is a lack of players problem. © We sometimes play a bit too much like Arsenal (and not in a good way). Lots of playing the ball square and back. We sometimes lack the quick and decisive penetration required to turn / unsettle defences at this level. Part coaching / tactics and possibly a lack of players too. Agree with A and C especially. We play a lot of fancy football that essentially gets us nowhere. I think we need to bring someone in who can run at defenders with pace. Cork and Schneiderlin in particular just aren't cut out for this. Playing the simple square pass is just about the limit of Hammond's ability. Lallana is the only player who is both capable and willing attack the opposition defence. Without him, we really haven't got the answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Against Doncaster the three midfielders played with Schneiderlin in the hole ,that worked. Normal team v Crystal Palace won 2-0, Bristol City out worked us but the damage was done in the five games the three played together except Hull when we were 0-1 down at halftime and De Ridder came on and changed the game. Adkins is at fault he picked the three midfielders together and it doesn't work. The results speak for themselves. They should never have played together again after half time of the Hull game. Agreed - the 3 CMs together just doesn't work, yet NA keeps persisting with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 It worked at Forest, although they were god awful! I didn't think it was a game for Schneiderling last night, I think we should have started with Cork and Hammond in the middle with De Ridder one side and Falque the other (even though Falque was poor). Harding was so bad i could not believe it, he's played alright occasionally but he is so bad at reading the game it is embarrassing. The only reason i can see for us not starting Frazer is that he wasn't fully fit and was only brought on when he had to. Connolly and Guly didn't work at all up front so want to see us start with Lambert + Connolly up front with Guly back in midfield. Davis, as much as I love him, needs to get a bit more urgency into his game when he wants to play out from the back, or we just give the opposition time and we end up just hoofing it up the pitch to noone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 lots of experts, of course it was on Sky. it is hard to knock a manager who got us to second with less than 20 games to go, but i do believe last night he got it wrong. i was amazed that Falque started, amazed at Harding still at right back(yes i did go to Forest) and the lack of width for the first hour was what killed us. Pearson has good players and he used them well last night. Nothing stuck up front so we could not really pressurise them. Cardiff will be tough but it is winnable especially if Lambert and Fonte are fit. We are still second everything to fight for, one good thing is that the top of the table, once in a blue moon fans may disappear for a few games. Now is not the time for the fans to bottle it, forget 5 year plans THIS may be our best chance of getting promotion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Against Doncaster the three midfielders played with Schneiderlin in the hole ,that worked. Normal team v Crystal Palace won 2-0, Bristol City out worked us but the damage was done in the five games the three played together except Hull when we were 0-1 down at halftime and De Ridder came on and changed the game. Adkins is at fault he picked the three midfielders together and it doesn't work. The results speak for themselves. They should never have played together again after half time of the Hull game. Way too reductive - coincidentally the best half of recent football we've played recently was Blackpool at home with Morgan on the right. Why did NA play Morgan there? If the guy can ping a cross field ball to feet, surely he can hit Lambert at the backpost (as he did against Palace). I agree it is not balanced and i dont particularly like it but focusing on the three midfielders overstates its effect on the team and what would have happened with SDR - see Bristol home which up until yesterday was easily our worst performance (or indeed your belief that Richardson and SDR would have trouble playing together). We've been sh*t in lots of areas and for lots of different reasons- and banging on about the three midfielders obscures rather than illuminates that reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 We got pasted by a very workmanlike side who had done their homework well. They were too fast and too strong for us and their continual use of the long ball by-passed our talented midfield and left us chasing shadows. In the first half we left far too much space between the back lines and they ran wild in there, the space we left them was criminal. There can be no excuses we were second best all night and now with 6 first team reguars sidelined we look to be up **** creek without a paddle. Well don't say we couldn't see it comimg, we bought nobody last January, nobody i the summer other than loanees and likely nobody this January either. We can't seriously believe we can sustain the challenge of taking on this whole division and the PL with a group of players essentially put together by Alan Pardew three years ago in League 1. Our squad is paper thin and most of the blokes on our bench are second rate compared with our first pick eleven. Blame who you like but the recent record of P-10, W-3, D-2, L-5, Pts-11, is appalling for a side with PL pretensions when all pundits believe you'll need to win 2 points per game to get automatic promotion. I hope Adkins & Co have not run out of ideas but it certainly looks like we've hit the buffers very hard indeed and Mr Cortese will most certainly not be very pleased with hi at the moment. The loss of Hoover is a cruel blow. Presumably we'll have to send the under 18's up to The Den on Saturday and bugger the result but even so we are going to struggle next Tuesday against Cardiff who certainly seem to be the in-form team right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Way too reductive - coincidentally the best half of recent football we've played recently was Blackpool at home with Morgan on the right. Why did NA play Morgan there? If the guy can ping a cross field ball to feet, surely he can hit Lambert at the backpost (as he did against Palace). I agree it is not balanced and i dont particularly like it but focusing on the three midfielders overstates its effect on the team and what would have happened with SDR - see Bristol home which up until yesterday was easily our worst performance (or indeed your belief that Richardson and SDR would have trouble playing together). We've been sh*t in lots of areas and for lots of different reasons- and banging on about the three midfielders obscures rather than illuminates that reality. Anyway good or bad last evening we had at least 5 clear cut chances to score,probably more than Leicester in fact. We converted none of them so we lost.At the end of the day football boils down to that.You make chances,you score,you usually win.The manager knows this and has been trying to sign a striker,perhaps we could have pursued more easily accessible targets but as the system worked against Forest it didn't seem too important and Lambert is back for the next game if selected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRobbie Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Hoof - lose ball - pass - lose ball - run - stop running look tired - hoof - lose ball. Leicester were not good. They kicked the ball out of play more than any team I've seen this season. But they had passion. We looked very poor. And so were our fans frankly. We need some reinforcement. I do not believe even a playoff place is possible if our form continues as it is. Still, with Lallana, Chaplow, Lambert, Fonte and others to return we have a chance of stabilising. PLEASE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicestersaint Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 11 points out of the last 10 matches (11 out of 30 points) is worrying. What has happened to our fight, intensity and passion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griff Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 I'm afraid that after a blistering start where teams could not cope with us, managers have looked at the videos of where we have been defeated and now come with an effective plan to beat us. We have to adapt and improve. Something we are not doing at the moment. New tactics/ strategies needed IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostBoys Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 We were shocking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 ------------------------------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pressingon Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Whilst I was as disappointed as everyone else at SMS last night I do think some realism is called for, we have performed beyond expectations given our squad as opposed to Leicester who have obviously underperformed so far, they are the first team I have seen this season where I’ve thought I wish we had a number of their players. Compare the starting 11 who would you rather have, mine are starred: Davis V Schmeichel * Harding v Konchesky * Hooiveld * v St Ledger Fox * v Peltier Martin v Mills * Hammond v Wellens * Cork v Dyer ( fairly equal ) Scheiderlin v Danns ( fairly equal ) Falque v Gallagher (unfair to make a judgement on one appearance) Guly * v Beckford Connoly v Nugent * Men against boys last night but bear in mind Mills & Nugent probably cost similar to our starting 11. Obviously I appreciate our spine and the first four names on our team sheet were unavailable, just comparing like for like last night which shows us how little depth we have available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalek2003 Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 Worse performance since the relegation season. Sadly shows how far we are from being a team that could compete in the Premiership. I've been dreading since we made the top spot of seeing Saints under Atkins, repeating the huge S****horpe slump when they were right up there, only to sink like a stone. Poor showing from the Saints supporters who seem no longer interested in filling the Stadium and watching at home. This is not a good sign should we get promoted with all matches on TV. Lets the chairman see even in top flight the fans will prefer to watch on TV than fill up the stadium. A very sad indicator of the times. I suddenly feel the rose colored spectacles have fallen off and we're back to reality having fooled everyone into believing we were a top side. ******** to the Academy, we are still a buying club. Well I did warn everyone this would happen. Not only is NA likely to repeat his S****horpe slump, the real indicator for our season was a lack of ambition and urgency in the summer transfer market. I see more and more people have come around to my way of thinking. I predicted the collapse of the club when we failed to appoint Hoddle in 2004. I am about to be proven right yet again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monk Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 The forward line looked a million miles away from the midfield. nine times out of ten Lambert would drop in that 'hole' and link the play up. That was the most obvious problem for me last night. No cutting edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 24 January, 2012 Share Posted 24 January, 2012 I predicted the collapse of the club when we failed to appoint Hoddle in 2004. I am about to be proven right yet again. Oh my! You are one very brave fellow, just wait for the **** to start flying now. Helmets on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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