Saints 1 Ipswich 1 - Reaction Thread

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Dissapointed at last nights result.... should have killed game in first half......but still a long way to go so

 

Roll on Saturday...

[ALWAYS_SFC]

The Guly bashing is really winding me up. The difference in reaction of the crowd between a Lallana mistake and a Guly mistake is mental.

 

At one point in the second half last night we were getting hit with a counter attack, our centre midfield were nowhere to be seen, Guly sprinted from the right wing to close down the gap in the centre, and then followed that man with the ball across to the left wing (where there was also space). Ipswich then switched the ball to the other wing, where nobody had seen fit to cover for Guly, cue a load of "where the **** is Guly!" and "****ing hell Guly you lazy ****" shouts. I wonder if people are actually watching the game sometimes.

 

Well said.....

[alpine_saint]

The Guly bashing is really winding me up. The difference in reaction of the crowd between a Lallana mistake and a Guly mistake is mental.

 

At one point in the second half last night we were getting hit with a counter attack, our centre midfield were nowhere to be seen, Guly sprinted from the right wing to close down the gap in the centre, and then followed that man with the ball across to the left wing (where there was also space). Ipswich then switched the ball to the other wing, where nobody had seen fit to cover for Guly, cue a load of "where the **** is Guly!" and "****ing hell Guly you lazy ****" shouts. I wonder if people are actually watching the game sometimes.

 

Indeed, which is why I think it has racist undertones...

[Barry the Badger]

Indeed, which is why I think it has racist undertones...

 

I don't think it does and I think that accusation distracts from the issue. I just think people have their favourites and subconciously offer those players a lot more slack. With Lallana people will look for the good things he does, ignoring the mistakes, but with Guly they will ignore a lot of his better work because they're looking for something to berate him for.

[saints_is_the_south]

Felt quite deflated after the result last night, but don't feel as bad this morning. Reading have the toughest run in out of the lot, and despite only getting a draw last night we move up to 2nd in the form table, behind only Reading.

 

http://www.footballformguide.net/form/npower-championship

 

Ipswich are also bang in form, 5 wins from their last 6 but we should have put them to the sword in the 1st half with all those chances we had. On another day, we could have been 3-0 up at HT, and that other day may well be Saturday. Barnsley have lost 4 out of their last 6, so we really should be beating them. Drop points against them and I'd be concerned.

[doddisalegend]

Lee not special? I suspect that most teams in this division would consider him to be more of a handful than most rival attacking players they encounter. Not only does he have good ball skills, but he has an incredible mental attitude. If we had a team of Lees, you wouldn't have any worries about them applying themselves to their utmost. What I like about him especially, is that for the first time in ages, we have a player with pace on the halfway line when the rival team are taking corners. That ties up two of their defenders and I feel quite confident that if a ball was cleared upfield, he would have a very good chance of getting it and doing something useful with it. He also has terrific movement off the ball and gets himself in good scoring positions. He must be difficult to mark and pulls defenders all over the place. He is also unselfish, a team player and will make a pass in front of goal if he thinks there is a better scoring opportunity.

 

Lalllana was good, but for quite some time I have felt that his shooting lacks power. I agree that Lambert was certainly not mediocre. He had an excellent game.

 

I think it was summed up for me at one point last night when Lee the furthest player forward on the pitch sprints back to help out the defence after Ipswich broke on us while several of our midfield just ambled back like they didn't have a care in the world. Now you could argue that you don't want your striker running back to help the defence and it was a little ill disciplined but I wouldn't have minded a few of our other players showing that sort of commitment last night.

 

My only concern was Lee was muscled of the ball a little easily a few times but that could be down to the physical nature of the English game that he just needs to get used to (that and the ref didn't blow up for Ipswich's two handed pushes in his back)

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Well that was certainly a game we should have put to bed in the first 20 mins. Ipswich are a handy team and should challenge for the play-offs next season so it was no disgrace but definitely a missed opportunity.

 

I don't know why Guly attracts so much comment. He was average yesterday no more no less as were quite a few others. Some of his play didn't quite come off but he helped out Richardson several times with their physical threat down their right, tracked back when he needed to and was at the heart of our best bit of the match which he ended up putting wide - was a difficult chance, far harder than the two that Lallana failed to convert in the first 20 minutes.

 

In any case Guly was far better than others e.g. Harding who hard an absolute mare last night. Struggle to see Harding being here next season whether we get promoted or not. In a typical winger vs defender situation he's a really solid performer but his use of the ball last night was dreadful and he got caught out several times when Ipswich tried to switch the play.

 

One major dissappointment for me last night was our set piece delivery - how many times did we punt it forward and give their keeper catching practice? Harding and Richardson majorly at fault here.

Edited 7 March, 2012 by anothersaintinsouthsea

[Chez]

dissapointed is an understatement. We played brilliantly in the first half totally dominating the game and creating a hat full of chances - we did run out of steam with about 5 minutes to go though. I thought Lallana really should have scored with one of his two chances. The Guly header wasn't great, but there were plenty on the line so no guarantee that would have gone in if he had hit the target. The second half was a different story, we seemed to have run out of ideas, the ball wasn't sticking up front and we got a bit ragged defensively. Ipswich stepped it up and grew in confidence, but they still only created one chance. Morgan was as fault for their goal. He need to get tight and not let Scotland turn but he didn't and the rest is history. Shame as we deserve the win, but I guess it evens out Saturday.

Davis 7 another decent display, commanded his area well and one great save,

Richardson 7 kept bombing forward and sound defensively

Fonte 7 better in the air but still one or two very dodgy passes, better display from him

Jos 7 commanding in the air, one or two too many hoofs. Not much passing out from the back, but that was down to Ipswich pushing right up.

Harding 7 one or two good and one or two bad passes, but he keeps it simple and that helps Lallana. Thought he gave their number 9, Thomas was it? far too much respect

Lallana 8 outstanding in the first half, but faded a bit in the second, didn't take his chances

Guly 6 worked very hard defensively, but offered nothing going forward in the first half. Should have bust a gut to get in the box on one occasion when Lee ran free. Didn't take his chances, but the second was his own work. I thought Steve should have come on about ten minutes before.

Hammond 7 decent first half, disappeared second

Morgan 8 nicked the ball off them so many times its not true, all relatively unnoticed stuff, but vital.

Lambert 7 keeps scoring. Won everything in the first half and we dominated because of it. Second half he had little effect until he pops up and smashes in the goal.

Lee 7 worked extremely hard and caused problems in the first half. Ball didn't stick in the second and we suffered because of it.

 

Steve 7 great run and cross for the goal, I don't know why Adkins doesn't have him on the bench every game as he is the bets impact player around.

Sharp not on long, but made little impact and when given a chance he mis-controlled. He was offside anyway so it mattered not.

Cork, not on long, out of position on the left but did a job.

[doddisalegend]

I don't think it does and I think that accusation distracts from the issue. I just think people have their favourites and subconciously offer those players a lot more slack. With Lallana people will look for the good things he does, ignoring the mistakes, but with Guly they will ignore a lot of his better work because they're looking for something to berate him for.

 

We have whipping boys every season. This season it's Guly and Harding ,with shout outs to, Hammond and Bart when they plays. I mean Jos was blatantly at fault for the Ipswich goal yet reading this thread you could be mistaken for thinking it was Guly, Harding and Hammond that caused us to get a draw.

[doddisalegend]

Felt quite deflated after the result last night, but don't feel as bad this morning. Reading have the toughest run in out of the lot, and despite only getting a draw last night we move up to 2nd in the form table, behind only Reading.

 

http://www.footballformguide.net/form/npower-championship

 

Ipswich are also bang in form, 5 wins from their last 6 but we should have put them to the sword in the 1st half with all those chances we had. On another day, we could have been 3-0 up at HT, and that other day may well be Saturday. Barnsley have lost 4 out of their last 6, so we really should be beating them. Drop points against them and I'd be concerned.

 

Very surprising how average they were last night given that stat they didn't offer much at all.

[Shroppie]

The Guly bashing is really winding me up. The difference in reaction of the crowd between a Lallana mistake and a Guly mistake is mental.

 

At one point in the second half last night we were getting hit with a counter attack, our centre midfield were nowhere to be seen, Guly sprinted from the right wing to close down the gap in the centre, and then followed that man with the ball across to the left wing (where there was also space). Ipswich then switched the ball to the other wing, where nobody had seen fit to cover for Guly, cue a load of "where the **** is Guly!" and "****ing hell Guly you lazy ****" shouts. I wonder if people are actually watching the game sometimes.

 

Also agreed.

 

There seem to be those who just spend their time looking to find reason to criticise Guly. For me. he is probably our most improved player since the start of this season. He has flair and some of his touches can be brilliant but he has added a hard-working element to his game, even though I suspect that was completely alien to him when he arrived.

 

He did as much as anyone (KD excepted, maybe) to close Leeds down last Saturday and although SDR came on and made the goal last night, Guly was better defensively. He still has weaknesses - first touch can be too heavy when he needs to hold up the ball - but please stop knocking him.

[saints-cris]

Bit dissapointed, but we now have 4 very easy home games out of 5 left. NO more slip ups at home now.

[Cheesegrater999]

For some reason this result has really got to me. I've been sitting in the corner of the room for the last 11 hours rocking backwards and forwards. Can someone give me a hug and tell me that everything is gonna be alright?

[Delboy Dave]

Lets look at this way Re: Guly. If you performed the way he does in YOUR job, would you still have one? I think not...!

 

5 to 10 minutes effort/good play over a game is not good enough for me.

[Papa Shango]

Player ratings/report http://www.thesaintshub.com/saints1-1ipswich.html

 

Frustrating

[John Boy Saint]

Ipswich showed last night why they are in a rich vein of form, they have always been a bit of a niggle side against us down through the years at our place and last night was another, Paul Jewell had them well sorted for us.

Part way through the second half I did comment its another game against a team wearing Blue shirts and white shorts giving us the runaround.

Once again we had moaners around us who you doubted came to every game, 2 just behind mithered about the minutest negative for 2 minutes. And showed no interest in the positives!?! Then sitting in the car listening to Solent, well Prozac sales must be through the roof this morning listening to the garbage that folks were texting in, and bloody Solent kept on reading out: if you had just got back into the country and turned on the radio you would have thought that we had been smashed out of sight!

Still at the final whistle there was no booing, which is a positive.

 

At the end of the day we were grinding out a result, when someone slips in the box which in turn opens a window for a striker to do what he is paid to do, have a go (and this is something we should learn from). Scotland fires in a shot that takes a deflection and the ball is in the back of the net, we have enough big hitters in the team to do a bit more of that ourselves especially when all else is failing or we are trying to tee up goal of the season.

Still we are still in the race.................. and one that looks like it might go right down to the wire!

[Roger]

dissapointed is an understatement. We played brilliantly in the first half totally dominating the game and creating a hat full of chances - we did run out of steam with about 5 minutes to go though. I thought Lallana really should have scored with one of his two chances. The Guly header wasn't great, but there were plenty on the line so no guarantee that would have gone in if he had hit the target. The second half was a different story, we seemed to have run out of ideas, the ball wasn't sticking up front and we got a bit ragged defensively. Ipswich stepped it up and grew in confidence, but they still only created one chance. Morgan was as fault for their goal. He need to get tight and not let Scotland turn but he didn't and the rest is history. Shame as we deserve the win, but I guess it evens out Saturday.

Davis 7 another decent display, commanded his area well and one great save,

Richardson 7 kept bombing forward and sound defensively

Fonte 7 better in the air but still one or two very dodgy passes, better display from him

Jos 7 commanding in the air, one or two too many hoofs. Not much passing out from the back, but that was down to Ipswich pushing right up.

Harding 7 one or two good and one or two bad passes, but he keeps it simple and that helps Lallana. Thought he gave their number 9, Thomas was it? far too much respect

Lallana 8 outstanding in the first half, but faded a bit in the second, didn't take his chances

Guly 6 worked very hard defensively, but offered nothing going forward in the first half. Should have bust a gut to get in the box on one occasion when Lee ran free. Didn't take his chances, but the second was his own work. I thought Steve should have come on about ten minutes before.

Hammond 7 decent first half, disappeared second

Morgan 8 nicked the ball off them so many times its not true, all relatively unnoticed stuff, but vital.

Lambert 7 keeps scoring. Won everything in the first half and we dominated because of it. Second half he had little effect until he pops up and smashes in the goal.

Lee 7 worked extremely hard and caused problems in the first half. Ball didn't stick in the second and we suffered because of it.

 

Steve 7 great run and cross for the goal, I don't know why Adkins doesn't have him on the bench every game as he is the bets impact player around.

Sharp not on long, but made little impact and when given a chance he mis-controlled. He was offside anyway so it mattered not.

Cork, not on long, out of position on the left but did a job.

 

 

Rubbish marks imo. Harding 7? He was terrible, fox is so much better its untrue. Jos had to keep covering for him all the time. He makes us worse. Lallana 8? He missed 2 complete sitters.

[Papa Shango]

Indeed, which is why I think it has racist undertones...

 

I agree, but people don't want to hear it. Have heard disgusting racist abuse dished out to him an numerous occasions. He was far from the worst player last night, but received more criticism than anyone else. Some of our fans are complete morons. He could have done better going forward, but to call him lazy last night was ridiculous. He worked as hard as anyone and won the ball back loads of times.

[alpine_saint]

I don't think it does and I think that accusation distracts from the issue. I just think people have their favourites and subconciously offer those players a lot more slack. With Lallana people will look for the good things he does, ignoring the mistakes, but with Guly they will ignore a lot of his better work because they're looking for something to berate him for.

 

Yeah, he's a "darkie".

 

I see no other reason why Lallana's screw ups are indulged and Guly's are heckled. Both pull on the same kit, both sh*t from the same hole. Guly has doen more than enough to be a fans firm favourite - scored some sublime goals and many assists.

[St_Tel49]

The Guly bashing is really winding me up. The difference in reaction of the crowd between a Lallana mistake and a Guly mistake is mental.

 

At one point in the second half last night we were getting hit with a counter attack, our centre midfield were nowhere to be seen, Guly sprinted from the right wing to close down the gap in the centre, and then followed that man with the ball across to the left wing (where there was also space). Ipswich then switched the ball to the other wing, where nobody had seen fit to cover for Guly, cue a load of "where the **** is Guly!" and "****ing hell Guly you lazy ****" shouts. I wonder if people are actually watching the game sometimes.

This, This This and This again.

[St_Tel49]

Rubbish marks imo. Harding 7? He was terrible, fox is so much better its untrue. Jos had to keep covering for him all the time. He makes us worse. Lallana 8? He missed 2 complete sitters.

3 complete sitters. I point it out, not to have a go at AL but because of the Guly hate campaign. We dominated the 1 st half (58% possession, 7 shots to 3 etc) and that could not have been done with 2 alleged passengers. The second half statistics were a more even but that is because Ipswich upped their game.

[Andy Durman]

I'm as guilty of this kind of thing as anyone else. We do need to keep perspective and not use too much hyperbole, but there is still a place for reasonable debate about who should or shouldn't be in the team and their performances on the pitch. I certainly think that some of the language to describe the performances of Harding and Guly is a bit over the top.

 

This is what gets me about rascism! He isn't black he's more dark brown and i'm not white i'm more lighter brown with a bit of pink!

 

We both have a different skin colour. We do look different. Stop using the rascist card all the time.

[Give it to Ron]

Yeah, he's a "darkie".

 

I see no other reason why Lallana's screw ups are indulged and Guly's are heckled. Both pull on the same kit, both sh*t from the same hole. Guly has doen more than enough to be a fans firm favourite - scored some sublime goals and many assists.

 

So what were all the calls to the radio about honkies Harding and Richardson who got absolutely slaughtered - you sometimes talk sense, you sometimes talk ****** on this occasion its the latter.

Guly gets slated because he has that lazy gait that McGoldrick had...saints fans like the Ormerods/Lee type of players that look as though they give a sh1te.

Personally thought Guly had a good first half and put in a good shift but second he was awful.

If you can't see why golden boy Lallana gets different support than Guly then you are crackers and thats nothing to do with race.

Edited 7 March, 2012 by Give it to Ron
spelling

[alpine_saint]

This is what gets me about rascism! He isn't black he's more dark brown and i'm not white i'm more lighter brown with a bit of pink!

 

We both have a different skin colour. We do look different. Stop using the rascist card all the time.

 

Who is using it "all the time" ?

 

I just think when you take into account the sort of comments you hear in the stands all the time when a black player screws up, and the fact that there isnt may other criteria to possibly differentiate the likes of Guly from Lallana, that racism is one of the very few things that remain as a possibility.

 

Sorry, dont shoot the messenger.

 

EDIT: If you are making a wider statement about the common definition of racism being only white-to-black with other types being conveniently and disgracefully ignored, then I am with you completely, sir.

Edited 7 March, 2012 by alpine_saint

[alpine_saint]

So what were all the calls to the radio about honkies Harding and Richardson who got absolutely slaughtered - you sometimes talk sense, you sometimes talk ****** on this occasion its the latter.

Guly gets slated because he has that lazy gait that McGoldrick had...saints fans like the Ormerods/Lee type of players that look as though they give a sh1te.Personally thought Guly had a good first half and put in a good shift but second he was awful.

If you can't see wht golden boy Lallana gets different support than Guly then you are crackers and thats nothing to do with race.

 

I do not accept your post at all, but I found one line very interesting so I highlighted it.

 

Ask yourself what sort of reaction MLT would have had, had been born with Afro-Carribean parents.

[beatlesaint]

All this racist talk about Guly is rubbish.....years ago there was a period when Alan Ball got some stick, was that because he had ginger hair ?

The reason Guly gets stick, I think, is simple.

If we are 3 or 4 up in a game and Guly mis controls or loses a ball easily then everyone is relaxed about it. If its a tight game and its getting frustrating and he does it then because he looks so casual people start getting upset and throwing abuse at him. But its him, its what he does. One minute he can do something incredible and the next something you wouldnt see in a playground.

 

Because he looks casual doesnt mean he doesnt care or he cant be bothered, its the player he is. Ok he isnt in the best form right now but form comes and goes, I give you one Kelvin Davis as an example of that.

 

Adkins rates him, he uses him as much as he can (personally I think De Ridder is worthy of a start sometimes but doesnt get it, my opinion doesnt count as much as the managers) so I suggest people support him instead of get on his back so much. Together as one isnt just a snappy little Adkins line you know, it actually means something !!

[trousers]

http://www.itfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10272~2637626,00.html

 

BOSS HAPPY WITH POINT

 

Posted on: Wed 07 Mar 2012

 

Paul Jewell felt Town deserved the point after a much improved second-half display at St Mary's.

 

Substitute Jason Scotland gave Blues a share of the spoils against the league leaders after Rickie Lambert had opened the scoring 16 minutes from time.

 

"I couldn't wait to get them in at half-time. We were very average in the first-half ," said the Town boss.

 

"Alex [McCarthy] made two excellent saves but the players responded well in the second-half and we were a lot better.

 

"Kelvin Davis made a fantastic save from Chops and if that had gone in, who knows what would have happened.

 

"We got a bit fortunate with the deflection for Jason's goal but overall we have to be pleased with the point and I think we deserved it against a very good team who I think will be playing Premier League football next season."

[Saint_John]

I see the boo boys are out in force again today, what do they do have a post waiting in the "draft folder" waiting for the next time Saints drop points.

 

IMO many posters have not given Ipswich enough credit as a team.

• They had won 5 out of 6 coming into the game including a 5-1 win over west ham.
  
• They have a system of 4-5-1 (really 4-3-2-1) where they have 3 in central midfield to outnumber our 2 so that we do not get as much "control of the ball" as we would like (we tried to get Guly to "play narrow" to even the numbers up).
  
• Their 2 wide players are there to stop our full backs getting forward so that we cannot get the width.
  
• Their back 4 were always "pushing up" to compress the midfield so that they always had 2 players on any one of our players e.g. Adam.
  
• Whenever they had a goalkick they put all 11 players on one side of the pitch, i.e they were "compressing the pitch" to stop us "making the pitch big".
  

At the end of the day we had enough chances to get 1-0 up and win the game, even with the system they were playing.

The only change I would have made would have been "more direct", and have more runners off Rickie. This would/should have meant their back 4 would have needed to defend deeper and therefore allow more space in midfield for us to play.

[trousers]

I see the boo boys are out in force again today, what do they do have a post waiting in the "draft folder" waiting for the next time Saints drop points.

 

IMO many posters have not given Ipswich enough credit as a team.

• They had won 5 out of 6 coming into the game including a 5-1 win over west ham.
  
• They have a system of 4-5-1 (really 4-3-2-1) where they have 3 in central midfield to outnumber our 2 so that we do not get as much "control of the ball" as we would like (we tried to get Guly to "play narrow" to even the numbers up).
  
• Their 2 wide players are there to stop our full backs getting forward so that we cannot get the width.
  
• Their back 4 were always "pushing up" to compress the midfield so that they always had 2 players on any one of our players e.g. Adam.
  
• Whenever they had a goalkick they put all 11 players on one side of the pitch, i.e they were "compressing the pitch" to stop us "making the pitch big".
  

At the end of the day we had enough chances to get 1-0 up and win the game, even with the system they were playing.

The only change I would have made would have been "more direct", and have more runners off Rickie. This would/should have meant their back 4 would have needed to defend deeper and therefore allow more space in midfield for us to play.

 

Entries now closed for this week's 'Voice of Reason' competition. We have a winner.

 

[Sour Mash]

I do not accept your post at all, but I found one line very interesting so I highlighted it.

 

Ask yourself what sort of reaction MLT would have had, had been born with Afro-Carribean parents.

You are one seriously boring c**t.

[doddisalegend]

Lets look at this way Re: Guly. If you performed the way he does in YOUR job, would you still have one? I think not...!

 

5 to 10 minutes effort/good play over a game is not good enough for me.

 

No I agree I expect him to run aimless up and down the pitch for a full 90 plus stoppage time with no thought to his postion or the job the manager has given him. Honestly if he doesn't sprint the length of the pitch to cover the left back and then from there sprint into the oppositions box to set up Lambert in the first five miniutes we should sub him.........

[Give it to Ron]

I do not accept your post at all, but I found one line very interesting so I highlighted it.

 

Ask yourself what sort of reaction MLT would have had, had been born with Afro-Carribean parents.

 

In every crowd there are racists of both black and white...MLT did get stick from sections of the crowd quite often - he did not

get the God like status all the way through and maybe until towards the end and when finished. I certainly heard quite a bit of under the west stand at him in some games.

I remember Martin Chivers, Jimmy Melia, Lew Chatterley(deserved), Groves, Dixon etc all getting abuse and they like me are all honkies as well!

Its an easy cop out to play the racist card - you are wrong.

[alpine_saint]

In every crowd there are racists of both black and white...MLT did get stick from sections of the crowd quite often - he did not

get the God like status all the way through and maybe until towards the end and when finished. I certainly heard quite a bit of under the west stand at him in some games.

I remember Martin Chivers, Jimmy Melia, Lew Chatterley(deserved), Groves, Dixon etc all getting abuse and they like me are all honkies as well!

Its an easy cop out to play the racist card - you are wrong.

 

In your opinion.

 

I understand its an uncomfortable subject to confront.

[Cricketphilly]

In your opinion.

 

I understand its an uncomfortable subject to confront.

 

A reasonable comment to accept Alps. Conciously or subconciously, racism will occur amongst some in their opinion of a player.

[derry]

We created some good chances early on but made bad decisions and they went begging, the worst Guly not hitting the target with a header from a yard out. Lallana and Lee worked openings but we needed Lambert to make the effort to get into the box, it was always the wrong player on the end of things. The centre of midfield was again where we weren't at the races. The less said about Hammond the better. Schneiderlin is a keep possession player whose whole game is based on just passing, sideways, backwards it doesn't matter to him. A lot of his sideways and backwards passes just inevitably end up back with Davis. We need a proper playmaker like Noble of West Ham who is combative but hits passes into dangerous areas as a first option. When Schneiderlin has the ball it mostly goes short and ends in nothing. For me he is a wasted talent that is far too conservative.

 

The full backs were both poor but Harding was awful in the second half, he plays like he has a brick for a brain. The centre of the defence was OK but Davis when not acting as a superlative shotstopper drives me mad. He has a good long ball but his short game is atrocious so we aren't playing out from the back. Yesterday he had numerous opportunities to one touch passes to obvious unmarked colleagues but just dwelled on the ball taking multiple touches whilst dithering allowing the options to be closed down but still passing to a player who is then pressured and passes back to him to then clear anywhere under pressure. If he isn't going to first time release the ball he should play long without the pressure, rather than delay and invite the hasty clearance that usually gives the ball away.

 

It was crying out for SDR to be brought on and luckily again feeding off scraps he laid on two clear chances one converted. If DeRidder is playing, Richardson has to just give him the ball and support inside unless SDR comes inside and leaves the opening for an overlap, running in front of him is just taking up the space he needs to run into. DeRidder needs a playmaker to play the balls into space for him to exploit we are just wasting him if don't use him properly.

 

Jos had Scotland penned against the touchline then firstly let him turn, then didn't force him down the line, letting him come inside was suicide after Schneiderlin slipped, the deflection summed up the evening for me, wasted chances and a bit of bad luck after sloppy defending. The tempo was low and we need to pressurise harder higher up the pitch, I got the impression that some players were caught out with the complacency of a routine collection of a win bonus. It won't happen without the effort. Sharp doesn't look the part yet, he looks very chunky to me but maybe that's his shape.

Edited 7 March, 2012 by derry

[Toomer]

From my point of view we should have been 2 up at half time but after the battering we took at Leeds and came away with three points I think there might have been a slight hangover from that game. If we win on Saturday two home games one away seven points is a good return, having said that we should have won last night with the chances we made.

[surrey1saint]

We created some good chances early on but made bad decisions and they went begging, the worst Guly not hitting the target with a header from a yard out. Lallana and Lee worked openings but we needed Lambert to make the effort to get into the box, it was always the wrong player on the end of things. The centre of midfield was again where we weren't at the races. The less said about Hammond the better. Schneiderlin is a keep possession player whose whole game is based on just passing, sideways, backwards it doesn't matter to him. A lot of his sideways and backwards passes just inevitably end up back with Davis. We need a proper playmaker like Noble of West Ham who is combative but hits passes into dangerous areas as a first option. When Schneiderlin has the ball it mostly goes short and ends in nothing. For me he is a wasted talent that is far too conservative.

 

The full backs were both poor but Harding was awful in the second half, he plays like he has a brick for a brain. The centre of the defence was OK but Davis when not acting as a superlative shotstopper drives me mad. He has a good long ball but his short game is atrocious so we aren't playing out from the back. Yesterday he had numerous opportunities to one touch passes to obvious unmarked colleagues but just dwelled on the ball taking multiple touches whilst dithering allowing the options to be closed down but still passing to a player who is then pressured and passes back to him to then clear anywhere under pressure. If he isn't going to first time release the ball he should play long without the pressure, rather than delay and invite the hasty clearance that usually gives the ball away.

 

It was crying out for SDR to be brought on and luckily again feeding off scraps he laid on two clear chances one converted. If DeRidder is playing, Richardson has to just give him the ball and support inside unless SDR comes inside and leaves the opening for an overlap, running in front of him is just taking up the space he needs to run into. DeRidder needs a playmaker to play the balls into space for him to exploit we are just wasting him if don't use him properly.

 

Jos had Scotland penned against the touchline then firstly let him turn, then didn't force him down the line, letting him come inside was suicide after Schneiderlin slipped, the deflection summed up the evening for me, wasted chances and a bit of bad luck after sloppy defending. The tempo was low and we need to pressurise harder higher up the pitch, I got the impression that some players were caught out with the complacency of a routine collection of a win bonus. It won't happen without the effort. Sharp doesn't look the part yet, he looks very chunky to me but maybe that's his shape.

 

A very good summary IMO.

[beatlesaint]

In every crowd there are racists of both black and white...MLT did get stick from sections of the crowd quite often - he did not

get the God like status all the way through and maybe until towards the end and when finished. I certainly heard quite a bit of under the west stand at him in some games.

I remember Martin Chivers, Jimmy Melia, Lew Chatterley(deserved), Groves, Dixon etc all getting abuse and they like me are all honkies as well!

Its an easy cop out to play the racist card - you are wrong.

 

Absolutely 100% correct.

[alpine_saint]

Absolutely 100% correct.

 

In your opinion.

[madruss]

From my point of view we should have been 2 up at half time but after the battering we took at Leeds and came away with three points I think there might have been a slight hangover from that game. If we win on Saturday two home games one away seven points is a good return, having said that we should have won last night with the chances we made.

 

Agree with this, except I think we should have been 3 up at half-time. Two of Lallana's chances and Guly's header would be goals 9 times out of 10. Win on Saturday and that's 7 points from the week, over 2 points per game and promotion form

[Saint_clark]

The Manager ought not to start with Hammond ever... he disrupts the flow of play and runs around like a headless chicken,the players look as though they don't want to pass to him. he is just not good enough . The captainship should be given to someone else before the season ends,not in the summer to be kind to him, thanks for all you have done etc. I think you will find it was him mis passing the ball,not Morgan who ran his socks off for us, they look "similar" from afar and the 4 and 14 might confuse people without 20 20 vision.

 

To-mah-to, to-may-to...

[doddisalegend]

We created some good chances early on but made bad decisions and they went begging, the worst Guly not hitting the target with a header from a yard out. Lallana and Lee worked openings but we needed Lambert to make the effort to get into the box, it was always the wrong player on the end of things. The centre of midfield was again where we weren't at the races. The less said about Hammond the better. Schneiderlin is a keep possession player whose whole game is based on just passing, sideways, backwards it doesn't matter to him. A lot of his sideways and backwards passes just inevitably end up back with Davis. We need a proper playmaker like Noble of West Ham who is combative but hits passes into dangerous areas as a first option. When Schneiderlin has the ball it mostly goes short and ends in nothing. For me he is a wasted talent that is far too conservative.

 

The full backs were both poor but Harding was awful in the second half, he plays like he has a brick for a brain. The centre of the defence was OK but Davis when not acting as a superlative shotstopper drives me mad. He has a good long ball but his short game is atrocious so we aren't playing out from the back. Yesterday he had numerous opportunities to one touch passes to obvious unmarked colleagues but just dwelled on the ball taking multiple touches whilst dithering allowing the options to be closed down but still passing to a player who is then pressured and passes back to him to then clear anywhere under pressure. If he isn't going to first time release the ball he should play long without the pressure, rather than delay and invite the hasty clearance that usually gives the ball away.

 

It was crying out for SDR to be brought on and luckily again feeding off scraps he laid on two clear chances one converted. If DeRidder is playing, Richardson has to just give him the ball and support inside unless SDR comes inside and leaves the opening for an overlap, running in front of him is just taking up the space he needs to run into. DeRidder needs a playmaker to play the balls into space for him to exploit we are just wasting him if don't use him properly.

 

Jos had Scotland penned against the touchline then firstly let him turn, then didn't force him down the line, letting him come inside was suicide after Schneiderlin slipped, the deflection summed up the evening for me, wasted chances and a bit of bad luck after sloppy defending. The tempo was low and we need to pressurise harder higher up the pitch, I got the impression that some players were caught out with the complacency of a routine collection of a win bonus. It won't happen without the effort. Sharp doesn't look the part yet, he looks very chunky to me but maybe that's his shape.

 

I have to agree about midfield they lacked urgency last night. I don't think Hammond or Morgan are as bad as you make out but they need Cork to get the best out of them. Nigel has to play Morgan or Hammond but not both they are to similair and defensive. Cork is what makes the midfield click. Our passing in general in the second half, among all our players, was very slow and innacurate. Players just seemed to dither on the ball giving Ipswich time to get men on players who had run into space or intercepet the widely telegraphed pass. Quite a few times in the second half I reckon if players had played a quick one touch pass we would have cut through Ipswich to more effect.

[manji]

For some reason this result has really got to me. I've been sitting in the corner of the room for the last 11 hours rocking backwards and forwards. Can someone give me a hug and tell me that everything is gonna be alright?

I am normally very measured in my reaction to our results but that Ipswich equaliser has hit me really hard.I hadly spoke to anyone after the game and feel quite depressed today made even worse by the fact I have a day off work so plenty of time to fester on it.

Youre not getting a hug by the way............

[sfc4prem]

I do not accept your post at all, but I found one line very interesting so I highlighted it.

 

Ask yourself what sort of reaction MLT would have had, had been born with Afro-Carribean parents.

 

He would have been slated for the lack of effort and remembered more for his bad performances.

[beatlesaint]

In your opinion.

 

Of course it is alpine, but I honestly dont think it has anything to do with race, creed or colour.

I get no feeling of that actually sat at St Marys, and unfortunately I am old enough to remember that feeling from 30 odd years ago when there was a real issue of racist behaviour.

 

Give it to Ron has pointed out a number of players who have had stick, add Alan Ball and Paul Telfer to that list.

 

The stick Guly gets from some, not all, is as has been pointed out, but you chose to ignore it, because of his laid back style of playing football. And at 0-0 or 0-1 many people let reason go out the window and pick on that, its not because of his skin colour.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Disappointing to only get apoint having led so late. No need to start blaming or slagging our players though. This squad is top of the league ffs. Get real.

[Charlie Wayman]

Well needless to say I do not agree with Dave Merrington and all those other self-deluders who think this result doesn't matter, of course it effing matters. We have to win every game now to be in with a shout of automatic promotion and as Dave himself would say "the last thing we want to do now is drop points at home"!

 

Two dismal performances on the trot at a time when Hammers & Reading are winning everything with apparent ease is just totally unacceptable. We simply cannot rely on them to screw up just to save us and who really believes the Pompey points will be scrapped. If we are relying on such sender hopes we are up the effing creek good and proper.

 

As Adkins is so fond fond of saying, "two games every week - but it's the same for everyone" and it IS! Why then were so many of our players knackered at HT? Frankly most of our guys played stinkers and Adam Lallana should hold his head in shame for missing sitters when it was easier to score than not. I don't buy Adam walks on water malarky, he should have come off at HT but Adkins is scared to touch him as usual.

 

Taking Lee off was a travesty of mismanagement when he was by far our best player.

 

If I were Adkins, I'd be feeling very uncomfortable this morning and keeping my head down at Staplewood waiting nervously for a phone-cal from the boss. Try brushing this one off with a smile and a self-deceiving "we'll look at it in the morning, analyse it, see what positives we can take; then draw a blue line under this game and then WE move on"

 

Bull****!

 

Cortese looked like thunder at the final whistle so he must be raking over options in his head in the smae way that Abramovich does

[alpine_saint]

Not close enough to the action to observe a specific issue, but I will ask nevertheless:

 

Considering the squad at his disposal, is NA really making the best use of it ? People are talking about the players looking knackered, and ineffective or plain incorrect substitutions, a lot at the moment. I know this is the typical "armchair punditry", but it has still got me wondering.

 

Oh, at this stage of the season and with so much a stake, dropping 2 points at home is hard to excuse or tolerate.

[doddisalegend]

Not close enough to the action to observe a specific issue, but I will ask nevertheless:

 

Considering the squad at his disposal, is NA really making the best use of it ? People are talking about the players looking knackered, and ineffective or plain incorrect substitutions, a lot at the moment. I know this is the typical "armchair punditry", but it has still got me wondering.

 

Oh, at this stage of the season and with so much a stake, dropping 2 points at home is hard to excuse or tolerate.

 

Generally Nigel's subs are spot on. De-Ridder was much needed last night and worked a treat. Taking Adam and Lee off last night was a mistake IMO they were probably our two biggest threats last night so taking them both off gave Ipswich much need breathing space...all IMO of course.

 

After a tiring game last Sat I think Nigel was right to make changes and give some players a rest but I would have liked to have seen either Cork or Chaplow in the mid field to give us a bit more energy. Generally I think Nigel is getting it right most weeks but everyone gets it wrong once in a while.

[James]

Very disappointing to lose the lead, especially with Reading winning but it is still in our own hands admittedly with a bit more pressure on us. A win against Barnsley and everything could have changed - who knows what Reading will do vs Leicester? Its in our own hands..don't panic just yet everyone there is a long old way to go.