Are we a one man team?

[georgeweahscousin]

....my look at Rickie's massive impact.

 

http://wp.me/p1mFFL-jB

[MDG]

Nice review of our team - the amazing one is without Chaplow we have lost so many points.

[gandalf]

That made very good reading and I hope some of the Guly knockers take note of it.

[Deano6]

Coincidence IMO. Have to lose points and have a run sometime. Odds on someone's injury would coincide.

 

It's a skewed way of looking at it, since Chaplow has missed more games than, say, Lambert so we should drop more points in that time.

 

Someone should figure out how many points we have "dropped" when Tadanari has not been in the side. Or Bart for that matter!

[Jack]

Are we a one man team? Other team's fans would have you believe that. We play to our strengths, and who makes all of Rickie's chances for him? The rest of the team.

 

Nice review BTW

[Foxstone]

Very good indeed and goes a long way to prove that we are where we are by being a team !

 

No one person is perfect but a team can be !

[alpine_saint]

....my look at Rickie's massive impact.

 

http://wp.me/p1mFFL-jB

 

Great blog. Though you will confuse the crap out of the moronic Hammers fans with the facts.

[pap]

Love your stuff, Chris. Another great article.

[saints-cris]

Pretty much spot on. Not many of Lamberts goals have been worldies, there are plenty of players doing the hard work for him. He's just finishing them off!

[david in sweden]

if you call it ..one man's team (instead) ..then that man has to be... Nigel Adkins.

 

IMO he has got " that bit extra " out of every player in the club - not just Rickie !

[Lighthouse]

We never were a one man team. That's just a silly, bitter argument a selection of opposing fans like to throw at us. Of course Lambert is very important to us. Take the top scorer out of any team and they will struggle. Arsenal are gash without RVP, Man Utd without Rooney. Even Real Madrid and Barca wouldn't be anywhere near as good without Ronaldo and Messi. People also assume, for some weird reason, that if we didn't have Lambert up front we'd play the entire season with 10 men and ignore the fact that another decent striker in his place could quite easily score 20 goals a season.

 

Lambert is a key player, but he has players like Frazer, Fox, Lallana, Morgan and De Ridder making him look good. Rickie has had a fair few quiet games when we've been off the boil and he hasn't had the service. His goals are a testament to the quality of our service.

[John Boy Saint]

Whenever I look at the face of disappointed goal keeper on TV, I can't help saying it had to come past 10 other players before it got to you. So don't carry the weight of the whole team on your shoulders.

Rickie does what he is paid to do, close the deal: and he is one of the best in the business. Everyone else has negotiated the ball up the pitch, he just makes sure the signature is on the contract more than most.

 

Kelvin being mobbed by the team at the final whistle, many friends who support other teams said they have never seen that except after a penalty shoot out, showed we are not a one man team.

[kpturner]

If you take Messi (and his goals) out of Barcelona, do they become a "one man team"?

[shurlock]

Its not Lambert's goals that makes him indispensable -most have come from pens which others would dispatch, albeit less efficiently. Its his hold-up play and ability to win headers.

 

To puncture the myth, we're a direct team -and without him, we produce Donny-type performances.

[Cabrone]

Of course not, Ricky is a big part but we'd still have plenty in the tank if he was out.

 

Good for us though if the opposition think it's all about Ricky.

 

Overcompensating for him should give Lee, Sharp, Lallana, Connoly, Guly, SDR and Chappers many more opportunities to capitalise, all of whom are more than capable of taking advantage.

 

We've got goals all over the place.

[corsacar saint]

Another good article Chris.Any team in football has a best player,it just so happens that Rickie has been our best player in 2 out of his 3 seasons at the club. Rickie will be the first person to tell anyone that he would not score the goals he does without the creativity of his team mates,being the really nice guy that he is.

[VectisSaint]

While I agree with the conclusion in the article and many of the points there are some points in the article which are clearly nonsense:

 

"This team is top of the Championship on merit, and the goals have come from every aspect of the side"

This is patently not the case. We are lacking much goal threat in central midfield. While Morgan has contributed 2 this season (which is a huge improvement) he is the defensive MF and so we should not be too surprised. But Hammond & Cork have contributed just 1 between them I think, and Puncheon has not scored either. Our wide MFs have scored quite well though. Our central defenders are a bit strange as well, while we are all well pleased with Jos' goals, what has happened to Fonte this year, 6 last season and 0 this. Fox and richardson have also not contributed. So to say that goals have come from every aspect is to ignore the facts to be fair.

 

Lambert's goals come in fits and starts (or like London buses). The fact that he has scored 4 hat-trickas somewhat masks the number of games where he has not socred at all, and in truth in some games he has played poorly as well, but as it is SRL we all forgive him, everyone has an off-game.

 

"Had he (Lambert) not been playing, someone else would have taken them (penalties), and quite possibly scored them too, which would again completely change the outcome of those games."

So what you are saying here is that someone else would probably have scored the penalties, therefore this would not have changed the outcome of those games at all. Actually I would disagree with this anyway, you would need to question how many of the penalties would we have won if SRL had not been playing. Not all were won by him, but some were. So would we have got as many pens awarded without him?

 

"Arguably, without Lambert we would have gained at least a point at Brighton too. Sent off with the scores at 0-0 in a game Saints were dominating!"

Would we have been dominating if Lambert had not been playing? Who knows

 

"Guly do Prado. For me, still one of our most consistent and impressive performers, to other Saints fans the devil incarnate. "

I like Guyly and really appreciate what he brings to the team. But to accuse him of being consistent is just laughable. Its his inconsistency that frustrates people but it also makes it exciting to watch him, because he can be brilliant one day and have a howler the next.

 

I don't agree with the conclusion that Chappers is our most missed player, think you need to look at who else was missing in these games as well, in some we were desparately short of players in some positions. If he is that badly missied how come we have been unbeaten in our last 10 and yet he has hardly figured in that run.

 

Last point - you don't even mention Morgan. He is the key to our success this season. No way are we a one-man team, and Spiderman is one of the main reason that we are not.

 

Still, enjoyed the read

[Window Cleaner]

 

tr the next.

 

 

Last point - you don't even mention Morgan. He is the key to our success this season. No way are we a one-man team, and Spiderman is one of the main reason that we are not.

 

Still, enjoyed the read

 

 

It's a pity that the BBC and Sky don't use the GPS system that Canal+ does to measure the distance covered by each player

during a match as well as where he receives the ball and what he does with it. I think you'd find that Morgan covers huge amounts of ground every match. I think the club actually use the system though but rightly keep all the data for themselves.

Edited 19 March, 2012 by Window Cleaner

[Saint Samuel]

Nice article, but I think Jos Hooiveld also deserves a mention. Nothing against Martin, but I thought we looked a bit dodgy in defence when Big Jos hasn't been playing. And his two goals against West Ham could prove to be vital come the end of the season.

[Thedelldays]

Pretty much spot on. Not many of Lamberts goals have been worldies, there are plenty of players doing the hard work for him. He's just finishing them off!

 

excellent point...has he scored from outside the area this season...?

[mitch01]

Good article. Not a one man team but his value to us cannot be underestimated. His build-up play is the thing that has improved the most in his time with us. Just look at that flick through to Sharp for penalty number 1 on saturday, absolutely superb! We are very lucky to have him and my doubts that he could make it in the Premiership evaporated many months ago.

[paulwantsapint]

Don't forget super kelv how many worldies has he pulled off yet again

 

Also Adam lallana the most talented player in the league but still not the best player in the team which is rickie

[Kingsland Red]

I'm sure opposing teams do their homework, but I quite like the way the sound bite style of the media allow lazy journalists to portray us as a "One man team".

SRL is obviously able to take the pressure, thus giving AL, Spiderman, Cork etc little exposure.

Swansea and Norwich must have found a similar ignorance quite useful in the EPL this season.

[saints_is_the_south]

Who creates the chances for Rickie to put away? The rest of the team. Who keeps them out the other end? Etc...

 

All good teams have a goalscorer, and we have an excellent one. Take Rooney's goals away from United and they would not have the points they do. Anybody who calls us a 1 man team knows very little about football imo.

[david in sweden]

 

"This team is top of the Championship on merit, and the goals have come from every aspect of the side"

Our wide MFs have scored quite well though. Our central defenders are a bit strange as well, while we are all well pleased with Jos' goals, what has happened to Fonte this year, 6 last season and 0 this.

Fox and Richardson have also not contributed. So to say that goals have come from every aspect is to ignore the facts to be fair.

 

"Had he (Lambert) not been playing, someone else would have taken them (penalties), and quite possibly scored them too, which would again completely change the outcome of those games."

 

I don't agree with the conclusion that Chappers is our most missed player, think you need to look at who else was missing in these games as well, in some we were desparately short of players in some positions.

If he is that badly missied how come we have been unbeaten in our last 10 and yet he has hardly figured in that run.

 

Last point - you don't even mention Morgan. He is the key to our success this season. No way are we a one-man team, and Spiderman is one of the main reason that we are not. Still, enjoyed the read

 

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I read your epistle above Vectis, and agree with some of your comments but I think you've omitted a few other facts.

 

IF.. we are calling Guly and Lallana our wide midfield men then you maybe correct, but the facts are that De Ridder's three league goals have all come when he came on as sub. but the efforts of the remainder make rather poor reading.

Schneiderlin has scored 2, Chaplow 3 till injured) Hammond 1 and Cork ... has yet to score - not that inspiring when you consider that Jos has 2 to his credit, as does Martin. (Forte has scored twice, but in cup games).

 

The criticism of Fox and Richardson especially is surely unfounded when you consider they are both amongst the highest number of assists - in any League this season. In growing up watching the likes of Stuart Williams, Tommy Traynor, Hollywood and Kirkup - you got used to the idea that a full back scoring a goal coming once in a blue moon ..with the rare exception of David Peach who managed 34 in his time with Saints, but most of them from the penalty spot.

 

I think we did miss Chaplow - at first. Looking at results our run of of 8 games unbeaten really started when Chaplow (and Lallana) both played and we lost momentum when Chaplow was injured and Lallana got a few small injuries and lost form - at the same time.

 

Our recent revival is IMHO - due in the main to Lallana fitness and re-discovered form, along with Lee (who although not scoring) has given opposition defences a new dimension to worry about, besides trying to keep watch for Lambert.

Thank goodness that Lambert has this great record of penalties. Of course someone else (who would you suggest?) would have taken penalties in his absence, but I seriously doubt if we would have scored them all - as Lambert has done.

 

I think Morgan is (still) very underrated by some fans - perhaps if he'd also scored 10 goals - they'd be of another opinion, but the combination of him AND Jack Cork AND Hammond (all good in thier own way) is a bit too defensive ......and without Chaplow, Lallana, SDR, and even Puncheon, we lack that extra agression going forward.

Edited 20 March, 2012 by david in sweden