Wade Garrett Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 If only real life was that simple . Are you claiming to " know a bit about the game" then? Compared to some of the numpties on here I'm a genius! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sour Mash Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 That will happen with the current formation - its expected to double up as a 4-5-1 when we're not in possession -sensible enough as we can't go gung-ho in the prem. But its very hard not leave the striker isolated unless the wide men can get up quickly and support him. In theory, Lallana should be able to support Lambert but I think he's confused by his mix of responsibilities in the current set-up. We don't have the players to play the 4-5-1 (or variations of it). Rodrigues is being wasted in his current role, that's been apparent throughout pre-season, so I'm not sure why we've continued to persist with using him out there. Adkins in all his recent interviews has made a big play about new formations, being flexible etc, but if anything we haven't tried enough different approaches/line ups etc and keep using the same system that hasn't really worked too well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didcot Saint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 That's the result of League 1 and Championship players trying to play as a Premier League side. No chance. Poor signings and delusional theories that we can compete ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dronskisaint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 (edited) Back in my hotel room... I think Derry called it largely as I saw it but I'd make two observations. Udinese played it far less like a friendly than we did - they chased harder and niggled and got stuck in as if there was something at stake - we didn't and I can't imagine that in the PL we'll hold off the challenges in the way we did tonight. The second isn't a revelation - I've always like Di Natale and tonight he was superb - as were many of their players, the individual skills coupled with their commitment brought about a result that was a little flattering with the proviso that three of their goals were outstanding bits of individual skill that had the St Mary's crowd applauding. And us? We looked better in the second half...I like Danny Fox but Luke Shaw brought energy to that side, Ward-Prowse reminds me of a combination of Stevie Williams and Lallana...his work rate and skill levels were outstanding. Steve Davis looks a winner..he brought commitment and will only improve as he learns the 'Saints way'. Punch was class, worked well with Clyne(who will prove to be an excelllent signing I predict) and had his shot in the second half gone in it would have crowned one of the slickest passing combinations I've seen in pre-season. Thought Fonte looked more comfortable, Jos cool, Morgan less consistent than of late...I can go on but we weren't bad as some are suggesting..we'll not be outclassed by many PL teams if we play like that - Udinese are a team of gifted individuals who are in the CL who worked harder than us tonight...we are a gifted team that's bedding in some new faces and probably need to strengthen the depth at CB. I'm not happy clapping, I'm not bedwetting...we have the basis of an attractive team that can compete this year...on the strength of the three pre-seasons I've seen so far - granted they're glorified kickabouts but the evidence in front of my eyes is from the same matches that most on here don't appear to have actually seen. Edited 11 August, 2012 by dronskisaint pint too many to type sensibly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Just got home from tonight's monstrosity! I am extremely worried about the coming season, I can't draw any positives from the game. To me it seems that the players don't want to play the system and thats evident in their approach. I can understand that we need to try out different ways to play but I feel that we should be building on the successes over the last two years in terms of our formation. We seem to have put all our eggs during preseason playing a system that doesn't work with the players we have. God help us next Sunday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaSaint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 So, again it looks like there were two games at SMS tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Well there's a couple of conflicting reports!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild-saint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 We are going down with the lowest ever points total of two. why do we ave some complete knob ends on this forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Back in my hotel room... I think Derry called it largely as I saw it but I'd make two observations. Udinese played it far less like a friendly than we did - they chased harder and niggled and got stuck in as if there was something at stake - we didn't and I can't imagine that in the PL we'll hold off the challenges in the way we did tonight. The second isn't a revelation - I've always like Di Natale and tonight he was superb - as were many of their players, the individual skills coupled with their commitment brought about a result that was a little flattering with the proviso that three of their goals were outstanding bits of individual skill that had the St Mary's crowd applauding. And us? We looked better in the second half...I like Danny Fox but Luke Shaw brought energy to that side, Ward-Prowse reminds me of a combination of Stevie Williams and Lallana...his work rate and skill levels were outstanding. Steve Davis looks a winner..he brought commitment and will only improve as he learns the 'Saints way'. Punch was class, worked well with Clyne(who will prove to be an excelllent signing I predict) and had his shot in the second half gone in it would have crowned one of the slickest passing combinations I've seen in pre-season. Thought Fonte looked more comfortable, Jos cool, Morgan less consistent than of late...I can go on but we weren't bad as some are suggesting..we'll not be outclassed by many PL teams if we play like that - Udinese are a team of gifted individuals who are in the CL who worked harder than us tonight...we are a ifted team that's bedding in some new faces and probably need to strengthen the depth at CB. I'm not happy clapping, I'm not bedwetting...we have the basis of an attractive tewam that can compete this year...on the strength of the three pre-seasons I've seen so far - granted they're glorified kickabouts but the evidence in front of my eyes is from the asme matches that most on here don't appear to have actually seen. I was at game and I can assure u teachers summary is exactly what happened and this is happy clapper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Mate of mine who went said Punch and JWP our best players, .Lambert and JRod hopeless up front and team has no pace All looks good for next sun then! Been a concern for a while now. I'm pretty concerned that we are going to start poorly as we haven't strengthened when we should have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itchen_dan Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Mate of mine who went said Punch and JWP our best players, .Lambert and JRod hopeless up front and team has no pace All looks good for next sun then! Hence the signing of Clyne and the pursuit of Matt Phillips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 That's the result of League 1 and Championship players trying to play as a Premier League side. No chance. Poor signings and delusional theories that we can compete ok. I think that's a bit harsh - Davis, Clyne, Jos, Fox, Lallana, J Rod and others are capable of playing at PL level. I think Rickie will be but not playing this system and we might be better off saving him for home games. The jury is out on others. However, I think 'happy clappers' and 'bed wetters' alike have reached a consensus that we're probably 4-5 players short still of being competitive and having the opportunity to stay at this level in 2013/14 and that we badly need pace in wide and offensive areas. Nigel said we'd reinforce more heavily if some part of the squad couldn't hack a tough pre-season which I'm sure was selected for a reason. Let's see what the club come up with before the Wigan game which I'm very much looking forward to (and heading the opposite way past the traffic gridlock on the A35!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainchris Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Just got home from tonight's monstrosity! I am extremely worried about the coming season, I can't draw any positives from the game. To me it seems that the players don't want to play the system and thats evident in their approach. I can understand that we need to try out different ways to play but I feel that we should be building on the successes over the last two years in terms of our formation. We seem to have put all our eggs during preseason playing a system that doesn't work with the players we have. God help us next Sunday! I think you are forgetting that we played very ordinary football for the second half of last season and were often outplayed in midfield. This symptom would have been further exposed in the premier league - we had to change it. However we are playing this system of one up front without the energy or commitment to run for your life to support the lone striker when we have the ball. Without this total commitment the new system cannot work.......Of course we also need pace but how committed are we to put the energy into the system, this is my question. Also by now surely we know that playing Rodrigues out of position is not working. We have built a squad with a 442 basis of personnel and now we are playing to a different formation? Our 'standard' team seriously lacks pace as has been mentioned a thousand times yet still nothing happens to address this. If we are going to play a defensive formation we have to break quickly. Cork, Schniderlin, and Davis will never set the world alight and enable to break quickly. Also we will always ship long range goals with these guys sitting in positions that are away from opposition players that can affect the game. Ok Davis is new but the other two are not exactly ball winners - give me Hammond every day protecting the edge of the box - oopps Hammond is not popular on here is he....... To quote the olympic rowing coach - are our team individually as good as they can possibly be ? In this observation I would include the coaching team which continue to allow players to players to play within themselves and our central midfield are prime suspects in this regard which reflects on our coaching staff..... That should wind a few a few up......! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Hence the signing of Clyne and the pursuit of Matt Phillips. Thus far unsuccessful pursuit. Anyway I'm more concerned about our defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmore Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 It was worth going just to see the goals. The first two were outstanding. I want to see the fourth one again as that looked class too. We were beaten by a better side today. But we did have some good spells. Should have done better for the third goal as their striker should have been closed down immediately. Just one more observation- I know this was a friendly, but the ref was poor - we should have got a penalty in the first 5 mins. Their first two goals came from mistakes by Saints losing the ball / misplaced passes and the third came from a blatant foul on Rodriguez, which the ref did nothing about. Also, thought JWP looked a class player - he looks like he could become some player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WATERSIDEIFASAINT Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Thank christ for the olympics over the past couple of weeks which has at least distracted a lot of us away from worrying about Saints lack of signings. With one week to go very disappointed we haven't got a decent cb in and think we will be seriously embarassed at the etihad next Sunday. Reading and West Ham both look far more ready than us at this stage. Need three top quality signings unless we are heading for a very very long difficult season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dronskisaint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 I was at game and I can assure u teachers summary is exactly what happened and this is happy clapper. Having read the two negative and diminutive contributions you have made can I then conclude you are indeed a bedwetter then? Called as seen.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Having read the two negative and diminutive contributions you have made can I then conclude you are indeed a bedwetter then? Called as seen.. I paid for a season ticket and went tonight. It was rubbish tonight and I'm a bit concerned. Get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Clyne and Puncheon were useful and caused Udinese problems. Davis no chance with three goals all from a distance. The back four were ok with Fonte having his best game so far. Lambert looks a bit fitter but isolated. Where we do have real problems is the middle of the team. First of all the centre, Lallana, Schneiderlin and JWP in the first half. Schneiderlin unusually gave the ball away at times, Lallana was peripheral and the game tended to pass him by, JWP had a decent game and is nippier than the other two. We failed to close down the scorers and they had all the time in the world to line up their shots. We lacked the ability to break at pace. Rodriguez was tidy but didn't really do anything. Puncheon had one of his best games to date. We brought on Gazzaniga, Shaw, Davis and Sharp. Gazzaniga settling in nicely. Shaw looks useful but we were weaker with him at left back. Davis is a decent passer but lacks pace and wasn't an improvement on JWP. Sharp put himself about but lacked support. We were very pedestrian and whilst retaining the ball reasonably well didn't threaten. I can't remember the Udinese goalkeeper having to make a save. Lallana went to the left for the last ten minutes and looked much more at home. Guly was ok but by that time Udinese's second string were on the field. We have to find some pace from at least two midfielders or we will struggle to score. We had as much of the game as Udinese but they were like lightning on the break where all four goals came from. That's pretty much as I saw it too, no close link between the back 4 and midfield, no real pace from back to front in going forward when it mattered and we need to close down a lot faster in games that matter. I have more concerns now than before the game, but perhaps we should see how Man City and Wigan goes, not just the former. Anyone else notice Di Natale after he'd been subbed go over to the disabled section and hand his shirt over to a wheel chair fan, then sign autographs? Nice gesture, and to be fair, he got a lot of applause as he went of from the crowd. Both under 21 and first team get spanked 4-0 (at least)... Something on their minds? I have the dubious pleasure of doing that double this week - at least Sutton only cost me a fiver.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananaman Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 then your an idiot *you're Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Tel49 Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 What do you expect when you've got a championship defence playing against champions league players. Unless we get two class centre halves in we can expect more of the same this season. Hopefully this is a wake up call for all you clowns saying half of our team should be in the England squad and this is the best Saints team in history. These posts have passed me by. I really must spend more time on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 11 August, 2012 Share Posted 11 August, 2012 Could be a blessing in disguise this result, players may work harder this week as a result. Lets hope Citeh don't look too hot in their friendly today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the colonel Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 or the fact the olympics is on ? mo farah or saints preseason, no contest im afraid So true. Bought a ticket for tonight but didn't use it as I was in the Olympic Stadium. I've been to many sporting events, hundreds of football matches and none of them came even close to the exhilaration and excitement of 80,000 people cheering one person to get across the finishing line. Absolutely breathtaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Saint Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 (edited) Thank goodness the Olympics were on the Radio when we started the car to go home to avoid the chat on Solent. That tonight might prove to be a worthwhile lesson, getting spanked at home. Udinese were a team getting into their Stride in time for the CL qualifier looming large on their horizon, that said we were very laboured in our play and they read us like a book, we tried to play the suck out game to make holes for us to exploit, they just sat there and said were 2-0 up you can play the ball around in your own half as much as you want we don't care. Once again Clyne was very good as was Prowse, although when Davies replaced him the difference in experience was there to see. To be honest I just hope we were taking it easy, if not we are in trouble as we seemed to give Udinese an age to set themselves up to defend, Jason Puncheon is living a charmed life as his performance tonight was pretty poor Di Natale's first (sublime) goal came about as a result of Puncheon loosing possession, on the positive for Jason I was stunned to see a shot of his actually stay low. Next week is going to be the first time we find out how we actually play. The party is over its back to work folks. Edited 12 August, 2012 by John Boy Saint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_TOAST Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 just got home after being out on the town after the game and have to say this evenings performance was rather shocking and has me a bit worried. I took along my mate who is a chelsea supporter and he found our performance laughable, I didn't disagree with him. lots of negatives I took from the game and not many positiives, the fact I felt the need to drown my sorrows after is saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Man City last season were ridiculous at home. 18 wins and 1 draw. 55 goals scored (nearly 3 a game), 12 against. So they had an average score of a 3-1, except for 6 games which were 3-0. That's just an average. If this is anything to go by they could run up a cricket score against us. Definitely a shot in the arm for where we actually are as a team, and how far we have to go. It will be 2-2 against MC - feel it in me bones :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasgow_Saint Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Guly was shocking again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Guly was shocking again I know. He might as well not have been playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeySFC Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 HUGE over-reaction from this forum. It's only a friendly, I wasn't there so can't say how well/poorly we played, but it's just a training match to try things out and to get the players more match fitness for the upcoming season. Honestly not fussed atall by the result, there's only 4/5 teams in the Prem that are of Udinese's quality. Not expecting us to beat City (don't think anyone really is) but I'm confident we'll play well enough to beat Wigan on the 25th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRobbie Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 0-4!!? Oh dear. Defence needed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilippineSaint Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Its all a con job by Adkins and the team to get the rest of the premier league to underestimate us as much of the championship did last year. We will all be relishing the prospect of Champions league football this time next year after finishing runners up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Disappointing result tbh, attack mute again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostBoys Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 We had a lot of possession (60%?) but were very slow in moving the ball forward and the passing in the final third was dire. We were given a lesson in finishing by Di Natale who clearly had not been told it was a friendly. Udinese showed pace power and control which we did not. Well worth £20 if only to watch Di Natale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRichmond Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Could be a blessing in disguise this result, players may work harder this week as a result. Lets hope Citeh don't look too hot in their friendly today! What at ?? On NA's "formations" that are blatantly obvious to most absolute garbage ?? NA's "use" of JayRod is a prime example of wasting a talent. I'm surprised he hasn't played DeRidder in goal The only chance we have against Man City is if they havn't stopped laughing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle saint Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 This ad. appeared as I read the thread. Appropriate? Bedwetting Problems Everything You Need To Know About Child Bedwetting&how To Approach It http://www.drynites.co.uk Udinese very impressive -pace, power, commitment. Two superb strikes and clinical finishing. Having said that we didn't play badly and held our own for much of the game. However we didn't create much despite some neat build-up play. I was impressed by Clyne and thought his partnership with Puncheon worked well. Our left hand side (Fox and Rodriguez) didn't work at all - Fox constantly looking for cross-field passes rather than playing the ball down the left. During one break Rodriguez seemed to be making the point to Fox who did then play more balls down the left but to little effect - often his passes were misplaced or to a player under pressure. Why SFC would spend all that money on a player (Rodriguez) and then play him in a position where his abilities seem to be wasted is puzzling. Ward-Prowse caught the eye - he played with much energy and obviously has a bright future. We looked better in the second half - I was impressed by the pace of Shaw who on one occasion outsprinted di Natale over 30 yards - and di Natale is quick. Puzzled by earlier disparaging comments about Guly - personally I thought he played well particularly when he briefly appeared at inside left! Sharp looked more effective than Lambert; displayed greater mobility and tenacity. And all those requests for new centre backs? I thought Jos and José both played pretty well. In summary I think there are many question that remain unanswered. Were Saints playing flat out? Are we really going to use Rodriguez as a left wing? Is our midfield going to track back more effectively than they did last night? And (this is conjecture, not criticism) has Nigel adequate awareness of the quality we'll be facing this season and how to deal with it? And is he a fast learner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 How was sharp more effective than lambert? The guy hardly touched ball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint lard Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 What's the lowest points tally reached at the end of a premiership season? Might be worth a wager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Guly was shocking again let me just chip in that he was excellent in the Ajax game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 are we playing Rodriguez wide left just to make sure he gets game time so we have several strikers all match fit? The fact Phillips is being targeted suggests we are looking for a left winger and surely Lallana would be a better option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjii Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 I was at game and I can assure u teachers summary is exactly what happened and this is happy clapper. Rubbish. Our general play was pretty good but the problem is that Lambert and Rodriguez, and to a lesser extent, Lallana do not suit their current roles. Udinese are better than most Prem teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjii Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 How was sharp more effective than lambert? The guy hardly touched ball? Sharp used the ball better and put up more of a fight. Lambert was awful. Again. are we playing Rodriguez wide left just to make sure he gets game time so we have several strikers all match fit? The fact Phillips is being targeted suggests we are looking for a left winger and surely Lallana would be a better option? That has crossed my mind too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 are we playing Rodriguez wide left just to make sure he gets game time so we have several strikers all match fit? The fact Phillips is being targeted suggests we are looking for a left winger and surely Lallana would be a better option? Possibly he's holding the fort and getting match fit, though worth remembering that Jrod played quite a bit on the wing for Burnley. Another possibility is that Fox is the problem, not the system. That Fox just isn't getting the ball enough to Jrod or linking up well enough with him (Lallana found that out last season), so perhaps things would be better with a different fullback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALWAYS_SFC Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Jesus H Christ this forum is becoming a big whine fest again!! Staggering level of negativity! And the season hasn`t even started yet.... Match day threads are going to be bundle of fun... Really hope the team and the staff at SMS are not feeling as gloomy as some of you lot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanthemanfairoak Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 guly was shocking againbut na loves i`m waste of space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Guly bashing has starter again then? I didn't think he was that bad, plus he only had about 15 mins in the pitch. Udinese played at a high tempo so would have been difficult for even the best players in the world to come on an make an impression. At the end of the day the WHOLE TEAM were not good enough! I don't understand why individuals on here must insist on singling out certain players because of hatred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 What do you expect when you've got a championship defence playing against champions league players. Unless we get two class centre halves in we can expect more of the same this season. Hopefully this is a wake up call for all you clowns saying half of our team should be in the England squad and this is the best Saints team in history. Don't be daft. Champions league here we come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericofarabia Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Its all a con job by Adkins and the team to get the rest of the premier league to underestimate us as much of the championship did last year. We will all be relishing the prospect of Champions league football this time next year after finishing runners up again. A Pint of what he's drinking please barman .... and one of those funny smelling ciggies as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pangy Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 I am amazed that people expected us to beat a established Champs league side!! Udinese are a team in the same bracket as Man U/City/Arsenal so it was a good test to see how we would do against them,I would imagine that a lot of the players had one eye on the city game as well and didn't want to risk a injury. Remember that we have just done b2b promotions and have just played one of the best teams in Seria A,I would imagine they would beat most teams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericofarabia Posted 12 August, 2012 Share Posted 12 August, 2012 Compared to some of the numpties on here I'm a genius! Here you go matey ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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