Saints 2 Man United 3 - Post Match Reactions

[Jonnyboy]

So why when its Kelvin or Fonte they are a liability, but if its Jos and Clyne they are unlucky?

[Wes Tender]

No I dont see that at all, what I did see is VP of Man U lasting the whole game and scoring a hatrick.

 

Ok Lambert might of tired somewhat but AL and punch still seemed full of running and should have stayed as they were still a threat, you do see that don't you?

 

No, I don't. Sorry. Perhaps I was watching a different game to you. Lallana in particular had ceased doing very much that threatened that late on. You and others believe that the three of them presented more threat to the Man Utd defence than three fresh players. When late impact subs come on and change the game, then the manager is a genius tactically. When it fails, he is an idiot. The only thing I reckon was at fault, was the positioning of the subs. Jay Rod should have been in the middle, with the other two either side.

[Roger]

No, I don't. Sorry. Perhaps I was watching a different game to you. Lallana in particular had ceased doing very much that threatened that late on. You and others believe that the three of them presented more threat to the Man Utd defence than three fresh players. When late impact subs come on and change the game, then the manager is a genius tactically. When it fails, he is an idiot. The only thing I reckon was at fault, was the positioning of the subs. Jay Rod should have been in the middle, with the other two either side.

 

 

I think Adkins made some big errors today but hope he learns from them. We lost all our threats and I do think the three who came off were a lot more of a goal threat.

[melmacian_saint]

We played really well. However the substitutions were a clear shot in the foot.

 

You cannot want your team to defend and replace all your forward line without any real defensive introductions. You can't also do it when you're 15 minutes from the end of the game and a single goal up. Parking the bus should only happen at leasy in the 80th minute, and that has to involve bringing in a defensive player!

 

People blaming Fonte forget he hasn't bulldozed strikers twice in our penalty area. I don't think the players are to blame in this one. First goal was unlucky by Clyne. Then they scored from a rebound and got the momentum going. You could see it coming really. It was also RVP playing, not exactly Joe the striker...

 

I still do not understand why we kept the 3 midfield players on. They had a massive run at it and were probably even more tired than any of Lallana, Lambert or Puncheon. That was where we lost it really. We had no first line of pressure when ManU started throwing players at our final line of defence. Hopefully Adkins will learn.

[Sour Mash]

Thought we were excellent all told, real effort for the majority of the game, which makes it even more genuinely gutting we lost it like that.

 

I thought our middle three - Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse and Davis were outstanding. Davis I'd been a bit undecided on, he stepped up today. Ward-Prowse again showed how accomplished he was for a lad so young, Schneiderlin was probably my man of the match, gutted for the lad to be on the losing team; forget about his passing ability, the sheer amount of work he put in, broke up play, he was everywhere, excellent performance.

 

Has anyone seen Vidic and Ferdinand be as absolutely bossed as they were by Lambert today? Absolutely brilliant to watch was that.

 

Puncheon was excellent, as was Lallana.

 

I thought out centre backs actually did pretty well all told, apart from Hooiveld's stupid tackle for the penalty.

 

I know everyone on here loves Clyne, but I still think he's a fair way off the finished article - there is a lot of potential there, but he's on a big learning curve at the moment. Fox, I've said from a month after we bought him I don't rate the lad and nothing has changed. Comes back to my point on other threads- surely we should have invested in solid, dependable defenders and keepers in this transfer window? I know everyone enjoys the plaudits of us being plucky little Southampton, but that means f**k all at the end of the season. We'd done enough to shut that game off and should have won it.

 

Which brings me onto Adkins - mentioned elsewhere, but one of the worst execution of substitutions I've ever seen. Badly timed. Too many in a short period. What was he expecting out of Mayuka? To do the job of Lambert? Did Adkins even know what he'd be getting out of him apart from telling him to "run around a bit"? We stopped holding up the ball, stopped keeping possession. I understand the need for fresh legs to chase and close down their build up play, but you chuck on one player and see how that works. Probably the worst 10 mins in Adkins career.

 

Support from both sides was disappointing. From one who was at all out victories against them at the Dell in the 90s, we used to properly get the ground rocking and made a difference for those victories, just no-where near the same these days. Their lot were poor as well until the end when they got giddy with their stupid song and dance about RVP.

[Sour Mash]

No, I don't. Sorry. Perhaps I was watching a different game to you. Lallana in particular had ceased doing very much that threatened that late on. You and others believe that the three of them presented more threat to the Man Utd defence than three fresh players. When late impact subs come on and change the game, then the manager is a genius tactically. When it fails, he is an idiot. The only thing I reckon was at fault, was the positioning of the subs. Jay Rod should have been in the middle, with the other two either side.

Adkins is paid very well to get these things right. Today he got it wrong. No point pretending otherwise. He's still a very good manager.

[Sour Mash]

No complaints about the subs - we were defending from the front and needed fresh legs. Keeping Lambert, Punch and Lallana would have made little or no difference. Only grumble was that Jrod wasn't played down the middle and allowed to carry on Rickie's good work in the air.

 

While the focus is on our lack of defensive cover, today was crying out for an extra midfielder to come on. JWP, Davis and Schneiderlin looked cream-crackered and its no coincidence that Scholes was able to dictate play

more as the game went on and they couldn't close the lines. Cork is still to return but perhaps its an area we need to strengthen if we decide to pack the middle of the park again with high-energy, box-to-box CMs. For large spells, it worked a treat. Indeed, pretty sure NA would have brought another midfielder on instead of a forward if one had been available.

 

Morgan was MOTM by a country mile - particularly impressive was his ability to anticipate and break up play so far up the pitch - no doubt, having JWP and Davis around freed him to be more aggressive. That said, United were sloppy in possession.

 

Galling that two of their goals came from headers, not from pace or being opened up(though two balls over the top, one in the first half and one in the second, caught us flat-footed). Our inability to win headers predates this season and is perhaps not talked about enough on here. Do have my concerns about Yoshida as our only bit of CB biz- its huge gamble by us which suggests we missed out on a few targets.

 

IMO Fox didn't have his worst game by any means. The ref, though, had a poor game - never knew the advantage rule was meant to put teams at a disadvantage....

Fresh legs was an obvious option, but surely you could see how badly the subs were executed? Agree re the need for extra option in midfield - our bench gave us very little in terms of options, why have Lee, Mayuka and Rodriguez on the bench - I'm not his biggest fan, but Chaplow or dare I say Hammond would surely have been an option?

 

Agree re. Schneiderlin, absolute class he is.

 

Fox has been average at best since we signed him, no surprise he's struggling in the Prem.

 

The £7m we spent on Rodrigues could have gone on a solid CB, Keeper or Left Back, we'd have won today.

[Leicestersaint]

Our defence is simply not good enough - 8 goals shipped in 3 matches. Ugh.

[Special K]

The back line looked nervous yesterday and acted like they expected to be beaten late on. Davis is a good shot stopper, but not that good as a defence organiser and doesn't inspire too much confidence with some poor distribution. Poor old Foxy tried really hard but was caught out too often and Jose just looks, well, nervous. But the defensive performances against City and Utd have been very good generally and we wont face too many other forward lines with as much threat as those two. We will have more luck and will build confidence in forthcoming games, so not too worried about the start, bearing in mind the fixtures. However, we will have Davis, Fox and Fonte on the pitch for the next few months, barring injury, so to all the moaners, please resist the urge to give them grief on matchday, instead get behind them. It looks like they may struggle at times, but they're still the first choice and were integral to the team that got us to the PL and gave some the chance to whinge about how they are not good enough! All these lads (along with the manager) are learning about the PL, so we need to be behind them, not on their backs.

[alpine_saint]

Fresh legs was an obvious option, but surely you could see how badly the subs were executed? Agree re the need for extra option in midfield - our bench gave us very little in terms of options, why have Lee, Mayuka and Rodriguez on the bench - I'm not his biggest fan, but Chaplow or dare I say Hammond would surely have been an option?

 

Agree re. Schneiderlin, absolute class he is.

 

Fox has been average at best since we signed him, no surprise he's struggling in the Prem.

 

The £7m we spent on Rodrigues could have gone on a solid CB, Keeper or Left Back, we'd have won today.

 

Far too much common sense...

[alpine_saint]

Agree. Fox, Fonte and Kelvin are clearly the weakest links. NA knows it - that's why we were after the LB and 2nd CB and 2nd GK - guess we couldn't pull those deals off?

 

Thats simply not good enough. The SFC management have known for months these areas needed addressing. But no, we focused most of our transfer resources on sexy attacking options.

 

I'm not the greatest fan of Pardew, but credit where credits due - he built from the back first, I seem to recall.

[Rebel]

I think we did try to buy a keeper - Fraser Forster from Newcastle - but when he opted to stay at Celtic we didn't really have any idea who else to go for.

 

Our transfer negotiators and our scouting team needs massively improving before January

[Barry the Badger]

To anybody who boooed Guly coming on.

To anybody who got up and left at 2-2.

 

You don't deserve this team, you didn't deserve to see two promotions and you don't deserve to see your team stay up. You are idiots.

[Saint Fan CaM]

To anybody who boooed Guly coming on.To anybody who got up and left at 2-2.You don't deserve this team, you didn't deserve to see two promotions and you don't deserve to see your team stay up. You are idiots.

Absolutely agree with this. Couldn't believe the number of plastics pouring out down the aisles when they scored the 2nd with so much time left.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

To anybody who boooed Guly coming on.

To anybody who got up and left at 2-2.

 

You don't deserve this team, you didn't deserve to see two promotions and you don't deserve to see your team stay up. You are idiots.

 

This 100%...should be ashamed

[fanimal]

Any good gardener/farmer knows you do not see a field full of harvest until you have seen barren ground and then green tender shoots. Do not tread on them.

 

Storming, forming, norming performing. We are getting there. Patience people.

[wireframebox]

I really hope Adkins isn't going to persist with Mayuka in the middle. Surely Jay Rod should have gone Center, with Mayuka and Guly out wide?

 

Fitness... We were all Knackered with 20 minutes to play!?

 

Get that sorted and we'll be fine.

[Wes Tender]

Our defence is simply not good enough - 8 goals shipped in 3 matches. Ugh.

 

This really is an insane comment. We weren't playing ordinary teams where we shipped 6 of those goals. We were playing the Champions and the second placed team who were last year's champions.

[scotty]

Our defence is simply not good enough - 8 goals shipped in 3 matches. Ugh.

 

...which would have been 10 if SKD hadnt saved two penalties......

[GazzerMaBoy]

Any good gardener/farmer knows you do not see a field full of harvest until you have seen barren ground and then green tender shoots. Do not tread on them.

 

Storming, forming, norming performing. We are getting there. Patience people.

 

I wholeheartedly concur. I agree having no points on the board yet is worrying but I'm still confident successes are just around the corner.

 

.... and as for the mass exodus when United equalised... disgraceful...!!!

[alpine_saint]

This really is an insane comment. We weren't playing ordinary teams where we shipped 6 of those goals. We were playing the Champions and the second placed team who were last year's champions.

 

Yet our worst performance was against the other "ordinary" team. We raised our game against the Manchesters because of who they are.

[Saint Charlie]

I really hope Adkins isn't going to persist with Mayuka in the middle. Surely Jay Rod should have gone Center, with Mayuka and Guly out wide?

 

Fitness... We were all Knackered with 20 minutes to play!?

 

Get that sorted and we'll be fine.

 

Errr Mayuka is a central striker, thats his position.

 

Re fitness we pressed them so hard that no matter the fitness levels you are going to tire...thats why subs needed to be made. Lambert definitly needed to go off but the two midfielders seemed ok. If Cork had been available he would have come on I think, JWP and Davis were very tired and they were able to come so close to our goal down the middle before being challenged.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Errr Mayuka is a central striker, thats his position.

 

Re fitness we pressed them so hard that no matter the fitness levels you are going to tire...thats why subs needed to be made. Lambert definitly needed to go off but the two midfielders seemed ok. If Cork had been available he would have come on I think, JWP and Davis were very tired and they were able to come so close to our goal down the middle before being challenged.

 

You are correct about Rickie he was knackered understandably so after his top class graft against Vuduka and Ferdinand but imo

Adam looked all in but thought Punch looked ok...

[Gingeletiss]

Fergie on the radio gave us credit and said it took Paul Scholes, ( the most experienced, and possibly still the best, midfielder in the country ), to turn the game. Also, plenty of comments praising Saints and supporting Nigel, and quite right too.

 

This............for all those knocking our manager, read this, as it is the real reason we lost.....oh! And the two F's as well.

[JackFrost]

K Davis - 6 - Pulled off some good saves but his shocking distribution nearly gifted Man U two goals on its own

Clyne - 7 - Thought he was very good apart from the slip

Hooiveld - 7 - Silly penalty to give away but excellent otherwise

Fonte - 5 - Ok until we 2-1 up and then started to panic

Fox - 5 - Mediocre

Schneiderlin - 9 - Absolutely superb and got a thoroughly deserved goal. Great composure and finish.

S Davis - 8 - Excellent, worked very hard and stopped them playing for large periods

Ward-Prowse - 8 - See Davis, this lad looks a real prospect

Lallana - 7 - Some good touches and linked up well

Puncheon - 9 - Regularly made good runs and was a real threat, one of the best performances I've seen from him in a Saints shirt

Lambert - 10 - Made Vidic look like a non-league player all game, should never have been taken off

(Rodriguez - 78' ) - 5 - got forward well, a little naive defensively

(Mayuka - 74') - 6 - largely ineffective but made one good run that won us an attacking free kick

(Guly - 75' ) - 4 - I've defended him previously but unimpressed, would have preferred a knackered Lambert to stay on

 

Adkins - 6 - Been more of a match for both Mancini and Fergie tactically, but got the subs all wrong

[derry]

Unless you are going to man mark Scholes from his own half, you really don't stand much of a chance. Scholes just by passed the midfield with the accuracy of his long passing and our arses suddenly went along with that introduction. A few teams cancel him out but hardly any of the lower clubs. Our biggest cause of the turn around came when we stopped playing the ball out. Panic set in from Fonte and everyone started to try and lash it any where.

 

The substitutions made sense, Mayuka the pace machine goes up the middle to try and catch them on the break, Guly goes over and shores up the right. I still can't get the numpties blaming Guly, it was other positions that caused the problem. The only thing I would say about the subs is it would have been nice to have brought on Cork. The only question that needs answering was did we need to change out those players, had they got little left in the tank?

 

I've just been scanning through the thread and wondering why nobody was picking up on Scholes. I felt yesterday when he came on that we should step hard on Scholes and Carrick their central playmakers to stop Utd controlling the game. Instead of marking them tight we retreated in front of them allowing their runners to cause us problems.

 

Fox has a major fault when he comes inside he never checks to his left or behind, for the first goal he drifted in marking space, Valencia drifted wide received the ball laid in the cross to the far post for VP, Fox had lost him. For the second goal Rodriguez was left to mark two, Guly was asleep and Fox was in the six yard box, FFS it's the defenders job to close the winger down not leave it to two forwards.

 

Fonte looks as though he is struggling to cope and his rushed sliced clearances and general lack of composure plus particularly his unawareness of VP moving for the third goal is indicative of that.

 

The ckickens are finally coming home to roost with Kelvin Davis pretty much in the same category as Fonte.

 

Schneiderlin has always looked that he had the tools to be a really good midfield player but spoilt it for me by playing in a low key comfort zone. Yesterday he stepped out of that comfort zone, got up the field and showed what he could really achieve if he gave it a go. All the other starting players played really well.

 

The substitutions at the time were probably sensible to give us fresh legs but I do question the logic. JR needed to be central probably with Mayuka or Lee whilst somebody needed to walk all over Scholes.

Edited 3 September, 2012 by derry

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Disappointed, but not unexpected result really. Nerves of steel required as we get over this ****fest of a start and start picking up points. International break then Arsenal away. the suffering ain't gonna end anytime soon. Stay strong.

[alpine_saint]

Why are so many defecating themselves over the Arsenal game ?

 

If we can make the two Manchesters panic in previous games, then over the next two weeks ease in our signings, get Fox and Fonte to get their sh*t together (as far as they can) or pick up a free agent or two for the defence, and NA also has a bit of a re-think about his substitutions and this odd strategy of playnig everyone up front except Rickie out-of-position, we can definitely give them a run-for-their-money.

[derry]

I think that's as much an issue as the players trying to play it.

 

Jos and Fonte often seem unsure who's taking whom, and the "decision time" is time we can't afford at this level. We know that Clyne is struggling with higher balls hit to the far post but if RVP comes into his "zone", it's his job to mark him.

 

I hate it but I'm sure there's a good reason for playing it. At least I think there is.

 

Bill, it's not the zonal marking it's the fact that nobody went for the ball. At corners etc our best headers of the ball have to forget about marking space/players and bloody well get to the ball first.

[Frank's cousin]

Why are so many defecating themselves over the Arsenal game ?

 

If we can make the two Manchesters panic in previous games, then over the next two weeks ease in our signings, get Fox and Fonte to get their sh*t together (as far as they can) or pick up a free agent or two for the defence, and NA also has a bit of a re-think about his substitutions and this odd strategy of playnig everyone up front except Rickie out-of-position, we can definitely give them a run-for-their-money.

 

Just a few Ifs, there Alps but agreed

[Frank's cousin]

Bill, it's not the zonal marking it's the fact that nobody went for the ball. At corners etc our best headers of the ball have to forget about marking space/players and bloody well get to the ball first.

 

Agreed, they need to take that responsibilty and get to it.

[alpine_saint]

Just a few Ifs' date=' there Alps but agreed[/quote']

 

There are, but looking at where we are now and recognising that NA is a good manager, they should be fundamental parts of the next two weeks preparations and eminently achievable.

[bridge too far]

Good article in the Guardian today (can't see that it's been posted yet)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/sep/02/southampton-manchester-united-survival

[alpine_saint]

Good article in the Guardian today (can't see that it's been posted yet)

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/sep/02/southampton-manchester-united-survival

 

Yes, good article.

 

We are in a pretty good position, plenty to be positive about but need to start getting some points soon.

[david in sweden]

it seems as though we all watched the same game with different viewpoints (as usual).

It was encouraging to see us contain the first 10 minute onslaught, when United came at us full throttle. When we came into the game we looked smoother midfield and Lambert did make Vidic and

Ferdinand look like unfit non leaguers. I wonder what Alex Ferguson would have said about them, had MU lost and he didn't have the chance to praise RVP to the skies.

 

For our part ..JP was in another class to the trouble-torn player he was in the Spring - great cross for Lambert 's goal (memories of Ron Davies...for fans who were never lucky enough to see him play).

CAPTAIN Adam Lallana really does look class now, but (as in Wigan game) he had several goal chances that he might have put away, and it would have eased the scoreline.

Schneiderlin was superb and his first home goal was well overdue, and 17 y.o. JWP lasted the 94 mins. very well .. considering the class of opposition.

 

Sadly, I must come back to my misgivings about Fonte at the back. On the ball he shows skill, and accuracy but at times he looked as though he was moving in slow motion....his back passes frighten me every time.

He either under-hits, or plays them too short, leaving KD in no-mans land. Fox was a bit better and Clyne looked class - apart from his wrong boots in first half when he slipped and let RVP in for goal 1. I think Hooiveld is OK, but some of his " hard-man" tackles are poorly-timed and when a Prem. striker goes down in the box - it's a penalty every time, (foul or not.)

 

it's a poor start, but no other team has such a hard start in the first month, and Wigan looked dead and buried last January have turned out to be a tougher proposition than their final 2011/12 position.

 

I'm sure that Nicola Cortese feels concerned at present, but for older fans who recall those 1990's " survival seasons " and the Great Escape - it's nothing new . (I'm sure we'll turn it around soon).

 

When we were - 10 points and bottom of L1, he talked about a five year plan to the Prem. some people thought he was crazy.

 

Starting at the bottom - once again, the idea of 5 year plan to Euro football doesn't sound so daft. Interesting to think we may be spending much of the season fighting Liverpool - to avoid relegation!

Edited 3 September, 2012 by david in sweden

[SaintDan]

The key thing with the substituitions today was it was 3 attackers for 3 attackers when we needed the midfield/defence tightening up in the last 10 mins...... I've no doubt if Cork was fit he would have replaced one of the forwards but it surprises me Chaplow isn't on the bench, he might not be Premiership standard but his remit would have been play your heart out for 20 mins and break up the play which was clearly where we had Utd shaking throughout the game with Morgan and S Davis nicking the ball time after time in midfield.

 

Adkins has way exceeded any expectation and got us playing great football but big mistake yesterday bringing on Guly (the ever reliable scapegoat) and Mayuka who's English is probably very minimal. Even if we'd left Lambert on his last legs I think he would have been there marking Ferdinand for the corner?

 

I fancy another similar performance against Arsenal where we could get something if we play like we did today but its the Wigan & the like games where we need to pick up the wins, top 6 is a bonus.

 

In summary if we'd have been offered this goal difference after the first 3 games I think we'd have taken it any day, just a shame we didnt get the win against Wigan.

[david in sweden]

.... and Mayuka who's English is probably very minimal.

 

I agree with most of the rest of your text but Mayuka grew up in Tanzania, a former British colony where (as in Kenya) he would surely have learned English in school.

 

After his sojourn in Israel ..and Switzerland (where English) is second / third languages, I'd guess he's been speaking English most of the time.

 

Need to wait for an interview with him to see if I'm right. My guess is that he's fairly good.

[SaintDan]

Agreed I am only making an assumption on Mayuka but still day 2 into a new job its a big ask, I did have visions of a Paolo Wanchope vs Utd debut performance but hopefully more to come from him!

[surrey1saint]

To anybody who boooed Guly coming on.

To anybody who got up and left at 2-2.

 

You don't deserve this team, you didn't deserve to see two promotions and you don't deserve to see your team stay up. You are idiots.

 

Couldn't agree more....morons!

[tajjuk]

Have to say the reaction to the substitutions is over the top, we didn't loose that game because of the subs.

 

Subs where needed, and Lambert, Lallana and Punch were all candidates due to the work rates they had put in. However changing all 3 was probably an error, we needed some fresh legs in the middle and had Cork been on the bench then I would have imagined he would have come on. I would have also like to have seen Lee come on instead of Guly, we all know Guly has qualities but work rate and defensive awareness are not amongst them, Lee would have continued the good hassling work that Lallana did on the left hand side and might have got out to stop the cross for the last goal. Also Jay Rod should have gone up the middle.

 

What cost us the game was poor defensive positioning and marking.

 

The entire back 5 were to blame:-

 

- Clyne was probably the best of the bunch but his slip was costly and really was an unprofessional mistake, as Jamie Redknapp said at half time, you go on the pitch beforehand, test out the ground and choose the most suitable boots/stud, even I do this at Sunday league level. Even with the slip though is positioning is generally poor and most times he gets out jail because he has the pace to recover. I liken him a lot to Micah Richards.

 

- Fonte seems to be getting most of the stick here, again his marking is poor and he seems to make rash/pressurised decisions as he gets more tired. I thought for most of the game he was generally tidy and efficient, but as we see, when it gets to the last 10-15 minutes he seems knackered and his decisions/reactions reflect this. Fitness issue or just can;t quite keep up with the pace of the prem?

 

- Hooiveld, again looked ok and coped for most of the game, but at times looks clumsy and rushed. Whilst KD caused the penalty situation the tackle was an absolute horror show, there was no need to make a tackle like that in the box with RVP facing away from goal.

 

- Fox, well what to be said, just doesn't look up to it, wasn't sure when to be forward or back, seemed a lot more nervous in possession than anyone else and was reluctant to close down Valencia (fear of being beaten easily?). We have no other options and I can't see Shaw doing any worse so it might be worth giving him a go.

 

- Kelvin, not really at fault for any of the goals but for me a top class keeper might have saved the 1st and 3rd (straight down the middle), he again looks nervous not holding shots and his distribution put us in trouble twice. Whilst I think it is good that we are trying to build form the back, if Kelvin is up to it then we should keep it simple.

 

Overall though the worrying thing for me about the defence is the lack of leadership and co-ordination, all the players seem to be nervous and are worrying about their own game, at times they all look like they are defending as if they are own their own. Hopefully Yoshida has some leadership comm skills and is confident enough in his own ability that this will rub off on the other players.

 

The positives:-

 

- The formation looked good with the right players in the right positions. Lallana wide looked good, Lambert showed he can lead the line on his own, Puncheon has a new lease of life, with Mayuka and Ramirez to settle in I am confident we cna cause trouble to any defence in this league.

 

- The midfield 3 were excellent, with Cork to come back as well we are well served here. JWP is going to be a top player and deserves to keep his spot. Morgan oozed class.

[Sour Mash]

I agree with most of the rest of your text but Mayuka grew up in Tanzania, a former British colony where (as in Kenya) he would surely have learned English in school.

 

After his sojourn in Israel ..and Switzerland (where English) is second / third languages, I'd guess he's been speaking English most of the time.

 

Need to wait for an interview with him to see if I'm right. My guess is that he's fairly good.

There was an interview with him on Saints Player end of last week. His English is fine.

[Saint86]

Thats simply not good enough. The SFC management have known for months these areas needed addressing. But no, we focused most of our transfer resources on sexy attacking options.

 

I'm not the greatest fan of Pardew, but credit where credits due - he built from the back first, I seem to recall.

 

Wasn't Lambert one of his very first signings?

[Saint86]

Also we build from the back. Hence the penalty....

[Appy]

Wasn't Lambert one of his very first signings?

 

To be fair to Alpine, he signed Harding and Murty first I think.

[RedArmy]

We had no idea how to deal with Scholes when he came on, that was our biggest problem.

[jam]

To be fair to Alpine, he signed Harding and Murty first I think.

 

Jaidi was also lined up and waiting on a work permit, while Trotman and Hammond came in soon after Rickie.

[Armchair]

Positives

 

1. Puncheon played well and actually had a bit of pace about him when cutting in.

2. Another goal from midfield which will be key this season. All 3 midfielders can pass, defend and get into box.

3. Ward- Prowse very good game especially first half.

4. Good passing throughout team except for Kelvin!

5. Lambert again proving what a quality player he is.

 

 

Negatives

 

1. Fonte not up to standard, panics and switches off far too often

2. Fox not tight enough to wide players allowing too many crosses to come into box. 2 goals from due to crosses from that side.

3. Davis Distribution woeful

4. Personnel on subs bench were not suited to coming on when trying to hold onto lead. They were more for chasing game which I guess Adkins was perhaps anticipating as we were playing Man United!!

5. Dropped too deep allowing Scholes to dictate game when he came on. A man marking job on Scholes would of been a good ploy.

[Saint_clark]

To anybody who boooed Guly coming on.

To anybody who got up and left at 2-2.

 

You don't deserve this team, you didn't deserve to see two promotions and you don't deserve to see your team stay up. You are idiots.

 

I'd wager that most of them didn't.

[Saint_clark]

To be fair to Alpine, he signed Harding and Murty first I think.

 

Pardew always talked in interviews about building a team from the back. Alpine is right on this one.

[Saint Bones]

A shame.. I thought we were a very good team tonight... Just couldn't get that extra goal and/or hold on.

 

Can only take this attitude into our next games and press for points.

 

Still a bit dubious about our defence - The again we have challenged the 2 Manchester teams ....

 

Feeling a bit low....but know if we take this attitude into every game from now on we should survive.