Arsenal 6 - 1 Saints - Post Match Reaction

[The9]

good lord......hwo on earth can anyone have a pop at Kelvin for not saving the free kick? No keeper would have saved it......what is it with you plastics that are forever looking for a scapegoat?

 

It wasn't much of a freekick, about half way to the middle of the goal. Maybe he was unsighted, but I don't really think it was a big mistake in the grand scheme of things.

[Sour Mash]

Fox is a donkey playing a stallions job. Average-good at Championship level, but Prem level passes him by like a mobility scooter going past Farton park! Shaw needs blooding soon, and Fox needs some more pace and awareness (not likely). Maybe a bit knee-jerk, but he was a liability back end of last season. Will need 1-2 class CB's and RB+ LB. Overall didnt expect much from this game bit got worse!!!

Clyne got skinned plenty.

[Thedelldays]

Clyne got skinned plenty.

4 goals came from their left side......yet fox is at fault

[Glasgow_Saint]

Just watched MOTD KD cost us the game

[Thedelldays]

Just talking about the game on the radio

They panel talking are convinced we are toast as kelvin is never ever going to be good enough

 

They said a good keeper does not have to cost a great deal... Ben foster as an example and they are worth points on the board.... Kelvin is going to be worth negative points for saints in their opinion.

[Jonnyboy]

Just watched MOTD KD cost us the game

 

yeah with Gazzanigga we wouldve won 0-1

[James]

6-1 - Arsenal destroyed us which was completely expected. The defence got murdered by the pace of Gervinio and Chamberlain again that was to be expected.

 

I don't mind taking a hammering but the manner in which it happened was the most worrying thing - we did not dispossess the midfield runner once the entire game, the defence will look bad because of the goals conceded but the midfield simply did not do its job today, Morgan was as anonymous and poor as I've ever seen him, and whilst JWP looks promising he isn't the midfield ball winner we need at this point in time. Don't really know why we signed Davis either as he was utter garbage.

 

There are plenty more games to go, and as many have said it isn't these games which get you relegated.

 

But...we have major problems at the back and KD needs to go (not that we have anyone to replace him with but he simply isn't up to it). We need to be in touch in Jan and strengthen the defence because we won't keep any clean sheets at our current standard. Our full backs (Fox especially) are getting rinsed and our positioning (in general) is absolutely terrible.

 

This might sound a bit odd but something just feels 'wrong' about this season:

 

- We are playing a formation we clearly aren't comfortable with and don't have the players for

- We are playing players in positions they've barely played before (AL as a CM)

- JWP has come out of nowhere and is now first choice midfielder (fair play to the lad, but has he improved that significantly over the summer? Yet he was absolutely nowhere near the team nor the bench in the Championship last season. He's going to be a good player that's for sure but throwing him in as we have is irresponsible I think)

- We totally and utterly failed to strengthen the defence and goalkeeper positions when it was blindingly obvious we were going to get caught out with our current CBs/FBs.

- We signed two new strikers despite the fact we are going to play a system which requires only 1 out and out centre forward.

- We've managed to sign GR, which whilst an amazing coup smacks of an NC signing - is there any truth in these suggestions that NA was refused the targets he actually wanted in favour of more 'glamourous' players.

 

It just seems that our strategy over the summer was ill thought out and not very carefully planned, if we were going to play the system we are now then I don't understand some of our signings in the window at all.

 

Hope it's not too late to sort it all out and we will improve and pick up some points, but this game exposed some very obvious limitations which we knew we had already and cannot now be rectified until January.

[stu0x]

Just talking about the game on the radio

They panel talking are convinced we are toast as kelvin is never ever going to be good enough

 

They said a good keeper does not have to cost a great deal... Ben foster as an example and they are worth points on the board.... Kelvin is going to be worth negative points for saints in their opinion.

Jonathan Wilson (very well respected journalist and 'tactical genius') said similar on Football Weekly last week... said that Kelvin Davis would make enough mistakes to relegate Saints by himself

[DT]

I've been saying the same about Kelvin Davis for years but there are lot of people on here blind to his inadequacies. Now his legs have gone it's surely time to send him to the knackers yard? Surely even he knows he's not good enough? *waits for someone to say something about his penalty save against United. Which my gran could have saved*

[Norm]

I've been saying the same about Kelvin Davis for years but there are lot of people on here blind to his inadequacies. Now his legs have gone it's surely time to send him to the knackers yard? Surely even he knows he's not good enough? *waits for someone to say something about his penalty save against United. Which my gran could have saved*

 

Is your gran doing anything next Saturday?

[Shroppie]

LB was clearly seen as an area up strengthen in the summer. We almost got Buttner, except for standing on principles, and the extra £500k or whatever it was that we wouldn't find and Man U would will cost us dear. I would say 3 or 4 goals already. The same can be said of GK and CB.

 

The problem seems that we had targets but not the influence or clout to persuade them to come. That's NA's (and, in England, at least NC's)

 

I'm not advocating sacking NA for a "big name" but this is the area where we have a problem. Wonder whether we need another figure in the club's management, well established in the game, with contacts to head up transfers in, leaving NA to run coaching and day-to-day team management.

[Suomi Saint]

I watched the game on TV here in Qatar and I am not as depressed as many on here. We were undone too many times by losing the ball in midfield and became stretched. That is why Arsenal picked us off easily. To blame Davis, Fox, and Clyne is a bit short sighted. True, we don't know how to defend at the moment, but it is as a team. I quite enjoyed the match once the result was never in doubt. The spell Saints had in the 2nd half was very good. Ramirez oozed class. The Japanese guy was fairly comfortable on the ball, but he is not a PL centre back by any stretch of the imagination. Most likely, we are heading for the abyss, for the reasons we have all known about for a long time, but there is still plenty of time to turn it around. Nigel has got to rethink his strategy and enlist the help of a defensive coach. We can't outplay teams for 90 minutes, and we are so vulnerable when we lose possession. He is too attack minded, and we know what happened to the "Charge of the Light Brigade."

[SuperMikey]

4 goals came from their left side......yet fox is at fault

 

Puncheon's fault for those goals, left Gibbs in far too much space and doubled up on Clyne's man. His marking and general performance was f*cking dreadful yesterday.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

What a savaging!

 

I thought that Fox and Fonte played far better than they have so far this season, albeit in a unit that shipped 6 goals.

 

The real shocker for me was how appallingly bad Lallana was. Absolutely awful. even Guly has not played nearly that badly this year.

 

I lost count of how many turnovers came off Lallana's feet today. Worst player on the pitch - and that's hard for me to say as I rate him highly. Even bought my son a Lallana

Saints shirt this Summer.

 

100% agree, Lallana was v poor and gave Fox no cover

[View From The Top]

This might sound a bit odd but something just feels 'wrong' about this season:

 

Been saying this for a while. To me it feels like it did before Pardew was sacked.

[austsaint]

I'm sure others have made this observation in earlier posts but on a deflating day for SFC I thought Fonte had one of his best games for the club. Oh, and Ramirez....a ray of hope for games to come.

[Turkish]

Just talking about the game on the radio

They panel talking are convinced we are toast as kelvin is never ever going to be good enough

 

They said a good keeper does not have to cost a great deal... Ben foster as an example and they are worth points on the board.... Kelvin is going to be worth negative points for saints in their opinion.

 

Too true Jamie. Just look at the difference Niemi made. Jones was competent but Niemi was on another level and worth 10-15 points a season. As I've said many times the goalkeepers and centre backs are the most important positions on the pitch and what everything else is built on, don't concede you don't lose. Unfortunately none of our players in those positions are good enough.

[aintforever]

Just talking about the game on the radio

They panel talking are convinced we are toast as kelvin is never ever going to be good enough

 

They said a good keeper does not have to cost a great deal... Ben foster as an example and they are worth points on the board.... Kelvin is going to be worth negative points for saints in their opinion.

 

Agree, when you are Southampton in the Prem a top keeper is vital. We've shown their value down the years, from Shilton to FLowers to Neimi.

 

I applaud Adkins for giving kelvin a chance but we should have forked out for top quality, experienced backup.

[saint michael]

There are really two options, buy a team with prem exprience, or let them get it.

 

We not only have a team lacking prem experience but a manager who is learning too. The question is how quickly are they going to learn, are they going to be good enough and what can we do now to make a difference.

 

It is quite confusing because I think the squad looks delicate and at times men versus boys, and for short spells looks capable but never giving you confidence it can last.

 

I would sign Craig Gordon or put Gazza in, not sure it can be more risky than leaving him in and watching the games disappear. I think Adkins was tough on Hammond and needs to be tough on Kelvin. Being an ex keeper probably isnt helping us here.

 

Defence we can do little about until Jan now. I thought Yoshida did ok and looks good prospect, all others including Clyne looks shaky. I think team will target Clyne as indeed we did last year.

 

Midfield, if it is 5 when defending then it needs to be 5 not 3 as it was yesterday, they will not have a chance otherwise and will make the defence look even worse.

 

Forwards is the least worry for me although the midfield plays a big part in making this work too., so let

 

I also believe as fans we will have a big part to play and somehow need to stay together as we watch this play out as difficult it is, so noise and support will make a difference...

 

And as for Nigel as you say mate there is no place to hide. There are no easy games and villa will come at us and be no different than we faced with Wigan so we will soon find out.

 

As an older supporter I have seen grim imes so working hard to keep the faith

[Flyer]

Just talking about the game on the radio

They panel talking are convinced we are toast as kelvin is never ever going to be good enough

 

They said a good keeper does not have to cost a great deal... Ben foster as an example and they are worth points on the board.... Kelvin is going to be worth negative points for saints in their opinion.

 

They dont have to cost anything, I watch Julio Cesar make his debut and that mean the 1st clean sheet of the season. He was free and not even on large wages.

 

We went from conceded 5 against Swansea to conceding 0 against Chelsea and the defences demeanour totally changed, they were all nervous in front of Green but played very well in front of Cesar. It looks like Saints are suffering from the same problems.

[up and away]

This was on the cards and further combinations of our first 4 games will be played out over the season. All the signs were there, just the flattery from the Manchester clubs managed to fool many. When you don't have the best players you can compensate by bringing a physical edge to the game. We don't have that in our locker but we do have the poor players, making it easy for the opposition in playing football "the right way". The players and staff just did not realise the magnitude that the Premier is. Lulled by Norwichs achievements we brought a NPC team from League 1 to the Premier and imagined we could do the same. There seems just far too much work to do with these players and a management who have been left flat footed.

 

So many poor performances it is of little value to go through them all but when Kelvin sets his wall and positions himself for the free kick in such a manner it is obviously wrong. When you position everything in such a manner you are just relying on the free kick taker not to be able to get the ball up and down over the wall. Looked immediately wrong before the kick and a fait accompli before the kick.

 

Getting established in the Premier is a very difficult task and to be expected. If we have a trip back to the NPC I don't see that as a problem in the grand scheme of things. Not going to grizzle any more over this horrible result but I can easily see this season as very difficult to take on a personal level and just hope we have enough flashes of light to make the journey enjoyable.

[OldNick]

I've been saying the same about Kelvin Davis for years but there are lot of people on here blind to his inadequacies. Now his legs have gone it's surely time to send him to the knackers yard? Surely even he knows he's not good enough? *waits for someone to say something about his penalty save against United. Which my gran could have saved*

you were wrong then, but at this moment in time KD does not seem up to it this season

[Alanh]

If we had played those four matched throughout the season and got zero points from them rather than in the first four games them few people would be panicking. IMO the time to be convcerned is if we are more than 3 points adrift at the bottom after 10 games.

 

Yesterday I thought the real problem was in midfield where Arsenal, especially Cazorla, were allowed too much time on the ball and as a result were able to play through us in little triangles. They obviously have much better players than us in this area of the pitch and so it was disappointing that we didn't seem to have a strategy (or implement a strategy) to counter their fluid play. On the odd occasion that our midfield got the ball we conceded possession too easily and aften in our own half and as a result of both of the above our defence were under almost constant pressure in the first half.

 

The big test comes in the next four matches. We need to pick up points and get a couple of clean sheets. That will help the confidence levels and give some of the newer players the chance to settle into the system.

[JackFrost]

I think KD definitely deserved a final chance in the PL because he has been a fantastic servant for us but it is becoming evident that he simply isn't good enough. The free kick and their 4th I don't actually think he was at fault for, I think the free kick had deceiving pace and the wicked deflection off Clyne would have wrong footed anyone, but at this level he has always been unconvincing at best.

 

It's the same problems as well, his inability to come off his line to any degree and his distribution. Their third goal yesterday, I 'd have thought it'd be basic practise to come out a couple of yards/make yourself big to cover the angle as Gervinho shot. But he didn't. He pretty much stood there like a lemon and sat on his arse. For their 5th it was almost the same story but the shot came off the post and the rebound was put in.

 

We have to look at a loan GK in January - someone who can dominate his area and give the defence some confidence, Pantilimon from City?

[Mowgli]

LB was clearly seen as an area up strengthen in the summer. We almost got Buttner, except for standing on principles, and the extra £500k or whatever it was that we wouldn't find and Man U would will cost us dear. I would say 3 or 4 goals already. The same can be said of GK and CB.

 

The problem seems that we had targets but not the influence or clout to persuade them to come. That's NA's (and, in England, at least NC's)

.

 

I'm not advocating sacking NA for a "big name" but this is the area where we have a problem. Wonder whether we need another figure in the club's management, well established in the game, with contacts to head up transfers in, leaving NA to run coaching and day-to-day team management.

 

Sorry. Man u have a player with attitude and it will come out in time. We did the right thing to stop negotiations. We signed 2 keepers and 2 defenders. Yoshida can play left back or centre back. I thought fox was unfit yesterday and played a fairly static role by his standards. As someone else said our problem was down the right. Interestingly , the programme notes yesterday identified Clyne as someone who was easier to beat with an air ball than on the ground. Despite that he is a class act.

 

Can't find much comment on Walcott and Chambo coming over to the fans at he end of he game. Nice touch

[Dalek2003]

LB was clearly seen as an area up strengthen in the summer. We almost got Buttner, except for standing on principles, and the extra £500k or whatever it was that we wouldn't find and Man U would will cost us dear. I would say 3 or 4 goals already. The same can be said of GK and CB.

 

The problem seems that we had targets but not the influence or clout to persuade them to come. That's NA's (and, in England, at least NC's)

 

I'm not advocating sacking NA for a "big name" but this is the area where we have a problem. Wonder whether we need another figure in the club's management, well established in the game, with contacts to head up transfers in, leaving NA to run coaching and day-to-day team management.

 

Glenn Hoddle springs to mind.

[shurlock]

This was on the cards and further combinations of our first 4 games will be played out over the season. All the signs were there, just the flattery from the Manchester clubs managed to fool many. When you don't have the best players you can compensate by bringing a physical edge to the game. We don't have that in our locker but we do have the poor players, making it easy for the opposition in playing football "the right way". The players and staff just did not realise the magnitude that the Premier is. Lulled by Norwichs achievements we brought a NPC team from League 1 to the Premier and imagined we could do the same. There seems just far too much work to do with these players and a management who have been left flat footed.

 

So many poor performances it is of little value to go through them all but when Kelvin sets his wall and positions himself for the free kick in such a manner it is obviously wrong. When you position everything in such a manner you are just relying on the free kick taker not to be able to get the ball up and down over the wall. Looked immediately wrong before the kick and a fait accompli before the kick.

 

Getting established in the Premier is a very difficult task and to be expected. If we have a trip back to the NPC I don't see that as a problem in the grand scheme of things. Not going to grizzle any more over this horrible result but I can easily see this season as very difficult to take on a personal level and just hope we have enough flashes of light to make the journey enjoyable.

 

Agree the Arsenal game is what the Man City game should have become if they had taken their chances. Not so sure that the defense can be blamed for everything - the combination of JWP/Morgan/Davis hardly inspires fear -tidy but not particularly physical or powerful- while Punch and AL are poor when they don't have the ball which is the norm away from home. And when they do get it -typically in deep areas, they lack the pace and directness to do much with it - contrast the lack of pace in our team with that of Arsenal's -one reason why Mayuka might be a better option away from home. Whether Cork will make us more competitive in the middle of the park, however, remains to be seen. I have my doubts - he's another tidy but soft player, something which seems to be running theme with a lot of NA's team -whether here or at Scunny.

 

Finally, NA was discussing his beloved KPIs after the game - in particular, the fact that we enjoyed more possession at the start of second half. It seems central to NA's gameplan that we can go away from home and retain possession for long spells -and the team is picked on this basis. Yes it might have worked in the NPC but it seems wildly optimistic in the Prem - remind me what was the possession count at City -at one point it was 81% to them.

Edited 16 September, 2012 by shurlock

[Saint Billy]

Glenn Hoddle springs to mind.

 

He's carved in stone on yours

[pingwing]

They dont have to cost anything, I watch Julio Cesar make his debut and that mean the 1st clean sheet of the season. He was free and not even on large wages.

 

We went from conceded 5 against Swansea to conceding 0 against Chelsea and the defences demeanour totally changed, they were all nervous in front of Green but played very well in front of Cesar. It looks like Saints are suffering from the same problems.

 

Cesar is one something like 90k a week (reportedly) and Green is on over 40k per week.... Hardly cheap

 

I doubt Kelvin or any first team player is on anything near Cesar. Cesar is a great keeper, but we don't have the budget to throw about like that.

 

Ben Foster would have been a sensible buy at 3.5m or Frasier Forster would have been ok at 2m (though he seems to like Scotland too much).

[grammy]

Poor defending today but they were not helped by an awful midfield. Lallana and S.Davies both had a very poor game, Punch tried his best to get things going but left Clyne too exposed on numerous occasions and not the best performance by Morgan. Having said that I thought Arsenal were excellent and completely nullified any game plan we came up with. Way too soon to panic. Ramirez and Maya both look exciting prospects and Fonte had a decent game imo.

[crouchi]

It does look like we are poor when on the back foot, as we will often be when away from home. When we sat back against United, we invited pressure. Going forward we look fine, so we have got to go for it at home and not lose confidence or get picked off by giving too much respect to teams like Wigan. Big learning curve for the players, but it needs to happen quickly so we are not cast adrift.

[Greenridge]

Having had the misfortune of sitting in the Arsenal area and having to stand up on 6 occasions, yesterday was a long day!

 

It really was men against boys, they were just so much better than us. Some positives for me were Ramirez who does indeed look class, he has a real presence about him and also Yoshida who looked very comfortable on the ball. Ward-Prowse again showed what an intelligent hard-working player he is.

[saintant]

Let's lay to rest the myth that ball winners in midfield are needed. That's dinosaur football. How many big brawny tacklers do Barcelona or Spain have? Today's game is not about big tackles in the middle of the park - you don't get away with it anyway with the directives given to modern day referees. What it's about is pressing the opposition when they have the ball and denying them the time and space to play intricate passes. We don't do this anywhere near well enough hence the reason we got tonked yesterday and ended up losing against Utd and City. If we continue not to get tight on opponents in and around the midfield areas we will carry on conceding goals at the current alarming rate. We get back in numbers but are just strung out in static lines and we make the fundamental mistake of allowing the opposition to play between those lines without shifting around to combat this. Teams like Arsenal are set up to destroy anyone who gives them the freedom to play between the lines. We must learn quickly. It is not enough to get bodies back if all they do is mark space.

[The Kraken]

Glenn Hoddle springs to mind.

 

[up and away]

Agree the Arsenal game is what the Man City game should have become if they had taken their chances. Not so sure that the defense can be blamed for everything - the combination of JWP/Morgan/Davis hardly inspires fear -tidy but not particularly physical or powerful- while Punch and AL are poor when they don't have the ball which is the norm away from home. And when they do get it -typically in deep areas, they lack the pace and directness to do much with it - contrast the lack of pace in our team with that of Arsenal's -one reason why Mayuka might be a better option away from home. Whether Cork will make us more competitive in the middle of the park, however, remains to be seen. I have my doubts - he's another tidy but soft player, something which seems to be running theme with a lot of NA's team -whether here or at Scunny.

 

Finally, NA was discussing his beloved KPIs after the game - in particular, the fact that we enjoyed more possession at the start of second half. It seems central to NA's gameplan that we can go away from home and retain possession for long spells -and the team is picked on this basis. Yes it might have worked in the NPC but it seems wildly optimistic in the Prem - remind me what was the possession count at City -at one point it was 81% to them.

 

Forgetting about ManU, ManC and Arsenal, the Wigan game is the one that really concerns and it goes back to the KPI's. Having possession does mean it's very difficult for the opposition to score but says absolutely nothing about our ability to score, especially when you just give the ball back after running out of ideas.Just like a Ralph Coates shot on goal, of zero value because little threat is carried in combination.

 

We have so much wrong at the present it is difficult to say where we need to build from to get ourselves out of this hole. The defence is a major problem but I cannot see any easy fixes there unless Yoshida turns out to be a miracle. On that basis I would start off with 451 with a midfield capable of aiding that defence sufficiently. Then add as much pace and skill in to give us some attacking threat. That would mean Mayuka and Ramirez starting and one other recognised attacker, at least for the first half to see what foundation we can give ourselves. I am not going to get into who we should drop because it's impossible to say at the present, but I would start off cautiously and gradually see what works. We just don't have a base to work from as yet.

[JPTCount]

I think we are underestimating one of the best club managers ever. city and utd stood off us, allowed us to play, and both ended up having to chase the game. Wenger clearly told his players to press hard from the off, and pound us into submission before we got a chance to play. if anything arsenal showed us more respect by trying to kill us off early.

 

football's a funny game, at least we didn't concede 8...

[Graffito]

Appreciate what Nigel Adkins is getting at with his KPI's, I do want to see us persist with possession football but we were never going to out-arsenal Arsenal. At the end of the day there is only one KPI that counts.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Dont like them but fat Sam and that Skate pretty much hit the nail on the head during "Goals on Sunday". fat Sam questioned whether we are going to keep enough clean sheets to stay up.

 

Went through the first 3 goals and were spot on. First one, MS, W-P and S Davis were all challanging Podolski for the ball and he came away with it in yards of space. Said that Clyne was not aware of Gibb's run, that Fonte couldn't step out to challange him and was therefore pointing W-P to fill the gap in front of him. Ball "went through" Kelvin, and Jos couldn't do much about it. Second one, said Kelvin had the wrong starting position and should have got it. Third one, said Lallana didn't press the ball in midfield allowed too much time and space and then Yoshida stepped up, when he should have tracked the run.

 

 

 

Fat Sam said even if you play well the top sides can hammer you.

Edited 16 September, 2012 by Lord Duckhunter

[DrZuess1979 the 2nd]

Hansen said it last night, we defended very well against man utd/city

 

Bad day at the office, against a very good attacking side just hope the players don`t drop their heads over this

[Saint Charlie]

Fat Sam basically said you just have to forget those defeats. As he said losing 6-1 or 1-0 is still only 3 points lost.

[shurlock]

Dont like them but fat Sam and that Skate pretty much hit the nail on the head during "Goals on Sunday". fat Sam questioned whether we are going to keep enough clean sheets to stay up.

 

Went through the first 3 goals and were spot on. First one, MS, W-P and S Davis were all challanging Podolski for the ball and he came away with it in yards of space. Said that Clyne was not aware of Gibb's run, that Fonte couldn't step out to challange him and was therefore pointing W-P to fill the gap in front of him. Ball "went through" Kelvin, and Jos couldn't do much about it. Second one, said Kelvin had the wrong starting position and should have got it. Third one, said Lallana didn't press the ball in midfield allowed too much time and space and then Yoshida stepped up, when he should have tracked the run.

 

 

 

Fat Sam said even if you play well the top sides can hammer you.

 

The first goal was absolutely shocking- how Podolski outfought our 3 CMs to come away with the ball. Set the mood for the rest of the day.

[View From The Top]

My mood hasn't been improved by my nippers team defending like Saints against the reigning champions with a similar result!

[derry]

you were wrong then, but at this moment in time KD does not seem up to it this season

 

He bloody well wasn't wrong. KD got away with being a shotstopper without the other attributes. He is not up to it, he made the same sort of mistakes in the lower divisions but often got away with it, He doesn't command his area, is like a rabbit in the headlights, Through his legs for Hoiveldt's og, bad positioning for free kick only halfway between post and centre of goal, bad positioning, left a large gap for near post goal, batted ball out to centre of goal for Walcott's goal.

 

Very shortly we are going to have to bring in a free agent (not the answer) or give Gazzaniga a chance.

[DrZuess1979 the 2nd]

Can`t fault KD for the free kick, wall didn`t do its job

 

But beaten near post again, on a one on one, not good

 

Watching last night other keepers seem to fly out hands up and wide not giving the forward a chance to pick a spot.

 

Kd comes out low and slow hands by his side almost shuffling towards the attacker

 

Now I am not teaching grandma how to suck eggs, just an observation

[Whitey Grandad]

Free kick looked soft to me. Slow to move his feet and flapped at the ball. There are others who would have saved it.

[MOSaint]

Very shortly we are going to have to bring in a free agent (not the answer) or give Gazzaniga a chance.

 

Would definitely give Gazza a chance now, I mean if the second choice GK isn't good enough to get a chance when the number one is playing badly then why sign him in the first place?

[positivepete]

Let's lay to rest the myth that ball winners in midfield are needed. That's dinosaur football. How many big brawny tacklers do Barcelona or Spain have? Today's game is not about big tackles in the middle of the park - you don't get away with it anyway with the directives given to modern day referees. What it's about is pressing the opposition when they have the ball and denying them the time and space to play intricate passes. We don't do this anywhere near well enough hence the reason we got tonked yesterday and ended up losing against Utd and City. If we continue not to get tight on opponents in and around the midfield areas we will carry on conceding goals at the current alarming rate. We get back in numbers but are just strung out in static lines and we make the fundamental mistake of allowing the opposition to play between those lines without shifting around to combat this. Teams like Arsenal are set up to destroy anyone who gives them the freedom to play between the lines. We must learn quickly. It is not enough to get bodies back if all they do is mark space.

 

Spot on! When we start defending as a team and higher up the pitch as Arsenal did to us, and Barcelona do, and Swansea do, we will improve. NA knows that, although I have watched the last two games from afar, you see enough shots of him urging the players to press the ball higher up the pitch. It will come, have faith.

[sperm_john]

I just hope before the villa game nigel decides two things;

 

- our starting 11

 

- our formation/playing style

 

that and installs some confidence back in the squad

[Faz]

Spot on! When we start defending as a team and higher up the pitch as Arsenal did to us, and Barcelona do, and Swansea do, we will improve. NA knows that, although I have watched the last two games from afar, you see enough shots of him urging the players to press the ball higher up the pitch. It will come, have faith.

 

I think if everyone put "positive" in front of their username, this would be a happier place.

[Saint Charlie]

Can fault KD for free kick. As Allardyce said on Goals on Sunday his starting position was wrong. If the free kick goes in the corner fair enough, but it wasn't.