DT Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 I sense that everyone including Nigel thinks that it will all be different against Villa and we'll breeze to victory. It won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Reading appear to have a young keeper on debit who is not rubbish. Lucky them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Reading appear to have a young keeper on debit who is not rubbish. Lucky them. On the other hand I can't say that they've looked any better (in the first 20 minutes) than we have over our first 4 games. Spaces in their defence that a better team than Spuds would rip into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 On the other hand I can't say that they've looked any better (in the first 20 minutes) than we have over our first 4 games. Spaces in their defence that a better team than Spuds would rip into. indeed...getting a lesson here against spurs....they are parking the bus on their 18 yard line already.....could easily be 3-0 to spurs after 20 mins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 (edited) Reading appear to have a young keeper on debit who is not rubbish. Lucky them. and just made a complete howler readings defence is howling up in this game as much as us...just that spurs can't finish and now some brass band has piped up......see, it could be worse, we could be reading Edited 16 September, 2012 by Thedelldays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Spurs aren't being gifted quite so much time and space though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Spurs aren't being gifted quite so much time and space though. true..but reading are still very poor at the back...despite having 10 men behind the ball most of the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Same old story - they're getting done by pace on the wings. lennon vs. harte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 If Spurs don't win this it's a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Mockles Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Surprised Ramirez was on the bench and I question whether Adkins is out of his depth although the fixture list has not been kind. I fear the subs lost us the United game and I fear Adkins is toast. I am not over-reacting as I remain calm, early days but there is not much capacity for error in this league as you get punished, we we have seen against City and United. Even Wigan but that was more down to statues and a p*ss poor, lack lustre performnace and those home games are where we simply cannot afford to drop points. I may be unfair criticising Adkins sub decisions but I do question many of them. He has often changed players at half time and, to my knowledge, it is tactical and not down to injury which begs the question, does he know his best starting 11? Why change so soon? Obviously, different opposition may dictate personnel swaps but it could also be perceived that Adkins may not be picking the team (Les Reed is cited a lot from within the club, they can't keep all info. air tight despite wanting to). It doesn't seem a coincidence until the drink driving incident, Cortese's reputed signing, Guly, started every game yet I would certainly have others in his place as I feel he skips too many challenges and we can do better. He's ok but not PL level imho. Just an opinion, not scape goating. Anyway, early days but 14 goals and bottom of the league not good but we have a good spirit. I just hope the Villa game is the catalyst to charge onwards. If not, I fear it could be pivotal, without wanting to over-dramatise matters more than some already have. I have faith but from the look in Adkins' eyes, his cards may be marked. I think some heard rumours of Cortese wanting to replace Adkins from the outset but the committee persuaded Cortese otherwise but I can't substantiate that and some on here will probably get all narky about posting an opinion or rumour to that effect on a "chat" forum but such is life. I like Adkins a lot as a motivator, manager and generally nice, positive chap but I do fear his cards are marked and Villa will be the acid test. Lose that, he's gone. It would be a shame but quite a few close friends with contacts within the club fear he's as good as gone and out of his depth. I question how a manager can be answerable if he isn't picking the team, as many have intimated. Ridiculous scenario if all is to believed. Hopefully Ramirez will start next game and he won't tinker around too much with the squad. I am still astounded how our LB issue has not been sorted out as we clearly have scouted and identified it as an area of weakness and unusual to switch centre halves in match, but not beyond the realms of sense but who knows. Fonte seemed to be dragged all over the place by what I saw on tele highlights. Season starts at Villa. Let us hope for the better or we may see the start of the PL Merry-go-round back at St Mary's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrZuess1979 the 2nd Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 At least we got ripped apart by a very good Arsenal side Reading are getting a pasting from a average Spurs side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Surprised Ramirez was on the bench and I question whether Adkins is out of his depth although the fixture list has not been kind. Because of international duty Ramirez has only had one day of training with us; Friday, the day before the game. These training sessions are typically strategy based and intended to finalise set plays and systems, kind of reinforcing certain scenrios and positioning. Also, we were leading 2-1 with the team that started against Man United, so its far from unreasonable to give those players a chance again. He has often changed players at half time and, to my knowledge, it is tactical and not down to injury which begs the question, does he know his best starting 11? Again, given that Ramirez and Yoshida have only trained with the squad for 1 day, and Mayuka for a day or two longer than that, I'd suggest he doesn't, no. But he will do by the time of the Villa game next week. Anyway, early days but 14 goals and bottom of the league not good but we have a good spirit. I just hope the Villa game is the catalyst to charge onwards. If not, I fear it could be pivotal, without wanting to over-dramatise matters more than some already have. I have faith but from the look in Adkins' eyes, his cards may be marked. I think some heard rumours of Cortese wanting to replace Adkins from the outset but the committee persuaded Cortese otherwise but I can't substantiate that and some on here will probably get all narky about posting an opinion or rumour to that effect on a "chat" forum but such is life. I like Adkins a lot as a motivator, manager and generally nice, positive chap but I do fear his cards are marked and Villa will be the acid test. Lose that, he's gone. It would be a shame but quite a few close friends with contacts within the club fear he's as good as gone and out of his depth. I question how a manager can be answerable if he isn't picking the team, as many have intimated. Ridiculous scenario if all is to believed. Hopefully Ramirez will start next game and he won't tinker around too much with the squad. I am still astounded how our LB issue has not been sorted out as we clearly have scouted and identified it as an area of weakness and unusual to switch centre halves in match, but not beyond the realms of sense but who knows. Fonte seemed to be dragged all over the place by what I saw on tele highlights. Agree with that; I feel anything but a win against Villa will push Cortese into making a managerial change. Do I agree with that? Not in the slightest. But I simply don't see that he'll have the patience to stick with NA; he may consider that he's spent £30M or so on players this summer but is relying upon a manager he recruited from the lower leagues. As I say, I think that would be entirely the wrong move, but then I'm not the Chairman and we know that he's pretty ruthless in getting what he wants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintant Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Reading lost easily to Spurs for exactly the same reason Arsenal strolled all over us - they had men in numbers both in midfield and defence but those men just stood in space. They did not mark anyone or press the ball. Why pay footballers twenty grand or more a week to mark space? Any of us on this forum can stand in a space doing nothing. It is not rocket science. If it's down to this zonal marking thing I keep hearing about then the quicker we ditch that the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 (edited) Surprised Ramirez was on the bench and I question whether Adkins is out of his depth although the fixture list has not been kind. I fear the subs lost us the United game and I fear Adkins is toast. I am not over-reacting as I remain calm, early days but there is not much capacity for error in this league as you get punished, we we have seen against City and United. Even Wigan but that was more down to statues and a p*ss poor, lack lustre performnace and those home games are where we simply cannot afford to drop points. I may be unfair criticising Adkins sub decisions but I do question many of them. He has often changed players at half time and, to my knowledge, it is tactical and not down to injury which begs the question, does he know his best starting 11? Why change so soon? Obviously, different opposition may dictate personnel swaps but it could also be perceived that Adkins may not be picking the team (Les Reed is cited a lot from within the club, they can't keep all info. air tight despite wanting to). It doesn't seem a coincidence until the drink driving incident, Cortese's reputed signing, Guly, started every game yet I would certainly have others in his place as I feel he skips too many challenges and we can do better. He's ok but not PL level imho. Just an opinion, not scape goating. Anyway, early days but 14 goals and bottom of the league not good but we have a good spirit. I just hope the Villa game is the catalyst to charge onwards. If not, I fear it could be pivotal, without wanting to over-dramatise matters more than some already have. I have faith but from the look in Adkins' eyes, his cards may be marked. I think some heard rumours of Cortese wanting to replace Adkins from the outset but the committee persuaded Cortese otherwise but I can't substantiate that and some on here will probably get all narky about posting an opinion or rumour to that effect on a "chat" forum but such is life. I like Adkins a lot as a motivator, manager and generally nice, positive chap but I do fear his cards are marked and Villa will be the acid test. Lose that, he's gone. It would be a shame but quite a few close friends with contacts within the club fear he's as good as gone and out of his depth. I question how a manager can be answerable if he isn't picking the team, as many have intimated. Ridiculous scenario if all is to believed. Hopefully Ramirez will start next game and he won't tinker around too much with the squad. I am still astounded how our LB issue has not been sorted out as we clearly have scouted and identified it as an area of weakness and unusual to switch centre halves in match, but not beyond the realms of sense but who knows. Fonte seemed to be dragged all over the place by what I saw on tele highlights. Season starts at Villa. Let us hope for the better or we may see the start of the PL Merry-go-round back at St Mary's! Respect to you for putting your points across. I'm fairly open-minded when it comes to the treatment of stuff we don't know about, but I happen to agree with you on your general "Villa or bust" sentiment, at least when it comes to Adkins. The 6-1 at Emirates was gutting, but there is historical precedent, and on a pure points level, 0 from the Emirates meets with expectations. Villa is a very important game, for a number of reasons. First, Villa's diminished status in the Premier League means this is a team we should have a chance of beating Second, it's Paul Lambert vs Nigel Adkins, both relative newbies in the English Premier League, except Adkins has had a better transfer budget. I know it is also perfectly valid to argue that Lambert had the makings of a Premier League team before he started, but nevertheless, comparisons are bound to be made. You describe the game as having the potential to be pivotal. I honestly don't disagree. With three of the four teams we've faced, we can argue that the relative difference in stature provides a degree of mitigation. Wigan at home, so far, was a blip. Lose to Villa, especially if it's by a healthy margin, and I believe that the perception will be that Adkins isn't winning the games he is capable of winning. That'll be a problem, and if that happens, I think you're right. Edited 16 September, 2012 by pap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainchris Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 He's carved in stone on yours Not only his mind but many others too......Hoddle is a master at ensuring his teams are tight in midfield and at the back - a necessity in this league....A very good manager who went off to his boyhood favourite team which doesn't make him a bad manager......As people have said on here, you have to make big decisions for the team and not be strangled by sentiment or decisions made on principle - Cortese will do the right thing whether it's stick or twist.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 It springs to mind that we're usually pretty awful after international breaks, would I be right in thinking that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 It springs to mind that we're usually pretty awful after international breaks, would I be right in thinking that? Yes. We're also rubbish when there isn't one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up and away Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Surprised Ramirez was on the bench and I question whether Adkins is out of his depth although the fixture list has not been kind. I fear the subs lost us the United game and I fear Adkins is toast. I am not over-reacting as I remain calm, early days but there is not much capacity for error in this league as you get punished, we we have seen against City and United. Even Wigan but that was more down to statues and a p*ss poor, lack lustre performnace and those home games are where we simply cannot afford to drop points. I may be unfair criticising Adkins sub decisions but I do question many of them. He has often changed players at half time and, to my knowledge, it is tactical and not down to injury which begs the question, does he know his best starting 11? Why change so soon? Obviously, different opposition may dictate personnel swaps but it could also be perceived that Adkins may not be picking the team (Les Reed is cited a lot from within the club, they can't keep all info. air tight despite wanting to). It doesn't seem a coincidence until the drink driving incident, Cortese's reputed signing, Guly, started every game yet I would certainly have others in his place as I feel he skips too many challenges and we can do better. He's ok but not PL level imho. Just an opinion, not scape goating. Anyway, early days but 14 goals and bottom of the league not good but we have a good spirit. I just hope the Villa game is the catalyst to charge onwards. If not, I fear it could be pivotal, without wanting to over-dramatise matters more than some already have. I have faith but from the look in Adkins' eyes, his cards may be marked. I think some heard rumours of Cortese wanting to replace Adkins from the outset but the committee persuaded Cortese otherwise but I can't substantiate that and some on here will probably get all narky about posting an opinion or rumour to that effect on a "chat" forum but such is life. I like Adkins a lot as a motivator, manager and generally nice, positive chap but I do fear his cards are marked and Villa will be the acid test. Lose that, he's gone. It would be a shame but quite a few close friends with contacts within the club fear he's as good as gone and out of his depth. I question how a manager can be answerable if he isn't picking the team, as many have intimated. Ridiculous scenario if all is to believed. Hopefully Ramirez will start next game and he won't tinker around too much with the squad. I am still astounded how our LB issue has not been sorted out as we clearly have scouted and identified it as an area of weakness and unusual to switch centre halves in match, but not beyond the realms of sense but who knows. Fonte seemed to be dragged all over the place by what I saw on tele highlights. Season starts at Villa. Let us hope for the better or we may see the start of the PL Merry-go-round back at St Mary's! Adkins is out of his depth at the moment along with 90% of our squad. So trying to pick and organise a team to compete with the top 6 should readily tell you something major, you have little chance. Even if Adkins had found his best 11 previously I doubt it would have been evident with those performances. Our biggest problem so far has been running ourselves into the ground after 75minutes, unable to last 95 minutes. Just because Scholes came on and Ricky, Lallana and Puncheon went off you come to the conclusion it was that at fault. Ricky and Lallana were already dead on their feet when Scholes was starting to bypass our midfield and pinging the ball to his forwards. I felt then and I expect many others believed that it was just a question of time before ManU scored again and that was before our subs. Before and at the time from the state of the players on the pitch I thought the subs made sense. Adkins has been quick enough to hold his hands up but not for that one, something I agree with. For the first three games Adkins rightly identified that we were burning out with 10-15 minutes of the game to go and it was costing us. You can see from the stats this was not down to fitness levels but having to throw too much energy into competing. Against Arsenal that pacing ourselves for 95 minutes made us look uncompetitive and just shows the very difficult position we are in. Wanting to start international players after 90 minutes playing in mid week and a long haul flight is truly exasperation with little logic. The rest of your ramblings just slide in along side your observations but Les Reed has not been picking the team, he has enough on his plate. Adkins may well be toast, that's going to come down to how he now reacts. I don't feel he has many options. The defence is so poor that it has to be bolstered by the midfield to keep us in the game. It's just than trying to get enough quality and pace along side of that to be effective. No easy task for the position we find ourselves in but we need at least a draw against Villa to give us hope of finding a way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmore Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 indeed...getting a lesson here against spurs....they are parking the bus on their 18 yard line already.....could easily be 3-0 to spurs after 20 mins This is exactly how McDermott got Reading playing away from home last season - they parked the bus and were overrun against numerous sides (ourselves, Brighton away, West Ham away, Leeds away, Middlesbrough away, Millwall away etc) but they sucked up the pressure and beat us by taking the chances they got. They rode their luck, but I can't see that tactic working in the Prem. Still - we have our own problems to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom90 Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 http://lekkermagazine.com/index.php/football/southampton-still-adapting-to-the-premier-league a few thoughts on the start to the season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwig Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 We missed Guly on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpturner Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 Anyone else think Rodriguez showed up pretty well playing in a central striking position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 16 September, 2012 Share Posted 16 September, 2012 I didn't see it but thinking bout it you'd expect Rodriguez to get more change out of Mertesacker than Lambert. I mean Mertesacker being notoriously good in the air, slow on the ground. Surprised NA didn't think of that tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick1976.4.38 Posted 17 September, 2012 Share Posted 17 September, 2012 (edited) Anyone else think Rodriguez showed up pretty well playing in a central striking position? should have been given more time on the pitch,did well when he came on,held the ball up and was in his right position for a change. downside,no one up there supporting him Edited 17 September, 2012 by rick1976.4.38 change words Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 I've been thinking bout it and now that some of the pain is gone I can see dat Arseanal was always going to be a painful experience. It's always hard to take your first spanking. The important thing is not give up, the second time should be a lot easier to take. Hopefully when we do Arseanal at home the positions can be reversed! COYR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 I've been thinking bout it and now that some of the pain is gone I can see dat Arseanal was always going to be a painful experience. It's always hard to take your first spanking. The important thing is not give up, the second time should be a lot easier to take. Hopefully when we do Arseanal at home the positions can be reversed! COYR! OK Cortese, this is taking things a bit far. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR BEARSY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 B-but read again Phils! It's a standard Bearsy bum sex joke! Too subtle? I'll try harder next time homes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 B-but read again Phils! It's a standard Bearsy bum sex joke! Too subtle? I'll try harder next time homes! Yeah, not enough pre-amble to it. Should have more about the whole being Dominated thing NA having his hands tied Our CB's were tortured by their attacks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 Noted! More "It's difficult to take when your hands are tied and they're getting behind you again and again" type stuff next time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 When Hull came up, they did well at arsenal.. FFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 20 September, 2012 Share Posted 20 September, 2012 That video is quite possibly the most cringeworthy thing I've ever seen. My mate is a hull fan; he said his old man lost his watch at one game "doing the maul". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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