Junior Mullet Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I think as a team we're more likely to get the opposition booked than be booked, we don't tackle!! We are bottom of the fouls league. Says it all. Perhaps we are focusing on getting into Europe via the fair play system, if the League Cup route fails. We have comparable scoring records to the top two teams either at home or away and have scored as many as anyone outside of the top 8. If we can just survive this year NA can buy a whole new defence and keeper so that we can really challenge for a top 6 spot. Seriously, going forward we are as good as I have seen this year, except Arsenal on their day. Imagine how confident our forwards would be knowing they had a solid defence to play ahead of. Exciting times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tajjuk Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 (edited) I theirs. I backed big Sam, even if I don't like him. Thought he did a good job there to get them up (that's what was required and that's what he achieved under tremendous pressure) even if the style of football, if what we saw at SMS was anything to go by, was ****ing terrible and everything Sam claims he doesn't serve up. I also rate Poyet. Sorry ours, I'm confident that we will get a similar if not more points form the same fixtures. Best case scenario from our opening 6 games would have been 6 pts, we have 3. West Ham won't get points at City, Everton or Arsenal or home to Man Utd. I doubt they will score against any of them either. I watched them against Norwich and they were nothing but average, they work hard, lump the ball about and rely on Set pieces. They defend better than we do but then their whole team is almost set up to defend. We are more likely to beat them away than at home I reckon, at St Mary's they will probably defend and catch us cold with a set piece, at home their fans will force them to play a bit more open and attacking and our superior attackers will exploit it. Just because they are 7th doesn't mean they are not going to be in a relegation battle, their team isn't bristling with quality, I would take 3 players from their team - Collins because he's a decent defender with premier league experience, Noble because he's the kind of tenacious midfield battler we don;t have (and still has decent technique) and Diame because again he's the kind of powerhouse midfielder that is useful to have. West Ham will probably stay up, just about though. They won't progress from there, in debt, old stadium, not much quality youth, overshadowed by bigger London clubs and an outdated style of football. Even if we get relegated I still think the longer term future of our club is why better than West Hams. Edited 2 October, 2012 by tajjuk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 We are bottom of the fouls league. Says it all. Perhaps we are focusing on getting into Europe via the fair play system, if the League Cup route fails. We have comparable scoring records to the top two teams either at home or away and have scored as many as anyone outside of the top 8. If we can just survive this year NA can buy a whole new defence and keeper so that we can really challenge for a top 6 spot. Seriously, going forward we are as good as I have seen this year, except Arsenal on their day. Imagine how confident our forwards would be knowing they had a solid defence to play ahead of. Exciting times.You dont seem to realise that most of our problems are caused by the front 6 not assisting the defence well enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Don't think it would matter who is in our defence, if the midfield can't be solid enough, then we're always going to give the opposition a chance to overload our defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintSteve Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 What are you about? That is almost 2 points a game, no easy games the premier league, to stay up by beating the teams around you and winning the games you should win, which they are doing. Would you rather be in their position or ours? But would you rather watch their style of football than ours.. No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 But would you rather watch their style of football than ours.. No I'd do what it takes to stay up, I'd that means the sacrifice of style over results so be it. There seems to be this great myth that we are a fantatic free flowing team that never go direct and West Ham are long ball merchants. The reality is somewhere in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I'd do what it takes to stay up, I'd that means the sacrifice of style over results so be it. There seems to be this great myth that we are a fantatic free flowing team that never go direct and West Ham are long ball merchants. The reality is somewhere in between. If we played like West Ham, I wouldn't have spent £600 odd quid on a ST. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tajjuk Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I'd do what it takes to stay up, I'd that means the sacrifice of style over results so be it. There seems to be this great myth that we are a fantatic free flowing team that never go direct and West Ham are long ball merchants. The reality is somewhere in between. "we are a fantastic free flowing team that never go direct" "West Ham are long ball merchants" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 But would you rather watch their style of football than ours.. No our style at the mo is just a massage for the ego..what is the point if we are going to lose 5 out of every 6....that will send us down by easter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 our style at the mo is just a massage for the ego..what is the point if we are going to lose 5 out of every 6....that will send us down by easter Apart from we won't be playing Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 According to a lot on here he's a sh*t manager without a clue.thats what we were told all of last season. According to about 90% of WHU fans last season he was a fat **** without a clue...sure they've changed there tune now though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Apart from we won't be playing Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton every week. fari point....from now till end of november, we SHOULD be heading up the league...right...West ham are 7th...so would not be unreasonable to think come 1st Dec...we are between 12th-7th...? spurs are the only "top team" we play from now till then...and that is at SMS...where we are going to have to take points from one of these teams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I think if we're in the bottom 3 by christmas I'll be worrying. We have our 'easiest' set of fixtures of the season now, and a really tough run in at the turn of the year. So yes, I now expect us to start putting some results together. Although I'd say 7-12th could be seen as a tad ambitious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I think if we're in the bottom 3 by christmas I'll be worrying. We have our 'easiest' set of fixtures of the season now, and a really tough run in at the turn of the year. So yes, I now expect us to start putting some results together. Although I'd say 7-12th could be seen as a tad ambitious. if we are still bottom 3 on dec 1st...I highly doubt NA will be our manager for much longer....and to be honest, we would have to have been pretty bad for that to happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsbridge Saint Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 **** me. We are a far far better side than West Ham and will comfortably beat them home and away if we avoid injuries and play to the top of our form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 **** me. We are a far far better side than West Ham and will comfortably beat them home and away if we avoid injuries and play to the top of our form. we will see in a few weeks... I think we wil lget well beaten there..we are just too open and continue to be......they will have a field day with the space we leave around the box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 **** me. We are a far far better side than West Ham and will comfortably beat them home and away if we avoid injuries and play to the top of our form. What happens if we have some injuries and don't play to the top of our form? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 When we play them, the problem will be the arial battles. The only one we're going to realistically win is Lambert VS their CB. The rest all over the pitch we probably won't. They'll just keep the ball in the air as much as possible and then bully their way through the game. Yer we might tear them apart like Swansea did, but we're going to have to boss the game to do that. Jarvis is a good player, as is Diame and Carroll is a handful despite him not being very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 **** me. We are a far far better side than West Ham and will comfortably beat them home and away if we avoid injuries and play to the top of our form. What do you base this on, other than Saints tinted glasses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 What do you base this on, other than Saints tinted glasses? I think its another one to add to the "if only we took all our chances and had a different keeper" list. West Ham have largely been without their top summer signing this season, Andy Carroll, since the opening day; so it's no use bleating about injuries as if we're the only side that suffers from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 (edited) According to about 90% of WHU fans last season he was a fat **** without a clue...sure they've changed there tune now though. because they expected to stroll to the title. if it was easy to go straight back up Blackpool and Birmingham would have done it as well. He did what he had to do and was under huge pressure to do it. We've seen for ourselves in L1 that it's not easy to play with the weight of expectiation on your shoulders. Last season we on the other hand expected midtable and would have taken that at the start of last season so we surprised even ourselves by doing so well all of last season. If we go down and keep all of our players our manager whoever it is will be under similar pressure to take us back up at the first attempt. Edited 2 October, 2012 by Turkish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintSteve Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 our style at the mo is just a massage for the ego..what is the point if we are going to lose 5 out of every 6....that will send us down by easter Tend to agree, we all know our deficiencies but hopefully NA will find a formula that brings Points with flowing football and a better defensive structure.. we need a couple of bullies in our Midfield/Defence; maybe January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Get the impression this is why we wanted this Kana-Biyik guy, as he's supposedly a bit of a unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 if we are still bottom 3 on dec 1st...I highly doubt NA will be our manager for much longer....and to be honest, we would have to have been pretty bad for that to happen we're not currently bottom 3...you might be right...not sure we would have to have been bad. Even the supposed weaker sides are decent. Fulham for example have some real quality in their side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 we're not currently bottom 3...you might be right...not sure we would have to have been bad. Even the supposed weaker sides are decent. Fulham for example have some real quality in their side. I agree, which is why i find the dismissing of West Ham as being far, far better than them and will beat them easily as obsurd and naive. In reality the top three or four are much better than the rest, then there are three or four like Everton & Spurs just behind them, then not much between the rest, all have good players, but all are lacking quality some positions. Which is why i maintain being hard to beat away from home is going to be vital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwichsaint Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 because they expected to stroll to the title. if it was easy to go straight back up Blackpool and Birmingham would have done it as well. He did what he had to do and was under huge pressure to do it. We've seen for ourselves in L1 that it's not easy to play with the weight of expectation on your shoulders. Last season we on the other hand expected midtable and would have taken that at the start of last season so we surprised even ourselves by doing so well all of last season. If we go down and keep all of our players our manager whoever it is will be under similar pressure to take us back up at the first attempt. I'm pretty sure that if that was the scenario you or I could manage this squad out of the Championship. I had a rather unfaithful thought last night - purely hypothetically of course - I would love to have seen this team in the championship! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 QPR deserve everything they get. They sacked a perfectly competent manager for no reason at all. Whether you like Warnock or not, he'd got them back in the Premier league and was doing ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Duckhunter Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I thought West Ham looked pretty decent yesterday. They certainly were'nt all about knocking long balls, they defended pretty well and hit QPR on the break well. A good professional performance and there's nothing wrong with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Their game plan was wack it long and feed off mistakes/miscontrols/knockdowns, or just boot it into the flanks for the forwards to chase down. I thought they were poor, but had a game plan and are very well drilled at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I thought West Ham looked pretty decent yesterday. They certainly were'nt all about knocking long balls, they defended pretty well and hit QPR on the break well. A good professional performance and there's nothing wrong with that. I thought West Ham were a side who know how to get points from games that they should be able to get points from. As long as we beat Fulham we'll be able to compare ourselves to them although I'm sure that they'd not have lost to Wigan. Now if Lallana could have the impact that Vaz Te seems to be able to make then I'd call him a top player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 I thought West Ham looked pretty decent yesterday. They certainly were'nt all about knocking long balls, they defended pretty well and hit QPR on the break well. A good professional performance and there's nothing wrong with that. Their game plan was wack it long and feed off mistakes/miscontrols/knockdowns, or just boot it into the flanks for the forwards to chase down. I thought they were poor, but had a game plan and are very well drilled at it. Hmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legod Third Coming Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Went to the game and can confirm: 1. QPR are terrible - Clint Hill is the worst defender in the football league and Cesar looks very shaky. 2. West Ham are bullies - that worries me... 3. West Ham are very quick going forward - that worries me... 4. Mark Hughes is the most over-rated manager in the Premiership - no clue tactically. His best player Tarabt spends 60 minutes on the bench. Two fears I was left with. 1. That West Ham will bully us out of our passing game. 2. That Hughes will be sacked and someone who knows what they're doing will be in the chair by November 17th... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golac's Cunning Stunts Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Their game plan was wack it long and feed off mistakes/miscontrols/knockdowns, or just boot it into the flanks for the forwards to chase down. I thought they were poor, but had a game plan and are very well drilled at it. Agree. This is what I thought anyway. One of the worst prem games I have seen for a while. W Spam poor but qpr ****e. Infact their play reminded me very much of ours during relegation from the prem last time. TBH, I think I'd rather see us relegated than have to watch the boring dross W Spam serve up. Just my opinion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Hate to say it but big sam does get his teams looking solid and organised, West Ham should easily enough stay up this year. QPR on the other hand look dreadfull... Cant wait to play them! and of course if they lose games, he'll blame it on the suspensions.... caused by the ref. who * booked 8 of his team last night. He said...... Wham " were'n't a dirty side " ....(well, he would say that - wouldn't he ? ).......sounds a bit like a Don Revie type comment to me. * Wham had 8 bookings - surely one for the Guinness Book of Records? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syd_barrett_saint Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Having watched all the Saints games this season, and a few of the West Ham ones, I am confident we'll finish above them this season. They aren't playing well, and have had possibly the easiest start to the season of all 20 teams. Obviously they are gritty and will pick up points (enough to stay up I think), but watch them drop down the league as their fixtures get harder, and Saints go in the other direction as we play against teams outside of the top 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Having watched all the Saints games this season, and a few of the West Ham ones, I am confident we'll finish above them this season. They aren't playing well, and have had possibly the easiest start to the season of all 20 teams. Obviously they are gritty and will pick up points (enough to stay up I think), but watch them drop down the league as their fixtures get harder, and Saints go in the other direction as we play against teams outside of the top 6. to be fair...heard big sam in the radio this morning in a clip from last night... he did say that fans should not get carried away as they have not played anyone in the "top zone" of teams.....and he mentioned that we had the complete opposite start to them in terms of quality of teams.......they have arsenal this weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syd_barrett_saint Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 to be fair...heard big sam in the radio this morning in a clip from last night... he did say that fans should not get carried away as they have not played anyone in the "top zone" of teams.....and he mentioned that we had the complete opposite start to them in terms of quality of teams.......they have arsenal this weekend It'll be interesting to see how they do at home to Arsenal. If West Ham get a result I'll revise my prediction. But I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Having watched all the Saints games this season, and a few of the West Ham ones, I am confident we'll finish above them this season. They aren't playing well, and have had possibly the easiest start to the season of all 20 teams. Obviously they are gritty and will pick up points (enough to stay up I think), but watch them drop down the league as their fixtures get harder, and Saints go in the other direction as we play against teams outside of the top 6. We'll see. Personally I think West Ham have been efficient and effective. People keep saying they've had it easy but you still have to win these games and They've got results against the teams you need to beat to stay up. Theyve not concede many, they look hard to beat. I dont think Arsenal will score 6 against them Saturday for a start. We'll probably have a few Villa games where we score a fair few and win comfortably, but we'll also get a fair few more thrashings if we carry on like we are. Most teams have players that can hurt you and with our defensive set up we are alway liable to concede, which means we might struggle against teams like West Ham who are solid and efficient and also capable of catching us on the break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golac's Cunning Stunts Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 We'll see. Personally I think West Ham have been efficient and effective. People keep saying they've had it easy but you still have to win these games and They've got results against the teams you need to beat to stay up. Theyve not concede many, they look hard to beat. I dont think Arsenal will score 6 against them Saturday for a start. We'll probably have a few Villa games where we score a fair few and win comfortably, but we'll also get a fair few more thrashings if we carry on like we are. Most teams have players that can hurt you and with our defensive set up we are alway liable to concede, which means we might struggle against teams like West Ham who are solid and efficient and also capable of catching us on the break. Kind of agree. I have to get my contempt for their fans out of my brain in order to give a reasoned response to their team. I wouldn't think they will concede 6 at home to the arse, but I think they will lose. They could conceivably lose by 6 at the Emirates though. I honestly think we can tear them to pieces offensively, but there is a good chance we will be bullied out of it. They have had an extraordinarily easy start, so let's wait and see how both us and them are doing at Christmas. I saw them lose at Swansea a few weeks back. Arguably the Swans are the best team they have played so far. Wet Spam were woeful that day and really should have lost 6-0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syd_barrett_saint Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 Kind of agree. I have to get my contempt for their fans out of my brain in order to give a reasoned response to their team. I wouldn't think they will concede 6 at home to the arse, but I think they will lose. They could conceivably lose by 6 at the Emirates though. I honestly think we can tear them to pieces offensively, but there is a good chance we will be bullied out of it. They have had an extraordinarily easy start, so let's wait and see how both us and them are doing at Christmas. I saw them lose at Swansea a few weeks back. Arguably the Swans are the best team they have played so far. Wet Spam were woeful that day and really should have lost 6-0 I also find it hard to be neutral on West Ham. I know far too many of their fans and they are all annoying and deluded when it comes to football. But still, we'll see. I think it will be a close run thing but that we'll finish above them. Of course they won't concede 6 at home to Arsenal, but they could away from home. And will that mean they still "look hard to beat". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junior Mullet Posted 2 October, 2012 Share Posted 2 October, 2012 You dont seem to realise that most of our problems are caused by the front 6 not assisting the defence well enough Thank you for pointing out what I don't realise. Your analysis is clearly far superior to mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 West Ham play like Everton, big man up front direct balls pick up the pieces and knockdowns. Once pegged back they then just knock the ball about the defence and hit it long once out of ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 West Ham play like Everton, big man up front direct balls pick up the pieces and knockdowns. Once pegged back they then just knock the ball about the defence and hit it long once out of ideas. Yep, Everton certainly looked like a long ball team as they walked through our midfield and ripped us apart down the flanks time and again on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 Yep, Everton certainly looked like a long ball team as they walked through our midfield and ripped us apart down the flanks time and again on Saturday. and our lofty balls to the back stick for lambert to bundle home are hardly free flowing either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 Yep, Everton certainly looked like a long ball team as they walked through our midfield and ripped us apart down the flanks time and again on Saturday. yep just because the ball ended up on the flanks or the ball knocked down to their midfield from that big haired freak doesnt mean they played on the floor does it *rolleyethingy* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 and our lofty balls to the back stick for lambert to bundle home are hardly free flowing either... and wheres that come from?...haha just because i say Everton play direct? crazytimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 yep just because the ball ended up on the flanks or the ball knocked down to their midfield from that big haired freak doesnt mean they played on the floor does it *rolleyethingy* Yep, it just happended to end up there everytime after they humped it long into the big haired freak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 3 October, 2012 Share Posted 3 October, 2012 pretty much, least we agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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