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Saints 2 Fulham 2 - Post Match Reactions


St Chalet

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I thought Fox and Fonte did well at the back, but Jos is a liability. Maybe he'll be better against West Ham and their long ball, but he looks out of his depth at present.

 

MS and Davis did well.

 

I thought Punch & lallana flattered to deceive, I would have taken both off instead of RL.

 

Also thought Guly did really well.

 

It's ok people saying with GR we would have won, but they were missing 2 class players.

 

Really needed the second goal in the first half when they were poor.

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Both teams were appauling. The performance reminded me a lot of the Wigan game - Lallana looked the liveliest but he can't be the only one creating the chances.

 

Adkins had an absolute shocker today, what was he thinking? His only saving grace is that Chaplow and Guly both did alright, but take off Puncheon who was looking so lively? Take off Lambert!!!! Unbelieveable Jeff.

 

Gazzaniga: 7 - one super save

Yoshida: 5 - out of position and struggled because of it

Hooiveld: 4 - no confidence, no self-belief, horrible display

Fonte: 9 - our only saving grace at the back, a couple of great tackles, two well taken goals. MOTM.

Fox: 6 - always frustrated with his defending, both goals inadvertently came from right wing. Good set pieces today.

Davis: 6 - OK passing, OK pressing, OK performance

Schneiderlin: 7 - hit and miss today, but put in a reasonable shift

Puncheon: 7 - looked lively, didn't deserve to be subbed

Lallana: 7 - continues to prove he is a Premier League quality player, not quite his best but still our biggest threat.

Rodriguez: 6 - bless his cotton socks, tried hard, contributed, missed a good chance though on 85'

Lambert: 7 - played well, was a threat, didn't deserve to be subbed

 

Richardson: n/a - speedy recovery!

Chaplow: 7 - lots of energy, great pressing

Guly: 7 - grafted, played well.

 

Not enough players stood up today and really took it to them. We need to improve and quick!

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Punch would have come off because he wasn't protecting Yoshida. Just before he came off he was twice at fault for losing the ball and not tracking back. He just laid on the floor looking for a fouls that was never coming.

 

Absolutely. Obvious change. Mayuka was the only other choice but we needed someone to track Riise, and support the middle. Chaplow was the only option.

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Puncheon was just looking to score, taking far too many touches and getting caught out, so he had to come off. as bollockings from ther line weren't sinking in.

 

Not sure why RL came of so early, but we weren't winning the ball up front, and he made a difference.

 

Defensive shape looked better until we got stretched in the last 20 minutes. No cover from AL for both goals.

 

Glad there is an international break to get some people back to fitness.

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Punch would have come off because he wasn't protecting Yoshida. Just before he came off he was twice at fault for losing the ball and not tracking back. He just laid on the floor looking for a fouls that was never coming.

 

You also need to look at lallana's covering of Fox. Towards the end they were outnumbering us down that flank.

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Puncheon was just looking to score, taking far too many touches and getting caught out, so he had to come off. as bollockings from ther line weren't sinking in.

 

He also didn't have much support when he came forward, we look to play that diagonal ball to the far post too much in that second half, so everyone runs away from him.

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Decent 1st half tho should have been 2 or 3, fulham were a shambles.

2nd half we were a shambles other than a typical quality fox delivery and fonte role reversing with the jos of last season.

 

Mental subs by Adkins yet again, puncheon was mom 1st half IMO and although not as hot 2nd kept trying to be direct. Would rather Guly swapped for punch if anything. Taking Lambo off was crazy.

 

Said it a million times, if we drop deep and wait to be attacked we will get punished in this league. It just worked in L1 & npc but not in the prem and especially with our defense.

 

No cohesion 2nd half and looked clueless once conceded. Amazed we got one back thank **** but luck more than judgement IMO. Crowd sounded great but very disappointing that people started to leave.... Yes it was **** but 1 goal down!?

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Didn't see enough to say how the performance was but the last 20 mins were poor on the whole. Fox wasnt getting much support and we switched off for both goals. Chaplow and Guly did well but thought JRod often seemed to take too long to read the play. Lambert would probably have buried that chance near the end too.

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Guys this isn't Fifa! Our players can not play at full strength for 90mins. Subs need to be made. Who is to say that RL didn't have niggle. Get behind the manager ffs. I personally thought our whole attacking force was poor. Including RL. Sometimes people get subbed. Get used to it.

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Guys this isn't Fifa! Our players can not play at full strength for 90mins. Subs need to be made. Who is to say that RL didn't have niggle. Get behind the manager ffs. I personally thought our whole attacking force was poor. Including RL. Sometimes people get subbed. Get used to it.

 

This too as well also, no, it's not a video game. Video games play better on my PC than the stream I had to watch today. ;)

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Dreadful decision-making by Nigel, bringing Lambert off was a shocker as he is our main outlet for holding up the ball. Yes, he may have been tired but he's got 2 weeks to recupirate. Either Crosby or Wilkins should have put a stop to the madness. Nigel needs a tactical mentor to help him read the game at this level, we've been saying this for a couple of weeks but no action taken on that front as yet. His expression at full time was not one of relief and I'd say it's 50/50 as to whether he is charge for West Ham.

 

Fonte was immense today, probably his best game for the club as he was by far our best defender even if you exclude the two goals. Puncheon, Morgan and Davis also did well, Lallana was anonymous again and would have been a better player to come off for Chaplow. Fox did better despite the odd positional lapse and great free kick for the late goal. Yoshida did his best but not a full back and our transfer strategy has to be seriously questioned.

 

As for Jos, Alpine would have been more mobile and shown better awareness. Nearly gifted Fulham in the first half and repeatedly let the ball bounce which you learn not to do at Tyro League level. Definately one to ship out in January. J Rod was hit and miss but why that money wasn't spent on a CB or LB I'll never know. Why did we buy Mayuka only not to use him?

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Gazza had a good game. Looked assured.

 

Fonte looked solid.

 

Davis and Morgan played well.

 

Puncheon was our best player until being taken off.

 

Jrod and lallana, has to be said looked very flat.

 

Having said that, with Clyne, Ramirez, corky and lee to come back in, that's the good news. Need Ramirez to pick some passes out for lee or Mayuka to pace in on to.

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We got a CB but we desperately needed another and a LB. It is clearly costing as us evidenced by us having the worst defence in the football league...

 

But that wasn't the point you were making. You were making the point about Jos.

 

I agree that our left back situation isn't the best but we did try Buttner or whatever his name is. It just didn't come off. I would think that will be the first priority in Jan. By the way I think the manager is aware as well.

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Think Ramirez would have created a chance or two, especially first half. Yoshida is no right back, but he doesn't pretend to be. Rodriguez is going to be a great player, he just isn't quite there as yet. Thought taking Puncheon off for Chaplow made perfect sense at the time, Fulham were beginning to boss the midfield. Puncheon had a great game. Gazzaniga is a definite no. 1 in the making.

 

Brain dump ends

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But that wasn't the point you were making. You were making the point about Jos.

 

I agree that our left back situation isn't the best but we did try Buttner or whatever his name is. It just didn't come off. I would think that will be the first priority in Jan. By the way I think the manager is aware as well.

 

Jos is now our backup cb. We need better competition for cb places other than just Jos.

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Once again strange substitutions,replacing two effective players with chaplow and guly.

Apart from possibly Morgan and lallana we finished with a championship standard team and it lost us the 3 points.adkins must feel a very lucky man tonight.

I'm not convinced by Rodriguez,his work rate is nowhere near good enough and not a patch on lamberts.

Hooiveld for golden boot.

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Jose 2 Jos -2 What if anything did we learn from Man U

Why take of Lambert and Puncheon who were our only players capable of holding it up front

 

The defence needs a complete re think we panick evey time the ball is in the area and we cannot close down up and down the pitch for 90 mins! when we stop hasseling the pressure comes on and we fall apart every time!

Precisely-we press early on and dominate then stop

doing that a play deeper and deeper why do we persist in doing this. The only time

we don't do this is when we don't press at all which is often! Subs were pathetic - no

other way to describe them....I think there will come a time when these rather strange decisions are called into question by those who pay the wages......The people who were responsible for the lack of attention to

our defence personnel over the summer should equally take a look at their CV. That lack

Of attention was nothing short of incompetent! We have heard so much about 'we will analyse the game' after matches but I see very little evidence that this much lauded action actually takes place!! Perhaps it's just s talking shop!

Management of the bus needs to learn lessons much quicker and be much sharper - we are far too slow to the chase management wise and this now becoming a theme...

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Why are you viewing West Ham likes it's Barcelona away?

 

Who said I was... I'm viewing saints needing to score at least 2...Or 3 on the road to maybe get a point..

 

They Really very direct and will hit our defence alot.... Which isn't very good...

 

Throw in a manager making bizarre subs and line ups

 

We will get well beat

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Who said I was... I'm viewing saints needing to score at least 2...Or 3 on the road to maybe get a point..

 

They Really very direct and will hit our defence alot.... Which isn't very good...

 

Throw in a manager making bizarre subs and line ups

 

We will get well beat

 

I said you were. Scoring for us is not a problem, home or away.

 

What was bizarre about today's line-up?

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The Richardson injury both helped and hurt us.

 

It helped us because I think we would have had big problems down our right side if he had stayed on, but it hurt us because it forced us to reunite the Fonte/Jos partnership which IMO doesn't work at this level. Fonte improved considerably when Yoshida became his partner. Fonte and Jos often go for the same ball, and on other occasions neither goes for it. Yoshida reads things better alongside Fonte, and they are different enough to complement eachother.

 

Like most, I'm struggling to understand why NA would take Lambert off. Regardless of the fact that he wasn't at his best today, he's the main goal threat and Fulham lost respect for our attack after he left. The change enabled them to push forward in bigger numbers. I'm still trying to understand what Rodriguez's role is in this team - and I think he is too.

 

But let's not forget that we could and should have been three goals up at half time. The PL is cruel on teams that don't take their chances while they're getting them.

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After scoring the first in 4 minutes, I thought we'd go on and get a few more, but Fulham didn't make it too easy for us.

 

It's easy to see why our defence struggles, they're just so nervous when the ball comes near them. Granted we were unfortunate to lose Frazer early on, and not have a right back on the bench, but Jos was shocking when he came on. Just shocking, and I hate to say that as he was one of my fave players in the nPC. Fonte has grown in stature as the season has gone on, and ignoring his two well taken goals, he was our best defender today. Perhaps he's improved since being partnered with Yoshi. So far, it's hard to see Jos as a Premier League defender. Maybe he'll improve, but maybe the Celtic fans were on to something. Danny Fox had a better game than others I've seen this season, but it's easy to see why he's limited. We had a good spell of passing in the first half, we strung quite a few together, then the ball eventually went to Fox and he punted it long. It's a shame Clyne picked up a knock pre-game, thank God he's got a couple of weeks to recover. Gazzaniga, I thought, looked fairly good. He made a good save shortly after they hit the post, and his long kicking was good, but it's obvious he's still learning the game. He'll make a mistake eventually, a la Bialkowski against Blackpool last season, it's a case of whether it'll dent his confidence. I'm looking forward to the introduction of Boruc.

 

As for the midfield, Davis and Morgan did both have good games. We were the better team in the first half. Lallana has had better games - I still prefer him higher up the pitch. Up top, I am surprised both Rickie and Punch was subbed. Fonte gets my MOTM (and probably most other people's) but Puncheon was having a good game. Always hustling, good touch on the ball, always looking for an outlet and has that pace to scare the opposition. Perhaps he faded a bit, but he seemed like our best attacking outlet. I'd havce brought Mayuka on in lieu of Guly, but that's up to Nigel I guess. Rickie could've scored a couple today, and probably would on a better day, but Rodriguez looked a bit lost.

 

All in all we should've won, as for the bulk of the game I thought we were the better, more decisive team, but as soon as Jos banged that ball past Gazzaniga, I just knew they'd go on to get a second. I'm mightily relieved we didn't give up, and one point is better than none, but this is two points dropped for me.

 

Still, blue line and all that, bring on the Hammers, and a fully fit Saints...

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Good first trip to Barasti, accumulated two more local Saints fans to join the massive.

 

Should have been 3 or 4 in the first half, Rickie left his shooting boots behind today.

 

We ALL agreed with the Puncheon substitution. Yeah he runs around but EVERY time he got near the box the final ball was just not there AND more importantly he didn't look capable of providing it. Guly got in the way more and with arms and legs going in all directions at least he made their defence work to get the ball back off him.

 

SRL was knackered & Mark Bright had said as much about a minute before the change. In the 1st half he was running and harrying the defence and appeared to be playing in the hole more than upfront. Bright said part of our problem was that SRL wasn't doing the same chasing. The PROBLEM was that taking him off meant we were much more unlikely to score. Thank God for Jose.

 

Jos. What can you say he had to try and also with the deflection Gazza was at least going the right way before the ball changed direction..

 

Overall? Same problem as I said last week.

 

We are TOTALLY inexperienced at this level on the pitch and if NC wants to have TV money next year then he HAS to bring in some wise old heads on Bosmans and fast

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