West Ham v Saints dissection

[Dr Who?]

Lambert cannot be fully fit, if he was, he would be playing. Or there is something up between him and NA.

 

If you think about it, the team spirit has always been great, but we have been winning for the last 3 seasons, so much easier to have a great team spirit. When you are losing every week..... Not so much fun, people start pointing the finger.

[Berkshire Saint]

So many sloppy individual errors at the back in the 2nd half today...not sure how a change in manager would make much difference to that? So frustrating as the first half was actually quite encouraging from a defensive point of view! I can't see us keeping a clean sheet all season. Thought Guly and Davis were our best players.

[toe_punt]

I think it was one of Guly's best games. He was only "poor", versus absolutely sh ite as he is normally.

 

To be fair though, the whole team is shambolic. And as for Boruc.....no wonder he was available after the transfer window. I'd have Kelv back any day after that appalling display of goalkeeping.

[Suomi Saint]

Tactically, Adkins got it spot on first half. Saints dominated without really threatening too much. West Ham didn't even have a sniff. Then came the all-too-familiar suicidal 2 minutes and the game was over. Both goals were 'gifts' in the extreme. I can't quite fathom how Boruc was at fault, though. He wasn't as bad as many have pointed out, although I think Gazza's distribution is much better. It's quite easy to beat Saints at the moment - we just implode. Is that Adkins fault? I don't know the answer to that. We dominated large parts of the game and lost 4-1. West Ham didn't string more than 2 passes together. Funny game football.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Lambert cannot be fully fit, if he was, he would be playing. Or there is something up between him and NA.

 

If you think about it, the team spirit has always been great, but we have been winning for the last 3 seasons, so much easier to have a great team spirit. When you are losing every week..... Not so much fun, people start pointing the finger.

 

Heard yesterday (from two separate good sources) that Lambert had serious words with NA following the Fulham game. It would certainly explain why he was on the bench yesterday.

[Katalinic]

Heard yesterday (from two separate good sources) that Lambert had serious words with NA following the Fulham game. It would certainly explain why he was on the bench yesterday.

 

Don't blame him, second time this season he's been taken off which has contributed to us going on to not win the game. NA's substitutions have been bizarre this season.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Lambert ain't the 'be all and end all' for sure. But since when has taking off your best player and then not starting him at all been a successful policy for a football manager? Adkins is starting to resemble Burley in terms of digging his heels in and being obstinate. OK he's done great getting us this far but our defence is an embarrassment and Lambert is one of our best defenders at set pieces. He needs to take a look at himself.

[JustMike]

awful defending / goalkeeping from us, awful diving from Carroll. Positives....AL first prem goal. Shame RL freekick wasnt a touch lower, 2-2 would have made it interesting

[chigwells finest]

hi fellas,,, you could argue that you were not in any trouble first half , but neither were west ham , possibly one of the most inept halves i've ever had to witness, 2nd half, game was over with the 2 goals,,, you may not like it but Carroll was being battered from all angles yesterday and iy also looked like Boruc was carrying a few extra unwanted llbs too. liked the look of lallana , but youll need to tighten up seriously at the back ( something i think u all know ) but remember who youve played and you can string a few results together over the likes of wigan, you should be ok, have faith and support your team ffs........results like this happen , believe me we've been mustard at home this season and will be hard to beat so take faith in that and good luck.

[Roger]

How many shots on target did we have first half? None?

[S-Clarke]

How many shots on target did we have first half? None?

 

Don't think we had many on target all game. I summed up the first half y/day...

 

Defense - aggressive and positive in their marking and ball winning

Midfield - tidy, excellent ball retention

Attack - Very little quality

 

Unfortunately the quality in the final third didn't really improve, and when you add that to the fact that we started being morons at the back again, then it's no surprise we lost.

 

The real worrying thing for me is that the WHU team weren't too much different from the team we faced last year and we drew 1-1 with (Same players through the spine, and at the back). We looked so much more competitive back then. We played a flat 4-4-2 that day, with Lambert and Sharp up top with Guly and Lallana flanking the proceedings.

 

We look to have gone backwards in the summer with too many changes to areas which weren't broken, and too little changes to area's which were broken. Bit odd really.

 

I felt we needed another CB, but I didn't see Jos and Fonte having the disaster they have had. They have let me down massively as I believed they're better than what they're showing, and the management probably believed the same. We could have done with 1 more CB and a LB though, as a minimum.

 

In many ways though, you could look back to last season and say the problems were becoming evident. I didn't take much notice then because I just wanted us over the line, but if we're honest we threw away the final part of last season - that title should have been ours, but we started conceding awful goals, losing games heavily and Fonte decided to have a brain transplant.

 

In hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, we have put a little too much faith into players who were probably playing above their level last year, as the closing stages of last year started to show.

Edited 21 October, 2012 by S-Clarke

[shurlock]

Don't think we had many on target all game. I summed up the first half y/day...

 

Defense - aggressive and positive in their marking and ball winning

Midfield - tidy, excellent ball retention

Attack - Very little quality

 

Unfortunately the quality in the final third didn't really improve, and when you add that to the fact that we started being morons at the back again, then it's no surprise we lost.

 

The real worrying thing for me is that the WHU team weren't too much different from the team we faced last year and we drew 1-1 with (Same players through the spine, and at the back). We looked so much more competitive back then. We played a flat 4-4-2 that day, with Lambert and Sharp up top with Guly and Lallana flanking the proceedings.

 

We look to have gone backwards in the summer with too many changes to areas which weren't broken, and too little changes to area's which were broken. Bit odd really.

 

I felt we needed another CB, but I didn't see Jos and Fonte having the disaster they have had. They have let me down massively as I believed they're better than what they're showing, and the management probably believed the same. We could have done with 1 more CB and a LB though, as a minimum.

 

In many ways though, you could look back to last season and say the problems were becoming evident. I didn't take much notice then because I just wanted us over the line, but if we're honest we threw away the final part of last season - that title should have been ours, but we started conceding awful goals, losing games heavily and Fonte decided to have a brain transplant.

 

In hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, we have put a little too much faith into players who were probably playing above their level last year, as the closing stages of last year started to show.

 

What are you on about? Jarvis, Benayoun, Diame, Collins, Carroll are massive changes - their team was more different than ours.

[S-Clarke]

What are you on about? Jarvis, Benayoun, Diame, Collins, Carroll are massive changes - their team was more different than ours.

 

I wrongly thought Collins played for them last year, but he didn't. Nolan, Tomkins, Reid, Spence, Noble, Oneil...still players from last year though, who we competed with. But Noble kind of had the run of the game 2nd half.

[shurlock]

I wrongly thought Collins played for them last year, but he didn't. Nolan, Tomkins, Reid, Spence, Noble, Oneil...still players from last year though, who we competed with. But Noble kind of had the run of the game 2nd half.

 

Half the team was different -and we're not talking cosmetic changes, we're talking full-on internationals, established prem players, some with top 4 experience. Nobody was expecting a totally new 11 but if you think west ham werent that different from last season, you're very mistaken. Compare our changes -two lads from the NPC even if they're more or less improvements on what we had.

[Norm]

Heard yesterday (from two separate good sources) that Lambert had serious words with NA following the Fulham game. It would certainly explain why he was on the bench yesterday.

 

Seems that RL was not the only one to 'question' Nigel after being taken off in the same game! The answer given, "I thought you looked tired". The reply is unsuitable for family viewing! Please do not think I'm stirring but one or two seem unhappy with their lot at the moment. I really want NA to do well for us and hope he can turn it around. I do wonder if he is fighting with one hand tied?

[Norm]

hi fellas,,, you could argue that you were not in any trouble first half , but neither were west ham , possibly one of the most inept halves i've ever had to witness, 2nd half, game was over with the 2 goals,,, you may not like it but Carroll was being battered from all angles yesterday and iy also looked like Boruc was carrying a few extra unwanted llbs too. liked the look of lallana , but youll need to tighten up seriously at the back ( something i think u all know ) but remember who youve played and you can string a few results together over the likes of wigan, you should be ok, have faith and support your team ffs........results like this happen , believe me we've been mustard at home this season and will be hard to beat so take faith in that and good luck.

 

I agree re the teams we have played. Thanks for the good wishes.

[VectisSaint]

hi fellas,,, you could argue that you were not in any trouble first half , but neither were west ham , possibly one of the most inept halves i've ever had to witness, 2nd half, game was over with the 2 goals,,, you may not like it but Carroll was being battered from all angles yesterday and iy also looked like Boruc was carrying a few extra unwanted llbs too. liked the look of lallana , but youll need to tighten up seriously at the back ( something i think u all know ) but remember who youve played and you can string a few results together over the likes of wigan, you should be ok, have faith and support your team ffs........results like this happen , believe me we've been mustard at home this season and will be hard to beat so take faith in that and good luck.

Nice try, but we already played Wigan, and were awful against them, probably our worst display so far against a truly awful team.

[Saint86]

Lambert wasn't at fault for fontes hand ball was he. Lambert is the bloomin be all and end all. He's our best player and has been for years. Adkins has lost plot. Wake up

 

Sorry mate but Lambert was ****. Simple as. Best players for saints were guky, jay rod and Adam. Morgan was solid first half, as was jos to give him his credit. Second half should just not be talked about defensively. But we made west ham look very good. Had to sit in the middle of the home fans listening to the singing 'we play on the floor' at the end of the game as they gave themselves a pat on the back for scoring 1 goal in essence. We score 4imho.... 3 at the wrong end. Lambert did nothing. No shots on target thati can remember.

 

People need to get a grip. It will be a long season, we have played some hard teams so far and we are still in touch. We currently have 1 fit full back and are playing a cb down the left.... where 3 of their goals came from. No real surprise. First half we totally handled them. Jos was all over big old Andy and we were good on the break. An unlucky free kick and spill from the keeper and suddenly Adkins should go and has lost the plot. Good grief. What do u think is harder.

 

And whatever happens support the team ffs, if we go down.. we go down. You were happy with Adkins and saints for the last 3 years. Would a return to winning the championship be so bad n hat basis... yes of... Adkins is miraculously **** all f a sudden..... Jesus h Christ. Grow a pair.

 

Also, guly was good yesterday and not a single goal was remotely his fault... yet I find myself reading comments otherwise aligned. What an embarrassment.

[Roger]

Sorry mate but Lambert was ****. Simple as. Best players for saints were guky, jay rod and Adam. Morgan was solid first half, as was jos to give him his credit. Second half should just not be talked about defensively. But we made west ham look very good. Had to sit in the middle of the home fans listening to the singing 'we play on the floor' at the end of the game as they gave themselves a pat on the back for scoring 1 goal in essence. We score 4imho.... 3 at the wrong end. Lambert did nothing. No shots on target thati can remember.

 

I

People need to get a grip. It will be a long season, we have played some hard teams so far and we are still in touch. We currently have 1 fit full back and are playing a cb down the left.... where 3 of their goals came from. No real surprise. First half we totally handled them. Jos was all over big old Andy and we were good on the break. An unlucky free kick and spill from the keeper and suddenly Adkins should go and has lost the plot. Good grief. What do u think is harder.

 

And whatever happens support the team ffs, if we go down.. we go down. You were happy with Adkins and saints for the last 3 years. Would a return to winning the championship be so bad n hat basis... yes of... Adkins is miraculously **** all f a sudden..... Jesus h Christ. Grow a pair.

 

Also, guly was good yesterday and not a single goal was remotely his fault... yet I find myself reading comments otherwise aligned. What an embarrassment.

 

I watched it Thanku. Lambert is our best player and I don't blame him for losing a bit of confidence. We didn't have a shot in target first Half either. If you had watched last 4 years you would know lambert has been class. We hardly got the ball after the3rd goal and was that lamberts fault. Clueless person

[Roger]

Sorry mate but Lambert was ****. Simple as. Best players for saints were guky, jay rod and Adam. Morgan was solid first half, as was jos to give him his credit. Second half should just not be talked about defensively. But we made west ham look very good. Had to sit in the middle of the home fans listening to the singing 'we play on the floor' at the end of the game as they gave themselves a pat on the back for scoring 1 goal in essence. We score 4imho.... 3 at the wrong end. Lambert did nothing. No shots on target thati can remember.

 

People need to get a grip. It will be a long season, we have played some hard teams so far and we are still in touch. We currently have 1 fit full back and are playing a cb down the left.... where 3 of their goals came from. No real surprise. First half we totally handled them. Jos was all over big old Andy and we were good on the break. An unlucky free kick and spill from the keeper and suddenly Adkins should go and has lost the plot. Good grief. What do u think is harder.

 

And whatever happens support the team ffs, if we go down.. we go down. You were happy with Adkins and saints for the last 3 years. Would a return to winning the championship be so bad n hat basis... yes of... Adkins is miraculously **** all f a sudden..... Jesus h Christ. Grow a pair.

 

Also, guly was good yesterday and not a single goal was remotely his fault... yet I find myself reading comments otherwise aligned. What an embarrassment.

 

And support the team? We do support the team but it's not a dictatorship. It's obvious we have mucked up. I think you need to wake up. I've been a season ticket holder since 86 that's supporting team u muppet

[Griffo]

Guly was quite good yesterday. He was nowhere near one of our worst players. I presume the people spouting off about him didn't go.

[solentstars]

Guly was quite good yesterday. He was nowhere near one of our worst players. I presume the people spouting off about him didn't go.

agree and its usually the normal suspects .

[derry]

It's all very well playing God knows how many passes sideways and backwards while the opposition get ten men formed up in a defensive shield then try to pick them apart with more sideways and the odd short forward pass that is mostly followed by a backwards pass/es to start again as any attackers have nowhere to go except offside. We have possession but we aren't hurting the opposition. We have to vary our game, we have to have goalscoring runners plus Lambert at the front, they have to be released early from midfield/defence without taking the obligatory ten passes to allow the opposition to form up.

 

We were undone by a lack of defensive organisation. When defending we are forever backing onto the goalkeeper. Yesterday we formed up all right but as soon as the WHU attackers went forward we dropped right on top of the keeper causing the chaos. We need to hold the line and force the attackers to hold or be offside. We don't have the discipline to do that, it then gives the keeper the room to sweep up if the ball is hit in. However if the defence holds it's line the ball has to be put in further out. We need a top class defensive coach to sort it out.

[hypochondriac]

hi fellas,,, you could argue that you were not in any trouble first half , but neither were west ham , possibly one of the most inept halves i've ever had to witness, 2nd half, game was over with the 2 goals,,, you may not like it but Carroll was being battered from all angles yesterday and iy also looked like Boruc was carrying a few extra unwanted llbs too. liked the look of lallana , but youll need to tighten up seriously at the back ( something i think u all know ) but remember who youve played and you can string a few results together over the likes of wigan, you should be ok, have faith and support your team ffs........results like this happen , believe me we've been mustard at home this season and will be hard to beat so take faith in that and good luck.

 

We Los to Wigan...

[ericofarabia]

hi fellas,,, you could argue that you were not in any trouble first half , but neither were west ham , possibly one of the most inept halves i've ever had to witness, 2nd half, game was over with the 2 goals,,, you may not like it but Carroll was being battered from all angles yesterday and iy also looked like Boruc was carrying a few extra unwanted llbs too. liked the look of lallana , but youll need to tighten up seriously at the back ( something i think u all know ) but remember who youve played and you can string a few results together over the likes of wigan, you should be ok, have faith and support your team ffs........results like this happen , believe me we've been mustard at home this season and will be hard to beat so take faith in that and good luck.

 

The Powderpuffed, PonyTailed ponce went down like a sack of Sh!t everytime he was challenged and cried like a girl to ther ref non stop. Feck me he even went down after a challenge from Lallana.

 

Annoyingly the 1st goal and the lead up to the peno came from free kicks won by his appealing for free kicks in 50/50 challenges.

Pity SRL has had similar protection from refs over the years.

[madruss]

Heard yesterday (from two separate good sources) that Lambert had serious words with NA following the Fulham game. It would certainly explain why he was on the bench yesterday.

 

Lambert missed three very good chances against Fulham. If he'd scored even one of those, we would have won the game. I would have hoped that if either party was having "words" with the other, it would be the other way round.

 

If a defender/goalkeeper makes a cock-up and it leads to a goal, they are at fault and blamed for any defeat/draw that arises. Similarly then,a striker should be equally culpable for missing 3 chances that you would expect a premier league quality striker to put away.

 

People on here are very quick to blame "suicidal tactical decisions and substitutions" of NA or other such melodramatic blamethrowing, whilst simultaneously ignoring the simple fact that player errors or underperformance have just as much, if not more, of a bearing on the end result

[Thedelldays]

Lambert missed three very good chances against Fulham. If he'd scored even one of those, we would have won the game. I would have hoped that if either party was having "words" with the other, it would be the other way round.

 

If a defender/goalkeeper makes a cock-up and it leads to a goal, they are at fault and blamed for any defeat/draw that arises. Similarly then,a striker should be equally culpable for missing 3 chances that you would expect a premier league quality striker to put away.

 

People on here are very quick to blame "suicidal tactical decisions and substitutions" of NA or other such melodramatic blamethrowing, whilst simultaneously ignoring the simple fact that player errors or underperformance have just as much, if not more, of a bearing on the end result

does that mean he should have been dropped..?

[up and away]

Bit of a delayed reaction but it's finally dawned upon the masses that we have a lot of mediocre players and look destined for relegation. Previous games put a gloss on this but it was all there to see, even when we were winning.

 

We made a big error in not understanding exactly what is required from a team going into the Premier and that extends across the board. We have an open, fluid style of play with players coached in that manner and of insufficient quality to be able to change or raise their game sufficiently. Forget about the arguments on tactics or JRod versus Lambert, we just are not good enough at the present. Adkins tactics worked well for 45 minutes but we needed to change. West Ham just sat back at home and took the first half boo''s, bringing us on to them and stretching us to an extent to open us up. If we had sat back a bit more and drew them out, our defence would have been more compact and our attack would have had a bit more space. JRod or Ricky, what really was the difference? Over the last 2 games it has been noticeable that Ricky has not been jumping for the ball as he did at the start of the season. This should come as no shock to anyone who has witnessed this since League 1, you just don't need to be roger blind to notice it. JRod has had enough chances and it has to be Ricky as first choice because of his goals, but only as a sub if he is not going to put in a full shift. The small glimmer of hope is that Mayuka can do the business, not totally impossible but we need to find out as soon as possible, along with Chung. Ramirez will make a big difference when he comes back but not enough to walk us out of relegation alone. Really good quick feet by Lallana for his goal giving the goalie little time to figure out what was going on. That could be our goal of the season. Nothing much to say about the defence as we have all seen it a few times before. The selection of Boruc made sense especially when you saw him alongside of Carrol, no way was he getting bullied but Gazza was unlucky there.

 

The only thing we can do short term is to bolster the coaching staff with someone who can get better from our defence. It could be wise to get a new manager in the future but is it going to be of value given the quality we have and the performances they have put in? I doubt little can be done until we can change out players in the window but by that time spending good money on a very bad position may look foolish. We have to accept the practicalities of the mess we are now in and plan accordingly. I have no issue with keeping Adkins even if we were relegated because of the mammoth job he did in getting us promotion. Remember it was this same style of play / players that got us promoted along with some journeyman now gone. The problem is our standards need to be so much higher to carry this off in the Premier.

[tpbury]

I'm pretty cool with everything. Norwich have same GD as us, and shot out of relegation spots with one win. Everyone's too stressed. It'll be reet.

[Chez]

Tactically, Adkins got it spot on first half. Saints dominated without really threatening too much. West Ham didn't even have a sniff. Then came the all-too-familiar suicidal 2 minutes and the game was over. Both goals were 'gifts' in the extreme. I can't quite fathom how Boruc was at fault, though. He wasn't as bad as many have pointed out, although I think Gazza's distribution is much better. It's quite easy to beat Saints at the moment - we just implode. Is that Adkins fault? I don't know the answer to that. We dominated large parts of the game and lost 4-1. West Ham didn't string more than 2 passes together. Funny game football.

 

This is how I feel. Just don't understand how we ended up losing 4-1. West Ham were terrible. Worse than last season.

[The Cat]

Not much to add other than the direness of the atmosphere. Maybe it's my memory playing tricks on me, but before we got relegated in 2005 things seemed a lot less soulless and anodyne.

 

There was a full ground yesterday but other than a few blokes belting the odd song out to the left of us I barely heard a peep out of them. It appears now that 95% of fans are happy to stand up and cheer when their team scores but like to spend the rest of the game sat on their hands.

[Chez]

I think it was one of Guly's best games. He was only "poor", versus absolutely sh ite as he is normally.

 

To be fair though, the whole team is shambolic. And as for Boruc.....no wonder he was available after the transfer window. I'd have Kelv back any day after that appalling display of goalkeeping.

 

Don't agree with this at all. Guly had a very good game. He wasn't poor at all. He worked hard and kept the ball well. He beat players with some excellent tricks. There was one terrible pass in the second half, but other than that his passing was good. There was also one terrible long shot. A poor choice. But those two things apart I'm not sure what else he could be expected of him.

[Chez]

Not much to add other than the direness of the atmosphere. Maybe it's my memory playing tricks on me, but before we got relegated in 2005 things seemed a lot less soulless and anodyne.

 

There was a full ground yesterday but other than a few blokes belting the odd song out to the left of us I barely heard a peep out of them. It appears now that 95% of fans are happy to stand up and cheer when their team scores but like to spend the rest of the game sat on their hands.

 

terrible atmosphere. What the hell has happened to football in this country?

[Thedelldays]

terrible atmosphere. What the hell has happened to football in this country?

we are nothing of note in the prem....much like the poor atmosphere when we played oldham at home....

[Chez]

Guly was quite good yesterday. He was nowhere near one of our worst players. I presume the people spouting off about him didn't go.

 

many don't care how he plays. They hate him and refuse to see any of the good things he does.

[Chez]

we are nothing of note in the prem....much like the poor atmosphere when we played oldham at home....

 

True.

I'm certainly not suggesting the atmosphere at our place is any better by the way. I just expected more from West Ham even against a no mark side like us. All seater stadiums have killed the atmosphere...

[RobM]

many don't care how he plays. They hate him and refuse to see any of the good things he does.

 

We are Southampton, we must have at least one player who suffers this regardless of what actually happens.

[Thedelldays]

many don't care how he plays. They hate him and refuse to see any of the good things he does.

I just dont rate him...

 

I cant remember the last time he scored, or set one up..and I certainly do not think right now, he justifies his place INSTEAD of lambert

[Chez]

We are Southampton, we must have at least one player who suffers this regardless of what actually happens.

 

aha. Bloody annoying.

[Roger]

Bit of a delayed reaction but it's finally dawned upon the masses that we have a lot of mediocre players and look destined for relegation. Previous games put a gloss on this but it was all there to see, even when we were winning.

 

We made a big error in not understanding exactly what is required from a team going into the Premier and that extends across the board. We have an open, fluid style of play with players coached in that manner and of insufficient quality to be able to change or raise their game sufficiently. Forget about the arguments on tactics or JRod versus Lambert, we just are not good enough at the present. Adkins tactics worked well for 45 minutes but we needed to change. West Ham just sat back at home and took the first half boo''s, bringing us on to them and stretching us to an extent to open us up. If we had sat back a bit more and drew them out, our defence would have been more compact and our attack would have had a bit more space. JRod or Ricky, what really was the difference? Over the last 2 games it has been noticeable that Ricky has not been jumping for the ball as he did at the start of the season. This should come as no shock to anyone who has witnessed this since League 1, you just don't need to be roger blind to notice it. JRod has had enough chances and it has to be Ricky as first choice because of his goals, but only as a sub if he is not going to put in a full shift. The small glimmer of hope is that Mayuka can do the business, not totally impossible but we need to find out as soon as possible, along with Chung. Ramirez will make a big difference when he comes back but not enough to walk us out of relegation alone. Really good quick feet by Lallana for his goal giving the goalie little time to figure out what was going on. That could be our goal of the season. Nothing much to say about the defence as we have all seen it a few times before. The selection of Boruc made sense especially when you saw him alongside of Carrol, no way was he getting bullied but Gazza was unlucky there.

 

The only thing we can do short term is to bolster the coaching staff with someone who can get better from our defence. It could be wise to get a new manager in the future but is it going to be of value given the quality we have and the performances they have put in? I doubt little can be done until we can change out players in the window but by that time spending good money on a very bad position may look foolish. We have to accept the practicalities of the mess we are now in and plan accordingly. I have no issue with keeping Adkins even if we were relegated because of the mammoth job he did in getting us promotion. Remember it was this same style of play / players that got us promoted along with some journeyman now gone. The problem is our standards need to be so much higher to carry this off in the Premier.

 

Do shut up.

[Chez]

I just dont rate him...

 

I cant remember the last time he scored, or set one up..and I certainly do not think right now, he justifies his place INSTEAD of lambert

I'm not sure I rate him. He is too hit and miss. But when he plays well, that should be noted and yesterday he was probably our second best player behind Davis. Despite this I read on here that he was "poor" yesterday. The game is about opinions but I can only conclude that someone with that opinion is blinded by their hatred of him, perhaps because of that pompey goal .

 

Also he wasn't selected ahead of Lambert. He played wide left as part of a five man midfield. Rodriguez was selected ahead of Lambert and I can half see why because he has done quite well and Adkins wants t reward that. He also offers a different set of runs to Lambert which perhaps Adkins was looking for. They have two or three big centre backs so the air route wasn't a good plan (when we went a little longer when Lambert came on it didn't work at all). I'ma massive fan of Lambert's all round game, so I'm not sure I would have made that selection.

Edited 21 October, 2012 by Chez

[Berkshire Saint]

many don't care how he plays. They hate him and refuse to see any of the good things he does.

 

Yep.

[Thedelldays]

I'm not sure I rate him. He is too hit and miss. But when he plays well, that should be noted and yesterday he was probably our second best player behind Davis. Despite this I read on here that he was "poor" yesterday. The game is about opinions but I can only conclude that someone with that opinion is blinded by their hatred of him, perhaps because of that pompey goal .

 

Also he wasn't selected ahead of Lambert yesterday. He played wide left as part of a five man midfield. Rodriguez was selected ahead of Lambert and I can half see why in that he has done quite well and offers a different set of runs to Lambert.

see, I dont think what so ever he was out 2nd best player..

 

that is not being blinded, racist or biased..just dont really see anything he does of note...

well, lambert and j-rod started the last game.......guly never..

this game, lambert made was for guly to come in...so...........................anyway, could go round and round on that one

 

at the end of the day, he is just not very good

[chigwells finest]

takes a few games for gk's and defenders to gel, its never gonna happen if you keep changing, still and im not patronising your in a dogfight but there is no reason you cant beat the teams around you..... personally was delighte to see lambert on the bench yesterday .

[shurlock]

I just dont rate him...

 

I cant remember the last time he scored, or set one up..and I certainly do not think right now, he justifies his place INSTEAD of lambert

 

But he's not playing INSTEAD of Lambert FFS. Guly played on the left, JRod up top. There's no way Lambert would have played on the left -and we've seen Jrod's struggles there.

The reality is that Jrod was chosen ahead of Lambert for the lone forward/central striker position - coincidentally, that should put to bed the myth that NA's under orders to play Guly as Jrod is a 100% NA signing.

[Window Cleaner]

as Jrod is a 100% NA signing.

 

 

which he must be regretting, a dire waste of money, we have Lambert,Mayuka and Lee and we had Sharp. 7 million would have bought us 2 reasonable CBs. Clubs weren't falling over themselves to throw money at Burnley for JRod, he'd still have been there in January

if we were in a position to buy him. Awful deal.

[Weston Saint]

Bit of a delayed reaction but it's finally dawned upon the masses that we have a lot of mediocre players and look destined for relegation. Previous games put a gloss on this but it was all there to see, even when we were winning.

 

We made a big error in not understanding exactly what is required from a team going into the Premier and that extends across the board. We have an open, fluid style of play with players coached in that manner and of insufficient quality to be able to change or raise their game sufficiently. Forget about the arguments on tactics or JRod versus Lambert, we just are not good enough at the present. Adkins tactics worked well for 45 minutes but we needed to change. West Ham just sat back at home and took the first half boo''s, bringing us on to them and stretching us to an extent to open us up. If we had sat back a bit more and drew them out, our defence would have been more compact and our attack would have had a bit more space. JRod or Ricky, what really was the difference? Over the last 2 games it has been noticeable that Ricky has not been jumping for the ball as he did at the start of the season. This should come as no shock to anyone who has witnessed this since League 1, you just don't need to be roger blind to notice it. JRod has had enough chances and it has to be Ricky as first choice because of his goals, but only as a sub if he is not going to put in a full shift. The small glimmer of hope is that Mayuka can do the business, not totally impossible but we need to find out as soon as possible, along with Chung. Ramirez will make a big difference when he comes back but not enough to walk us out of relegation alone. Really good quick feet by Lallana for his goal giving the goalie little time to figure out what was going on. That could be our goal of the season. Nothing much to say about the defence as we have all seen it a few times before. The selection of Boruc made sense especially when you saw him alongside of Carrol, no way was he getting bullied but Gazza was unlucky there.

 

The only thing we can do short term is to bolster the coaching staff with someone who can get better from our defence. It could be wise to get a new manager in the future but is it going to be of value given the quality we have and the performances they have put in? I doubt little can be done until we can change out players in the window but by that time spending good money on a very bad position may look foolish. We have to accept the practicalities of the mess we are now in and plan accordingly. I have no issue with keeping Adkins even if we were relegated because of the mammoth job he did in getting us promotion. Remember it was this same style of play / players that got us promoted along with some journeyman now gone. The problem is our standards need to be so much higher to carry this off in the Premier.

I am with you on this. As for Rogers quote to shut up. I wish he would. He adds nothing.

[Roger]

I am with you on this. As for Rogers quote to shut up. I wish he would. He adds nothing.

 

I think I am adding what most saints fans are seeing. Nearly everyone thinks that it is a mistake to leave out lambert.

[Window Cleaner]

I think I am adding what most saints fans are seeing. Nearly everyone thinks that it is a mistake to leave out lambert.

 

 

Why ? someone was evidently keen to show that a 7 million NPC hotshot is nowhere near as good as a £1 million bargain basement signing from League 1. It was worth JRod starting if only to disillusion people about him :rolleyes:

 

In the words of The Who we won't get fooled again.

[shurlock]

I think I am adding what most saints fans are seeing. Nearly everyone thinks that it is a mistake to leave out lambert.

 

Did you go yesterday?