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Individual errors


saints_is_the_south
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Today we showed we can defend. But how many more individual errors are we going to keep coming up with? Costing us week in week out.

 

Our shape is excellent, as highlighted by Gary Neville many times this season. You could have Mourinho on the touch line though and it still wouldn't solve the individual errors that are ultimately going to get us relegated. A shame too because we have the real makings of being a decent PL side.

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I am yet to see one single team in the Premiership that doesn't make defensive errors. There were several made by Arsenal yesterday. Of course we need to work on reducing them, but we are never going to cut them all out. Some of our defensive errors have instead been bad luck, like the own goals for example, or players slipping. And they have also come against top teams' strikers too. Only one defensive error yesterday against Swansea and I suspect that Gazzaniga has learned a valuable lesson from it.

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I am yet to see one single team in the Premiership that doesn't make defensive errors. There were several made by Arsenal yesterday. Of course we need to work on reducing them, but we are never going to cut them all out. Some of our defensive errors have instead been bad luck, like the own goals for example, or players slipping. And they have also come against top teams' strikers too. Only one defensive error yesterday against Swansea and I suspect that Gazzaniga has learned a valuable lesson from it.

 

I agree with this. My view yesterday was that it's not so much the individual errors as the fact that despite big investment, there is still a quality gap between the likes of Swansea and us. Their passing is crisp, playing in triangles etc. We seem to be stuck between keep ball and pass (which gets us nowhere but retains possession) and upping the tempo to try to catch teams off guard (which makes our championship players struggle to keep the ball but causes teams some problems). Better yesterday than it has been but Swansea at home needed desperately to be a win.

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I agree with this. My view yesterday was that it's not so much the individual errors as the fact that despite big investment, there is still a quality gap between the likes of Swansea and us. Their passing is crisp, playing in triangles etc. We seem to be stuck between keep ball and pass (which gets us nowhere but retains possession) and upping the tempo to try to catch teams off guard (which makes our championship players struggle to keep the ball but causes teams some problems). Better yesterday than it has been but Swansea at home needed desperately to be a win.

 

I saw no quality gap between Saints and Swansea yesterday. We lost yesterday due to errors by two individuals. If Saints' passing isn't as crisp as it has been I would put that down to confidence.

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I saw no quality gap between Saints and Swansea yesterday. We lost yesterday due to errors by two individuals. If Saints' passing isn't as crisp as it has been I would put that down to confidence.

 

I fully expect Swansea to finish a full 10 or more points clear of us this season. They are a better outfit and play a style of football that worries even the top teams in the league. They realised the best they could do is get a point, and promptly took their goal and held out away from home. One team who certainly aren't a cut above us, despite heavy investment, are QPR. Next weeks match is huge, and a point isn't much good for anyone.

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I am yet to see one single team in the Premiership that doesn't make defensive errors. There were several made by Arsenal yesterday. Of course we need to work on reducing them, but we are never going to cut them all out. Some of our defensive errors have instead been bad luck, like the own goals for example, or players slipping. And they have also come against top teams' strikers too. Only one defensive error yesterday against Swansea and I suspect that Gazzaniga has learned a valuable lesson from it.

 

And there is only one premier league team which hold the record for highest number of goal conceded at this stage of the season.

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I saw no quality gap between Saints and Swansea yesterday. We lost yesterday due to errors by two individuals. If Saints' passing isn't as crisp as it has been I would put that down to confidence.

Agree, quality wise on an individual basis we are better than them, but they are better organised in general, though they looked very shaky at the back yesterday. Pity we did not test their keeper more, I suspect he may not be the best, certainly not compared to Vorm.

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A lot of the blame has been put on Gazza with his chipped pass to Maya, but Maya could have volleyed it up the pitch immediately. The opponent closing him down started about 15 yards away. He only nicked the ball away cos Maya tried to control it.

 

So there were two mistakes!

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A lot of the blame has been put on Gazza with his chipped pass to Maya, but Maya could have volleyed it up the pitch immediately. The opponent closing him down started about 15 yards away. He only nicked the ball away cos Maya tried to control it.

 

So there were two mistakes!

 

 

Precisley. In fact Yoshida already new their front 3 were coming up quickly and still made himself available and waited for the ball to reach him.

 

Also don't know if anyone else on the Itchen/Chapel area noticed in the first half that, whenever Gazza had the ball and hoofed it up, one member of the back 4 (except Shaw) would tell him off or be annoyed by him doing so. Being 1-0 and the whole team not looking very composed or calm, I think he was just trying to do as told, even if it wasn't the best option then. Glad he wasn't slated on MOTD and both Shearer and Keown understood his position.

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Also don't know if anyone else on the Itchen/Chapel area noticed in the first half that, whenever Gazza had the ball and hoofed it up, one member of the back 4 (except Shaw) would tell him off or be annoyed by him doing so. Being 1-0 and the whole team not looking very composed or calm, I think he was just trying to do as told, even if it wasn't the best option then. Glad he wasn't slated on MOTD and both Shearer and Keown understood his position.

 

We have played the ball from the keeper rather than whack it up field pretty much since Nigel arrived. It was unfortunate for the kid that in this instance it led to a goal. We have a style of play where the keeper is encouraged to play from the back, so people cant really turn round and say he should have whacked it that time. In the end he'll end up whacking it up field every time ala Stoke. If we want to play from the back, it will lead to the occasional **** up.

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Precisley. In fact Yoshida already new their front 3 were coming up quickly and still made himself available and waited for the ball to reach him.

 

Also don't know if anyone else on the Itchen/Chapel area noticed in the first half that, whenever Gazza had the ball and hoofed it up, one member of the back 4 (except Shaw) would tell him off or be annoyed by him doing so. Being 1-0 and the whole team not looking very composed or calm, I think he was just trying to do as told, even if it wasn't the best option then. Glad he wasn't slated on MOTD and both Shearer and Keown understood his position.

 

Firstly, may I say how nice it is to see that we have Saints fans from as far away as the planet Melmac. By the way, how is our old pal Gordon Chumway these days?

 

Back to the football and it may be that the Swansea goal highlighted certain coaching deficiencies. Yes it does appear the GK is still instructed to play it short but with so many stuff ups already this year and until we can effect a recovery surely a safety first policy should be strictly applied? Anything less is asking for trouble with our defence, as we found out. If Nigel indeed wanted extra defenders he did not get, then he should perhaps have been aware from the start that champagne football would have to be delayed until reinforcements arrived. Our league position is the vital thing, effectively overriding style over substance.

 

The other thing I noticed was the apparent non-comprehension of Gazza/Maya about the speed threat posed by Dyer. Every fan (of both clubs) in the stands could have told them this and most would have read the unfolding drama like a cheap novel and anticipated the inevitable ending. Can we surmise therefore that the coaching staff did not hammer home to the players in their scouting report that if Dyer gets on the pitch his main weapon is extreme speed and to take no chances with him in the vicinity?

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The other thing I noticed was the apparent non-comprehension of Gazza/Maya about the speed threat posed by Dyer. Every fan (of both clubs) in the stands could have told them this and most would have read the unfolding drama like a cheap novel and anticipated the inevitable ending. Can we surmise therefore that the coaching staff did not hammer home to the players in their scouting report that if Dyer gets on the pitch his main weapon is extreme speed and to take no chances with him in the vicinity?

The same applied to Gascón in the second half. He could have played the ball out to the right but hung on and Dyer caught up and nicked it off him.

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