Fulham 1 Saints 1 - Post Match Reactions & MotM

[Mowgli]

Good result and fair given the overall performance by both teams. Cork and puncheon best players for me. Can't really blame Davis for the goal. A deflection is normally enough to put he attacker off. Fell kindly for Berbatov. Good play by Adkins too. He resisted the temptation to pull of Rickie toward the end. And boy did we need him.

[skintsaint]

good to see the bottom three fail to win and Villa imploding again...

[S-Clarke]

Villa have looked pathetically bad again tonight. We could be visiting them at a very good time.

[Appy]

Villa have looked pathetically bad again tonight. We could be visiting them at a very good time.

 

Annoys me so much when people go on about how young they are.

 

Don't play the young players then.

[S-Clarke]

Annoys me so much when people go on about how young they are.

 

Don't play the young players then.

 

Their young players are pretty bog-standard average to be honest.

 

Players like Herd and Baker, IMO, from what I've seen, shouldn't be playing the PL.

[SuperMikey]

Ramirez should play in the hole, he's ineffective out wide. Would've taken a point before the game though so can't complain. Avoid defeat at Stoke on Saturday and i'll be relatively happy with Xmas so far considering the effect Lallana's injury has had on us.

[dubai_phil]

Puncheon again ran into his blind alleys - 11 mins gets into a great position & just kicks the ball in the direction of the goal without looking up. 13 mins does it again. That's why we need 2 wingers he has the skill but not the brain.

 

Great work by Cork to set up a chance in the 1st half that seemed to start the battling part of the display.

 

We improved immensely when Gaston went into the hole, he HAS to stay in that role if he is playing.

 

I'd have brought SRL off and put Guly or Mayuka out wide towards the end. Then we get the penalty. What do I know. SRL was off his game all day, maybe needs a break.

 

Why didn't KD take a step towards the ball when that cross came in - looked like he went down too early and stretched - another GK mistake costing us points? Possibly

 

Luke Shaw - again awesome- made one mistake nearly cost us but he admitted it and got on with the game.

 

Thought we lost some momentum when JRod came on, we got less of the ball in MF, that sub was too late in the game but hey we got the Pen with him on the pitch.

 

Sometimes I'm glad I can't get to games, most times I miss it immensely. Today (& Saturday) I'm glad I didn't go & get soaked & frozen. Respect to all who made it without trains/tubes

 

I'll take a battling point any day of the week, now get the wise players in with quality and a BRAIN

[max_saints]

good point away from home. S Davis was very poor today, anyone else felt that guly would have done a better job? also while Ramirez has his flashes of brilliance, he keeps giving the ball away which often led to dangerous fulham counters! finally lallana's injury has exposed our lack of cover in the wide positions and I would like to see an above average winger come in jan

[Dangermouth]

good point away from home. S Davis was very poor today, anyone else felt that guly would have done a better job? also while Ramirez has his flashes of brilliance, he keeps giving the ball away which often led to dangerous fulham counters! finally lallana's injury has exposed our lack of cover in the wide positions and I would like to see an above average winger come in jan

 

The reason he does this is because when he gets the ball, like kids in the playground the team run away from him rather than look for a short give and go or intricate interplay. He'd do far better in Man City's team than most of our lot for this reason. That observation is based on the 2nd half of today's performance only btw, but if it's been replicated elsewhere then you can see why he struggles. As well as getting closed down by at least 2 players each time.

[skintsaint]

goals here...

 

shocker by KD...

 

http://www.footytube.com/video/fulham-southampton-dec26-149897?ref=hp_latestvideos

[THEVMAN]

The reason he does this is because when he gets the ball, like kids in the playground the team run away from him rather than look for a short give and go or intricate interplay. He'd do far better in Man City's team than most of our lot for this reason. That observation is based on the 2nd half of today's performance only btw, but if it's been replicated elsewhere then you can see why he struggles. As well as getting closed down by at least 2 players each time.

A couple of our players would look good playing amongst Man City`s players but their not ,thats why he needs to learn to play with and understand the quality thats around him.

[captainchris]

Puncheon again ran into his blind alleys - 11 mins gets into a great position & just kicks the ball in the direction of the goal without looking up. 13 mins does it again. That's why we need 2 wingers he has the skill but not the brain.

 

Great work by Cork to set up a chance in the 1st half that seemed to start the battling part of the display.

 

We improved immensely when Gaston went into the hole, he HAS to stay in that role if he is playing.

 

I'd have brought SRL off and put Guly or Mayuka out wide towards the end. Then we get the penalty. What do I know. SRL was off his game all day, maybe needs a break.

 

Why didn't KD take a step towards the ball when that cross came in - looked like he went down too early and stretched - another GK mistake costing us points? Possibly

 

Luke Shaw - again awesome- made one mistake nearly cost us but he admitted it and got on with the game.

 

Thought we lost some momentum when JRod came on, we got less of the ball in MF, that sub was too late in the game but hey we got the Pen with him on the pitch.

 

Sometimes I'm glad I can't get to games, most times I miss it immensely. Today (& Saturday) I'm glad I didn't go & get soaked & frozen. Respect to all who made it without trains/tubes

 

I'll take a battling point any day of the week, now get the wise players in with quality and a BRAIN

 

Some excellent points......KD could have walked to the cross and kicked it away but chose to stand where he was and dive towards it. As usual he needs coaching and explaining to......You have to use your head quickly in this game as a pro. Think...you don't need to always use your hands - it's not a rule of the game!

[Junior Mullet]

Very good result. Other results suit us too. Still concerned about the second half of the season fixtures and it is clear we need a new signing to cover for Lallana in the short term and provide competition for the 3 attacking midfielders in the longer term.

[Chris Marsden = Genius]

Some excellent points......KD could have walked to the cross and kicked it away but chose to stand where he was and dive towards it. As usual he needs coaching and explaining to......You have to use your head quickly in this game as a pro. Think...you don't need to always use your hands - it's not a rule of the game!

 

No GK even in a pub league should need to KICK a cross away, and he doesn't need coaching he needs dropping for good, so poor!

[Gemmel]

At the risk of sounding like Scrooge, that's two poor performances in a row.

 

We can dress it up as a battling point and credit where it is due, it was, but the standard of football is not consistently good enough. We seem to have different waves throughout matches ranging from dismal pub league players to an execellent footballing side.

 

Don't get Gaston on the left and agree Rickie is looking off form, but the key for me is Lallana (We are really missing him). Excluding the penalty I think we have had two shots on target and perhaps six or seven off target in the last two games.

 

Yoshida is awful (Don't be fooled by Qpr and Reading games) and a complete liability - Desparately hope we sign a decent centre half, because won't survive with his fifty pence head, woeful distribution and non existent positioning.

 

The frustrating thing is, we know we can be much better, so that's back to Nigel to sort out. I am not sure he did today, I thnk the fans dragged the team forward and we got our lucky break.

[Give it to Ron]

The formation looked awful at the start and we looked clueless as to who was meant to be doing what. It took us about 25 minutes to get going...although Cork had a decent shot after 19...our first attempt.

Ricky cannot play upfront on his own in this league, we do not have anyone that has the mentality or game to run beyond him as different type of midfieders.

Poor goal to give away and it was Luke Shaw v Fulham for long periods of the first half.

Second half we clicked on but again no cutting edge or overplaying it - thought we were so on top we needed JayRods movement after 60 minutes and left that far too late

its OK winning midfield but if you dont have anyone up front whats the point.

A point was well deserved but Fulham were there for the taking and with a bit more imagination from Nige I think we could of won this.

[Minsk]

Today we: moved a point ahead of QPR and Wigan; maintained a 6 point lead over Reading; gained a point on Villa and Newcastle.

 

Happy with that.

 

Cork MoM for me, with Shaw a close 2nd.

[DT]

No GK even in a pub league should need to KICK a cross away, and he doesn't need coaching he needs dropping for good, so poor!

 

Have been saying precisely this for about two years. Move on, Saints. No place for sentiment. Get in a decent keeper and CB. Spend money. Invest.

[melmacian_saint]

Considering how it all started, it wasn't a bad result.

 

Someone should remind Adkins that Steven Davis played out on the left for Rangers for a good number of times. Given he's our main midfield back-up man, I'd rather have him there than anyone else, especially Ramirez who we have seen is at his best when in the middle.

 

Kelvin's mistake was down to him not being able to adequately stretch his body. Has happened before this season, maybe a sign that the PL is too physically demanding for what he can offer at 33?

 

Lambert has been found out and unless he is clearly stronger and bigger than the CBs the odds for him to succeed in his aerial challenges is down to 50-50. We need our wide/other attacking players to have more of the ball, encourage them to run at gaps in the defense or get crosses in and tell Lambert to remain upfront in finishing positions more often. He just doesn't have the fitness to be that present in our build-up play, at least not for a full game.

 

 

 

We now need to find an attacking balance given that our defensive work has improved massively and is now fairly consistent.

[Sheaf Saint]

goals here...

 

shocker by KD...

 

http://www.footytube.com/video/fulham-southampton-dec26-149897?ref=hp_latestvideos

 

Agreed. He seemed to take an ice age to decide to dive for it. In the end he would have been much better staying on his feet and letting one of the CBs deal with it. Very poor.

[CanadaSaint]

We are not the same side if the opposition has some strength and pace down their left side, because it negates one of our biggest strengths during the recent good run - the Puncheon/Clyne combo; Clyne has to err on the side of caution and not push up as often. Having Lallana on the left - with Shaw pushing forward more and more as his confidence grew - meant that we could attack down both flanks. That threat on both sides tended to pull the opposition our of shape, create space for others and enable us to look like a pretty decent side at times.

 

Both Sunderland and Fulham threw width at us down their left side and we've lost Lallana - possibly for quite a long time. So we've gone from very threatening to "powder puff" down both sides. Punch switched flanks today, which IMO helped a lot, but some others - particularly Ramirez - need to step up their games.

[Roger]

At the risk of sounding like Scrooge, that's two poor performances in a row.

 

We can dress it up as a battling point and credit where it is due, it was, but the standard of football is not consistently good enough. We seem to have different waves throughout matches ranging from dismal pub league players to an execellent footballing side.

 

Don't get Gaston on the left and agree Rickie is looking off form, but the key for me is Lallana (We are really missing him). Excluding the penalty I think we have had two shots on target and perhaps six or seven off target in the last two games.

 

Yoshida is awful (Don't be fooled by Qpr and Reading games) and a complete liability - Desparately hope we sign a decent centre half, because won't survive with his fifty pence head, woeful distribution and non existent positioning.

 

The frustrating thing is, we know we can be much better, so that's back to Nigel to sort out. I am not sure he did today, I thnk the fans dragged the team forward and we got our lucky break.

 

Mate you're talking absolute tosh. There is no way that was a poor performance. Was pleased with performance and I was there. Our fans are being negative for me.

[CanadaSaint]

I'm a little old for this but I so badly wanted someone to flatten Berbatov. "Keep calm and pass me the ball" - Jeez, one of his own team should have done it.

[up and away]

We could have lost that game but we did not because we managed to keep a grip on midfield. It looked pretty bleak as we were trying to break them down for the equaliser because we don't have players good enough. But we hung on in there and eventually got our bit of luck and one point, an excellent performance. I have no problem with this as it maximises our possible returns. Goalie excluded, we look capable against the likes of Fulham to take three points at home and 1 away, that's not bad for a newly promoted side. Ramirez I feel is suffering with the weather, he does not seem to appreciate these wet, wintry days. That said he never had a bad game, more sidelined by the lack of decent runs from the other forwards. Lallana would have made a bit of difference but not enough to solve the problem. We are going to need that £12M striker like Fletcher to do that for us. If we can solve the goal keeping problem this window that may be good enough (just look at all the points without the errors).

 

I don't see us solving our striking options this window unless we are very lucky and someone stands up to be counted. But I do expect us to use what forwards we do have more wisely, combining that with a decent goalie and midfield control should be enough.

[Nexstar]

Thought we were pretty rubbish to be honest, but without Berbatov Fulham will struggle in any game.

 

Yoshida and Ramirez were poor for me today. The former just hoofed the ball anywhere and the latter failed to give Shaw much defensive protection, whilst taking too long in possession.

 

Lambert's threat was nullified due to the towering dominance of Hangeland, so it wouldn't surprise me to see RL dropped for the Stoke match. Great pen though.

 

Overall a good point away from home with a strong and noisy away crowd.

[channonball]

Mate you're talking absolute tosh. There is no way that was a poor performance. Was pleased with performance and I was there. Our fans are being negative for me.

 

Gemmel's thoughts are bang on. It was such a dire performance I am struggling to pick a man of the match, they were all terrible. How the hell Morgan gets 15% of the votes at the time of writing is beyond me. Can someone enlighten me to a tackle, forward pass or shot that he did today that would be deserving of man of the match?

[Gemmel]

Mate you're talking absolute tosh. There is no way that was a poor performance. Was pleased with performance and I was there. Our fans are being negative for me.

 

So was I and have no voice left. Ricky Lambert being interviewed - Say's it was a poor performance

[Yarm Saint]

Defender did not need to handball it - a very lucky pen which was almost saved.

Are you serious? Have you actually seen it? Their could have had 3 keepers in goal...nobody was stopping that!!

[Sour Mash]

We are not the same side if the opposition has some strength and pace down their left side, because it negates one of our biggest strengths during the recent good run - the Puncheon/Clyne combo; Clyne has to err on the side of caution and not push up as often. Having Lallana on the left - with Shaw pushing forward more and more as his confidence grew - meant that we could attack down both flanks. That threat on both sides tended to pull the opposition our of shape, create space for others and enable us to look like a pretty decent side at times.

 

Both Sunderland and Fulham threw width at us down their left side and we've lost Lallana - possibly for quite a long time. So we've gone from very threatening to "powder puff" down both sides. Punch switched flanks today, which IMO helped a lot, but some others - particularly Ramirez - need to step up their games.

I thought Clyne has been poor the last two games.

[CanadaSaint]

I thought Clyne has been poor the last two games.

 

I think he's been preoccupied with concentrated defensive duties, which takes away a big part of his game. He's young and he's learning but in my book he's better pushing forward than when he's got to "stay at home" most of the time.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he looks a lot better at Stoke because they don't have as much pace down the flanks.

[Appy]

I think he's been preoccupied with concentrated defensive duties, which takes away a big part of his game. He's young and he's learning but in my book he's better pushing forward than when he's got to "stay at home" most of the time.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he looks a lot better at Stoke because they don't have as much pace down the flanks.

 

Etherington and Kightly are quick.

[CanadaSaint]

Etherington and Kightly are quick.

 

Etherington not so much.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Good point - a very lucky point, because we played poorly once again. The penalty award was extremely fortunate indeed.

 

 

Lambert once again didn't look like scoring until he stepped up for the spot kick. As I have said previously SRL is now too immobile for the Prem and particularly for the style of football Adkins wants us to play. There's a very good reason SRL is our top scorer and his name is Lallana. Without him Lambert is looking isolated with few ideas on how to change things. He is increasingly finding himself out on the wing being playmaker so we then have to overplay the ball trying to get into a striking position and largely then end up losing it. Glad to see others are starting to realise that SRL is not working. Something has to change - I would like to see either Sharp back or the purchase of a skilled fast experienced striker.

 

Ramirez must start central. Cork and Morgan need to be coached in forward passing. Puncheon needs to get his head up a bit more, but otherwise is OK for me. OK so we let in a goal - it'll happen in Prem - but we're looking better defensively. Still need a CB upgrade though.

Edited 27 December, 2012 by Saint Fan CaM

[shurlock]

At the risk of sounding like Scrooge, that's two poor performances in a row.

 

We can dress it up as a battling point and credit where it is due, it was, but the standard of football is not consistently good enough. We seem to have different waves throughout matches ranging from dismal pub league players to an execellent footballing side.

 

Don't get Gaston on the left and agree Rickie is looking off form, but the key for me is Lallana (We are really missing him). Excluding the penalty I think we have had two shots on target and perhaps six or seven off target in the last two games.

 

Yoshida is awful (Don't be fooled by Qpr and Reading games) and a complete liability - Desparately hope we sign a decent centre half, because won't survive with his fifty pence head, woeful distribution and non existent positioning.

 

The frustrating thing is, we know we can be much better, so that's back to Nigel to sort out. I am not sure he did today, I thnk the fans dragged the team forward and we got our lucky break.

 

Thought Yoshida was very good -apart from a few poor passes (and watching Lambert and Yoshida prematch, I got the impression that hitting the ball early and long was part of the gameplan).

Yoshida, Fonte and Shaw have looked very solid - only Clyne has dipped a bit. No issues with our defense at the moment.

[Gemmel]

Thought Yoshida was very good -apart from a few poor passes (and watching Lambert and Yoshida prematch, I got the impression that hitting the ball early and long was part of the gameplan).

Yoshida, Fonte and Shaw have looked very solid - only Clyne has dipped a bit. No issues with our defense at the moment.

 

Did yoshida actually pass to a Saints player today. Did he head the ball without it spinning off into some random direction

[lloydie]

Saints fans were brilliant today. Fulhams were awful. SRL had an off day, and puncheon frustrated me

Today in that he kept trying to be too clever and got caught in possesion a few times. Yoshida was dire, his heading/passing ability is so bad I just came to accept that it was going to the opposition. Cork was brilliant, along with Morgan in the middle, those two are a great prem duo to have! Shaw showed a few instances where he wasnt God himself at LB but I can live with that, still a good game for a 17yo. Ultimately would have settled for a point before the game and by half time would have traded my house for one! Much better second half.

[Roger]

Did yoshida actually pass to a Saints player today. Did he head the ball without it spinning off into some random direction

 

Agree with u here. Puncheon didn't have off day was marked very heavily and still kept ball. Think he played very well.

[Saints Warrior]

very good point and battled well 2nd half. Points at Stoke will keep us moving up the table. At least Saints turned this game around from a 1st half flat display

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Not much to choose between us and any of the other sides who are likely to finish mid table with us. QPR, Villa, Reading and West Ham are all worse than us.

[pingwing]

Good point but should have won (like the home game)

 

They were utter turd, Kelvin gave them a goal, took a stupid handball to get the much deserved break through, should have scored a handful from the chances we had.

 

Work to do for Saturday but at the same time we are back on track for the christmas period.

 

Only one more game of not having a prem keeper or a decent right winger. Punch was too predictable (again) and Kelvin committed the same cardinal sin Gazza and Boric have done of giving points away for no reason. Jan will come and we will fix it, hopefully nicking a point saturday!

 

Also Yoshida MOTM, got to everything in the air and made sensible clearances in the first hour when they sat 2 forwards on our 2 cb's leaving us no choice. Jos in the same situation gave them 2 stupid goals which was just unbearable.

Edited 27 December, 2012 by pingwing

[Red]

Not much to choose between us and any of the other sides who are likely to finish mid table with us. QPR, Villa, Reading and West Ham are all worse than us.

 

Much as I hate to say it, think you're wrong with WH! They might not be a flair team as per "The Southampton Way" (whatever that means !!), but just look at the table and it is obvious they are much better than us - at staying in the PL. They will stay up very comfortably IMHO, whereas we will struggle until the very end, but hopefully still stay up.

[captainchris]

Mate you're talking absolute tosh. There is no way that was a poor performance. Was pleased with performance and I was there. Our fans are being negative for me.

 

'Mate' you must be talking about a different game - we were poor!!! No.... very poor! We would not have scored had it not been for the pen...Our preparation is miles off and our attention and sharpness early on in games is lacking almost every game....

We were not 'up for it' from the time we got off the bus!

We were not closing down - Fulham were, we were not working hard, we were not making runs and making things happen. If we want to be the team we aspire to we have a hell of a long way to go......

The reality is, we were poor - dress it up how you like - without the pen we would have lost. I think the back room staff and manager need to take a very hard look at themselves with regard to preparing for games as we are increasingly arriving flat with no energy and no confidence with no closing down. It's almost as though the team have bought a ticket to come and watch the match early and not take part.

Much more energy and hard work is needed win games of football at this level. Nigel take note - positive talking alone is not enough.......

[austsaint]

Have just watched the replay and our second half display was very encouraging - we would have been luckless not to take a point from the game. The defence was sound; especially the CBs...I assume Yoshida will pick up Walters on Saturday and Jose marking Kenwyne. Young Shaw showed flashes of class and poise; Clyne done over in the first half several times by the pace of their young left flanker. Midfield did its job with special mention to Morgan and Cork - I thought Puncheon had a good game with mostly good touch and looked creative and dangerous at times as did Gaston, who as others have mentioned looked more threatening when shifted behind the striker - not one of Ricky's best days but the 100 percent penalty record lives on and the left footed first time volley would have brought Craven Cottage down if it had stayed down. The mistake by Kelvin was a bad one; he really should have held on in that situation but otherwise he was rarely troubled. He is not the answer for the rest of the season though is he?

 

Stoke will be hard...a similar result would do.

[rooney]

Fulham continually got down the wings and crossed into danger areas. Why cannot we do that? Is it because our wingers are playing on the wrong side. I notice that Jason Puncheon has to bring the bal lback inside to get it on his left foot. He has been one of our most consistant players and perfhaps should play on the left and only switch to the right on change of tactics.

[Olallana]

Much as I hate to say it, think you're wrong with WH! They might not be a flair team as per "The Southampton Way" (whatever that means !!), but just look at the table and it is obvious they are much better than us - at staying in the PL. They will stay up very comfortably IMHO, whereas we will struggle until the very end, but hopefully still stay up.

 

To be fair I think he meant Wigan....

[Saint-Reece]

Fulham continually got down the wings and crossed into danger areas. Why cannot we do that? Is it because our wingers are playing on the wrong side. I notice that Jason Puncheon has to bring the bal lback inside to get it on his left foot. He has been one of our most consistant players and perfhaps should play on the left and only switch to the right on change of tactics.

 

To be fair to him, did notice that NA did swap puncheon and Ramirez from one flank to another in the second half for a period then he proceeded to put Ramirez in the middle where Davis was then on the right with puncheon left... But then NA swapped it again with about 10 minutes to go, so Adkins did try and change things for us at some points in the game.

[conaero]

Just saw the game on MOTD. Fair game but Davis was dreadfull. The sloppy goal he gave away was one thing but seeing him constantly beaten is making me nurvous.

 

Time and time again you see the shot come in and thank fully go wide, then Davis dives, its truly an accident waiting to happen, I fear for the Arsenal game. What's the latest on Gazza?

 

Good solid point though so pleased overall with that. Stoke at Home look very good though!

[Appy]

Just saw the game on MOTD. Fair game but Davis was dreadfull. The sloppy goal he gave away was one thing but seeing him constantly beaten is making me nurvous.

 

Time and time again you see the shot come in and thank fully go wide, then Davis dives, its truly an accident waiting to happen, I fear for the Arsenal game. What's the latest on Gazza?

 

Good solid point though so pleased overall with that. Stoke at Home look very good though!

 

Davis is an accident waiting to happen, then you ask when Gazzaniga is back, it's like picking hanging or the electric chair.

[sidthesquid]

Davis is an accident waiting to happen, then you ask when Gazzaniga is back, it's like picking hanging or the electric chair.

 

GK is our weak link, no doubt. I thought the difference between KD and Schwarzer was immense. Anything that came into the penalty area was claimed by Schwarzer, Kelvin is still rooted to the line with balls into the 6-yard area. It was like the difference between Niemi & Jones. We will continue to struggle until we sort it - gifting a struggling team a 1-0 start is the way to get relegated....

[Window Cleaner]

Hmmm having looked through the entire thread I can't quite see what some posters are looking for when they watch Saints. Perhaps it's their position in the ground that leads them to say we were poor or no-one passed forward. Having the benefit of TV and a recording to re-watch I'd say just as I did immediately after the game: we played pretty well, moved the ball around well, found players open with most of our passes and were solid in defence. We have a disturbingly poor keeper and are toothless in the last 25 yards though. A decent keeper and someone like Defoe on point and we'd have probably run out winners by at least a couple.

Edited 27 December, 2012 by Window Cleaner