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SAINTS 1 QPR 2 >> Reaction


Glasgow_Saint

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Just watched the first QPR goal. Why on earth were both of our defenders backing away to the goal rather than closing the shot down?

 

Defending was poor for the second too - haven't seen us that bad for some time.

Edited by Shroppie
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Just watched the first QPR goal. Why on earth were both of our defenders backing away to the goal rather than closing the shot down?

 

Defending was poor for the second too - haven't seen us that bad for some time.

 

Was somewhat bemusing!

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Listened to poch post match interview. Sounded a little in denial IMO which is worrying.

 

Reading and Wigan getting dicked is our only saving grace, very upset by today's abject performance and didn't see that overall performance coming

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First game I've been to since the Sunderland game. Before that, Norwich, Swansea and away to West Ham. I sure do pick 'em.

 

Just don't get our tactics today. We seemed to be fresh out of ideas except the 90mph through ball at Chrisoph Samba's head. QPR were sh*te and will still go down playing like that. Nobody else is going to give them 3 points as readily as we did today. No pace, either in terms of movement or thinking. Poor delivery, Lambert looked isolated and got nothing in the air. I don't know what else to say, it was just... lame.

 

I will issue some words of encouragement though. We can be as absysmal as we want in every game remaining. We just need to be better than 3 other teams. There is nothing I've seen to suggest Villa, QPR, Wigan or Reading are any better than we are. Sunderland and Newcastle are only 1 win above us too. Let's keep the faith for now and let the crucifictions begin in May, IF we go down.

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They were rubbish and we lost to them. Something like three attempts on target and we let them score two of them. They did to us what they did to Chelsea. Parked it and we didn't have the nous to find a way through. I wonder how many La Liga teams parked the bus against Espanyol. Pochettino is on a steep learning curve and we don't have time to accommodate it.

 

Lambert seems to be getting some criticism and Samba the plaudits but I can't recall a single decent ball to Lambert. We created little so I couldn't understand why GR was taken off as he looked capable of creating something. No positives at all for Saints. Roll on Norwich. They at least will come at us which may suit our tactics.

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One thing hasn't been mentioned. Pochettino is supposed to be an expert of defending and defending techniques. Why did our defense fail today so miserably. why aren't we making progress in this area where Adkins had sorted things out and lacked players.

To hear Pinocchio using the excuse and blaming injuries so early in his tenure beggars belief

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A very poor performance today. We pressed hard right up until their goal and then ceased that tactic for the rest of the game. As it seems to be Pochettino's only strategy and it was countered very effectively by Redcrapp's simple expedient of the ball over the top, it seemed that we were then too scared to continue the high line in case they punished us again and again. One might have hoped that after we equalised, we would have been encouraged to go on and hit them hard, but it was QPR who then won the 50/50 balls for most of the remainder of the match, with only Cork standing out as the player going in hard and determined to regain possession. Had we wished to have somebody else on the pitch to assist him, Davis might have obliged, but he was out of favour for some reason.

 

My initial thought when the team was announced was that Lallana ahead of Fox made that our weaker flank to attack, as Lallana doesn't track back enough to hold Fox's hand when he is always out of position and that having Ramirez and Lallana on together was one too many flair players and one too few players who would be effective with the pressing in their face tactic.

 

But ultimately I am just left with the feeling that for all that Adkins occasionally got flak on here when his team selections, substitutions and tactics didn't get results, it is becoming apparent that Pochettino hasn't produced any performances from us that in my opinion Adkins couldn't have. Adkins managed to convincingly beat QPR away after all.

 

I continue to take the view that Adkins left us one place higher than we are currently and that if Pochettino can't improve on that, then what precisely was the point of sacking Adkins?

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A very poor performance today. We pressed hard right up until their goal and then ceased that tactic for the rest of the game. As it seems to be Pochettino's only strategy and it was countered very effectively by Redcrapp's simple expedient of the ball over the top, it seemed that we were then too scared to continue the high line in case they punished us again and again. One might have hoped that after we equalised, we would have been encouraged to go on and hit them hard, but it was QPR who then won the 50/50 balls for most of the remainder of the match, with only Cork standing out as the player going in hard and determined to regain possession. Had we wished to have somebody else on the pitch to assist him, Davis might have obliged, but he was out of favour for some reason.

 

My initial thought when the team was announced was that Lallana ahead of Fox made that our weaker flank to attack, as Lallana doesn't track back enough to hold Fox's hand when he is always out of position and that having Ramirez and Lallana on together was one too many flair players and one too few players who would be effective with the pressing in their face tactic.

 

But ultimately I am just left with the feeling that for all that Adkins occasionally got flak on here when his team selections, substitutions and tactics didn't get results, it is becoming apparent that Pochettino hasn't produced any performances from us that in my opinion Adkins couldn't have. Adkins managed to convincingly beat QPR away after all.

 

I continue to take the view that Adkins left us one place higher than we are currently and that if Pochettino can't improve on that, then what precisely was the point of sacking Adkins?

 

Nail in head. Adkins sorted out defence too.

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don't think I'll bother with a reaction then, I obviously wasn't watching the right game. Thought we looked not too bad but had very little in attack. Poor game from Lambert needs to do more .

Agreed - I saw no lack of effort but I did see a serious lack of ideas. Lambert was being given nothing by that new centre back of theirs and it was only when Rodrigues came on to distract him that Rickie started to get the room to play. Apart from that he was given little service by the rest of the team.

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I continue to take the view that Adkins left us one place higher than we are currently and that if Pochettino can't improve on that, then what precisely was the point of sacking Adkins?

 

I would say it is unfair to come to any conclusions six games into the Pochettino reign. He appears to have a specific way of playing and the players are showing erratic form in putting it into practice on matchday. It's a learning experience for everyone right now and I would say a more valid question is what made Cortese so sure Saints had better survival prospects under Pochettino than Adkins. On one hand I see a more attacking team but on the other I see lots of players struggling to adapt on a consistant basis which is severely impacting our performances.

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I have doubts about our survival chances after today. Anyone looking up and thinking about Europe is seriously deluded. I really think NA would have had us easily safe, whereas MP is an unknown quantity still in terms of dealing with the pressure of English football. Are his tactics really the right way going forward?

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I have to say that after watching this today that I have come away feeling disillusioned for a number of reasons.

 

The result was hard enough to take but what was even worse was the ease that the bottom of the league team coped with our forwards. We only seriously threatened on the odd occasion. It was like they were running through treacle they were so slow. Whatever happened to the playing further up the pitch philosophy? Didn't see any of that today.

QPR had three shots and scored with two of them.

They came with little attacking ambition and still scored twice.

I really feel after what I have seen today that we are going to be relegated.

 

If all this wasn't bad enough some of the supporters were a disgrace. Chants were continually going round the ground of we 'F, ing' hate Harry Redknap,

Then there were the chants about the Pompey scum.

 

Nothing ever seems to be said about this but it is appalling and does nothing to support the team.

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Thought we were average today and QPR were equally poor but were gifted 2 easy goals by our defence. When Rodriguez came on he beat Samba all ends up for speed. Think we should have started with him. Fox was weak and most of their attacks came from that side. Still think that QPR will go down.

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One thing hasn't been mentioned. Pochettino is supposed to be an expert of defending and defending techniques. Why did our defense fail today so miserably. why aren't we making progress in this area where Adkins had sorted things out and lacked players.

To hear Pinocchio using the excuse and blaming injuries so early in his tenure beggars belief

 

In short because we have **** defenders, a premiership side should have 7/8 good defenders, do we? Not close, we still look lost at the back and where is Forren?

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Just very, very disappointed. Too many players today not on their game. I have to wonder if we have the players to mentally survive a relegation battle.

I questioned this in August a bunch of hairdressers, just look at them, there are no scrappers in there doing the dirty work and geeing up the players, you wouldnt mind if they did what they set out to do and but they just fold, how many points have we hiven away now?

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P!SS POOR.

 

Two abysmal goals to give away.We had the opportunity to strengthen in January,but rather than sign the dominating defender we need,the club spend their time conspiring to sack a promising and successful manager,and chasing shadows in the transfer market.As for Forren, does he exist ? Oh "injured". We know how to sign them don't we ?

 

Nice one Cortese.

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2 weeks ago Pochettino was the new messiah - this week as inept as Branfoot !!..... the fickle ramblings of Saintsweb on a Saturday night!

 

Except nobody has actually said either, have they.

 

People thought Poch did well after his team beat Man City. People thought he did badly after he was beaten by QPR. That's not fickle, that's just having sense.

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The defending for the first goal was really, really funny. You do have to wonder what coach was responsible for telling the players to do that. Can't comment about the defending for the second one because there was none - so nobody is really culpable there.

 

At least now we all know we are in a relegation scrap and it's time to roll the sleeves up and go to work, time to see the players battling qualities. Ummmm perhaps not then.

 

The only positive is that if Citeh do Villa tomorrow, not too much damage has actually been done in regard to current position. But lets be honest - if we can't take out QPR at home, after the season they have had - we are in big trouble. Relegation beckons.

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Why don't we try having our full backs run at theirs, how many times today did Clyne get forward, then rather than take them on pass back, what is the point? All our so called passing game is Sh""e, passing backwards or sidewards hurts no one! Its like having a team full of Jim Magiltons!

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Bad day at the office. Doesn't mean we won't play better next week. We have to play well toi win games and we didn't today. We'll stay up if we play to our best in the remaining games.

 

Precisely - I have seen us give the odd terrible performance under every manager from Ted Bates onwards, it's how we respond in the next game that now matters.

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Right simply put, we are fine, all results that matter today went our way, shame ours didn't.

 

We are still over a win clear of relegation and have it all to play for. 13 points ensures safety, chances are 10 will keep us up this year, qpr are still going down on that performance and I imagine Reading and Villa/Wigan are too. We will be ok, so long as we never play fox again (again) and actually shoot from proper chances when its called for instead of take pot luck shots and do nothing most the time...

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First game I've been to since the Sunderland game. Before that, Norwich, Swansea and away to West Ham. I sure do pick 'em.

Just don't get our tactics today. We seemed to be fresh out of ideas except the 90mph through ball at Chrisoph Samba's head. QPR were sh*te and will still go down playing like that. Nobody else is going to give them 3 points as readily as we did today. No pace, either in terms of movement or thinking. Poor delivery, Lambert looked isolated and got nothing in the air. I don't know what else to say, it was just... lame.

 

I will issue some words of encouragement though. We can be as absysmal as we want in every game remaining. We just need to be better than 3 other teams. There is nothing I've seen to suggest Villa, QPR, Wigan or Reading are any better than we are. Sunderland and Newcastle are only 1 win above us too. Let's keep the faith for now and let the crucifictions begin in May, IF we go down.

 

I know how you feel. I feel it too. My selected matches this season : Wigan, Sunderland, now QPR. What do the games have in common? On paper, all easily winnable games and I like to see us win. We lost all three. You'll be glad to know I propose to return to Radio Solent and watching Garth Crooks on my Saturday afternoons.

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This was my first game of the season so I may be out of touch. But an I right in saying there was goal music after we scored, and if so is this new?

 

Thankfully it was quiet so not too intrusive, but still a bit crap

 

Song 2 by Blur has been played after we score for about as long as I can remember. Definitely since Cortese came in.

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But lets be honest - if we can't take out QPR at home, after the season they have had - we are in big trouble. Relegation beckons.

 

That's just the way it goes though.

 

Man City beat QPR

QPR beat Saints

Saints beat Villa

Villa beat Liverpool

Liverpool beat Norwich

Norwich beat Man Utd

Man Utd beat Chelsea

Chelsea beat Spurs

Spurs beat West Ham

West Ham beat Fulham

Fulham beat Wigan

Wigan beat Reading

Reading beat Newcastle

Newcastle beat West Brom

West Brom beat Everton

Everton beat Swansea

Swansea beat Arsenal

Arsenal beat Sunderland

 

So who's the best out of that lot then? The answer is none of them, they're just a random set of isolated results. Saying we are in trouble or doing well based purely on who beat us or we beat is inaccurate. We're better than QPR. Not because of todays result but because of the League table, the only true reflection of how good a team is.

 

Play today's fixture again next week, same 22 on the pitch, same ref. We will probably win 4-0. Play it again the week after we win 2-1. The week after, it's a 3-3 draw. The week after the game is abandonned because some monkeys and chickens escape from our petting zoo and have an inter-species homo-erotic orgy on the pitch.

 

It's the one part of playing Championship manager which is truly accurate. When you get knocked out of the Champions League with Port Vale after a 3-0 home defeat in the semi final, what do you do? Quit the game, load it again, play exactly the same team, win 3-1 and bingo, you're in the final. That's pretty much what would happen if you could reset real life.

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Quick, somebody remind me: Why exactly did we get rid of a manager who was doing a good job and who was owed some loyalty in favor of a boy wonder who doesn't speak English and is in the process of getting us straight down?

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I think the Chairmans big mistake was getting rid of Adkins when he did. He either needed to do it before January or wait until the summer, the manager needed to bring in some of his own players to settle down the team or just wait until the summer. Its left a team in transition at a time where quite frankly it doesnt matter how you play as long as you win.

 

I still think you'll be fine. I just find it incredibly frustrating how the club seem to be doing what they can to make it hard for themselves so I can't imagine how you guys feel! It really was just one of those days today where you didn't do anything overly bad but lacked any real quality too. You need to win 4/10 really to be fine and the winnable games are there, but theres just a bit more pressure now that QPR are creeping up and thats yet another game where you should have taken points gone.

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I have the benefit of having slept on it now. Was a crap performance for sure, but Poche acknowledges the mistakes and Fonte the lack of movement and even old Saggychops is pretty gracious in victory. All the other results went our way too. So provided we bounce back with at least a good performance and a point at Norwich - or 3 regardless of how well we play - we should be on our way again.

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We were by far the better team overall on the MotD highlights :)

 

Hansen saying we're a decent side who should still stay up despite this hiccup.

 

We were by far the better team live on the telly as well. For huge periods of the game it was like watching a PL team play a pub side.

69% possession, 75% possession those stats kept coming up. We were first to the ball all over the park EXCEPT in the final 3rd.

Fact is in the cold light of day, Hill & Samba had WAY too much experience for us. Too many "feet left in" tackles bumps and nudges, added to SRL managing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How many shots did we actually have on target before JRod came on? How many times did the final ball in become a desperate toe poke?

 

10 man defence, bus was parked and sucker punched on the break. Of course it was bitterly disappointing but we've seen Chelsea do it to Barca with 10 men, we've seen FA Cup upsets like that for decades.

 

This week in training they need to stop all this pressing practice and spend EVERY day working on final balls & movement into the box.

 

Composure composure and composure.

 

Oh and a kick up the ass for Punch & SRL (as in IF Rickie is getting owned by a CB DON'T lob the ball gently into the air in his direction FFS)

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You can't spin that abject tactical performance by MP. Teams have already rumbled the way we play, and he must come up with a Plan B. The players looked very tired to me, probably as a result of this so called pressing game and doing double training sessions. I honestly think we will be relegated by this clown.

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we were poor yesterday for sure, but the worst performance in years?? No, I don't think so. Did anyone see Wigan away? Sunderland away? Arsenal away? Wigan at home? Everton away? the Chelsea FA Cup game? All worse performances. My worry is that we don't have the players to fit Potechinno's style of play - no pace, not good enough at passing, not intelligent enough with the ball (except maybe Lallana and Schneiderlin). I can't see us picking up too many more points to be honest, meaning relegation and a whole host of players (and staff) leaving this summer. At least Sharp and Hammond will be back ;)

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Quick, somebody remind me: Why exactly did we get rid of a manager who was doing a good job and who was owed some loyalty in favor of a boy wonder who doesn't speak English and is in the process of getting us straight down?

 

Not sure the finer details, but you seemed to think it was working out after the united game:

 

I only saw the second half, but we looked impressive. Could it be that the change of manager was the right thing after all?

 

Kneejerk much?

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