Dr Who? Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 On 14/04/2024 at 11:14, trousers said: Typically, the opponents that have taken points off us this season have had a low "shots on goal" quota, so not really a factor.... crazy few minutes at Preston where they scored twice, funnily enough just after the break we did not come out and play. 1st half completely dominated and funnily enough we did again once we were 2-1 down. Weird team, but it’d been fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Who? Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 On 14/04/2024 at 13:02, Pamplemousse said: All I ask for is a routine 2-0 home win before the end of the season, is it too much to ask for? I would love for us to make up some goal difference in the 2 home games and the game at Cardiff, but we won’t. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamplemousse Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 39 minutes ago, Dr Who? said: I would love for us to make up some goal difference in the 2 home games and the game at Cardiff, but we won’t. The only team goal difference wise we can surpass realistically is Ipswich, and we need them to slip up again at some point for us to even go level on points with them. So if we win all our games and they do slip up, we probably would go ahead of them on goal difference even if we win all those games by 1 goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 45 minutes ago, Dr Who? said: I would love for us to make up some goal difference in the 2 home games and the game at Cardiff, but we won’t. Really not sure why improving our goal difference needs to be a target. Unlikely we are going to get better than Leeds or Leicester, the two teams we can actually do something about (because we have to play them). Winning 1-0 is just as good as winning 4-0. Seems to me that it was because we continued to look for goals after we went 2 up Saturday gave Watford the opportunity (once their defenders woke up) to get at us and get the panic stations going when they attacked. We should to.some extent have shut up shop and consolidated rather than go for goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 25 minutes ago, VectisSaint said: Really not sure why improving our goal difference needs to be a target. Unlikely we are going to get better than Leeds or Leicester, the two teams we can actually do something about (because we have to play them). Winning 1-0 is just as good as winning 4-0. Seems to me that it was because we continued to look for goals after we went 2 up Saturday gave Watford the opportunity (once their defenders woke up) to get at us and get the panic stations going when they attacked. We should to.some extent have shut up shop and consolidated rather than go for goals. Fucking hell, Vectis, if that was us going for goals on Saturday after being two up, I'd hate to watch us consolidating. I think we only had one shot on target in the second half or it certainly seemed like it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Mulgrew Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 5 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said: 5-0 against Swansea 4-0 against Blackburn and Sheff Weds Were those not comfortable enough for you? Swansea and Blackburn were in 2023; I’ll give you Wednesday, though. (I said “year” not “season”). Most of our wins seem to be by one or two goals except for those you mention and I merely wanted to say that I’d prefer a convincing and comprehensive victory to avoid too stressful a second half of the game. 4:0 and 5:0 are indeed comfortable, thnx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Mulgrew Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 (edited) … Edited April 15 by Tommy Mulgrew Duplicated post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsaint1 Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 Can we just have a comfortable 3-0 win for once. Heart cant take much more of us throwing away leads, only to win it in at the death. Something a bit more straight forward would be nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingeletiss Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 Chelsea showing how to win a game in comfort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said: Fucking hell, Vectis, if that was us going for goals on Saturday after being two up, I'd hate to watch us consolidating. I think we only had one shot on target in the second half or it certainly seemed like it. Who said anything about the 2nd half? We went 2 up after 20 minutes which is when Watford started playing and exposing us down the flanks. We actually had 2 on target 2nd half, 4 off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 Preston haven't got a lot to play for. Coincidentally, I spoke to a couple of their fans at Birmingham services last Saturday (they were on their way back from Watford, us from Blackburn) and a lot were wearing pork pie hats so I wanted to know what that was all about. Don't think many will be travelling down for a second time to St Marys so the atmosphere could be a bit flat unless we get off to a flying start....which hopefully we will and this time we'll maintain the momentum. 5-0 Saints and after we'll all working out permutations about how to get an automatic promotion spot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNSUN Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 The wheel has spoken. Disappointing 3 all draw to end the auto promotion conversation. Which would be worrying if the wheel didn't have a 0 per cent success rate. Screen_Recording_20240415_225819_Samsung Internet.mp4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 11 hours ago, Lighthouse said: If you think Lumley will do any better with the hospital passes and sloppy possession we were playing in front of our own box for an hour against Watford, I fear you may be mistaken. If we tried what a few people have suggested I’m pretty sure we’d just end up like the back end of last season, when McC let in 17 in 6 games. Lumley is a better keeper than Baz. We need to stop the sloppy possession in dangerous areas anyway. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Curse of St Mary's Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. It will be a bonus if Sekou Mara is banned as he is truly woeful. Hopefully would mean Che stays on the pitch longer and we can manage games properly throughout the full 90+ mins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 23 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said: I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. It will be a bonus if Sekou Mara is banned as he is truly woeful. Hopefully would mean Che stays on the pitch longer and we can manage games properly throughout the full 90+ mins. remind me again when this happened Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewy Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, The Curse of St Mary's said: I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. It will be a bonus if Sekou Mara is banned as he is truly woeful. Hopefully would mean Che stays on the pitch longer and we can manage games properly throughout the full 90+ mins. We still have an outside chance of promotion and it’s our penultimate home game of the season (playoff notwithstanding). If the fans and players can’t get motivated for this I’d be very surprised and disappointed. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Saint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 3 match ban set to be confirmed for Mara today. Off the ball incident... did he try and run or something? 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Curse of St Mary's Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 2 hours ago, Convict Colony said: remind me again when this happened Adams is the only striker we have that can hold it up and be a focal point. Mara is absolute pony and not someone you want when defending a slender lead. He's far too lazy and lightweight for that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee On Solent Saint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Win. No excuses. Just win. Doesn't matter how we win. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCBSaint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Come on saints, last push now, we have picked up 3 points in the last 2 x so make that 3 games and we are within striking distance, the top 3 clubs are all starting to wobble and we are closing in, not been pretty but we have managed to be the form team in respect of results, you must be up for it tonight , we have a chance especially playing two of the top 3 still, this is a huge huge match , anything less than a win and I think it’s gonna be too much with the games running out. We Simply have to win and then Saturday that’s winnable aswell, massive week. come on lads. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodymatt Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I hope we can handle the pressure and not drop any points before we play Leicester. One game at a time and keep piling the pressure on those above us. It still feels unlikely we will win 7 on the bounce and take a top 2 spot but it is the best time to finally register a winning streak like that. What a way to go up that would be. I’m going 1-0 Saints tonight, very scrappy game but we just about get the job done. Every game just feels massive at the moment. Up the Saints 😇 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSA96 Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 7 minutes ago, goodymatt said: I hope we can handle the pressure and not drop any points before we play Leicester. One game at a time and keep piling the pressure on those above us. It still feels unlikely we will win 7 on the bounce and take a top 2 spot but it is the best time to finally register a winning streak like that. What a way to go up that would be. I’m going 1-0 Saints tonight, very scrappy game but we just about get the job done. Every game just feels massive at the moment. Up the Saints 😇 This is how I feel right now too. Would just really like that Leicester game to actually mean something and be a huge moment in the season, rather than an irrelevance. Fingers crossed... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlesaint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 3 hours ago, The Curse of St Mary's said: I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. What we need is a light show to get us all in the mood 🤣 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm waldron Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 4 minutes ago, beatlesaint said: What we need is a light show to get us all in the mood 🤣 Coupled with a really bizarre team selection that no one saw coming - or can work out the logic behind it...... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintant Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 3 hours ago, The Curse of St Mary's said: I think the biggest challenge the players have tonight is playing in a flat atmosphere. Preston fans will be very low in numbers and home fans will need the team to play in a high tempo from the start otherwise the players will need to draw inspiration from within which is a worry for me. It will be a bonus if Sekou Mara is banned as he is truly woeful. Hopefully would mean Che stays on the pitch longer and we can manage games properly throughout the full 90+ mins. I've always maintained the atmosphere depends a lot on the intensity of the start. Get out of the blocks and put them under pressure and the fans will respond. Play timid walking football and the atmosphere will be flat and it will be hard to up the tempo. It's down to RM to whip the players up before the game and send them out fired up. If he does that and players respond I think we'll win with reasonable comfort. If he doesn't it'll be tense, nervy and could end up in us dropping points and any chance we had will be gone. Must win if we are to keep alive any hope of automatic promotion. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio1saints Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I’d expect a fast start as per everyone above and the last couple home matches. Id be cautious about the last twenty though as we seem to run out of juice despite what RM and the players been saying all season - they know what to do but the intensity still seems to drops regardless. There are a few players not been used lately and I suspect they will all get a run out tonite. Edozie, Sulemana, Rothwell, Charles and Manning. Controversial and not going to happen but there is an argument to rest Gav tonite and let Lumley take the sticks. If it’s good to rest some why not the gk? Even if only for one game it might be galvanic for whole team let alone Gav and Lumley who has always played well when selected. Focus the minds. Won’t happen and would be a brave or crazy man to do that ( but RM qualified on both imo) so I expect Gav in the goals again tonight! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 (edited) 31 minutes ago, saintant said: I've always maintained the atmosphere depends a lot on the intensity of the start. Get out of the blocks and put them under pressure and the fans will respond. Play timid walking football and the atmosphere will be flat and it will be hard to up the tempo. It's down to RM to whip the players up before the game and send them out fired up. If he does that and players respond I think we'll win with reasonable comfort. If he doesn't it'll be tense, nervy and could end up in us dropping points and any chance we had will be gone. Must win if we are to keep alive any hope of automatic promotion. Yes agreed - the whole premise of “don’t lose” is an irrelevance really…got to go for it in each of these last few games with literally nothing to lose. However, my advice to RM would be to ensure there’s enough flex in formation to ensure midfield is not overrun or defenders left stranded. I don’t think there would be any point trying to convince him to drop the ‘pass and move’ or ‘false-fullback’ stuff he’s committed to. Edited April 16 by Saint Fan CaM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, The Curse of St Mary's said: Adams is the only striker we have that can hold it up and be a focal point. Mara is absolute pony and not someone you want when defending a slender lead. He's far too lazy and lightweight for that. Agree but if we are arguing about needing our strikers to defend our leads then we are fucked. Ideally i would like quite a few of our players to be prescribed viagra so they can harden up and put in some stiff challenges. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Super Saint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, Convict Colony said: Agree but if we are arguing about needing our strikers to defend our leads then we are fucked. Ideally i would like quite a few of our players to be prescribed viagra so they can harden up and put in some stiff challenges. Although knowing Che, he'd probably fuck that up, get it caught in his throat and walk around with a stiff neck for the whole game 🤦🏻 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
east-stand-nic Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Preston are very average away from home, and in fact as they are at home, very inconsistent and unpredictable. They can play a bit and can battle, which we don't like. We could do with some physical presence in midfield for this one, but as discussed many times, RM is unlikely to go with Shea. Of course it goes without saying this is a must win and it would be interesting to see how much the pressure would change the top 3 if we do win this one and get even closer with still a game in hand. Preston record away. 11 Preston 20 7 5 8 21 24 -3 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyNumber7 Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 C'mon lads, one last big push and who knows what's possible, let's at least make the top 3 sweat a bit. The fans need to do their bit tonight, no moaning or negativity especially if we go behind. Let's get right behind them from the off. Winning is all that matters now, doesn't matter how. COYR 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanlee Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Lately it always seems like we concede at home so I reckon 3 - 1 saints, beat Cardiff and Leicester away is a much more exciting game in prospect than I thought it would be 2 weeks ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 18 hours ago, Dr Who? said: crazy few minutes at Preston where they scored twice, funnily enough just after the break we did not come out and play. 1st half completely dominated and funnily enough we did again once we were 2-1 down. Weird team, but it’d been fun. Got to say, that is the game that sticks in my mind for throwing away points. Sure we did well to grab a last minute equaliser, but we played well and were so dominant...we really should have (and deserved to) won the game. But that's football. Switch off and teams can score and you are chasing the game. It feels like forever since we played them, so not sure if they are the same side now, but if they are I fancy us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 17 hours ago, VectisSaint said: Really not sure why improving our goal difference needs to be a target. Unlikely we are going to get better than Leeds or Leicester, the two teams we can actually do something about (because we have to play them). Winning 1-0 is just as good as winning 4-0. Seems to me that it was because we continued to look for goals after we went 2 up Saturday gave Watford the opportunity (once their defenders woke up) to get at us and get the panic stations going when they attacked. We should to.some extent have shut up shop and consolidated rather than go for goals. I am not saying you are wrong (in fact I've mentioned reverting to 442 or 451 to ensure fullbacks are protected, but when we lead, don't continue to attack and then concede, how many people moan on here about us sitting back? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totton Saint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 It's an illl wind that etc........The fire meant that the rearranged game for tonight is the only one being played, allowing Sky the option to televise it. I can now watch it from my armchair here in the Kingdom of Fife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee On Solent Saint Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 41 minutes ago, Chez said: Got to say, that is the game that sticks in my mind for throwing away points. Sure we did well to grab a last minute equaliser, but we played well and were so dominant...we really should have (and deserved to) won the game. But that's football. Switch off and teams can score and you are chasing the game. It feels like forever since we played them, so not sure if they are the same side now, but if they are I fancy us. You could copy and paste your post for a number of games we've not won this season. Rotherham at home being the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolm waldron Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 18 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said: You could copy and paste your post for a number of games we've not won this season. Rotherham at home being the worst. Huddersfield and Watford aways too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 (edited) Edited April 16 by Convict Colony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 30 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said: You could copy and paste your post for a number of games we've not won this season. Rotherham at home being the worst. Rotherham was a funny one, we've certainly had some frustrating games this year where we have been shit (Blackburn away, Millwall at home etc), but that Rotherham one in my memory was a total freak of a game. Play that another 9 times we win it 9 times. That game was just one of those games that everyone gets. The game that killed us this season was the Hull home game, totally knocked us off course as we then went and lost again against Millwall. Those are the 2 I will always look back on as the games which consigned us to the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golac's Cunning Stunts Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 2 hours ago, Tanlee said: Lately it always seems like we concede at home so I reckon 3 - 1 saints, beat Cardiff and Leicester away is a much more exciting game in prospect than I thought it would be 2 weeks ago We have kept 1 clean sheet in the last 10 games, so highly likely we'll concede tonight! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 This reminds me a little bit of the Oldham game in 2010, where we had a winnable home game after a late win at Yeovil, we drew 0-0 and our season was done. Hopefully tonight is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 6 hours ago, malcolm waldron said: Coupled with a really bizarre team selection that no one saw coming - or can work out the logic behind it...... Same as normal then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coalman Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I'm worried our team sheet isn't going to contain enough attacking midfield options. We need to feed Che's banjo and keep it fed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmes_and_Watson Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 18 minutes ago, coalman said: We need to feed Che's banjo and keep it fed. Our key players... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefizzy14 Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Let's get another victory tonight and close the gap even further 😊 2-0 to us - Sulemana and Adam Armstrong to score 😊 COYR! 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio1saints Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 IF he gets a ban might it accelerate an RS recovery from injury somewhat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 42 minutes ago, coalman said: I'm worried our team sheet isn't going to contain enough attacking midfield options. We need to feed Che's banjo and keep it fed. Better to feed the cow. Keep it's arse functioning efficiently . 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambtiss Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 23 hours ago, Dr Who? said: I would love for us to make up some goal difference in the 2 home games and the game at Cardiff, but we won’t. That's the spirit 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Curse of St Mary's Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 I've got Preston to win 1-0 at 20/1 which is decent odds. Plus got them at 15/2 to win. Don't worry lads my bets rarely come in 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lambtiss Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 3 hours ago, S-Clarke said: Rotherham was a funny one, we've certainly had some frustrating games this year where we have been shit (Blackburn away, Millwall at home etc), but that Rotherham one in my memory was a total freak of a game. Play that another 9 times we win it 9 times. That game was just one of those games that everyone gets. The game that killed us this season was the Hull home game, totally knocked us off course as we then went and lost again against Millwall. Those are the 2 I will always look back on as the games which consigned us to the playoffs. I'm surprised that Hull aren't in the top 6, they were brilliant that night, played us off the park. I really expected them to be nearer the top. Their results since then have been surprisingly mixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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