Once again it was a similar story of underperformance from certain players.

Before i start this "verdict" I would like to say a few things about how I set out to write it, this is not the official club website, on there you will rarely see any critisism of players or managerment whatever the result, its not a newspaper report either where the reporter will often just give an overview of the game or focus on one incident, I set out to look at it constructively, to highlight areas which i feel are weak or for that matter strong and also to look at it from the point of view as a supporter.

Of course the beauty of this game is that everyone has differing views, the idea is not to stir up readers into ranting about my opinion when I differ from theirs, but to perhaps open their eyes and minds to what I consider the problems and stimulate themselves to look at those views themselves, thats not to say that i am right nor to say that I will change someones opinion, but that is football.

The first thing to say about the win at Notts County is that an old football cliche is that the sign of a good team is that they win when playing badly, that could just about sum up the victory at Meadow Lane.

To be blunt we once again selected the wrong team, giving yet another chance for certain players to show that they can impress, a chance that they didnt take, strangely Nigel Adkins did do what i had suggested and put in Frazer Richardson, harsh on Danny butterfield as in truth there were probably six players on that pitch who he has been in better form than this season, stranger was the decision to restore Dean Hammond and drop Richard Chaplow.

In the first half Saints were poor, they gave away a soft goal from a free header and this was as poor a goal as they have conceded all season, for the record I atttach no blame to Kelvin Davis who had no chance with the header and could have reasonably have expected the man to have been picked up.

To be blunt Saints were poor and easily pinned back at times by a robust County side who werent afraid to put a cross into the box, Saints only real high point came when Lambert hit the post from a free kick.

The second half went pretty much the same way as the first, Saints had a little more possession but wasted it time and time again and it was the same culprits as in every other game the only question was when changes would be made, in fact Saints could easily have been two down, another free header was headed over the bar and Kelvin almost gifted a goal when he dwelled on a back pass, clearly looking to play it to a Saints player when he suddenly found he had no options he hesitated and allowed the County man to get a block, luckily the ball rebounded wide of the goal and not into the net (strangely their is no mention of this in the report on the official site)

With just over 20 minutes left came the moment that changed the game, with Chaplow & Chamberlain stripped and ready to come on, Lallana played a through ball to Barnard putting him through on goal and when he was brought down it was an easy decision for a penalty an easy decision to send the man off and SRL once again dispatched the penalty.

The manager still made the changes despite the goal which is a good sign as it showed he was aware of the deficiencies in the side, Puncheon was an obvious choice for Chamberlain and then it was a toss up between the central two for Chaplow.

The second was a well worked goal and a lovely cross from Lambert who although still not anywhere near his best was at last showing signs of contributing more than free kicks and penalties, Barnard did what he does best and put it in from close range.

But the game didnt go all Saints way, County continued to chase Saints down, buoyed by the earlier Davis incident and some fresh legs, but Saints passed it well and made sure that the home side never got back into it roared on by good support from Saints fans who made up nearly a quarter of the crowd. Lallanas goal was well worked and well deserved.

In summary Saints didnt play well, the problems that have been there for all of the season were still there, individuals not performing, lack of concentration to name but two, but Saints have now started to build a run they can build on, NA now has a home game to give some of these players perhaps their final chance to impress before giving someone else a chance and four wins out of five should not dress up the frailties at present, perhaps the most obvious being that defensively we only allowed them four shots on target of which one went in, thats too high a ratio especially as it was once again a lack of concentration that cost us the goal.

The confidence did start to return in the last 15 minutes after the 2nd goal and that is positive, a win against Dagenham (& Redbridge as well for that matter) could see Saints go into the top two, however thats improbable but it should certainly see us into a play off position and that is positive given that we have so far only really played well for 90 minutes once so far and that was against Bristol Rovers, the mental boost of getting in those play off positions should not be underestimated and it would set up Saints nicely for November which at the end of the month sees us face two of our rivals for an automatic promotion spot at home.      

Photo: Action Images

saint63 added 11:25 - Oct 31 This on going and unfair criticism of Kelvin Davis must stop. He has been our best player so far this season - a view shared by Dave Merrington whose knowledge of football I trust far more than the author of this article. Though I don't think we are yet as good a team as last year, Kelvin is undoubdtedly performing as consistently as ever.
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SaintNick added 11:35 - Oct 31 Where was there unfair criticism of Kelvin, the article cleared him of any blame for the goal but merely mentioned the incident with the backpass, anyone present will tell you that he was at fault there or should i like the official site just pretend it didnt happen. Dave Merrington may well have a greater knowledge of football than me but that doesnt mean we all have to have the same opinion as someone once said, you dont have to have been a horse to be a jockey. To go back to the unfair aspect of your post, in each of the last three games kelvin has almost put us under pressure with his failure to clear the ball properly, if that is consistency and playing as well as ever its clearly from the Bruce Grobbelaar book of goalkeeping. You could also take a couple of identical incidents at each end,, we put a long ball to the back stick (Quoting from the football pundits book of cliches) and their keeper comes and punches it out for a throw in. At our end in the first half Kelvin stays on his line and their player heads into side netting, in the second half they do the same and their player heads it across the goal and they have a free header which luckily their man is stretching and puts over. If you were at the game thoughts on those please

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legod7 added 12:03 - Oct 31 I did not go to the game, nor have I seen any highlights.All I can say is when I see 63/37 % possession to Saints first half and 60/40% possession for the whole match,surely the players must be doing something right. As for Kelvin,I have noticed that when Pardew was in charge 95% of the time he just cleared the ball as quickly as he could. Normally a long ball towards Lambert. Now,since Nigel Adkins has been in charge he holds onto the ball a little longer and plays it out to the full backs. The only reason Nigel did as you suggested and played Frazer Richardson was that Danny Butterfield had a calf strain and did not travel.

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rjh added 12:36 - Oct 31 I have been to games this season and believe Davis is quality. As a LEAGUE ONE CLUB I don't think we could get a better keeper. Sometimes I think we need to remember where we have ended up.
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patred added 13:10 - Oct 31 Good result, but could do better IMO. Twice on the trot we have had to come from behind, both occasions unnecessarily. We can't keep doing that, as proved at Huddersfield. We got caught with a sucker punch yesterday from a corner. Adkins had introduced a zonal marking system at corners from day one, and someone was sleeping on the job. It has been Seabourne's job to get to anything in that area, he failed and allowed a run on goal. From then on we were chasing the game, and their tails were up. I believe it's time for Martin to return to add some real ariel power to the defence. It took a penalty and sending off to get us back into it. Until then we were second best. Although it was a nailed on penalty, we can't rely on refs giving the right decisions in this league. We got the result, yes, but why put ourselves under pressure? There is patently something wrong with our defence as it is, and our midfield is struggling to stop it being exposed. If it means a change in personell, so be it. Bring in someone for Puncheon who is struggling, bring in Martin to bolster a defence that looks disjointed. Fonte has always struggle to come to terms with Seabourne as a partner. All he wants is someone to win balls in the air, a Jahidi, or Arron Martin. We must have our best 11 ion the pitch at the start. That all seems as if I'm bitching, but the idea of not changing a winning team is flawed if there are such obvious areas that we struggle with. Adkins has to get his selections right, and he has to have a bit of faith in youth Oxo and Martin are more than ready for starts, afterall this is only Div One, not the PL

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Shirleymush added 15:44 - Oct 31 Shall we all just kill ourselves?
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splurty added 15:52 - Oct 31 I agree with nick, kelvin takes to long on the ball and gives the forwards a chance to close down to often,even if he has a lot of time to play the ball .Also as nick said the shots to crosses ratio at this level mean a commanding goalkeeper apposed to a good shot stopper will serve the team better over a season .He must be a very big personality behind the scenes to always keep his place ! But i will say I am delighted by nigels appointment ,he has got more things right than any other manager since wee Gordon In Nigel I trust . COYS

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hortonsaint added 16:09 - Oct 31 Nick we debated Kelvin at length last week and you know my views on this and know that I sympathise with your view but try to defend Kelvin where appropriate. From being there I would comment that the whipped pacey delivery of Ben Davies was much harder to deal with for a keeper than the floating hanging crosses we put in that their keeper came and dealt with. Didn't think there were many balls I would have expected Kelvin to come for yesterday particularly given the quality of delivery from Davies compared to some of the useless crosses we put that Kelvin probably could have dealt with too. The one the keeper came for and punched away he actually only just got to having taken a risk coming for it and this goes back to my point that a keeper who comes off his line can misjudge and cost you. On another day he would've missed it. When Kelvin does come for a cross, (however rarely that is) he comes because he is sure he'll deal with it. Swings and roundabouts again!

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SaintNick added 18:14 - Oct 31 It amazes me how people have such polarised views sometimes, and that if we win a game everything must be fine and if we dont then everything is cr**. What i try to do is to analyse the game from different angles, Im sorry to pick on Kelvin but thats one of the current issues in the team, of course i might not be right, but thats what TUI is about and always has been a broad spectrum of views, the point with kelvin is that if he hadnt mucked up at least once with his kicking in each of the last three games then he wouldnt be being talked about now. things are looking up, we should be happy but are we not all adults, we dont need to sulk everytime someone dares to question our heroes

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hortonsaint added 19:04 - Oct 31 Hope you're not referring to me Nick! You asked the views of people who were at the game regarding those crosses into the box not his kicking and I gave mine regarding the respective quality of balls into the box that both keepers had to deal with. As I posted earlier I certainly didn't think yesterday was a good performance
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Kiwifiedpom added 19:10 - Oct 31 I have to agree with Nick and Pat. But I don't think Nick is being unduly harsh on KD either. Even I heard of KD's near catastrophy in his delayed clearance. He's is still not the complete package as a 'Keeper. I also concur with Nick's assessment of Puncheon and Adkins continued support for Seaborne. The defence does go to sleep and concentration seems to lapse at times. Time for change

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rjh added 20:01 - Oct 31 Have to agree. Puncheon out is a must.
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stmichael added 22:22 - Oct 31 What is even stranger is that you dont mention the blatant foul on KD yesterday which stopped him even attempting to save the goal. Why havent you mentioned that Nick? KD is the best goalkeeper in the league bar no one. Says who? His fellow PROFESSIONALS in 2009/2010 who voted him in the team of the league. Complete end of story as far as IM concerned as these peoples opinion is far more valid then anyone on here. I believe he also won this accolade in the championship with us as well. Absolutely outstanding goalkeeper. constant criticism of him is petty , personal and pathetic. Add to that his loyalty and commitment and you have a complet player. did you see our players reaction to his save last week after the final whistle? You think he should have come for the ball before the save! Our players to a man obviously disagreed. So do I. I wish you would get off his back. You have been on it for a long time now and it is madness.

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Spot51 added 08:08 - Nov 1 St. Irring
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SaintNick added 08:54 - Nov 1 A couple of points, with regard to the general comments, I was generalising so wasnt pointing the finger at horton Saint, whilst I dont like to pick out posters for praise I will say he makes his point well in a way that makes me think my own opinion and thats good even if i dont always agree. With regard to StMichael, at the time i didnt see that Davis was impeded and on watching the replay its hard to tell whether he was charged down after the ball had passed him or not, in my report i made it clear that he was not to blame for the goal. As for team of the year, since when have footballers known what they aare talking about lol, on a serious note they also voted jason Puncheon in the team and rickie lambert, are they worth their place this year ? its all about what you are doing this season and not in the past. Of course everyone congratulated him after his save, I have seen you congratulate people when you played for late goals and saves etc that you dont rate, its called team spirit To be blunt on Saturday if that dwelled on back pass had resulted in a goal then we would have lost the game, it was a howler and goalkeepers are in a position when good saves dont count if you let in soft ones whereas a striker can be attrocious but as long as he pops one in it wont be worried about I wish i would get off his back as well, because that would mean that he is doing his job and we are at the top of the league and when we are winning games easily mistakes arent so crucial,

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ourkid1984 added 12:06 - Nov 2 Yes Davis makes some stpid decisions sometimes but he is in the position that is the easiest to critisise. Bearing that in mind he has made more of his fair share of saves that has kept us in and probably more so than mistakes that has lost us games. I thought I was the only person that thought that we did well in the first half but the stats seem to back up my thoughts as well. No I'm not going mad when I say we did well I mean after their goal and it was obvious to me that in the 2nd half playing against 10 or 11 men wouldn't of mattered we would of still won. We seem to be fitter than most teams in this league and obviously have better quality than most.

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