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Comment | Saints Announce The New Shirt Sponsor
at 09:58:27
Sounds a bit conspiracy theory BUT I think the shirt sponsorship deal is a vehicle to get more money into the club and was probably part of the original buy out plan. With current Chinese government scrutiny and the sudden fact that this entity seems to have emerged from obscurity to provide a record breaking investment linked to our fine club seems somewhat suspicious. Ultimately more investment has to be a good thing if it is real. I for one was impressed with Virgins commitment to our club and feel that relationship has been soured a bit by this deal. They funded refreshment and travel deals that we havent seen before. I hope we havent trashed that relationship in favor of something that at the moment looks a little bit like vaporware |
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Comment | Saints At Newcastle United The Preview
at 09:39:16
Nothing too much to disagree with APART from the fact that we have demonstrated all season that we do NOT have the confidence to break teams down when they have 10 men behind the ball. I deliberately said confidence and not creativity / ability because I think the players DO have those qualities but we dont encourage it in our strategy. There was a player analysis on MOTD recently about how a player would by default look forward to pass. Our players seem drilled to mainly look sideways or backwards to pass. This I can only put down to the strategy and ultimately the managers style. Its something that started before MP but hasnt changed and seems more pronounced now. Honestly I have watched recent games and thought we could be on the field for 3 hrs and still not score.
If we dont go and attack from the outset I think we will just get bogged down and it will be down to a luck chance either way. |
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Comment | Saints V Leicester City The Verdict
at 08:55:44
On a slightly side note, can anyone tell me WHY Tadic starts every game. He must be Messi in training because for the majority of the time I dont think he is good enough. He has his moments but goes missing alot in games. Obviously last night was about the whole squad but I am puzzled by Tadic |
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Comment | Saints V West Bromwich Albion The Verdict
at 10:17:15
We did have most of our team in their half for significant periods of time, a good thing but I was waiting for the cruel counter attack against the run of play, but it never happened. Much more positive but we still have the problem of slow build up. We always face 10 men behind the ball because we are to slow. Having said that there were a few penetrating passes which is a start. I've said before that Redmund isnt good enough but I might take that back based on the last 2 performances. However we do have a problem with Bertrand and Redmund together, it just doesnt happen down that side when they play together.
One last observation, backed up by watching MOTD today. If Tadic wants to reach his potential he needs to start taking chances first time. Time and time again he is in the right place, gets the ball but messes about trying to get on the favored foot and then the chance is gone. He has to get more confident to hit it first time because in those dangerous positions you get fractions of a second before your closed down/
Overall much better but still a VERY long way to go |
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Comment | Saints V Newcastle United The Verdict
at 10:24:04
The general consensus was that we got rid of Puell for the negative style of playing and loss of confidence. I am beginning to wonder if MP is strong and different enough to change this as fast as we need to. For me we have too many barely average players in our team and I realise its hard to manage large scale change but I would like to see the back of Redmund, Tadic and VVD (for different reasons). The mind numbing "England" malaise style of play has to be broken up. Ultimately we either have to make penetrating passes, which requires movement off the ball and / or we need to be willing and able to take players on and beat them. We are doing neither of these at the moment and prefer to pass the ball from side to side allowing the opposition to get 10 men behind the ball and then are constantly surprised we cant break them down. The definition of madness is doing the same things but expecting a different result. All our players are capable of running and drawing players away to create holes. All of our players are capable of seeing space to run into. We need some strong vision to demand this sort of play. Do it or move on should be the motto. I applaud the Saints management for holding firm on the VVD farce but they need to go further and put some financial muscle behind the manager. I wonder if our less established south coast premier league clubs are more ambitious in their planning on and off the field at the moment. We have some great assets , lets use them better |
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Comment | Saints Set To Play 4-3-3
at 12:04:46
Whilst I agree with Slynch's comments to a certain degree, I think that formation does matter. Obviously things are dynamic during the game, but the formation does act as a framework. By having a 4-3-3 we are focusing on a more attacking style, true the 3-3 may morph in formation during offensive play but I am excited by not just having the lone hit man upfront. They always get out numbered and the ability to break quickly is not as good. How many times have we had a good break due to individual skill, just for it to fizzle out due to lack of numbers in the box. As long as we dont get overrun in midfield I think this will be a very exciting season |
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Comment | Puncheon Is Back
at 16:03:52
I know that De Ridder does make some errors but I have always thought of him as an impact player. When he comes on he does add that "chaos" factor that can turn games around and / or motivate players to dig a bit deeper. In the quite frankly aweful Leicester game when he came on we started to look a bit more dangerous and that rubs off on other players. He is a handful for defenders to cope with and i think he will get better with more playing time.
I think that if Puncheon can get over his ego and put his head in gear it will make a good option having both available. We obviously have failed to attract our main targets in the window so its a bit of a no brainer. Can Puncheon play well with all the bad water thats happened. Hopefully yes as I enjoyed him when he was playing well |
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Comment | Time To Stop Talking And Start Delivering !
at 15:48:28
I think for spine read core. Its the same for every team I know but the facts are that we havent played well without these "core players". Whether we have money or not, which is unclear given the untimely demise of our benefactor and lets face it we have no idea about the rest of the families true intentions, we are having trouble strengthening the squad. Its obviously not as easy as going out there and waving money about and selling ourselves as a sure fire premiership side. This is a tough league with many big names in it, all fighting for the big honey pot. I think our fustration at not being able to get the players we need to build a stronger squad is partly behind the JP reconcillation.
I think that we will pretty much carry on with what we have now and hope the spirit and desire returns as the injuries clear up. Not great but thats were we are. I just hope thats enough.
One last point is that on the whole I think NA has performed wonders for us, particularily with early season preparation and fitness, which is why we came out the blocks running but I have had a few occasions where I have questioned the tactics and formation, leicester game being one of them. Obviously we will never know the reasons why and the little injuries that may be contributing to the decisions but on the face of it it was not a good choice for me.
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Comment | In Nigel We Trust
at 12:47:13
I particularily agree with your point about shooting. I have seen a number of instances where we get a split second to shoot or we wait, think and pass. Usually when we do that we get crowded out and the moment is gone. I love the passing football we do now but there are times when, if you can see the goal and its the better option you should have the confidence and backing to have a go.
Teams have analysised our play now and we need to have a few more options to mix things up. We had the best start, mostly due to the pre season fitness campaign in my opinion. I would like us to add more pace to our passing game and start to pick out the runners. Many times we have made good attacking runs but the player with the ball has taken the short 'pass it around' option. Thats great for posession but doesnt give us the clinical penertration we are lacking |
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Comment | Saints At Reading The Verdict
at 20:20:31
Fonte is looking shakey, could be the partner change or a loss of confidence. However lets not rule him out, im confident that he will come through this sticky patch. The problem with the Reading game was that they played us with the same sort of tactics that Millwall did. They closed down fast and generally didnt give us enough time on the ball to play our normal flowing football. We are now in the spotlight and should expect more teams to do their homework on how best to play us. As of yet we havent got much of a counter to this. I thought we didnt make enough telling runs or movement off the ball. Many times we all stood around waiting. We need to get quicker at the pass and move bit to nullify this sort of tactic. However you cant fault the teams desire and not losing when you have a bad game is the mark of a team to watch. COYR |
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Comment | Get It Right Get It Tight !
at 16:00:54
I think Hooiveld will come good, lets not forget that he is lacking match play and has to bed into the side. His physicality gives him a lot of plus points and he isnt that slow for a tall defender. If it was me i would try to lead with him as much as possible and then fall back to Martin or preferably Seabourne when he is fit and recovered.
I agree with above regarding Cork. He is definetly best in CM and whilst it might seem a good cover for RB, it actually invites more pressure on the defense by not having him in midfeild.
We did seem to panic at times at the back but when we got over that it wasnt that bad |
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Comment | Saints Need To Be Canny This Week
at 10:38:10
Unless Rickie Lambert is looking to hang his boots up in the next couple of seasons, and why would he as I think this could be his best season to date, i think we should just look to consoldiate the defense with an experienced CB.
On the face of it the Gorkss deal looks too good to be true and the fact that we havent executed it hints that something isnt quite right., perhaps personnal term or the fact that Gorkss wants Premiership football .... who knows. Also Saints now seem to do business quitely with the first we know about it is when its a done deal. I like that business approach personnaly and that also doest fit the Gorkss deal either.
in short I think we should buy an experienced CB and poicket the rest of the cash. Maybe re evaluate at Christmas if something is glaringly obvious. Other than that keep money in the bank for the future. Its a marathon not a sprint |
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Comment | Saints V Millwall The Verdict
at 09:20:00
One thing I would like to add. At the risk of being nailed to the cross. I think that in past seasons Rickie Lambert has shown a poor workrate, a bit like Beattie of old, scoring goals but not putting in much effort.
However the highlight of the season for me so far is that we are now seeing a RL mk2. I think its mostly down to fitness. Nigel is a man of science and data and has training the team to a very high level of fitness over the break. I have seen RL go get the ball, make runs, use quick feet, all on top of his skills of being a target man and a set piece guru. I have never seen him so fit and now I think he contributes as much as anyone in terms of workrate. This is a common theme in the team as they really all are putting in the effort.
Competition for places helps as well and I believe our depth of squad will pay dividends big time in the long run. |
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Comment | Saints V Millwall The Verdict
at 11:23:07
I thought Guly, Lambert and Cork all had a good game. It was always going to be hard. Dan Fox didnt have much of an impact in the game but its early days yet and hopefully he can fit in nicely. I thought that after the first 20 minutes we started to tire and the amazing work rate that we have sustained through 3 games dropped. Millwall took advantage of that and came at us. Whilst the defending wasnt bad we didnt do ourselves any favours as the balls out were just finding Millwall players and coming styraight back at us. Its was telling that in the second half all the distribution from Kelvin was back to the long kick. We held on very well but I do think that we reverted back to old ways and suffered a bit for it. Hopefully with a bit more rest and a regroup we can get our shape back in time for another hard game at Leicester |
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Comment | Saints V Torquay The Verdict
at 09:58:13
I agree with your comments but I thought Holmes didnt have the best of games at all. He looks the part but the performance wasnt his best. Also i think it show that we need another strong experienced center back as Martin or Seabourne can play but they need a strong player with them. If Fonte is out we would be exposed.
For me the turning point in the game was when Lallana came on. All of a sudden we had movement and danger in their half. Just goes to show how important Lallana is to our side and I cant believe other clubs havent come in for him yet. Long may that be the case |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 38 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 38 |
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