 | Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 20:44:58
Great to be able to celebrate a win, of course. But most of all, the display of spirit by most of the team gives some hope. Every week McCarthy makes it look more and more absurd that FF stayed in the side so long. He was the difference. If you get that kind of goalkeeping, and then Tadic, Lemina playing well, things tend to go right. In defence, Bednarek so far looks superior to Hoedt who has been awful for a while now...two weeks in a row he essentially gave up goals by ducking when a cross came in! Anyhow, good for now! |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 07:49:57
Hughes has said he now needs to turn to players he can rely on. Who are they?
Goalie, ok, yes McCarthy, no question.
Full backs, Soares and Bertrand. Neither have covered themselves in glory recently. Cedric in particular was awful Saturday. Pied has performed well every time he's been given a chance, so I'd say Pied next time. And Bertrand, I suppose you stick with him, but would it do any harm to bring McQueen back?
Central defence. Basically Stephens and Hoedt are apprenticing for life in the championship. They're both rubbish right now and Hoedt in particualar (sorry Nick, but I never understood your enthusiasm for this bloke). Yoshida is all guts. If he's fit he has to replace one of these apprentices.
DM. Hojberg, Lemna and Romeu are what we've got, basically. Hojberg looks as if he gives a shit, so I'd keep him. Toss up between the other two.
AM. This is where we have too many players and not an ounce of real quality. Redmond, Boufal, Tadic, they are all basically incapable or unwilling to the do the job that's needed right now. Sims has to start before any of them, because he has skill, drive, and enthusiasm, and he's not predictable for other teams.
Midfield: JWP, and Davis. JWP is often worth including, but he's usually ineffectual. But compared to the AM choices, he is what we've got
Strikers. Austin at least was trying, so you keep him in. Long should never ever be thought of as a striker; he's a total waste of space at this level. Gabbiadini and Carillo are fish out of water at this point. No point in starting either of them , despite fan feeling for Gabbi. (Bring back Gallagher or try Obafemi again. )
So for me, next time out:
McCarthy
Pied, Bertrand, Yoshida, Stephens or Hoedt
Hojberg, Lemina or Romeu
Sims, JWP, Redmond/Tadic/Boufal
Austin
Subs: Forster, McQueen, Cedric, Stepens/Hoedt, Lemina/Romeu, Redmond/Tadic/Boufal, Gabbiadini
|
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 00:26:35
Not a performance that'll beat many PL teams. Awful really and the same problem areas....1). Central defence again woeful against lower league opposition. 2) Front 4....totally hopeless. Beginning to see that Boufal just hasn't got what it takes, and both Gabbi and Carrillo need to gibe some pudding proof if they're going to be regualar starters. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 06:49:53
Gawd! Wretched football once again. But a reminder of where we're at...we have a manager whose tactical habits are ingrained and they might be sufficient to get hi through a season in the Championship. Against better opposition the sit-back-on-1/0-lead aproach will usually fail (as we've seen this season(. Even the the opposition doesn't bite your hand off, a ref's decision here or there, or a bound bounce here or there, anything really, can produce a goal against you. Luckily, Fulham didn't have it. But there's the word...luckily. I've said before here, MP is a reckless gambler, betting against the odds that his fragile team won't concede. His obstinacy in this recklessness is what's going to send us down this year. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 04:51:29
Sadder than the result itself is the manager after the match throwing the players under the bus, talking about HIS tactics as if they were the team's fault. We've all said before this season...you can't sit back on a 1-0 lead in the PL, it doesn't mater what team you are. The opposition will ALWAYS push back and don;t need more than a second of good luck to draw level. This manager has lost us so many points by sitting back, and now he's trying to distance himself from the tactics as if they weren't his responsibility! Pathetic!
Meanwhile, nobody on our side played so terribly that we deserved to lose, but very few seemed to care whether we won or not. The fullbacks were the exception--Pied was excellent and Bertrand pretty solid. And Hojbjerg was again imposing, but those three seemed unable to inspire the rest.
I haven't been cvalling for MP's head so far, but have been very critical of his tactics--defensive at the wrong times and attacking when it's too late. But now that he's trying to blame the players for doing what he's been making them do all season, I've lost all sympathy. He really needs to go before he loses us any more points/ |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 23:18:02
Almost like a different team to the one that got embarrassed on Boxing Day! Maybe the VVD issue really was affecting performance? Or maybe MP just woke up and realised that sitting back isn't the same as defending well, and that defending well means being prepared to push forward too. There were times when Saints were pushing MUtd back with 8 players camped in their half...impressive. Now if only there were one bloke who could actually score a goal, we'd be laughing. If this is how we can play when MP looses the leash a bit, we'll probably be safe; get in a goalscorer this week and we'll definitely be safe. Meanwhile, massive effort by the back four, but still Hojbjerg was head and shoulders above the rest of them. Special mention for McCarthy....and for MP for having finally made that decision. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 21:16:08
Almost like a different team to the one that got embarrassed on Boxing Day! Maybe the VVD issue really was affecting performance? Or maybe MP just woke up and realised that sitting back isn't the same as defending well, and that defending well means being prepared to push forward too. There were times when Saints were pushing MUtd back with 8 players camped in their half...impressive. Now if only there were one bloke who could actually score a goal, we'd be laughing. If this is how we can play when MP looses the leash a bit, we'll probably be safe; get in a goalscorer this week and we'll definitely be safe. Meanwhile, massive effort by the back four, but still Hojbjerg was head and shoulders above the rest of them. Special mention for McCarthy....and for MP for having finally made that decision. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 14:38:35
I'm giving Austin a 1 for that GBH on the goalie. But now, whether he's injured or banned or both, we're in deepest mire, coz nobody else on the team can put the ball in the net. But today the basic problem was a compete lack of passion, confidence, fire, willpower, drive, determination, or whatever it takes to make a footballer look like he gives a shit! Plus, the manager doesn't learn. He did this against Arsenal...go one up, then start the 2nd half sitting back, playing deep, assuming your defence will eke out a win. Wrong again. Disastrously wrong. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 00:31:40
I'm giving Austin a 1 for that GBH on the goalie. But now, whether he's injured or banned or both, we're in deepest mire, coz nobody else on the team can put the ball in the net. But today the basic problem was a compete lack of passion, confidence, fire, willpower, drive, determination, or whatever it takes to make a footballer look like he gives a shit! Plus, the manager doesn't learn. He did this against Arsenal...go one up, then start the 2nd half sitting back, playing deep, assuming your defence will eke out a win. Wrong again. Disastrously wrong. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 19:16:36
All of us supporters have known, or feared, for a long time that the more of Long, Redmond, Tadic and Boufal you start at the same time, the less likely you are to score. Lo and behold today we get all 4 of them starting! . We've also known or feared that something has happened to our goalie and that his antics basically cost us points. Lo and behold he gets to keep his place agian. These are things that the manager should know, surely!!! but he doesn't seem to. He also seems to have no idea how to turn things around. But the most galling part about him is that he seems 100% committed to his own unsuccessful choices and decisions. I don't know if sacking him is the answer, but surely nobody can look at this team this season and say with a straight face that it's going in the right direction or that 'results will come.' Lo and behold, that's exactly what MP says. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 07:48:21
I think this game shows us where we really are, all cheerleading aside. I can't remember a more negative, cowardly, performance from a Saints team at home in decades. Everybody on this site knows (even if they don;t always admit it) that we're missing real strikers, have no midfielders who can even occasionally score, and we have little defensive depth outside the obvious starters. But this wasn't really abut any of those things. It was about what kind of identity Puel has imposed on this team. Even though we were at home, we set up and played from the start like an away team that was petrified of the opposition. We defended so deep that the only attacking option was a very very long ball to a player (Austin) who is incapable of hold up play but was left without support for 50 yards. At home! The midfield was all about containment and didn't have a forward moving creative bone in its body. We essentially played with 3 containing midfielders...what other self-respecting PL team does that? If this is what Saints football now has to be, I for one am not interested. What a horrible let down! |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 23:02:25
Great point! Saints looked like the home team for most of the first half. Then when they were forced to defend they looked like Chelsea defending a CL final! Great stuff. The only negatives for me were: 1) the complete cluelessness of both tadic and Long in terms of finishing (and Mane wasn't much better there but played a great game otherwise); and 2) the subs...JWP was awful once again, Pelle didn't seem to have benefitted from sitting, and Djuricic was off the pace. But who's complaining? |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 23:48:17
Very early goal again, with our huge keeper still just beginning to stir his limbs. A top class keeper has to have a better save percentage than Forster. In response the defence reverted to a flat 4 and then it looked as solid as ever, even thought WBA didn't test it much. Midfield was disappointing...Schneiderlin looked as if he was just along for the ride while Wanyama did all the hard work. With only one of those two active, we were never going to help the eager but ineffectual 3 stooges, Tadic, Elia, Mane. Their lack of precision on final passes lost the ball just as often as their miscontrolled first-touches. (In the end, aren't those three too similar to be playing together?) And then, oh dearie me, the worst yet from Pelle. He surely can't keep his place for the Palace game. Something--anything--has to be be done. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 19:49:54
Very early goal again, with our huge keeper still just beginning to stir his limbs. A top class keeper has to have a better save percentage than Forster. In response the defence reverted to a flat 4 and then it looked as solid as ever, even thought WBA didn't test it much. Midfield was disappointing...Schneiderlin looked as if he was just along for the ride while Wanyama did all the hard work. With only one of those two active, we were never going to help the eager but ineffectual 3 stooges, Tadic, Elia, Mane. Their lack of precision on final passes lost the ball just as often as their miscontrolled first-touches. (In the end, aren't those three too similar to be playing together?) And then, oh dearie me, the worst yet from Pelle. He surely can't keep his place for the Palace game. Something--anything--has to be be done. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 14:47:35
Disappointing again (as last week with Swansea). Pelle's new deeper role means he will be even less productive than he's been (plus he definitely is out of form--he doesn't even seem to be able to win a ball anywhere on the park, let alone find the net!). Elia achieved nothing yesterday, nor did Tadic when he came on. And on that brief showing Djuricic looks like-for-like with them. Only Mane looked likely to score, and he was subbed. Defensively we were once again very solid, obviously, but the current set-up isn't going to score you many goals...because if the top 3 can't score , nobody else can! None of the midfield trio knows how to score and of the three only Davis even has any creative ability. JWP is more creative but he is maybe even more woeful a sniper than anyone on the team. Something missing in the midfield right now while the front three are ineffectual. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 15:22:15
Tactical perfection from Koeman, holding the line in midfield for most of then game and then springing Tadic. Tactical silliness from MU, playing di Maria upfront and leaving Wanyama and Schneiderlin to run the midfield, which they did almost without breaking a sweat. The two subs, Gardos and Tadic, my MOMs. In a weekend when everyone is complaining about the standards of refereeing, this one was (and often is) especially poor. How did Rooney go unpunished when he cut down Davis from behind? And why wasn't Smalling caught for all that holding that he has to do to disguise the fact that he's just not very good? But ref aside, major and historic win for the Saints coming at the perfect time. |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 21:28:07
We looked like the away team for the first 1/3 of the game--that was bad tactics and, I think, nerves. After that, a good fist at it but no real threat up front until Long came on. Our goalie never makes saves...what's that about? |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 20:50:50
We looked like the away team for the first 1/3 of the game--that was bad tactics and, I think, nerves. After that, a good fist at it but no real threat up front until Long came on. Our goalie never makes saves...what's that about? |
| Your
Report | Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 00:28:48
Saints played unusual game in the 1st half, sitting back a lot. And then it was Swansea's turn after the sending off. They really sat back. Most teams, even a man down, would have been a shade more enterprising. They let us play around them all the second half. The goal had to come and it did, from the most unlikely source. I though Clyne was our star...both defensively and in attack. Gardos made an impression too...very composed and careful, even if not tested much. |
| | smiffdub
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 22 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 22 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.