saintrich

Zebrahead - Just The Tip

I saw 6 police/ambulance vans drive past our coach on the way out of Cardiff if that has anything to do with it :-/

Here is my report of the game, should be going on the Saintsweb.co.uk site when that gets started up... Cardiff City Vs Southampton Cardiff started the game quickly, with debutant Ross McCormack surging down the right hand side and crossing dangerously across the six yard box. However the Saints’ Lloyd James cleared well under pressure from Steven Thompson. Saints then replied with a mazy run of their own down the right side, with Jake Thomson making light work of make-shift left back Mark Kennedy and crossing towards the centre of the penalty area; Glenn Loovens was on hand to head clear, but Morgan Schneiderlin pinged the ball back into the box for Michael Svensson, who headed well over. The next few moments were controversial, as twice the Southampton players in the attacking third closed down the Cardiff backline in menacing fashion, subsequently forcing them into nervy back passes. The first by Loovens was disregarded by the referee - who claimed the ball came off the player’s thigh, leaving the home goalkeeper feeling relieved. But there was nothing he could do about the next one, as Lee Holmes gratefully intercepted on a weak backpass by Johnson and Manchester United loanee Heaton pounced on the ball. Simon Gillett blasted the resulting in-direct free kick into the wall. A frantic opening to the first half continued when Chris Perry slipped on the wet surface and Joe Ledley appeared to be clean through on goal, however he decided to pick out a pass for Peter Whittingham, rather than shot and the latter saw his shot closed down quickly by Andrew Surman at left back. Southampton kept up the early pressure, as their quick closing down of players in midfield and in around the final third was paying off, Thomson winning a corner and Holmes floating one in for Svensson, who again headed over. The away side were working well as a team, as they collectively gave Cardiff little time on the ball; the younger players’ greater enthusiasm and desire to get to the ball first, was a cause of concern for Home fans, but although the Saints were applying a great deal of pressure in this first twenty minutes, they were creating few chances and David McGoldrick often found himself chasing on to hopeful balls. Their inability to turn pressure into chances was to pay, as Cardiff slowly got a foothold on the game and it was indeed the home side that ended the first half in dominant fashion. First, Ledley teed up Thompson for a well struck shot, which was saved smartly by Davis, before Gavin Rae drilled a fierce effort just wide of the left hand post. McPhail passed for Thompson, who approached goal in a dogged manner, but Svensson made his shooting angle tight and the striker saw his shot well saved again. Kelvin Davis rushed out of his box to tackle Gavin Rae, in a potentially threatening attack, before McNaughton’s cross was headed down by Thompson into the path of Whittingham, who shot wildly over the bar. Davis again made a fine save, this time tipping Joe Ledley’s goal-bound effort wide of the post, but there was little Davis could do about the next attack, as the home side finally made a breakthrough... Gavin Rae saw his shot blocked by a number of eager bodies who threw themselves in the way of the shot, but the ball came loose to THOMPSON who slotted the rebound home. It was a deserved goal for the hosts, who held off early pressure from Southampton and created numerous chances to ultimately breach the away side’s defence. The Saints were resilient though and found themselves level pegging almost immediately, as half-time approached. Surman showed great strength to rob McNaughton of the ball, before crossing low for MCGOLDRICK to poach from close range and net his first league goal for the club. Half Time: Cardiff City 1-1 Southampton The second half was soon to go back to how things were, before Southampton equalised though, as Cardiff pushed for all three points in a gruelling 45 minutes. Thompson beat the offside trap and laid off nicely for Ledley, who lacked composure when firing over the bar and Cardiff will feel that they should have got a second, when Roger Johnson was left unmarked from a corner and saw powerful header, very well saved by Davis, whilst Johnson was turning away to celebrate and he had a chance soon after from another corner, when he was left unmarked again and headed just inches wide; failing to make Southampton pay for their poor marking. Substitute and new signing from Wolves, Jay Bothroyd linked up with Johnson from another set piece, but the striker saw his shot well held by Davis. And as the game went into the last twenty minutes, Cardiff attacked freely down the wings, with McPhail constantly threading the ball out wide for McCormack, Bothroyd and Sub Parry to cross, but all three saw their crosses cleared with some desperate defending from a solid defence. Saints brought on Nathan Dyer and Bradley Wright-Phillips to add some flair and fresh legs to the cause, particularly as most of the team’s youngsters had run themselves into the ground, but they proved to be largely ineffectual. However they could have nicked all three points late on, when Surman whipped in a teasing free kick, which evaded everyone, including the outstretched foot of Svensson at the back post. Cardiff were to have the last laugh though, as a stoppage time corner ensured a scramble in the box and JOHNSON flicked the ball goal wards... Davis appeared to have made a fantastic reaction save, tipping the ball onto the post, but the ball trickled over the line, as the goalkeeper desperately tried to claw the ball away. Harsh circumstances to win the game so late on, but probably a fair result in the end. Summary On the balance of play, a loss seems a fair result for Saints and although we battled hard for most of the game, we never looked a big enough threat in the final third of the pitch, whilst Cardiff were kept at bay by a number of good saves and clearances from Southampton keeper and defence. A last minute goal always makes people feel bitterer though, especially as we were so close to a draw – which would have been a good result. On a positive note, it was nice to see the enthusiasm and energy of our young players, as we gave Cardiff very little on the ball, whilst the return of Michael Svensson can only be a good thing, as he put in a solid performance and was probably my shout for Saints Man of the Match. Elsewhere, David McGoldrick will be pleased to have netted his first league goal for the club and it’ll be interesting to see if he can build on this. My main concern is the depth of the squad. Its all well and good having the enthusiastic youngsters, but players like Euell, Skacel and Rasiak will be needed if we are to pick up results and it’s unfortunate that we are likely to see these players leave soon. Today for much of the game McGoldrick had to work very hard up front and it looked to me like he had a difficult time of things, but as we know Cardiff is a tough place to come and to be so close from a draw is at least creditable. As for Cardiff, I didn’t feel they played particularly well today, but they got the result, which is the important thing. I feel that Cardiff will know they can play better and against teams who may give them a little more space, they could prove to be quite a force to beat, especially at home. Thompson took his goal well today and looked a threat in the air and once given time to form a partnership with Ross McCormack, who looked to have possessed a decent amount of pace - perhaps they could be onto something there. I don’t think the Bluebirds played particularly fluent stuff today, much of this was down to our players not allowing the time and space on the ball, which was good for us and in general the home side’s midfield seemed to struggle, but Stephen McPhail seemed to be the player who kept the game ticking and the attacking threat alive through midfield, so for me he was their Man of the Match. One thing I think Cardiff will look to make more of in the future is their set pieces, as Roger Johnson looked particularly lively from them and could have scored a couple more goals, whilst for us, I’d like to see us be more adventurous in the final third and I hope to see this in our next match – especially as we are at home. By Richard Miles ^ Errr, sorry for the pretty bad picture.. Was quite far back on the terraces and I didn't get any other ones.

Did Johnson's goal come off his chest? I'm just about to write up my report for the saintsweb.co.uk site, but wasn't paying attention to the action as I was writing something about an earlier incident on my phone. I looked up and saw the ball going towards goal, looked like it came off the chest to me, but BBC were saying he headed it.

Oh Michael Svensson, You're a saint for life. Oh Michael Svensson, I'd let you **** my wife. Oh Michael Svensson, We want ginger hair too. (To the tune of Christian Dailly's curly hair song)

Sounds like a few of our fans got battered from this thread on the Cardiff Forum. http://www.ccmb.co.uk/fudforum/index.php?t=msg&th=94017&start=0&rid=0&S=ff0d355e057d42390ba475eb27576475

We played Ok and put pressure on the cardiff defence early on. Cardiff then came into it and had lots of chances and definately deserved to win, just a shame we were so close to getting a draw. I will start writing up my match report with the notes I got from the game on my phone, in a bit.

Lol, you look like a right bellend now - seemingly you weren't at the game judging by the time of your post, but if you were, you'd have seen Davis pull off some good saves and was generally one of our better players. We probably deserved to lose by more than one goal...

Bye-Bye Rasiak and Euell...

Newcastle Manchester City Hull West Brom Stoke Sunderland Barnsley Blackpool Bristol City Cardiff x2 Charlton Coventry Crystal Palace x2 Derby Ipswich Norwich Plymouth x2 Preston QPR x2 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United Southampton xlots Watford Wolves Bristol Rovers Leeds Leicester Luton Notts County Exeter City Colchester 31.

Jimmy Eat World - Let it happen

Less Than Jake - Does Lion City Still Roar

I wonder if 'Chavy dad' will be kicked out 3 minutes into the match like last season

There were about 500/600 left yesterday and I expect they'd stop going on sale tomorrow.

Sorry didn't mean to sound harsh, just can't see the Northam singing that A simple 'Sneider-linnn, Sneider-linnnnn' will probably be sung (to the tune of Kenwyne Jones, Kenwyne jones and Stern John, Stern John).

Thats the worst song ever.

+1.

Hadouken! - Declaration of war.

Cardiff 1-2 Saints

Thanks,I've spoken with Baj and SteveGrant and am having my away match reviews on there. True enough, but IMO we finished so low down, due to our incosistancy and distractions such as managerial changes and boardroom trouble, not because our squad was weaker than them. The predictions are only my judgement on how well each squad should do, alot of things could change during the course of the season, that may make my predictions look **** e

Ah yes I forgot about Lee Cook, good signing that, remember him playing well against us at St Marys when we lost 2-1, good assist for Blackstock's goal. and to Cabbage Face.. Danny Haynes is indeed QUALITY on FM 2008

I work Part-time at the moment, start full-time in a couple of weeks. I'm going to Uni in sept 2009, doing journalism, so getting in some writing practice first Thanks from the comments from everyone so far.. no point in quoting you all... I should think my predictions will be some way off anyhow... especially as this league is so difficult to predict! When the actual saintsweb.co.uk site gets started up, I'll be having my Saints away match reviews on there... so keep an eye out for that people

18. Southampton – As a Southampton fan, this is me being at my most pessimistic. A lot of pundits are tipping us for the drop, but I can’t see this happening. We have a new Dutch set-up, which is largely unknown to most English football fans and we’re in financial trouble too. This means we’ll be relying heavily on youngsters this season, however what people may forget is that we have arguably the strongest academy in the division and most of our youngsters have been playing together for 3 or 4 years in a winning team, they know how each other play and this could prove to our advantage, especially as most teams won’t know much about our younger players. The return of Michael Svennson in defence is huge for us and if he can stay fit, this will prove to be like a new signing. Young midfielder Morgan Sneiderlin signed from France and he’s looks very impressive in pre-season and will be pulling the strings at the heart of our 4-2-1-2-1 system. Although we’ve hardly had many departures (Safri and Viafara so far, plus a few others that we’ve released), expect to see Skacel, Saganowski, Rasiak/John to follow, as we look to reduce our wage bill – this could be very problematic in the goal-scoring department as we may rely too much on young striker David McGoldrick. I can see us playing fast paced exciting football, which could see us vulnerable on the counter attack (that should be Ok though as most teams in this division lump it forward anyway and are unaware how to play fast counter attacking football), but our new system and the fact we’ll be playing players who have little championship experience, means that it really is a hard to predict where we will finish and I am being quite cautious at the moment. 19. Sheffield Wednesday – Have pretty much the same squad that struggled last season, so I can’t see them drastically improving. 20. Preston North End – Who will score the goals for Preston? (Hang on, I remember saying that before we lost to them 5-1 last season ha-ha) I think they’ve enough in them to stay up, the signing of Ross Wallace on loan is a decent one, but perhaps they should have signed a striker... 21. Barnsley – Again, goals could be a problem, as they rely too much on Brian Howard in midfield. They’ve signed Iain Hume who is a decent capture and I think he can breathe a sigh of relief in May, as he personally avoids a second successive relegation (after last season with Leicester) 22. Plymouth – have lost most of their key players in recent times. After losing Sylvain Ebanks-Blake and David Norris in January, how will they cope a whole season without them? They’ve just lost influential left winger Peter Halmosi too. I can see Plymouth being a surprise relegation team, as a team low on confidence from losing their best players and strike-force of Steven Maclean, Rory Fallon and Jermaine Easter, simply doesn’t deliver the goods. Sorry. 23. Blackpool – They did well last season, but it’s hard to see where they can push on, especially after losing Wes Hoolahan and Kaspars Gorkks. They’ve also signed Jermaine Wright and Adam Hammill (Saints fans will know what I mean!!). Sorry. 24. Doncaster – Did well to get promoted, but I simply don’t know enough about Doncaster to make an educated prediction on where they’ll finish. I think they will go down, but only have them bottom as I can’t think of anyone else realistically finishing bottom. Sorry

My Championship Predictions 1. Birmingham – Boast the strongest forward line in the division, so expect plenty of goals from the Midlanders, who might have to play 3 up front - with such talented strikers as Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome, Garry O’Connor and James McFadden; who can also play in midfield. Goals from the middle of the park could come in handy too with the likes of Gary McSheffery and Sebastian Larsson remaining at the club and with the addition of defensive midfielder Lee Carsley, coupled with an already strong defence, the Blues should run away with the title. 2. Sheffield United – Only just missed out on the play-offs last season and that included half a season with highly criticised Brian Robson at the helm. Current boss Kevin Blackwell also has the luxury of plenty of attacking options, with Darius Henderson replacing Rob Hulse who went to Derby, adding to an already strong forward line of James Beattie, Jon Stead and Billy Sharp – who flattered to deceive last season, but is a player I feel can make a breakthrough this season. Blackwell has made some decent signings in Greg Halford and David Cotterill and with an already solid core of Kenny, Naismith, Killgallon and Tonge, I expect Sheffield United to be challenging for a top two position. 3. Reading – Steve Coppell is a manager who can be relied upon to deliver the goods at this level and with a Reading team that hasn’t seen many absentees (only Dave Kitson and the impending departure of Nicky Shorey), they can challenge for an automatic promotion place, but just missing out – Kevin Doyle should net his fair share of goals, but can Leroy Lita and new signing Noel Hunt manage if he gets injured? 4. Wolverhampton Wanderers – For me, Wolves have a strong core in their team, in goal, Wayne Hennessey has been touted as a future premiership star and I can see why, with plenty of clean sheets last season. Richard Stearman has been added to the defence and this should ease Wolves fans ‘worries that they are short in the centre back position. I like the flair that Wolves possess with Elokobi and Foley at full back and Kightly and Jarvis on the wings and up front they have plenty of variety with last season’s top scorer Sylvain Ebanks-Blake providing them with power, pace and finishing, whilst new addition Chris Iwelumo will play as a target man and Andy Keogh will work tirelessly down the channels to get assists for his team mates. I think the squad is strong, but I’m a little sceptical of Mick McCarthy’s ability as manager. 5. Queens Park Rangers – Money, Money, Money. QPR have come into serious money, but I’d dare to say that their signings have been solid, rather than spectacular. Kaspars Gorkks was a star performer in the Blackpool defence last season and should be a decent capture, whilst the signing of Real Madrid “wonderkid” Dani Parejo could prove exciting in midfield along with creative talent Akos Buzsaky. Upfront I wouldn’t call them prolific, but I expect Briatore and co will spend seriously in the January transfer window to catapult the club into the play-offs. 6. Ipswich Town – Their home form was sensational last season and if they can keep that up and prove harder to beat away from home, then they should be challenging for a play off place. Again they have been rumoured to have money, which I think they will spend in January and their most notable signing to date for me, would be Kevin Lisbie from Colchester, who scored plenty in a struggling team last season. Watch out for young forward Danny Haynes as he gets an extended run in the first team. 7. Norwich City – I think Norwich will be the surprise of the season and could challenge towards the top six, but will ultimately miss out. Last season, Glenn Roeder did a great job steering the club from danger and signing some good youngsters on loan. This time around, Arturo Lupoli has signed and could create a good partnership with Jamie Cureton (if he manages to stay injury free unlike last season), whilst they’ve shipped out overpaid pansy Darren Huckerby, they’ve done good business by replacing him with Wes Hoolahan from Blackpool, who is younger, hungrier and equally as creative. In defence, ex-pomp*y player Dejan Stefanovic has joined and his previous teammate at Fulham Elliot Omozuzi has joined on loan – a young defender with good potential. 8. Bristol City – I can’t see them proving to be one season wonders, as unlike previous examples Luton and Colchester, they’ve managed to keep hold of their better players. One thing that will go against them, is the fact that they are no longer a surprise package, however with Gary Johnson (who I rate highly) in charge and the signing of striker Nicky Maynard from Crewe, I think they have the quality to challenge in and around the top six. 9. Derby County – Have completely changed the squad from last season with a whole host of new signings, which could mean a while in getting used to each other. I think this season will be a season of consolidation for the rams, after their disaster season last year, but the signings of players such as Albrechtson, Commons, Hulse and Ellington, along with the quality of player like Giles Barnes, means that they won’t be far off the top six. 10. Crystal Palace – Neil Warnock is a great manager at this level and did an excellent job last season, but I don’t think he’ll add to his record of getting teams into the playoffs. He has done well to bring in midfielder Nick Carle from Bristol City to replace soon to be outgoing Ben Watson, but with the departure of Clinton Morrison, it is hard to see where regular goals will come from. Watch out for youngster Victor Moses, though. And the rest... 11. Burnley – Have lost Kyle Lafferty and this could prove to be a big loss, however have bought well in highly rated striker Martin Patterson from S****horpe and talented Manchester United midfielder Chris Eagles. I can see them adopting a direct style of play, which could see them doing well in the division this season. 12. Coventry City – Aren’t in a great financial position to bring in players, but the signing of Kieran Westwood is a good one as he proved himself to be on the better goalkeepers outside of the premiership last season, also Clinton Morrison and Freddy Eastwood should get the goals that will se Coventry finish solidly in Chris Coleman’s first full season in charge. 13. Nottingham Forest – Only just promoted from league one, but by no means relegation favourites. They have bought well in Andy Cole and especially Rob Earnshaw – who is proven to score plenty of goals in this division. Guy Moussi is a player I’ve great things about from the Forest fans, so it’ll be interesting to see his effect on the team. 14. Cardiff City – The FA cup finalists from last season have done well to retain the services of highly rated players Joe Ledley and Roger Johnson and despite managing a decent deal to sign Motherwell striker Ross McCormack on a free transfer, I can’t see the team being prolific scorers and may have to play Paul Parry as a make-shift striker, if injuries to McCormack and fellow new signing Jay Bothroyd occur. 15. Charlton Athletic – Alan Pardew is facing a lot of pressure from the fans at the Valley and I can’t see things getting any better for the London side. They’ve had to ship out a few players this summer to help with finances and haven’t really replaced them to my knowledge. That said they still possess a decent enough squad with the likes of Darren Ambrose and Andy Gray to finish in a solid mid-table position. 16. Swansea City – Could do well under the guidance of manager Roberto Martinez. In Ferrie Bodde they have one of the championship’s more sought after players and goals from Jason Scotland and some of the unknown (to most) Spanish players that he’s brought in, could surprise a few people. 17. Watford – Watford are in a bit of a minor crisis at the moment and after losing Marlon King in the January transfer window, they’ve now lost Nathan Ellington, Danny ****tu and Darius Henderson; in a bid to reduce their wage bill. They ended last season poorly and I can see this season continuing their poor form – it’s hard to see where goals will come from, Tamas Priskin as their only recognised striker.

Err I'm pretty skint and could probably only stretch to around £100 :-| I suppose I could get one brand new and pay monthly?