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Everything posted by The Kraken
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He's clearly a talented player, but playing up front is really not his position. He looks much better when he is running on to the ball rather than holding it up. The problem is that his type of position needs a team built around it, he just can't be shoe horned into a position that is not naturally his. And playing up front with an immobile Lambert is doing him no favours whatsoever. I fear we will never see the best out of him as the current line up cannot accommodate his particular position. It was the same under Pardew; which makes it a very strange signing in the first place.
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Just back from the game. Overall a good performance, particularly in the first half when we really made them look ordinary and totally dominated play. If it hadn't have been for their goalkeeper we might have even dominated posession, he must have had 50% all on his own. Dire, stalling tactics from the start; not exactly the flowing football this lot are supposed to be famous for. Our problem tonight was similar to the Plymouth game opening day; for all our posession and dominance we really didn't create enough for their keeper to do, and ultimately could have been completely undone by a sucker punch. Also, I think Adkins got it very wrong with his double substitution of Morgan and Barney for Guly and Holmes. As completely ordinary as Morgan was, he at least put in a shift in the middle and closed them down. Without that, and with no real hustle up front, we completely played into their hands. Anyway, my player ratings: Davis: 8. Very solid performance, good distribution and a great penalty save to keep us in it. Richardson: 7. After a few shaky performances he's starting to look like the player we signed, and could turn out to be a great acquisition. Very strong in defence, and starting to get forward well. Dickson: 8. I really like the way he gets forward so well; with Lallana cutting inside so much we're reliant on the full back to get to the byline, and I think Dicko does that better than Harding. Almost got caught out defensively in the first half but recovered well. Fonte: 7. Decent display and showed his class on occasions, but still slightly suspect. Jaidi: 6. The problem with Jaidi is that while he will comfortably win everything in the air, we look so suscptible to balls in behind him, he's just so slow now. Good performance on Saturday, but got a little found out today against a higher standard of opposition. Hammond: 7. Did well, broke up play well and controlled the midfield. Schneiderlin: 5. Defensively he did ok, but those people who are convinced he can cut it at a higher level should judge him on this game. Tackling wasn't great, range of passing very average, and did nothing going forward. Chaplow will walk back into side after that showing, and rightly so. Chamberlain: 6. Lots of willing run, and looked like he could always be a threat, but the ball didn't quite fall for him tonight. Still a good enough performance without too much end product. Lallana: 6. A frustrating night, as we know how great he can be, but like Oxo it just didn't come off for him tonight. Typified just before the end when he broke away past two defenders, had just one to beat and decided to pass to Guly who was clearly offside. Lambert: 5. I've defended him an awful lot this season, but this is starting to get silly now, he's so far away from the player he was last year. Should have scored in the second half with a header but put it over from 6 yards. Barnard: 7. Lots of willing running and gave their defence no time at all, really missed when he was taken off. Subs: Holmes: 6. Not the same impact as last week, but still lots of promise. Guly: 5. I just don't see him as a striker, and certianly not up there with Lambert, we had very little movement with them as a pair. Butterfield: 5. Not enough time to be noticed. Oh, and I give the new Banksy street art on Mount Pleasant Road an 8.
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Redknapp, we all hate but we all know we missed out, don't we?
The Kraken replied to Noodles34's topic in The Saints
He IS a chequebook manager though. It's not to say that that's necessarily a bad thing, as Redknapp has clearly had some success with his methods (apart from here where his hands were tied and he couldn't manage like that). But to suggest otherwise just isn't true, his managerial policy relies on a heavy turnaround of players. Some of his transfers won't pay off at all, but he's also likely to pull a few out of the hat as well. To suggest that he hasn't spent a lot at Spurs to get where they are is laughable. He clearly has, and when taking over in October '08 even inherited a team that had spent around £40M in the summer, then allowed him to spend another £40M in the January window. He also received money from incoming transfers of course, but was still allowed to spend £40M (plus another £20M or so in the summer), so has had a good deal of resources at his disposal. Of course, the potential problems with Redknapp's methods are aptly demonstrated down the road. On balance of transfer fees alone they should have made millions from the players he bought and sold. However, you also need to consider the stupid wages that he sanctioned in order to bring those players to the club. Utaka supposedly on £80K a week, Crouch and Defoe nudging towards £90K a week. If you have just 2 or 3 transfers who don't work out and you then can't shift on, you have an almighty expenditure at the club which can only be resolved by spending even more to bring in a better replacement. Redknapp has done very well at Spurs and clearly has something about him; but he is a chequebook manager. As I said, its not necessarily a bad thing so I don't know why there's such a clamour to deny it, there have been plenty of completely unsuccessful chequebook managers throughout history, so he's clearly doing something right. -
I'm a bit underwhelmed by Brighton's stadium. It's only a small capacity and it seems the only aesthetic bit of design is the curved roof. Inside there's a lack of symmetry and each end behind the goal is reminiscent of the old Milton Road end. Add in the fact that it's miles out of town and, even at 22k will probably be rarely full, and I think it's have a bit of a lack of atmosphere. As samey and flatpack as our stadium is, I'd much rather have St Mary's than Falmer.
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We look such a better side without Morgan. He was good for this level last year but hasn't progressed; the notion that he's too good for this standard is laughable. He may well go on and play for his country, he's young so anything could happen, but having watched France last week he is a million miles away from the movement and class their midfield players displayed. His career here needs to give him a kick up the arse to remind him that basic talent plus minimal effort will get you nowhere. Hammond and Chaplow have probably less talent than him, but they look much the better option to him for us right now. And if you can't stand out in lower league football it is an indictment on the player, and not the level of football.
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It has been suggested that, given keeping fans inside the ground has failed to prevent trouble outside on previous occasions, a new approach was taken with the erection of the big fenceline. Did it work? Not really. But was it any worse than the scenes that were previously seen both here and down at Fratton? Debatable. In this instance the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Personally I certainly think they should have kept the away fans in, but i can also understand the argument that they tried something different to methods that had clearly not been anywhere near 100% successful in the past.
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Disagree; I think the next two games in particular are the perfect judge of where we are under Adkins; if we come out of them with 6 points then it's a real hats off to Adkins. A win and a draw, that's my minimum expectation and I'd honestly be a little disappointed, anything less than that is unacceptable IMO. Any manager can only be judged properly when he has had a fair amount of time to mould his team, and also the chance to correct any deficiencies he sees in the squad. Being as all summer there was a clamour for at least 3 new players (new CM, replacement for Antonio/Waigo, new CF) and we've only seen Chaplow come in and Oxo step up from the ranks, I think it's only right that Adkins be given license by NC to bring in players in January, and I fully expect this to happen. The departure of Puncheon further indicates that Adkins will be allowed to tailor his team to his requirements rather than be completely hamstrung by previous signings. Disagree with a lot of that. I'll agree that we still often look under par, but I have seen very many signs that we are a team in transition, and our playing style is changing and improving all the time. Where we have fallen down is that we haven't been able to put in winning performances against the top sides (apart from Bompey who are up there). I've said all along that these two games will define where we are under Adkins, and I'm confident of winning both.
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It really wouldn't. If anything, sporadic arrests would have just enflamed the situation.
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Being as Lambert (I believe) has a 100% record with us, I think that deserves a bit of respect. Six/seven out of ten compared to ten out of ten is a very big margin.
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While I agree with parts of what you've just said, it's the bolded bit I don't really get. It's not the 70s and 80s any more, inside the stadium there is longer dart throwing, taking the other team's end and such like; it's just banter, pretty much the only things being thrown around are words. Everyone knows that you can mouth off all you like and nothing will happen, its part of football. And long may it continue by the way, I think segregation and banter between opposition crowds are what make football the best spectator sport in the world. However, outside the ground for some it became more than banter and had the potential to escalate into something far worse. Put the numbers into context of the amount surrounding the Pompey fans cordon, and the amount of people who've been charged with anything. Despite there being a few trumped up charges (which have now rightly been dismissed) in amongst the guilty verdicts, it is only very much a minority of people that even got charged with anything in the first place; and they were charged with offenses that were a lot worse than are normally seen inside a ground.
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Well whoever said that is misguided IMO. Certainly a professional footballer should never miss the target from 12 yards. However, no penalty is unsavable and if the keeper guesses the right way the penalty has to be very well struck and very well placed or it won't be going in. We may have other players who could step up, but I don't believe any of them would come close to RL's precision and power from the spot.
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What a silly thing to say. No, not anyone could score a penalty. It's why MLT was so revered for his record, no-one else came close to it. At Saints we've been extremely blessed with penalty takers down the years; MLT, then Beattie who had an excellent record, and now Lambert. Penalty taking is an art, and claiming they don't count is just nonsense. Take Lambert's penalty up at Notts County, when he had to wait an absolute age in front of a baying crowd before despatching his shot into the corner. Players who have the skill to do that time and time again are in short supply.
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You have a very sad and unhealthy obsession with mentioning this.
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It's certainly not the tenth best in the league either.
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No they didn't. Not entirely, anyway. A substantial amount of people said that Adkins had made a very good start, but that we shouldn't get carried away and that we'd learn a lot more from games against the top sides. We've just lost one of those games, and we have two games coming up that will again be a big test but that will tell us a lot about how good this team really is.
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I'm not sure if I agree with that actually; I think Lambert is starting to create a really good partnership with Barnard. And I think Lambert definitely has a role in the team, he's still played as the fulcrum of the team and brings team mates into play with his general hold-up and link up play. In fact, the area of his game I've noticed he is perhaps most off colour on is his aerial dominance, last year he seemed to win absolutely everything, this year it's sometimes looked like he's struggled to get off the ground. I think he'll come good, and I also think he offers us a lot despite not being on top form. I do think he's suffered from not being fit at the start of the season, and is also having a mini crisis of confidence. A couple of goals from open play would do him the world of good.
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The problem with that is that I just don't see Guly as a natural replacement for Lambert; I think he's a completely different type of player than that, and one you perhaps have to fit your team around. And Adkins doesn't seem to want to do that. As (IMO) he's not a replacement for Lambert, we simply don't have anyone else who can come in and do a better job in that role. I didn't go yesterday but have been to all the last few home games and have seen a gradual improvement from RL. Not to the extent that he's the player he was last season, he clearly isn't, but I truly believe that an off form Lambert in that role offers us more than any other player we currently have. I don't know what the solution is; clearly Lambert is enough of a potential that we have to give him time, but while he's still well off being the player he was last year, when we fail to win games some tough questions are going to be asked.
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I'd take 10 points clear, rather than 10th place, thanks very much. Being mid-table doesn't suggest to me that we are "right in the mix". We're just on the fringes of it, and lets face it, this season we are under achieving. I think Adkins can get us there but we need to find winning consistency against the top sides, starting next week.
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His form so far has been decent enough; games against Peterborough and Brighton will tell us a lot about where we are as a team against the top sides (which is clearly the concern at the moment). Too early to judge him now. But he's made an ok start, 8/10 in my book. I am getting a bit worried about how often we're said to be not playing that well, even when winning. I'm starting to wonder if that is just our natural level, because there's only so long you can go along supposedly playing under par.
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Adkins harshest critic is going to be Cortese; if we fail at promotion this year then its touch and go whether he'll keep his job. And we obviously have not set the world alight away from home, which is an issue that needs to be addressed. The next two home games will also tell us an awful lot about this team. And I fully expect Adkins to be given funding for 2, maybe 3 players in the transfer window to really start turning this into his team.
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Saints/Pardew fiasco to enter spotlight
The Kraken replied to georgeweahscousin's topic in The Saints
Agreed. Sky bang on about it being the "best league in the world TM". Stoke v Blackburn, Blackpool v Wigan, Birmingham v Wolves, Bolton v West Brom. I wouldn't pay money to be anywhere near games like that. Give me a trip to Dagenham & Redbridge any day! -
Saints/Pardew fiasco to enter spotlight
The Kraken replied to georgeweahscousin's topic in The Saints
I don't disagree. Even Arsenal, who are considered to be small spenders in the transfer market relative to their position, have spent over £50M on players in the last 2 years. It's kind of why its a bit of a paradox supporting Saints at the moment. While we of course aspire to be as good as we can be and in the highest division, I've enjoyed going to watch games in league 1 at least as much as when we were in the PL, sometimes I've enjoyed it more. There's a lot to be said for lower league football, even if the ultimate aim is to leave it behind. -
Saints/Pardew fiasco to enter spotlight
The Kraken replied to georgeweahscousin's topic in The Saints
Of course; but that wasn't the original point. It was that Spurs/Redknapp have spent a hell of a lot of money to break into the top 4. -
Saints/Pardew fiasco to enter spotlight
The Kraken replied to georgeweahscousin's topic in The Saints
Yes, he did... 2008/09 Inherited £40M of players signed in the summer by Ramos (Bentley, Corluka, Pavluchenko etc.) and he signed: Jermain Defoe £15M Wilson Palacios £12M Carlo Cudicini Free Pascal Chimponda £3M Robbie Keane £12M 2009/10 Kyle Naughton Undisclosed Kyle Walker Undisclosed Peter Crouch £9M Sebastien Bassong £8M Niko Kranjcar £2M Jimmy Walker Free Younes Kaboul £5M Sandro £8M So yes, I think its fair to say that Redknapp spent quite a bit of money at Tottenham.