Whitey Grandad

I hate it too. I seem to remember it started with Merrington. I discussed this with Ivan Golac once (he used to be a neighbbour) and he said that he liked to leave three men up front so that the opposition had to put four defenders on them. If you have less people in the penalty area it makes it easier to sort out who does what and it leaves room for the keeper to come and collect the ball. If your centre-forward (if you have one) is a big six-footer then it can make sense for him to mark his counterpart and normally the pre-match briefing will detail personal responsibilities for each player but when you have a teamful of shorties I suppose it doesn't make much difference really.

I believe that we are right to expect more than that. Last season was certainly not a success and we shouldn't be satisfied with the same this time. We don't want to bumping along the bottom of the division for the foreseeable future. For a club of our history, pedigree and fanbase we can reasonably expect to be in the upper reaches of the division. Anything else is incompetent management and an insult to all loyal supporters.

These are all valid points but shouldn't it be the coaching staff and the training routines that should be sorting out these problems? They've had a two-week break but according to JVP it's all down to the players: "I left the first half XI on the field because they had to make it right and do it themselves and I told them to do that."

It wasn't bad luck that they didn't go in, it was because the personnel are not up to the quality needed.

This squad? Not as it stands at the moment. We would leak goals in any division and I can't see who would score them at the other end.

In which case it's plan B. Put somebody on the posts and man-mark the opposition. Stand on their toes if necessary but do everything possible to put them off and keep them away from the ball. What you don't do is just cram all your players in the goalmouth and hope that somebody will block the shots. In other words, get the defence organized!

Let me put it this way: Either you work things out on the training field, or you have to work them out during matches. To quote JVP: 'I left the first half XI on the field because they had to make it right and do it themselves and I told them to do that'.

The evidence is there for all to see, so believe it.

Does Lowe still have his training kit with 'RL' on it?

I disagree. There was very little wrong with his performance yesterday, apart from not giving the penalty himself, that is. Another ref would probably have sent the keeper off but since it was the assistant's call he probably decided that a yellow was more appropriate.

Maybe he can't get to the ball because the Saints players are blocking him out? Every time that we defended a set-piece yesterday I saw a big clump of our players stading together on the 6-yard line with unmarked Watford players hovering 2 or 3 yards off them. Nobody was man-marking anyone. A well-drilled defence will commonly leave the 6-yard box clear so that the keeper can come to claim the ball.

Spot on! You took the words right out of my mouth.

It's symptomatic of the disorganization in our defence. Whenever we defend a corner we bring everybody back and there are so many saints players that nobody knows who should be doing what.

Didn't he insist on taking one in Jason Dodd's testimonial, and then miss it? (I wasn't there )

You're right. Somehow, no matter how big the tonking, just getting that one goal can make all the difference.

What I couldn't understand was that when they brought Pekhart on with 8 minutes left they were showing him a bit of paper and giving him tactical instructions. ffs with 8 minutes and 3-0 down wtf do you need to explain to him???

What?????? Surely no-one could be that stupid?

What do you mean 'still back Jan Poortvliet'? What really worries me is that I know that if he went we are in such a mess that it is unikely to get any better. Once the confidence has been punctured all that's left is a very poor shadow of a once-great club.

For the second time this season I was bored stiff watching us try to play, and that has never happened to me before, win draw or lose.

That's very perceptive of you, especially now that there are only 4 clubs below us and 19 above...

I find it difficult to see where the next win is coming from! I have just looked at the schedule and I make it: Watford Home Sheffield United Away Swansea Away Coventry Home Preston Away Bristol City Home Wolves Home Reading Away Plymouth Home Charlton Away I can't realistically see more than two wins and a couple of draws in that lot.

Good for whom?

Don't be silly - you know they'd be sold at the first hint of any talent.

Good football? Does that mean letting in more goals than we score? I agree completely! It's no fun watching amateurish defending, I've done enough of that myself so I know it when I see it. Despite that, I still think that it is much too soon to talk about changing the manager (make that 'coach') but I would like to see an acknowledgement that our defensive problems are the top priority.

I thought that he improved as the game went on, once the other players got him to stop hoofing it.