positivepete

Of course he is not just a winger here, waiting on the touch-line for the ball. The way the team is now set up, Lambert, Papa, Schneiderlin, and Lallana play in a rotating diamond. I am not saying all his runs are good, but you must consider how much slower the pace of the game is at this level, not the tempo, the pace, and speed of pass and movement. He has been training / playing in Serie A. The pace of League 1, the incisiveness of the passing, and the speed of thought at this level is miles behind that of the top flight in any of the main European Leagues.

Watch him next time, he sets off into space very quickly when we have the ball, well before most of our our players have spotted him. The disallowed goal this week was the result of Harding taking an extra touch before putting the ball across. In the last home game, Kelvin got the ball, Papa set off in his own half and by the time KD had dithered and finally spotted him Papa was well offside. Give him his due, he is sharper than most of our players.

Says it all

and the sound system.....

Thank you, I look forward to meeting SaintBletch at the dinner. My son will be well chuffed, he is the same age as a number of the players, (and sees a number of them in town - on the correct nights of course!) and he knows Jamie White well from training with him when they were younger. I am due back in Sharjah in the next month or so, so Phil, I will contact you with some dates, perhaps we can share a soft drink! If you are not over in the next while, would you like me to bring the shirt over? Cheers

As I said on a previous thread, the statistics will tell you more goals come from crosses hit from deep than from cut backs from the bye line in professional football. Beckham proves that you do not need pace to hit a killer cross. On Tuesday Lambert had a very good chance in the first half from a superb cross hit from deep by Lloyd James, but sadly he did not hit the target. I agree about the lack of width with four central mid-fielders playing across the middle, but hopefully when Holmes is back fit we will solve half of that problem. Agree on lack of pace, just Papa and Harding from Tuesday's team

Their number 17 was a very decent player

Quite right! A point I made in another thread about crossing and where effective crosses come from! However he has also played in teams with more movement, and teams that did not have four central mid fielders playing at the same time, and there was also pace elsewhere in the sides he has played in.

Enjoyed the game, not the result. Our passing in the first half was crisper than it has been all season, and our movement much better. Mellis and Lallana interchanged really well. Rovers harried well, attacked and went for it, but we still had the best chances, the Lambert header in the first half, Morgan at 2-1 and Lallana at 2-2. At the time I thought the Morgan chance at 2-1 would come back to bite us, if that had gone in I think we would have scored more. Mind you I would be interested to see it again, I think it hit the keeper in the face, not sure he knew much about it.

Full backs who struggle when a player runs at them are numerous. Liverpool just paid 18m for one. Until recently Ashley Cole was criticised for his defensive skills. As much as Murty and Thomas are experienced they also struggle when players run at them. James does a pretty good job there and with experience and coaching he will get better. A players attributes dictate where they are best suited to play, James is not blessed with pace so playing out wide in midfield would not suit him as well as playing CM. His pace does expose him at full back at times, but overall he is an intelligent footballer and his reading of the game works in his favour. He is also probably the best crosser of the ball in the team. Our problems stem from only having four central mid fielders available at times and little pace throughout the side. Before Papa, Harding is probably our quickest player

Quote "Portsmouth FC have announced that thier new shirt sponsor is Tampax!!" Not so far fetched, they were made in Havant for many years

From the same site as the pompey story yesterday http://newsarse.com/2009/09/21/scientists-to-investigate-rift-in-old-trafford-time-continuum/

One of the problems was that he made runs anticipating a pass that was too late coming. Do not forget he is dropping down three levels where with the exception of Morgan S (who went off when he came on) we do not have a player with that level of insight and passing ability.

Two schools of thought here, I am in the Morgan played well and IMHO Hammond should have gone off. I thought he was poor today. On his debut he was always looking for the ball and looked good. Today I thought the game went on around him. That doesn't mean I think he is a poor player just had a poor game! I thought we looked better balanced with Mills, and what a good free kick from him for Jiadi's header. If Papa continues to attack players when he gets the ball he will terrify this league. the good news is that we are improving

I sit by the half way line, my reaction was first one no, second one yes.

The FA stats now say that more goals are scored by crossing the ball in from deep than from crossing from the byeline. The key either way is to get the ball in the the attackers target area and that should be between the defender and the goalkeeper. Think why Beckham is more effective than others for England on the right hand side. James hit some superb crosses like this last year, we just had no one attacking them.

You wont want to be back in the premier league then! At least at this level most of our games are 3pm on Saturday.

From the interview with JP the other day he seemed to infer that he had no scouting system to call on, not his choice from the sound of it.

Yep, Wotton had his best game for us, Lallana his best for 9 months, Saga best game for even longer. Ref worst game!!! Lambert looked a div 1 players except for the lovely touch for Mellis just before they scored. Harding continues to look good. Hope Murty is ok, Lloyd James played well, Davis some good saves. Enjoyed the match, looking forward to the time when we can score a second goal and kills things off.

As mentioned before a great improvement from Tuesday. Our best periods coincided with Hammond controlling the game. As he takes more control we will play better, we have lacked a leader in midfield for more years than I care to remember. I think Hammond and Schneiderlin will form a very effective partnership. Now for some effective wide players for them to spread the play to. Sadly both Mellis and Thompson failed to take their chance today. Good to see decisive substitutions at half time today, unlike Tuesday!! ps: I would also say great run for their goal, sometimes you just have to give credit

Interesting comments about Harding, from the first few matches I have seen he was the quickest player in the team prior to the arrival of Mellis who I assume wouldn't be on Chelsea's books if he didn't have pace, although we did not get a chance to see much of that on Tuesday.

Move them on and clear the wage bill for McSheffrey now he is not wanted by Birmingham!!!!

He is injured, that is why he is missing. Been told that when he played in pre season McCarthy is very pleased with him and reckons he helps them play better football. Not a surprise to those of us who rated him.

My concern is also the manner in which we played on Tuesday. We created 3 clear scoring opportunities (Lambert 1 on 1, Patterson 1 on 1, Thomas free header) without any discernible pattern of play. Frankly we played a lot better under JP with the kids, at least you could see what they were doing and they tried to play football even if they lacked experience and made a few defensive errors. Compare the display at Reading last season with the one at Swindon Tuesday night! However, I like the first three signings he has made, they are all intelligent footballers, and if Hammond solves the CM issue, we then just need to sort out a CB and a wide player. So I am still backing AP to come up with the goods, I am sure he will have learned lessons from Tuesday, and especially from the last five minutes!

Going to Swindon Tuesday, I look forward to a good response and three points for the Saints! (perhaps a few more youngsters to give the team some pace!!!!)