Saints 0-1 Plymouth - Reaction

[Arizona]

Sh*t result but not the end of the world.

 

Taking possitives from it, we looked very good first half. Dickson and Butterfield look like excellent signings. Appart from the goal, which was down to a mistake from Jaidi and Harding still being asleep in the changing room, we looked very sound defensively.

 

We need another lanky striker and a pacy winger, which we already knew.

[Goalie66]

Exposed our benign mid field and lack of pace to run at defenders

[Thedelldays]

poor result....we played some pretty stuff..more so in the first half...awful efforts in front of goal..one shot on target in open play..?

 

desperately missed lambert

 

one thing..better get used to how plymouth played as most will do that

[skintsaint]

meh typical first day saints. play like that all season we will go up. Just missed Lambert.

 

They had one chance and took it. Harding had a shocking second half.

[Smirking_Saint]

Pretty much what Arizona said, we never win on TV or on the first day so hey ho.

 

Get ready for the suicide troop to begin slamming the season.

[.comsaint]

Exposed our benign mid field and lack of pace to run at defenders

 

+1.

 

Same old same old...

[Asaint4ever]

Yawnnnnnn

[Joesaint]

Harding mistake was bad though, there are positives but we did not take our chances so really annoyed.

[trousers]

Played well first half but missed Lambert big time.

 

2nd half - different game. Peter Reid obviously spotted the obvious in that Plymouth gave us far too much space and time in the first half.

 

Plymouth one shot = one goal.

 

Another day and we'd have won the game in the first half. Peter Reid's half time talk was the difference.

 

Oh, and Lallana had a good cameo. With him and Rickie starting we will walk this league.... ;-)

[alpine_saint]

Pardew needs to drop the cagey b*ll*cks in the transfer market and show his cards before half the season is gone through contract negotiations and "gelling"

[saint_stevo]

Slow and lack of ideas. Our strikers played with back to goal far too much and no options on the bench

[buctootim]

Pretty good overall, just lacked a sharp enough cutting edge, and he'll be back Tuesday. .

[saint_jas]

Need a Rickie (heightwise) striker in reserve.

Lots of good crosses in first half and nothing from the front two.

 

Other than that, very toothless up front.

[alpine_saint]

Played well first half but missed Lambert big time.

 

2nd half - different game. Peter Reid obviously spotted the obvious in that Plymouth gave us far too much space and time in the first half.

 

Plymouth one shot = one goal.

 

Another day and we'd have won the game in the first half. Peter Reid's half time talk was the difference.

 

Oh, and Lallana had a good cameo. With him and Rickie starting we will walk this league.... ;-)

 

Pity our managers are never capable of such things.

[SuperMikey]

Pardew needs to get 2 more players in before MK Dons next week.

[TijuanaTim]

No penetration, creativity or inspiration - still in saying that we still pist all over them. Alan and the boys just need to switch to the 'actual' league gear as pre-season is over.

[sebastian firefly]

before docker p says it i blame the sash

[Sheaf Saint]

Not really surprising and I'm not too downhearted about the result as I always think that opening day results are meaningless. But where was the effort and desire? It looked like some of the players were treating it as a pre-season friendly in the second half. Lallana made a massive difference when he came on so it's important he stays fit throughout the season as we will miss him hugely if he gets injured.

[CanadaSaint]

So, last year's inability to break down defensive teams (and, God, are we going to see a lot of those this year) remains uncorrected.

 

Jaidi is even slower (in thought and action) than he was last year, and that's going to kill us again and again.

 

We still use three passes instead of two.

 

Our final delivery from wide remains poor.

 

Unless those ongoing problems from last year are corrected we will fall short - even when Ricky comes back.

 

We're a team with more style than substance. I don't think that's what Cortese had in mind.

[dronskisaint]

We didn't play badly...credit Argyle for their performance. No Lambert to panic them which will be rectified soon, hopefully.

 

Disappointed but not worried at this stage.

[Cascadia Saint]

That had 0-0 all over it.

 

We didn't look fluent up front at all, always one extra pass in a cluttered area instead of a decisive ball into space.

 

Defensive didn't look too bad, we looked very calm first half. Dickson and Butterfield looked great, still not convinced by Barnard. Papa Waigo would've been great to throw on at the end.. Ce la vie.

 

Anyway, back to bed.. COYS...

[Suhari]

Hmmmmm. Not a real surprise given that we are Saints.

 

Annoying thing is the apparent inability to score without Lambert. The crosses in the first half we tailor-made for him, BUT never ideal for Barnard/Connolly. Both good goalscorers, but have to be given the right kind of chances. Great for Rickie to attack a floated cross from deep positions, or hold up play for others to join; need something different for Barnard/Connolly.

 

Best chance of the second half: Lallana got to the bye-line and pulled it back for Barnard to run onto.

 

Not annoyed about loosing so much as feeling annoyed at the lack of a plan b.

Edited 7 August, 2010 by Suhari

[Smirking_Saint]

Pretty good overall, just lacked a sharp enough cutting edge, and he'll be back Tuesday. .

 

This

[Under Weststand]

I really didn't think we'd miss Lambert as much as we did today, Connolly & Barnard need to play off a big striker they can't play together. 1st half we looked excellent, but never really got going 2nd half. And we missed not having either Antonio/Waigo to bring on and run at them. Hey ho usual 1st day performance from us.

[brightspark]

Reasons why we lost:

 

1 - No Lambert

2 - Injured Players

3 - Opening day = players play like spastics

4 - Plymouth had new manager

5 - Plymouth a bit of a bogey team

6 - Awful opening day record

7 - Televised by Sky

8 - Fate for the undeserving Pompey fans

 

No other reason. Team will not be under any curse next week, and because we have a good record against MK Dons, we will win. Simple as that.

[silversaint]

Jesus, what a load of tosh. Hopefully this will tempt Pardew to do something in the transfer market.

[Nutwood2]

Sad lack of creativity I'm afraid. Plymouth won most of the 50/50's as well. Old cliche I know, but I do think they wanted it more.

[Painswick Saint]

I thought we looked quite good in the first half with some excellent crosses into the box. Shame we couldn't finish

 

Second half - one chance to them, they score. One chance to us, goalkeeper saves from Lallana. Hey ho

[martyg1950]

We didn't play badly...credit Argyle for their performance. No Lambert to panic them which will be rectified soon, hopefully.

 

Disappointed but not worried at this stage.

 

+1.

[Smirking_Saint]

Rory Fallons set up shows exactly why you need a big man to play off of

[Jonnyboy]

i hope we get more goals and assists from punch in the coming months, hes supposed to be L1 team of the season

[alpine_saint]

So,

 

...pre-season results dont matter

 

... result from first game of season doesnt matter too

 

Can someone please enlighten me as to when winning is important if you seek promotion ?

[saintsmike25]

We lacked pace in wide areas -

Lack of creativity.

Not brave enough to shoot.

Confidence lacking -

Set piece delivery needs to improve

Not quick enough to pick out the RIGHT passes.

[Saint Without a Halo]

Surely Pardew had seen what happened to norwich yesterday and warned our lot about complacency!

[Smirking_Saint]

If we win 45 games we will be promoted

[saint_jas]

If we win 45 games we will be promoted

 

hehe, like it..

[Draino76]

Dodgy thread alert coming. I am ITK.

[Asaint4ever]

Does anyone know if AP will be playing a strong side againts bournemouth on tuesday night??

[jasoneuelllfanclub]

So, last year's inability to break down defensive teams (and, God, are we going to see a lot of those this year) remains uncorrected.

 

Jaidi is even slower (in thought and action) than he was last year, and that's going to kill us again and again.

 

We still use three passes instead of two.

 

Our final delivery from wide remains poor.

 

Unless those ongoing problems from last year are corrected we will fall short - even when Ricky comes back.

 

We're a team with more style than substance. I don't think that's what Cortese had in mind.

 

I actually thought the delivery was good today esp 1st half. Had Lambert played I'm convinced we would have scored from one of them at least.

[Suhari]

Dodgy thread alert coming. I am ITK.

 

AP gone by Tuesday?

Owen signs tomorrow?

Lambert off to 'Boro?

 

[saint_jas]

Does anyone know if AP will be playing a strong side againts bournemouth on tuesday night??

 

bloody hope so, else not hear the end of it.

[jjsaint]

If we miss out on promotion by 2 points, and don't go up through the play-offs, then today will have mattered indeed.

[georgeweahscousin]

Wasn't impressed by Dickson at all. We need a proper winger.

[Huntingdon]

Losing Waigo and Antonio are key because we lack pace

 

When a team like Plymouth are defending with banks of 4, somebody with pace can get in behind

 

I was disappointed Chamberlain didn't come on

[hackedoff]

Play-offs maybe. Top two, I don,t think so.

[hypochondriac]

So disappointing. We need a backup to Rickie.

[saint_jas]

Losing Waigo and Antonio are key because we lack pace

 

When a team like Plymouth are defending with banks of 4, somebody with pace can get in behind

 

I was disappointed Chamberlain didn't come on

 

Same I was hoping Chamberlain would come on.

What we have 1 sub come on thats it. No extra strikers on the bench. Be nice to have a pacey striker.

[Smirking_Saint]

Lol, back to the norm then, if it isn't everything bad about cortese it is the doom and gloom of losing one game.

[Jimmy_D]

Football never ceases to amaze me with how such a one sided game can sometimes go the 'wrong' way.

 

Play like that the rest of the season and we'll be fine.

[Redondo Saint]

Looked good 1st half but no end result. 2nd half was more even.

 

Definitely missed Lambert and no doubt when he plays we will win more games, but we have to have a back up to him and this concerns me.