Just back from Swansea

[ladysaint]

well what can be said that hasnt already. Halloween come a week early. Surman looked liked the only one really trying, no shape, no enthusiasm, no effort, no excitement etc etc., The game was really flat as were the 1,049 travelling away fans. Its always a bad sign when fans of the same team start on each other.

 

Just waiting for a knight in shining armour to come and rescue us, but cant see that happening. Someone somewhere must transplant the heart and soul back into our club.

Edited 25 October, 2008 by ladysaint

[AwaySaint1]

Its always a bad sign when fans of the same team start on each other.

 

???

[saintstr1]

well what can be said that hasnt already. Halloween come a week early. Surman looked liked the only one really trying, no shape, no enthusiasm, no effort, no excitement etc etc., The game was really flat as were the 1,049 travelling away fans. Its always a bad sign when fans of the same team start on each other.

 

Just waiting for a knight with shining armour to come and rescue us, but cant see that happening. Someone somewhere must transplant the heart and soul back into our club.

 

Sorry its not the heart and soul that will revive the patient , You need to remove the cancer of Rupert Lowe & Michael Wilde and then I am sure with a little love & care we will make a full recovery.

[Appy]

Just back, highlight of the day was seeing the ref peter walton knocked over by the ball. We are are up **** creek without a paddle, felt sorry for lallana today, he made a few runs, but no one moved into any space for him. Shame to see Kelvin make a mistake after how he has been playing, the dopey two up front (BWP and Mcgoldrick) Useless once again.

[Mr saint]

well what can be said that hasnt already. Halloween come a week early. Surman looked liked the only one really trying, no shape, no enthusiasm, no effort, no excitement etc etc., The game was really flat as were the 1,049 travelling away fans. Its always a bad sign when fans of the same team start on each other.

 

Just waiting for a knight with shining armour to come and rescue us, but cant see that happening. Someone somewhere must transplant the heart and soul back into our club.

 

The thing I found more frustrating than anything was BWP and McG failing to make any forwards runs. There was a little boy in front of me who seemed just as frustrated and was clearly pointing out what they should be doing.....if he could see it, why the hell couldn't the so-called professionals.

 

Also, it seemed like we were chasing the ball the whole time. All they needed to do was play it out wide and there seemed to always be someone hugging the touchline on the wing completely free to run at our defence.

 

Our corners annoyed me to. I think we had 3 corners in the game....a great opportunity to play the ball into the box yet we seemed to waste them on short ones. One the short corners was given for offside....I bloody waste!

 

 

As for the fans. We were disappointing. Was the incident you're talking about at the back on the right hand side. I couldn't really see from where I was.

Swansea fans outsang us the whole match (which is a change for Saints fans.....from my experience out away support is pretty vocal normally). I'm not really sure why considering they were winning they needed to constantly sing abouy Pompey and Redknapp though :confused: I find it so cringeworth when people do that especially when they're winning!

 

Also what was with the big police presence? I'm sure there was no need for it? I nearly couldn't get in because they wouldn't let me through the gate towards the away end without a ticket...they didn't seem to believe me at first that I said I was supposed to be collecting from the turnstiles, and 1 guy I spoke to in the ground said they had had a police escort all the way from Port Talbot in their mini-bus. All seemed a bit OTT to me.

[StuRomseySaint]

Our Minibuses were stopped on the M4 and we were given a police escort straight to the ground. 45 minutes before the f*cking turnstiles opened.

 

We were greeted by at least 10 police surrounding the minibus and shouting for us to get out, before jumping on board and confiscating all drink from the bus. This was the same for at least 2 other minibuses. We tried to leave to find a pub and were told in no uncertain terms that if we did, we would be arrested.

 

On about 70 minutes a group of us had enough of the game and walked out to go for a pint whilst waiting for the game to finish, only for the police to completely lose their rag and start forcing Saints fans back into the cage.

 

I know some others who came on the train with their 8 year old who were put up against the wall, pictures and details taken and escorted to the ground.

 

Another 5 lads who come in on the train and were thrown into meatwagons and taken to the ground.

 

I also heard the Saints Trust bus was stopped at the bridge.

 

There must have been at least 100 officers on duty in the Saints end before and after the game. And a ****ing lot of police all round Swansea.

 

OK there was 4 or 5 buses of Saints 'lads' who were sligtly intoxicated, but no trouble.

 

All in all, the worst ever away game, I am glad I have ticked that ground off, because I won't be visiting again.

[Leslie Charteris]

The comments here remind me of a little while back, the last time we were facing relegation. This is truly relegation form - unable to score and shipping goals.

I am a glass half-full person, as a rule, but my glass is certainly half empty at the moment and I can't see any way of refilling it any time soon.

[ladysaint]

Some photos here, our bus was stopped as well but as we had kids on board they were kind to us and directed us to a pub about a couple of miles away. Heard one bus got fined for having beer on board and all drinks were taken away.

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45001&l=98817&id=726098588

[Mole]

OK there was 4 or 5 buses of Saints 'lads' who were sligtly intoxicated, but no trouble.

 

So the police did a good job.

[wagon 84]

I agree, total overkill from the ob..

& the performance from the so called players.. well not much to sing about & leaving 20 minutes from the end says it all..

nightmare trip..

[StuRomseySaint]

So the police did a good job.

 

Very funny, as in nobody was looking for trouble. The amount of police in the Saints section before the game ( I would estimate around 100 ) could have easily done the hospitable thing and escorted fans to a pub and cordoned it off before marching us to the ground.

 

Basically, their tactics today was nobody from Southampton was going to be allowed anywhere other than the stadium, now alot of people go to away games to visit other towns and have a few beers with their mates, 400 miles is a f*cking long round-trip to be restricted to watching Saints under-achieve again.

[AwaySaint1]

How do you say "We can see you sneaking out" in Welsh then?

[Mole]

Very funny, as in nobody was looking for trouble. The amount of police in the Saints section before the game ( I would estimate around 100 ) could have easily done the hospitable thing and escorted fans to a pub and cordoned it off before marching us to the ground.

 

Basically, their tactics today was nobody from Southampton was going to be allowed anywhere other than the stadium, now alot of people go to away games to visit other towns and have a few beers with their mates, 400 miles is a f*cking long round-trip to be restricted to watching Saints under-achieve again.

 

Rubbish. The police wouldn't have gone to such huge expense without intelligence.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Just got home after a 8 hr + round trip to watch that shower of ****e.

Just seen Jan the man with no plan on Sky Sports saying Saints played some good football?????????????????????????????????????????????????????

He was right on one thing, Swansea wanted it more which is very sad.

 

McGoaldrought put in another **** poor performance. I was happy when he and James were dropped last tuesday and amazed they were both recalled today.

In the end i felt sorry for James as he was beaten by his man for the hundreth time. He is clearly not good enough and his confidence is shot but Jan or Woopert still pick him? the lad will end up playing sunday league at this rate.

 

I won't be going back to Swansea again and doubt Saints will also.

[Right sider]

The police wouldn't have gone to such huge expense without Rubbish intelligence.

 

Spot on!

[jawillwill]

The police presence did seem unusually high. Although, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but I'm sure police escorts from Port Talbot were not really needed.

 

I kind of agree with them not letting you into nearby pubs. From experience when going with a Swansea supporting mate, I can tell you they're not exactly welcoming to away fans.

 

SRS, surely you could have just driven your mini-bus to town after the game? Or did they escort you back too?

[StuRomseySaint]

The police presence did seem unusually high. Although, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but I'm sure police escorts from Port Talbot were not really needed.

 

I kind of agree with them not letting you into nearby pubs. From experience when going with a Swansea supporting mate, I can tell you they're not exactly welcoming to away fans.

 

SRS, surely you could have just driven your mini-bus to town after the game? Or did they escort you back too?

 

No, escorted back onto the M4 after the game. The point is, for some reason today they had a right bee in their bonnet and made sure it was a sh!t trip for Saints fans all round.

 

Also, this is the bit that really took the ****, they escorted us into the stadium car park, of which we had no choice, then charged us a tenner for the privledge! Cheeky c*nts.

 

Fair enough not letting fans into nearby pubs, I understand that, however fans should be allowed to make up their own decisions, I was looking forward to a few beers on Wind Street, as I had heard good things about it. In the end all I got was a couple of watered down pints in a sh!tty concourse and an inept Saints performance of which I only watched about 30 minutes of.

[Plumstead_Saint]

I expect all the coppers were there to protect you from this lot:

Have a look - it might cheer you up

[cf saint]

hard to sum up the will to post but here goes....

Agree with Lady Saint about the flat atmosphere....cant remember an away game as quiet especially as 1000+ was an ok crowd.

On the game, really two poor sides but they were able to actually put some pressure in the final third whereas on the few times we got there it just fizzled out. Shame Kelvin made such a howler after the way he has been playing and it came during the only time we sort of looked on top.

Otherwise Spiderman will be class but i fear by then he wont be with us. Drew tried hard, Cork looked ok. Otherwise very poor and I really feel for James - he is never a right back and for the sake of his career i hope JP realises than soon.

[Big Dick Last]

Another listless, lifeless, lazy display.

We are not fit enough, cannot pass, cannot tackle, do not know how to close down and as for looking to run off the ball, don't make me laugh.

The heart and soul of this club has been ripped out and our sh*te players just don't look interested.

Where our next win is coming from I do not know.

 

On another note I was shocked to hear Saints fans racially abusing our own players. I know they are crap but that is out of order.

 

We had a beer in the bar opposite the station and was very pleasant although some of the local nutters did pop in to keep an eye on who was coming in by train.

[saintsforlife7]

Our fitness seems so shocking, we look tired after about 25 minutes, whereas Swansea chased everyting for 95 minutes.

Set pieces are shocking, offside from a short corner says it all, p**s poor planning

McG and BWP are useless, seem to look tired after doing no running and then blaming other people

Lloyd James is not a right back, but cmon, they switched play to the left wing and he was at least 20 yards away each time, how can he not have spotted this and stayed tighter? Skinned for the 1st goal and on numerous other occasions and is never a right back as everybody can see.

Why the changes from Tuesday night, solid defensive performance so it's all change and throw away the good work, poor and shall not be attending PNE next weeked after this

[Ash]

What a ****ty day.

Traveled from London this morning and got stuck around Reading, moved about 500 yards in 90 minutes and had to really stick my toe down to get there in time. Wish I hadn't bothered, the team and supporters were ****.

The fans behind me were singing No Surrender to the IRA and then moaning about the **** fans not joining in. The fans in front were quiet all game apart from some bald guy who started berating Jan for being Dutch, useless and a ****. His main issue seemed to be that he had his hands behind his back. It was the worse atmosphere I have experienced at an away day ever

Surman looked liked the only one really trying

Surman was pretty much the worst out there, he cannot continue to play in the middle of the park and keep pulling his foot out of challenges. His distribution was shocking too.

In the first half we just kept on hoofing the ball from the back and invited pressure straight back onto ourselves, throughout the whole game we rarely held onto the ball for any sustained period of time.

I am not going to start calling for the manager to be changed but I do question the logic of bringing Lloyd James back in after we kept a clean sheet the other night. Also, why do we insist on taking short corners a large amount of the time? They rarely work and I don't see the advantage the extra few feet give you. Why was Bradders taken off? He put in a decent performance and DMG was having another shocker.

It was a shame Kelvin made a mistake, hope the fans don't get on his back.

Lets hope we can turn something out of the bag against Coventry as I am getting a bit worried now, three games with no goal and no win in four.

I hope more Preston is more fun next week.

[Mr saint]

No, escorted back onto the M4 after the game. The point is, for some reason today they had a right bee in their bonnet and made sure it was a sh!t trip for Saints fans all round.

 

Also, this is the bit that really took the ****, they escorted us into the stadium car park, of which we had no choice, then charged us a tenner for the privledge! Cheeky c*nts.

 

Fair enough not letting fans into nearby pubs, I understand that, however fans should be allowed to make up their own decisions, I was looking forward to a few beers on Wind Street, as I had heard good things about it. In the end all I got was a couple of watered down pints in a sh!tty concourse and an inept Saints performance of which I only watched about 30 minutes of.

 

 

 

You wouldn't like Wind Street. Full of students!

[Berkhamsted Saint]

Arrived by train just before 12 and headed off to town. Police stopped us and asked where we were going and told them we were going for a drink on Wind Street. Apart from appearing surprised that we would want to do that let us carry on. Had a few beers and then got a taxi to the ground. Yes there were huge numbers of Police but had no hassle all day.

Mind you we did have a few idiots there today.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Another listless, lifeless, lazy display.

We are not fit enough, cannot pass, cannot tackle, do not know how to close down and as for looking to run off the ball, don't make me laugh.

The heart and soul of this club has been ripped out and our sh*te players just don't look interested.

Where our next win is coming from I do not know.

 

On another note I was shocked to hear Saints fans racially abusing our own players. I know they are crap but that is out of order.

 

We had a beer in the bar opposite the station and was very pleasant although some of the local nutters did pop in to keep an eye on who was coming in by train.

 

We were in that bar when the local Danny Dyer look alikes came in taking the **** out of the age and numbers of Saints youth who had got off the train.

[Loyal Saint]

Struggling for words after that. Embarrassingly poor performance. Second to everything, no fight, no idea. Men against boys again.

 

Poor atmoshphere from us despite a decent turnout. Not sure what the old bill were expecting but seemed totally over the top and helped to make this a day to forget!

[obelisk]

Rubbish. The police wouldn't have gone to such huge expense without intelligence.

Ha! Ha! Police and intelligence in the same sentence without any obvious sign of cynicism. All you have to remember is plod is just a group of thugs that haven't been jailed yet.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Rubbish. The police wouldn't have gone to such huge expense without intelligence.

 

Same intelligence that shoots dead that brazilian guy on a train.

[sandwichsaint]

Ramos out at Spurs and C***face given permission to speak with the North London Yobboes (guardian 12.06)

 

a small silver lining perhaps?

[La BoIS Saint]

Any idiot saying the police were doing their job wasn't there. I'm not one to moan but this was the most heavy handed I have ever seen.

 

As for the game, struggling for any positives at all. People are free to vent their frustrations against anyone and everyone.

[La BoIS Saint]

Ramos out at Spurs and C***face given permission to speak with the North London Yobboes (guardian 12.06)

 

a small silver lining perhaps?

 

 

Christ just checked this on BBC. Hilarious. Spuds are going down!!!

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Yesterday was a nightmare from start to finish

[Thripp87]

Lloyd James is not a footballer. FACT.

[AwaySaint1]

Lloyd James is not a footballer. FACT.

 

Bl**dy hell that bad?

[ahill]

Credit to all those that went to Swansea. I normally go to as many away games as possible but things will have to change dramatically before I throw more money after this sh*te. I know that we are in dire straits financially but let's at least find 11 players that have some fight about them and don't just give up as soon as we concede - mind you with DM and BWP up front then you can understand why this happens !?

[AwaySaint1]

We are now so sh*t it is no longer a case of a player not being fit to wear the shirt.

 

Its a case of the Shirt not being fit to be worn by a player.

[Kaiser Soze]

Policing was a farce. I left after the third goal but was refused exit from the stadium and we were penned in like dogs. They were heavyhanded and when I questioned their tactics I was labled a "c*nt" to my face.

 

Football if you can call it that, was a shambles. Jan looked clueless, James and DMG aren't fit to wear the shirt. Atmosphere was very flat and when good numbers of our support who have made a 400 mile round trip only see half 30 minutes of it it speaks volumes.

[Berkhamsted Saint]

Policing was a farce. I left after the third goal but was refused exit from the stadium and we were penned in like dogs. They were heavyhanded and when I questioned their tactics I was labled a "c*nt" to my face.

 

Football if you can call it that, was a shambles. Jan looked clueless, James and DMG aren't fit to wear the shirt. Atmosphere was very flat and when good numbers of our support who have made a 400 mile round trip only see half 30 minutes of it it speaks volumes.

 

I agree that DMG is poor particularly his attitude, his work rate, and general all round play however I think that you are harsh on Lloyd James. If you look at yesterday time and time again he had to cover 40 yards of pitch on his own with little or no support often out numbered as well. That is why he looks vulnerable which is not his fault. Unlike DMG he also gives 100%.

Agree about our support it was poor.

[BotleySaint]

If the team look demotivated and demoralised - is it really a surprise? They've seen a constant stream of quality players leave. Anyone who they might look up to as a role model has been sold. They are mostly kids, inexperienced at this level. And if they seen David McG playing week in week out despite being totally ****e.... they are probably losing faith in their manager.

 

At present we are going down. Unless something changes.

[voteforpedro]

I agree that DMG is poor particularly his attitude, his work rate, and general all round play however I think that you are harsh on Lloyd James. If you look at yesterday time and time again he had to cover 40 yards of pitch on his own with little or no support often out numbered as well. That is why he looks vulnerable which is not his fault. Unlike DMG he also gives 100%.

Agree about our support it was poor.

 

I agree about James, he is made to look bad as he is all on his own on the right. We have yet to play a proper right winger in front of him, it's usually McGoldrick, leaving him exposed every time.

[AndyNorthernSaints]

I agree that DMG is poor particularly his attitude, his work rate, and general all round play however I think that you are harsh on Lloyd James. If you look at yesterday time and time again he had to cover 40 yards of pitch on his own with little or no support often out numbered as well. That is why he looks vulnerable which is not his fault. Unlike DMG he also gives 100%.

Agree about our support it was poor.

 

What about the dozens of times James was beaten by his man? he may have been exposed but each game i've seen him this season he does not look capable of playing any position at this level. The decision to go into a season with no recognised fullbacks was idiotic.

Agree about the poor support but the team hardly deserved any yesterday.

[Bourne Valley Saint]

It really is beginning to look desperate. That was as bad as the game at Coventry - clueless and useless!! A 16 hour day to watch that shower. I can take losing, I've watched Saints long enough - but to see these p*ss poor gutless performances week in week out, it makes me wonder why I bother. At least we managed to get away from the heavy handed police and get beers before and after the game - without that release it would have been a truly desperate day!

 

The players just aren't performing to their potential. We are making ordinray teams look good - QPR, Coventry, Watford, Swansea, etc. because we are playing so poorly. I feel sorry for Lallana, Kelvin and Cork - at least they look like footballers. To be fair, Gillett, Schneiderlin (sp) and Surnam are good players, it's just that they have no leadership or experience around them. Now Stern has gone - the one player who can hold the ball up and bring others into the game. What options are we now left with! If we can't afford to hold onto our top scorer from last season, then the people running our club should take a long hard look at themselves and try and sort this f***ing mess out. Rant over. See you Tuesday!

[Whitey Grandad]

What about the dozens of times James was beaten by his man? he may have been exposed but each game i've seen him this season he does not look capable of playing any position at this level. The decision to go into a season with no recognised fullbacks was idiotic.

Agree about the poor support but the team hardly deserved any yesterday.

I have just watched the goals again and James is sertainly not a full back. He is sideways on to his man all the time and has absolutely no pace. Do we have to stick with him all season?

[St Marco]

Credit to all those that went to Swansea. I normally go to as many away games as possible but things will have to change dramatically before I throw more money after this sh*te. I know that we are in dire straits financially but let's at least find 11 players that have some fight about them and don't just give up as soon as we concede - mind you with DM and BWP up front then you can understand why this happens !?

 

I think i'm now in the same boat really. I want to be there and cheer the boys on but it is hard not to come away from the experience angry. It would be ok if we were actually competative and had destiny in our own hands rather then relying on luck. But realisticly we are not. We might as well just pick a team from around the common in the sunday leagues as they will put more effort into it and show the same amount of skill. I think i will drop the away games for now.

[West End Saint]

I went in the hospitality suite with some Swansea fans I do business with and before the game I promised them our boys would play good football and it would be a close game how stupid did I look.

 

So far this season we have been able to offer some excuses when we have been beat not this time.Swansea played the better football where stronger quicker wanted it more had more confidence and ability a shape that they kept it should have been 6 we where totaly inept.

 

Fair play to the Swans they have a nice stadium that looked full with only 15000 in it noisey fans that generated a great atmosphere a decent team great manager they will be comfortable in this league.

 

We look like relegation fodder the confidence has gone.