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Sparta Prague 1 Saints 0 - Match Thread & Melt Down


St Chalet

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agreed maybe a loan to rebuild his confidence it begs the question is it confidence or fitness?

 

Combination of both. I'd defintley loan him in January down to the NPC. Get his fitness back, get his confidence back and get him believing he can score goals again. I don't think any of us will really know for sure if he's ''gone'' for good until he's given a decent run in a side - and that won't be us.

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Regarding Martina, my view of him is that he shouldn't be a player used as part of a rotation policy, but rather as a back up for when we have injuries (we're not going to have 3 or 4 top level right backs...)

 

But in actual fact, that is what he is. Pied is out for the season and Cedric has had a fairly long lay off.

 

I'm not excusing his performance, it drove me up the wall and it's not the first time this season. BUT to put things in perspective, he wouldn't be playing as many games if we had a fully fit squad. There are other players who were woeful tonight who are supposed to be competing for regular team football. That concerns me more - take out a few of our first teamers and we drop to a dreadful standard.

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I genuinely feel that once we stop rotating, and I guess that means being out of one or two competitions, we will be a much better side. I admire Puel and his desire to fight on all fronts and you have to use the tools available to you. I would love to see us staying in, and really competing in everything but, I think that for the talent pool we have it is a step too far. I would put money on us having a strong end to the season once players get a run of games together.

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Predictable , pathetic, cant be arsed effort at trying to win a football match. Only way they are going to score tonight is in one of Prague,s whore houses. What is the point of striving for European football and then producing that ? Clasie and Martina are dire players yet still get gametime, Christ has this team regressed since last season. Unless someone sorts things out fast , this season is going to stall badly.

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Clasie and Ward Prowse in the same midfield is a recipe for disaster - they are like twins who unfortunately can't play football. That was dire from start to finish against a very ordinary Sparta Prague side. We are regressing into a side that is plainly awful to watch. Slow and laboured in build up, lacking invention and with zero flair. Oh for the days of the high press, and turn over of possession high up the pitch enabling us to get into the opponents danger zone. This propoganda sideways/backwards football is cringeworthy to watch. So slow and predictable. Maybe we should take up this walking football that the seniors play. Abysmal!

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Pointless signing a new striker, the poor sod would never get the ball - no creativity, no decent crosses. The midfield selected tonight barely have a goal between them. Puel's brand of football leaves me a bit cold to be honest.

 

If we signed a new striker, it would have to be a tall/strong type. Someone who could act as a focal point, as we don't have that option with any of our forwards.

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I genuinely feel that once we stop rotating, and I guess that means being out of one or two competitions, we will be a much better side. I admire Puel and his desire to fight on all fronts and you have to use the tools available to you. I would love to see us staying in, and really competing in everything but, I think that for the talent pool we have it is a step too far. I would put money on us having a strong end to the season once players get a run of games together.

 

8 posts in 10 years, you should post more with well reasoned comments like that?

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We've got better players than Sparta but they defended well and quite simply wanted it more, that's what annoys me. Additionally our build up play is so slow, we weave pretty patterns but go absolutely no-where. If we're being honest it looked more likely that Sparta would score a second than us score an equiliser.

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Poor performance, but, looking at the positive, qualification is still in our hands.

 

Still in 3 competitions, with the FA Cup still to come, but a season defining couple of weeks coming up.

 

I wonder if we'll have as poor a November and December run as last season? (the season where we ended up 3 points shy of 4th place having dropped to 13th in December)

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3 away games, no goals, 2 defeats and a draw against 3 teams who I think we could have taken 6 points off. That's what happens when the manager picks negative teams - you get negative performances, hugely frustrating stuff.

 

Sparta were championship standard but we didn't have the guile or desire to put them away.

 

Attack was ponderous and the crossing when it came was poor. Sparta defence had all the time in the world to regroup. Finishing was blunt and midfield seemed to be rigidly stuck in a defensive mindset. Clasie was anonymous, Ward Prowse and Holjberg were ineffective, Long and JRod were blunt, Martina's crossing was poor - TBH the only player that came out of this with any credit was McQueen who continues to look a good left back. This endless passing in non threatening areas is only fine if it has some end product, ours had none. Even Fraser looked wobbly with a few flappy saves.

 

At least we have another chance but if we do end up going through we aren't going to last long if we play away from home like we have in these 3 games. Feel sorry for the fans who have paid out to watch this stuff.

 

Not good enough, not by a long way.

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Had to turn over once Puel started speaking there

 

No passion no spark and no clue - just like us on the pitch

 

I know English is not his language but Jeezus the guy is so dull

 

as dull as the football he gets us playing?;)

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We need a 0-0 or a win to go through not that we deserve to. Puel seems to have no idea how to get a team to play at a high tempo and attack quickly. Again we had four times the passes as Sparta, twice the number of attempts on goal none of which the keeper had to save yet we were so slow to build up. Sparta virtually always had their whole team in front of the ball. VVD needs to head the ball down. All Puel has succeeded in doing is turning a decent team into negative nonsense. 8 goals in the last eleven games, 2 penalties, 1 own goal, five from play says it all. We just do not get runners from midfield or numbers into the box. Boufale needs time he is nowhere near ready for anything but a cameo, Redmond is out of his depth as a striker. The system is a busted flush we need to change the way we play, possession for the sake of it is a nonsense. Maybe go 4-2-3-1 and use Tadic on the left, Long, Rodriguez and Austin in front of Romeu and Hojbjerg.

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The entire 2nd half was a WTF from me, no idea what they were told to do at HT.

 

Martina is the modern day Telfer, but worse.

 

Martina came with a pretty poor reputation from the Dutch fans who used to post on here

 

Nevertheless he seemed to fit into the right back role reasonably well, aided no doubt by the screamer against Arsenal.

 

However he has really regressed this season and really looks pants in recent games.

 

Wonder if Koeman is still interested in paying £1m for him in January?

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Playing both Long and Jay Rod when they are both woefully out of form is ridiculous. You could carry one of them to try and get them to play their way back into form, but playing both just guarantees no goals. Redmond is a project, has all the ability but work in progress. We need a top quality striker in Jan and allow Jay Rod to go out on loan.

 

However, did anyone expect us to have a squad capable of sustaining a full Europa league challenge? How many teams in England could actually do that? We're not at that level yet.

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Frustrating lack of intensity in that second half in particular, which has cost us. Showed at SMS that Prague aren't very good and if you go at that them they have nothing to offer. Didn't do it and lost a game we should have won very comfortably. Very disappointing as we could have taken the pressure off a lot more for the final game.

 

Last few weeks we've gone right off the boil. Earlier in the season we were playing some nice stuff and just weren't taking many of chances - now we've become pedestrian, aren't creating many chances and the few that we do, we miss.

 

No-one really deserves any praise tonight apart from McQueen but a couple of real concerns for me - Redmond has suddenly become awful and Jay is unfortunately done at this level for me. A few weeks back Redmond was playing well and main criticism was his final pass/finishing but now his touch has completely deserted him, and Jay, he just isn't going to get back to the level we need.

 

If Tadic is fit for Sunday I'd start him and Boufal with Austin and drop Redmond.

 

Sunday would be an excellent time to return to form

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A woeful performance. I am certain that our problem is midfield rather than up front. We play 3 defensive midfielders in every game who aren't willing to move ahead of the ball or move the ball forwards enough. We therefore struggle to bridge the gap between midfield and attack and it all falls apart before we get near the box. Romeu is the most progressive of the lot and he is meant to be the most defensive! We just aren't creating decent chances.

 

Our system is also very reliant on good attacking full backs so playing Martina really does hinder us.

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Players look like they have no belief....in the system, themselves or each other....defensive, contained and predictable. For the first time in years we have no spark, nothing to keep the oppo on their toes or any kind of cohesive play.

 

Dangers of over pruning....too many cuts in the wrong places can damage a tree for life....

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We need a 0-0 or a win to go through not that we deserve to. Puel seems to have no idea how to get a team to play at a high tempo and attack quickly. Again we had four times the passes as Sparta, twice the number of attempts on goal none of which the keeper had to save yet we were so slow to build up. Sparta virtually always had their whole team in front of the ball. VVD needs to head the ball down. All Puel has succeeded in doing is turning a decent team into negative nonsense. 8 goals in the last eleven games, 2 penalties, 1 own goal, five from play says it all. We just do not get runners from midfield or numbers into the box. Boufale needs time he is nowhere near ready for anything but a cameo, Redmond is out of his depth as a striker. The system is a busted flush we need to change the way we play, possession for the sake of it is a nonsense. Maybe go 4-2-3-1 and use Tadic on the left, Long, Rodriguez and Austin in front of Romeu and Hojbjerg.

 

Hadn't realised that, not great at all at the moment. Agree with comments regarding keeping the ball. At present our players first thought when getting the ball is to pass sideways or backwards...so, so slow and frustrating!!!

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Playing both Long and Jay Rod when they are both woefully out of form is ridiculous. You could carry one of them to try and get them to play their way back into form, but playing both just guarantees no goals. Redmond is a project, has all the ability but work in progress. We need a top quality striker in Jan and allow Jay Rod to go out on loan.

 

However, did anyone expect us to have a squad capable of sustaining a full Europa league challenge? How many teams in England could actually do that? We're not at that level yet.

 

Generally agree, but thought Long was a bright spot for the first 20 minutes or so. Second half he was anonymous but our entire team performance had dropped to previously undiscovered depths by that point!

 

Our style of play doesn't really suit him, but I still feel Long can be an asset for us.

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A woeful performance. I am certain that our problem is midfield rather than up front. We play 3 defensive midfielders in every game who aren't willing to move ahead of the ball or move the ball forwards enough. We therefore struggle to bridge the gap between midfield and attack and it all falls apart before we get near the box. Romeu is the most progressive of the lot and he is meant to be the most defensive! We just aren't creating decent chances.

 

Our system is also very reliant on good attacking full backs so playing Martina really does hinder us.

 

Agree with this. More often then not you'll find out LW, ST and RW completely isolated when they have the ball up top.

 

3 CDM's really is a negative approach to the game and it's I hope gets dropped.

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A woeful performance. I am certain that our problem is midfield rather than up front. We play 3 defensive midfielders in every game who aren't willing to move ahead of the ball or move the ball forwards enough. We therefore struggle to bridge the gap between midfield and attack and it all falls apart before we get near the box. Romeu is the most progressive of the lot and he is meant to be the most defensive! We just aren't creating decent chances.

 

Our system is also very reliant on good attacking full backs so playing Martina really does hinder us.

 

This is the problem. Absolutely no purpose or incisiveness from the two central midfielders. From at least one of them you need to have some energy and some forward thinking, whether that's carrying the ball or looking for forward passes.

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How many thousand miles have our fans got to travel until they see an away goal? Getting beyond a joke and Clueless Claude's post match interview left me even more ****ed off. Reminded me of the Midgetland away game last year.

 

Got to end Rodriguez experiment , it's just not going to happen.

 

Regretting buying a ticket for Arsenal away next week, that's a guaranteed defeat if ever there was one with the weakened side we are bound to play.

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How many thousand miles have our fans got to travel until they see an away goal? Getting beyond a joke and Clueless Claude's post match interview left me even more ****ed off. Reminded me of the Midgetland away game last year.

 

Got to end Rodriguez experiment , it's just not going to happen.

 

Regretting buying a ticket for Arsenal away next week, that's a guaranteed defeat if ever there was one with the weakened side we are bound to play.

 

If he starts Rodriguez I'll cry. Full strength team please and we might just be two games from Wembley...

 

Fat ****ing chance.

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