Lincoln 1-1 Saints - Match Thread

[aintforever]

That was frustrating, Lincoln looked there for the taking in the second half but instead of going for the second we just fucked about keeping possession and time wasting. Think we will regret not getting another striker in, if Larkin gets injured we’re screwed.

[Vancouver Saint]

Didn't get to watch the game - 4.30am Vancouver time even if I could find a decent stream.
Saw the 2 min highlights - made it look like more even than it was reading the reports - says a lot when the clip is less than 2 mins. Welington wonder-goal should have been enough - but will we never learn we are crap at defending narrow leads and inviting teams onto us is an invitation to score late goals against us.
Listened to Flynn Downes interview on Youtube and he says it all - not good enough, can't sit back, need to win these games...seemed genuinely pissed off (at some of his team-mates lack of effort as well as tactics reading between the lines).
I am not surprised at all. We seem to discount that many teams are strengthening their squads. 
How we missed out on Sebastian Bierhalter - Middlesborough got him for $2M - suggests to me our scouts are asleep at the wheel - I've been watching him at Vancouver Whitecaps and he's an outstanding full US international, creative, goal-scoring midfielder he was a major part of the Whitecaps success last season. Can't believe he wasn't on our radar - to lose him from the 'Caps was bad enough - for him to go to Boro added insult to injury for me.

It's early days, a long season - looks like a competitive league where any team could beat another team on their day - but unless we realise we are not that good and need to fight for every goal and every point every game - we are headed for mid-table mediocrity. 
Does anyone really think we're going on another 21-game unbeaten run again this season...we'd all love it for sure...be let's get real, it ain't happening.
And ffs Eckart - fortune favours the brave - let's beat teams by going forward and scoring a second goal, not falling back and inviting pressure.

[saintant]

Yet to be convinced that JWP isn't going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Still think he'll prove a poor choice of replacement for Charles.

[Harry_SFC]

13 minutes ago, saintant said:

Yet to be convinced that JWP isn't going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Still think he'll prove a poor choice of replacement for Charles.

As usual he's neat and tidy but just doesn't offer that drive or threat from open play that Charles did. 

[Baird of the land]

11 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

As usual he's neat and tidy but just doesn't offer that drive or threat from open play that Charles did. 

Yeah if you said blond, neat.and tidy cm I’d have no clue whether you meant downes or jwp, which is a problem imo, especially when there’s a brown haired variant on the bench.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

We need to see if there's any out of contract strikers available. Preferably someone can offer something different. Larin and Muamba as the only options is a joke. Hardly says "we want promotion". 

As for Tonda. I still say he should've been gone in May. 

[saintant]

No getting away from it we are currently light years behind the side that played so well in last season's unbeaten run. Not sure this squad has the technical ability to be much more than just above average in the Championship. That may get us into the play-offs but so far our levels have been fairly poor.

[Hawkswood]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Yet to be convinced that JWP isn't going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Still think he'll prove a poor choice of replacement for Charles.

Not sure if you saw on skysports midway through the game they had a graphic of JWPs passes in that first half and all the passes were going sideways and even the commentator noticed and mentioned  he has to sometimes attack with his passes.

[LGTL]

Just back and fucking hell, I’ve never seen a more predictable game. They were largely shit, loads of lower league aggression and enthusiasm, but little quality. We completely played into their hands though. 

Those last 20 minutes were absolutely infuriating. Our starting 11 are fine and will compete with anyone, but our squad lacks depth and we’ll have plenty more games like this unfortunately. 

[Hawkswood]

34 minutes ago, saintant said:

No getting away from it we are currently light years behind the side that played so well in last season's unbeaten run. Not sure this squad has the technical ability to be much more than just above average in the Championship. That may get us into the play-offs but so far our levels have been fairly poor.

Agree but long season so dont worry. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

Some of the players are well below the standards they set the last half of previous season. Bree, the keeper, Jack, Manning. Some have had good spells, but ultimately haven’t looked any better, Azaz, Leo, Larin, Matsuki. Only one has really kicked on & got better and that’s Downes. 
 

 

[RedArmy]

8 minutes ago, Hawkswood said:

Agree but long season so dont worry. 

It is a long season but you cannot be dropping points to teams like Watford and Lincoln if you want to be in or near the top 2. Especially not when you started on -4. 
 

 

[bangkoksaint]

Just back from the game, my fourth this season…………I’m still waiting for that team that will ‘have me out of my seat’. If those are our striker choices then I’ll bite your hand off for top 8 now. Tonder needs to take responsibility for that performance.

[Forester]

Just got back and feel a lot less positive about that point than driving back from Brum.  Fair play to Lincoln for making it to championship but thank god it didn’t piss it down located in uncovered temporary stand.

I don’t buy the overreaction about bringing Wood on, which was logical given their long ball assault, late on.  Thought JWP and Downes were decent, and a wonder goal from Welington.

I think there are two major problems to worry about, one of which I think will change but other am less certain.

1. We have several of our match winners out of form.  Azaz and Scienza are not anywhere near the levels they hit last season, and we are yet to see Jander feature at all.  You have to hope and believe this won’t continue for too long.  Neither Bree nor Manning are at their best yet either.

2. As was painfully evident today, there is too big a drop in quality between starting lineup and subs bench.  It reminded me of the horror 12 points season where we competed for an hour and then looked awful when changes were made.  We are really missing not adequately replacing Stewart, as it was crying out for someone to be able to hold the ball up and give us time to get out in that last period of the game.  Am worried Larin will break down at some point and we will really struggle.

[bangkoksaint]

9 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Some of the players are well below the standards they set the last half of previous season. Bree, the keeper, Jack, Manning. Some have had good spells, but ultimately haven’t looked any better, Azaz, Leo, Larin, Matsuki. Only one has really kicked on & got better and that’s Downes. 
 

 

Meanwhile we have arguably the best keeper in the league shopping every Saturday afternoon. This is professional sport, it’s dog eat dog and our best team should be out on the pitch. I don’t lay the blame on DP for much this season but we can’t just blindly select him if he becomes an issue.

[danjosaint]

20 minutes ago, bangkoksaint said:

Meanwhile we have arguably the best keeper in the league shopping every Saturday afternoon. This is professional sport, it’s dog eat dog and our best team should be out on the pitch. I don’t lay the blame on DP for much this season but we can’t just blindly select him if he becomes an issue.

I think its worrying Tonda has admitted to making a commitment to DP, also who else? As said above its professional sport, that shouldn't happen, people should fight for the spot, today's result is entirely on TE 

[SaintNate]

Win at home and don't lose away.

Still very early days. 

Worrying lack of options up front though. Pinning the hopes on a single striker and a kid from Man City was probably not the best option. 

[gallaghert366@yahoo.com]

49 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Some of the players are well below the standards they set the last half of previous season. Bree, the keeper, Jack, Manning. Some have had good spells, but ultimately haven’t looked any better, Azaz, Leo, Larin, Matsuki. Only one has really kicked on & got better and that’s Downes. 
 

I entirely agree but few on here will!

 

[cambsaint]

Some of this site seem to have written Mubama off after a couple of games. Get real chaps, he's young used to training with real class players at City. I'm old enough to remember that some of our classiest players took time to settle in. I don't see him as an out and out CF in this league but I'm pretty certain that he'll turn out ok.Same with Dobbin I hope but I'm not sure where his best position is, certainly not on the left wing 

WE definitely need a tactical rethink against some of the more physical sides in this league.

We have shown we he the ability to cut through the midfield but we need to do it quicker and more often, unfortunately most teams are going to pack their defences against us and we heed to find a way through. I was disappointed with our wing play today though no killing crosses 

 

 

 

[Saints4everChris]

Too early to worry too much yet. After 5 games last season we had one win, three draws and a loss, 6 points, Downs up front and Bazunu in goal, and it got worse before it got better. This season two wins, two draws and a loss so 8 points. Not a fantastic start but far too soon to write off the team, the manager and the season.

[Convict Colony]

guys are you weather vanes !! you just blow in the direction of the latest result and performances.

Today we should lf been up 2-0, I think attack and midfield cope that.

 

but let's not have a revisionist view on players who last game were in your words performing etc

Lots of new players bedding in, we will get better. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Convict Colony

[LGTL]

We should have put the Dobbin fee towards Lankshear. We’ll really regret being tight where he was concerned. 

[LegalEagle]

17 minutes ago, SaintNate said:

Win at home and don't lose away.

Still very early days. 

Worrying lack of options up front though. Pinning the hopes on a single striker and a kid from Man City was probably not the best option. 

“kid from Man City”? You mean the Barman from the Dog and Duck. I will put it out here now. He won’t be with us by the time the transfer window shuts in January.

[SouthWalesSaints]

Haven’t read others view points yet. Will read after I give my own. 
 

I think that’s the best our back 4 have played this season, we literally gave them one chance from open play all game pretty much. Maybe I’ve missed one or two but I felt they did ok, but we’ve been poor defensively in every game so it’s the best out of a bad bunch. 
 

JWP & Downes - spot on. 
 

Leo, Azuz, Matsuki, Larin again all did ok, we controlled the game very well.  That goal should have been enough for us to win the game. 
 

Tonda, who I am a huge fan off cost us the game today. We gambled the three points with Tuesday deemed a priority at 1-0.  Playing Edozie after he spat his dummy out on deadline day was poor man management, and whilst he trys hard he’s crap. Divin isn’t ready to play at that stage of a game… I’d sooner we play an extra midfield player and have Azaz as a false 9, I remember us doing this to good avail at Coventry away last season late on. He’s not good enough, neither is Dobbin if he’s worth £9 million, then Scienza is worth 50.  

[bangkoksaint]

2 minutes ago, Saints4everChris said:

Too early to worry too much yet. After 5 games last season we had one win, three draws and a loss, 6 points, Downs up front and Bazunu in goal, and it got worse before it got better. This season two wins, two draws and a loss so 8 points. Not a fantastic start but far too soon to write off the team, the manager and the season.

Don’t come on here being all sensible and rational!! 

[James G]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

Yet to be convinced that JWP isn't going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Still think he'll prove a poor choice of replacement for Charles.

He'll find his place. With games like today, we need to keep the ball on the ground and we'll need him as that person to pass the ball to, then recycle. It'll just take time for him to settle. Dobbin likewise. Azaz was slow to get rolling. It all takes time

I think people are being too harsh, generally speaking. The start of the season is always random. We beat Millwall 5-1, then draw with Lincoln. It's that time of year. Look at results in all the leagues, they are generally random.

You could see today the bare bones of what we do, there were just bad choices which comes with rustiness and the start of a new season.

I'd imagine it'll continue that way for a bit then we'll start seeing progression and consistency 

That aside, today was poor and we got lucky really 

 

[sfc4prem]

2 minutes ago, LGTL said:

We should have put the Dobbin fee towards Lankshear. We’ll really regret being tight where he was concerned. 

I think us being a bit tight on a few occasions over the summer, in and of itself, is concerning to me.

I think our finances are actually quite limited and will continue to be strained the longer we spend outside the PL. Which is also ironic, given that our thrift will make it less likely that we'll get promoted.

[SouthWalesSaints]

6 hours ago, LegalEagle said:

Genuine question. Is Mubama really rated by City? He looks like a Sunday morning pub player. He’s lazy, uncoordinated, slow and has no reading of the game. And we’ve swapped Archer for him? Wow

He’s shit, but he’s not lazy. 

[VectisSaint]

5 minutes ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Haven’t read others view points yet. Will read after I give my own. 
 

I think that’s the best our back 4 have played this season, we literally gave them one chance from open play all game pretty much. Maybe I’ve missed one or two but I felt they did ok, but we’ve been poor defensively in every game so it’s the best out of a bad bunch. 

Just to nitpick, as you say the back 4 played the best so far this season, so its a little ironic that the one good chance they had came 4 minutes after we switched to a back 5.

[Saint Pete]

41 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

I think its worrying Tonda has admitted to making a commitment to DP, also who else? As said above its professional sport, that shouldn't happen, people should fight for the spot, today's result is entirely on TE 

Tonda has said what he's said when asked about Ramsdale, but I'm pretty sure it's not really in his hands at this point. It's obvious the club wanted to shift Ramsdale in the window and that they would still want to get as much of his wages off the books as possible if they can get him to Saudi. So, I think that is what's driving the line being taken at the moment. Tonda said in the pre match presser something along the lines of "Adam's story began before I arrived". I think that was a diplomatic way of saying "it's out of my hands".

If he's still here once all the possible windows are closed, you may see a change in approach then, especially if there is an injury or loss of form to Peretz. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint Pete

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

Yet to be convinced that JWP isn't going to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Still think he'll prove a poor choice of replacement for Charles.

I can see your point but today I saw signs of Downes and JWP working well together and I reckon they could become a real force in midfield.

I'm more concerned that Mubama and Dobbin aren't going to make it.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, LGTL said:

Those last 20 minutes were absolutely infuriating. Our starting 11 are fine and will compete with anyone, but our squad lacks depth and we’ll have plenty more games like this unfortunately. 

Transfer window coming home to roost for some. If it needed to. 

[Gloucester Saint]

9 minutes ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Haven’t read others view points yet. Will read after I give my own. 
 

I think that’s the best our back 4 have played this season, we literally gave them one chance from open play all game pretty much. Maybe I’ve missed one or two but I felt they did ok, but we’ve been poor defensively in every game so it’s the best out of a bad bunch. 
 

JWP & Downes - spot on. 
 

Leo, Azuz, Matsuki, Larin again all did ok, we controlled the game very well.  That goal should have been enough for us to win the game. 
 

Tonda, who I am a huge fan off cost us the game today. We gambled the three points with Tuesday deemed a priority at 1-0.  Playing Edozie after he spat his dummy out on deadline day was poor man management, and whilst he trys hard he’s crap. Divin isn’t ready to play at that stage of a game… I’d sooner we play an extra midfield player and have Azaz as a false 9, I remember us doing this to good avail at Coventry away last season late on. He’s not good enough, neither is Dobbin if he’s worth £9 million, then Scienza is worth 50.  

Agree with 95% of that but Lincoln had at least 3 very good headed chances from not far out, at least two they should have scored and at least worked Peretz on others. 

Schlott coped pretty well but Stephens gave Peretz a hospital backpass and is barely selectable. Hope Abbott is good to go Tuesday night. 

[Soton7]

Deflated after that result but we’d take a point all day long as Lincoln wanted it more and they had a few decent chances throughout. Fortunately for us, their finishing was poor.

Dobbin gets lots of criticism but he almost scored for us, it was cleared off the line. Nonetheless, we didn’t need to make all those changes so soon.

We have 3 massive games before the international break where most of our squad will have 3 weeks to recover. We need to play our best team from the start for as long as possible, no sentimental thoughts or looking ahead to the next game. 

The table will hopefully look so much different in 2 weeks time…

[sadoldgit]

11 minutes ago, cambsaint said:

Some of this site seem to have written Mubama off after a couple of games. Get real chaps, he's young used to training with real class players at City. I'm old enough to remember that some of our classiest players took time to settle in. I don't see him as an out and out CF in this league but I'm pretty certain that he'll turn out ok.Same with Dobbin I hope but I'm not sure where his best position is, certainly not on the left wing 

WE definitely need a tactical rethink against some of the more physical sides in this league.

We have shown we he the ability to cut through the midfield but we need to do it quicker and more often, unfortunately most teams are going to pack their defences against us and we heed to find a way through. I was disappointed with our wing play today though no killing crosses 

 

 

 

I haven’t written Mubama off but I do worry about his application, or lack of. Like Downs he doesn’t display any of the basic skills for the position we play him in and is so laid back he is almost horizontal.

As for the performance, some people have short memories. There were plenty of times during last season’s unbeaten run where we were rubbish and rode our luck. Azaz has moments of brilliance, as does Scienza, but both are inconsistent which is why they are playing in the Championship. 
We had a great run but we were not the best team in the Championship last year just as we were never going to be this year. On the upside, we are four games into a new unbeaten run. 😎

[Hodgey]

1 hour ago, Saints4everChris said:

Too early to worry too much yet. After 5 games last season we had one win, three draws and a loss, 6 points, Downs up front and Bazunu in goal, and it got worse before it got better. This season two wins, two draws and a loss so 8 points. Not a fantastic start but far too soon to write off the team, the manager and the season.

Yes but we’ve got 4 points, 2 less than last years start which wasn’t good enough, we also don’t look like winning any away games and we’ll play much harder teams than we have so far.

My biggest worry though is that the team play in fits and starts, preferring to manage minutes/energy than match the opposition. Thats a very dangerous game to play - may pay off come winter when other squads pick up more injuries but we saw last year defeats to teams with a plethora of injuries.

[saintant]

Just watched Flynn Downes interview and it's refreshingly honest as opposed to some of the bullshit we are fed.  He can't contain the fact that he's seriously fuming and accuses the team of not stepping up in both this game and Brum when 1-0 up.

We were way off it today against a very limited side. These games happen but to have so many players underperforming is not acceptable. 

[Harry_SFC]

5 minutes ago, saintant said:

Just watched Flynn Downes interview and it's refreshingly honest as opposed to some of the bullshit we are fed.  He can't contain the fact that he's seriously fuming and accuses the team of not stepping up in both this game and Brum when 1-0 up.

We were way off it today against a very limited side. These games happen but to have so many players underperforming is not acceptable. 

Should be captain IMO

[Hawkswood]

5 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Without the -4 we would be 8th, 2 points off the top.

🤫🤫🤫🤫 youre only allowed negative opinions today 

😉

[Holmes_and_Watson]

It was a frustrating game.

Both sides had chances. Apart from the Welington header (good to see him scoring), Leo had that effort hitting both posts, and one that snuck behind. We later had one cleared by the last man, behind the 'keeper. 

But for those few, we really seemed to be a bit off the pace all across the side. We had plenty of the ball, but I wasn;t often struck by how much we really drove the game, and piled on pressure. 

We've got a focal point in Larin, but with Leo and Matsuki, don;t have lots of early delivery to him. That actually comes more from Bree and Welington. But we didn;t do that consistently.

Stephens, Welington and Matsuki aren't players I'd have in my first 11, although good for the squad. Their, and other, replacements just reduced any plan we had even more. Edozie looked lively, but there's that lack of an end product again. Wood, who I'd have had ahead of Stephens, was nowhere near his marker for their equaliser. None of the others did much. In Mubama's case, just as much service as Larin got. 

We hadn't done enough to put the game beyond Lincoln before that. We certainly didn't after it. Sure, it's an away point. But it's a game where we should really be showing the difference in the resources, and making it count. 

[Challenger]

2 hours ago, LGTL said:

We should have put the Dobbin fee towards Lankshear. We’ll really regret being tight where he was concerned. 

Sports Republic, forever wanting top dollar with the outlay of a nickel, forever falling short, forever wondering why.

[Morse]

Taking off a midfielder for another CB when your opponent is chasing the game, bossing midfielder and launching long balls into your box, is usually a mistake. Yes you've got another body back to defend but little opportunity to stop the assault at source. Today was carbon copy of how England screwed up v Argentina. The relative managers need to grow a pair and remember the best form of defense is attack. 

[Obstacle1]

3 hours ago, bangkoksaint said:

Meanwhile we have arguably the best keeper in the league shopping every Saturday afternoon. This is professional sport, it’s dog eat dog and our best team should be out on the pitch. I don’t lay the blame on DP for much this season but we can’t just blindly select him if he becomes an issue.

Hes not an issue though. What mistakes has he made? He was excellent last season as well

[SambaMaverick]

2 hours ago, SouthWalesSaints said:

Haven’t read others view points yet. Will read after I give my own. 
 

I think that’s the best our back 4 have played this season, we literally gave them one chance from open play all game pretty much. Maybe I’ve missed one or two but I felt they did ok, but we’ve been poor defensively in every game so it’s the best out of a bad bunch. 
 

JWP & Downes - spot on. 
 

Leo, Azuz, Matsuki, Larin again all did ok, we controlled the game very well.  That goal should have been enough for us to win the game. 
 

Tonda, who I am a huge fan off cost us the game today. We gambled the three points with Tuesday deemed a priority at 1-0.  Playing Edozie after he spat his dummy out on deadline day was poor man management, and whilst he trys hard he’s crap. Divin isn’t ready to play at that stage of a game… I’d sooner we play an extra midfield player and have Azaz as a false 9, I remember us doing this to good avail at Coventry away last season late on. He’s not good enough, neither is Dobbin if he’s worth £9 million, then Scienza is worth 50.  

They had 3 or 4 gilt edged chances in the game, which is a lot more than our zero. We got away with one today mate

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Soton7 said:

Deflated after that result but we’d take a point all day long as Lincoln wanted it more and they had a few decent chances throughout. Fortunately for us, their finishing was poor.

Dobbin gets lots of criticism but he almost scored for us, it was cleared off the line. Nonetheless, we didn’t need to make all those changes so soon.

We have 3 massive games before the international break where most of our squad will have 3 weeks to recover. We need to play our best team from the start for as long as possible, no sentimental thoughts or looking ahead to the next game. 

The table will hopefully look so much different in 2 weeks time…

If true that's a huge issue that needs to be addressed quickly.

[warsash saint]

Credit where's it's due but I thought Lincoln's support was excellent today - despite the annoying drummer & most of the Saints singing disappearing into the sky, their fans really got behind their team.  For a small club, they were very noisy & the last 20 minutes their team really fed off it.

Edited 46 minutes ago by warsash saint

[jarhead5]

Lincoln played very sound. They kept their shape all day and wasn't really bothered by our attack. We had a lot of the ball, but didn't do much with it. Had Welington not made that incredible shot, we lose. Stephens had a few brain dead moments today. Terrible pass back, allowing players to turn on goal, not marking close, i don't think he won a header all day.. Any time we broke down the flanks, there was never crosses into Larin. Some of that is because we played a right footer on the left and a lefty on the right. One moment we gave away: the free kick on the left center from about 40 yards out. JWP tried a shot. If Manning were on the field, we could've played at into the box for Larin or Schlotterberg. But Manning might have cost us more goals if he had started. 5 minutes on the field and falls over and allows his man to get a shot off.

We need to find a way to play quicker. Most teams will watch this match and know how to stop/slow us down. We will have a good season. But without finding answers for the low block, will determine if we have a fantastic season.

Edited just now by jarhead5