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Just back from Brum

ladysaint

By ladysaint,
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Papa Shango

Papa Shango

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Bit of a disappointing performance today. We started ok first 20 minutes or so, but after that we never really got into the game. I can't remember any real clear cut chances we had. Highlight of the game was when Schneiderlin made Bowyer look like a mug. Good support in terms of numbers from our fans today, although the atmosphere was pretty quiet for most of the game. Certainly not as good as the support at Ipswich.

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Bailey

Bailey

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Can anyone who was there confirm or deny that taking off McGoldrick and moving Euell into midfield made things worse?

What about changing Skacel for Smith?

 

I don't think it made things worse, but it didn't have the desired impact. Having said that, McGoldrick was very quiet first half and we were losing the midfield battle. It made perfect sense to drop Euell a little bit deeper to act as our ball winner, but it didn't work out as planned.

 

As for Smith coming on for Skacel, I think Wotte's thinking was to try and be a bit more positive and attacking with the game drawing to a close. Surman was a passenger for much of the game, so shifting him to LB wasn't a massive deal. Smith failed to deliver though and I have to admit I haven't been impressed by him at all. If he wants to earn a long-term contract at Saints, he needs to pull his finger out.

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Berkshire Saint

Berkshire Saint

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Was pretty disappointed with that really. Never really looked like scoring but Birmingham were very poor as well, they'll almost certainly come straight back down if they go up. Thought Gillett was probably our best player, no-one was particuarly bad but Davis had a couple of worrying moments.

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sperm_john

sperm_john

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just got back, good to see a lot of saints fans made it up there although not so good being surrounded by idiots in the stand ...

 

the walk to stadium from new street was interesting with the giant round about of death on the way ...

 

birmingham probably one of the quietest stadiums ive ever been in, reminded me of a trip to blackburn in our relegation season where their stadium was half empty/fans that were there were dire ...

 

thought we started very lively, 30 seconds in some sort of chance was crafted and thought to myself we are gonna have a real go at them ...then all of our efforts seemed to be crossing the ball or the long ball esque tactic ...which i thought wotte might switch on to and have a word at half time ...but we carried on playing the same futlie tactics and never really made clear cut chances...but hey at times we passed the ball like brazil lol (just a shame when we got to the final hurdle we switched to wipping a ball in that was always going to be caught or defended well)

 

their defenders seemed to predict any move we had up our sleeve

 

the birmingham goal was very very sloppy defending after a first half with our back relatively to the wall, although i thought we had a chance at snatching something on the counter ..

Agree with some posts about gillet working hard, him and KD stood out for me today, the rest were destinctly average and id even go as far as saying tired...(first touches were poor and passes misplaced)

 

all in all as an experience, a tad dissappointing, but we gave a fair account of us (the football wasnt awful, we did try and play) ....just came up against a team who looked very threating infront of goal and it took us back a peg in our play

 

finally, i havent been to many away games this year, but whats with the contigent of 15 year olds who think they can take on the world? quite embarrasing, as well as stupid chants like ...

 

Your grounds too big for you (when st marys is hardly full at the moment)

Pompeys going down with their money in the bank (when we are in the relegation zone)

Get into him, fu c k him up....(we sound smart dont we?)

 

...interesting day! lol

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Papa Shango

Papa Shango

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**** game and a really **** second half performance made worse because I was sat infront of two absolute *****s.

 

Size, Gillett and James done well, the rest where well below their normal level.

 

Why not just move then? It's not like there wasn't loads of spare seats.

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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and must admit I was disappointed with our performance today. MOTM for me was Gillett worked tirelessly, Saga had no first touch and his worse game for me. Dont expect to win them all but after Tuesday's performance did expect more from them.

 

Some photos from today here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68766&id=726098588&l=d3df1

 

I agree. I turned up expecting a good game but apart from the very first minute, I don't remember us having a chance.

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Andy_Porter

Andy_Porter

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I agree. I turned up expecting a good game but apart from the very first minute, I don't remember us having a chance.

 

Seemed to me like it was just endless crosses from deep straight into Taylors arms, we didn't create anything it was far too obvious.

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monkadill

monkadill

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just got back, good to see a lot of saints fans made it up there although not so good being surrounded by idiots in the stand ...

 

the walk to stadium from new street was interesting with the giant round about of death on the way ...

 

birmingham probably one of the quietest stadiums ive ever been in, reminded me of a trip to blackburn in our relegation season where their stadium was half empty/fans that were there were dire ...

 

thought we started very lively, 30 seconds in some sort of chance was crafted and thought to myself we are gonna have a real go at them ...then all of our efforts seemed to be crossing the ball or the long ball esque tactic ...which i thought wotte might switch on to and have a word at half time ...but we carried on playing the same futlie tactics and never really made clear cut chances...but hey at times we passed the ball like brazil lol (just a shame when we got to the final hurdle we switched to wipping a ball in that was always going to be caught or defended well)

 

their defenders seemed to predict any move we had up our sleeve

 

the birmingham goal was very very sloppy defending after a first half with our back relatively to the wall, although i thought we had a chance at snatching something on the counter ..

Agree with some posts about gillet working hard, him and KD stood out for me today, the rest were destinctly average and id even go as far as saying tired...(first touches were poor and passes misplaced)

 

all in all as an experience, a tad dissappointing, but we gave a fair account of us (the football wasnt awful, we did try and play) ....just came up against a team who looked very threating infront of goal and it took us back a peg in our play

 

finally, i havent been to many away games this year, but whats with the contigent of 15 year olds who think they can take on the world? quite embarrasing, as well as stupid chants like ...

 

Your grounds too big for you (when st marys is hardly full at the moment)

Pompeys going down with their money in the bank (when we are in the relegation zone)

Get into him, fu c k him up....(we sound smart dont we?)

 

...interesting day! lol

 

We must have been in the same part of the stand. Fans chanting "We are sh1t and we know we are" - Whats that all about. One kid was 10 and his parent just looked on.

I can see how the fans turn on each other, some real prats.

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Andy_Porter

Andy_Porter

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Why not just move then? It's not like there wasn't loads of spare seats.

 

I wish I had done now, I was with three other lads and I think it was just me getting annoyed by these two lads. They where being really racist which usually wouldn't bother me but it was litterally for the whole 90 minutes being racist. I didn't realise we had fans like that.

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Papa Shango

Papa Shango

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Posted
Your grounds too big for you (when st marys is hardly full at the moment)

Pompeys going down with their money in the bank (when we are in the relegation zone)

Get into him, fu c k him up....(we sound smart dont we?)

 

...interesting day! lol

 

Agree re those chants. The Pompey one was stolen from Man United after people heard them singing it about City when we played them in the cup.

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monkadill

monkadill

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I honestly thought Birmingham were stronger all over the pitch than us. In the second half our mid field died away, there defense cleaned us up and i though there "drogba" look alike striker (Keith FAHEY) was a hand full all game.

We still battled on and you could see the team wasn't getting a break all game. 4 wins on the bounce would have been nice, but how many teams manage that?

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Andy_Porter

Andy_Porter

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I honestly thought Birmingham were stronger all over the pitch than us. In the second half are mid field died away, there defense cleaned us up and i though there "drogba" look alike striker (Keith FAHEY) was a hand full all game.

We still battle on and you could see the team wasn't getting a break all game. 4 wins on the bounce would have been nice, but how many teams manage that?

 

Think the striker you're on about was Jerome? he had a really good game.

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AndyNorthernSaints

AndyNorthernSaints

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Agree with others that Gillett was Saints best player. He might not be the most talented player but at least gets stuck in and makes himself available for a pass.

Birmingham were one of the poorest teams i've seen this season yet were physically strong enough to beat Saints. If they go up they will be worse than Derby.

When Smith came on i knew the game was over/lost as he is one of the worst players i have ever seen playing for Saints and makes Wotton look like Ronaldo.

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ItchenRob

ItchenRob

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I wish I had done now, I was with three other lads and I think it was just me getting annoyed by these two lads. They where being really racist which usually wouldn't bother me but it was litterally for the whole 90 minutes being racist. I didn't realise we had fans like that.

 

I must be getting old as I was embarrassed by some of the Saints fands today. For example, next to me there were 3 adults and one child (about 8 yo). The child was "****" this and "Cvnt" that and the adults were doing nothing and even encouraging him. One of the adults kept shoving into me and was virtually standing in my seat at one point. I don't think he was doing it deliberately - he was just thick. I moved in the end (after vowing to myself that I would not!)

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Ronsupersaints

Ronsupersaints

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Travelled from over in North Wales to watch the Birmingham game today and agree with some of the negative comments regarding some of our supporters - in my row we had a dad with his young kids who were f'ing and blinding, flicking the v's etc, another threatening to punch other Saints fans for not standing up and singing and another fan walking up and down kicking the seat in front of him! I take my son to the games to enjoy the atmosphere and watch the football, to be honest I don't think any of these individuals focussed on the football at all - not that we produced much today!

On a slightly separate note, the ground Steward told us we could sit anywhere we liked when we showed him tickets - I'd read a warning about this on a 'grounds guide' website which of course causes problems when latecomers want to claim the seat number on their ticket! Did anyone else at the game have a problem with this?

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SimonRichards

SimonRichards

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I was told at the cash turnstile that it was unreserved seating. The lad also let my nipper (5) in for free)

 

We sat in the middle of the stand and I thought our support was flat. The fans at the back tried to start songs but they pitted out after 2 versus.

 

In comparison to Tuesday nights match when us fans sung for the whole 90 minutes.

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westmidlandsaint

westmidlandsaint

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I endured yesterdays game frorm the opposite end of the ground sitting with my brother-in-law a devoted birmingham fan and the rest of the blues fans. But it always puts hairs on the back of my neck when you look across at the saints fans singing and giving it there all. Guys we really can be the 12th man for the remainder of this season so lets really get behind the team and back them all the way to the finish.

 

Anyone notice that for a team that is battling for promotion back to the promised land how empty the stadium was, this area (west midlands) has been hit very badly by the recession and their fans own problems with their board of directors so we are not the only club with dwindling attendances, although i can see a sharp rise in attendances for saints over the following weeks.

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Plumstead_Saint

Plumstead_Saint

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Posted (edited)
I don't think it made things worse, but it didn't have the desired impact. Having said that, McGoldrick was very quiet first half and we were losing the midfield battle. It made perfect sense to drop Euell a little bit deeper to act as our ball winner, but it didn't work out as planned.

 

As for Smith coming on for Skacel, I think Wotte's thinking was to try and be a bit more positive and attacking with the game drawing to a close. Surman was a passenger for much of the game, so shifting him to LB wasn't a massive deal. Smith failed to deliver though and I have to admit I haven't been impressed by him at all. If he wants to earn a long-term contract at Saints, he needs to pull his finger out.

Cheers Bailey.

Good to hear.

Any other opinions on the subs from those at the game?

Edited by Plumstead_Saint
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ladysaint

ladysaint

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Cheers Bailey.

Good to hear.

Any other opinions on the subs from those at the game?

They were all sponsored by Hollywood Signs, how do you sponsor a sub. Did anyone else notice the advert along the touchline for footballfunerals.co.uk which was placed next to an advert for waste disposal.
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Andy_Porter

Andy_Porter

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Cheers Bailey.

Good to hear.

Any other opinions on the subs from those at the game?

 

Smith kept running into people and was playing on the right which I really don't understand, his right foot is terrible and we ended up with Schneiderlin playing from the left.

 

Paterson wasn't strong enough and was probably too much pressure bringing him on at that point, should have left McGoldrick on for a while longer unless he was injured.

 

Didn't really notice Liptak do anything much for the few minutes he was on the pitch, but I guess the idea to bring on a CB and push Siz upfront could have worked.

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mickn

mickn

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well i went on a corporate basis and was sat on the halfway line in the Directors box and have to say in the first half our support away to my left sounded very good, blues support was truly non existant, the noise from ours faded second half but their support was very poor all game i felt. As for the game there was at least a point there for the taking imo, for a potential promotion side Brum looked poor, the difference between the sides imo was Jerome who looked very lively and dangerous everytime he got the ball. We couldnt understand how we had worked out after half an hour that pumping high crosses into their box was never going to work with their 2 giant centre backs and yet Saints continued throughout the whole game to do this. I have to say that Maik Taylor's handling was immaculate all game as well, although most of the crosses he dealt with were routine.

 

I thought some of our approach play was very neat and tidy and certainly matched theirs but then we let ourselves down with the continual high crosses.

 

As for the fans, well we had to endure some of the morons on the train on the way home, we had a group of schoolkids (3) drinking Strongbow all the way home and being allowed do this by one of their dads, he encouraged and joined in with their rendition of 'St George in my heart and no surrender to the IRA' etc. There was then an interesting discussion, started by the neanderthal, about the fact that one of the boys was wearing, in his words, 'Black man's trainers'. What hope these kids have with parents like that I just don't know...oh and they were all going to 'disco' off the train at Southampton but they didn't delight us with this exhibition in the end.

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st_louis_saint

st_louis_saint

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Posted

The best thing about about yesterday's game was the final whistle.

 

Cons:

 

Half-empty stadium

The usual toe-curling songs ("your ground's too big for you", "sit down if you're a Pompey fan" etc)

The mong 2 rows in front of me that clearly regarded himself as some sort of self-appointed cheerleader

Cramped seating that just doesn't accomodate big lumps like me

Mind numbingly dull football

Complete sobriety on my part (never again, I was acutely aware of all the aforementioned guff that a skinful of ale would usually blot out).

 

Pros:

 

Living one stop away from St Andrews on the local train line, thus being home in time for the Fulham v Man Utd game.

 

m3h....

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derry

derry

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I didn't go to the match but listened to the commentary. It sounded like loads of crosses from deep into the goalkeeper or two big centre backs. We reall aren't very cute.

 

Two ways of dealing with the big centre backs is to move the strikers out wide of the back post, the centre backs then have to follow them or let them go, either way, feed the midfielders, McGoldrick and Surman into the gap or hit the crosses deep and miss out the centre backs with the blind side loaded and the midfielders coming into the box for the crosses.

 

Either way as soon as the crosses are going over the centrebacks they naturally attack the threat and leave the middle. We don't do this at at all.

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OldNick

OldNick

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They were all sponsored by Hollywood Signs, how do you sponsor a sub. Did anyone else notice the advert along the touchline for footballfunerals.co.uk which was placed next to an advert for waste disposal.
When I went to watch us play Villa some years ago they also had a load of advertising sponsorship at half time. It was odd.
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