AFTER-MATCH ANALYSIS: HUDDERSFIELD

At the end of each month I intend to hold a poll to vote on members' posts commenting on Saints' League and Cup matches. Please get in the habit of giving us a detailed post after each match saying what you thought of the performance, who played best, who didn't, who should have been playing, what you would have done if you were manager etc., etc.
It doesn't matter if you weren't there.....you can still say what you think.

If you are impressed by a particular member's post please let me know so that I will be sure to include the post in the poll.

Your analysis of Huddersfield-Saints should go on this thread please. There is a separate thread in the Amusement Section's Competition League where the table showing the points gained for the analysis will be shown.

I only listened to the second half, but what I heard was dire. The defence were a shambles, the midfield non existent and the strikers had near to no service whatsoever. The only person to come out of this with any credit is Kelvin Davis, whose saves ensured we weren't totally humiliated, merely embarrassed, although the strikers sounded dangerous when they actually got the odd bit of service.

A total and utter shambles. I hope AP sorts this mess out pretty damned quickly or we will be playing catch up with a relegation at the end of it. I am not panicking yet, but that -9 points is like Banquo's ghost lurking in the background.

On the radio, Dave Merrington is saying that the players 'bear scars' from last season. Oh dear, poor petals. FFS these are professional footballers! If they can't hack it, for whatever reason, get rid and get some new ones in! As it stands we need a new CM and new CB.

Hudds fan here.

Was really expecting you guys to give us a good game today, and at 1-1 and even 2-1 I feared you could nick something from the game. In the end though, the result was right.
You really do need to improve this season cos there are a lot of teams that will play to the standard, and above, that we did today. Pardew made a mistake buying Lambert as well, he should have bought Jordan Rhodes from Ipswich.

Good luck for the rest of the season. I'm looking forward to visiting your place, and hopefully we'll bring a good few fans down with us.

Thanx for popping in Bill. By the sounds of the commentary we were given the hell of a runaround. Your team has made a good start and could do well this season. We have no pace and very little strength which is why we have struggled so much in recent times. Hopefully our new manager will get it sorted in the very near future and we can climb away from the foot of the table.

i listened to solent this afternoon and you can tell when dave merrington goes quiet that saints are struggling, we were over run in the midfield and that breeds panic into the back 4.schneiderlin is lightweight in this division and lallana and mellis are more suited to a free flowing game, yes it is going to take combative players to boss this type of game hurlock, case and even cockerill lifted us during difficult periods as holding midfielders and let more energetic players link up for important away goals. Guthrie would have been a good bet to sign for this football last year, a tough season ahead

Whilst doing the commentary my mind kept remembering the tales of woe from last season. Huddersfield tore into us straight from the off and could and should have been in front almost immediately. Kelvin made 2 fantastic saves and is the reason we went in at halftime level.The midfield was completely overrun and bypassed again and again. Harding made a coupl of good tackles but generally it was a backs against the wall task.
The second half began even worse and it wasn't long before our defence had been breached. Huddersfield scored and AP to organise some subs. 4 minutes after letting in the goal we had scored. Lambert again with a header and for a minute or so we began to play with some belief. The subs though didn't work as had been hoped and soon we were again on the back foot. The Terriers maintained the pressure and our slowness was highlighted far too often. The fatal second goal came and we all knew that it was now a case of trying to keep the score down. Kelvin made a couple more saves but the 3rd when it came was always on the cards. Perry had been taken off and i hope that he isn't left out through injury for long if that was why he was subbed. lancashire was poor when he came on and our defence was in tatters at the end.
My overall opinion is that nothing much has changed since last season. The bonus is that we seem to have gained a goalscorer. At this standard Lambert could well earn us a few points with his knack of scoring. Mellis when he came on made a couple of driving runs and looked as though he might be able to help us for the time we have him. Thomas was error prone and nowhere near as commanding as a man his size should be. A lot of questions regarding him were asked and not many received a satisfactory answer. Kelvin has always been a good shotstopper but I wish he would command his box more. Murty kept going and did make a couple of forward runs but spent most of the time having to defend. Perry was caught for speed and height fat too often and Lancashire was worse.James was struggling and rarely got forward with any purpose. Lallana is just not man enough and will keep getting caught out if we don't add some muscle to the team. Wotton is just not worth playing and the only possible reason for playing him must be to protect our youngsters from the murder that happens on the pitch. Maybe AP will replace him when we are better able to put a replacement in. If he is the best holding midfielder that we have then god help us. Schneiderlin oozes class but only when he is given the time to show it. He can pass and strikes a ball well but without some big hard working players to help him out he will flounder as he did last season.Gillett is surely entitled to a game and possibly Gobern. Rasiak kept going and Lambert scored so the forwards must be given a chance to play with a midfield that can get up with them and help by making chances.
As of now AP must be a very worried man. The good thing is that we face Swindon so quickly after this poor showing and they have started as badly as us. We have the chance to garner some points but i am not looking forward to watching the game in the same way as I had been before this defeat. Huddersfield were tipped for promotion and have just added a Man Utd youngster as well to their squad. with that thought in mind it is possible that the defeat is not as bad as it appears. Time will tell.