OLDHAM POST-MATCH REACTION

Put it here......

Go up as champions and retain the JPT next year

teamsaint wrote:Go up as champions and retain the JPT next year

Would be nice. Tonight major disappointment. A poor performance very lethargic first half and suggest AP doesnt say to fans before game players are tired as that is how they will perform and that is why you have a squad. Waigo and James could have started and if you continue to spin us how great Puncheon is I will certainly lose the faith. Yet again his control and final ball was awful tonight but he knows no danger of being taken off. Only Otsemobor was probably worse, on occasions tonight he didn't even run back when caught on the break making not even a token effort to get back, he lacks commitment, doesnt want to get hurt and while I'm no fan of James at RB he is better than your choice. seems a case of my new boys and they must be picked.

First half no invention from saints, hardly any attempts on goal and far to often long diagonal ball to Lambert to try and flick on. Thought Lallana and Puncheon were able to swap sides? didnt happen once in first half.

No surprise Wotton subbed at half time but not really his fault, you know what you get with Wotton and he just isnt going to get forward or make any decent passes going towards goal. Brought on James but then took him off with 20 min left. Surely could have taken Otsemobor off and gone 3 4 3. Again took of Barnard after 65 min for Waigo and suspect Barnard will give it a few months next season and look for transfer if always subbed while other players having poor games get left on. We did have pressure in second half but more due to Oldham dropping deeper and despite last 10 mins laying siege to their goal couldnt get the break needed, goal line clearances good saves and blatant hand ball in box ignored. With ball bouncing off every one in box where was Barnard, oh yeah on the bench! Could have lost the game with a couple of break aways at end but Kelvin made a couple of great stops

Only person on the pitch worse than Otsemobor was the referee who again proved just how poor the standard is in this league. Absolute shocker gave every thing against saints first half and then bottled the big decisions second half. ran 40 yards to book Oldham player for walking off pitch slowly when being subbed but in first half their goalie probably wasted 5 mins in total on time wasting and just waves his hand from halfway line. Yet another useless jobsworth who really should be given the boot but no doubt will sadly see next year.

Davies 8 a couple of great saves
Otsemobor 4 Please get rid of him now, must have a youngster coming through who plays RB let them play last 3 games
Seaborne 7 Looked better tonight
Fonte 9 best player for me and did the work of 2 covering his RB!
Harding 7 defended well but his crosses were poor tonight
Wotton 6 good at sideways and back passes plus tackling just has nothing going forward.
Hammond 6 tried but lacked sparkle.
Lallana 6 has been bright spot lately and did look genuinely tired but at least he has an excuse in does it week in week out
Puncheon 5 poor control and poor delivery, no doubt AP and Echo will say he had a great game
Lambert 7 won lots of headers but never in threatening positions
Barnard 7 worked hard had first meaningful effort on goals then gets subbed!

Subs

Waigo 7 did make a difference when he was on, his control far superior to Puncheon
James 6 didnt really do anything wrong for me was just beginning to get into game when subbed, not surprising rusty as first game for 3 months
Connolly 6 didnt do a great deal

Might be in better mood in the morning when reflect on overall season but gutted that tonight against a poor Oldham side we lacked the imagination to create clear chances. Need right side strenghtened in summer

Thanks again Matty, a disappointment for sure.

I felt more sorry for the players than I did myself.They once again gave it 100% but never got the break, or the obvious penalty at the the Chapel end that only the referee failed to see.I feel the time to criticize certain players is after the season has finished.At least even they gave their all for the cause but were just a bit lacking.Summer will see a lot of comings and goings with players out of contract,released and so on,I feel if we keep the quality nucleus of the side together,add a couple of quality players,and keep Pardew we will have a fantastic season next year.Meanwhile we can just enjoy the last few games of a still fantastic season,that has seen our great club get its pride back again.Up the Saints,keep the faith all.

Agree that Fonte was the best player on the pitch by a long way as you implied with your ratings matty. No one else had a particularly good game for me, although Kelvin made a great save to stop them scoring their chance to win the game. It was a very one sided game but our attacking play was generally very poor. What concerns me a lot is the players' tendency to panic when things aren't going well as the whole second half we were playing as if it were the last minute. We have 90 minutes to win the game and even against a team like Oldham who put a lot of men behind the ball we have enough quality to score a couple of goals. We played a lot of long balls, most of them not to Lambert either, which came to nothing. It can be a bit boring and some idiots do start getting angry when we are not direct enough but why not just keep the ball and work our way forward and then when there is an opening to get a shot in take it.

Team Saint agree entirely that we seemed to panic far to early and going to long ball to Lambert or anyone. There is no doubt we have the players with the skills to unlock teams and need to be more prepared to take time and find a way through. Thought we didn't get the full backs forward to overlap and get the ball into the corner before crossing the ball. I was in the northam and were plenty of moans when we played ball sideways to look for a different approach yet I would rather we kept hold of the ball, wasnt a great deal of movement of the ball last night.

Think what we really miss is a midfield player who can carry the ball forward and just for a change go down the middle pull players in then release the ball.