Saints v Plymouth Commentary (25/11/2008)

Enjoy the game I'll do ratings/report on wednesday.

I reckon we will get a 1-0 win with mcgoldrick scoring after 78 minutes!

If we can play like on Saturday we might see two or three goals from our strikers.

Seize the moment lads. Do it for us . Besides which it is going to be freezing up there tonight so we need you to do something to warm people up.

Looks like our forum will have a good turn out tonight.

How about everyone going rates each player out of 10.....and we'll see who was our Player of the Match? (and Stinker of the Match)

Good call Mike.

SFC Forever wrote:Looks like our forum will have a good turn out tonight.

Lets hope you people going get the result you deserve. I'm hoping the players put in the same sort of performance they put in on Saturday.

Do you think it will be the same 11? I've not seen anything about injuries.

Or do you think Gasmi will play?

Game about to kick off. As I think it's only me here this evening and I don't intend to be talking to myself I'll only post at half time, goals, if any, and the final whistle.

Wish Solent would STFU about the flamin' skates.

Bright start from Saints. A couple of good chances so far.

Plymouth have, to use a cliche, parked a bus in front of the goal. Negative and boring. Saints the better side.

Half time 0-0. Apart from a couple of Saints flurries, a pretty boring first half due to Plymouth's negative football.
Saints doing well so far, the better side definitely.

Hope we can break them down at least once.

2nd half just underway, pressure from Plymouth.

Plymouth have decided to start playing a bit. Nothing spectacular, although their corner count (4) is catching up with ours (7).

Make that 5 Plymouth corners.

Incident of note: McGoldrick had effort cleared off line.

Final whistle 0-0; dull, dull, dull. Saints totally lacking in ideas on how to break down Plymouth.

Dissapointed & cold :|

lallana has an appalling case of sideways dribbling!!

Do those going want to mark the players out of 10?

I'm too knackered but will do it later. Very boring though the Northam end tried to keep the spirits up. Best team tonight was the supporters without doubt.

we were the better team without a shaddow of doubt
we need to improve in the last 3rd
gassmi got about 5 mins
best player surman
worst by a long way was jordan robertson

will give ratins tommorrow

Here we go then. The game was a disappointment but we did come away with a point. Defence as game wore on still a cause for concern. Ball watching and waiting to see what will happen before reacting instead of making it happen. Started playing stupid and dangerous games in front of our goal. Davis being a serious culprit.

Davis- Came for a couple of crosses. Fumbled twice but recovered ball.Couple of saves.........6
James-Steady and looking better than a few games ago. Too often caught wrong side of opponent. Is still not our best right back option............................................................................................6
Cork- Did ok but too easily muscled out of a tackle. Couple of good forward runs....................7
Perry- Made a few last ditch tackles which saved our bacon. Looked at times as though he was missing Pearce. Bravest of our defenders..............................................................................................5
Skacel- Made a few runs .Started well but drifted into anonimity like some others. Plymouth were able to raid down his flank more often as game wore on.....................................................................5
Lallana- Made several runs but to many were sideways. Not his best going forward.................7
Schneiderlin- Brushed aside to often. Undecided and unsure. Service to front poor..................6
Surman- Linked up well but still not forceful enough...........................................................7
BWP- Started promisingly but gradually drifted away. In and out in second half.......................7
Robertson- Waste of energy. Kept running around aimlessly or slipping about but to no effect. Odd, but was also stationery too often when we had possession. Poorest of match....................................4
McGoldrick- Missed 2 glorious chances. To motionless when we were in possession making it hard for passing to be effective. Made couple of timely headers in our box. Why the hell did he keep tracking that far back.....5
As I watched the team they seemed more concerned about making a mistake than going for it. They need a home win to relieve the pressure though they did not stop trying to play. Foolishly at times as it was but they kept going. Overall performance.......................................................................................6

davis 7 didn't have any saves to make but some tricky deep crosses which he dealt with well
james 7 defensively solid for most of the game but started to make mistakes as the game went on. as usual excellent crossing
perry 9 'de boy he is perfect'
cork 8 fantastic on the ball, good distribution, strong tackles, too weak in the air but didn't suffer from it much
skacel 7 good in defense and attack but is still too fat
surman 7 man of the match in the first half but when plymouth went direct our midfield became anonymous
schniederlin 6 same as surman but wasn't quite as good as normal. unlucky not to score with shot from edge of box.
lallana 6 he's a good dribbler but he is fustrating me a lot in recent games because he never uses his pace and skill to best effect. on the right wing he doesn't stay wide enough and whenever he gets the ball he takes it to the corner of the box which is easy to defend against and if he passes to a striker then they will have their back to goal and several defenders trying to get the ball. he should take it to the byline and whip it in low and hard or float it onto someones head running to the edge of the six yard box from the penalty spot. also when he gets the ball in central positions he should just run into the space or pass it. he needs to have the confidence to take players on and shot when he gets to the edge of the box, preferably with his right foot.
mcgoldrick 5 drifted in and out when he felt like it, but unlucky not to score. too many stupid little flicks and wasting of possesion. trying to be nicolas anelka, and failed. needs to be more direct and head for goal with more passion.
bwp 7 in the first half lallana could have learnt from him a lot. got to the byline many times and put in some dangerous balls, predictable no-one attacked them. second half went missing most the time
robertson 5 never got in the game

subs:
paterson 7 i like him a lot, he works hard, gets stuck in, runs with the ball, very direct, attacks the ball with passion. the attributes quite a few of our players are missing.
gasmi unrateable because he didn't touch the ball!


a few weeks a go jan was talking about attacking the goal with passion and we still haven't started doing it. the strikers could learn something from alex pearce. when the corner comes in he is determined that he is going to be the first man to the ball and he is going to smash it in and nothing is going to get in his way. mcgoldrick is certainly not a weakling, but he thinks he is a flair player when he isnt. he can run with the ball well but he needs to be more direct and purposeful going forward, attacking the ball and attacking the goal not just waiting for the ball to come to him then trying to chip it over the keeper when he's 2 yards off his line or something ridiculous like that. in this division you can only have one flair player and that is lallana. in summary we need stern john still!

excellent support home and away

JP seemed to be having a go at Robertson for a while before he was subbed, Robertson kept opening his arms in response as though to say 'what do you expect me to do ?'.
When he came off he walked past JP to the players seating, was offered a top to put on, snatched at it and then threw it down.
I would like to see him do well here, hope he fits in to the style of play that JP wants.