So how does everyone feel in the cold light of day? A bit down perhaps? I've had time to consider last night's match and from a footballing point of view it was terrific entertainment with a lot of skill displayed. I feel proud of the Saints team and management - many of whom were playing at the bottom end of League 1 at the dawn of this current period. Pitted against a swift, well drilled, battle-hardened yet skillful Championship team consisting of players with Premiership experience we competed really well for much of the match. Reading's exploits late in the match just made me realise just how far the Saints players have come in such a short period of time. Now let's put last night's match to bed and move forward on a positive note. And if we do slip into the play-offs it might not be pleasant but it will be an invaluable learning curve for players, management and supporters whatever the final outcome. Reading haven't done too badly after last season's disappointment, have they?
well said. Reading are a great team and fair play to them, any other team and I we'd have stuffed them last night. Was on a major downer after the game but I think we'll still do it. Not gonna worry about how many points we need and what happens if we win this, west ham lost that etc, lets just win all 3 and we're there.
Good performance bad result last night ....we will beat Coventry and deffo win one of Peterborough or Middlesbro so we will not have to go through the lottery of the playoffs and besides West Ham have to really win all their 4 remaining games.....tall order Brighton (h) Bristol City (a) Leicester (a) Hull (h)
yehh i know it's only two needed, i just meant who cares about that lets just win all three and i know i sohuldn't but am silently cheering for brighton today...
I've been saying for a couple of weeks now that being away will be an advantage at the moment. Just look at WHU, pressure does strange things. Ask the players if they prefer being roared on by 5-6,000 passionate fans or 32,000 nervous, tut-ing ones. We'll have the majority of the crowd Tuesday night as we did at Palace and the players will thrive under less pressure and get the win!
They were clinical and we weren't. Their goals should never have been allowed, but equally we should have scored 2/3 before half time. Fox screwed up for the first with the crossfield ball and fonte screwed up with the 2nd and 3rd. Any other day we'd have won that 5-0.
I felt the same as I did last night, we played really well but didn't take their chances. They did, they won let's move on.
I think Reading placed one hand on the title last night, but they can easily lose their grip with 1 defeat. They're going great guns but no one saw them losing and drawing just a couple of weeks ago. We just have to keep our heads right and win a couple of games. The title may be out of our control, but promotion is still very much ours.
Just talked my son down off a window ledge...by the time I finished my positivity had returned. As I said before, I wish Adkins did house calls.
Kept waking up last night, with a sort of empty feeling, like I knew I should be depressed about something but couldn't remember what. The problem has been the same as in almost all our games we've lost or drawn - failure to get off the mark first. I know we were trying, so can't fault the team for that. By rights, we should have gone one up. But the thing that struck me about Reading is that they almost let Saints win the ball in 50-50 situations, as if conserving vital energy. I think they knew all along how to play this. They certainly didn't look panicked - and that composure and belief will win them the league. The pressure was definitely on us to give up top spot - they didn't have much like the same pressure. However, we have yet to see how Reading can take the pressure of holding top spot and it being theirs to lose - a pressure we've admirably soaked up for the majority of the season. Unfortunately, we've almost now taken on an even bigger pressure now, as West Ham slip into the Huddersfield role! My two concerns are: 1. Peterborough are the only team who have upset the Reading apple cart of late, and if they can beat Reading at theirs, they can definitely beat us too. 2. That defeat probably (not definitely) cost Nigel Manager of the Season, which I feel is probably unfair on him and his achievements. I imagine they'll give it to McDermott, who most certainly will not be cursed by it, as he has not been cursed by the last two Manager of the Month awards. Should have gone to Wolves - bet he's kicking himself now!
Also, Norwich went up second last season (though in more of a Reading 'late-run style' than a 'losing a season-long lead at the top'), and they have by far been the better Premiership team in terms of table placement. As much as I admire Swansea's style, I think they will probably sink like a stone when Rodgers leaves. In terms of long-term vision, I think Norwich are back in the big time for a long time. Reading do seem a bit more of a Norwich-type team, with us taking on the Swansea role in terms of playing style. I would like to see more of a focus on meeting the two halfway. Pretty football cannot win the majority of games in my opinion (though I now it has for us at this level, but we need to factor in the crap start almost all contenders had to this season - QED: if the season started on January 1, 2012, would we be where we are now?), unless you have exactly the right, top class players in every position on the pitch (including a goalkeeper with superb distribution skills). That is tough to put together unless you're Barcelona. While I would rather stay in the Championship all year long than play like West Ham, I would hope we can bring in a bit more steel to our game for next season. A hard-to-beat armour, and flexibility to our game that allows us to switch styles when we face teams who either try to shut us down with eleven men behind the ball, or who go in hard and dirty to scrape the 1-0. Another positive from last night is that Lambo creeps further towards his personal target of 30 league goals.
Some people are reading way too much into just one result. There's a reason why games are actually played rather than settled on paper in advance by form, style, league position and squad members - on the day, either team of eleven men can win. If last night wasn't an example of that I don't know what is! The criticisms levelled at the team are wholly unjustifiable as the team has demonstrated that it is capable of performing contrary to each criticism time and again this year (and last). We've won beautifully this year, we've won ugly, we've ground out results and capitalised on opportunities presented to us by the opposition. Last night was was a cracking game played at, in my opinion, a Premier League standard from both teams.
This post deserves a thread of it's own . Take a bow HOTBOVRIL PS Not sure about the Premier League bit ...............
People shouldn't be worrying about the play-offs. Here's my analysis of the remainder of the season. saints away to Posh. We'll win. They will be at it for first 20 minuts, til we score then they'll crumble. saints baway to Boro. We'll win. There is a chance that Boro may have even blown play-off chances by then. They are exactly the style of team we need to play against. saints home to coventry. We'll win. They are gone. 9 points. Reading - two easy home games 6 points. Away to brum, who will want to go into the play-offs on a high. This could be a draw or a defeat. The title hasn't gone yet people.
