Was at the game last night and thought it was one of the best quality matches of the season. Thought saints played some great stuff TBH and game for me seemed to hinge on the De Ridder for Chaplow substitution which was a big decision. Chaplow didn't appear to be injured but had been booked very early so presume he was taken off as a precaution against being sent off. The only problem with bringing De Ridder on is that the team's shape goes - that's why we usually bring him on as a last resort really when we're chasing the game. Our only other option was Guly due to the other 3 subs being defenders Thought McDermott played a high risk game with instructing his defenders to allow Lambert first phase possession and basically challenging our players to "do their worst" after that, we didn't make the most of these tactics. However, Reading's counter-attacking was lethal, reminded me a little of Man U, certainly punishing our errors and absolutely ruthless. And Le Fondre, now that was an impact sub !! Saints have nothing to be ashamed of and their next game is very winnable against a mid-table team, wouldn't expect anything off Poyet's boys at Hoofball Utd. Onwards and upwards COYS
Davis - 1 Butterfield - 2 Fonte - 6 Hooiveld - 7 Fox - 7 Chaplow - 6 Cork - 10 Hammond - 1 Lallana - 7 Lambert - 7 Sharp - 8
wow just wow. Lallana was deprived a certain goal of the season by a brilliant save infact it would have been probably one of the best goals in all four divisions this season. Lamberts was sensational in his link up play winning balls in the air etc. Again Lallana countless times ripped into the reading defence do they deserve fours??? If so then ill struggle to see how any reading player got out of the negative ratings.
Thought we played pretty well, but some sloppy errors let us down. Davis - 6 - Didn't have a lot to do other than picking the ball out of the net Butterfield - 5 - Some decent crosses, but Roberts had the beating of him to run at Fonte Fonte - 5 - Not his best game Hooiveld - 7 - Pretty solid Fox - 5 - One costly mistake, but generally played OK Chaplow - 5 - got in some good positions, but his final ball let him down Cork - 6 - Did well Hammond - 6 - Did well Lallana - 7 - Showed his skill Lambert - 8 MOTM - Their defence struggled to cope with him Sharp - 7 - Linked up well with Lambert and was unlucky not to win us a penalty De Ridder - 6 - Had the beating of his man, but didn't put the ball in early enough to trouble defenders Guly - Pointless sub, sat too deep to have any impact whatsoever
I still think Hammond didn't do anything special and was the cause to their second goal. On the other hand I thought we played very well and we only lacked in the final 3rd.
I was otherwise engaged last night and the first I knew of the game was looking it up on the Beeb website at about 11.30 pm. The point I would like to make is that the only opinion which matters regarding players' performance is that of Nigel Adkins, and the only thing the players need from us is total, constant, and complete support for the next 2 weeks, and even longer if they do end up with the nightmare of the playoffs. I know this is a football forum for people to vent their feelings on, but please guys, don't fall out with each other, it won't help the team at all. Together as one, Saints till I die, come on you reds!
Davis - 6 Didn't have much to do. Not at fault for goals Butterfield - 6 Crossing got better as soon as De Ridder came on. Defensively did ok. Fonte - 6 Difficult game for him and Jos. Thought Roberts was imense and would have given anyone the runaround last night Hooiveld - 6 as above Fox - 6 would have been 7 if not for "that" cross field ball Chaplow - 6 all endeavour, no end product, but put in a good shift. Hammond - 6 Started brilliantly but by the end was just being shrugged off the ball. Cork - 8 very good display I thought. Did nothing wrong. Lallana - 8 Looked bang up for it and played really well. What stops him from being top class for me is his inability to strike a ball cleanly. Sharp - 7 good game under difficult circumstances. Starting to build up a good understanding with Rickie. (my Arsenal supporting flatmate thought he was easily MOTM - always interesting to hear a neutral point of view). Lambert - 9 MOTM Tale of two strikers with him and Roberts. I think Roberts was morre effective on the night but Rickie looked by far the better player (if that makes sense). I thought he looked, talent wise, head and shoulders above anything on the pitch. Subs: Guly - 7 Thought he did what he was asked to do, so can't criticise. I think Adkins saw that we missed Schniederlin, so put Guly in deep, to play that role. Get the ball and start something. De Ridder - 8 Thought he created panic down the right. He was nullified in the end but Reading were so worried by him, they doubled up on him which finally allowed Butterfield the space to cross. Overall I thought we were unlucky. we lost but I really thought we played well. It was just one of those days. This is how Leeds must have felt.
Davis - 4 - kicking was pretty horrific, nearly caught on his own goal line with the ball after a poor touch. Didn't have anything else to do. Butterfield - 6.5 - Sound defensively and put in several good deliveries into the box. Fonte - 3 - really bad performance. At fault for the 2nd and 3rd and wasn't anywhere near the first allowing Roberts an easy header. Did some good things, but not enough to make up for the mistakes. Hooiveld - 6.5 - solid, generally but a few minor errors. Fox - 6 - at fault for the first but generally had a good game. Chaplow - 7 - provided drive, we were lacking something when he went off. Cork - 7 - Another good performance from Cork. Hammond - 4.5 - really didn't have a good game, his passing was truly diabolical. Lallana - 8.5 - Quality last night. If he had a better end product would have been a 9. Sharp - 7 - played well up top, brought the ball down well and held it up. Was a handful. Lambert - 9 - Again, at the heart of everything, should have scored the header though.
Christ, twice in the space of a week that we agree on something! Well said! It's not the end of the world. Someone say begin me was swearing and said Guly was the worst player out there. Scapegoat. Well I thought it was an excellent performance, despite the result! Onwards and upwards!
