Yesterday, was one of the most exciting games I have ever been to and certainly the first half was one of the best pass and move display I have seen for a long time. Saints were untouchable at times. No doubt the goals we conceded should have been prevented but I noticed the Saints fans got right on the players backs when Forest got back into the game, I was not impressed at all because it really got to the players. The pass and move had slowed down and we looked on edge. Why do fans feel like they have to shout personal abuse to players? It does nothing to help the team. I took some friends to the match and they couldn't believe some of the fans and felt that the expectation has grown on the team. Also why do fans have to find a scapegoat to pick on? Most forums have attacked Fox. I can't believe how fickle some have got and I tell you now he will be quality. Some of the balls he played were top draw and didn't he get us the 3 points yesterday? I noticed other fans were slating Hooiveld. 'We should be attracting better' 'No way near the quality we need' 'His heading was poor' Well I thought he put in a very solid performance against a very tough strike force. Won most things in the air and looks good with ball at feet. Yes a couple of things didn't go his way but doesn't that happen to every player in the team. These are exciting times at Southampton and with Adkins at the helm we will go places. I want fans to think before they speak because why be negative when we can be positive. There will be times when the going will get tough but we can all pull through together and change different situations in favour of Saints. What do you guys think. Are we being to tough on Saints or is it the minority of fans?
Our expectations are high, but the team have done well enough to have earnt some slack. I'm sure the number of fans loudly criticizing the players are a small minority..sadly they can be vociferous. I suspect some of the players nervousness was less to do with the fans as their own high expectations. We got three points in a tough game with a cobbled-together back four...draw blue-line and move on. I'm sure NA and team are analyzing the video and learning from it. The important thing is athat we are learning from a victory and not a defeat.
I think what partly led to the less than supportive nature of some elements of the crowd yesterday was that we took the lead after some passages of really good football which continued after the goal. However about 10mins before half-time we began to sit back. 10mins into the 2nd half and it almost seemed like a different game with Forest all but in the ascendancy. If it had been 0-0 up to this point in the 2nd half the fans would probably have been more vocal and supportive so it was really case of expectancy within the game itself.
I thought Hooiveld had a good game yesterday as well. But some fans have their favourites and if they are not playing, then the player keeping them out gets it in the neck. That's why we have regular posts about Kelvin from the Bart luvvies, Dickson and Fox from the Harding luvvies and Seaborne and Hooiveld from the Martin luvvies. Don't worry though, it's not based on what benefits the team rather whose picture they have on the bedroom wall.
I think we'll have a better idea of where we'll finish after 15 games or so. I'm sure this run won't continue forever, even though we're playing nice stuff. Can see us pushing for a playoff spot come may. In terms of current expectations though I go into most home games expecting us to win, probably not a good thing really!
I have to say that I didn't hear the crowd having a go at the players and I have only just heard that they did. It does seem that unless you become a favorite here you will be criticised and most certainly it would seem on the pitch. To me though as soon as Forest scored their first we seem to up the tempo a bit especially forty odd seconds later as we were 1-1. The backing for the players didn't stop in my eyes. I can understand the criticism of Davis although we were exact opposite end so couldn't see the incident clearly......some berk had stood up in front of me to go down underneath for what ever reason!!! For those that had a clearer view from my end they thought it should have been a pen. Which would have meant Bart coming on as Davis would have been sent off. I think the point is Davis is not comfortable with the ball if there is a player fairly near. That has been his problem from day one of joining. If he makes those kind of mistakes which this clearly was, he is going to get criticised. His position is the one position that is particularly vulnerable to that......has been since football was invented.
I think with the majority of fans it's just a natural reaction,i sigh quite alot and get frustrated but it's all just a reaction and i can't stop it,i definitely don't rip any player apart though,think that's needless and pointless.
Of course the expectations have risen. It would silly to say otherwise. Before the first ball was kicked, I was totally content with consolidation in this league, but now I see a glimmer where direct promotion or play-offs are possible. If they don't manage that, come May 2012, I will be disappointed, but I will remember that my initial expectation was just to do OK in this league, so it will pass. The disappointment will come from the lost opportunity, not from any sense that the players/manager have let me, and other fans, down. Remember also, that good form and promotions tend only to happen during relatively injury free seasons. If Saints get into one of those awful situations where the injuries build up, then my expectations will automatically be lowered. Anything else just wouldn't be fair. Even against Nott'm Forest, Adkins had to play Hooiveld, probably quicker than he'd rather have done, and he had lost his first choice RB and LB to small injuries in which he made the decision not to play them, to keep them from possibly injuring themselves further. So he's looking at the long run, and fair play to him for that. He's made a brave call there, putting out a back four that had never played together as a unit, and it paid off. So, if anything, my expectation level has risen, not entirely from what the players are showing me, but also from the fact that Adkins is totally upto the task.
Agree that it's a natural reaction but I think we should try and channel Our frustrations into chants and songs as it obviously helps the team take forest' 1st goal for example as soon as it went northam and kingsland north were belting out OWTS go marching in and a minute later we had scored.
Oh yeh i agree,i started chanting at that time as well but unfortunately i sit in a quiet area so it was all in vain,i love it when the crowd still sings even if we concede a goal,that to me shows great support.
Just mentioned in match highlights on Player that it was Adkins 1st anniversary at Saints. Happy anniversary, Nige.
We're only 6 games in. Still another 40 to go. Way too early for me to change my expectations. All I would say is that at the start of the season I felt that we had the potential to finish in the top half (but only just inside the top half), and this start has given me the confidence that that will indeed be the case. But I haven't suddenly started saying, "we can get top 6 here" or "we should be looking for automatic promotion". Give it 12 games, maybe 15, and then I'll see if my targets need re-adjusted. One thing I will say about these first 6 games though is that only 1 has been a midweek game. It'll be interesting how we cope when we're faced with a string of Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday's. We haven't exactly coped welll with these in the past (especially when the Tuesday is an away game), and you get more of them in this division than in League One due to having international breaks in this division (obviously for the past two seasons we've still had Saturday games when England have been playing - now those Saturday games become Tuesday games for us).
I listen to Radio Solent commentatories when I am at St.Marys and can hear the Northams chanting on there, but for some freak of the acoustics, cannot actually hear them live in Kingsland South, I thought at first the sound was being dubbed on, but upon watching the crowd I could see them clapping and their lips moving but the sound simply didn't reach the part of the ground where I am, it probably explains why I cannot understand a word that the tannoy says, I am definitely not suffering from any hearing problems! Can anyone explain the phenomenon?
When they first opened SMS the tannoy in the Kingsland blared out deafening all in the vicinity. They have now turned it down and you can't hear a thing.
I remember agreeing with you at the start of the season that anything in the top half would be a very good season, I certainly still feel the same now.
The problem with the Tannoy system is simply a matter that they cannot set it up and take in account what a crowd does to the sound, which absorbs some frequencies and not others. Plus, they have to set it up in an empty stadium. Because the stadium effectively has an almost fully enclosed roof, it means that the sound, from several speakers, gets echoed back, forth and around the ground, completely removing any sense of clarity, and having sounds arriving from different speakers, at the ear of the listener at slightly different moments. It would be better if there were more speakers, directly aimed at the spectators, and with the sound actually turned down, so as not to energise echoes too much. Ideally, a capacity crowd should be in position while they also do tests for frequency response, so that they can boost certain frequencies that are absorbed and tone down frequencies that are reflected. But that'll never happen as the crowd wouldn't understand the importance or be patient enough while they took the measurements. It's not something one can do in 5 minutes. I'd like to see a schematic of the current system, to see how it is arranged.
