Post by GeoFox on Dec 31, 2006 11:12:43 GMT -1
Well don't think this is going to be short coz I'm still absolutely furious about yesterday. Anyways....
First of all... the delay. I got to the ground at about 2 and the rain began. It was terribly heavy and you could see the ball sticking in puddles and water splashing everywhere as the players warmed up. Can't decide if the refs initial decision for an inspection was right or not - we have played in much worse (Portsmouth away 2002!) but if the rain kept up an abandonment may have occurred. However, as he made the decision it stopped raining and began to clear up despite a few more heavy showers. Game played which was right especially having spent a fortune on it!! Full credit to the groundstaff though who did an excellent job clearing the pitch of water in those 45mins. I want one of those squidgy things!! ;D
Performance....
Saints are a better side than Leicester by far. I half expected us to lose, quite possiby by 2 goals and we did. However, the manner in which we lost was a complete disgrace!!
I've seen us get some pastings over the years but I'm not sure I've ever seen such a woefully inept performance as this. We were truly dire. Second to every ball, lost 50/50s all over the park, played hopeless long balls over the top to Hammond and Hume which Saints' pacy defence dealt with without even breaking sweat, giving the ball away needlessly time and time again, shit marking from set pieces, a complete inability to handle their pacy forwards and play the offside trap properly, once again precious little midfield presence at all (Williams our saviour? ha!!), and worst of all completely unaccpetable levels of commitment, effort, desire, hunger and attitude from the players. I thought Hendo's GK after about 70mins which went straight out of play summed it up completely.
2 shots on goal, 0 on target. The first after 64 bloody minutes!!! And consisiting of Williams putting a tame effort from 25-30 yards, well well wide of the post. The second right at the end - Fryatt from 6 yards out - should have scored. But by the last 10 mins or so, we were playing marginally better but more to do with Saints easing to victory than anything else.
Player ratings...
Hendo 7 - 2 very good saves kept the score down. It could have been 4 or 5 -0 and 7-0 would probably have been more reflective of the match. Poor kicking though again.
Nissa (the 15 Rich) - 2 - Dreadful peformance. Was unsure what team he was playing for. Got skinned time and time again, meaning Porter was effectively a defender too. Distribution shocking. Deservedly subbed and only got 2 out of 10 rather than less as it might have meant the other scores seemed good which they're not!!
McAuley - 7 - some decent tackling and had a lot to do given the poor performances from the LB and RB. Couple of dodgy balls and lack of creativity (hopeless long balls). Not much of striker though!!
Kisnorbo - 6 similar but less composed.
Maybs - 4 - Shocking like Nissa - same faults and only gets more points coz I remember less near fatal errors.
Porter - 5 - They had him completely sussed. Didn't see enough of the ball but things didn't go his way today.
Tiatto - 5 - Headless chicken again but less running round this time. Be interesting to see again what he did to that Dyer chap.
Williams - 5 Poor and invisible. He ain't no saviour and was back to his old self and worse.
Hughes - 4 Awful. Didn't get into the game at all.
Hammond - 4 Again not a footballer. Offside time and time again. Made the wrong decisions all the time. Looked very out of his depth.
Hume - 4 - Another poor performance by Hume. Didn't get stuck in enough. THough granted, poor support from midfield.
Subs:
Fryatt - 5 - We looked a bit brighter with him on but Saints had the game well and truly won by then. Missed a sitter. Too slow!!
Stearman - 5 - Didn't do much. Pointless booking in the 90th minute, twat!!
Paddy Mac - 5 - No real memory of anything!!
Poor display all round.
Fans....
A long way to go and we were well represented. Had a fairly large travelling support...full credit to em especially given the weatehr and crap on the pitch. Ddin't seem to be many empty seats in the away section from where I was sitting though. Noise - crap apart from towards the back.
Though that can be excused for the ineptitude of the performance. There comes a point in the game though where you know you're being stuffed and theres no way back, and the chants get very funny! ;D ;D Not sure about half of the away crowd booing the few players that did come over at the end though. 
Saints fans were terrific though - a wall of noise from each side most of the time. Granted they were winning easy but if we were in the same position it wouldn't be the same. I liked the half and half song between the Itchen and the Northam though. Proof of the urgency of the need to move the kop to the family stand so it can be similar to SMS - L1 on one side, the kop in the other. stuff consultation, someone should go ahead and do it for next season, I really think it is in dire need. Best 'home' fans I've seen in a long while. Seemed quite friendly too. Wlaking away from the ground singing blue army while they sang red army. ;D And then cramming up a footbridge - the 2 of us being the only ones in city colours amidst hundreds of saints fans. Soooo...the chants of can we play you every week etc begin! ;D Was a good laugh though in a way!
Weather...
0 of 10!! Very poor!
First of all... the delay. I got to the ground at about 2 and the rain began. It was terribly heavy and you could see the ball sticking in puddles and water splashing everywhere as the players warmed up. Can't decide if the refs initial decision for an inspection was right or not - we have played in much worse (Portsmouth away 2002!) but if the rain kept up an abandonment may have occurred. However, as he made the decision it stopped raining and began to clear up despite a few more heavy showers. Game played which was right especially having spent a fortune on it!! Full credit to the groundstaff though who did an excellent job clearing the pitch of water in those 45mins. I want one of those squidgy things!! ;D
Performance....
Saints are a better side than Leicester by far. I half expected us to lose, quite possiby by 2 goals and we did. However, the manner in which we lost was a complete disgrace!!
I've seen us get some pastings over the years but I'm not sure I've ever seen such a woefully inept performance as this. We were truly dire. Second to every ball, lost 50/50s all over the park, played hopeless long balls over the top to Hammond and Hume which Saints' pacy defence dealt with without even breaking sweat, giving the ball away needlessly time and time again, shit marking from set pieces, a complete inability to handle their pacy forwards and play the offside trap properly, once again precious little midfield presence at all (Williams our saviour? ha!!), and worst of all completely unaccpetable levels of commitment, effort, desire, hunger and attitude from the players. I thought Hendo's GK after about 70mins which went straight out of play summed it up completely.2 shots on goal, 0 on target.
The first after 64 bloody minutes!!! And consisiting of Williams putting a tame effort from 25-30 yards, well well wide of the post. The second right at the end - Fryatt from 6 yards out - should have scored. But by the last 10 mins or so, we were playing marginally better but more to do with Saints easing to victory than anything else.Player ratings...
Hendo 7 - 2 very good saves kept the score down. It could have been 4 or 5 -0 and 7-0 would probably have been more reflective of the match. Poor kicking though again.
Nissa (the 15 Rich) - 2 - Dreadful peformance. Was unsure what team he was playing for. Got skinned time and time again, meaning Porter was effectively a defender too. Distribution shocking. Deservedly subbed and only got 2 out of 10 rather than less as it might have meant the other scores seemed good which they're not!!
McAuley - 7 - some decent tackling and had a lot to do given the poor performances from the LB and RB. Couple of dodgy balls and lack of creativity (hopeless long balls). Not much of striker though!!
Kisnorbo - 6 similar but less composed.
Maybs - 4 - Shocking like Nissa - same faults and only gets more points coz I remember less near fatal errors.
Porter - 5 - They had him completely sussed. Didn't see enough of the ball but things didn't go his way today.
Tiatto - 5 - Headless chicken again but less running round this time. Be interesting to see again what he did to that Dyer chap.
Williams - 5 Poor and invisible. He ain't no saviour and was back to his old self and worse.
Hughes - 4 Awful. Didn't get into the game at all.
Hammond - 4 Again not a footballer. Offside time and time again. Made the wrong decisions all the time. Looked very out of his depth.
Hume - 4 - Another poor performance by Hume. Didn't get stuck in enough. THough granted, poor support from midfield.
Subs:
Fryatt - 5 - We looked a bit brighter with him on but Saints had the game well and truly won by then. Missed a sitter. Too slow!!
Stearman - 5 - Didn't do much. Pointless booking in the 90th minute, twat!!
Paddy Mac - 5 - No real memory of anything!!
Poor display all round.
Fans....
A long way to go and we were well represented. Had a fairly large travelling support...full credit to em especially given the weatehr and crap on the pitch. Ddin't seem to be many empty seats in the away section from where I was sitting though. Noise - crap apart from towards the back.
Though that can be excused for the ineptitude of the performance. There comes a point in the game though where you know you're being stuffed and theres no way back, and the chants get very funny! ;D ;D Not sure about half of the away crowd booing the few players that did come over at the end though. 
Saints fans were terrific though - a wall of noise from each side most of the time. Granted they were winning easy but if we were in the same position it wouldn't be the same. I liked the half and half song between the Itchen and the Northam though.
Proof of the urgency of the need to move the kop to the family stand so it can be similar to SMS - L1 on one side, the kop in the other. stuff consultation, someone should go ahead and do it for next season, I really think it is in dire need. Best 'home' fans I've seen in a long while. Seemed quite friendly too. Wlaking away from the ground singing blue army while they sang red army. ;D And then cramming up a footbridge - the 2 of us being the only ones in city colours amidst hundreds of saints fans. Soooo...the chants of can we play you every week etc begin! ;D Was a good laugh though in a way!Weather...
0 of 10!! Very poor!
well least Colin seemed to be enjoying himself.
