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Post by brummie on Aug 9, 2014 16:01:05 GMT
The first game of any new season is a dodgy one. First compeitive league game. Remember what happened to Norwich City when they lost their first league game 5-1. They were promoted. If City haven't won their first league game after four games THATS when I would start to get worried.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 16:02:49 GMT
There must be some positives...?!
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Macca
Saints Trialist
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Post by Macca on Aug 9, 2014 16:04:14 GMT
Frendo's back on Tuesday. Is that good enough?
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Post by Saint on Aug 9, 2014 16:08:06 GMT
Corcoran maybe the only positive... Defence weren't too worried
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Macca
Saints Trialist
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Post by Macca on Aug 9, 2014 16:17:44 GMT
Anyone have a particularly awful game?
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Post by Saint on Aug 9, 2014 16:21:49 GMT
Jimmy very honest post match- Lethergic, awful, no excuses
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Post by thesaints on Aug 9, 2014 16:27:42 GMT
Didn't go to the game myself so can't say much but not a good start , shame, early days though.
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Post by notsorecentconvert on Aug 9, 2014 16:41:05 GMT
It wasn't a great game and the fact that Hayes and Yeading seem to be among the sides tipped to struggle is a concern. Both sides started slowly and the H&Y goal was a poor one to give away. The defence seemed to switch off and suddenly the Hayes striker found himself in lots of space with time to choose whether to shoot at Welch's near or far post. It's too easy to criticise Welch and say that he left the gap and shouldn't have been beaten at his near post but the amount of time the Hayes striker had he would have scored even if Welch was tighter to the near post.
Once Hayes were in front, they had something to fight for and they defended their lead well. They didn't need to be ambitious, although I felt if Saints had equalised they might have crumbled.
No one really stood out for us, unfortunately. Comley looked happier when he was operating in the centre than when he was on the left. Corcoran played reasonably well. I like Kyriacou - he's tenacious, decent on the ball and gets up and down well, as does Chappell on the other side.
Keenleyside looked lively when he came on. But none of the three forwards who had a go at breaking down the Hayes defence - Pires, Buchanan and McBean - had any luck at all. We really did look toothless up front.
Still, let's not dwell too much on the negatives. It was a disappointing game and, without labouring the point about the cost, didn't represent much value for 15 notes, but it'll be a few weeks before the team really beds into life in Conference South. Perhaps this will be a bit of a slap in the face for them and they'll respond at Staines on Tuesday.
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Post by asaintreborn on Aug 9, 2014 16:44:15 GMT
I think the first half players still thought they were playing a pre season friendly. Not only that I felt both teams didn't even get out of first gear. The worrying thought would be that they were actually both in 5th, because if that's the case we might as well pack our bags now. Fortunately, a season is not defined over 1 game, the players have to forget about that performance, reset and the season for us now begins on Tuesday. The first half our two centre halfs were being absolutely bullied, thankfully Jimmy found some man up pills for them both in the second half as they started to get on top of the strikers. I fear our physicality and ability to win Ariel challenges in midfield may come back to haunt us. Today performance for example shows how good Ram was when contesting the ball in the middle. I thought Danny put his blood, sweat and tears into the game, but due to the shear size and physicality of the H & Y players was unable to win the ball in the air. Keenleyside really got involved when he came on, thought he was the bright spark in a torrid afternoon. The only worrying thing I thought was our best players were the players we had last season , except kyriacou whose crossing is superb! Need to get on the end of those bad boys. However, the service to the strikers wasn't brilliant, so blame can't just lie with them. Onwards and upwards! Perhaps they are gonna play terrible for the first 10 games then win the playoffs next may like last season wishful thinking...
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knockers
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 283
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Post by knockers on Aug 9, 2014 17:23:30 GMT
Chin up lads, 1st game, prob bounce back with 2 away days. Good att for first game, need john frendo back asap. COYS
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Post by COYS on Aug 9, 2014 17:24:20 GMT
As has already been said, we'll surely come up against much better sides than H&Y this season.
Was surprised to see both Pires and Buchanan start up front and it didn't really work. They seem to be too similar, both wanting to play on the shoulder of the opposition defence, leaving too much space between the midfield and attack. It took over an hour for one of them to clock and drop deep, when Buchanan started to get into the game a little more. Desperately missed Frendo.
Second half was a little better than the first, but that's not saying much at all. Green put in a shift and I thought Comley looked good, but what's the point of having our two best players - Comley and Corcoran - in the centre of the park if we insist upon knocking it aimlessly into the channels? I lost count of the amount of times Kyriacou got the ball with yards of space in front of him and options inside, but continued to stick it up the wing, especially during the first 45.
Anyway, early days and plenty of time to put things right. COYS!
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Post by Saint on Aug 9, 2014 17:44:49 GMT
All three posts above are honest, accurate assessments of today I'd say!
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Post by asaintreborn on Aug 9, 2014 17:51:15 GMT
On the bright side I thought the officiating was of a much better standard.. Well for the majority of the game
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Post by EFMTFTV on Aug 9, 2014 18:52:13 GMT
What was the crowd? Someone said it was over 500? It was about 300 IMO
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Post by Saint on Aug 9, 2014 19:03:51 GMT
It was 531 official
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Post by Saint on Aug 9, 2014 19:04:17 GMT
It did look just over 500 to me... Fair few in the main standard.
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Post by moordownbh9 on Aug 9, 2014 19:31:05 GMT
I thought H&Y were well organised, but we didn't really put them to the test...very VERY pedestrian and passing was generally poor. We never seemed to want to up the pace and get at them. Two things stood out for me, the lack of Ram's being in exactly the right place and keeping the ball moving and Frendo. Although obviously for the goal threat, I was thinking more along the lines of his positional sense and ability to link up with the midfield and wide players. I hope Pires is generally better than that, and I'd never have taken Wales off either!
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Post by Boomer on Aug 9, 2014 20:04:38 GMT
A very disappointing show today against a very average side. I will be very surprised if Hayes & Yeading do not finish in the bottom 6 this season. For me, our best performances came from John Kyriacou and Lee Chappell. Danny Green did well and David Keenleyside livened things up considerably in the short time he was on, when he came off the bench. Generally, we gave the ball away far too easily, especially the 50/50 aerial stuff coming out from the centre of defence but not exclusively. The other main thing was our movement off the ball, which was pretty much non existent. Not good. On the plus side, it is just one game in and there is plenty of time to rectify matters. One good omen - in the 2005/06 season we lost our opening two games against Welling Utd and Cambridge City and finished the season being promoted to the National Conference. Similarly, we lost our first game of the 2013/14 season at Poole Town and finished up being promoted to the Conference South. There is still a long way to go. COYS
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Post by Saint on Aug 10, 2014 1:02:05 GMT
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gooner
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 254
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Post by gooner on Aug 10, 2014 6:45:40 GMT
Poor performance so some thoughts. Keeper erratic distribution. Full backs average overlapping. Centre backs bullied in first half . Midfield gave ball away too much and balls forward to forwards ineffective. (Keenlyside showed promise with attitude and passing when brought on). Forwards poor with the limited service. First touches not good enough at this level? Move on and watching Gray on touch line I am confident changes will be made.
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Post by moordownbh9 on Aug 10, 2014 7:40:31 GMT
A lot of the first touches weren't good enough for Southern League level either
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Post by Hatboy on Aug 10, 2014 9:44:19 GMT
A couple of sitters missed otherwise a pretty poor effort from the Saints as Paul said the long throws into the box from chappers were producing nothing they should of tried something different (their defenders were winning everything).
Kyriacou looked good getting forward and made some great last ditch tackles as did Def Com 1.
At least we've good Big Bad Ben and Lord Frendo to come back in !
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Post by asaintreborn on Aug 10, 2014 10:15:34 GMT
To think Buffano Looked solid for them yesterday! That's the same buffano who couldn't get into our team.
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Post by Saint on Aug 10, 2014 11:00:34 GMT
It was! He was very poor for us when he was here....
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euclid
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 458
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Post by euclid on Aug 10, 2014 11:37:08 GMT
First game of the season, newly promoted so you would have thought the players would be busting a gut to impress? No team should be 'lethargic' for the first league game! Poor preparation?
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Post by davymac55 on Aug 10, 2014 12:22:33 GMT
A game between two average looking sides not yet at the top of their game but one that the Saints comfortably won despite not firing on all cylinders. The 5-1 victory for the Saints was deserved and the manager was honest in his post match summary when he said that 'there is clearly more to come from this team especially with the players we had missing.' The new signings looked capable without being at peak and this win was a sign of good things to come. That's what I'd like to have read on the board.. On to Staines
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Post by moriarty on Aug 10, 2014 13:39:36 GMT
1st game at a step up playing a new front line, says it all really. Might take a few games to find their feet but no cause first concern at all. If we're still pointless after the next home game then I might worry a bit.
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Post by notsorecentconvert on Aug 10, 2014 14:07:35 GMT
I think it shows just how challenging it is to develop a team over pre-season. To think Saints played their first game in early July, you'd assume there has been ample opportunity to sort things out but I don't necessarily think it's that easy. There were various trialists to assess, new signings to bed in and key players who will probably be regulars missed quite a few of the games.
The difference in quality of opposition makes it very hard to build too. One minute you're up against a young Dagenham and Redbridge side, then you're facing a very strong Watford team. There's not a lot of opportunity to work on how you want to play against opposition of a similar standard you're going to face during the season.
The matches come thick and fast so I reckon it's too early to judge until they've played 10 league games. Coincidentally, the 10th league game is against Wealdstone, another team that's been promoted to the division, so that will be a decent time to judge.
Having said all that, the team will need to retain the ball better and create more chances - no matter what level you're playing at, that's a given.
As an aside, I noticed Conor Calcutt came on as a sub for Stevenage in their league game yesterday. That's quite a jump from Berkhamsted to League Two.
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yellowalf
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 301
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Post by yellowalf on Aug 11, 2014 9:17:29 GMT
I agree with everything that's already been said but I'll take the time to post...
For me, the main difference between the two sides in the first half was the poor quality of passing. For all the pressing that we did, we kept giving the ball away in good positions and we were't attacking with much speed, which gave H&Y more time to regroup. That got better in the second half and we created more chances then, certainly when Keenleyside came on.
However I felt the major difference all game was our new forward pairing being absolutely battered by an experienced defensive line who were very well organised by Matt Ruby. Every second ball seemed to go to a red shirt and we had far too many shots blazed over the bar from all parts of the pitch. H&Y never really looked like conceding all game - how Warren McBean missed that far post chance I'll never know and I don't suppose he will either!
I was very impressed with John Kyriacou; especially in the second half when he was pinging in some beautiful crosses that would have been meat and drink to Frendo.
Not a great game and not the level of football we watched last season. Early days, though!
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Post by Hatboy on Aug 11, 2014 12:55:05 GMT
Whitehawk lost at home to Staines, will Tuesday show how bad we are or how bad Staines are
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