A worrying and disapointing defeat in many ways.

To be blunt this wasnt just a defeat, it was more the way in which we lost that rankled, of course sides lose games at home from time to time and with this being our first home league loss in over a year we have no cause for complaing there, however it was the predictable way in which we went down that gives a lot of cause for concern.

We just couldnt change our style of play once Bristol City had set out their stall and coped comfortably with our attacks, even Jack Cork agreed with me on this one in a post match interview.

 So why couldnt we change the pattern of the game ? firstly I see it as a lack of leadership both on and off the pitch, tacticaly Nigel Adkins didnt take the bull by the horns and try something different to break down the City defence, secondly there wasnt a leader on the pitch, someone who took command and dictated the play.

Nigel sat on his hands and did nothing for almost 80 minutes, when it was clear something needed to be done a long time before that as in the main the visitors coped fairly easily with out attacks, its times like these when a manager earns his corn with the right changes and subtle switches in play, Im afraid that on this night Nigel Adkins was found wanting.

Ironically when he did make a change it resulted in a goal, but at the other end, the writing was already on the wall when City had the ball in the net but it was ruled offside, however with ten minutes to go there was no reprieve for Saints, to be blunt Davis should have done better with the long range shot, he stopped it but he had merely parried it into the danger area, he redeemed himself with a brilliant save as a City player followed in and could do nothing as that rebound was tapped into an empty net.

Now i know a lot of people will say this is harsh, but bluntly good goalkeepers when they cant hold a ball will get it out of harms way, Kelvin did not do this and it cost us a goal, which in turn cost us at least a point, yes there ar eplenty of goalkeepers who would have done no better, but we are seeking to win this division and to do that we need the best players and what wins promotions is having a keeper that at vital times does something that earns his side a point, there are many fans decrying Guly despite the fact he is one of the top scorers in this division, yet still people want better, that being the case then surely that should be in all departments, good teams are built on solid goalkeepers, look at Man Utd, their dodgy periods have co incided when firstly Schmeichel and then Van Der Sar left the club.

As a team we were flat, predictable and unispired and that has been the case in too many games lately, apart from the odd game here and there we have been patchy for the last couple of months, our last six games have yielded only 8 points, way short of what should be our minimum standard of 12, even worse when you consider that three of those came in the first game of that spell in fact over that two month period and 12 games we have got only 21 points, again short of the minimum standard,

Five points from the last five games is not promotion form its relegation stuff, those five games have been full of individual error, poor decisions from the bench and a general lack of spark on the pitch, the point I am i am making here is that my opinions arent based on a knee jerk reaction but fact based over a period of time, this latest defeat wasnt a blip on the lanscape, but part of a pattern that has been forming over a longer period than we would like to admit, its disguised by our league position, but to be blunt we are only still top due to the failure of the club around us to take advantage of our por form and our ability to pull the odd win out of the bag.

Saints have a good team and the frustrating part is, that every few games we put in a good result or two and there lies the problem, why can we play so well one game and be utterly awful the next.              

Photo: Action Images

lockseaf77 added 12:19 - Jan 1 Nigel Pearson?
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Holbury_City added 12:41 - Jan 1 A worrying and disappointing match report in many ways. (please note I've corrected your spelling Nigel, sorry, Nick)
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SaintNick added 12:49 - Jan 1 A couple of you will notice your comments gone, thats because the story duplicated itself so i had to delete one, and simmo was right Nigel Pearson was equally clueless for leicester in how they playe pompey sadly
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SonicBoom added 13:28 - Jan 1 I was there and I have to agree with every word you wrote Nick. We looked uninspired and they were sharper and quicker to the ball from the first whistle. none of our big players played well. In the pub after we all agreed that Adkins should have made changes far earlier. Bringing on Connolly with 20 to go ? Too late. Nothing changed. They scored with 10 to go and we still did nothing. Finally we bought on Holmes with 3 minutes to go when we were losing. Made no sense. The game followed a constant pattern from the start and this should have been obvious to NA. To be fair this is unusual for him and I would like to hear from him why he made the decisions he made (or rather didn't make). It is worrying. We look like a mid table team now but hopefully we can bring in a player or two to spark us back into life. The way it's going we will be taking our chances in the play offs at best.

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michaeljoycetf added 14:04 - Jan 1 Now I am confused, In paragraph 1 you say ''with this being our 1st loss at home in over a year we have no cause to complain'' and then the next 8 paragraphs you do nothing but complain, Your view on why we are still on top differs slightly from mine, I think we are still top because we score more goals, win more games, and because of that we have more points than ANY OTHER TEAM in the league. FACT. Its as simple as that and I love it. Dont you think you should be ashamed of yourself for your constant non constructive criticisms. maybe you think that continually highlighting the shortcomings of our team its players and the manager serves some purpose,whereas a little praise for them for getting us to this enviable position and for a job well done,(so far) might not go amiss.

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BlackRod added 14:35 - Jan 1 Totally unjustified criticism of Kelvin Davis. He made several saves that kept us in the match, as he has done in other recent games. He has been Mr Reliable this season while others have wavered. Surprised you didn't apportion some of the blame to Harding. I fully expect us to beat Brighton comprehensively tomorrow. That's what being a supporter is all about.
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saintBob added 15:31 - Jan 1 Bristol City played far better than you would expect for a team that's 4th from bottom. It's a strange and difficult league, how else could you legislate for us still being top given our current form? I know that if we carry on with this sort of form, we will not be top for much longer but I thought we always looked as though we could get a goal against Bristol if it wasn't for a poor final ball; e.g. poor deliveries into the box by De Ridder, although he had a decent game, his crosses should have been better. David James also made some terrific saves. I think NA may have been caught in two minds. Looking ahead, I think we need a stronger midfield. Without Chaplow we are a bit lightweight in that department.

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Fordy added 15:40 - Jan 1 As a must-win game that we lost Nick, what does that mean? Is it season over? Should we pack up and all go home and give up any hopes of promotion? Of course not. It just goes to show how ridiculous calling every game a must-win game is.
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sholingred added 16:15 - Jan 1 I think Davies will cost us and have said so on here numerous times,yes he made a couple of good saves,thats his job.Any profesional keeper will pull off a good save now and then,but he parrys a long range effort not round the post and away,but out to their strikers,no good scoring goals if you let them in,would like to know his save ratio,as it seems a lot go in ,we need a keeper,ask Sunderland fans about him,i think he is sh1t.

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saintBob added 17:18 - Jan 1 Sholingred: you're being a bit of a t055er. He has improved a lot since his Sunderland days. Do you really think he has been Saints no1 choice for 5 seasons? Player of the month on numerous occasions & in the League 1 team of the season? We all know what Kelvin is like but few people would be as harsh as you.
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saintBob added 17:21 - Jan 1 Correction to the above; "Do you really think he has been Saints no1 choice for 5 seasons for no rerason?"
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Whatsforpud added 17:23 - Jan 1 It had to happen at some time. You have to look at the whole picture - 2011 was a great year, and you have to hope that our dominating form is about to return. Lallana's form is a little worrying. I think he works better with Harding, who is more likely to overlap with him than Fox is. I can only remember he and Fox interchanging once in the first half - a bit like the Bridge/Marsden partnership that worked so well one year. I was willing Holmes to come on much earlier. When he came on eventually, I though Adkins was sacrificing a defender, Richardson, to put him up front, but he just seemed to slot in at right back. Although it seems harsh to criticise Davis, the original shot leading up to the goal ideally should have been either caught or parried away to the side. I noticed the Echo gave Cork only 5. I thought he had a decent game, winning so many tackles. However, he has to get himself into the box a bit more, to chip in with a goal or two.

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sidsaint added 17:30 - Jan 1 I agree with most of your views Nick. This has been coming for a long time we are only where we are because those around us have been dropping points. Sooner or later a couple of teams will put a run together, we can still be one of those teams especially if we strengthen wisely in the transfer window. We need 2 strikers one to feed off Ricky and one similar to him to replace him should he get injured. Getting Chaplow back will also be a bonus. Brighton are not in good form we have to take advantage tomorrow.

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saintstowin added 18:35 - Jan 1 a tough loss but this league evens itself out so consistently it is a loss we can cope with. and when you look at our form, bemoaning the absence of a win/outstanding performance each week look at what happened the day after we got beat. west ham lost at derby (where we got a point), middlesbrough only drew at home to peterborough (who we beat)
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felly1 added 19:11 - Jan 1 I didnt feel we played really badly, David James had to make a couple of excellent saves and we kept working hard to get the ball in the danger areas, It was just one of those games that the ball never fell kindly for us in and around the box. As always I feel you are too quick to criticise Davis .In the perfect world he would have pushed the effort around the post but on a wet skiddy pitch he did well getting down and saving the initial shot. I thought City played really well and it was disappointing that our centre mids didnt dominate like they did against Palace. For me the other poor performers on the night were Lallana ,Richardson and Fox .

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sholingred added 22:07 - Jan 1 Saintnob i am a season ticket holder and go to a lot of away games,so i am entitled to give my opinion on a forum,what about Cardiff away when their striker heads the ball from outside 18 yard box over super kelv,i could go on,he is better than bart argument is a joke,im better than Bart,David james would have kept a clean sheet in both games as he is a good keeper,even though a skate,same silly mistakes last season away from home cost us the title.

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Kiwifiedpom1 added 23:31 - Jan 1 I can neverreally make useful comments on here because all I hear is the SaintsPlayer commentary and the highlights. The sensations I got were similiar to Nicks comments although I thought they were a Tad harsh. What I couldn't understand was in the past we have tried a Diamond formation, but not against Bristol City
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bucksfizzpete added 07:09 - Jan 2 Have a look at the review of the games on Saints player (it's an hour long but worth taking the time). For me, in the Bristol game, we just didn't change our style enough to cope with their defence. Crossing the ball in the 6 year area has worked brilliantly for us this season but Bristol defence were just not having it. We should have switched to playing the ball into areas for the players to run on to. Watch the review and you'll see how fantastic we were at doing that early on, we just don't seem to play like that anymore when the defence are so robust. At times is felt like Bristol had 2 or 3 more players on the pitch then we did. We really do need the win today. Come on lads, let's see that fire you had at the start of the season return.

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