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Saints V Brighton The Verdict
Saints V Brighton The Verdict
Monday, 16th Nov 2009 10:52

Did Alan Pardew bow to pressure on his formation

Most Saints fans would prefer to see Saints play 4-4-2, at least judging by this message board the feeling is that Saints look better going forward with this line up, however perhaps Saints supporters are not loooking at the total picture.

The truth is that Saints have built up their unbeaten run bu employing the 4-5-1 formation, although on paper it looks a bit negative it has enabled Saints to gain a fothold in  games and then build on it, keeping it tight and then bringing on David Connolly or other attacking options in the final quarter to kill off the game.

The reasoning behind this was exposed against Brighton as the Seagulls raced into an early two goal lead and pulled Saints defence apart at will, then got everyone behind the ball to ensure that Rickie Lambert's penalty was nothing more than a glint of hope, in short they did everything that we were doing to sides a few weeks ago.

Perhaps Alan Pardew has been seduced by fans comments about negativity with the 4-5-1 and therefore felt he had to go with the attacking formation.

But it wasnt just about the formation, certain players had off days and others raissed queestions about their ability.

At the back we were torn apart by pace and once again balls were put in the box that should have been dealt with by the defenders.

In the centre of the back four we are too cumbersome and Alan pardew realised that when he withdrew Trotman at half time, Jaidi, who himself wasnt in great form needs someone with a bit of pace and reading of the game beside him, both central defenders are too similar in their game, both big and strong but both a little slow, Alan Pardew needs to identify a Claus Lundekvam type player,someone who can read the game and compliment  Jaidi.

Likewise along the flanks we struggle, Dan Harding isnt quick enough, either pace wise or mentally, whilst heis adequate he will be targetted by certain teams.

Normally a first defeat in nearly two months wouldnt be too much cause for concern, however Saints dont have much breathing space to lose games due to the 10 point deduction as well as the poor start to the season, we now find ourselves 15 points adrift of the play offs and this is far too big a gap at this stage of the season.

As I have said earlier to stand a decent chance of a play off spot we need to be around 7 or 8 points off the play off come the turn of the year and thats a big ask aat present, unless Saints now go on another 4 or 5 game winning streak.

This defeat isnt the end of the World, but Saints and their supporters do need to learn from it, if they do then promotion is still an outside chance.      

Photo: Action Images



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