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Lack Of Strength In Depth ? I Dont Think So !
Lack Of Strength In Depth ? I Dont Think So !
Tuesday, 14th Dec 2010 10:37

Much has been made of a lack of strength in depth after the defeat on Saturday

The Daily Echo identified Saints problem on Saturday in the defeat to Brentford as due to the fact that we didnt have enough depth in the squad, well I beg to differ.

In this division we have the biggest squad and we also have, on reputation at least the best, we should be able to put out two sides capable of winning promotion, the problem is at the moment we cannot put out one.

For every position we have at least two options, sometimes more, yet ttoo many players seem to be underperforming.

On Saturday we had four out injured or suspended, sadly they were probably the four best performers of recent weeks, however those that came in and replaced them were all capable players in their own right at this level and higher, so although the squad was stretched it still had enough there to cover the problem.

Even after the starting eleven, of the seven on the bench, Bialkowski, Connolly, Harding, Gobern & Martin all have had first team experience leaving only Doble & Dean as rookies, I would say that there is no other team in this division could put out a bench of that experience under normal circumstances, let along a crisis.

No the problem is not one of depth, its one of managing the squad to its potential and Im afraid that just didnt happen on Saturday.

Its not as if it came as a shock that the four were missing, obviously we knew Fonte would be out from the moment the Hartlepool game was off, Chaplow has been on the injury list for three weeks, Barnard we know is carrying a knock and Richardson presuambly has been injured since coming off in the Cheltenham game a fortnight ago, as has lee Holmes we knew the problems well in advance, we were still able to put out a strong side, including the bench.

But given these problems why didnt we recall one or more of those out on loan, perhaps indicative of the situation is Jason Puncheon, a regular starter all season till recently, the moment he is dropped then he is out on loan to Millwall very quickly, should we have recalled him, we could certainly now use him or Joseph Mills for that matter.

Puncheon's departure perhaps suggests that all is not well with certain players in the camp, normally when dropped players at least give in a month or two before starting to make waves, but not in this case, he was gone almost within days, on Saturday it would have been ideal for hm to come on and change the game and force himself back in the side, but clearly he was not interested in doing so, his performances this season were similar in many respects to Rickie Lambert, in the way that he is a shadow of his former self, however he had an immediate impact for millwall and even scored, good players dont become bad ones overnight, why could puncheon suddenly change from being woeful to useful and in a higher division to boot.

Of course Nigel Adkins will be wanting to Mould his squad and perhaps Puncheon is one he didnt fancy, but the situation should have been managed, at the time we let Puncheon out on loan, we knew that several players were carrying knocks, we knew that several were injury prone and others were close to suspension, the clubs best interests needed to be served before that of an individual player and if that meant holding on to him till January when we could evaluate it better than so be it.

Our problems lie in the fact that we have got too many players and too many of them not performing to their ability, five out injured, four on loan and one suspended would have meant most of the clubs in this league playing trainees,probably even asking for a postponement but for Saints it was no where near that bad.

We have to stop making excuses and start winning football matches, our problems lie with individual players performances, no other reason, if they were playing well then they would be winning football matches, but they are not playing well, they look leaderless, unmotivated and lacking in confidence, deal with that and our problems will disapear.                   

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Rednose added 12:55 - Dec 14
Totally agree, the players have got to start wanting this now. I think I understand what managers want to install in their players in regards to confidence and being a cut above the rest, but they must be wary not to get sucked into the hype. The great thing about Saints Fans is we are supportive and get behind the players rather than resorting to booing (you always get the odd few though). I hope that continues, because a lot of the players are not performing at the mo for what ever reason. Therefore if NA is to get the best out of them then they need to know they are wanted and regarded by the Fans as our own. Not sure chanting Southerners is a good thing, cos there’s not that many in the squad. As a southerner myself don’t think I would respond that well (not out of choice) if I was playing for a northern team where the fans chanted Northerners. Sorry blabbering now comes to us all I’m afraid. Any way hope we’re all on good voice on Saturday at Walsall, hope this is the start of a long run of wins, top of the table by Mid Jan 2011? COYR
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eusebio added 13:13 - Dec 14
Puncheon was booed every time he touched the ball and Mills is pants, so they can stay away........we are short of game changers
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1teeminants added 22:57 - Dec 14
Nick you have a very short selective memory !!!! firstly ,forgetting all what Kelvin Davis has done for us over the years and now apart from Brighton and Brentford the team has been slick, performing well at home, first to every ball , dominating games and scoring goals for fun. Are we in a crisis after 2 games ?


oh by the way ....If it wasnt for Kelvin Davis we would have lost against Brighton.

End of.
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SaintNick added 09:43 - Dec 15
Regarding the last comment, Kelvin Davis wasnt mentioned once in this piece, so I dont see the relevance here.

Secondly this article was in response to pieces in other places saying we have a lack of depth, it merely covered the point about the strength of the squad pointing out that its a question of players not performing.

Its easy to look at our home record in the past couple of months and say we are slick and winning every ball, but then look at our last five home games, Tranmere & Dagenham are in the bottom 3, Oldham was a good win, Peterborough were getting slaughtered at that pointand our last two against Brighton and brentford we havent scored a goal.

Away from home we have played 3 and won only at notts county, that only due to a fortuitous sending off and penalty that changed the game, for 70 mins we were awful, Carlisle and Huddersfield we were also poor.

So thats ten points at home from five games and 3 away from 3, given that we need to average 2 points from now to the end of the season to give us any hope of automatic promotion, this is not good enough by a long chalk.

If you want to be factual about Kelvin, ignore isolated incidents like penalty saves and look at his opta stats as i do, 62 shots on target and 18 goals scored, thats a one in three record of shots going in, thats is poor by anyones standards, too many goals this season have been errors in the defence including the goalkeeper and that has to stop

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TheMoog added 10:06 - Dec 15
But he said 'End of'.
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eusebio added 10:37 - Dec 15
"look at his opta stats as i do"

22 men kicking a bag of air...FFS
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bstokesaint added 12:56 - Dec 15
Fear not the results will come. We have easily the best squad in this division. One or two additional matchwinners, or an on-form striker would always be welcome, but the current team can beat anyone if they believe it and can develop a ruthless streak. We don't generally take advantage of early dominance and how often do we score 90th goals? Good teams score plenty of late goals as they feel it is their God given right!
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1teeminants added 21:00 - Dec 15
I prefer to agree with real football people like Dave Merrington who know what theyre talking about. He is always saying what a fantastic keeper he is but hey..... you have your opinions.
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SaintNick added 11:27 - Dec 16
There is an old saying "you dont have to have been a horse to be a jockey" as muchh as i respect Dave Merrington, that doesnt mean i will always agree with him, and your right i do have my opinions, i form them from watching football games not just because a "real" football person tells me
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1teeminants added 19:57 - Dec 16
Me too ........about 1300 saints games approx. never assume anything.
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