It really should have been a victory, but one small slip up and its another two points dropped, but there were many plus points to still take.

Nigel Adkins took some risks for once, whether they were the desperate acts of a man under pressure of his own calculated choices we will prehaps never know, but he freshened up the team and it looked good for it.

Once we had gone a goal up we never looked like losing the lead, until that is we actually did, having had the benefit of seeing the goal again on television, I have to say this, although some will blame Gazzaniga and it cant be doubted that if he had wellied it up field the ball would have been right up the pitch and the goal wouldnt have happened, this is unfair, this is the Premier League at this level its perfectly acceptable for a goalkeeper to play a ball to a defender and expect him to be able to deal with it, Yoshida who had a decent game otherwise, could have easiily controlled it, if he felt he was under pressure then he had plenty of time to clear it upfield himself.

The other talking points surrounded Adam Lallana , sadly he is getting a reputation for going down too easily in the box and like Luis Suarez, he now has to be virtually steamrollwered before he gets a penalty, in fairness to the ref though, in the first half he got it dead right, the second incident with the benefit of tv shows that again it wasnt a penalty, although it was harsh booking Lallana who cant be expected to stay on his feet every time he is tackled, sadly his reputation with this ref was now going before him, that was very much the case with the third incident when Monk clearly blocked off Lallana, in any other area of the pitch this would have been a free kick, OK at least obstruction, but it was in the box and the referee was clearly swayed by the fact that he felt Lallana was diving.

We really should have got three points, but this was not to be, however it was a good all round display by Saints, the spirit appeared to be back and there is hope for the future but its going to be tough make no doubt about it.

My only worry was our lack of substitutions, only one made Fox for a clearly tiring Shaw, a good tactical decision and Fox added something going forward in the final minutes, but why didnt we sling on another sub in the final minutes, Ramirex playing two games in quick succession after six weeks out looked dead on his feet and although he showed it less Cork was tiring having not played all season, why didnt we throw on mayuka for a bit of pace, or ven as we had a corner in injury time throw on Rodriguez who is strong in the air, Im just a little disapointed that we didnt try to do something that might have snatched those extra couple of points.

verall though it was a good display, defensively we were a little better, although at times we still got carved open down the left with Lallana pushing too far forward and getting caught on the break, but we got away with it, but as we found out, even one defensive error is one too many i this division.       

Photo: Action Images

landsdownsaint added 11:59 - Nov 11 It was so obvious yesterday that Ramirez loves slipping a pass inside the defenders,a pass that is wasted with Lambert! Ramirez with Mayuka is the way forward IMO,
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131153 added 12:32 - Nov 11 Once again no denying disapointment in dropping two points.One mistake again, I haven't seen Dyers goal again on TV but thought on balance the mistake was Yoshida's rather than the keeper. After that I never thought they threatened and did not feel we would end up losing. Where do we go from here, I thought Cork made a big difference and Shaw made a decent debut, it will be interseting to see how he copes over the next few games bearing in mind his age. I have a feeling that was Morgan's fifth booking so won't be available against QPR. This really is the biggest game of the season so far and I feel a draw would be a good result. As regards the manager I find the speculation quite incredible. NC clearly does not speak to the press, so the press who are used to having good connections in PL clubs seem to feel the need to write about something and this seems to feed a very active and vivid imagination. It seems as NC has an Italian mindset he must be thinking of replacing NA with an Italian therefore they write Di Canio or Vialli are in the frame. So far he has replaced a Dutchman wih two Englishmen, clearly a background of supporting Italian managers!! I had the opportunity of spending two hours with NC last November at dinner with another dozen or so other supporteers, my overidding impression was he was going to do it his way and furthermore expects to suceed. Having said that I thought at the time there would be some caualties on the way, so it has proved.

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legod7 added 12:56 - Nov 11 Nick, Fox for a tiring Shaw was a like for like substitution. I think NA kept virtually the same team on for the 90 minutes because they looked like getting the second goal. Look what happened when he changed a winning team against Man Utd.
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slynch added 13:25 - Nov 11 Rather optimistic for you Nick. I thought Swansea were the worst team I've seen this year. Which is good news of sorts. They constantly gave the ball away and showed little skill and strength in going forward. Saints' back 4 were little tested and when the were the frailties were there to see but not exploited. For their goal Yoshida lost control too easily but in reality he shouldn't have been standing there, he is a centre back, where was left back? Again, lack of shape with players wandering off and not returning to their primary roles was to blame. Just previous to that a Swansea forward blazed a shot over the bar from the edge of the area with Spiderman nowhere to be seen. Had my Grandma been playing upfront for Swansea Saints would have lost 2 -1. But hey! We're not bottom!! And QPR next. Now they must be really cr@p!

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StSaint added 15:30 - Nov 11 Good summary that Nick. Call it blind optimism, but we are definitely getting better and whilst it sounds incorrect after the mix up for their goal - more solid as well. Hopefully Cork will help and if we keep improving we could well continue to drag ourselves out of trouble. Fingers crossed.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 16:07 - Nov 11 What a hugely dissapointing game. After going a goal up and looking more likely to get the 2nd, another schoolboy error cost us 2 points. How important could those points be at the end of the season? Gazza should've pumped that ball up the pitch. If in doubt, put your foot through it. But instead he played an awful ball to Yoshida, who also should've looked to pump it instead of control it. A lack of experience all round in that mess. Swansea were poor and were there for the taking. I'm convinced that if we hadn't conceeded that awful goal then we'd have gone on to win comfortably. Jack Cork was excellent in the centre. We've really missed him so far this season. So good on ball, composed, picks the right pass and helps us control the game and build attacks. He works well with Schneiderlin as well. Luke Shaw did ok. He had a couple of dodgy moments defensively and a few of his crosses were dissapointing but apart from that he did well. Clyne is improving with every game. Puncheon did quite well but should've been swapped towards the end for Mayuka. Fonte and Yosh were solid enough for the majority, only a couple of wobbly moments. Not that Swansea tested them that much though. Fonte's long balls forward to Lambert was our most effective combination. Lambert won a lot in the air and we got a few chances from that route. Ramirez has a lot of class but misplaced a few passes and tired in the 2nd half. Why Adkins didn't take him off I don't know! Lallana gave 100% as always and nearly made the breakthrough on a few occasions. He was unlucky to be booked but he is lightweight and it doesn't take much for him to go down. Massive game v QPR next week. Again, if we can stop the stupid errors and keep solid then we are capable of going there and getting all 3 points. We're not far from being a decent Premiership team. Just need to be better at the back and stop giving away cheap goals!

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schatfield added 16:51 - Nov 11 I watched the match on tv, but one thing surprised me was how quiet St Marys is now. Has it been like that all season? It was like the team were playing in a library, in fact you could hear the away fans more times.
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IanRC added 19:38 - Nov 11 Whist Gazzinga was not blameless, it appeared to me that Yoshida was mostly at fault for the equaliser. More positively if the referee had done his job we would have won comfortably. For my money having watched the incidents several times the last 2 Lallana incidents were both penalties, the bookings was farcical. For the second time in two matches we were hard done by the officials. The inclusion of Cork and the decision not to play Lambert out of position to accommodate Rodriguez resulted in us looking much better going forward.

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SaintNick50 added 21:19 - Nov 11 Re schatfield's comments re the support. I am truly amazed and proud at the support given, in the attendances and the positive way the fans always respond. The reception we gave Nigel Atkins before the match sent an important message. Unfortunately TV doesn't always give the right impression. TOGETHER AS ONE!
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landsdownsaint added 22:00 - Nov 11 On another note ,I saw quite a few Japenese students at the last couple of games with 2 always sat in front of me, that will make NC very happy I should imagine!
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ElSanto added 00:37 - Nov 12 I agree with landsdownsaint. Mayuka might be an interesting replacement for Lambert in that team.
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ElSanto added 00:40 - Nov 12 I also think Clyne has the potential to be world-class.
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TreeHugger added 07:23 - Nov 12 Very frustrating to not to take the 3points. I thought we looked much harder to break down in midfield. GM gave the ball away a few times but he still adds that extra bit of class. Cork made a massive difference and Morgan had another good game. I think Dyer deserves a mention for his positive talk about Southampton and his non celebration. Although he left, he showed a lot of appreciation for his development. Still feel it was a mistake to let him go. Could really use a winger who can beat their man and whip a cross in. Lambert is not getting much service from out wide, mainly through the middle which isn’t his game really. QPR is now a huge game and the fans will need to get behind them again. Win or lose the support has been great so far this season.

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Sanguin added 10:50 - Nov 12 The addition of Cork made our side a lot more defensive and we looked a lot better for it. Putting someone like Davis on would have made our midfield a bit more attacking but I don’t think Adkins was necessarily wrong to not make any further substitutions. We were on the front foot for most of the second half and any changes may have upset that balance. You could see Lallana working harder to track back to cover Shaw but I’m sure it impacted on his energy levels later in the game. Swansea barely pushed down our right flank at all so I think they were targeting Shaw’s lack of experience. Shaw coped well and looks like he has decent pace too. I don’t think he would have lasted until the end against a fresh-legged Nathan Dyer though. Roll on QPR!

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Pecky3 added 10:53 - Nov 12 Performance wise that was a great improvement on Saturday. For me, Jack Cork made a big difference and was my Man of the Match. Cork's enthusiasm was a great example and with Ramirez obviously a class player the midfield seemed fine. I would question playing Lamebert alone upfront as he was usually marked by two defenders. I would also like to Mayuka given a chance at least as sub. I was proud of the team's efforts - just a shame the ref didnt give us at least one penalty decision - for me we should have had two!

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michaeljoycetf added 11:54 - Nov 12 I would agree on the whole with the Verdict summary, it was a very fair and accurate account of the match. However I tend to disagree with some of the posts and with those who are of the opinion that Swansea were poor. They are in fact a classy well organised side who play some of the most beautiful football in the league, as their results over the last few seasons indicate. I would prefer to give Saints due credit for breaking up their fluent passing game and showing a style of their own driven by skill and determination. For us, Saturday's game was a moral victory. I would like to think that there is more to us than our recent results show. Next weeks game against QPR will sort the men from the boys and I expect a similar performance. QPR also a decent side who for one reason or another, like ourselves, have had results go against them will believe that they can beat us.

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bstokesaint added 13:09 - Nov 12 I agreed totally with Michaeljoycetf. Swansea were made to look poor by a much improved Saints' side. Maybe the team don't get all the credit they deserve sometimes. I'd still like to see Kelvin back between the sticks. I haven't seen anything from either of the other two keepers to suggest they are any better. I know that there are a lot of fans out there hoping this is the case so much that they actually believe it. Those near post errors have cost Kelvin dear, but I'd still take his experience any day of the week. I feel for Lallana. Last Monday night he got slammed on MNF for not making going down and making enough of his penalty claim by the pundits. This week he does and gets booked for diving. I don't think this is necessarily a reputation he has developed, but just inconsistency with referees. And we all know that when you're bottom of the league these decsions don't go your way. It was great to see Jack Cork back at the weekend. He's a class act. I also rate Davis, but they're different players and it gives us good options off the bench to be able to bring one of them on to play with Schneiderlin. I really can't fault Adkins for the last match. It's disappointing, but it does feel like we're ready to turn a corner with Ramirez and Cork back in the side, so long as we don't tinker too much. With regards to the atmosphere I thought the fans were great. There seemed like plenty of noise and support to me.

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felly1 added 15:19 - Nov 12 Definitely feel Nigel should have brought on Mayuka for Punch . Lambert is a big player for us but lacks the turn of pace and mobility that would and should be exploiting Ramirez's through balls.
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davepid added 21:54 - Nov 12 The keeper was at fault with Swansea's goal - that was the unaminous verdict of MoTD and on this occassion they were right. Yos had every right to expect that ball not to come back to him . This was my first game at St Marys this season and have to say we didnt sing our hearts out compared to recent seasons. Overall I agree there were positives to be taken and it is still early days relatively before we panic. But was I alone in noticing that Swansea were allowed to play some pretty long balls to each other in mid field without a challenge from our mid field. Better teams would have turned those to attacking advantage.

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