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Saints V West Ham The Verdict
Saints V West Ham The Verdict
Wednesday, 19th Oct 2011 08:30

Saints put in a performance when it mattered to send them five points clear.

This wasnt the perfect performance, but what it was was one from a team that worked hard for each other and thouroughly deserved their victory as a consequence.

The loss of Lallana looked bad enough but most Saints hearts sank when Jack Cork was also missing, strangely on the bench, early doors West ham took a leaf out of Derby's book and went for the jugular and it took a good stop from Kelvin Davis to make sure we didnt find ourself 1-0 down before we had got into our stride, but from then on we found our shape and worked hard.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about the Hammers was that they didnt seem the footballing side that you would expect, what won us the game was our ability to pass and keep possesion, whilst they too often hoofed it up the field.

On the left we were tight, Richard Chaplow fitted in nicely and worked with Danny Fox in a partnership that looked like it had been together for years, either was a candidate for man of the match, Fox in particular showed why we bought him, even those who champion Dan Harding admitted that Fox was the better player, in short he epitomised why Saints are now a good team, he was always available, his control was superb and he rarely misplaced a pass, add to that his delivery from dead ball situations as shown with his corner for the goal and it proved the point that football teams have to keep striving for perfection and a good manager will spot weaknesses that sometimes fans dont see and deal with them.

The goal itself came on the stroke of half time, some would say the perfect time as it doesnt give your opponent time to strike back and it completely changes the direction of the half time team talk from their manager, perfect corner right in the danger area and towering centre half's header.

The second half was as pulsating as the first with both sides having chances, but as the game went on it was Saints that started to look stronger and you felt this wasnt a game they would give up easily.

But this wasnt an emphatic win, it was more a satisfying one, you knew you had watched a game that could have gone either way at any time, it was a contest where every man had to do his duty and stand strong and they did, this is perhaps why it feels like it was a great win and why sometimes 1-0 wins are more satisfying that much bigger scores.

But it wasnt without its moments of lapses of concentration, Saints were lucky to not concede when Jose Fonte completely missed what looked like a routine clearance leaving Baldock through one on one with Davis, the keeper got his angles right and the West ham striker curled it inches wide of our left hand post, it was the sort of lapse Saints have been punished for in the past games, so it was abot time our luc turned.

But perhaps the most nerve jangling moment wa left to virtually the last ten seconds of injury time, Kelvin seemed to bottle collecting a through ball and elected to fly hack it a way, he completely missed his kick and for a second it looked like it would cost us dearly, fortuitously as he fell the ball was close enough for him to grab. This and the Fonte error showed why we need to work on our concentration for the full game and why we need to be tight.

The key to winning this game was team work with every player doing his job, we now have a squad who are doing this, players have bad games and times when things dont go right for them, what stands us out from the rest is our ability to battle through bad patches and players who can turn a bad game into a decent one by their workrate and determination. Thats been their every game, frustratingly though at times its been undone by those lapses in concentration, cut those out and its hard to see a a tam that can beat us.   

I have tried to give this verdict warts and all, but I want to finish on a high, make no bones about it this was a big big win, yesterday i spoke of the need to put pressure on West Ham by keeping them below us and with the five point gap between us and them and indeed the other promotion hopefuls we have a good advantage, we now need to capitalise on it by keeping winning and keeping them chasing, West Ham are the big favourites for promotion in this division and they have the financial clout behind them, the team that finishes ahead of the Hammers wins the title of that I have no doubt, so lets bask in the glory but lets not dwell on it, we need to do it all again on Saturday and keep doing it and we CAN !        

              

Photo: Action Images



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St_Guido added 09:14 - Oct 19
Whose hand is Jos holding?
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LostBoys added 09:26 - Oct 19
I thought we played quite well with only the final ball deserting us and the 'normal' number of chances missed.
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UTS added 09:41 - Oct 19
Good use of photos and Fox has improved recently but still not much between him and Harding.
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BlackRod added 09:46 - Oct 19
This was how the Daily Telegraph saw it:

"Aptly enough, the ground drew a record gate of 32,150; truly, it is becoming an even greater Southampton attraction than the QEII. And little wonder, when Adkins’ team can play so unconvincingly and yet still prevail in this tense battle of the division’s top two."

They go on to say that Saints are emulating Man U in being able to get a result even when they don't play well. Here they have it. If we can reduce the unforced errors we're as good as promoted. If they increase we've got problems. There were certainly a couple of heart stopping moments last night.
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legod7 added 10:04 - Oct 19
I thought Chaplow excelled in his position of left midfield. Man of the match, especially for his performance in the first half alone. Unfairly booked and Adkins was right to take him off straight afterwards, especially the way Nolan was running up to the referee at every oppurtunity to try to influence his decisions.
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simmo400 added 10:25 - Oct 19
A good close game. Thought Saints began a little nervous but west ham did push up very well at the start and closed us down. Fonte does look are weakest player at the back at the moment, which is a big turn around from last season. Hooviet was my man of the match though, his strength against Carew was immense. Also some excellent 40 yard passes was impressive. All the team worked very hard for this victory there is no doubt. For me there is only one choice at left back and that is Danny Fox,has made the position his. A centre forward is a must though in the transfer window any injuries to Lambert or Conolly i think will derail our team. Hopefully Adam will be back soon as we do miss him in the team. A quick mention for De Ridda, is making real claims for first team action now.......very lively coming on.
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SaintNick added 12:43 - Oct 19
I think De Ridder is an impact player, best coming off the bench to run at tiring legs
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hortonsaint added 12:54 - Oct 19
Good review Nick, I thought we saw a really different side to Saints last night in being able to win a game that became all about attrition and desire to fight for the points. I've got to say that I am increasingly impressed with Hooiveld but at times Fonte strugggled again. I understand that partnerships take time to develop but I disagreed with Nick's suggestion that this was the reason for Fonte's form. I feel he is making poor decisions, looking weak and slow at times and I wonder if playing in league 1 where things were generally easy for him has not helped him
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geezershoong added 13:18 - Oct 19
Yep, Fonte has been so weak he's got into the Championship league of the week. Go Figure!

http://www.football-league.co.uk/staticFiles/3f/91/0,,10794~168255,00.pdf
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hortonsaint added 15:33 - Oct 19
I saw he was in that team of the week-baffled
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stevie280 added 15:53 - Oct 19
Good review Nick. Thouroughly enjoyed the game. Most impressive (apart from a hard working performance by all) was Hooiveld, Fox and Chaplow. Would like to see De Ridder feature more, as he adds a different quality asides from just speed, for me anyway. Good to see the team perform without Lallana, although of course it would of been great to have him yesterday. Good stuff.
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1teeminants added 23:09 - Oct 19
Hoovield was my man of the match, terrific display followed closely by Chaplow.
As for Fonte yes he looked a bit shaky at times but i thought he finished the game very strongly with sheer determination.
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wazzosan added 23:24 - Oct 19
I'd much rather win an ugly game 1-0 than lose 4-3 playing fantastic football.

Come on you Saints!
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