Can't argue with the thrust of that Doc, although I don't think I would have given O'Brien as many as 2 points.Dr.Leeds wrote:Very poor opener.
Lonergan 7 Made two very good saves. Looks decent on crosses. Beaten by three perfectly placed shots.
Connolly 5 Did nothing of note really. Wasted plenty of possession with poor passing.
Kisnorbo 6 Doesn't look sharp but didn't do a lot wrong to be fair.
O'Brien 2 Had an absolute shocker. At fault for all three goals. Gave attackers several yards before even starting to move and then had the turning circle of a cow.
O'Dea 5 Looks halfway decent having only been at the club for a day. Like Connolly wasted our wide possession and took the worst free kick ever.
Snodgrass 4 Long way off the pace. Was so easily closed down had no chance to do anything positive.
Clayton 6 Anonymous first half but looked a championship player in the second. Battled pretty well and won a (harsh) penalty.
Brown 4 Neutralised himself with silly needless fouls and dissent early on. Southampton's falling over tactics and a ref who could only see backing in at one end of the pitch didn't help but Brown played right into their hands.
Howson 6 One or two decent forward runs in the first half and a crucial run back in the second but failed to influence the game.
Gradel 7 Effectively closed down for the first 20 minutes or so but took players on well. Tried to make a few crosses which is a start I guess. Should have won a penalty much earlier and let frustration get the better of him. Took the penalty well.
McCormack 5 Ran and chased but easily bullied off the ball.
Paynter 4 Wonderfully timed run for his chance but blew an easy finish. Did very little after that.
Nunez 6 Certainly enlivened the game. Ran well and a few good touches and passes.
Sam 6 Looked much sharper than Snodgrass and should have replaced him earlier.
Oh well. We have as many points as we had at this point last season and our goal difference is only one worse...
Having slept on it, I'm trying to find some crumbs of comfort from that debacle.
Brown - maybe, just maybe, the fact that he's an ex Portsmouth player and Southampton are their biggest rivals contributed to the red mist that was on him from the first minute. I know the referee was poor, but Brown gave him every opportunity to blow for free kicks, and he looked more like a raw 17 year old than a "wise old head" of 34. I'll give him a couple of games to see if he can change, but if he continues like he did yesterday then he's going to be a complete liability. He certainly isn't, on yesterday's showing, the answer to our DM problem - how I wish we had Doyle or Derry back!
Paynter - I've been trying to work out what on earth Larry sees in him and the answer came in a blinding flash; he must look brilliant in training because he's up against our defence. There again, I'd back Jo to look good against that defence.
Lonergan - blameless for all 3 goals, made a couple of blinding saves that saved us from complete humiliation.
That's as far as I've got in trying to be optimistic about our chances this season
PMSL!
