That was....okay. Verging on pretty good. All we need is a witch doctor to lift the curse on St Mary's and we'll be fine. Disappointed not to win as tbh Swansea had nothing up top and never really threatened, but credit to Paul Lambert who set them up well to stifle us through the middle. Was watching Gabbi a lot in the game - he makes so many little darting runs that nobody seems to be finding. Must be really frustrating for him. Was surprised that Dusan/JWP and Nathan never swapped wings? Nathan was constantly on the left. Boufal looked sparky when he came on. Their number 56 - young kid that came on in the second half (and finally got booked) was a chippy little so-and-so. Big lump too. All in all, a lot of positive signs, and I'm very sure it will come good in time, but yes, two points dropped as well.
I agree with Schad about our lack of goals from midfield. I'd be tempted (particularly in this sort of home game against poorer sides) to play Austin instead of either Tadic or JWP, with Gabbiadini nominally playing on the right but free to drift inside a lot. Then we'd at least have two players in the side who can finish. Austin would also lead the line - if you look at the average position of our players today Gabbiadini was deeper than Redmond, JWP and Tadic. I'd probably drop Davis for Lemina as well on the basis that Lemina suits that position better but then again in this sort of game you may only need one DM. Would need to see more of Lemina before I really decide on that.
I thought that on gabbi. Movement was excellent and the CBs couldn't follow him, but the other players weren't on the same wavelength
He was killing them with his movement. We just weren't passing him the ball. He kinda gave up on those runs about ten mins before MP2 took him off, so I wasn't surprised when his number went up.
Well everyone else only wants to focus on positives for some reason. Surely negatives are more important because thats what you're actually doing wrong.
I went all Swansea did was come for the point. Yeah we could have done better, but apart from the lack of goals I am liking what I see. Btw we have never won our first game of the season apparently
I kinda get what you're saying, but actively searching for negatives is odd and not especially useful. The baseline today was good, and there's areas to work on for sure, but I didn't especially see negatives (like a CB that can't run, or a GK that looked unsteady). We looked solid. Let's build up from there.
That is a massive point for Swansea because if they play as bad as that all season they wont get many more. How that game finished 0-0 amazed me and we should have had the match out of sight by the first half if it wasn't for the defender managing to get whatever part of their anatomy in the way. I was disappointed with the result because the performance warranted a win. The pace slowed down in the second half but the possession stats must have been seriously dtacked in our favour not to mention the attempts ongoal. I lost count of the number of corners we had. The two positives were JWP and Stephens. I thought the former had one of the best games I have seen him play for ourselves and he looked out most dangerous player. It was a shame that he went off. Stephens also seems to be maturing in to a player suited to this level of football. In addition, Redmond and Bertrand linked up well together. I was less impressed with Gabbi who drifted in and out of the game but a new forward has got to be a priority.
JWP looked pissed off at being subbed actually (well, as pissed off as he's likely to look!) Bit harsh on Gabbi as he really was starved of service (also credit to Swans there as they sat deep and concentrated on making that final ball as hard as possible to pull off). We need a link man more than a striker imho.
We can't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. We know. However, we do appear to have created several chances. And it's the first game of the season, under a new manager. I'll start worrying when it's September and we haven't scored.
Just got back. Not unhappy as a first game and it is clear that some things have changed. In particular, there was much less negative and aimless side to side passing and everyone seemed to be trying to peel off their markers to give an option for a forward ball. There was only a couple of passes back to Forster and these were sensible, rather than simply a lack of imagination. The end of last season there were so few chances and this was more like the start, with many chances not converted, but here is where the stats lie; headers and shots missing two foot past the woodwork presumably don't count at a shot on target, but there were plenty of them today. I liked to see us pressing high up the pitch, even if we were caught on the break occasionally. All in all, I can't be too down. That was a pretty good performance, just lacking a goal, is all.
To be fair to Saints it's made much more difficult when playing against a side as unambitious as Swansea. Yeah it's away but they were such a negative side. Will go down this season.
Little wrong with that performance. Very good, and miles better than Swansea were. But shock horror, we still can't score. Given our entire transfer dealings to-date have been signing a CD and a DM, I'm not sure that anyone should have been expecting any difference. With Swansea missing their attack, 0-0 was always a fair bet. The transfer window last summer was a disaster. We've got three weeks left to try and ensure that it's not almost as bad again this year. As I said earlier this week, if we're not going to spend current funds on strengthening our attack, then I absolutely want us selling Virgil for top dollar so that we can spend those funds instead. (Stephens was excellent again btw)
Nice one! I'm pleased with the point, considering how wasteful you were in front of goal, and with Siggy and Llorente out of our team, all the best for the season..........
