Match Day Thread Saints v West Ham - K.O. 3pm Saturday 19th August

Not sure if it's just me, but I get the feeling that Spam think (or feel) that they should be so much better than us. They'e not, and haven't been for some time.

 

100% a pen. Was right in front of me.

 

West Ham are a good side. They will do fine this season.

Are they better than us. No. Because we won. 3-2. Ha.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40987820

Pellegrino's view of the game. Sorry, Claude, but it is nice to have interviews worth listening to. Mauricio thought it was harder for us against 10 men as we lost something.

 

I really regretted my sarcastic post as Austin walked up to take the pen, if Hart had saved it . . . . . . .

 

We are better than West Ham...that may be as good as they can get, but we can play a lot better. Not prejudiced at all.

 

Trying to upload my vid of the pen but can't for some reason

 

We need to get Van Dijk back playing in this team. And possibly a new keeper.

Fonte was excellent for them 2nd half, and showed us what we are missing, having lost both him and VvD - and wtf is he doing at West Ham?

Zabaleta had Redmond completely in his pocket.

We got outmuscled by a very physical side.

Gabbiadini is an absolute class act.

Tadic actually looked like he gave a ****. One of his better performances, attitude wise anyway.

We're not far off being a decent side.

 

Mauricio has a touch of the Wengers....he couldn't see the penalties or the red card. Obviously not daft enough to comment if there is even the smallest chance of being wrong on the replay.

 

But he cannot fit in that first 11. You can't really complain about having key players missing or unfit if all of them would not fit in one team. Carroll, Kouyate and Lanzini would not all fit in with Arnautovic, Antonio and Hernandez as well

 

I had absolute confidence in Charlie.

If Tadic had of picked the ball up, I'd have left the stadium without waiting for him to take it. No way he was scoring two pens

 

Well we will not be getting a new keeper after giving Forster a contract extension. And no one will want him off of us either

 

Anyone watched much of Hoedt? How good do you think he can be?

 

Have we signed him yet?

 

Woohoo we won!!!

 

Yeah I was just saying to someone on the way out - we're nearly very good.

A word for that strike by Manolo in the second half too.

 

The game was a total contrast from last week's match against Swansea. West Ham looked the better side until we scored with Southampton coming out of the traps bit slow. After the second goal we should have killed the game off, especially against ten men but with West Ham pulling one back before half time, the initiative seemed to have been lost.

There were a few positives for Saints. Davis was, once again, excellent in midfield and demonstrated why his name must be one of the first on the team sheet. definitely a player who makes the Saints tick. The new signing Mario Lamina seemed to come under some criticism on the radio by Dave Merrington and I see that there are a few negative comments on this thread. For me, he looks a solid, defensive-minded player and someone who certainly looks like he will provide some added steel to the midfield. I thought he looked pretty good. I wasn't so enamoured by Redmond and Cedric, the latter's crossing being poor. Redmond is a difficult player to make up your opinion about. There are flashes of brilliance but also moments where I feel he flatters to deceive. I made the same point last week but ,again, Jack Stephens looks like a quality player and Yoshida had another good game. I quite like the fact that Maya sometimes gets forward. Both central defenders look to have raised their game and it would be unfair on recent performances in 2017 if either were to be dropped.

Regarding West Ham, two defeats in two games deflects from the fact that this is a good side. I think they earned a draw and were unfortunate not to be awarded the penalty for handball. Considering they had ten men, they were by far the best team in the second half and, at 2-2, there was the impression that Hernandez might get a hat-trick and steel the game. Antonio looks a far bulkier player than the diminutive winger who played for us and he looked a handful. He is a player who has grown in stature to become a class act. I would think that West Ham have a good enough squad and ability to perform in adverse situations to finish in the top half of the table. Come May, this 3-2 victory will look like a very good result indeed and I feel that the Hammers will soon get their season up and running. Their performance deserved a draw but, following the absence of excitement last season, an injury time winner for the Saints is something that it even sweeter to savour.

 

Austin thought the pen was 50:50. Great for us, but wouldn't have been happy if it was against us.

 

Probably. He's not terrible anyway, but he should have either caught the first one, or pushed it past the post. Couldn't really tell if he was to blame for the second.

It's just that I can't see a back 3 of Forster, Yoshida and Stephens keeping too many clean sheets.

 

And the one by Redomond was pretty good too!