Match Day Thread Saints v Newcastle Sunday 15th October 16:00

By the way, anyone know why Hoedt has been dropped? He looked quality in the couple games he played.

 

Compared to whom I would ask? Certainly not the VVD who was here last year. Just my opinion but he was not good. Particularly the start of the second half he was slack Toon almost got a goal right at the off which an enthusiastic VVD could have shut down. He was also partialy responsible for their second goal. Could have done a lot better. 6/10 at best from me.

My initial comment was more a prediction of what we will see than what we saw today. You mark my words young man!

 

I don't disagree at all but I would say that the only times we have played well is when chasing the bloody game. Not guts and confidence to go at it hammer and tongs which is what I find really depressing this past year.

 

Yep, not sure why we had to go a goal down before we started showing a bit of intent, and taking a few risks.

I think at 0-0 we're trying to control the game, and I'm not sure we really have a balanced enough side to that. When we had to chase the game, we looked less comfortable but more threatening.

 

Really? McCarthy is a very capable keeper. He should definitely be given a run in my opinion.

 

I'm a fan of Forster, but I agree. If I were McCarthy I'd struggle to get much job satisfaction at the moment, so an offer from a club with a goalkeeping crisis in January would be tempting. I have only seen him "live" twice, but I liked the look of him. Let's see what he can do.

 

He's already at a club with a goalkeeping crisis.

I feel bad joining the anti FF lynch mob. But that 2nd goal - should probably have caught it first time, should have done way better on the 2nd shot - well it's all happening too often.

 

Footballers surely accept that being dropped is part of the game. Can't see Redmond going into a decline if dropped....it might fire him up. If we couldn't drop players because their delicate confidence would be damaged we'd have 30 of 'em on the pitch. Now there's an idea. The only reasons for a manager to persist with an out of form player is if he sees a plan coming together (i.e. he is thinking long term) or he has no option. I have to say that I have no strong opinion about Redmond as I haven't seen enough live football to comment, but if he needs dropping I wouldn't worry about his confidence suffering.

 

Forster looked good behind a great defence (back four and centre midfield), but has wobbled under Puel and MP2......perhaps under a change in personnel and managerial style (?). Yes, he should have done better with clearing the 2nd goal, but one of our players should have been first to the ball to clear it. Davis showed how you do it be saving our bacon at the end by foreseeing danger, stepping back and clearing off the goal line....simple stuff, but shows what being alert and experienced does for you. Forster has good games in him, but he isn't the quality of some of our past keepers. I have always said that he looks like a man with hormonal problems (that heavy jaw suggest too much growth hormone....think Jaws in the Bond movies)....this makes you big, but certainly doesn't make you agile.

Our recruitment team seem to have preferred to spend the money elsewhere rather than address the goalkeeping issue....never the easiest issue to address. I doubt they will do anything about it in January either. We have to hope that Fraser regains some form and confidence....entirely possible...or the defensive unit as a whole gels better. Regaining the ability to score goals is also useful.

 

Can’t get you with that one.

I’m guessing it’s a case of VVD is back I have to play him/can’t drop the captain.

 

We have higher expectations than in the past....remember Puel got sacked despite a cup final and finishing 8th (yes, it was a tight league in the middle, but 8th is 8th). What I find interesting is that the media is not considering us in crisis....we are not being mentioned for our wonderful/exciting football any more, but the absence of media attention suggests we are seen as a middling team who will still be here next season. Not nice for us as we loved the 'red arrows' comments, but does suggest we may need a sense of perspective. It is possible we are in terminal decline, but it is more likely we have stalled and will pull out of it soon....may I suggest that we need to stick with a manager/keep hold of a manager for a few seasons and see a plan through.

Oh, I don't know....I need another cup of tea.

 

Want to see that a lot more.

 

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-10-15/gallery-saints-newcastle-premier-league

 

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-10-15/video-maya-yoshida-southampton-newcastle-reaction

Have never seen Maya so depressed....feels it very strongly. He certainly feels that the team didn't give its best.

 

Has Maya captained an entire premier league match before? I know he captained matches in pre season but can't remember Davis not starting in the PL.

If this is his first full captaincy, I can understand him taking it hard.

 

I wasn't sure whether to write about Redmond, Tadic or our style of play in general. Pedestrian, profligate and pointless seems to cover all three.

MP really needs to drop all three.

 

I wouldn't drop Tadic, though he missed two good chances so profligate is probably fair comment. He's still the player most likely to unlock defences though.

I've defended Redmond elsewhere on the board so I won't repeat myself. Happy enough to see Boufal start in his place though.

As for our style of play, it's still not clear what the coach wants from the team really. We need to give him time to get his ideas across, & accept that he might not have the raw material to get quick results. I suspect he wants us to control games, but when we look in control we don't look threatening, so something has to change.

There were definite signs of progress yesterday. And at least the 2nd half was entertaining - we haven't really been that for a while.

 

Can't believe for one minute that Manalo actually said, "happy for the brace...."

 

I find it somewhat hard to accept that successive managers have asked our wide attacking players to - put your foot on it, don't release it quickly, look up eventually, beat the same player on multiple occasions, don't look for runners and be sure to slow the game down to the degree where any danger we have created is nullified. Mrs Tadic probably has to let Dusan into his own house at the moment.

So yes, MP is not to blame but if he persists with players bang out of form and with an approach that dulls our own edge he soon will be.