Match Day Thread Southampton VS Huddersfield: 23/12/17 - 15:00 Midtable Teams Doing Midtable Stuff

He did it a couple of times yesterday, although he did do quite a lot of the backward passing we know and love as well. Definitely his best game this season. And yes, Charlie absolutely had to score there!

 

A reasoned post. My only point of debate is the one about not creating chances under Puel. I read somewhere that we were 7th in chances created but somewhere near the bottom for chances converted. The football may have been a tad dull at times but from where I sat you could see Puel getting very frustrated at yet another sideways pass when there was the possibility of a more attacking one.

 

The problem with Redmond today is that he must have been 1 on 1 with a defender about 5 or 6 times, a couple of times he just slowed the play down and nothing came of it, a couple of times he knocked it wide and then couldn't cross it because he's one footed and even once got one on one from the keeper but was too wide to put a good effort in. and then finally he got a good break and made something of it. If Redmond was Mane i think we would have won that by 2 or 3 goals. his confidence did seem to grow as the match went on though.

But again, i just don't think he's suited to cutting inside like Mane or Rodriguez and would rather stay on the wing.

 

It is absolutely worth highlighting Redmond for the way he set up Austin. It was very good play from him, and just what we want. He did nothing wrong - the fact that we didn't score was down to Charlie. So Nathan gets a big thumbs up from me for that.

But equally, it should not be ignored that only 5 minutes or so earlier, Redmond was in a near identical position to break, and instead ran towards the corner flag. It was as if we were 1-0 up in injury time, and he was heading for the corner to time-waste. He made zero attempt to run towards the goal; zero attempt at trying to take on the isolated Huddersfield defender.

 

Wasn't that the two Ronnies ?

 

There are some sensible points in this post. The Yoshida header against the post was just in front of me and it was extremely close. Austin's earlier miss was, if anything, even closer and he should have scored - even if there was a good argument that he was fortunate to stay on the pitch.

However, I would have to argue that our goal came against the run of play and , in that opening quarter, we were fortunate not to concede ourselves with some dreadful defending and only Fraser there to save our blushes. The problem for me in the two most recent matches is that I have not seen substitutions or tactical changes being employed to facilitate an improved performance. The two Huddersfield substitutions rejuvenated their performance and ultimately brought the goal. We seem unable to identify how to remedy things when the tactics don't work and the persistence in picking underperforming layers and dropping ones who make a good impression is an underlying trend. Granted Huddersfield have been a surprise package but Vin's post is, in opinion, perhaps too generous. Saints should have done better.

 

I watched the game (not live) and all I'll say it was a frustrating Saints team again that looked like it had been picked from a hat.

Unfortunately I can't see what will change, and I can also see almost every other team trying harder to improve their squads in January...except us because the powers that be think we're good enough already.

We had decent spells yesterday, and a few good chances but so did Huddersfield so it was a bit of a case that 1 - 1 was the fair result. I just hoped for better, and was unsurprised and disappointed when better didn't arrive..

I'm not in meltdown mode, just resigned to a second half of the season pretty much the same as the first half. MP2 isn't good enough, but I also don't know who we bring in instead. I wanted Puel to stay so was underwhelmed when MP2 arrived, I wanted better striking options in the summer so was disappointed in August and don't see any radical transfer policy changes on the cards.
Our position is now that there aren't an obvious 3 teams significantly worse than us, so we'd better not get any more complacent that the "Southampton Way" is anything other than a management soundbite.

Saying all that, I'm usually optimistic so I might be able to replace my neg head, but realistically, I think it's going to be a grind until May and hopefully we'll stay up

 

Fair enough Brendy but as I said I hadn’t seen the 90 minutes, so didn’t see that. That was the two first time I’ve seen him go by a defender for a while, so I thought it worth highlighting in all the gloom.

 

Probably so.

I would clarify on a factual point that Schindler's header was actually saved by our scapegoat so might be considered to be at least mildly positive.

Vin

 

He's not available , so it wont happen . However if he was , would any of you have Nigel back ?

 

Not for me Jasper, lovely bloke and all, but I think he'd hit his ceiling last time and isn't the one to come in and motivate a squad he has no connection to.

 

Fair enough . Don't know myself , but usually these things don't work out !

 

God no.

 

Agreed with you here Ian, though mildly confused that Charlie’s strike that went past the post was closer than Yoshi’s header that hit the post!

 

Have to disagree on that one. The pass from Redmond was hit with too much pace and forced Charlie to take a touch to control the ball. This allowed the keeper the chance to close the angle and gave him much less to aim at.

A harsh critique perhaps, but this is the top level of the game and that pass over 5-10 yards should have been good enough for a first time strike

 

You're right but I remember(I think) M Python did it b4 them.

By the way HAPPY CHRISTMAS to each and everyone of you friend and foe.
COYR( please)

 

Ah right . Was not aware it had been done before .

Hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas

 

It's hard to have a discussion when the positive arguments about Saints at the moment are wonkish, long term and only indirectly connected to what's happening on the pitch. So not easy to discuss in the 24 hours after each match when most people are online.

I'm lucky enough not to watch every week now, so I listen to the people who do, but it makes me more interested in the other stuff. What's going to change with a new owner? What's the strategy, why has it changed? What should we do next month, then in the summer? What are other teams doing and why is that good/bad? What's the role of our manager? It's complicated, doesn't change every week, and probably boring to most other people. But those kinds of questions are what make me feel ok about where we are going.

As for Pellegrino, I don't totally understand why he's unpopular, but that's because I don't watch much. One argument is whether our squad is underperforming. Most think yes, but there is a serious danger of Shane Long being our lone striker in two days. To me, our issues are all in the squad, but MPs reputation might be unsalvageable. (if we do nothing, we will stay up, please stop worrying about that)

 

Not for me.

Nige will return if we get relegated at any point in the next 5/10 years and need someone to get us back up.

 

“If we do nothing, we will stay up” - no, you definitely haven’t watched us much recently! That’s a hugely dangerous supposition.