Just watched the highlights and it reminded me of something I started to mention, during the game, before being distracted by either the first goal or the penalty. Body language. The number of times the shoulders slump, followed by a pained facial expression when the slightest thing goes against them, needs to be seriously looked at. It’s the sort of thing that can have a negative impact on everyone, giving the impression that nothing is going right, and can create a “Why the f*** are we bothering” type of mindset. One simple example was when Lemina blocked a cross, which span off him for a corner. His shoulders dropped, he looked on the verge of crying, yet seemed to be ignoring the obvious. He had stopped the ball from going into a dangerous area and should have been buoyed up by that and by his teammates. Positivity and togetherness will play a big part in deciding which team survives, and I really want to see more of it, especially when we are unlucky or make an error.
The first 35mins or so were awful for this, there was also quite a bit of squabbling and moaning going on. I think it was only after putting a few passes together ourselves some positive attitudes were more evident. Such are the fine margins of success. One of our relegation 'competitors' fans were saying how glad they were we won 'cos it means we'll be distracted from the relegation fight. They vastly underestimate the effects on morale and team bonding a win brings. Better than a week in Miami in my view.
Totally agree Greensaint. Usually I prefer our rivals to stay in the comps, because it reduces recovery time & can add to injury/suspensions. But, as we have not pushed ourselves at all this season, it feels like we need games to give our squad a work out & a togetherness. We also need wins to give them confidence & understanding. Yesterday was perfect for that. It also showed the bottom six that there's a new guy in town, & we no longer want a safe, don't lose 1-1's, we are ready to fight for our place in this league. Lets just hope the previous 30 games hasn't damaged us catastrophically.
This was one of the first points I made about Sparky, and hopefully was responsible for the more direct approach in the second half yesterday. At the risk of repeating myself, strikers turned Saints managers are exceedingly rare in our history, and Hughes is only the 3rd in my lifetime (Bates and Sturrock the others). He will hopefully be drilling the strikers on getting in the right positions, making runs, and pulling defenders around at set pieces (see Højbjerg’s goal for an example of this), and getting the midfielders to spot the runs and pass forward early (see Redmond’s through ball to Gabbi which resulted in the penalty). On Carrillo, I have watched the whole game a couple of times now, and despite his few good touches I think his main problem is lack of fitness. He looks like losing a few pounds and working on a few fast sprints in training will improve his sharpness. Hughes’ stepped-up training sessions should benefit him enormously.
i think the weather was having a big impact. It might explain why the team playing from east to west was very much on top. But look that 2nd half was brillliant and has given everyone connected to saints from the players to the fans a massive boost and can only help with the preps for the big escape !
I said at HT that I was very thankful that it was a cup game (with the scoreline still 0-0) than a league game. We can't afford to waste any time in the league growing and settling and bonding.
Did anyone else notice that the reason Dan Burn, who was at the near post for the corner from which Højbjerg scored, didn’t block the shot was because he had both arms wrapped around Jack Stephens?
Well he has filled me with optimism, And if we stayup.. Am more than happy with him long term.. He will be full of energy and motivation, Not to mention has the players that he missed out on previously. I feel he could do a very good job here! UTS!
Did you notice Jack having a laugh and joke with Dan Burn after the final whistle too? http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/sa...res_from_Saints__triumph_over_Wigan/#gallery0
Yes, and I also noticed Højbjerg having what looked like a few scathing words with Chey Dunkley, until they decided to shake hands.
The problem with having a centre back as a manager is that he thinks being fit enough to trot up and down the pitch a few times during the game applies to all the other positions too!
That was with Morsey originally, he and Pierre were at it a bit. Stemmed from Pierre wading some time at a free kick towards the end.
