From watching the game, I thought the ref let them off being quite physical. A lot of obvious fouls, which in the prem would have been bookings just let off.
We were poor today. Got away with it really. But it was an experimental lineup, with a lot of key players missing. Plus Redmond will grow in confidence, and the replay will get PEH back for Everton, so it’s not all bad. Plus, we’re still in the cup
He might if we didn't rotate and Redmond's hamstring went ping. I was relieved that Romeu sat today out - the amount of running he did on Wednesday was insane. I would start him in the replay though with Pierre now available against Everton on the 19th.
I don’t think we were as poor as some say. We didn’t set the world on fire, yet other than the 3 minute brain fart, and the very last minute, we were pretty much holding them at arms length for the entire game. Yet again too many of our problems stem from having forwards that cannot link play or retain possession. It must be so frustrating for midfielders and wing backs to bust a gut to get forward in support, only to see the ball given away and then launched into space behind them, putting pressure on the back line. Still feeling positive.
To be fair to Ralph, I think this is exactly what he is doing, and we may of seen his strongest lineup. No doubt he will want to strengthen if possible this month. Part of this process though is trying the youngsters which you seem to be happy with? I'm sure it's been said, but the resting/rotation over Xmas was a necessity due to a combo of fixtures and new (fitter) regime fatigue.
Yep, nowhere near a disasterous match for us with a few positives too. Derby are only 8 league positions behind us and were at home and and I never thought that this was a given for us today. I watched both Derby's goals again and nobody was at fault for either, they were well worked and really good finishes, in fact my biggest disappointment was Mo El's missed sitter by far, he could've literally put it anywhere else and have scored.
To an extent, but I don’t feel he was in control of the ball at the point. I would have been pissed off if that went against us.
I guess if you were with the rest of the Saints fans you may have seen it that way. I was sat to the right of that about in line with the 18yds line and it looked like he tried to go round him and the Derby player just barged him
