Strangely, it wasn't even in the top three tackles on him on the night. A couple of them deserved more, then he reacts like a bitch to a 50/50 on the side line! Ban him!
Movement. That was the main thing lacking tonight. Stephens was getting a bit of a roasting from the crowd when he kept stopping with the ball but all he had in front of him were statues. As soon as they started a run, he went to pick them out.
I think you hit the nail on the head, a lot of our slow play and getting caught in possession was because there was no one in front of them to pass too. Palace had a tight back four with three DMs sat in front of them and gave our forwards and attacking midfielders no space to receive a pass
For the next thread! Saturday 2nd February 2019 15:00 Burnley v Southampton Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
Back from the game and read through the thread. More disappointed in the fans in the ground so easily getting vocally frustrated with our own players than I was with the performance in the end. We didn’t play well, but Palace weren’t letting us either. We kept in the game one way or another and somehow managed to sneak a very valuable point. Saints fans need to be more forgiving and supportive to a team that is working hard to improve, even if it doesn’t always work out. We still lack quality and even the best sides aren’t always consistent. It was a tough matchup against Palace tonight. On to the next one. COYR
Yep, plus our 3 key and best players (Pierre, Redders and Danny) all had probably their worst games of the the season in the the same match.
I'm becoming more and more impressed with our young RB/RWB though, it's a shame that he was sacrificed in the change of formation but that was needed.
I think Ralph salvaged a point from defeat tonight but also don't think our starting formation and tactics were right at the start. Been spending a lot of time on the press and transitioning from there to attack but still look ponderous and lacking in ideas when the oppo are also happy to sit back and hit on the counter. Ralph has got us playing like battlers though and we have won games we werent expected to and drawing games we could have easily lost so we are still on the up. Great to see JWP getting stuck in again, he did it last season in the hour of need and is doing it again. Balls to those who say he's not good enough. He may not be world class but he's more than good enough for Saints.
Think Bednarek has made more saves than McCarthy since Ralph took over...another clearance off the line tonight
