Match Day Thread Brighton v Saints Saturday 24th August 3pm

Just seen highlights - two good goals. Good to see Djenepo and Boufal with early contributions this season.

Anyone see Gunn when Brighton hit the post in 2nd half - he turned away from the ball as if he was scared! Really poor keeping

 

That’s optimistic. I feel like it’s way more likely you’re going to get Obafemi, Elyounoussi and Long instead. But don’t worry, Moi will get two assists to give Long a brace.

 

Just watching a full length replay of today's match and the crowd are currently booing young Valery whose only crime is to receive a crunching tackle. I guess they didn't see it close up. I have three times and it got worse with every view. No wonder Kevin Frend went straight for the Red.

 

Valery was so lucky to avoid serious injury. Disgusting challenge.

 

Graham Potter looked a bit disgusted with it when he was interviewed, to be fair.

Nice little compilation of Djenepo’s best moves on MoTD, he looks a real live wire.

 

Exactly zero Brighton players protested the red in a meaningful way...there won't be a simpler card shown all year. I seriously doubt he meant to do that, but Andone completely misjudged when Valery would get to the ball, and once you've left your feet, you're going to end up where you're going to end up, and in his case that was halfway up Valery's shin.

 

That was a great result for us at a vital time. I just love the way Boufal plays, I'm not criticising Redmond but the difference between the two going forward is that Boufal created problems every time he ran at the oppo and his feet are so quick. Redders had a solid game and great positioning for his goal, just didnt create enough for me overall and hasn't started the year quite as well as he ended the last. Soooo stoked to see Djenepo put that goal away so beautifully,have high hopes for our attacking line-up going forward.

However, we were not good enough for the win today and the reckless challenge was what tipped the balance. Brighton had us all over the place, even with one man down. Its clear that there is some real work required still to get us playing good football. They looked the better side by a margin. Hojbjerg hasn't managed to impose himself in either of his games so far this year, neither has Proswse though both have played reasonably faultlessly.

We earned the win even if we didn't deserve it and there are some signs of real exceitment and potential coming through. I think Ralph needs to be braver in his selections, Boufal and Djenepo have the ability to really unnerve teams and create chance we havent been able to see much of that so far.

Bloody thrilled overall.

 

Just finished watching the whole match. I was eagerly waiting for the substitutions, and when Djenepo came on and immediately started spreading the width to give himself room to run at players, I thought 'whoopee, this is good'. He immediately seemed to have something going with Redmond, which was something Nathan had not had upto then. Then basically I was impatiently waiting for Boufal to come on, and he immediately [lots of immediates today] showed what quick feet and class he has. Of course, Brighton were tired by then, and they'd played well considering they were a player short for two-thirds of the match. Those front three look bloody exciting though, playing the type of quick feet football that I've always loved to watch but rarely seen.from a Southampton team.

 

If he had been signed as a LB and that was his debut I wouldnt complain. It does leave us short of a CB though and youre right to be concerned by that.

 

I feel like the problem that Boufal sometimes has and that Redmond used to have at times as well and Adams seems to do it too (though not quite the same as he is a striker) is they aren’t aggressive running without the ball.

They want the ball in space, so they can dribble at defenders. And so when they don’t have the ball they tend to drift off into the flanks or someplace where they are open. I mean, they’re small players so it kinda makes sense. But they have more of a winger mentality than a forward mentality. Get the ball 1/2 to 2/3 up the field, isolate and go go at the FB, and then cut inside or go around to the byline and cross.

The problem is, we used to not have a player to charge into the middle and create havoc, except for Long who is awesome at it. Now we have Ings who looks for gaps in the middle of the pitch as well, so that helps.

I feel like Djenepo (or at least so far) runs at people with or without the ball, which to me sets him apart. He gets the ball on the flanks a lot, which he’s supposed to. But he is not afraid to lead the line at times, or to play to a midfielder then cut in towards goal for a one-two. Of course, he’s a bigger guy so contact comes more naturally to him. But there’s a mentality you need to have where like hey, even if you don’t get the ball you dragged some defenders with you and opened up space for someone else. You’re making the defense work.

So yeah, feel like Djenepo (at least so far) looks to make runs into dangerous spaces whereas Boufal runs into open spaces. I feel like that is where Redmond has improved is he’s not afraid to get the ball in a crowd or run into a crowd. He’s too small to do a lot of holdup play, but he does some. And he has learned to hang back and make sneaky late runs into the box. He’s picked up those skills playing striker, probably. You see JWP do it, too. So you don’t have to be big to do it.

But yeah, if Boufal can just have a little more forward/striker mentality at times, that’s the missing piece. Think about the spaces he can occupy without the ball and think about getting to spaces to shoot rather than to dribble. Yes he is a fantastic dribbler but one reason he led La Liga in dribbles is not just because he’s good, but because that is all he likes to do. It’s a big weapon for him, so that’s still how he should play most of the time, just mix it up on occasion.

 

I'm all in favour of not papering over cracks, and those who argue that the result was at least partially down to the red card have a valid point. However, I'm interested in the Ings debate. I posted a thread when Ings finally signed as I believed he was an excellent acquisition and still do. I was chatting to a Burnley fan over the summer and he expressed the view that it is fallacy to view Ings as a 'striker'. See him as a deep playing provider who chips in with goals. Watching him yesterday that's what I saw. His pass to Djenepo was superb, but then watch his run to get on the end of whatever was happening next. Also watch his celebration. He is a player enjoying the game again. A happy fit Danny Ings could be the buy of the season.

Last season I loved his link up with Redmond - think that second goal against Wolves. When (not if) he starts pulling the strings for Djenepo, Adams, and Boufal we could be in for a great time. Ings is class. That understanding with the quick front players we want to see will happen.

 

It seems even the Brighton players knew Andone was a bloody liability going by this attempt to take him out in the warm up to yesterday's game!



Bizzare.

 

The highlights on MotfD were informative last night. I don't think that the defence looks solid and the absence of Bertrand did not help. The initial view of the tackle that saw a red card produced for Andone required a slow motion clip to reveal the full horror of what was a deserved dismissal. I listened to the commentary on Solent and thought Djenepo's goal was even better than I had expected.

The most interesting debate on this thread and is regarding Boufal's unexpected rehabilitation within the squad and the fact that he contributed to Redmond's goal. There has been a lot written on here about his silky skills. The highlights were far from comprehensive but I felt that his run which led to the cross for the goal was more about really poor defending than actual skill, as good and creative as his run was. Neither of the two defenders on him made a tackle and had the boot been on the other foot, Saints fans would have complained about our defence throwing away another soft goal. It was a good move but I would not get too carried away just yet.

Brighton's miss shortly beforehand was a let off too but Djenepo's goal was worthy of a match winner. For me , this is three points I would not necessarily have expected and a fantastic result.

 

Great win. Flawed performance but lots of positives. Rather win with a flawed performance than lose with a better one which we’ve been good at. Managed to avoid any really bad individual errors and recover from the lesser ones.

How come the ref allowed Gunn to be obstructed for every corner and their goal was disallowed for offside which was correct, but not the foul/obstruction leaving Gunn on the deck?

Tom???

 

Yes, we were very lacklustre in the first half and looked a little lost with no control of the midfield and fair play to Brighton, their pressing caused us a few problems.
The thing that I know and trust about Ralph is that he usually (not always) reads the game, works it out and makes the necessary tactical and personnel (and we have better weapons this season) adjustments to perform better on the day. Long may that continue.
The red card did help but I think we would've improved anyway.

 

I don't think Boufal's run that led to the goal was particularly bad defending - he scares the crap out of defenders. Just after he came on he had a lovely great run from inside our half to the edge of their box that took out about 5 players. Sublime.

 

The last 35 mins plus TAO fills me with a lot of optimism moving forward.

 

His feet are dazzling sometimes, when he gets it right he must be a nightmare to defend against.

The best news is that he appears to be highly motivated with a point to prove.

 

The goal would have disallowed either way I think. But the offside came first so that was what was given.

 

Some hilarious rants from Brighton fans claiming 'you can't be offside from a corner', ignoring that once the balls headed he clearly was.

Or that treading on a goalkeeper is not normally allowed.