I think Romeu was still suffering from the head injury he had in that last friendly, which is why he had to come off. That probably meant that Ralph couldn’t make another attacking substitution - so Stu couldn’t come on (I don’t know why Redmond came on though or why it took so long to make subs). I believe Tino ran out of steam in the 2nd half - which is understandable. I fear for next weekend though - Man U look hungry
I wasn’t over impressed by the ref. Yes he rightly booked Richarlison for diving, but he missed pretty much every other dive. I need to see it again but I wasn’t sure that the quickly taken free kick, leading to the second goal, was anything more than two players colliding. We still should have defended it better. Walcott should never have come out for the second half. I said to my son on 30 minutes that Theo had been anonymous. Loved the way Armstrong kept his eyes on Pickford, when taking his chance, rather than just watching the ball. Having said that, there were two first half incidents when Romeu and then Tino played good passes through the defence. One he didn’t anticipate and was standing still, the other he had run the wrong way. Maybe he needs to understand that better quality players will put the passes into the more difficult areas, than championship players and gamble on it. He looks good so will probably pick up on that. Tino looks extremely talented, and as others have said, could be played higher up the field. Not overly upset by the loss, just the manner of it, so no change from last season.
Yeah maybe Dave, but also he could have thought about the shape of the team, Angie, who’s up for losing the Utd thread
People focusing on the second half collapse but the game should have been beyond Everton by half time. Still, isn’t it good to have proper football back?
I think people are focusing more on the fact that it was a carbon copy of loads of games last season, and why it keeps happening
Yes. That was what I was thinking. It’s not just about giving away silly goals; it’s about taking your chances (to kill off the game) when you can.
I think that the game at Villa Park last season proved that no Saints game is ever completely "killed off".
What chances were those? I don’t remember us having a shot apart from the goal. Oh Salisu had an overhead kick
The issue today wasnt that we didnt take our chances. I'd say 1-0 was a fair reflection of the first half - we were the better team but it wasn't as though we missed chance after chance. The issue is that we were dogshit in the 2nd half, made mistakes at the back and barely had a sniff on goal. I like Ralph and think he is a good manager, but he needs to sort the 2nd half problem out sharpish.
There were positives. But I think the mood of the fanbase will turn pretty quick unless we can turn it around. This one game in isolation would be fine. But today was a carbon copy of so many games previous. I still have hope
Team selection. Not my choice but I don’t watch them every day In training. Subs seemed to late but Ralph was right-we were working our way back in the game. Armstrong is just the striker we’ve needed for quite a while!
Djenepo could be a very good and dangerous player, if he only knew when to pass the ball and who to. If I remember correctly, Calvert Lewin had two headers in our box, one in the first half when the cross was too high and one in the second half when he scored. Each time Stephens wasn’t even within touching distance of him, which automatically makes any chance easier to convert. They need to analyse how he is able to create so much space, although I would hazard a guess that Stephens might be ball watching then being caught flat footed when the cross comes in. I expect Bednarek will be in for him, against United next week.
Everton. Away. First game of the season. We lost, no surprise there. I’m going to try and ignore our 2021 form and take this in isolation. Good to see Armstrong score on his debut, how did he play?
