Just the one ‘prick’ really though and easy to put on ignore, the other visitors have been fine I’m sure there’s someone who does it in our name occasionally too, no clubs immune
Nobody seems to have mentioned today’s half time hits Dirty money, Money can’t buy me love, Price Tag, Money Money Money
Frustrating game. We weren’t on it but were still the better side. Newcastle were solid defensively, very physical at the back and Chris Wood up front as you expect from that battering ram. They played with a lot of energy but didn’t have much else about them really, a win is very flattering for them. But we didn’t take the game on today and it was there for us if we found our recent level. That’s what makes today so frustrating. KWP and maybe Romeu were the only ones that played with the right intensity (AArmstrong and Djenepo as subs too). I agree and have said for a while that Tino is either hampered by his injury, is being coached to play safe (hope not) or has just lost confidence and shouldn’t be in the team atm. Nothing like the player that was our main source of attacking threat at the start of the season. Some time out the team might do him good. KWP RB and Perraud LB against Watford please Ralph. Not sure how else you change this team at the moment. Might need to freshen it up a bit. Smallbone for Alien Lucy perhaps or give AArmstrong another chance up front.
Good luck for the rest of the season Saints fans. As I said in a previous post, I've always liked Southampton and I have dome friends who are season ticket holders there, so hope you do well.
Can't really disagree with much of that but Ralph wanted to see a positive reaction to the Villa game and he got one. We're on our way back but the games are coming quick and fast limiting the amount of time they can work on the training ground. Personally I think the criticism of Tino is a bit unfair. One of the reasons we were so impressed when he came here was his calmness on the ball. He still has that but as we get used to it, we start to read it as too casual. When teams press us like Newcastle did today, you don't want someone bombing forward and giving them the chance to kill us on the break.
I didn't see much of the Villa game, but it seems like this was an improvement. If Villa was 2 steps backward, this game was just 1 step forward again so not sure it was quite the positive reaction we were looking for. We were a little hesitant on the ball, slowed down posession too often and we were too keen to just recycle posession at the back. I get that is a big part of our play, but when we do it effectively it doesn't happen so often or so slowly. We are most dangerous when we move forward at pace and there wasn't enough of that yesterday. Some credit of course has to go to Newcastle who were resolute and energetic but certainly nothing impressive, and had we been at our normal level that game was there for the taking. For me the Tino criticism isn't saying he's been poor, but that he is not the player he was before his injury. He passes well and rarely seems to lose the ball, but what made him special was the runs he made with the ball which he now doesn't do at all (not just in the game last night). He still gets forward, but tends to stop and pass back more often then not, even if there is space for him to run into. Defensively he was never the best and so without the ball carrying surging runs, we are better with KWP at RB and Perraud at LB, both who offer a lot more going forward than Tino in his current form. He still has a big future but he is very young and has had a massive breakthrough season which must be taxing physically and mentally and I'm not sure we've managed him particularly well. We ran him into the ground early on, then he got injured and now he's a shadow of his former self.
Agree and if Che hadn’t hit it so hard we would have been ahead. Very fine margin- could only have been millimetres. Second half their keeper kept them in it.
Did not want to post after the game, wanted the night to reflect on it. Thought we were at best average at times and poor for the remainder. Broja was out of sorts, effectively reducing us to 10. Lots of huffing and puffing from the likes of Mo and Stu Armstrong, and we looked very busy across the middle of the park but were too stagnate in the final third and endlessly played the ball across the defence. When that failed to produce anything meaningful we hoofed the ball to their central defenders. Thought NU were very well drilled, Howe had set them up well across the pitch and they played the high press effectively, without over-committing. Actually, how we normally play... We suffered not having a left footed left full back, KWP played well, but we needed to get behind them. On the opposite side, Tino was underused IMO. If this was meant as a positive reaction to the heavy Villa defeat, sorry, l missed that. NU are not a good side, well organised yes, and if we want a top ten finish, we should have performed better across the 90 mins and not just well for a short period when we scored.
I also think too much is expected from Broja who has looked a little flat in the last couple of games. Both he and Tino are young and need to be rested.
Felt a lot like the first part of the season (and much of the previous five seasons). Take the lead only to lose it? Check. Play well, and be the better side, in the first half - only to start the second half like we've forgotten how to play football? Check. Come up against an organised side who keep 10 men behind the ball, and consequently have most of our passing going sideways and backwards, with very little creativity or quick ball movement? Check.
Funny how, when we win, we moan about opposition fans saying that it was due to them having a bad game. And yet, when we lose, it's because we had a bad game. I don't think either team played any better or any worse than the other. Finely balanced. We had a few more chances, but we were the home team, so that's to be expected. Newcastle are second in the league behind only Liverpool, since the beginning of 2022. So they're quite obviously a good team. People look at our line up and think we are nothing special. Hard to judge when you don't watch the players every week. Here's something we all need to remember: You can't win every game.
I think Newcastle probably deserved the points on the basis of how well they were organised for an away game. The match really reminded me of how we played earlier in the season when we were playing well but not getting results. I thought Broja was poor last night and we did not really start putting the Newcastle goalkeeper under any pressure in the second half until about 75 minutes. i would be inclined to give Armstrong a run up front against Watford. This was a match I wanted us to win and it was a shame that we did not really raise out game to the level that the fans were hoping for.
Yeah not great from Broja again after Villa. For all the hype (justified tbf) he really isn't ready to start for Chelsea yet. At that level you can't really have more than 1 or 3 bad games, he may well get there but for now he isn't an elite champions league striker. He has stated that where ever he plays next season he wants to be there permanently - so (assuming abramovic situation is sorted) I am pretty sure the only certainly is that he will be sold but to whom is the real question.
If at all possible, it would be good if Broja or his agent could give us some sort of signal about whether he would be interested in staying with us next season. Clearly there are many things here which are completely out of our hands - the situation with Abramovich, the level of interest from other clubs, the price which Chelsea would be willing to sell at (when they are able to). But the one thing we can do is to speak to Broja or his agent. If he was to make it clear to us that his intention is, for example, to either return to Chelsea or move to club with European football, then that would allow us to move on from him once our season is over (which will be whenever we get knocked out of the FA Cup, if at all). Why help out a rival club for future seasons by giving Broja extra PL experience this season, when we could help ourselves out instead by giving Armstrong extra PL experience this season? On the other hand, if Broja indicates that he is willing to stay permanently, then I would continue to start him - in the hope that maybe, just maybe, it does happen.
