Match Day Thread Southampton vs Everton 15/08/2015 12.45 pm

Pelle won almost everything In the air against two good CB's, chested it off well to his teammates too. I don't think he was the issue, there was just no one to gather the knockdowns, and the crossing into him was abysmal all game.

 

With you there Kingsland. I think you're a little harsh on Pelle today Fats, he looked one of our more effective players in terms of all round play I thought. I can understand your frustration with the successful backheel though!

 

Strange really, as despite everything I don't think anyone individually played *that* poorly. They played averagely in a formation that did us no favours at all. As I said before, Everton played almost the perfect counter attacking away performance, and Lukaku was in a £20m striker that he can be mood, rather than the disinterested £2m that he sometimes is.

 

I definitely agree that our starting line-up was wrong. It was like the Newcastle game never happened. I think Reed should have started with Davis pushed forward and Long as an impact sub.

As FLT says, we played OK for 20 minutes but for the rest of the first half it was like watching a Sunday league team. All we seemed to do was to lump it up to Pelle. I don't blame Pelle particularly it was just all too predictable.

Romeu came on and looked good and suddenly the team had some shape about them. But then our substitutions were poor. Rodriguez was pretty much a like for like swap and then Davis comes off when he is at last playing in his proper position and beginning to look like the player he is.

I hate to say it but much of the blame has to be with the coaching staff and not learning any lessons from Newcastle. The fact that the Everton goal was a carbon copy of Newcastle's just emphasised that. That and Everton's camouflaged/stealth bomber kit!

At least Mane had the good grace to look upset at the end. He obviously realised I had him down to score and he'd cost me 3 points!

 

Are you sure you can read the game enough to have a go at Pelle.











(joking)

 

Yep. This one's squarely with Ron.
(Plus Everton for being frustratingly good on this occasion).

 

A lot of people at the game we saying this too. Not sure why we want to exit Europe quickly as we surely are going to finish mid-table (8-14 ish) whether we are in it or not. At least it is something different.

 

I thought Pelle was quite good - he managed to retain a lot of balls that we tough for him to get, however there was noone to feed off him with neither Long or Mane near-by. It is odd because we played lots of forwards yet none of them ran the channels. Once Everton scored they sat deep and we couldn't break them down.

 

Everton are avery good team. Their league finish last year didn't really dothem justice. Rember this time last year we only had a point after 2 games.

 

Exactly. I can see it as some ridiculous excuse for whenever we lose this season. Europe is this year's Guly...

 

Didn't see any of the game. Just got in after Southend lost 2-0 to Walsall.

Are we having a meltdown? Rubbish team? Poor performances? Or are we still on for world domination?

Also, how did the Markus tribute(s) go? Sounded like they had some nice stuff lined up.

 

A lot of points have been made, many of them good and it is clear our midfield got over-run and our defence was not shielded due to the wrong selection of formation. Obviously missing Alderweireld and Schneiderlin.

I would play Targett again on Thursday - he looked a bit short on confidence and there seemed to be a lack of communication and team-spirit compared to last year.

Does anyone think not having Koeman available on the touchline have an effect?

 

Fortunately Ron and the club are taking it seriously.
Wanting to exit one competition on purpose is the talk of a loser

 

We're fine. New team bedding in. Standard.

 

Is it me or does Rodriguez look scared? Not having a go at him as such but I am just wondering if he should maybe get a few u21 games first?

 

This might cheer you up. Gave me a laugh, anyway.

 

Sorry Oak, he didn't retain anything.... Well very few. He tries first time for most things and it is not good enough for a Premier League striker.

 

Two of those days! Watched our match in the Sunderland Navy Club, then went to see the Sunderland match. Unlucky or what! Have to say Sunderland really were awful, new players are already in relegation mood along with last years players.

 

The weather was great, the pitch was superb, the Markus preliminaries had me welling a bit, it all went down hill after that, the Saints were dire, The Ref was iffy, Everton were far too good and I was welling again as the final whistle blew, such is the way of things when you are a Saints supporter these days.

 

We certainly were a long way from our best today, but we were not that bad, that performance on another day against a different team might've earnt us something.
The Howard save from Mane was huge and we got caught out with a sucker punch counter attack (again!). Everton defended really well and were clinical in attack and it was a typical early season result. Can't wait to see Ryan back and with a new CB, hopefully, and Romeu starting with Vic, we will be a bit more solid defensively. No need for doom and gloom, just yet, a good result in the EL and we will be back on track again.