Writes for The Star (hmmm) - here's his bonkers ratings - @Alex_PJ_Smith: On a whim #saintsfc ratings from tonight: Stek 7, Maya 6, Fonte 4, Caulker 6, Targett 5, Wanyama 6, Romeu 6, JWP 7, Mane 7, JRod 6, Pelle 4
Well I'm jealous we've just got in.every road being dug up on same night,didn't know we had so many bloody orange lights in this country.
Encouraging signs that the team is starting to gel with the new players. Little slow starting, we came into the game in the 10 minutes up to half time when we injected more pace into our movement and passing. Their goal came against the run of play I thought. Came out in the second half at full throttle and we were great for the first 15-20 mins - we fizzed the ball on the ground with some great interplay. After the goal we seemed to lose our way in that we looked increasingly desperate and frustrated to get that second goal (he ref did not help matters as he failed to cope with the oppositions stalling tactics) and there was an overreliance on the long ball towards the end. I agree that Pelle was very effective tonight, JWP was excellent with the dead-ball, and Romeu had a good first half. Good to see Jay play most of the game. Although its 1-1 going into the away leg - I think we are the stronger team and should, fickle football-gods aside, progress to the next round. Stronger ref would help.
Blimey Roy, where were you headed? We had the A43 closed which added a bit of time. Edit: remembered - Hereford?
Good analysis of the game. I thought the red did well in terms of decision making and it's always tricky dealing with the play acting nonsense, but even then he booked a player for holding his head and then when the physio was about to come on, jumping up and rubbing his back! Apart from that I thought his decisions were very good and his timing on when to play on and when to blow were good - just don't tell Tom I said that!
Think he sits near me... Moaned at Targett every time he had nobody to pass to! Edit: actually he probably has a system based on how many times the player is mentioned in BBC text report.
He was excellent agreed, however our only threat? Jayrod looked a theat as did Mane. Coming home, I listened to Talksport (I know) who seemed to think that Mane's performance was affected by the transfer speculation - I didn't think so as I thought he looked a threat too!
Funnily enough, I didn't think Pelle was too much of a threat last night. Because of the way we play, he seems to have most of his touches in the mid-field area and not in the penalty area where he might be able to cause damage. I know there were a few scrambles but I never got the feeling that we were going to create and score anything from open play. The Danes defended en-masse and quite effectively. Once again I am disappointed with a lack of plan B. Just bringing on subs isn't a plan B if you end up playing in the same way. I really think that plan B should involve Pelle coming off, thereby forcing the team to play differently. That said there was a much better balance to the team with Romeu looking like he could become the main man. I also thought Yoshida was solid. He is less of an attacking force than Cedric obviously but he was way better defensively.
Caulker had his hands on the defenders shoulders. The defender never got off the ground. It's harsh, but I can understand it being disallowed. It was to help deal with the set pieces. Cedric is small and weak. That being said he's fast and dangerous going forward. I'd have started with Cedric personally. Perhaps Ron doesn't rate Martina. Martina is 6ft 1. If Yoshida was going to play full back I'd have thought it would have been at left back.
Reply to FLT re talksport. That's typical of talk sport, its easy and lazy and mean s they can talk about the odious chosen ones! Same on BT sport. Initially kept talking about our players potentially leaving again. Lack of creativity, research and quality punditry.
Think Ronald's not happy about the time wasting or the disallowed goal. From his comments I think we will play better next week from the start and I feel pretty confident we will go through.
I thought Tim Sparv had a decent game! Some prick a few seats up from me wouldn't shut up the whole game about how lazy Targett is and how we needed to hoof it down the middle more. Needless to say he left in the 85th minute so I had a decent last 10 minutes! And he referred to every player as a 'c*nt' - every player, Saints included. Charming.
Good to see an overall feeling of confidence and most people being upbeat post-match. My only fear is that the Danes are clearly Euro-experienced and I feel they will go all out to frustrate us in the return. I think they will look for a 0-0, much like Norkopping years ago. We're better than them but I'm not sure we're more savvy than them with regards to Europe. It sounds obvious but an early goal is a 'must' next week. The longer it stays 0-0.... Even though I have a very bad feeling about Sunday's game I genuinely hope we can get a result, that should help the confidence and belief. Ho hum I'm not going worry or fuss about it as sitting here there's not a lot I can do
Lff we must watch a different game at times Jayrod was one correct bounce or touch away from being in front of the keeper on three or four occasions and not including the early one v one. We had the ball zipping around their area quite a lot with the ball falling to Target for his chance, Vic for a miscued shot, Pelle a couple of turn and shots, Maya hitting the post and I think in total 23 shots. I'd take 23 shots each week thanks. I agree that we played the same way all through the second half though.
23 attempts with 9 on target. On any other day that would result in at least a couple of goals. Team are still getting used to each other but strong positive signs its starting to click. On wards and upwards lets bury Watford..
Seems weird how in a couple of years we've gone from a team that never shoots outside the box to everyone having a crack, I reckon at least 8/9 of those 23 were from range, shows how frustrated we were getting though. Also I would like to see Mane not as deep in the 2nd leg, when teams are defending like that you need to turn them round get them running towards their own goal... we did this a lot better in the 2nd half to be fair. I thought Fonte was a bit off colour last night, that ball near the end why the hell him and (was it Caulker) were happy to let that bounce is beyond me
