I think we're probably all selective about what we do see. I remarked at one point about a well timed tackle in our box, which I thought Fonte had made. Turned out it was Pelle. After our 2nd goal so I suppose that might have woken him up. Really don't get the criticism of Davis though. It's not just that he can pass, he always picks the right pass. And they didn't play through us at any point, they pushed us back, we stood off and they unpicked us. If you let the top sides pass it around in front of your box, eventually they'll pull you out of position and create opportunities
Pelle and Davis were great, what game were people watching? Our problem, as ever, is not having full backs to give us width. It will come
I really don't get the Pelle bashing i think maybe those having a go at Pelle have actually forgotten that we are Southampton and not Real Madrid, If and when a Southampton player scores 2 goals in a game then he has had a ****ing brilliant game and deserves to be applauded, if that player scores 2 goals against Man Utd then give him the keys to the city. Seriously guys lower the bar a bit and you will all be much happier.
I don't get this "looking unbalanced when Davis came on" thing. After the opening 15 minutes when we looked excellent we were pretty much second best everywhere. That was until the last 10 minutes or so when we were dominant again. And surely that coincided with Davis coming on?
Yup that was after the second goal after he'd given the ball away really badly and felt like he had to make amends. Please note this bit - IT WAS GREAT PLAY AND FLT REMARKED ON HOW GOOD IT WAS AT THE TIME. I might start doing that when praising Pelle. What's weird isn't people criticising aspects of Pelle's play, but the weird inability of people on here to read the parts that he's being lauded with praise. The clear pattern here is the difference of opinion between people at the game and people who watched on telly, which if we're all being sensible makes the whole thing very obvious as to what's happening. But we're not being terribly sensible.
Morning everyone....quite an argument after I left As I said before, we need to combine the clean sheet with scoring. Pelle is our main striker and he is scoring, so can't drop him. If he is arguing during a game, he needs sorting, but no one can say he isn't doing his main job. I saw very little of the match, but I did turn on and saw Yoshida give away the ball which led to the goal (I've seen that done before, so mistake...move on), but also saw patch where we dropped off and let them waltz forward without offering any defence (absolutely shameful and not Saint-like). We know our team has lost players who were very important for our style of play...the team seem to have lost that edge that we've had for the past few seasons. Ron can only work with the team he has (not the team he has lost)...it's the job of the manager and I guess he is still trying to find his best team. As for team spirit, we can't judge on one spat, but it needs sorting if there is a problem (get on it, Jose). A loss against United isn't a total surprise, though I think we could have got something from this game. Dropping too many points, but I don't expect that to continue. Perfect time for a cup game.
Just genuinely out of interest. Was there anyone at the game yesterday that disagrees with the feelings expressed about Pelle in the second half? Where's Dave - I know he was there.
Ron on twitter saying that we were punished for our mistakes. Headline in the Echo puts Ron saying that we beat ourselves...and that is what happened. We could have got something from this game if we'd held ourselves together.
I overheard the strangest conversation between two United fans as I left the stadium yesterday - It went like this - "That was the most coherent performance I've seen this season. I just can't believe how poor Southampton were - it should have been 6-0. Their first goal was lucky and the second was a 50p head off Pelle"... Just goes to show how people can see entirely different games! Think Ron & Fran are spot on. It was there for the taking.
From what I could see being at the game, a lot of heads dropped after Yoshidas back pass, which was then summed up by conceding the third whilst not touching the ball for 40 odd passes. We were so deep that when the ball was played up to Pelle he had no one to lay the ball off to, as Mane was dropping deeper trying to win the ball. Fonte seems to be lacking in confidence as on several occasions he headed the ball forward where last year he would have chested down and passed. As I said in an earlier post, I think we showed way to much respect to Man Utd, but hopefully we will go back to playing our way against Swansea on Saturday.
That's probably fair Brixham. Particularly your point about showing them too much respect. As I said before, even allowing them the space to roll the ball about in their own half (which we weren't doing initially) only served to build their fragile confidence up and was a big mistake.
It was like we were playing at Old Trafford, and hitting them on the break, which we did brilliantly for our first goal. I have to admit I got a tad frustrated when we conceded the third as showed tactics had not worked. As usual you get some spotty teenager telling me to support the team, and as I told him, I travel an 8 hour round trip to all home games, go to as many away games as I can (will be there Wednesday), so don't tell me I don't support the team, just don't expect / used to seeing us, sit back so much at home.
Sorry Kitch. That is so, so wrong. If he can say what you said in the dressing room, "I can stroll about I've done my bit" then I'd expect someone to have a quiet word, like. That will breed prima Donna behaviour.
I don't get the criticism of Davis either. I do agree that removing the second CDM suddenly have Mata and Rooney lots of pockets to play in, but that was not Davis' fault.
I wasn't there yesterday and have seen enough of Pelle to know that he can be frustrating at times but what footballer isn't. I find it bizarre that fans are are going out of there way to find reasons to have a pop at him, the guy just scored 2 goals against Man Utd he should be being called a hero. Martial scored 2 goals yesterday and is being hailed as the best signing ever in all the papers and he only got his goals against little old Southampton!!! Glad my opinion is just plain wrong, i mean the missus has been telling me that for years but now you've confimed it the missus will be happy. Honestly though you don't think your expecting a bit much from Pelle, He scored 2 goals 1 in each half, the first goal came when even yourself and LTL said he was playing very well, his second came when the 2 of you said he he didn't look like he was trying. Alot of footballers have spells in matches when they are not effective For me reading this forum in my worthless opinion you have an agenda with him and it appears to be rubbing off on other posters who i would say are in your little clique.
Kitch, your right I shouldn't say you're wrong, sorry. That's not right. I do disagree massively. You didn't see the game, so it is a little hard for you to be telling us we should be happy, even if we saw stuff that infuriated us. He went from brilliant to "I'm not bothering anymore" for 40 minutes of the second half. To me that's criminal. He needs to pull for the team. That's my view on the first part of your post. The clique part is absolutely pathetic Kitch. Absolutely. Just a because people agree with me they are now in my clique. ****ing ridiculous comment. Pleased to say my flight is about to take off so I'll walk away from this..... . Come on lads. Lads? You not coming with me?
