I thought that was your problem tonight and maybe Maureen's tactics beat you. You showed you are a very good team capable of great build up play but we didn't really engage you until the final third. We sat back when you had the ball and filled the spaces near goal making it hard for your technical players to slot passes through and for your strikers to find space. You still broke through on several occasions but had little time so snatched at the chances you made. You will win a lot more than you lose this season but I do feel a return to 4-2-3-1 would benefit you by dragging the opposition further up the pitch.
I thought it was a pretty even game up until the first goal. I also think there's enough there to suggest Southampton will still cause teams problems. Yes you lacked the finishing but I thought you showed a lot of quick, clever, one touch passing going forward. There were times when you could have cut us open with a through ball, which wasn't taken (and I breathed a sigh of relief) but I could understand why the ball kept being pushed out wide as our right side was a bit suspect, and also to stretch our defence who were quite compact. Imo if you had a decent forward, you may well have got something from the game. You'll beat Sunderland imo and move forward from there. Impressed with Van Dijk as well, he was quality tonight.
@ Treble & Diego I agree with that for all our decent play we didn't do a lot in final 3rd. I'm hoping new signings can rectify this. From what I've seen tonight once we add a couple of players I see no reason why we can't consolidate a top half position along with Europa.
Neither can I. I actually think you were good in the final third. The problem was more what happened with the final ball. There was nobody up front with that bit of quality. One example, can't remember who but they took the ball to the bye-line with two of our defenders around them before cutting it back beautifully to another Southampton player in the box, in space. But the player fluffed it. Opportunity wasted.
Yeah he was kind of sticking a leg in late. Didn't help that he was also reaching to pull Shaw's shirt. And it would really only take the softest of contact if you catch a guy's foot in that position to knock it just far enough so he clips himself (though Shaw did embellish a little I think). I mean maybe he didn't actually make contact, but I really can't fault the referee for not giving a guy the benefit of the doubt for that he tried to foul by sticking a leg in late and grabbing a shirt but ended up failing by inches. Also feel like Clasie's reaction was what I'd expect. It was kind of like "Nooooo!..... okay. Dammit." I think he knew he was a bit unfortunate and the penalty was somewhat soft, but ultimately he had done enough that the fault was his.
You would know all about those..... How many games have the Skates won in Div 4?....20th place... We lost 2-0 at Old Trafford, you lost 2-0 at MORECAMBE!!!
Early season results.... 2013/14....drew at home to Sunderland, loss at Norwich 2014/15....loss at Liverpool, drew at home to WBA 2015/16....drew at Newcastle, loss at home to Everton, drew at Watford. Three top ten finishes.
Looked competent in possession, but we don't do enough to create chances when we have the ball, and we're vulnerable when we lose it with so many players up the pitch. I just don't see this setup working; monopolizing possession is a good thing, but only if you're carrying more of a goal threat than your opposition overall. We're almost purpose-built right now to punish on the counter, and we lack players up front to finish the half-chances in heavy traffic and long shots that we're generating. This simply isn't the formation for the players we have, and unless we're planning to make several additions (beyond the attackers, a top-quality DM suddenly looks like a necessity; Romeu just isn't disciplined enough for the role) this season is going to be quite a grind.
Much happier than last weekend, The passing was quick and mostly accurate where against Watford if was like we had left the handbrake on and our glasses off, if we don't sign another goal scorer then we are going to need at least one of Shane, Charlie or Jay to find some form a bit sharpish but the Sandals are on as usual.
I think we're going to be a lot more pleasing to watch under Puel than we were under the two-faced Cloggie. Not sure about the results tho! (they'll come. I hope)
The team a year ago was both very sound defensively, and very good in attack when it got the ball into dangerous areas quickly...it was pretty pleasing to watch. At current we look more like a passing drill than a football team...there are good elements, but the vast majority are happening in front of defenses that aren't getting pulled out of position, and we're doing it at the cost of leaving our fullbacks totally exposed. Perhaps it'll come, but it will require some serious tweaking to get there.
The team I remember from the start of last season was prone to horrendous defensive errors, gave the ball away easily, and often failed to capitalise on opportunities created on the break. It will take a while for the players to get used to what the coaching staff expect of them, and to anticipate each other's movements. That's to be expected. The full backs this time last year were a serious cause for concern. Partly because of that, we got overrun at St Marys last September by a Man Utd side far inferior to this one.
As I said, it could well change. But I find it difficult to believe that this side can be more pleasing to watch if we aren't getting the same results. A team that scored quite a lot of goals, defended well, and made a habit of turning over top sides is a difficult act to follow unless the team is really very good.
You seem to be comparing the current team to the one that finished on a roll last season. I was comparing the current team to the one who played Man Utd at St Marys around this time last year. Last night's side showed a lot more promise and was a lot less error prone than the one that got torn apart by Utd last September, imo.
I'm comparing the current team to the one that played the totality of last season, the good and bad. And while the match last season featured some truly horrendous errors, we also lost 3-2 in a pretty frenetic encounter.
A pretty meaningless comparison then. If that's what you're doing, you'll have to wait until the end of this season for the comparison to have any value.
