They had their tails up before that. They were all over us from kickoff, and as usual we made no attempt to adjust until they had clawed one back. It was an individual error that gifted them the goal, but only after they'd wasted multiple gilt-edge chances in the first 10 minutes of the half.
Every time the opposition brings on subs and tactical changes we are the fall guys. We make subs and we are still the fall guys. probably because the boss does not make any tactical changes. Plus it's the same same old, same old, one up front. I thought there was a promise of a more constructive style of attacking play. ,
No-one else. I stand by what I said. But to repeat my post: I hardly heard Tadic and JWP's names once in the second half. And yet I don't blame either of them for that in the slightest. Just look at our first half performance. There is only one person to blame for them disappearing. If I'm hearing Tadic and JWP constantly being mentioned on the radio, and often in attacking situations, then that is getting a big thumbs up from me. That was me in the first half. But in the second half, I'm not hearing their names at all. It's not that I'm hearing them make mistakes, I'm just not hearing them. So presumably they're hardly ever featuring on the ball. Because presumably they're now behind the ball, putting defending ahead of a third goal. A complete change to the first half. Solent certainly made it come across like that. Now maybe, just maybe, they've decided themselves to do that. And in that case, I am wrong and they deserve the blame. But given how well they played in the first half doing what they were doing, I suspect it was more of a case of MP telling them to drop back. Telling them to defend rather than attack. Letting Long become completely detached. My post was nothing about the performance of the team. My post was about how JWP and Tadic had disappeared from the game. Davis by all accounts made a mistake for the second goal, so should take the blame for that particular incident over MP. But I'm not talking about that incident. I'm talking about JWP and Tadic. Why would I blame Davis for that, for example?
Makes it even crazier that Crystal Palace have 25 points now after having none in 8. Manager wasn't getting it done, players not tactically aware etc, make a change and up the table they go. Seems so simple!
I’m off out, but I’m just going to make a point that I feel needs a mention. I have said for a while (not as long as others as I prefer to give people time) that the manager is not the right man for us. I believe he needs to go. I do think that our players need to start showing some professional pride as they are too easy to roll over when the going gets tough. They need to show some leadership and togetherness when things get tough on the pitch. This place gets so depressingly negative when things are going bad and people start aggressively slagging off and going over the top with their posts (in my opinion) and then there is no room for discussion on points raised, because they are just too angry. Pellegrino is out of his depth in my view, but the players must start showing the fans they can cope with a battle. However we might be stuck with him and then we really will need the players to show their mettle. *awaits battering, but I’m out so no worries
Also had no Zaha for most of those games. Even now, if you take Zaha out then they're right bang in trouble. (But whilst he is fit and available, they're fine. Just like West Ham are. Huddersfield losing today is great for us, in my view)
Agreed. If the players aren’t ashamed then they ought to be. Chasing their pay checks and not earning them whatsoever. Same mistakes every week and not enough spirit. That said, it’d be nice if we didn’t have a manager who sits so deep he watches his TV from his garden patio. So please: change the manager, change the system, change up some of the players and do it quickly.
So he could have swapped Davis for Lemina sooner, I missed the first 10 minutes of the first half and didn't see them create anything clear cut. Of course Watford would come out a different beast after the bollocking Silva would have given them at half time and Deeney coming on. Its the nature of football that the home side pushes on in that situation, we actually were doing a reasonable job at managing the game, until their handballed goal. The players could have done a better job at keeping the ball in the last 10, but thats not on the manager so much as the players.
Objectively as possible looking at the teams squads of the ones above us we have better payers than most other then Zaha, Richarlison etc. That's what's the most painful part of this all.
I’m off out.... sorry, but to have such a hard and fixed view from not watching a game doesn’t hold much strength for me.
We could have pushed up. We could have attempted to hang on to the ball, rather than simply punting it away. We could have recognized that they had the beating of us in the air (the only thing that prevented Richarlison from having a wide open header from eight yards in the 47th minute is the fact that another Watford player went for it) and made a point of denying them good crossing opportunities. We did none of those things: we dropped back, we dropped off, and invited them to cross. And we had little opportunity to hang on to the ball because there was no one to pass to, unless we were going to pass it around in our box.
Indeed Naturally there might be an element of Saints bias in this, but I would suggest that we have better squads than WBA, Swansea, Bmouth, Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield. Even Palace, Stoke and Watford I think there is a debate to be had. I'm not sure. Only West Ham would I absolutely say are stronger than us, on paper. So whilst MP is completely out of his depth, the players really do have to take such a massive share of the blame for our current position. If you exclude the new guys, I would argue that maybe only the fullbacks plus PEH and Stephens can have a pat on the back. (It is also why I think a good January transfer window will see us fine. A bit like Stoke, if we can fill in a couple of vital positions, we can surely get through until May. But again, this might just be my bias. And in any event, we're basically half through and that good January transfer window hasn't appeared yet)
Spot on for me. Some of the players just haven't been good enough this season, which is a mixture of management, tactics, individual mistakes etc. No one is blameless in this situation. If Carillo is the ST Pellegrino wants, if Walcott is the winger he wants, and if we bring in another player and it's one that Pellegrino wants you have to get them. Otherwise the board have to bring in a new Manager if they think that won't help.
I agree that we have pretty a pretty solid squad...in some respects. The problem is that we're lacking in the two areas that win games: our central defense is mistake-prone and our attackers are lacking flair and finishing ability. We need a lot of things, including a clearout of the underperforming players. But that ultimately isn't going to happen until summer, if at all. Thus, what we need now is to see ourselves above the line, and the route there is going to have to involve additions, and it really should be under a new manager.
From Monk, on Saintsweb: I'm actually heartened by that. At least they're taking it seriously, which isn't apparent from their public statements.
Basically my feelings. First paragraph highlights the key positions that we need to strengthen this month. Second paragraph highlights what we need to do with the squad beyond this season, but ultimately isn't a requirement for this month in terms of purely trying to ensure that we're not in the bottom three after 38 games. I really do think that Stoke are in such a similar position. A decent manager and some signings in vital positions could certainly rescue either or both of us.
