Crazy, hes absolutely brilliant. Like a quicker, stronger Adam lallana. In a better side hed be incredible
yeah we’d have no chance of getting him, and not wanting him because he’s a bit of a **** is ridiculous when you consider most footballers
Plus 1 for Ming's I also liked the look of their left back, I reckon he would provide decent cover for Bertrand.
. He also seems to have matured a bit since he was a 20 year old primadonna. Still has silly hair, but that's a prerequisite to make it in football.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I've always found it a bit cringe. ------- I like it, but once you do it once, its hard when to know when to stop? Not all games carry the same importance. I wouldn't want us to say, beat B'mouth and have him doing that at the end in front of their fans, even though we were safe. We should save it for the pressure games, like the FA cup final next season.
Impressed with Smallbone today. Very composed on the ball. Definitely a good call from JWP at right back - Grealish was kept relatively quiet. You stop Grealish, you beat Villa. Funny that.
Armstrong my MOTM (again). Smallbone solid on debut. Would be happy to see him again. Further evidence of why Long is the preferred partner, when you look at what came on. Probably the worst team to visit SMS for quite some time. Fully deserved win, and just a shame it wasn't 3 or 4. Well done Saints.
I thought that it was a strange match. Up until the two , lengthy injuries which frustrated the flow of our performance, I felt that we destroyed Villa for the first twenty minutes. We were in total control of the game and had the possibility of having the result in the bag by half time. However, the performance seemed less certain as the second half progressed and it looked like we were making too many stupid mistakes which had the potential of gifting something to Villa that they did not deserve. Regarding individual performances, I think today showed again just how much this is dependent upon Armstrong having a good game. Setting aside Smallbone's promising league debut, I felt Armstrong was one of our best players in a performance where the likes of Ings, Bertrand and PEH seemed disappointing. I am not quite sure what to make of Djenepo as he seems to mix flashes of inspiration with simple errors. Bringing Romeu on only served to make us look more flakey whereas the change in the forward partnership only served to illustrate what Long brings to the team. Both Adams and Obafemi seemed reluctant to press. In the end the result was probably fair but it was not a scintillating performance for the last 2/3rds of the match. Had Redmond been available, I think the result would have been far more comprehensive. At least the result seemed to set aside any lingering doubts of the Saints being sucked in to a relegation battle. We will get to 40 points within the next month.
We Won! ..... Villa were pretty crap but we don’t get to say that very often after a game at St Mary’s, so thrilled to bits with a great win. That’s why Shane Long is worth a contract extension and why Stuart Armstrong is one of our best additions in recent years. Djenepo played his heart out today and that cross for the first goal was fabulous. How did we fail to win by a fistful of goals? Oh well, a win is what we needed. Once again Jack Stephens was a monster and Will Smallbone looked very accomplished, really steady and a great fit in the team. JWP is our specialist hit-man and he kept Grealish as quiet as anyone could have asked. Grealish does have a Dele Alli attitude about him and doesn’t do himself any favours with his tantrums. He has enough skill not to behave like that. You have to feel for Che Adams but that through ball for Armstrong to wrap it up was genius and shows he certainly has a brain on him. Anyway, we won again and we are solid in mid-table boredom. From where we were a few months ago, Ralph and the team have done us proud. Hats off to you guys and long may it continue on the journey back to being that hard to beat, free scoring team we all love. I feel truly chuffed for everyone tonight and ‘thereisonlyoneno7’ (aka Mr Positivity) needs a pat on the back for keeping the positive vibes flowing over the past few days. Good on you buddy and get that next positive thread up soonish.
Did anyone notice that a number of players deferred to Smallbone to get the cross in? His delivery at times was almost JWP quality. So confident and relaxed. Deserves to keep his place. Prowsey did well at RB but fell short of keeping Grealish in his pocket. Overall I did not see it as the easy game others did. Villa sensed our nerves in the last 15 minutes and it was destined to be either 1-1 or 2-0 if we took advantage of a break. In the end, it could (as opposed to should) have gone either way.