Like I said That was difficult to watch. Hoping for better v Blades Saints play bad and win shock horror Ralph says it was too slippy for us. Could be a difficult winter
Just finished watching the excellent "Queens Gambit" on Netflix (watch it!) and imagined football fans at a chess match. "Not yer ****ing knight, you arse." or "Oh God, she's put it in P4, can you ****ing believe it?" One of the things I miss about live football is not being able to see the pitch and work out why the teams are playing as they are, well my team in particular. Saints would, I'm sure, love to run riot and charge through teams. Word to those who don't understand. Other teams try to stop them doing this, and then want to execute their own plans. Brighton made life very uncomfortable last night and I found myself pleading with Saints to hang on to the ball. Inevitably we looked better with Ings on the field. Shock result. Put on a top class player in his pomp and we improved. So we ground out a result against an opponent determined to stop us playing. Very un-Saints like, and very welcome. .
Yes well done Vesty, and for all of us that were personally going to drive him to Leicester, I am glad we were in lockdown
The controversy of the penalty has overshadowed what was a peach of a pass by Vestie from the halfway line into KWP's path. And, anyone else notice who the player was who passed to Vestie prior to that pass? It was KWP himself, which shows just how good the run was that he made to get to the edge of their box in time.
I agree with @Le Tissier's Laces who said a couple of times on this thread that we just look so much more confident and relaxed when Ings is on the pitch. For the United game and in the first half yesterday we looked as if we were 1-0 up with 5 mins of stoppage time left (aka very nervy). We were sloppy and gave it away often, but when he came on it was like he had a calming effect on the team. It's good that all the teams above us (and the Manchester clubs) will still be in Europe in the New Year. Their extra games may benefit us in our bid for Europa/Champions League qualification PS. I wonder whether it will be Redmond or Walcott who wins their competition of most shots off target in a season
On the penalty/VAR decision - I think the rule is that if the foul and contact continues inside the box then it is a penalty, even if contacted started outside. I don't agree with that rule, but if that is the case then I can see why it was given. No one would have complained if it was just a free kick and I think that says it all.
Twinkle Toes Jannick. Last night, especially first half, the forward players couldn’t make the ball stick at all, which is where the counter attacks came from. The number of times we had players pouring forward to support, only for the ball to be lost and played into the space behind JWP and Romeu or the full backs, is a concern and may well be exploited by the best counter attacking teams. I thought Adams and Theo were out of sorts, last night, and Che looked shattered when trying to bring the ball out of defence, in the 90th minute or so. Armstrong improved second half, but him and Djenepo also lost a lot of possession first half.
Yep, pen or no pen KWP was in on goal and the foul was much more intentional than JWP's handball so I couldn't really give a toss. Big Vester is a different player now for sure, gone is the dithering and slow reactions and he looks much more comfortable in possession now and those diagonal passes to KWP could lead to a few more goals this season. It's difficult to see how Salisu gets in the team now but it's nice to have the back up anyway.
Yep he is turning into that dominant leader at both ends of the pitch and his passing is turning into a revelation and he now looks every inch the player we payed almost £20m for.
Must admit he certainly proved me wrong .....keeps playing like that and one of the big boys might come in for him.
Highlights from the OS: https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/...righton-vs-southampton-premier-league-2020-21 Includes the brilliant insight from Dave Merrington, that with the score at 1-1, “you get the feeling that this game could go either way, you know.”
PS. I wonder whether it will be Redmond or Walcott who wins their competition of most shots off target in a season Surely that title belongs to Shane, now and forever!
Still majorly confused how some people are saying the penalty decision was "controversial". It was about a clear as they come by VAR standards.
