Our seconds halves have generally been awful this season. It's becoming a real issue. Barely laid a finger on Boro or Ipswich in the second half. Looked to see out the game in the second half vs Leeds. Great first 10 mins of the second half vs Stoke, then nothing. Sluggish second half vs Wednesday. Defensive horror show in the first half vs Sunderland continued on throughout the second. Hopefully things will improve once Stewart is available. Having him in the squad (whether to start or come off the bench) increases our options from the bench.
I’m sticking with my comment from the end of the match. We didn’t win primarily because their keeper had a blinder and the drop off in our performance came after our triple substitution. Adarma and Sulemana were stopping their full backs from getting forward and were getting into some good attacking positions, and Stuart is just too good for this level. His running with or without the ball had them in all sorts of trouble. Taking all three off at the same time was like releasing the steam from a pressure cooker and allowed Rotherham to gain more confidence, plus we lost a cutting edge. Maybe the three players were tired but, in hindsight, perhaps RM could have held off making the substitutions until a bit later, preferably after a second goal.
Have to say I was quite shocked by the booing and negativity on here. I thought we largely played pretty well against a negative side, was unlucky to not score more, and would have seen it out if not for a worldy. Felt we created more than the average game I've seen this season, and also looked fairly organised in that we didn't lose the ball and suddenly look wide open for the break, albeit the quality of opposition plays a part there. Atmosphere was excellent for the first half and great to hear songs being started all round the ground. Second half the Northam was probs best I'd heard in years but the other end was understandably more subdued. I do think that played a small part in our slow start second half too. I know people will say it's a copout but you can't underestimate the impact that has on the mood and feeling amongst people. I certainly struggled to care about the match after that and wasn't alone in those around me. Really hoping for some positive news around that as that's the biggest possible win today.
Not seen the game and in isolation it's another disappointing result. However the last 7 days have given us many positives. A few tweeks and the international break could do us good. A player like Ross Stewart could make all of the difference in a game like today and getting him nearer to being match fit will only help us.
Not sure on that,we were so far in control. Right up until he gets to have words with them, then we spent the first ten minutes of the second half trying (and pretty much succeeding) to bore us all to death again with passing from left to right at the back and then vice versa.
Big difference was Rotherham sat back in the first half then pressed us in the second. The concern is that we have such a clear vulnerability to pressing football, just totally nullifies us going forward and we start making mistakes at the back.
I think that is you buying into the club & Martin’s PR. Make no mistake with our budget and squad we should be chllenging for autos, not stumbling around in mid-table. 17/20 teams in this league would kill for our budget. It’s down to SR & Martin that we can’t beat ****ing Rotherham. And I don’t say that to be disrespectful to them, but they have probably a 10th of our budget, if that. The club should be ****ing embarrassed at results like today.
I don't put too much blame on Martin today. Probably my only issue with him today was the triple change. Firstly, it removed probably our best two players of the game (Stu and Sule). Secondly, Smallbone somehow stayed on. Thirdly, it resulted in us using up all three of most promising subs. It didn't really leave him with anyone decent to turn to thereafter. And hence we ended up turning to Aribo and Mara. That final point can very much be attributed to SR. We shouldn't ever be relying on Aribo or Mara. And if we'd adequately replaced Tella (there are a number of decent attack-minded wingers/midfielders at this level), you'd like to think we'd be seeing a lot less of those two. Failing to win today was more down to poor finishing than Russell Martin.
I don't disagree that we should be playing better than we are but we have no divine right to beat the Rotherhams of this world. Just like we were able to pull off great results against Man City, Arsenal etc. If football was that predictable it would be so boring. It's not so much about big spending as getting a balanced team. Absolutely, we should have the resource to do that consistently and it's frustrating that over a long period now that we have been lacking in teamwork.
Very true… I don’t mean to say we should steam roll Rotherham. But they were absolutely dire and it was all on ourselves (as usual) why we didn’t win. Our players thought they’d won easily and sauntered about in the second half. They didn’t show any professionalism at all, as usual. Discipline & professionalism is in short supply at saints
I havnt watched any of today but from what I've read it was all Saints but with no cutting edge. The fact you dominate a game with Adams & Arma in your team and still have no cutting edge is pretty poor from Russell Martin. But, 7 from 9 is a good return, if you ignore the 0 from 12 before of course. Need better if we want promotion.
This 'other day' was erm, the other day; Leeds. We went 3-0 up against them. We had the midas touch that day, but today Rotherham's keeper was immense.
Rotherham gave us far too much respect in the first half. It looked like a training match. Once they started pressing we were exposed once again. We should have been bombing their defence with 'hopeful' balls instead of the same predictable down the outside, cut it back or cut inside tactics which 99.9% of the time leads to nothing. Smallbone offers nothing, gives away far too many needless free kicks. Was Che Adams playing? He was hardly involved due to the continuous flank play.
Rotherham’s keeper has been immense all season. They have a bingo board on their forum which includes their keeper will be man of the match but they will lose anyway. This is the the problem with Saints. We overwhelmed Rotherham, but unlike all the other teams who have overwhelmed them, we failed to find a corner. Rotherham have conceded 13 goals in 5 away games - plus an extra six against Stoke in the league cup - all with a keeper playing out of his skin. Yet we score one and begin playing slow tappy tap passing?
The Rotherham keeper from yesterday didn't play in the 6-1 cup game against Stoke. That was their reserve keeper. I'm as gutted as anyone else about not getting the win yesterday but I think the reaction from some Saints fans is way over the top. We were excellent in the first half. Some might say that's because Rotherham are crap, but they've beaten Norwich and drawn with Preston this season. Chatting with fans of other Champ clubs, this is kind of what Rotherham are known for; stubborn party-pooper types, that somehow get results against the top teams. We have to remember that was the third game in 8 days. It's no surprise that our energy levels dropped second half. And the way Rotherham set up was damn near impenetrable in the second half. 5-4-1, and so deep. Their box was packed with defenders any time we got near it. Our fans are fickle and somewhat entitled. We have quickly forgotten that Stoke really should have had a pen, and it was only a moment of brilliance that got us the 3 points in that game. Can't say it was particularly deserved. So, 4 points from the Stoke/Rotherham games is probably about fair. Yes, we need to improve. But I'd say on the whole we are. The passing is better. We just need Stewart to get fit and hit the ground running.
You can be so dramatic sometimes mate Nothing to do with buying into any PR whatever that means. I've said on here I don't particularly rate Martin and I've been fairly critical of SR at times too. It's a poor result of course but these things happen (Rochdale anyone?) and I don't think yesterday was a disaster in itself. I think the previous poor run has made yesterday seem worse than it actually was as we win that game 9 times out of 10 and if that volley goes over bar. Think we played better yesterday than against Wednesday for example.
It took 30 minutes for the league’s least successful away team to work us out. Tactically we are so one dimensional it hurts. The worst thing is that in the second half when they pushed up and left some space, we moved the ball patiently around the back instead of hitting on the counter. The whole second half was depressing. Games like this shouldn’t come down to the keeper making a stunning save from Smallbone. Three games in 8 days is not an undue stress. It can’t be. We’ve been taking the piss out of Man Utd and Liverpool and Chelsea for claiming this excuse for 30 years…
