Martin knew exactly what was coming. He said as much before the season kicked off. Being called naive. He knew it wouldn't win games but did it anyway/didnt have another option.
I agree that RM is ultimately responsible for the number of errors that occur as a result of following his game plan, BUT you would think that the more experienced defenders would have the balls to occasionally hit the ball into row Z, when the pressure on the ball is relentless, and to also have the balls to tell RM that it needs to be an option. I’m disappointed in Macca not having the gumption to slow the game down in the lead up to their first goal. He’s been around long enough to know that when his defence is spread all over the place he should hold onto the ball and give them time to reset and at least get out of the box. Releasing it as quickly as he did, to a player with no time or space was just ridiculous.
This really struck me too. He’s an experienced pro, should do better. Do you think he’s under instruction to play out quickly all the time?
Also, Macca is the one player who can defy Martin. He won’t drop him and he knows once Ramsdale is back he is on the bench. If I were him, I’d nod and smile at Russ, then play it long every time.
Agreed and when Liverpool were encamped on the edge of our penalty area towards the end of the game, Archer was ineffectively flitting around with no real intent, my missus said why don't they stick him on the halfway line and welly the ball up towards him, just a chance he could use his pace and score a breakaway goal....I ask you mate women eh, what do they know about it?
Was busy post game yesterday, but here's my experiences and thoughts on the game. Atmosphere was weird even pre-game. I think that was partly because we're all so jaded by this **** now and there is no end in sight, but also think it was because there were **** loads of plastic scousers in the ground. Where I sit in the Kingsland it's mostly season ticket holders so you see the same old faces every week. But yesterday there were SO MANY new faces who were trying to work out where their seats were. Now I'm not saying they were all Liverpool fans. But I've never seen so many half and half scarves (which strikes me as a way of having some Liverpool on you in the home end). There were quite a few around me or below that I could see who were just sat/stood watching Liverpool warm up and taking photos of them too...not so subtle. So yeah the atmosphere was ****, probably would have been **** anyway, but I don't think that helped. I personally join in, but never start songs and although I lost my **** a little bit when we got the 2nd (partly because it was a beautiful, fast attack which we never normally get to see) but at no point did I think we would even get a point out of that. Doubt I was the only one that felt that way, and it's pretty difficult to get an atmosphere going when there is just so little hope. On the game itself. We did okay, and unsurprisingly looked our best when we moved the ball forward quickly...but I honestly think Liverpool were in first gear for pretty much the entire game. They knew they could conserve energy with their big games coming up, and didn't have to do much to beat us. Put us under a little bit of pressure and we would cave in and gift wrap them chances. They were quite wasteful tbh, but probably difficult to be ON IT when you approach a game with that mentality. We all knew that we would give up at least one goal from ****ing up trying to play it out so no surprises when it happened. The second goal was ****ed though. WTF was that!? Fraser didn't do as bad as I thought he was going to, but even so. BATSHIT crazy starting him, particularly at fullback and particularly against Liverpool. Downes overall did alright playing CB, but again BATSHIT crazy playing by far and away our best (only?) DM at CB. How **** must our other CBs be!?! Some of Downes key attributes are his energy, work rate, athleticism (distance he covers) and ability to put in lots of niggly fouls to break up the play. You lose all of that by playing him at CB. There were too many of that team that stood out as very VERY championship, and our captain is absolutely one of them. Armstrong did what he did for long periods of last season. Look a bit ****, not really impacting 95% of the game, and yet ends up with a goal and assist. No idea what Lallana did, but his body just can't hack this level anymore and wouldn't surprise me if we don't see him again this year. He's so clearly above everyone else in our team in terms of nous, vision and experience at the top level, so him being so brittle is frustrating (yet predictable). Usual stand outs in Dibling and Fernandes. THB was also mostly pretty good in a makeshift backline. The surprise was just how good Tall Paul was! He didn't have a sniff anywhere near the goal, but his hold up play was really good. He controlled the ball and dribbled it out of tight spaces, surrounded by 2 or 3 Liverpool players on several occasions and played it out wide and then charged forward himself. Felt like we really should have given him more of a chance earlier in the season in some of the games we had a chance of winning... I've not seen any replays so this is just what I thought of the major referee/VAR decisions from the game. The Yuki handball looked harsh, from where I was sat (over half the stadium away tbf) it looked like his arm was in a natural position for a player who is moving...highly doubt if that was the other way, we would have been given it. I was also convinced live that our penalty was going to be overturned as looked so outside the area! Also thought the Adam Armstrong one when we were 2-1 up looked stonewall. I was convinced VAR was going to overturn that one and was just stood gobsmacked that the ref hadn't given it because it looked so blatant. Anyway, I expected a thrashing. We did the usual thing of upping our game against better opposition but still ultimately losing. So ultimately it counts for nothing. Oh final note (sorry for my rambling if anyone could be assed to read through it all), the crowd still hasn't turned on RM. Maybe because we all expected to lose and we scored a couple of goals this time. But really surprised there is still such apathy among the masses. What's it going to take for the crowd to turn? This is the worst start of any Southampton side in our 139 year history and to stay up now we would have to do something that no side in top flight football has ever done. Which essentially means that it's taken us 12 games to get relegated. We are on form to be one of, if not the worst side in PL history. Oh well, nevermind...
Our quick, slick breakaway goal felt like footballers playing on instinct rather than playing to instruction.
Our second goal was actually played out from the back and knocked forward quickly. It was a very good goal barely noticed by the MOD presenters.. Also I dont remember seeing TPs moment of brilliance. If it had been a Liverpool player i'm sure we would have
But he wasn't even covering the goal. He was too far over to the left. If he positioned himself correctly he would have saved that
Well yeah because he clearly thought he would just be coming out to claim the ball before Salah. The ball didn’t travel through to him like he thought, whether that was to do with the weather or just a huge misjudgement who knows I’m not defending him, it was a bad error at a time when we were winning a game against a much better side so just giving them a goal is unforgivable. It was just obvious to me what he was trying to do, even if he ****ed it up massively
Can someone tell me if the Southampton players are vastly inferior to the likes of those at other clubs in the lower half of the PL table, or are they collectively mentally weak??
In RM’s post match interview in the Echo he confirmed that he had told the team to play it quickly and he also said that Downes’ poor clearance should have been hit into a stand (or words to that effect). Clearly something is being lost in the way he is giving instructions and the players receiving them. With so many players hanging around the edge of our box I don’t know why, when the keeper has the ball in his hands, he doesn’t launch a long throw, taking out about 5 players who are waiting to press when we decide to play it out by passing it in tight spaces. The long throw from the keeper used to be quite potent and accurate in setting up attacks, but seems to have largely disappeared.
Not vastly inferior as we have been competitive in most of the games this season but we have given the oppo cheap goals far too often which can be solved with a change of style at the back ie just sticking to safe passing from the GK and defence forward and not the quite frankly stupid low percentage harum scarum passes that they attempt now. The mentality is actually pretty good apart from the occasional costly brain farts.
You’re not him though, and he’s a pro. He’ll do what the coach tells him to do. But perhaps he’ll also speak his mind, for the reasons you give (he won’t be dropped, until he inevitably is).
I’m going to whisper this and I might be pilloried for it but I really have my doubts about Flynn Downes as a PL player. He doesn’t have the composure required as far as I can see.
