Thought we was poor once again, can't wait to get the new boys starting and more in thru the door. Palmer 5/10 looked very dodgy imo BJ 5/10 just think he is so poor, gives players far too much space, weak in the tackle and offers f all going forward Dara 6/10 looked very ponderosa on the ball early doors but improved. Greaves 7/10 thought he got caught out for their goal but saved us on a couple of occasions after that. Leif 4/10 Where's the Leif from 2 seasons ago, partly to blame for their goal and generally poor Matusiwa 4/10 Not good enough, too slow, too weak and Deffo not a Morsy replacement. Taylor 5/10 didn't do anything particularly wrong but didn't really do anything positive either. Clarke 5/10 Tried but just not good enough, once again....too weak Philogene 5/10 same as Clarke SS 7/10 Tried his hardest, good work rate but sadly no end product, unlucky with shot that hit post Hirst 7/10 see above, same as SS Chaplin 4/10 Sell, not good enough Ogbene 5/10 done ok Young 5/10 no time to impact game Cajuste 5/10 same as young
A draw was a fair reflection,shame Sammie's shot didn't go in but we'll get better as the new faces are integrated.
Interesting how different fans see the game. I thought Matusiya was our best player. Clarke was poor again - would like to see Philogene and Ogbene start in the wide areas next game. Central defence is fine. Taylor should not be starting but lack of options really showed today as both Szmodics and Hirst were running on fumes but we had made our 5 subs. Hopefully some incomings before Preston
From the ground, I thought Southampton edged first half but we were much better second half. A draw is probably a fair result - take it and move on to easier fixtures (on paper). Defensively, mostly sound. They had some great attacking players and I thought we mostly kept them in check. A better second half where Palmer made a key stop. I thought Johnson was impressive, but not so much Davis - despite him getting forward more. Centre backs were solid, but Greaves possibly at fault for the goal by coming forward too much in the build up. Not overly convinced by Matusiwa or Taylor in central midfield. I felt our best moments mostly bypassed them. I thought Szmodics and Philogene had good performances. The latter surprised me in his hold up play and ability to play quick passes, although he missed a chance for a killer through ball in the second half. Jack Clarke was mostly anonymous and seemed like players ignored him in space second half - although he played his part in our goal. Hirst held up the ball okay and put in a good cross that led to our goal, but he missed two great opportunities in the penalty box and he tired quickly. We need a decent back up number 9 to relieve the pressure. Good to see Cajuste come on - had a chance to win it near the end. Chaplin had a great chance to win it - if only he was a bit taller! In the end, two of our harder games are over and done with. Hopefully we get our first win in our next game. Still need a bit more quality in the attacking positions for depth and a central midfielder would be good. We need a “new Morsy” to pick up the short goalkeeper passes in the middle, as both Matusiwa and Taylor (in particular) struggled in those positions.
Agree with most of this but the defence was an absolute complete and utter shambles for their goal and that’s what’s cost us the points. We might have conceded another three or four with half decent execution on goal from their attackers. So I’d say central defence not fine.
I think it's harsh to criticise the defence as the reason why we didn't get the win. Yes, Greaves and Davis should've done more to cut out the cross and we conceded the header too easily. However, I thought O'Shea and Greaves looked really solid and definitely kept those Southampton players largely in check throughout the match. I think O'Shea got man of the match and it was deserved. For me, our attack cost us the points by not making the most of our second half dominance and not creating enough chances. Jack Clarke was too peripheral and wasn't able to impact the game. Philogene had a positive game, I thought, considering he's only recently returned from injury. Good involvement in pressing and winning the ball back - but he missed a couple of golden opportunities to play in a good pass. Szmodics ran himself into the ground and had good energy, but he should've been more lethal in front of goal. Hirst held the ball up, but definitely tired and became more sloppy towards the end. He had a brilliant chance at the end of the first half to score, but lacked the composure, scuffed his effort a bit and made it an easy save for the Southampton goalkeeper. The subs didn't really make much of an impact, but I thought Ogbene showed a lot more threat down the right hand side. We're missing a quality wide player (with Hutchinson and Broadhead gone) and a decent centre-forward to bring off the bench. If we can get those players through the door, I'd be more confident. It feels like we've moved away from the style of play we used when going up, which is fine because we're expected to dominate possession more and control games. Players like Davis, Morsy, Chaplin, Burns, and Hirst have very specific skills that gelled well together under McKenna. He's now got to find a new way of winning games with the new squad. I feel we've got the defensive solidity more or less sorted. It's now about how we can maximise the attacking talent we've got and work on attacking patterns so we're able to be more creative and clinical to put away our chances.
I didn’t say the defence were the only reason we didn’t get the win but they certainly gave away a goal in shambolic fashion for the second game in a row. This time Leif lost all sense of what was around him and left the door wide open, others could have done better and Palmer is looking incredibly weak as a shot stopper compared to Muric and Walton. In light of two shambolic goals conceded in two games I just don’t agree with Royston that defensively we are fine. I see we are looking to sign yet another attacker to compensate for our defensive shortcomings by outscoring the opposition.
Overall the result and performance definitely in the positive camp. Always going to be bits to criticise but considering most of us were anticipating defeat, I think we can be happy with the direction of travel
Well that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be considering we've lost three quarters of our team, the first half was fairly even with Saints maybe having the better of it slightly. The second half I thought we were the better side side with Szmodics hitting the foot of the post but all in all a good display against a team that doesn't appear to have lost many players, we are still short of 2 or 3 players but for me the plus signs were Philogene and Davis with strong performances.
