Match Day Thread Saints v Newcastle Sunday 15th October 16:00

He played brilliantly today, saved that point singlehandedly by forcing himself into a shooting position and creating a goal out of nothing. We hadnt had a shot on goal by that point. The penalty was perfect. He has passion and he wants to win. I couldnt ask for anytihng more than that.

 

United at home in april.

 

Yeah I thought he was poor today. Maybe just rusty from lack of games but first goal was entirely his fault. If he is just going through the motions until January then it backs up my “should’ve sold him” stance

 

I went to that get game. I really don't recall him missing a penalty. I am getting on abit

 

I agree with a lot that you have said, funny I sent a text to friend that said "at least it's entertaining!" then Nuke scored! I didn't think it was a penalty either, but replays on SSN clearly show that it was a ricket from the toon defender, Friend got one decision right. . No doubt about a red for their Number 22? for that tackle on Redmond, a second yellow at least. When Fraser angrily hoofed the ball into the Chapel End I thought the Referee was going to book him, but I think he realised that Fraser was beating himself up for being so inept, and let him off. Fraser could do with a lesson in basic goalkeeping we can't afford these gaffs. Lemina my MoTM again, if we can keep him he could be the next hero. Worst moment for me was when Tadic and Cedric on the burst got behind the defence down the right byline and Cedric turned back and sent a 35 yard diagonal ball back to the half way line!
Sophie certainly added a bit more oomph than Redmond. I wondered why he put SD on until he kicked that one off the line, it made sense then!

 

For the first goal, it was more Perez flicking it away whilst on the floor than Virg giving it away. He just turned and walked back towards the box though which I was not impressed with.

Fors should have done better with the initial shot for the second and got his angles wrong for the rebound. After a mix up not tracking the runner.

It was a penalty and Shane knew exactly what he was doing. Just paused a split second then knocked the ball away and took the contact. Good forward play.

 

Just checked and you are correct. Although not wanting to be picky, but it was May

 

There have been some negative comments on this board and listening to Radio Solent coming home from the match but I think we are slowly seeing an improvement from last season. On a negative note, there were moments where the attacking move lost momentum and were far too slow and Redmond continued to flatten to deceive. The goals we conceded were down to errors with Forster having a howler with the second. However, there are more elements where I feel we are starting to make progress as opposed to the tedious football played under Claude Puel. Lamina looks like being our best bit of business for a long while (and Hoedt also seems pretty useful when he played the other week too.) We seem to have bought better quality players over the summer than during the previous summer transfer window and Lamina , for me, looks like we are getting things back on track with player recruitment.

The other thing I wanted to comment on was how well Boufal played today. I think this is the best I have seen him perform as he actually seemed to be involved with the rest of the team as well as presenting a threat down the flank. I have not been a fan of his previously but if he continues to out a shift in like this, I would echo the calls for a longer in in the team. Not too sure abut the negativity regarding Tadic who I felt played well today. albeit not quite proving himself to be as indispensable as Steven Davis. There has been a lot of comment in the Echo this week about RIckie Lambert being the "last Southampton hero" but I feel that Davis has long since inherited his mantle. When Davis plays well, Saints play well.

I would acknowledge that there are times when the pace of our play can be frustratingly slow yet there are moments today when we picked up the tempo and this caused problems for Newcastle. All in all, I feel that Pellegrino is slowly turning things around. If we can improve the service to two strikers leading the front, I feel that we will start to move further up the table. I cannot see anything too negative at the moment, especially if you consider how poor we were last season and realise that a lot of work was needed to address the failings of Claude Puel. I certainly don't see Pellegrino as a similar, misguided appointment.

 

Thoughts
Gab should never be dropped our best attacker by a distance
Forster ironically is undroppable but looks shot to pieces again
Another of the undroppables, Redmond continued his long run of doing little and once again boufal made a positive difference to us.
VVD looks utterly uninterested literally going through the motions should be benched again.
Lemina is holding the whole thing up at the minute
Our attacking was again slow and ponderous for much of the game
Considering all that it was a good point
We are not a best of the rest team this season

 

I do, was in the first ten minutes for handball.

Which was actually outside the box too iirc.

 

My thoughts now back from the game.

You know things aren't as great as they were when you're coming home pleased and relieved to get a point at home to Newcastle.
However I was genuinely pleased to see us get back into the game twice, even though it's criminal at this level to concede so soon after scoring, really bad.
Really pleased from Gabbi with his two goals, hopefully a start of a good run of form.
His first goal really screamed "**** you guys I'll do it by myself.
Great pen, well bought by Long too, could easily have not been given.
Forster is just the shadow of his former self.
Drop Redmond, please. Boufal did very well when he came, especillay defensively.

Kevin Friend still can't referee. Thought he was atrocious, despite the soft pen. Dangerous to allow Yedlin (I think) to get away with his challenge on Redmond. Shambolic refereeing display.

 

Okay, read everyone's comments and not a huge amount to add.

Completely agree it's time to drop Redmond, he was pretty awful today. Boufal made a difference with his attitude at the very least when he came on. It's surely time to give someone else a run between the sticks too?

I don't get the vociferous criticism of VVD - thought he played pretty well and won everything in the air. I didn't think Dusan was too bad today either. Lemina is just magnificent.

Attitude is the thing though. I'm unconvinced with MP2 I'm afraid - it just feels the team is disjointed and seem still to be lacking in identity. I understand the whole "we can't keep blaming the manager" stuff, but like Black, I think the attitude of a team reflects the manager (look at Silva and MP1 teams).

My main concern is that we can't rely on a moment of self created magic from Gabbs and a penalty. We're still not finding him on those runs and it's driving me crazy.

 

mention for Steven Davis. A good substitution. Thought he brought good energy and great goal line clearance.

thought oriol was frustrating today, is there a case in some games for oriol and lemina not to be the automatic default.

 

Yeah, I thought Oriol was okay today at best. The trouble is, Lemina is so good, it's actually making Oriol look less of a player.

 

Well, we now have three matches remaining before our schedule gets brutally difficult, and we're still barely above a point per match pace. Win two of those three or I don't think that MP2 will be our manager come January, because we're going to be uncomfortably close to the drop zone.

 

Word for the Newcastle fans, they were magnificent and outsung the home support all game.

 

As any away support will, I said earlier our home support is beyond atrocious.

To be fair though it's the same up and down the country so not strictly a problem for us.

 

Sure, but I thought they were particularly good.

 

I said this week I fully expect us to spend some time at that end of the table over winter. Don't think we'll finish anywhere near it though.

 

Fair point.

They always are noisy to be fair to them though, similar to West ham, villa, United etc.