I'm not sure today's game is the right one to judge any of our players really. The conditions played their part. Robbo was as equally poor as Nunez,and there were others. Just glad of the points,I think we deserved them despite the white knuckle ride.
Well at least you saw our version of the same and know we know what you are feeling even though you are struggling and we are cruising at the top. If you just saw a little sense and injected pragmatism you'd be a bit better but tbh yeah you are going to struggle to stay up even then. A rotten day for foot all though.
Is he actually injured? With it being his first start, I wondered if he was just ****ed. There was no sign of injury, he just suddenly signalled to come off
Thought he was the best player on the pitch in the first half but never expected him to last the full game as he had not had much game time before today and he ran his heart out first half. Will be interesting to see if any of the bigger clubs go for him if he keeps performing like he did today.
I really like him. I think the missed big chances somewhat cloud everything else (a bit like Jackson at Chelsea). His underlying numbers in terms of goal involvements are up there with every other decent striker in the prem and hes not even the main guy up top for us. He causes mayhem when he’s on form, he just lacks that little bit of subtlety on the ball. However today he was really poor. Anonymous most of the game and when did get it, couple simple balls he messed up. Saying that, gakpo was poor, szobo was anonymous after scoring, jones had a shocker and Robbo Konate vvd were poor. id say only Kelleher Bradley grav had decent games today.
At least you have players good enough to play that way though. Can you imagine how depressing it is watching it every week with one of the worst squads in the league and consistently watching us ruin our chances of taking anything from games by giving up cheap goals. It's horrific and made even worse by the arse licking giving to Martin from other managers. Off to Brighton on Friday and hopefully we'll make our feelings clear live on Sky.
I missed some words there but basically the fans cheered when we finally cleared it long and he turned and sarcastically clapped the fans and had a dig in his post match interview. Now it doesn't mean the fans want us to be a long ball team. We're just sick of seeing putting ourselves under immense pressure in our own box constantly against superior teams. It's absurd. It looked like an injury in the ground as he could barely walk but apparently might have been fatigue related so fingers crossed we see more of him soon.
If a manager thinks he can sarcastically clap home fans in 20th place then he won't last too long. I eas listening to the wolves game 2 weeks ago when they drew 2-2 and that's as close to a crowd completely turning as I've heard in a very long time. Wolves are in a run of relaxation matches but after thst 2-2 they've beaten Southampton and now Fulham who are not currently down there. Imo if the crowd had not got on the players backs like they did thry would still be acting like it was not their issue. Southampton fans probably need to get really mean but the run of fixtures for the next month do look very tough. We got gifted 3 goals there. That's the rub. We were poor enough and didn't take them serious so conceded 2. The midfield screen was non existent with jones trying to be a second lw, 10 or rw and leaving gravenberch on his own. Robbo has the guy going the right way and should have sheparded away from goal and szobo should have stabbed the ball out for a throw and ended thst move. So yeah we were bad but thry worked hard and exploited it deservedly. Those goals though. Stupid pen. Stupid throw out and stupid rush out. That's just suicide football. You can pass it about but you have to mix it up and be smart enough to see where to play quick and where to hold it up. Martin probably had harsh words with Mccarthy after the game for stopping playing short rather than flogging 2 goals.
There are fads in football as much as anywhere else. A few years back some technically gifted teams adopted this playing out from the back method, and soon every coach and his dog thought they have to do it the same way. The trouble is, you need the players who can do it, and you just don't have them atm. I remember a while ago when Arsenal first tried it and they were absolute pants at it and it was comical. By coaching the players who could and replacing those who couldn't they got there in the end. But Saints can't attract the sort of players Arsenal can, so like you say, it's suicidal to keep trying.
You have to ask why do sides do it. A) retain possession off goap kicks. B) make space further up the park by drawing half an opponents team C) retain possessiongenerall and not go forward cos you.dont want to lose the ball. For me reason b is the main reason to do this and if you are seeking space you must be actively looking to hit that space. Be that a big switch, a direct long ball over the top or a pass through the lines or even carrying it forward until challenged. A) is barely a reason. It's fine but you want to be pushing that opponent away from your goal ASAP rather than be dicking about in your own box. C) is what lfc did for the lallana injury until Southampton scored. It's the very worst thing possible imo irrespective of what anyone thinks. It'll be my opinion l. Southampton are doing it too deep and too ineffectively. Do it but keep sides honest by paying a % ball your forwards can win and get you up the park. When you are forced to play 4 and 5 passes on the edge of your own box or deeper you have to either find a straight pass thst opens up the park or kick it away. You only take the risk to get the reward of space. If you do it just to do it you get the szoboszlai goal.
Yeah it's ridiculous mate. Even last season teams such as Huddersfield worked us out and gave us real scares before the quality shone through. There were loads on our forum throughout the season saying that we'd get hammered if we tried playing this way in the prem playing like this and it's exactly how it's played out. If a bunch of randomers on an internet forum can see it... I also find it extremely dull. This obsession with possession is ruining the game as everything is so regimented and imo takes player flair away. Our second goal yesterday was pure instinct and something we've barely seen all season. I genuinely feel if Martin had a player like Le Tiss in his squad he wouldn't play him as he's too unpredictable or some nonsense.
B is definitely the upside but also another huge source of frustration when it comes to us as we quite often beat the initial press and get some space in midfield before recycling back to the keeper and having to beat it again. As I said yesterday we make loads of risky passes in our own third and hardly any in the oppositions.
You have to have all the lines moving so if you break line 1 and get a run but line 2 closes you down and nobody moves i to the gap then you have to recycle. We are actually quite effective at humping it at salah and nunez and preventing sides form just pushing all 3 lines up. Southampton refuse to hit it long at all so we could push our players into their half and not worry about being broken on in general play. The complete irony of this is the one ball the young boy got on the break he earned a penalty off of (vvd ran off like an arrogant fool on the wrong side of the park and coughed it up) and you scored off a counter from a corner. You clearly could break quicker if you wanted to and that young boy could run behind if you chose to hump it over the top a few times. It's silly not to as it allowed us to pin you in really tight with no out balls. We felt you'd not get through. Jones was off paying lw ffs. Our second 6. That meant there had to be space in the middle to play to
A good win in difficult conditions on a heavy pitch. Thought we played within ourselves but second half, last 30 minutes we totally dominated. It's becoming a thing. Great penalty save from Kelleher, why none of our players rushed in for the rebound was ridiculous. Shouldn't have been a penalty in the first place but it gave the home fans something to cheer. Comedy moment of the match - free kick hits Southampton player on the elbow and the player next to him, Fernandes? goes down holding his stomach for about 2 minutes. Delighted for Salah scoring his 100th away goal, hence the exuberant celebration. We play much better when Gravenberch is higher up the pitch. Good shifts from Szoboszlai, Gakpo and Bradley.
I'd say that the second jone was subbed and macca was on then grsvenberch felt more able to do what he can do rather than just sit static. Jones left him all on his todd. It's almost well and good be the man running left to right but if you are the 6 you have to do your own bit and enable the team
Yeh, it was one of those games where you felt anything could have happened until the last half hour and then you're just knew we were going to come out on top.
Heard someone raise this a while ago and thought could be a valid point when you think about it. Martin and other managers like him will want to go to the very top of the game. How do you get there? Well you need to show that you will play the right style and not necessarily just save a team from relegation Kompany got the Bayern job because of the style he implemented - he didn’t even save them from promotion. dyche? Never going to get a top job despite fact he has saved teams from the drop. So although results might not be going the way, Iid saints get relegated and Everton stay up, I would still put more money on Martin getting a bigger job than Dyche. Now, is that fair on saints? Not at all, but may be the reason why some of these managers stick so rigidly to their style even if it’s not bringing immediate results.
