Southampton FC V Augsburg Friendly

Oh the pain of an unwarrented downvote on top of it all it’s too much for me…

1 Like

Like the beating up of the small kid with the snotty t-shirt that everyone calls fleabag because he is poor and smells of piss… I accept my fate as I did then…

3 Likes

It’s almost as if the not scoring a goal thing wasn’t anything to do with Puel after all.

Must admit I was expecting us to be dour, solid and unadventurous under MP.

I was wrong.

It’ll all be better when the season starts.

2 Likes

You have gone for the expensive stuff then ?

2 Likes

Just realised another match day thread started by Moi and another defeat

I haven’t seen a win since 2016. :lou_sad:

1 Like

Can we look forward to official player interviews referencing positives and a lot of good things coming from that debacle?

I must have missed when pre-season friendlies began to mean much of anything. Not referencing you lot, mind - more the minority of morons around me in the ground. I’d hoped we’d left that toxicity at the end of last season.

If these results were indicative of everything to come over the next 9 months, we’d have been relegated from the PL every season in the '90s.

At no one point was the best starting XI all on the pitch together. Nowhere was that more evident than in the defensive half of the team. We had two very decent efforts hit the post and bar respectively, whereas their first goal was semi-worldie, semi caught by the wind. If you’ve an agenda, for the rest you can probably spin that either Forster could’ve been more commanding or that he was largely unprotected. The former would be of mild concern, though for the latter I point you to the opening of this paragraph.

Regardless, it wasn’t a 4-0 performance. No more than the match against St. Etienne was a 3-0 one.

6 Likes

Too late, I’ve already wet myself.

Just having another drink so I can do it again in a minute…

3 Likes

That squad is weak.

Here’s a test that’ll leave you agreeing.

Name our best player in the most basic way of positions

Striker
Midfield
Defender
Keeper

Exclude VVD as he’s gone.
Its players of this ilk they’ll do a job, bar Forster, I like him but I have no confidence in him at all.

What is our goal this season? Where do we hope to finish?

14th for me, no investment no improvement and with the selling of players we’ll weaken, obvious really.

Another day supporting Saints.

Another false dawn gone up in smoke.

Water dripping down your neck and the long trudge home wondering whether it was all worth while.

Yeah, that was walking back from the Gym this morning in 45C & 80% humidity, but for once felt completely as one with those that went to the game.

Bring back Puel…

1 Like

As Ant said…it was a pre-season game…the very reason I don’t go to them anymore. They are indicative of nothing.

I agree that they are indicative of very little, but it would be nice to see the occasional hint that things have improved…and getting thumped at home just gives the impression that little has changed.

Football fans are fickle and nervous, they need to see something cheerful.

That has to happen on Saturday.

2 Likes

In preseasons gone by we have always played a complete minnow team and spanked them 8-0 or something. Usually a Dutch pub team or something. That gives players their first run out and a bit of shooting practice and confidence.

But we haven’t had one of those fixtures this year. Considering how goal shy we have been of late it is a little bizarre that one of those wasn’t arranged.

I agree with both you and ant that the result means very little, and given the number of substitutions and the lack of there being anything ‘real’ at stake, pre-season games mean very little.

However to say they provide an indication of nothing is stretching it a little.

For the record, I took away quite a few positives from the 0-4 reverse - from both individual and team performance.

1 Like

Player ratings from last night from READ Southampton

SOUTHAMPTON 0-4 AUGSBURG: RATING THE SAINTS

Southampton were embarrassingly thrashed by Augsburg at St.Mary’s in their first home pre-season match of the summer.

The Saints came into the game off the back of a 3-0 win over Saint-Etienne in France but were unable to produce a similar performance against Augsburg.

The German outfit proved far too good for Southampton as they swept Mauricio Pellegrino’s men away with consummate ease.

Southampton rarely threatened the Augsburg keeper and have now gone over 550 minutes without scoring a goal at St.Mary’s.

The defending for all four goals was questionable, to say the least, with the German side looking like they were going to score every time they went forward.

Southampton now face a test against Sevilla at St.Mary’s on Saturday, who recently beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Emirates Cup.

There will have to be big improvements before that game, with Southampton fans unhappy with their display against Augsburg.

Here is how we rated the Saints after the game…

FRASER FORSTER: 5

Questionable for three of the four goals. Forster was like a hologram at times.

JEREMY PIED: 7

One of the few Southampton players who didn’t look awful. Pied put in a good shift down the right.

MAYA YOSHIDA: 6

Dodgy performance from Yoshida at the back. He failed to command the defence from the free-kick which led to the second goal.

JAN BEDNAREK: 5

Bednarek has been less than impressive in his few Southampton appearances so far. He looked off the pace again and failed to deal with simple defending at times.

MATT TARGETT: 5

Defensively he was awful and his delivery going forward was even worse.

ORIOL ROMEU: 5

Partly at fault for the first goal and struggled to keep a lid on the game in the first half. Didn’t do his job, putting it simply.

PIERRE-EMILE HOJBJERG: 5

Played a few good diagonal passes, but that does not make up for his lack of dominance in midfield. He struggled going forward and in defence. He can play a good sideways pass, though.

JAMES WARD-PROWSE: 5

Was Ward-Prowse playing? Oh, apparently he was…

SHANE LONG: 7

Put in a real shift for Southampton going forward. He was excellent at running the channels and holding the ball up. The service into him was poor.

CHARLIE AUSTIN: 6

Didn’t do much wrong, his performance was hindered by the poor quality of service into him during the game.

NATHAN REDMOND: 7

Looked very lively in the first half and came closest to scoring for Southampton all game. His strike from 30-yards bounced off the top of the bar.

2 Likes

Normally those figures would only be bandied about for an 8-0 win over Sunderland or Aston Villa not a 0- 4 defeat to an unknown German team

Some interesting / positive points from last night for me…

Pied looked right on it from the start. He could start the season as first choice RB for me.

Pellegrino seems to see Sam McQueen as an advanced wide player. That might be because he sees Targett as second-choice left back, or because he sees something Balesque in McQueen. Or, it’s a pre-season friendly and…

Matty Targett’s crossing (despite what it says in the player ratings above) was excellent. Having the midfield pinning them back and having McQueen going forward in front of him undoubtedly helped.

There was a 20-minute spell at the start of the second half where we really dominated and should have scored a couple. It suggests that Pellegrino had an impact at half-time. Clasie and Hojbjerg were both superb and the entire forward line pushed as one and closed down. Targett and McQueen worked well together too with Targett putting in some testing crosses.

Gabbiadini came on quite late and his movement and space-finding ability is still there. He engineered a shot late on in a crowded box that made it clear he’s a natural striker/finisher. Hopefully, he’ll get the service this season that his movement deserves.

2 Likes

Not seeing the game or any highlights I am assuming you have lots of happy pills.

or maybe MP was only looking at what various people can do do and bugger the result

1 Like

Shit walk to the game

Shit first half

Shit music for the half time relay

Shit second half

Shit result

Shit walk back to the car

Shit drive home

Shit

4 Likes

Lol.

No, see the rest of the match thread for my ‘constructive’ criticisms.

I just thought it was worth balancing the negativity with some less negative views.

It really wasn’t a 0-4 game to my eye. Just about everything that went towards Fraser’s goal ended in the back of the net - and we hit the woodwork twice.

And as to your last point, Phil, as others have said, it is a pre-season friendly and it really is about testing players in different positions, testing partnerships, giving people a run-out, allowing people to see what Les and the Black Box have squandered £5m on this year, etc.

1 Like