Brilliant stuff which could have been even better. Love the fact that Targett got the assist for the first goal.
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You could give a research team a year and still not understand how or why that formation worked.
Iâll give you one key difference though - we gave a toss tonight.
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Hopefully thatâs enough to keep that cunt Wanyama out of the team.
Youâd start Romeu over Victor on merit alone, right? Even disregarding the attitude problem, I think Oriol has been demonstrably superior for a while now.
Also I have to say I like how match threads on here are always roughly consistent in length.
Look at Saintsweb after a loss compared with after a winâŠ
Very much with you on that, Ant. I thought Romeu was one of the few players who looked good on Saturday in what was a pretty shite performance. He tackles and intercepts well, and looks to get forward as and when he can too - and looks useful doing it too.
I think he and Clasie will be an excellent midfield duo; the more they play together the better theyâll get.
Kept an eye on Clasie tonight. Didnât get everything he went for, but starting to see glimpses of those long probing passes that got me so excited in the YouTube vids.
Just back from the game/celebratory pint.
Must say, when I saw the line-up I thought WTF?
As it turns out playing Bertrand in the back 3 made a massive difference. He added the all important pace to the back line and allowed Targett up to get forward more.
Virgil won everything in the air as usual and Jose was solid.
I also have to confess to slating Matty Targett (after his performance aganst Palace) in the pub before the game. Thought he was excellent tonight. Top cross for Shlongâs goal.
Clasie made a few wayward passes in the first half and can get knocked off the ball at times but I thought he had a decent game. His partnership with Romeu (who was very good again this evening) goes from strength to strength.
First time Clasie has completed 90 minutes I think. Also, when Watford bought on Anya, Clasie actually looked like an adult.
Davis had a great game tonight. Shame his great finish was ruled out for offside.
Shane Long was immense. I donât give a flying fuck how much we paid for him. Worth every penny for me. MOTM.
Tadic did well when he come on and showed Mané how to finish.
Mané put a shift in and got in some much more threatening positions than he has been doing of late but his finishing was woeful. Again.
Welcome back FF. First time Iâve heard a goal keeper this season.
And Koeman was ultra involved on the touchline this evening. Good to see.
Happy Days. On to West Brom.
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Spot on summary GB. Midfield were brilliant tonight in keeping the supply to their âsuperstarâ strikers as tight as a batâs arse.
Simply on merit. We have the added bonus of neither of them have, nor do they look like doing, acted like an utter cunt.
I agree. Wanyama should start on the bench of everyone is fit for Saturday. Good player to bring on to close the game out when we are 2-0 up 
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Couple of other amusing snippets and thoughts from last night
Tadic showed what Mane could become when he learns composure (which tbf has taken Tadic a long time)
We REALLY should have scored 6, and while a win we should worry again about that as we will get games where chances are limited
Great stint by Targett, great ball in for the 1st goal, Bertrand FINALLY looked like he knew what he was doing in a back 3, I feared the worst when I saw the team but hey, it worked.
Arabic Commentary.
I have mentioned before that there is one 'tater on BeIN Sports who is a Saints fan (went to language school there). 1st noticed him in our 1st season up when he did the 30 second long Goooooooooaaal thing and said SIR Rickie Lambert.
So, heâs jabbering away in the second half for at least 10 minutes with occassional Oooooooooooooooooooooohh Mane Mane Mane blah blah Mane Ooooooooh.
And then goes off on Shane Long blah blah, Sousehampton (yeah seriously) blah blah Ron Davies, Rickie Lambert, Martin Chivers, and he is clearly talking about our great forwards of the past, listing just about everyone and doing some blah blah about them Channon, Keegan, Stokes, Moran, Pelle all got mentions, and that after a 3 or 4 minute blah blah blah about MLT after he had been shown on the screen. One day I need to record some of him, it is funneh and cute.
And of course his tone with the Tadic goal was so totally âabout fooking time tooâ must have said Tadic 10 times
Donât understand a word and not sure he even actually commentates in the English way, but love him to death. Think he is a Tunisian
Originally posted by @Goatboy
Just back from the game/celebratory pint.
Must say, when I saw the line-up I thought WTF?
As it turns out playing Bertrand in the back 3 made a massive difference. He added the all important pace to the back line and allowed Targett up to get forward more.
I still donât understand what the formation was last night? 5-3-2 with Targett left back and Bertrand one of three centre backs?
Yes. Though it looked much more 3-5-2 for most of the game.
Interesting. I like the sound of that! What was it about Watfordâs style ths made this work against them but not necessarily other teams?
They were shit.
Watford play 2 out-and-out strikers, and RK wanted three CBs at the back to make sure they were never 1 v 1. As it happened, the midfield played so well that they barely had a sniff but the extra CB worked on a couple of occasions with Ryan covering well early on.
It worked because the Ryan as the ânewâ CB played well, and got his positioning spot on; the wing backs were both full backs who have plenty of energy to get back when needed; and as I said, the midfield put in a huge shift to make sure the defence was well protected.
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OK, thatâs a better answer than mine.
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How has a team that poor gathered SO many points?
Or were we so good we didnât give them any opportunity?
Two interesting moments for me -
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Injury time, we lose the ball, they head upfield and there is Shane Long tracking back at full pace to halt the advance - top effort.
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They put a cross into the box late on, Jose is set to clear it but ducks under it having obviously had a call from a keeper who was bossing the whole box.
The gulf between the two keepers last night was HUGE.
Letâs hope it was Fraserâs first step back towards the European Championships.
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A note of caution for Saturday. Breaking down WBA will need another massively intense mid-field performanceâŠdonât be surprised if there is a change in the strarting line-up. Some of Saturdayâs performance will have been left on Wednesdayâs pitch. Three days recovery isnât a long time.
Iâve been saying for weeks now Wanyamaâs performances this season have only been worthy of the bench but we could need his strength this Saturday.