You thought we were handy the 1st half?
Originally posted by @SuperMikey
Originally posted by @MrTrampoline
Massively disappointing performance.
Long, Rodriguez and Redmond all harmless as the fangs of a daddy longlegs.
Hojbjerg once again did little more than give the ball away. Martina couldnāt cross the ball. Clasie was utter gash as usual and all in all the team looked utterly clueless about how to attack a team with men behind the ball.
One of our main objectives has to be integrating Boufal into the team. Heās the only bright spark (apart from perhaps Tadic and maybe Redmond on his day) that looks like he can open up a defence either with a slick pass or by beating a man.
At the moment weāre just so, so easy to defend against its embarrassing. You literally just need to get men behind the ball and patiently wait for us to give it back to you.
Things need to change. We need to have a serious think about how we can conjure up some kind of a threat going forward.
Or fall over
He wasnāt great today admittedly; but he changed the game completely against Hull and has had his moments here and there.
At the very least, heās a player whoās willing to take players on and try something.
For so many of our midfielders who recieve the ball in an attacking position its a case of āWelp, theres a defender in my way, better knock it back to Virgil and start again. Ahwelā.
So annoyed by another lacklustre performance that I have to be angry on my keyboard, and itās just you poor sods who have to read the utter bile I am about to spout;
a) JWP - Love the bloke, christ, whatās not to love, Southampton player for his entire life and loves the Saints. Has a great technique, but just seems to be scared to deliver in a Saints shirt. Not sure of the pass count tonight - but if he played 5% forward passes I would be surprised. Only in the last 10 did he make an effort to move forward from a holding role.
b) Virgil - too good for those around him tonight, with the exception of Sam McQueen - and sadly, no matter whatever your level, being played around bad players brings your own performance levels down.
c) Redmond - Just doesnāt know his position. Canāt blame him for that - he loves running into space, yet cutting in from the wings in a striker type way drags you into what is the space-shy centre of the pitch. He should grow a pair, and say I donāt want to be a striker!
d) Cuco - One great goal does not a great player make. Sorry, but he just is too easy for the opposition to read / drag out of position / beat. Thanks for the great goal though - one of about 10 I will never forget in the red and white.
e) Rodrigues - Having suffered a ruptured cruciate myself, coming back - I never did, and I reckon Southampton Sunday afternoon leagues 1/ 2 were not the better for it - must be difficult. I feel for the guy, he was great, he has had a major setback, and in all honesty, two years out will ruin most footballers careers. I wish him well - but to come back in the spotlight of the PL and Europa may not be the best. I was against loaning him out in the summer, but that was heart over head. Now the head and heart agree he should get games somewhere for a period.
I could go on a bit I reckon, but I have felt this slightly theraputic. So I thank you for being my soundboard. And for reading.
10 Likes
IF we scrape through, luckily Sturridge wonāt be Cup tied in Janā¦
Help, Iām being held captive in a porn dungeon in London.
Theyāve made me watch a terrible football match kept my eyes open to watch Virgil head over from close range and Martina kick the ball directly in to touch when in possession.
Send beer.
3 Likes
Originally posted by @saintbletch
Help, Iām being held captive in a porn dungeon in London.
Theyāve made me watch a terrible football match kept my eyes open to watch Virgil head over from closrntabge and Martina kick the ball directly in to touch when in possession.
Send beer.
Take it bitch
6 Likes
Just to spite you.
Originally posted by @Bathsaint
Originally posted by @Barry-Sanchez
Originally posted by @Rallyboy
Milan just lost - we need the full first team out for the final game.
Why didnāt that cunt Puel play the first team in the first place?
Just to spite you.
Probably the utter bell.
I admire your positivity Kev but canāt say I feel the same. I thought we were crap in the first half as well and as for us being very good at St. Marys, well tbh I think weāve flattered to deceive.
I was quite optimistic earlier on in the season and even when we were coming to terms with the diamond, I could see what it was about ā¦ it was fast, fluid and good on the eye. All that was lacking was for our strikers to find a bit form.
Now we seem to to have lost our way and seem to be playing a more standard 433 which is slow, predictable and fuckinā boring. This last month, with the exception of 20 odd minutes against Hull, weāve created fuck all and are very easy to defend against.
1 Like
Now if we do not win on Sunday, then I agree we need to be a little concerned. We are great at SMS, since March 2016 we have a record of -
Won - 10
Drawn - 4
Lost - 1
The one loss was against Chelsea, who also were the last team before this to beat us at home. In fact in 2016 we have only lost to Chelsea at home.
6 years. 2 promotions. Best ever Premier League finish, European tour. Attractive, attacking philosophy. In with a great chance of more knockout European football. Pompey about as shit as I can remember them in my lifetime. 2 best right backs in the country.
Iām happy.
4 Likes
I wasnāt on the āWE NEED A STIKER!!!1111ā bandwagon before now as Austin, Long, Jay and Redmond looked like pretty good options in the summer, but only Chas has a decent record so far of that lot and iām starting to have real doubts over whether Jay will come good again. I really hope we donāt sign Sturridge because heās a sicknote but we do need more goal threat up top.
I quite like the look of Moussa Marega whoās playing at Guimaraes at the moment - from what iāve seen from highlights heās quite Jay Rod-esque in that heās strong, direct and quick and heās hit real goalscoring form this season. Worth a look at least, although iām sure the black box has a dossier on him alreadyā¦
Still going motherfukkers!!!
6 Likes
Interesting reading everyone elseās views. I agree with most of them, but didnāt anyone else think that VVD looked lazy and switched off? It sometimes seems like he canāt get motivated for the ālesserā opposition and just thinks he can turn up. Luckily heās so good that even in second gear heās better than most, but Iām not sure itās good for team morale if the captain is strolling about looking disinterestedā¦
Also, has anyone got any view on Martina? Iām not sure what to think of him and nobody here seems to have an opinion. Thanks.
2 Likes
Donāt just donāt 
Is Boufal going to be the next player to suffer from our āexpensive signing flopā curse?
I fear VVDās head is already at Liverpool. Some talk coming out of Liverpool that itās virtually a done deal, Liverpool stating they are highly confident of signing him. Never mind that he is 6 months into a 6 year contract. Thats agents for you. They will offer the amount , rumoured to be 20 million, that will mean we are obliged to allow him to speak with them, nothing we can do about it. Fucking disgraceful, but there we go. Apparently they want Sam McQueen as well, and they would get him for peanuts. If i were a Liverpool supporter i would be embarrassed, but iām sure they have no shame. So called āunfashionableā clubs like Southampton should get protection from these predatory so called big name clubs, they donāt have to bother with an academy, or even a proper scouting system. They can just let the likes of us do that, and pick them off as and when it suits. Which of course has the bonus of stopping āupstartsā like the Southamptons of this world competing at the highest level. If say in January, a club like Man City, Man U or Liverpool are underachieving in certain positions, and we are overachieving they can just come in, offer to double or triple their wages and off they go. Never mind that this would totally disrupt the season for the likes of us. As i say, fucking disgraceful, but the half dozen so called big clubs will always have their interests looked after before the likes of us by the powers that be who run football.
When Arsenal met Suarez release clause Liverpool said, bollocks to you. We should give them same treatment over VVD. Fk what the contract says, you can Do One.
I think its the case with Van Dyke where he didnt really care about the competition as he wasnt being showcased. We as les Reed said are a showcase club. Van Dyke knows he will get no credit for his performance in Europa. The premier league is where he makes his money.
After last night I would swap him for Sturridge plus Ā£10mil.
I was impressed by Mqeen though. Very positive, always looking at getting the ball forward. Redmond poor for the second or third time in a row. seems like we do mis Tadic. Just wish someone would give JWP a kick up the arse and take some more risks passing forward. His one chance in the game he fluffed. I think it must be a mental thing with. Puel needs to get a grip on him
Is it coincidental that the underwhelming Ward-Prowse and Redmond are highly rated by the England set-up?
They are being coached for a decade of underachievement at the top levelā¦we need to get them away from all that.
where has this talk of Ā£20m come from? Surely he hasnāt got a release clause of Ā£20m? He only recently signed a new contract, we wouldnāt have agreed to such a low figure. Maybe a clause of 40 or 50m. I really hope he doesnāt join Liverpool. Heās too good for them. He needs to go to a much bigger club. Plus I dislike them.
2 Likes