gio1saints

RM said he had to play well tonight. Two assists plus his all round performance says he did. Just think he’s taken Will or Joes position for the next match.

Archer turns and scores!

2-2 of Joe Lumley palms it into our cb legs and it goes in. Shit goal.

RM gone back from the changing rooms well early. Wonder what that means.

SAA > SE on the first half showing if yiu want to do direct left winger v right winger comparison. SAA covered a lot more ground and I suspect he’s been given licence to do so- but SE has not - just hugs the touch line as usual.

71.6% possession. Getting nearer to that all important 96% ( that’s from a 4-0 win and four kick offs by opposing team). 😂

Mateus does not pass the ball. He strokes it.

A

Brilliant goal from Sam amo!!! Superb team goal

1-1. Long range fuck off goal.

Amo needs to score from that position..

9 minutes. Goat- Mateus scores! We have most of the ball. No shots bar Tyler’s early effort on target then bang! 😁

Seems to me that Kostic is > Wee Man- on paper at least. And it’s one ir the other for that left winger / back slot. A year older (31v 30) but Kostic played at much higher levels, for longer. Funnily enough wee man probably on higher wages than Kostic ( c£70k pw v c £55k pw) but that’s British leagues inflation for you I guess. Only real uncertainty is the fee - and his attitude about playing for Saints. Which are critical for RM. We know Wee Man desperate to play for us ( but not that desperate to reduce his financial demands with nufc) but we don’t know about Kostic. Would he consider Saints as a downgrade? IMOalmost certainly. UnlessDusan put in a word. I’m Pretty certain wee man is a free transfer or nominal whereas transfermkt have kostic down as a €6.5m player. So it could be a coin flip in terms of what they cost. In terms of class Kistic wins but in terms of instant “ feeling ” with the team Wee man is hugely popular and with supporters too. Wee Man Would be a crowd pleaser whereas Kostic is a cold blooded assessment of quality first and foremost. Neither have resale value. Cannot see the kostic move happening tbh. Smokescreen if anything.

Yep you are right. But those other two positions - FB and CB we already got multiple players in the system can play that. We have not practised playing to a front man at all far as I can tell. Obvious reasons but all the same I feel it may have unnecessarily limited our options for how to score a goal if Plan A and B has not worked. Im not bashing RM and do not suggest we change our default style and approach. I am saying though if you got a Tall Paul then if we are losing and everything else not worked- then use him. And if that’s the theory then try him out a bit more than he has so far. Practising using him late in losing EPL matches in September is the next best I guess if he’s not sold …

100% agree. Playing Jack Stephens versus Forest was one defensively minded player too many, one attacking minded player too few. By all means play the five at the back in those tough matches but in the “ winnable” we have to try get the first goal at least before playing that way and that’s in the 433 as MLG notes. Cardiff away is interesting because my head would say play the five to start with and weather any early Cardiff storm then switch up - but my frustrations from first two matches say go 433 and more offensive from the start and see how that pans out. The latter is my preference.

If we cannot find a way to play TP is there an argument to suggest we are going to find it hard to play RS also? Last match I saw RM played him in the touchline hugging right wing… This not playing Paul him cos he’s leaving is an all preseason long unhelpful story. If he’s still here Friday we’ve potentially wasted thst preseason by not practising using him on the pitch. Even with RS fit if TP cannot get a kick I’m not sure we’ve played a formation yet that would optimise his or indeed any conventional #9 strengths. And THAT would be the negligent element of his transfer - not his unfortunate post purchase injury problem. For all the fan talk of getting a goalscoring #9 what if we do not and continually will not play in a way which complements one?Is it lots of Southampton Nil results incoming…or do we crack the false #9 code with Tyler or others? It’s the gamble if our season imo. It's a massive ideological issue - and maybe the hill that RM chooses to die on - or achieves glory on. Or both!

Situations like Saturday where it was just not happening, RM putting Paul into the centre forward space and him competing in it by his presence alone was simply not an option - cos he was not on the bench. When he last played for us he got fouled a bunch of times in the last five minutes cos defenders rarely have to deal with that kind of attacker anymore. He could help generate Free kicks and positions which could be exploited. Let alone anything he does himself with the ball. He is a different kind of problem to that which most defences been dealing with. A very stark contrast. If we go into last five and it’s equal him coming in certainly gives opposition cause for concern - which makes them even less likely to score against us and it more likely we will create goal scoring opportunities. And who is to say if he is a success that he does not just be a last 5/10 mins impact player but plays more and more. Won’t know unless he’s given the chance. Which he will not my guess as he is 100% not on brand. My favourite brand of football for Saints is winning then next is not losing- then I may give you my style preferences further down that list - and the style IS important to me - but I know the first two always - as do most Saints fans…

I don’t think SR pay much attention to how hard you work to get the money to buy your ticket and merch. SR is a business designed to make profits not losses ( far as I can tell - though I’d bet that some club owners are simply money laundering..) . Whatever they do they are not thinking to lose money as the primary objective. Your feelings and how hard you work & how much you love saints is low to non existent on the list of their priorities - they attitude is not exclusive to Saints, of course, but frankly supporters are the bottom of a horrible system that’s rigged to the benefit of the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else - you me and every punter buys a £60 -£90 shirt that costs £1 to make in a sweatshop somewhere far away or pays £30+ at SMS to watch a bunch of young millionaires on 5 yr contracts get excited kicking a ball around.

Your ignorance is staggering.

Tyler.

Did you see how many shots they had? 0-3 at halftime would not have been unfair. They were way better than most of the teams we played at home last season - by a margin. Maybe they still makes them fucki g shite but well it’s your opinion. Before the match I thought we’d win comfortably. I thought forest were relegation fodder. We did look better second half so not sure I subscribe to your theory.

Exactly so. As for “why” our allotted players did not get into attacking areas I suggest it was a combination of : 1. Forest were very aggressive very fast and very progressive with and without the ball in that time. It should not have but I think that high intensity took Saints by surprise. And they/ RM felt prudent / safer not over committing in attack in the early part of the game. With our MF essentially much further away from the danger zones than envisaged and the two forwards super wide that U -shape comes as no surprise. It could be called lack of bravery but I think that’s a disservice to the players. Forest essentially bullied us away from those areas very effectively using EPL nous. We ain’t got that yet nor the experience of playing vs that intensity and knowing how to counter it - yet. In the circumstances our essentially “ holding exercise” was the best of a bad situation. 2. Having weathered the storm so to speak, and seemingly, eventually, appearing to be able to work out how to counter their tactics ( and formation) to in turn concede from a set piece was v disappointing - as it appeared at the time that the game momentum was finally swinging in our favour. If we had got to last ten at 0-0 it would likely be them holding on for the draw..even so in the last quarter our players still seemed slow or reluctant or inhibited about attacking the penalty area ( except for Tyler). Even Sam E’s dribbling efforts seemed halfhearted. Perhaps still in shock the lot of them at how powerfully Forest played us off the park at start. Big lessons learned I trust and hope.

I’d like to see us NOT play a back three for this ( supposedly) winnable one. But I think I may be disappointed - at least for first half. Would love to see if Tyler has got 90 minutes in him and would give him a start if was me. Can’t see RM starting Les and Mateus AND Tyler all at same time - but I want to see them play and get decent minutes all the same. Archer should start for AA imo and SAA should get some minutes ahead of Edozie this match - for me.

Agree- but I also think that the MF are actually meant to attack those “ dangerous” areas more than they currently do. And hence why, possibly, we look toothless to date. IF they were busting a gut to get into the box - or had more know how about timing runs a conventional CF would not be such an obvious requirement. There was no “ false #9” that I could discern on Saturday which points to an over defensively cautious set up at home in a match we all expected attacking!

Absolutely - unlike any other winger we have on the books, he actually crosses the ball and he accelerates the game in the crucial areas - unfortunately, and not statistically very successfully to warrant it being our go-to tactic every time, Sam Edozie seems to have been told to hold the ball and slow it down then try beat your man into the penalty area - which even if he has managed to do so the opposition have had that extra bit of time to regroup and his final pass or shot ineffective. One split second Saturday Sam had a clear shooting chance- and declined it. So frustrating. NB : also relevant that our most dangerous moment Saturday came from a new player( Charlie Taylor who presumably does not know yet that we don’t usually do crosses) doing the unthinkable- crossing the ball across the six yard box - but there was no one there!