mrfahaji

That's why xG is one of the most informative match stats (which they do show on MOTD). It obviously has flaws and seems a bit subjective (especially to more old-school fans), but despite Chelsea having more shots, more shots on target and lots more corners, our xG was higher. Without it one might assume that from the stats we got lucky, even though that wasn't the case.

Totally agree about JWP in general - didn't see much of the game yesterday but I think he has improved a lot in that regard. He's often been the 'nearly' man, but recently he has more performances where he's actually getting there and making the tackle. He still has anonymous games but at least his good games happen more often now. His set piece delivery has also improved in that time. Perhaps Hasenhuttl has helped him be a bit smarter as to how and when to time his bursts etc, plus as you say maybe he's someone whose game elevates when those around him play better (possibly the reverse causality, but I don't think so).

I think it’s more that he has a tendency to lose concentration and play a loose pass which puts us in trouble. Doesn’t mean he is a poor passer overall, but it’s more than just “an incomplete pass” once in a while. Compare that to Hojbjerg who regularly has games (or at least parts of games) where he seems unable to pass to a teammate stood 10 yards away.

Yep Isn’t that the point? Seems a little harsh that one or two players take the fall for that defeat! And the fact you even say yourself that Yoshida is no worse than the other defenders surely means there is a case to be made for him or anyone else. I like the fact that Yoshida has a bit of pace and I have seen him put in some brilliant displays (which will have been backed up by any MOTM polls on here). I have seen Vestergaard and Stephens have the occasional good game but rarely best player on the pitch. Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of an obviously superior CB, but for those reasons I don’t agree with the decision to blame Yoshida for the 9-0 and for him not to have been given much gametime since.

Are those things true? I don't think he is particularly quick across the ground (i.e. Watford's goal). Wouldn't say he is weak but also not exactly strong. Just over six foot tall is not massively tall either (plus it's not hugely important for a DM - some of the best of those are/were small). Even when it comes to spraying the ball around he is prone to giving it away carelessly. When he originally came into the team I thought his strength was in one-on-one situations, he seemed to track the man and get a tackle in well, whereas his positioning for crosses and weakness in the air was always a concern. He played well against Villa though. One swallow doesn't make a summer and I would still feel more confident with Yoshida in the team (who has flaws of his own, admittedly), but if Stephens can continue to play like that and cut out his blunders then he may well prove me wrong.

I know bringing up "I told you so" posts is frowned upon, but feeling vindicated about this/these posts: https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?60974-Saints-1-1-Huddersfield-Reaction&p=2733959#post2733959

Perhaps, but it's also the formation that couldn't hold on against Newcastle and lost to West Ham isn't it? I'm not sure this match is evidence of some inevitable turnaround. Having said that I thought that as a minimum we needed to win more than we lost in this latest batch of games (from Arsenal to today) and we finished with a record of 3-1-2, so all in all have to happy with it, although could have been so much better. Picked the best three matches to win though, most likely the three sides to finish below us.

Yeah fair enough, but it did open up for him. I just mean that if he had shot earlier it might not have been AS bad a decision as it ended up being

In fairness it was crying out for a shot, the problem is he waited and waited and only pulled the trigger once he was closed down!

Not using same machine (PC/phone) so this link might not work but try eplsite.uk/stream15.html

As someone who voted for them in Putney (my approach was that Corbyn didn't deserve my vote, but the current Tories are so hideous that it was more important to vote to stop them), I hope that I haven't inadvertently contributed to this! The rest of what you say about Corbyn and Labour is spot on. The paradox is he appears to be a man of principle who above all else would care about stopping the Conservatives, but actually as you say, "[has] never given two shi ts about changing the country, just owning the Labour Party"

Concerns about his injuries are/were totally justified. But quite a lot of people were writing him off after a few poor performances. Again, not necessarily unjustified but the key thing for me was that when he arrived he looked really good (different class vs most of our other players), and for me that’s where the fans are fickle/shortsighted. If a player turns up and never plays well, it’s a bit harass to criticise people for not having faith if and when they finally come good (for example, if Carrillo suddenly started being good, are we all idiots with no idea?), but when a player has a dip in form and is immediately treated as a massive failure, then perhaps it’s fair to call out those opinions.

What this picture doesn't show is that Stephens was originally close to Pukki, but when Pukki dropped off to the left, Stephens didn't go with him and instead wandered up the pitch.

I've seen Yoshida and Bednarek play excellently as a pair. More than once but Chelsea away last season stands out where they were the best 2 players on the pitch. I know that we don't have a great deal to choose from, but it puzzle me that Stephens doesn't have any redeeming features (he's slow, crap in the air, and has poor positioning), consistenly makes major errors and yet consistently gets given another chance. Yoshida, on the other hand, plays pretty well and then has one bad game and is dropped permanently. Also, Danso didn't look too bad in a couple of games, so how come he hasn't been given a chance? If he is worse than Stephens that what on earth did we see in him?!

Maybe, but it looked more like he lost the run of Pukki because he was sucked in to mark the Norwich player slightly deeper, rather than because he was ball watching.

And again tonight. Decent movement from Pukki but Stephens got distracted and ended up out of position far too easily. Whenever Stephens plays we have to score two because he is sure to do something that gives them a goal. He did ok today apart from the goal, but that’s still significant. Don’t understand why people think he is better than our other options - feels like no matter how much he messes up and costs us goals, people (including Hasenhuttl!) are willing to give him another chance. Yet other players have one bad game and that’s it, they’re finished.

Cedric has chance to show he’s learnt from that hideous Arsenal cross... nope, hasn’t learnt.

I don’t care what he contributes, Stephens always makes one **** up to gift the opposition a goal. Completely clueless defending, gets dragged out of position so easily. It’s Pukki ffs, just mark him!

I must say, I'm not always his biggest fan but JWP has been very good so far - not only has he been decent in open play but his deliveries have nearly all been good - as much as he gets the commentators banging on about his dangerous set pieces there are too many games where it's actually not very good - and one exceptional free kick for Ings to score. I think Long has done quite well too, thought that even before he got the flick on for the second. Even if 'composure' is never going to be the appropriate word for him in possession, he does at least seem a bit calmer and clearer of what he's trying to do when it comes to him.

I think it’s partly tactical - we try and score goals by pouncing on mistakes by the opposition, so better to pump an awkward ball up for their defenders to deal with than passing around going nowhere in the centre circle. I’m not yet convinced of this plan, but prepared to accept that it might just be intentional. The free kick was ridiculous though, think that’s taking it a bit far!

The strange thing for me is that some players (e.g. Boufal) seem to be dropped and written off by people after one or two poor games, while other players (eg JWP) have one or two good games and that seems to secure them a place in the side for months. I feel the same about centre back, where Yoshida has generally been quite good (though admittedly, we should be doing better than him as first choice) but whenever he has a dodgy game he seems to be dropped for ages, whereas Jack Stephens repeatedly plays terribly but the occasional good performance seems to guarantee his place in the starting XI. My take is that when Boufal or Djenepo get the ball, I have a sense that something might happen. Yes, that something might be that they lose the ball after running down a blind alley, but it might also be that they beat someone and create a goalscoring opportunity. I think people must be overestimating the ability of our squad or imagining that we are creating lots of chances without these players on the pitch, because I don't see it. What I see is pedestrian play with no idea how to break down the opposition, and then Boufal or Djenepo comes on and we suddenly look dangerous.

Taken out of context this sounds like a description of an ugly northern woman.

Nothing wrong with writing it that way round, it just wasn't that clear because people often put their own team's score first. And also I wasn't sure whether you were praising Bednarek or criticising him in the initial post... Less of the 'SH' though please, no-one abbreviates to that unless they are starting to describe our performances!

SH? Also I have no idea whether those scores are per the fixture - i.e. Arsenal 3 - 1 Saints or in terms of Saints (i.e. the reverse!)

I sometimes wonder if I actually know people on here already. Maybe people I played football against in the Tyro league, went to school with or lived down the road from (kwsaint, for example...)