Saints V Watford.4- 0. Post match chat!!

[saint-crinny]

I love football.

 

Quick mention for Jack Cork today - he was top drawer again. Such a brilliant signing.

[skintsaint]

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

 

that is all

[Tractor_Saint]

Lambert penalty 1-0

 

Lamberts 2nd penalty

 

Lallana hits the bar (watch in full screen)

 

I so so hope that they show Chaplows over the shoulder volley that hit the post - could have been goal of the season if that had gone in. Sheer class

[LostBoys]

Not at our very best but could have had a hatful. Very very enjoyable afternoon and I am going to Derby whu

[Judge_B]

Thought we struggled to get going, and even with the penalty we weren't great first half. Started brightly when we came back out, and some of our play as Watford pushed forward was irresistible. Our depth from the bench is brilliant, and if any team is daft enough to give us space we will tear them apart, I don't care who they are.

 

Special mention for the Watford back 4 though - especially Mariappa and Doyley. Even conceding 4 I thought they were good.

 

My only downside is that we seemed to have a left back who can't wait to get forward but had no outlet, and a right winger dying to run at the defence but without the support from deep.

 

Still, hard to complain a 4-0 win...

[70's Mike]

Good performance against a side who came to spoil the party, we toughed it out and then took them apart at times.Paced ourselves in heat,Keep this up and NC will be making a few more bob in the car park on away days

[petermcpete]

So impressed by Chappers, thought De Ridder was decent but Chappers was everywhere, cracking display and has to start vs Derby.

[It's There]

Who do Saints fear in this division?....noone! - Whom do the other teams fear- Saints! This is OUR SEASON!We are top because we deserve to be- I look forward to the next 4 games - they may be hard, but I expect 8/9 points- which means key rivals will be disappointed!

[jampot]

Just back from game, thought both full backs were excellent. Central defence was the weak part as far as I could tell and better teams will expose this. Gully had the best game I have seen him. Adam was brilliant with almost every touch. Was really happy to see De Ridder placed in the starting but nothing really came off for him sadly. Watford really struggled to contain saints in the 2nd half. Chaplow needs credit too...Very lively. Well done to all.

[saint_jas]

Sounded fantastic on the radio, looking forward to the highlights later.

 

Can't wait for Derby now.

[scotty]

First half, we struggled, and I thought we were really riding our luck going in one nil at half time. We were a different side second half and could have finished six or seven up. terrific second half performance, special mentions for Jack Cork and Chappers, but the whole team somehow pulled together after the break. tbh I'd have taken a draw at half time, but that gear we stepped up just left watford reeling.

 

Oh, and happy birthday Sussex Saint!!

[Tractor_Saint]

#randompost If you were in the Northam - can you spot yourself ? http://www.mediafire.com/i/?a3xy16euv7e70b4 (go large and download it)

Edited 1 October, 2011 by Tractor_Saint

[sammysaint]

Loved the atmosphere at the game except the we are going up chants !!!

 

1st 45 mins we were poor lucky we got the pen watford looked better and thats all i wanna say about the 1st half.

 

2nd half so much more postive and showed why were one of the top5/6 teams in this league passing play was class lallana cork etc in the build up to gulys goal was amazing.

 

last note glad holmes scored hopefully get some confidence and can do a job for us if one of the perfered 2/3 get injured.

[Barry the Badger]

Teams will get chances against us. We're an attacking team and I bloody love it!

[beatlesaint]

Was really happy to see De Ridder placed in the starting but nothing really came off for him sadly.

 

A lot of the balls he was asked to chase in the first half in that searing heat was a bit unfair on him. He has great pace, if he had gotten a few decent passes he would have shown his true potential, not that he was bad I might add.

[S-Clarke]

Bit of a sloppy start from us, Watford came at us a bit for the first 15 mins, but after we got to grips with it and started to pass the ball around, it was an incredibly straight forward win.

 

The 2nd half was the best half from us though, we caused them so many problems with our movement off the ball and there was always a player in space to receive the ball, and we have players with the agility to play themselves out of tight areas. Some of our football 2nd half was sublime, the back to front total football move was outstanding - and I'm gutted the goalie saved Chappers shot, that would have been such an amazing goal to drool over.

 

For me, Richardson was MOTM, closely followed by Lambo who as well as scoring goals is always aware of what's around him and reads the game superbly - as well as a goal scorer he is a terrific supply line too.

 

Nice to see us a couple of points clear at the top and we have a real cushion in the top 6 now going into a group of very tricky games. The start is beyond anyone's expectations and I'm just enjoying every moment of it.

[scotty]

Loved the atmosphere at the game except the we are going up chants !!!

 

1st 45 mins we were poor lucky we got the pen watford looked better and thats all i wanna say about the 1st half.

 

2nd half so much more postive and showed why were one of the top5/6 teams in this league passing play was class lallana cork etc in the build up to gulys goal was amazing.

 

last note glad holmes scored hopefully get some confidence and can do a job for us if one of the perfered 2/3 get injured.

 

 

Errrm, was there much of that today? All I heard from kingsland corner was "we are top of the league". Agree its not appropriate (yet!!) if it was being chanted.

 

Also agree about Lee Holmes, very chuffed for him.

[dune]

Saints do the bizz at Fortress St Marys again.

[Tractor_Saint]

Loved the atmosphere at the game except the we are going up chants !!!

 

For me, it's the 'we're coming for you' chants - it needs to be changed to "You dirty skate b*88ards, we don't care about you" not, we're coming for no - we're past that now!

[captainchris]

My take on the game...

 

First half we were ok but probably Watford shaded it. Lambert was outjumped for every ball a bit dissapointing - I'm a fan of his but today he was not bossing his marker. We did take a long time to get going.

 

Not sure about the pens - they looked soft but wasn't close enough to see really.

 

De Ridder - a bit in and out as was Guly as usual.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile - Adam Lallana just fantastic skill, a joy to watch. Thought fox was excellent and Hoodvelt too played well.

 

Not usually a fan of richardson - however today he was close to my MOTM played very well not that he had a lot to mark by the looks of it.

 

Chaplow really good again when he came on and good to see Holmes play a nice cameo too. I think right now I prefer him to Da Ridder.

 

Hammond was good as was Cork. Davis one blinding save....

 

Marks:

 

Davis - 7

Richardson - 8

Hoodvelt - 7

Fonte - 6

Fox - 8

De Ridder - 6

Lallana - 9.5

Hamond - 8

Cork - 7

Lambert - 6

Guly - 6

 

Subs -

 

Morgan - 7

Chappers - 9

Holmes - 8

 

Overall, a bit of help from the ref and a struggle first half. I think Watford were a poor team though and never really threatened us. Great second half with some awesome passing movements at times.......

[SaintBobby]

Just on the train back to London.

 

Shaky first 20 mins. We looked disorganised and tentative.

 

Ref seemed sure about the pen for handball, but from Kingsland I cldnt see what happened.

 

We were then a lot better for the rest of the first half, but still not great.

 

2nd half was different gravy.

 

Watford, who weren't awful by any means, started to tire and lose heart.

 

Lambert was simply phenomenonal. And my MOTM by a mile.

 

Creditable mentions to Chaplow, Richardson and Lallana.

 

But pretty damned good all over in the second 45.

 

Special credit for playing with pace, guile and ambition right to the end on such astonishing October heat.

[Legod Third Coming]

I am most concerned that teams have worked us out.

[hutch]

For me, it's the 'we're coming for you' chants - it needs to be changed to "You dirty skate b*88ards, we don't care about you" not, we're coming for no - we're past that now!

"We're sending you down" will do for me

[Raging Bull]

My take on the game...

 

First half we were ok but probably Watford shaded it. Lambert was outjumped for every ball a bit dissapointing - I'm a fan of his but today he was not bossing his marker. We did take a long time to get going.

 

Not sure about the pens - they looked soft but wasn't close enough to see really.

 

De Ridder - a bit in and out as was Guly as usual.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile - Adam Lallana just fantastic skill, a joy to watch. Thought fox was excellent and Hoodvelt too played well.

 

Not usually a fan of richardson - however today he was close to my MOTM played very well not that he had a lot to mark by the looks of it.

 

Chaplow really good again when he came on and good to see Holmes play a nice cameo too. I think right now I prefer him to Da Ridder.

 

Hammond was good as was Cork. Davis one blinding save....

 

Marks:

 

Davis - 7

Richardson - 8

Hoodvelt - 7

Fonte - 6

Fox - 8

De Ridder - 6

Lallana - 9.5

Hamond - 8

Cork - 7

Lambert - 6

Guly - 6

 

Subs -

 

Morgan - 7

Chappers - 9

Holmes - 8

 

Overall, a bit of help from the ref and a struggle first half. I think Watford were a poor team though and never really threatened us. Great second half with some awesome passing movements at times.......

 

First pen looked soft, second was nailed on

[ericofarabia]

With my recent years of notseeing many wins on my visits that was a HUGE relief for me that we didn't end the winning home run whilst I was there.

 

Off for a goodly few beers down The Cricketers YAY.

[shurlock]

My take on the game...

 

First half we were ok but probably Watford shaded it. Lambert was outjumped for every ball a bit dissapointing - I'm a fan of his but today he was not bossing his marker. We did take a long time to get going.

 

Not sure about the pens - they looked soft but wasn't close enough to see really.

 

De Ridder - a bit in and out as was Guly as usual.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile - Adam Lallana just fantastic skill, a joy to watch. Thought fox was excellent and Hoodvelt too played well.

 

Not usually a fan of richardson - however today he was close to my MOTM played very well not that he had a lot to mark by the looks of it.

 

Chaplow really good again when he came on and good to see Holmes play a nice cameo too. I think right now I prefer him to Da Ridder.

 

Hammond was good as was Cork. Davis one blinding save....

 

Marks:

 

Davis - 7

Richardson - 8

Hoodvelt - 7

Fonte - 6

Fox - 8

De Ridder - 6

Lallana - 9.5

Hamond - 8

Cork - 7

Lambert - 6

Guly - 6

 

Subs -

 

Morgan - 7

Chappers - 9

Holmes - 8

 

Overall, a bit of help from the ref and a struggle first half. I think Watford were a poor team though and never really threatened us. Great second half with some awesome passing movements at times.......

 

Guly and Lambert only a 6? Thought they linked up well: Lambert won most of his headers and held up play well, albeit coming off the wing and Guly's movement as well as his tracking back and finish for the goal were excellent. Fox a 8? as good as Richardson? He had a decent game; but the only save Kelvin had to make was from Fox's mistake. Could have quite easily got their tails up. Holmes a 8 for cameo appearance when the game was already done and dusted?

Edited 1 October, 2011 by shurlock

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

4 goals, clean sheet, 2 more for Lambert, Brighton and Pompey lose. PERFECT.

 

This. + our whole start has been absolutely brilliantly mentally good. A bit like our football at times.

[captainchris]

Guly and Lambert only a 6? Thought they linked up well: Lambert won most of his headers and held up play well, albeit coming off the wing and Guly's movement as well as his tracking back and finish for the goal were excellent. Fox a 8? as good as Richardson? He had a decent game; but the only save Kelvin had to make was from Fox's mistake. Could have quite easily got their tails up. Holmes a 8 for cameo appearance when the game was already done and dusted?

 

It's a game of opinions..............

[Dimond Geezer]

Is there any better way to spend a hot, sunny afternoon?

[bug187]

Been in Brighton all weekend, I didn't see a single shirt. Where does their support come from???

[thegaffer]

second half Llanna was simply unplayable.Some of his twists and turns sent me the wrong way and I was in the Kingsland.This team and this player in particular simply AWESOME!

[teamsaint]

football forums... amazing: we win 4-0 to stay top of the league , playing quite excellent football...and by 8.30 pm there are just 80 comments.

 

not a criticism, just amazing.

 

anyway, great second half, chuffed for Guly after he had been criminally ignored when wide open on two occasions....and really delighted for Holmes. Hope he can go on to have a real influence this season.

It really is a lot of fun atm.

Biggest downer...the save that stopped what surely would have been the goal of the season.

[Lazlo78]

Wait - does this result mean that we are back on honeymoon now?! ;-)

 

Two league defeats this season that have both been followed by a win. That's the real test - we will lose games but how will we cope? Rather well, so far ;-)

[View From The Top]

football forums... amazing: we win 4-0 to stay top of the league , playing quite excellent football...and by 8.30 pm there are just 80 comments.

 

not a criticism, just amazing.

 

anyway, great second half, chuffed for Guly after he had been criminally ignored when wide open on two occasions....and really delighted for Holmes. Hope he can go on to have a real influence this season.

It really is a lot of fun atm.

Biggest downer...the save that stopped what surely would have been the goal of the season.

 

I know, it would have been a goal of sublime and absolute genius.

[Professor]

It was crucial to win this game to rebuild confidence after just 1 point from the last 6. But they didn't just win, this was a crushing. Not many games are won by 4 goal margins. And once again, the teams just below all slipped back a bit. So although we are playing some of the top 6 sides in the next few weeks there's no reason to fear any of them and maybe some of them won't be top 6 after their game aganst Saints. Cardiff has to seen as one of those blips that will happen along the road and there will be more, but as long as we can keep bouncing back like today, all looks great.

[westofshannonsaint]

Great to be back on winning ways clean sh!t 2 pt lead @ top of the league after 10 games

I'ts still early day's & we have a tough month ahead, but i'm starting to believe we could be in the hunt of an automatic spot at the end of the season.

 

i may be wrong but we have won 2 out of the 3 games we have played against top half teams..???

 

Cardiff (a) 2-1 loss

Leicester (a) 3-2 loss

Ipswich (a) 2-5 win

Leeds (h) 3-1 win

 

6 points from those 4 games is respectable enough imho & I think most would have taken them before the season started.

[corsacar saint]

Probably slightly fortunate to be one up at half time,second half some of the football was sublime going forward. I thought at times Lallana and Guly were unplayable and that Guly shaded it as the man of the match.[being to the side of the Chapel goal,I cannot say whether the first one was a penalty,however the second was a nailed on certainty]. I thought the referee was very good as well.

[Crazy Diamond]

First 20 minutes, Watford probably should have taken the lead. Contentious penalty but if it wasn't going to be given for handball, Lambert had two guys climbing all over him, could easily have been a foul on him. Penalty scored, we took over. Lambert however was almost marked out of the game for me, very quiet other than his penalties obviously.

 

Second half, we batter them. They were absolutely dead and buried with 15 minutes left, we ran rings around them. It's nice to know we never put less than 100% effort in, the players were still hungry to get more. It could have been five or six quite easily.

 

Sometimes I think we're guilty of trying to be too technical, and there were definitely sloppy moments when things didn't happen. The first 20 minutes we made Watford look good, it was very sloppy. Delighted for Lee Holmes though - I thought as he came on, if he can get a goal it'll boost his confidence, and sure enough he scored a cracker, though I'm not sure the goalkeeper was blameless.

 

All in all, a well earned three points.

[doddisalegend]

Great result but very much a game of two halves. We were very poor first half, sloppy passing, dwelling on the ball in dangerous areas and generally looking second best (apart from Cork who was fantastic). The defence seemed to put itself under un-needed pressure with sloppy mistakes. We got away with it when a watford player got clean through and then slipped on the ball when he looked certain to score. The 1st penalty was won by the Northam I reckon, looked like the ref wasn't going to give anything till the Northam roared.

 

Second half we were like a different team, some fantastic football. Made up for Lee holmes great goal the whole team looked really pleased for him. Couldn't believe how much time Guly got on the ball for his goal. Watford seemed to deflate as the second half wore on while we just got stronger and stronger.

 

Well done NA. Well done players.

Edited 2 October, 2011 by doddisalegend

[The Cat]

The moment in the first half when Lallana instantly controlled Davis' long kick was exquisite.

[Turkish]

we are Southampton we're top of the league.

[Tractor_Saint]

Icing on the cake for me ... daughter's primary school hands round a teddy bear each weekend to the (un)lucky parent so they can fill in a book with 'what we did with the bear this weekend'. Checked the book, last entry was someone taking the bear to Notharf Krap (and it's a lucky bear obviously cos they won that game). So, along it comes to the Saints game and we went to have pics with the players near the shop. Went in the club shop and lo and behold, they had the Carling Cup on display and allowed you to hold it. So, bloke looking after the cup asked if my daughter wanted to hold the cup, he stuck the bear in the top of the cup and the photo was taken. Any suggestions on the caption for the photo in the school book? (unfortunately it's a PO post code so come on, think up a good one!)

[Saint Without a Halo]

25 goals scored is 7 more than anyone else in the league almost a goal a game more over 10 games!

[Saint Without a Halo]

I am most concerned that teams have worked us out.

 

If they have worked us out and we win 4-0 every week that will do for me!

[scotty]

I thought Rickie looked a bit stunned for a while after that first half clash of heads. The guy next to me commented that he suddenly wasnt winning, or even apparently trying for the trademark knock-on headers.

[pedg]

NA post match interview

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/9605312.stm

 

 

[latter day saint]

not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon

1st half we played at Watfords level & it was all a bit scrappy.

2nd half was a whole different ball game! some lovely passage's of play & a lot of of hard work just blew Watford away. scary thing is i think we can get better !

[1976_Child]

First 20 minutes, Watford probably should have taken the lead. Contentious penalty but if it wasn't going to be given for handball, Lambert had two guys climbing all over him, could easily have been a foul on him. Penalty scored, we took over. Lambert however was almost marked out of the game for me, very quiet other than his penalties obviously.

 

Second half, we batter them. They were absolutely dead and buried with 15 minutes left, we ran rings around them. It's nice to know we never put less than 100% effort in, the players were still hungry to get more. It could have been five or six quite easily.

 

Sometimes I think we're guilty of trying to be too technical, and there were definitely sloppy moments when things didn't happen. The first 20 minutes we made Watford look good, it was very sloppy. Delighted for Lee Holmes though - I thought as he came on, if he can get a goal it'll boost his confidence, and sure enough he scored a cracker, though I'm not sure the goalkeeper was blameless.

 

All in all, a well earned three points.

 

Maybe the best summing up ever.

 

Last 45 we were playing in a different league.

 

First 20, not so much - but I would say, although we were under the cosh, we dealt with it. And that is ultimately what wins games.

 

Also, I cannae remember seeing a fitter team. Even in WGS era. They are motoring into the 93rd minute. Well done the fitness coach - name escapes me for the moment - but these lads are well conditioned, and firing on all cylinders right to the end.

[stug76]

todays inaugural post on the "points above Pompey" thread is brought to you by the number 13

[STEVEADAMS]

Unlucky for some haha