Watford 0 - 3 Saints - Post Match Reaction.

[iansums]

One more won't hurt;

 

 

Bigger version; http://i42.tinypic.com/xef7d.jpg

 

Where's Kelvin? Something clearly is not right in the camp, Kelvin is being frozen out.

[Chez]

the first 20 minutes was possibly the worst 20 minutes of football I have ever seen, hoof, followed by hoof, followed by miss control, followed by misplaced pass, followed by hoof and to be honest that's pretty much how the game continued throughout. Barring Donny and Bristol City away it was the worst performance of the season for me, which shows just how poor Watford were. They hardly put two passes together, didn't have a shot of note and caused us no problems at all.

 

I don't think I have ever seen us win 0-3 away and not come away thinking I've seen the world's greatest team. You can put some of it down to the pitch, but one or two players just did not want to get the ball down and play. Butterfield got it down but every single pass was a lump down the channel. I thought we were better than that?

 

Enough if the moaning, I said few weeks back we'd get promoted and winning easily playing as **** as that only builds my confidence.

 

Davis 6 caught well, sod all else to do.

Butterfield 5 got beaten the one and only time he was one on one with the winger. So many aimless balls down the line its not true. Garbage. Not really tested defensively but solid enough.

Fonte 6 terrible distribution early on and also ball watched and got caught out badly, but thankfully not punished, soon settled down and defensively was then very sound. Lots of hoof though hence the average mark

Jos 7 strong in the air and very solid. Also hoofed.

Fox 8 best game in a Saints shirt for me, bombed down the line in the first half overlapping several times, solid defensively. Slightly less hoof than the rest.

Lallana 6 looked in great form and worked his socks off to close down,but then got injured. Worrying.

Cork 6 thought he chased shadows a fair bit and wasn't quite as strong as I'd liked, but worked hard as always

Morgan 7 far too quiet in the first half, not helped by the amount of hoof ball by the back four, but he didn't help with some poor passes. Got better as the game went on and by the end he was toying with Watford

Chaplow 6 some terrible, some bad and some quite good. Getting fitter and he is going to make the difference, but not exactly his mist effective of games

Ricky 8 hatrick so I have to give him a decent mark but he's had much better games, but the first was a gift. Great finish for the second and he's become the new penalty king. Took a knock which is a worry.

Lee 7 ran and ran and ran turning a lot of **** into OK balls. Thought he went to ground a bit easy on occasions, actually he dived at least twice, but the ref wasn't giving anything so he almost had to. Missed two absolute sitters. Need him to take chances like them. Won the pen.

 

Puncheon 5 not great really, passing poor although some good ideas

Connelly not on long enough to judge

Hammond a few touches

Edited 25 February, 2012 by Chez

[Thedelldays]

chez, adkins said on the radio that it was a very deliberate tactic to "get the ball forward as quick as possible" today to put them under the cosh and because of their "lively" pitch....and it worked a treat

[THEVMAN]

Injuries aren't a worry at all. Lallana carried on for 5 mins but came off as a precaution, went and sat in the stand. I don't even think Lambert was injured, little knock on his ankle but they'll both be fine.

AL may well be touch and go for the Leeds game,it might just come to soon.

[Crazy Diamond]

I think a few of you are getting a bit carried away with those photos.

 

I say a bit, I mean completely carried away. That is the exact kind of thing that will come to bite us on the arse if we were to lose unexpectedly.

[sfc4prem]

If we play ****e and win 3-0 every week i'll be a happy man.

[saintmatt]

They're wearing an undershirt, so it's either Sharp, Fox or Fonte.

 

I think it's Lallana - after his goal vs. Derby

[shirleysfc]

They're wearing an undershirt, so it's either Sharp, Fox or Fonte.

 

It's AL after he scored v Derby

[CWD]

Who is it sucking Lee off?

 

It's Lallana I think. This is the celebration after his goal last week

[RobM]

the first 20 minutes was possibly the worst 20 minutes of football I have ever seen, hoof, followed by hoof, followed by miss control, followed by misplaced pass, followed by hoof and to be honest that's pretty much how the game continued throughout. Barring Donny and Bristol City away it was the worst performance of the season for me, which shows just how poor Watford were. They hardly put two passes together, didn't have a shot of note and caused us no problems at all.

 

I don't think I have ever seen us win 0-3 away and not come away thinking I've seen the world's greatest team. You can put some of it down to the pitch, but one or two players just did not want to get the ball down and play. Butterfield got it down but every single pass was a lump down the channel. I thought we were better than that?

 

I think you've missed the point here - that was deliberate. NA said as much both before and after the game. He's said we have proven time and time again that we can play attractive football, but there is a time and a place for a different style as winning games of football is what counts. Today was that day. Get the ball forward, be physical, get the win regardless of how pretty it is.

 

So to criticise the team for doing exactly what they were asked to do, when that plan clearly worked exceptionally well, seems crazy.

[CWD]

Adam Lallana ‏ @adlallana1

Away win, Lambo on flames! Injury not bad at all! Away end sold out again #COYR

[smithy]

It's Lallana I think. This is the celebration after his goal last week

Nice to make him so welcome. My wife isn't even that generous.

[beatlesaint]

AL may well be touch and go for the Leeds game,it might just come to soon.

 

Wouldn't be a disaster if he missed out, those dirty Leeds bastards will try and kick him to kingdom come. Better ti have him firing on all cylinders for Ipswich and Barnsley and beyond...

[Chez]

chez, adkins said on the radio that it was a very deliberate tactic to "get the ball forward as quick as possible" today to put them under the cosh and because of their "lively" pitch....and it worked a treat

then we did exactly as Adkins asked and as we won easily he's a bloody genius. Sadly from a spectator point of view it was horrible. I've perhaps been spoilt by the tremendous football over the last two years, but the pitch wasn't that bad.

[Chez]

I think you've missed the point here - that was deliberate.

 

So to criticise the team for doing exactly what they were asked to do, when that plan clearly worked exceptionally well, seems crazy.

Sorry, I was travelling back from the game so I didn't hear Adkins' request for hoof ball. It might have been deliberate but I still hated it. Horrible stuff.

[krissyboy31]

Saw this on twitter https://p.twimg.com/Amh9zkXCAAAUKCu.jpg

[Mozz]

Ignore - Replied to something on prev page without flicking over.

[LGTL]

AL may well be touch and go for the Leeds game,it might just come to soon.

 

Ah right, fair enough. Well fingers crossed, thanks for the update.

[iansums]

Adam Lallana ‏ @adlallana1

Away win, Lambo on flames! Injury not bad at all! Away end sold out again #COYR

 

Looking on AL's Twitter page he says he's moved to Highcliffe, that's where I live. Think I'll nip out for a drive and see if I can spot his motor.

[Mowgli]

Sorry, I was travelling back from the game so I didn't hear Adkins' request for hoof ball. It might have been deliberate but I still hated it. Horrible stuff.

Right now it's about winning games and if the pitch does not lend itself to passing football then you have to by pass the midfield. The latter would have seen some nasty injuries - and probably a defeat!

[S-Clarke]

Sorry, I was travelling back from the game so I didn't hear Adkins' request for hoof ball. It might have been deliberate but I still hated it. Horrible stuff.

 

I reckon if we were naive and got it down to play, we'd have constantly been harried off the ball, passes would have been under hit and our retention would have been pretty poor.

 

On pitches like that, and against teams like that, you need to roll your sleeves up and go about winning the game to the conditions. We're fortunate to have more than one string to our bow and having a player like Lambert to hit up top is such a big plus for any team.

 

This was a terrific professional away win, that was masterminded by us playing the conditions.

[Lallana's Left Peg]

Sounds like we changed our tactics quite dramatically and to great effect - a Watford fan has his own blog and wrote this about us:

 

http://bhappy.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/watford-0-southampton-3-25022012/?

 

3- You know it’s been a bad day when Big Chris comes on and peps things up. A reflection on the state of the game as much as anything… the insane pressure which Southampton have been putting on the ball, the rabid, high speed charging down of possession, has forced the error which lead to the second, and has perhaps for the first time this season left both Eustace and Hogg chasing shadows. Yeates and Dickinson look horribly exposed, lumpy and leaden, and it’s not as if Lloyd sticks all of his passes on a sixpence on the best of days. By the time Chris arrives it’s already happened, he’s late at a party when everyone else is sleeping it off.

 

It will be interesting to note how the Saints cope next season, on this evidence. There’s plenty of quality, but in terms of style, direct and frantic and merciless, they’re as close to Allardyce-vintage Bolton as anything else and nobody does that inyourfaceness in the top flight at the moment, not even Stoke.

 

Blimey

 

Didn't think I'd see us compared to a team like Bolton under Allardyce!

[Sour Mash]

the first 20 minutes was possibly the worst 20 minutes of football I have ever seen, hoof, followed by hoof, followed by miss control, followed by misplaced pass, followed by hoof and to be honest that's pretty much how the game continued throughout. Barring Donny and Bristol City away it was the worst performance of the season for me, which shows just how poor Watford were. They hardly put two passes together, didn't have a shot of note and caused us no problems at all.

 

I don't think I have ever seen us win 0-3 away and not come away thinking I've seen the world's greatest team. You can put some of it down to the pitch, but one or two players just did not want to get the ball down and play. Butterfield got it down but every single pass was a lump down the channel. I thought we were better than that?

 

Enough if the moaning, I said few weeks back we'd get promoted and winning easily playing as **** as that only builds my confidence.

 

Davis 6 caught well, sod all else to do.

Butterfield 5 got beaten the one and only time he was one on one with the winger. So many aimless balls down the line its not true. Garbage. Not really tested defensively but solid enough.

Fonte 6 terrible distribution early on and also ball watched and got caught out badly, but thankfully not punished, soon settled down and defensively was then very sound. Lots of hoof though hence the average mark

Jos 7 strong in the air and very solid. Also hoofed.

Fox 8 best game in a Saints shirt for me, bombed down the line in the first half overlapping several times, solid defensively. Slightly less hoof than the rest.

Lallana 6 looked in great form and worked his socks off to close down,but then got injured. Worrying.

Cork 6 thought he chased shadows a fair bit and wasn't quite as strong as I'd liked, but worked hard as always

Morgan 7 far too quiet in the first half, not helped by the amount of hoof ball by the back four, but he didn't help with some poor passes. Got better as the game went on and by the end he was toying with Watford

Chaplow 6 some terrible, some bad and some quite good. Getting fitter and he is going to make the difference, but not exactly his mist effective of games

Ricky 8 hatrick so I have to give him a decent mark but he's had much better games, but the first was a gift. Great finish for the second and he's become the new penalty king. Took a knock which is a worry.

Lee 7 ran and ran and ran turning a lot of **** into OK balls. Thought he went to ground a bit easy on occasions, actually he dived at least twice, but the ref wasn't giving anything so he almost had to. Missed two absolute sitters. Need him to take chances like them. Won the pen.

 

Puncheon 5 not great really, passing poor although some good ideas

Connelly not on long enough to judge

Hammond a few touches

Fair play, spot on as usual.

[Appy]

the first 20 minutes was possibly the worst 20 minutes of football I have ever seen, hoof, followed by hoof, followed by miss control, followed by misplaced pass, followed by hoof and to be honest that's pretty much how the game continued throughout. Barring Donny and Bristol City away it was the worst performance of the season for me, which shows just how poor Watford were. They hardly put two passes together, didn't have a shot of note and caused us no problems at all.

 

I don't think I have ever seen us win 0-3 away and not come away thinking I've seen the world's greatest team. You can put some of it down to the pitch, but one or two players just did not want to get the ball down and play. Butterfield got it down but every single pass was a lump down the channel. I thought we were better than that?

 

Enough if the moaning, I said few weeks back we'd get promoted and winning easily playing as **** as that only builds my confidence.

 

Davis 6 caught well, sod all else to do.

Butterfield 5 got beaten the one and only time he was one on one with the winger. So many aimless balls down the line its not true. Garbage. Not really tested defensively but solid enough.

Fonte 6 terrible distribution early on and also ball watched and got caught out badly, but thankfully not punished, soon settled down and defensively was then very sound. Lots of hoof though hence the average mark

Jos 7 strong in the air and very solid. Also hoofed.

Fox 8 best game in a Saints shirt for me, bombed down the line in the first half overlapping several times, solid defensively. Slightly less hoof than the rest.

Lallana 6 looked in great form and worked his socks off to close down,but then got injured. Worrying.

Cork 6 thought he chased shadows a fair bit and wasn't quite as strong as I'd liked, but worked hard as always

Morgan 7 far too quiet in the first half, not helped by the amount of hoof ball by the back four, but he didn't help with some poor passes. Got better as the game went on and by the end he was toying with Watford

Chaplow 6 some terrible, some bad and some quite good. Getting fitter and he is going to make the difference, but not exactly his mist effective of games

Ricky 8 hatrick so I have to give him a decent mark but he's had much better games, but the first was a gift. Great finish for the second and he's become the new penalty king. Took a knock which is a worry.

Lee 7 ran and ran and ran turning a lot of **** into OK balls. Thought he went to ground a bit easy on occasions, actually he dived at least twice, but the ref wasn't giving anything so he almost had to. Missed two absolute sitters. Need him to take chances like them. Won the pen.

 

Puncheon 5 not great really, passing poor although some good ideas

Connelly not on long enough to judge

Hammond a few touches

 

So Butterfield was garbage but solid enough?

 

Hmmm

[Sour Mash]

Adam Lallana ‏ @adlallana1

Away win, Lambo on flames! Injury not bad at all! Away end sold out again #COYR

But many on here like to make out that away support/loyalty doesn't matter.......

[Colinjb]

But many on here like to make out that away support/loyalty doesn't matter.......

 

Incredibly reassuring that it means something to the players. Twitter does have it's uses.

[Sour Mash]

Right now it's about winning games and if the pitch does not lend itself to passing football then you have to by pass the midfield. The latter would have seen some nasty injuries - and probably a defeat!

Regardless of the pitch, we didn't knock it around well today, even round their 18 yard box at times. Don't really matter because of the result, but let's not put this down as a classic. Having said that, I'd take a game like that every week.

[John Boy Saint]

Chez mate you weren't one of the lads on Jaegerbombs in Wetherspoons just after midday?

 

Reading Adkins comments about negating a lively pitch, how great it is for a team that plays such flowing passing expansive football to be able to adapt to the managers plan to deal with the playing conditions by playing a more long ball game and winning at a canter.

 

Lee was a livewire turning lost causes into threatening play. His winning of a penalty was a bit of a funny one as he dived without a chance to get his head on the ball next thing you know the ref was pointing at the spot. The only player I thought didn't look at the races today was Puncheon.

 

Today was a Banana skin sidestepped with aplomb.

[scotty]

Sorry, I was travelling back from the game so I didn't hear Adkins' request for hoof ball. It might have been deliberate but I still hated it. Horrible stuff.

 

I dont suppose it was a "request", tbh. If thats what the players were told to do, thats what I'd expect them to do. The solent taters were saying over and over how appalling the pitch was and that it was the main reason for the injuries. Adkins obviously realised that and adapted the game plan to the conditions, and its hard to argue with the result. I wish theyd been told that at brum when we tried to play like Barca in a blizzard, maybe Rickie would have taken a potshot at that late free kick and we'd have been 2 points better off now.

[Chez]

So Butterfield was garbage but solid enough?

 

Hmmm

I meant distribution was garbage. Defensively he had next to noting to do. He got totally skinned the only time he actually had to do anything major, otherwise he was solid enough.

[Chez]

Chez mate you weren't one of the lads on Jaegerbombs in Wetherspoons just after midday?

 

sadly no.

[Thedelldays]

just watched the football league show

that was less of a penalty than mark nobles

[Chez]

Didn't think I'd see us compared to a team like Bolton under Allardyce!

that's exactly the description we deserved. Ugliest display I've seen since the dark days of Ian.

 

Don't let the commentators fool you. The pitch wasn't that bad and a lot of the passing wasn't just hoofed it was inaccurate as well. I can appreciate the need to be direct but we hacked stuff away when we had time. We smashed it down the channel when no one was there. We hit it far too long - straight through to the keeper so many times.

 

If you watched the game on teletext then you don't give a **** about the style, its the 3 points that matter, but don't moan about fat Sam's style or shout hoof ever again.

 

Please don't take my criticism as a non stop moan. I'm very happy we won. We did what we needed to do and I can live with that, but we did not play well, Watford were woeful.

[Chez]

just watched the football league show

that was less of a penalty than mark nobles

certainly didn't look it at the time. Lee dived a fair bit during the game. I don't like that at all. He should have buried the chance before too. Still he worked ****ing hard. Love that.

[Saint Charlie]

certainly didn't look it at the time. Lee dived a fair bit during the game. I don't like that at all. He should have buried the chance before too. Still he worked ****ing hard. Love that.

 

Went down easily yes, dived no. He just went down when he felt contact.

 

Great first touch, quick feet and quick brain. Good player and dealt with a first English away game like he had played 100 of them.

[SaintBobby]

the first 20 minutes was possibly the worst 20 minutes of football I have ever seen, hoof, followed by hoof, followed by miss control, followed by misplaced pass, followed by hoof and to be honest that's pretty much how the game continued throughout. Barring Donny and Bristol City away it was the worst performance of the season for me, which shows just how poor Watford were. They hardly put two passes together, didn't have a shot of note and caused us no problems at all.

 

I don't think I have ever seen us win 0-3 away and not come away thinking I've seen the world's greatest team. You can put some of it down to the pitch, but one or two players just did not want to get the ball down and play. Butterfield got it down but every single pass was a lump down the channel. I thought we were better than that?

 

Enough if the moaning, I said few weeks back we'd get promoted and winning easily playing as **** as that only builds my confidence.

 

Davis 6 caught well, sod all else to do.

Butterfield 5 got beaten the one and only time he was one on one with the winger. So many aimless balls down the line its not true. Garbage. Not really tested defensively but solid enough.

Fonte 6 terrible distribution early on and also ball watched and got caught out badly, but thankfully not punished, soon settled down and defensively was then very sound. Lots of hoof though hence the average mark

Jos 7 strong in the air and very solid. Also hoofed.

Fox 8 best game in a Saints shirt for me, bombed down the line in the first half overlapping several times, solid defensively. Slightly less hoof than the rest.

Lallana 6 looked in great form and worked his socks off to close down,but then got injured. Worrying.

Cork 6 thought he chased shadows a fair bit and wasn't quite as strong as I'd liked, but worked hard as always

Morgan 7 far too quiet in the first half, not helped by the amount of hoof ball by the back four, but he didn't help with some poor passes. Got better as the game went on and by the end he was toying with Watford

Chaplow 6 some terrible, some bad and some quite good. Getting fitter and he is going to make the difference, but not exactly his mist effective of games

Ricky 8 hatrick so I have to give him a decent mark but he's had much better games, but the first was a gift. Great finish for the second and he's become the new penalty king. Took a knock which is a worry.

Lee 7 ran and ran and ran turning a lot of **** into OK balls. Thought he went to ground a bit easy on occasions, actually he dived at least twice, but the ref wasn't giving anything so he almost had to. Missed two absolute sitters. Need him to take chances like them. Won the pen.

 

Puncheon 5 not great really, passing poor although some good ideas

Connelly not on long enough to judge

Hammond a few touches

 

Pretty much our worst performance of the season, yet you give the starting XI an average score of nearly 7 out of 10????

[Chez]

Pretty much our worst performance of the season, yet you give the starting XI an average score of nearly 7 out of 10????

give anyone less than a 6 on here and the whole forum starts picking a fight. Can't be arsed with it.

[Wes Tender]

that's exactly the description we deserved. Ugliest display I've seen since the dark days of Ian.

 

Don't let the commentators fool you. The pitch wasn't that bad and a lot of the passing wasn't just hoofed it was inaccurate as well. I can appreciate the need to be direct but we hacked stuff away when we had time. We smashed it down the channel when no one was there. We hit it far too long - straight through to the keeper so many times.

 

If you watched the game on teletext then you don't give a **** about the style, its the 3 points that matter, but don't moan about fat Sam's style or shout hoof ever again.

 

Please don't take my criticism as a non stop moan. I'm very happy we won. We did what we needed to do and I can live with that, but we did not play well, Watford were woeful.

 

You say that the pitch wasn't too bad, but I suspect that if you were actually trying to play football on it, then it might have been a different matter. Saracens had been playing Rugby on it and although I wasn't there, the aerial shots of the pitch on the football league highlights showed divots all over the place. Also the commentary on the match mentioned the poor state of the pitch several times and even suggested that it was contributory to our injuries.

 

Why shouldn't we be critical of WH's hoofball style of playing under Fat Sam? His team isn't playing on pitches like this one every week. So we adapted to a game plan that took account of the fact that the state of the pitch wouldn't allow us to play our usual flowing passing game and the tactics produced three goals and had Watford chasing shadows. I have no doubt that the next match we will return to our usual passing game that has become our trademark. I don't think that one game is going to get us a reputation of playing like Bolton under Fat Sam as mentioned by the Watford blog either. How did they think we played when we put 4 past them at St. Mary's?

[Chez]

Went down easily yes, dived no. He just went down when he felt contact.

 

Great first touch, quick feet and quick brain. Good player and dealt with a first English away game like he had played 100 of them.

fine line between diving and going down easy. For me he dived and couple of times. Absolutely hate divers. Hope it is not a regular thing as I love his work rate, movement and effort.

[Whitey Grandad]

great win today...hopefully finish off this season the way we did last season and the title will be our bwahaha.

uploaded the the goals if anyone wants to see them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQMLyXxP-VI

 

Brilliant! Thanks for those. I'm stuck in Hawaii for a few days and this result has really cheered me up.

[Whitey Grandad]

fine line between diving and going down easy. For me he dived and couple of times. Absolutely hate divers. Hope it is not a regular thing as I love his work rate, movement and effort.

 

I've just seen the goals and it looks to me like the ref has blown for a trip on Lee just before he dives in for the header.

[Chez]

You say that the pitch wasn't too bad, but I suspect that if you were actually trying to play football on it, then it might have been a different matter. Saracens had been playing Rugby on it and although I wasn't there, the aerial shots of the pitch on the football league highlights showed divots all over the place. Also the commentary on the match mentioned the poor state of the pitch several times and even suggested that it was contributory to our injuries.

 

it wasn't a great pitch, hard and lumpy, but when we wanted to get it down and play at 0-3 we did.

 

Was Lallana injured because of the pitch? I didn't see it. Lambert's injury was a kick and Lee's knocks were from Watford players treading on his foot etc.

[Chez]

I've just seen the goals and it looks to me like the ref has blown for a trip on Lee just before he dives in for the header.

not seen it again yet. Sounds like a pen then. Looked harsh. It wouldn't have made any difference. Very glad as I have Lambert as top championship scorer and that's another to his tally.

[shurlock]

Performance wasn't pretty but we got the result. The pitch didn't look as bad as it was made out before the game - we've played on far more cut up pitches in L1 on which we were able to knock it about, so you can only push the argument so far.

 

The first goal was manna from heaven -unexpected and undeserved; if it hadn't arrived, it would have been interesting to see how things would have panned out, whether we would have been able to muster up any fluency. But after it came, we were able to keep it tight and play the percentages. In fairness, we managed to create the better chances, albeit they were few and far between which says as much about how gash Watford were. Sh*t fans, sh*t ground is an understatement.

 

Thought Morgan played well, his influencing growing over the course of the game. Jos and Fonte started off shakily, aided and abetted by some poor communication with KD; but they bossed the 2nd half.

 

Notwithstanding a couple of sitters, Lee had a decent game. He nicked in front of the CBs to good effect to lay the ball off while he busted a gut down channels to gather Butterfield's punts (easy to see why FR is our no.1), making the most of Watford's rashness and hesitation at the back. Not the quickest player out the blocks; but got decent pace once in flight and reads defenders runs well.

 

Don't think Lallana's injury changed much, though Punch looked less effective than in other games -not helped by being out of position. Rickie was a threat: even if he'll play much better than today and not have a sniff at goal. Chaplow's still gingerly looking for some match fitness -shocking first half; steadier second. I wouldn't be surprised if he drops back down once Guly returns.

 

Not a great performance; but it didn't need to be. Since a lax August/September when we haemorrhaged goals, we've tightened up immeasurably. Defense and good organisation are an undersung part of our game and today it was on full display.

[Mr_Red]

‎"Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie... Get rid of him... get rid of him, NOW!"

 

I thought you were just making up what the tater ('Chappers') was saying off air! Just listened to the censored version, not easy to make out what the swear words were, p155, bollix and f*ck I understand. He had clearly been on the sauce, a-wee day... away day etc and a high voice at times. Lolopage.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01cdnlb (about 52 mins in)

 

Re: Saints. Played badly and won 3-0 - That's what it takes to win leagues. Looking forward to taking on the 'big 4' next year... It has taken a long time, but I think I've finally dropped the negative viewpoint that we always do things the hard way. The old saints did, but now I have confidence in the team. We can definitely win this.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Great win, and a few other rivals dropping cheap points too. Long way to go yet, but the next games are in March - the start of the pointy end of the season - and we are Southampton, we're top of the League. Could really do with a good TV performance next weekend, and at least a point.

[Shroppie]

Just realised we didn't concede a league goal from open play in Feb. Just the pen at wha. :-)

[Wes Tender]

it wasn't a great pitch, hard and lumpy, but when we wanted to get it down and play at 0-3 we did.

 

Was Lallana injured because of the pitch? I didn't see it. Lambert's injury was a kick and Lee's knocks were from Watford players treading on his foot etc.

 

Was Lambert's injury a knock initially? The commentary said that he had jumped for a ball and appeared to land hard and perhaps twist his knee. Then he played on and then seemed to be in further pain later, which might well have been the result of a knock, but the impression was given that initially it was because he had landed badly. The commentators also suggested that the palyers might have to change their studs at half time for longer ones because of the poor playing surface.

[John Boy Saint]

Anyone else notice we didn't have a corner all game?

[St Lej]

I have searched high and low but cannot find dear old clueless Alpine. Surely he has a take on Saints being top of the league. Something along the lines of "it won't last - you mark my words". Still I understand the snow is 7m thick in the Alps so that may well be that...

 

To be fair to Alpine, he does post a fair bit even when we win. He clearly wants to see us win, but just has a slightly more glass half full look than others. Now if you're looking for a complete clown, look no further than that moron st lard, who for some reason can't stand to see Adkins succeeding, and is nowhere to be seen when we win, yet starts anti Adkins threads 10 minutes after a defeat. Absolute cretin