Southampton 0 - 2 Wigan - Post Match Reaction

[itchen]

The result was disappointing, but some of the panic merchants are over reacting.

 

First half, we played quite well and created a couple of chances, with a Lallana shot being tipped onto the bar. Wigan always looked dangerous on the break and after they got the lead, they put loads of me behind the ball.

 

Their second goal came from a foul. There had been a similar incident about a minute earlier where Guly had nicked the ball off one of their players and the ref gave a Wigan free kick.

 

Rodriguez was anonymous and struggled to get into the game, made no impact. Hopefully, in a little time, he will adapt and fit in with the formation or the team will change to accommodate him.

 

The Guly bashing is an over-reaction in my view. He linked up well with Clyne in the first half and played some really good stuff. In the second half he got caught in possession a couple of times, but overall, I thought he did alright.

 

Good post.

[Dalek2003]

Dalek- Are you Cortese in disguise by any chance?

 

 

Not at all but I suspect that what I have been saying is the way he is thinking. The WBA model is probably an attractive idea to any chairman that wants to run a club in a long term and sustainable way. IMO if we stay up this season, then great, but it is not worth jeopardising the club finances for. We can build again the next year and grow stronger gradually. We all need to be patient and stick with NA.

[S-Clarke]

2 pretty rubbish teams, we were just a little more rubbish than them.

 

We were pretty in the first half up until the final third, but very, very ineffective. I couldn't give two hoots if Jay Rodriguez has played on the left before, he shouldn't play there for us. Completely isolated, no support and not involved in the game what soever. He scored 23 goals last season as a striker, play him there - simple as that.

 

We are pretty up until the final third, where it all goes tits up basically. We just need an extra injection of something, a little more flair on the flanks, because we're so static and slow it's frightening. and PL defenses will just gobble that up really.

 

The 2nd half was one to just simply forget, horrific from us. We just never got going. We changed the shape a few times, but once you've started poorly it's very hard to get any sort of rhythm no matter which formation we played - and that was pretty much the case today.

 

It was never going to be easy, but I just hoped we'd have a bit more about us today in our first home game back. But we were flat and one dimensional, and never got going as an attacking threat.

[.comsaint]

oh yeh and to top off the annoying result today, I seem to have this couple next to me now in the Northam (as my mate didn't renew and the person next to him didn't) and they were just cuddling and kissing all game, made me want to be sick. I pray to god they haven't got season tickets and they are just spare seats.

 

 

 

That's disgusting. Not only that - but that's an awful lot of steep steps to slip down if you slip on jizz. Defo a health & safety issue...

[Dalek2003]

This. But the worry is that with a few days of the transfer window remaining, can we get the required level of players in and in the right positions? I just hope that Cortese wasn't perusaded by the argument that Norwich and Swansea stayed up with largely the team that won them promotion. Ok, so it worked for them; but a big risk to assume that will happen again. On another angle; Adkins's seemed slow at substitutions today. Rodriguez was having a shocker wide on the left but waited until 75 minutes to change it. Steep learning curves all round I suspect.

 

Norwich bought very well and astutely without breaking the bank. They also bought early in the summer so the manager could knit the team together and create a great team spirit.

[Shrek]

Thought we tried to be to cute on the ball in the final third today, meaning we wasted way too much time building up only to give the ball away. That said, we looked decent in the first half and were first to a lot of the balls, whcih was really encouraging. Second half was a completely different matter, Wigan were first to everything and we had no answer. They deserved it IMO but I'd like to see a reply of the second goal, looked a bit dodgy.

[tobes8]

The hot chocolate was better in the championship!.....bar that we need pace!!! Thought Lambert and Lallana played well today but the midfield sat far too deep and got nowhere near theirs. Thought Wigan played well though.

[Norm]

Good enough first half display, but Wigan came out in the 2nd half and Martinez proved how good he was as a manager. Played to our weaknesses. We were far too slow on the ball, and didn't have much creativity in the team.

 

Lallana was outstanding today however! Hopefully we can pull off a shock next week, but I have a feeling we will be coming from a long way behind....

 

Summed the game up for me. I was worried prior to the game about how we would cope with Wigan and sadly, we didn't. Only one team worthy of the win in the second half, Wigan. Just have to take 3 points next Sunday.

[Leslie Charteris]

Atkins hasn't a clue at this level. Poor team selection and game plan, no alternative in view. A ground far from full. How can Cortese invest when the ground isn't packed? Why is Sharp playing second fiddle when he should have been on at half time. I love Prowsey but was he the player to swing the game.

For whom the bell tolls, that is what is on a lot of minds tonight.

 

Oh great oracle, your wise words enlighten us. In you we have the perfect replacement for Mark Lawrenson as your wisdom is even greater.

 

N.B. Adkins is a smart cookie and a quick learner, he will come good soon enough, provided we improve in a couple of key areas and I think we can all see where they are, unless you are Guly fixated.

[ericofarabia]

Well that went well didn't it?

 

Have said many times that the pressure on us to win this game (as opposed to the other 3 games) could prove to be too much.

 

We looked flat, slow and ponderous today. Too many hopeful long balls - what happened to all the diamonds in midfield, too much sloppy give aways and not enough fight back. Maybe a Chaplow or Hammond type midfielder was missing today.

 

Een after this shambles it wouldnt surprise me in the least if we get at least a draw v Man U. But there again 0-4 wouldn't surprise me either.

[Ohio Saint]

Een after this shambles it wouldnt surprise me in the least if we get at least a draw v Man U. But there again 0-4 wouldn't surprise me either.

 

This. It's just too early to throw our toys out of the pram. There will be a bedding in period, and we will come out of it better, worse, or about the same.

[solentstars]

The result was disappointing, but some of the panic merchants are over reacting.

 

First half, we played quite well and created a couple of chances, with a Lallana shot being tipped onto the bar. Wigan always looked dangerous on the break and after they got the lead, they put loads of me behind the ball.

 

Their second goal came from a foul. There had been a similar incident about a minute earlier where Guly had nicked the ball off one of their players and the ref gave a Wigan free kick.

 

Rodriguez was anonymous and struggled to get into the game, made no impact. Hopefully, in a little time, he will adapt and fit in with the formation or the team will change to accommodate him.

 

The Guly bashing is an over-reaction in my view. He linked up well with Clyne in the first half and played some really good stuff. In the second half he got caught in possession a couple of times, but overall, I thought he did alright.

Agree

 

 

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

[doubleonothing]

So watched it on the stream.

 

Started well.

We needed to whip it round the park more.

Their keeper had a blinder

At SMS when playing teams like Wigan would like to see an approach similar to last year. Play J-Rod as a striker. That's why we bought him.

Plan B required(not the rapper)

New CBs required.

 

It almost seemed that after the opening half hour the mentality was that this was a relegation 6 pointer. The team seemed nervous. They needed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck in the 2nd half but we didn't. We hit the woodwork twice, but Wigan took their chances.

 

As said above, we need a new CB, but I would also like to see a new GK who controls and commands his defence. I like Kelv but I still get nervous when he's in goal.

 

Not wrist slitting, but Nige does need to make some changes for us to have a successful season. Did the lads turn up thinking we could waltz this as they played so well against City? Possibly.

 

Long way to go until May. Bring on Utd!

[Navysaint]

Nigel needs to do something, I know its only the second game of the season but Lambert and Lallana were marked off the park today.

Where have the devastating wingers that proved so sucessfull last season gone?? Yes Clyne has speed but he is a defender!

Has Lallana lost his spark now that he has been given the captaincy?

Has Guly lost his footballing mind?

What other team in this division plays everything through their centre halfs, if you mess it up easy give away goal (Wigans second)

 

A totally differant team display from last week against a very average Wigan, an interesting week in the transfer market i hope.

[CanadaSaint]

I thought Nigel was out-managed today, which is not that big a deal because Martinez is a smart cookie.

 

But Martinez changed a team playing well while Nigel waited another ten crucial minutes to change a team playing poorly.

 

Our inability to play an early ball, which was evident last year, is going to be a lot more costly this year.

[BILLY]

Not a knee jerk reaction. the team was poor, no pride.

 

NA - Why does he persist in playing Jay Rod as a winger? Why keep Julie sorry Gully on the pitch? Should have changed it 5 mins after the mighty Wigan scored. Too slooooooooooow. Sharp should have been on for Gully not Jay Rod. Fox is clearly out of his depth.

 

We need signings and we need them now. Got four guys in early and then decided to take the rest of the summer off.

 

Also the club is has really ****ed me off with my season ticket but that's another story.

 

I only hope the Don has realised we need to buy players NOW after this pathetic defeat.

 

I was really looking forward to day but I feel let down.

 

From where I was in block 2 it looked like a clear foul for their second goal.

[Nexstar]

First half we were decent and Wigan didn't seem to have anything in their locker. It looked to be a matter of time before we scored. Lallana, Davis, Morgan and Clyne were standing out for me.

 

Second half it went rapidly downhill. Crosses/corners were overhit, we didn't attack into the box and shots from outside it were very limited. Wigan caught us out and we seemed to run out of ideas.

 

The 4-3-3 just simply does not work with J-Rod out wide. It has to be either Lambert or him playing the striker role and then Lallana or (the missing ingredient) Tadanari Lee out left. If Rickie and Jay have to play together then use the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond from last season.

 

Fonte showed some shaky moments again and there's is obviously no question we still need a quality CB.

[Midfield_General]

Saints lost, let's all blame Guly.

 

He was one of our best players in the first half. At the middle of most of our passing, keeping the ball, linking play and bringing Clyne in down the right. Second half he faded badly, but then they all did.

 

Other than that, what everyone else has said.

 

Rodriguez is not a winger and was a passenger today. Play him in position or don't play him. Lallana looked bright but he can't do it on his own. Wigan had one chance in the first hour and took it ruthlessly, we didn't. That's going to be the difference in this league.

 

Surprised that when we made our subs, it was Ward-Prowse who came on. He looks a tidy player but not sure he's the one who's going to change it when we're chasing the game. Not Puncheon's biggest fan but thought he would have possibly made more impact running at tiring defenders in the last 25 mins.

 

Wigan looked like what they are, a canny side with experience of closing out a match at this level. We'll learn from this I think.

 

And - obviously - we need a CB. But then we knew that.

 

Let's see what the rest of the transfer window holds before we all start panicking.

[MOSaint]

Our inability to play an early ball, which was evident last year, is going to be a lot more costly this year.

 

With our current attacking personnel the early ball isn't much of an option as nobody in our attack has the pace to make it count for anything most of the time. Hopefully something will be done about this in the coming week.

[sentry]

Yup, generally agree with most. We played well but needed to be a bit more proactive nearer the goal, their keeps did well but they were mainly long shots and had a lot of time to see them on their way. Overall a good performance if not the best result, on another day we could have won 2-0.

[Midfield_General]

Norwich bought very well and astutely without breaking the bank. They also bought early in the summer so the manager could knit the team together and create a great team spirit.

 

Norwich who lost their opening game of the season 5-0?

[Saint Charlie]

To those questioning why Adkins didnt make subs earlier the answer is because there were no Premier League quality players available to him.

 

Need additions this week and the quality of them will define the season.

[Dalek2003]

Norwich who lost their opening game of the season 5-0?

 

We are talking about last season which was their first season back after promotion, in which thy had a comfortable mid table finish after a good start.

[saintbob40]

Cork provided the tempo in midfield last year with lots of quick passes which provided space for our flair players. The sooner we can get him back the better.

[kpturner]

Not a knee jerk reaction. the team was poor, no pride.

 

NA - Why does he persist in playing Jay Rod as a winger? Why keep Julie sorry Gully on the pitch? Should have changed it 5 mins after the mighty Wigan scored. Too slooooooooooow. Sharp should have been on for Gully not Jay Rod. Fox is clearly out of his depth.

 

We need signings and we need them now. Got four guys in early and then decided to take the rest of the summer off.

 

Also the club is has really ****ed me off with my season ticket but that's another story.

 

I only hope the Don has realised we need to buy players NOW after this pathetic defeat.

 

I was really looking forward to day but I feel let down.

 

From where I was in block 2 it looked like a clear foul for their second goal.

"Not a knee jerk reaction" followed quickly by several knee jerk reactions "No pride"? What a load of nonsense. "Why keep Julie sorry Gully..." Try Guly.

 

I think we were outplayed in the second half by a stronger, tactically astute team. Still, with very little PL experience in the squad at the moment, I guess it is no surprise. Hopefully one or two decent new faces by the end of the week.

[Dalek2003]

I love Generals last comment on his post.

 

Do we have permission to panic if no signings are made ?

 

Bedwetters and doom mongers at the ready !

[ericofarabia]

This. It's just too early to throw our toys out of the pram. There will be a bedding in period, and we will come out of it better, worse, or about the same.

 

Just had a quick browse thru the Match Fred only 4 pages ..... what a p!ss poor effort, no wonder we lost.

 

Have the Admin Nazi's put a ban on picture posting - no nuns, hosties or cupcakes WTF is happening?

[Papa Shango]

Anyone who blames just Guly is out of order. He was one of our better players, put in some decent crosses. Made some mistakes, but no more than anyone else. We were always going to have days like this in our first season back. Will take a while to adjust to Premier League life, but I've still got faith. Just remember how far we've come over the past 3 years

[hackedoff]

Not good at all. Never really looked a threat, always looked a man light in defense. They passed us off the park second half.

Hate to start the Guly-bashing so early but did he not lose the ball every time he had it today? Still don't see what he offers us apart from slowing down play long enough for our midfielders to get forward leaving us woefully exposed when he inevitably gets caught in possession.

 

If Adkins persists in playing this bloke then our stay in thr Prem will be brief. Brings nothing to the team, slow cumbersome and would struggle to trap a bag of cement. That said he will no doubt play the 90 mins against MU.

[70's Mike]

Cork provided the tempo in midfield last year with lots of quick passes which provided space for our flair players. The sooner we can get him back the better.

 

another player whose reputation grows by not playing

[sperm_john]

my thoughts;

 

we looked aimless at times, just happy to knock it around at the back in the hope that something might eventually come from it, lallana looked lost (aside from his one moment of brilliance), cant understand why ward prowse didnt start, we needed injections of energy/pace all over the pitch, rodriguez clearly doesnt like being out on the wing and we were far too easily knocked off the ball all game ...also the ref/lino were crap

[Badger]

To those questioning why Adkins didnt make subs earlier the answer is because there were no Premier League quality players available to him.Need additions this week and the quality of them will define the season.

 

Without jumping on any particular bandwagon, or getting hysterical, he has had all f^cking summer to remedy this and it does not help that when we do eventually attract our long term target - after a twelve month wait - for a reported £6m we play him out of position.

 

Agree about the need for additions though, our back four is out of its depth although obviously Clyne is a young and promising player who is still learning.

[CanadaSaint]

With our current attacking personnel the early ball isn't much of an option as nobody in our attack has the pace to make it count for anything most of the time. Hopefully something will be done about this in the coming week.

 

I don't think it's just about pace but about stretching teams before they've had a chance to get set. Time after time after time we were so laborious in our build-up play that our only option was to give the ball to a player with a defender up his arse, and then we repeated the exercise. I wouldn't say that Wigan has pace to burn but they sure used the early ball and the spaces well.

 

Lee showed plenty of pace last year but he kept going offside because of our late delivery. IMO it's a tactical problem as much as a personnel problem.

 

I don't want us to ditch our style but use the earlier ball from time to time.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Lack of Premiership quality on the pitch unfortunately. At least I played well at golf.

[Webby]

It's clear that we need two new centre backs. Clear to me, clear to most here, clear to NA I'm sure, so let's just hope we get some quality CB's in this week.

 

A LB, and a GK would be nice too.

[Wiggles31]

As soon as we went 4-4-2 Wigan bossed the possesion. Think we looked out of ideas when they scored. Up to then I'd say we were the better team. An early lesson and hopefully Cortese will take that padlock off his wallet and get some new blood in. As promising a youngster Ward-Prowse is you can't be bringing on a 17 year old to change the game in the Prem.

[EBS1980]

So Phillips, Ramirez and a couple of centre backs and everything will be rosey then?

[kpturner]

As soon as we went 4-4-2 Wigan bossed the possesion. Think we looked out of ideas when they scored. Up to then I'd say we were the better team. An early lesson and hopefully Cortese will take that padlock off his wallet and get some new blood in.

Sounds like a direct quote from Adkins post match interview. That aside, why do you think Cortese has a padlock on his wallet?

[Roger]

Saints lost, let's all blame Guly.

 

He was one of our best players in the first half. At the middle of most of our passing, keeping the ball, linking play and bringing Clyne in down the right. Second half he faded badly, but then they all did.

 

Other than that, what everyone else has said.

 

 

 

Rodriguez is not a winger and was a passenger today. Play him in position or don't play him. Lallana looked bright but he can't do it on his own. Wigan had one chance in the first hour and took it ruthlessly, we didn't. That's going to be the difference in this league.

 

Surprised that when we made our subs, it was Ward-Prowse who came on. He looks a tidy player but not sure he's the one who's going to change it when we're chasing the game. Not Puncheon's biggest fan but thought he would have possibly made more impact running at tiring defenders in the last 25 mins.

 

Wigan looked like what they are, a canny side with experience of closing out a match at this level. We'll learn from this I think.

 

And - obviously - we need a CB. But then we knew that.

 

Let's see what the rest of the transfer window holds before we all start panicking.

 

Puncheon didn't come on.

[captainchris]

From watching the stream, I didn't think we were that bad. We hit the bar twice and their keeper was outstanding. We had most of the possession, but got too ponderous as the commentators said - need to move it quicker.

The areas everyone was worried about before the season are biting us in the arse now we're playing premiership teams.

I have a lot of respect for Guly and what he has done on our way up, but he looked a liability for large periods of the game today - much too slow allowing the defenders to get set and then take the ball. We do need Ramirez or Phillips, or both to give us more pace and ability to get in behind the defences.

Good as Fox is at delivering set pieces, his defending's not good enough and he never overlaps to deliver crosses from dangerous areas. Hope Shaw's ready to step up if we don't sign anyone else!

Fonte and Jos are going to concede needless goals every match in this league. We need a stronger pairing.

I'm not despondent, but I think there's still work to do in the transfer window to make sure we have a chance to being a strong enough team to survive in this league.

 

Excellent post......Someone who watches the game in detail......Fox is not a premiership player never will be - not in a million years.....It doesn't take a Marinio to work out we have no pace, need at least one new CB and a left back and have done since Christmas. Nothing has been done about it and now we have but a few days to sort this out - if we couldn't manage to sort these issues out in 8 months I really cannot see them being addressed in 5 days!

Considering our stated ambitions and evident money to spend this is poor planning. I say someone is at fault for this ............Who ever it is needs carpeting!

And before you 'happy clappies' start talking about 'knee jerk reactions' remember, these issues have needed addressing since Christmas or before!

What the hell are we waiting for??????????????

[sammysaint]

I think positives were MS for me was quality and our MOM Davis looks quality in CM and Lambo looked decent, Fonte Fox and Guly were poor with Guly playing so bad i felt sorry for him, fox if he has someone like Phillips or Gaston he will be fine.

 

Get in Phillips and Rameriz and a CB were be fine, were only 3 players away from having a good 13/14 group of players who are prem ready, with players like shaw and JWP who have potential to be.

 

If anyone seriously thinks Guly was good this week has no clue about football, last week for majority of the game he was ok but today other then 3/4 good things he did he was dog ****.

[saintbob40]

another player whose reputation grows by not playing

 

Not with me , but perhaps the uneducated masses. Vital cog is missing................

[badgerx16]

What the hell are we waiting for??????????????

 

For somebody who (1) we are willing to pay the asking price for, (2) whose current club is willing to accept our bid, and (3) who wants to come to SMS. Problem with Ramirez and Philips is that for the former it's at best 2 out of 3, and for the latter probably only 1 out of 3. Who the CB targets are is anybody's guess.

[Badger]

I think positives were MS for me was quality and our MOM Davis looks quality in CM and Lambo looked decent, Fonte Fox and Guly were poor with Guly playing so bad i felt sorry for him, fox if he has someone like Phillips or Gaston he will be fine.

 

Get in Phillips and Rameriz and a CB were be fine, were only 3 players away from having a good 13/14 group of players who are prem ready, with players like shaw and JWP who have potential to be.

 

If anyone seriously thinks Guly was good this week has no clue about football, last week for majority of the game he was ok but today other then 3/4 good things he did he was dog ****.

 

I doubt we would bring both Phillips and Ramirez in, more likely one or other. CB - difinitely,but not sure the options here ( the annually relegated Dann, or an untried Jap age 23 ? seem the most likely candidates).

[Midfield_General]

Puncheon didn't come on.

 

I didn't say he did - I said he may have had more chance of making an impact if he had, instead of JWP.

[harvey]

Anyone who blames just Guly is out of order. He was one of our better players, put in some decent crosses. Made some mistakes, but no more than anyone else. We were always going to have days like this in our first season back. Will take a while to adjust to Premier League life, but I've still got faith. Just remember how far we've come over the past 3 years

 

I'm not 'blaming' Gully, I think he's a good player but today I thought for much of the game he was sloppy and innefective......maybe I'm wrong but that's what I thought.

[badgerx16]

I didn't say he did - I said he may have had more chance of making an impact if he had, instead of JWP.

 

It probably gives a good indication as to Puncheon's position in the squad and plans for the future if he stays on the bench when we need better width and pace in attack.

[S-Clarke]

I'm not 'blaming' Gully, I think he's a good player but today I thought for much of the game he was sloppy and innefective......maybe I'm wrong but that's what I thought.

 

He was no worse than anyone else in terms of ball retention.

 

He was our most effective player in the final third in spells.

[badgerx16]

I'm not 'blaming' Gully, I think he's a good player but today I thought for much of the game he was sloppy and innefective......maybe I'm wrong but that's what I thought.

 

Agree - looked for too much time on the ball and all too easily dispossessed.

[Micky]

So after game one at SMS we have shelved the champions league aspirations, failed to make capacity thus putting the expansion plans on the back boiler and managed to lose to lowly Wigan.

 

Real eye opener. If we get relegated this season, and promoted the following - will we still have achieved the 5 year aim...?