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Saints 1-2 Spurs // Post-Match Views


Saint-Armstrong

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There are a few decent Championship jobs going at the moment. Maybe it would be better for both parties if the chairman and manager sit down and agree a parting of the ways. Nigel deserves a decent pay-off for getting us up 2 leagues. But honestly, I think there are other managers out there capable of getting a lot more from our team.

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Just got home. Quite early on, we put several balls into the Spurs box and caused them a few problems. But as the half progressed, we seemed to settle into a predictable dull period where we showed them too respect and didn't shut them down or come away with the ball from 50/50 challenges. Had we pressed them, not allowed them time and space, we could have rattled them, but we played that first half in a manner reminiscent of us against Wigan.

 

Not a lot we could have done about the Bale goal really, but their second goal was a disgraceful bit of misjudgment by Boruc, who should have come for the ball earlier and more purposefully. I feel certain that either of Kelvin or Gazzaniga would have been more decisive and we would have come away from the match with a point. Having heard on the radio going home of the incident with the Chapel fans, then as far as I'm concerned he can pack his bags and disappear back under whatever stone we found him under.

 

I don't know what Adkins said to them at half time, but the team played very much better in every respect. When the first substitution were made, although Puncheon hadn't been bad, Mayuka was excellent and the momentum changed in our favour almost right away. With Rodrigues goal coming reasonably early on, there was enough time to at least get a point through the pressure we exerted on them, but despite peppering their goal, it wasn't to be.

 

As stated already, that second half performance was the one that would ensure we ended the season mid table, whereas the first half performance would see us relegated.

 

There are several pluses to take away from the game, or at least the second half of it:-

 

Mayuka should start, as his pace and guile are a problem for defences.

It must be remembered that Spurs were 4th last season and yet we had them under the cosh in the second half.

Were we to have had the additional options of Ramirez, Cork and Lee available, we might well have beaten them.

We saw in the second half that the best form of defence is attack.

Adkins is learning in the Premiership and got the substitutions right today.

Rodrigues will have had a confidence boost, having scored his first Premiership goal.

 

Otherwise...

Boruc, well I wouldn't shed any tears not to see him play in a Saints shirt again.

 

A good result against Leeds on Tuesday will give us a confidence boost, but we can take enough away from this game to start turning the corner.

 

Regarding the crowd and atmosphere, we need to give Spurs fans a massive thank you for being idiotic enough as to chant our song. It developed into a competitition as to who could sing it loudest. They could never out-sing us so that the crucial word "Spurs" would be heard above "Saints" and so the appearance was given that the whole stadium was behind the team. It gave our players a massive lift and they stepped up the tempo accordingly.

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Regarding the crowd and atmosphere, we need to give Spurs fans a massive thank you for being idiotic enough as to chant our song. It developed into a competitition as to who could sing it loudest. They could never out-sing us so that the crucial word "Spurs" would be heard above "Saints" and so the appearance was given that the whole stadium was behind the team. It gave our players a massive lift and they stepped up the tempo accordingly.

 

it sounded more like come on you spu-aints

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If Sandro didn't get his ugly head in the way it would of been 2-2 ,I was surprised he managed to get straight back up.

 

Even though Mayuka is a ST he looked quite comfortable out wide,hopefully he will start games after that showing

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Steve Claridge, at St Mary's for BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

 

"I've never seen two more contrasting performances from one team. Incredible. We went from Southampton not having a shot or even barely a touch, to all of a sudden playing some decent stuff, having a go, creating some chances and eventually running out of time. But Southampton will be kicking themselves, because they left them 30 minutes of a 90 minute game to get something. But there is something there to build on for Southampton, because towards the end that was up there with the best football I've seen from the Saints. The first half was one of the worst I have ever seen from a team in the Premier League."

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Steve Claridge, at St Mary's for BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

 

"I've never seen two more contrasting performances from one team. Incredible. We went from Southampton not having a shot or even barely a touch, to all of a sudden playing some decent stuff, having a go, creating some chances and eventually running out of time. But Southampton will be kicking themselves, because they left them 30 minutes of a 90 minute game to get something. But there is something there to build on for Southampton, because towards the end that was up there with the best football I've seen from the Saints. The first half was one of the worst I have ever seen from a team in the Premier League."

 

 

Seems a bit harsh. I can't think of Spurs having that many chances..

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Just got home. Quite early on, we put several balls into the Spurs box and caused them a few problems. But as the half progressed, we seemed to settle into a predictable dull period where we showed them too respect and didn't shut them down or come away with the ball from 50/50 challenges. Had we pressed them, not allowed them time and space, we could have rattled them, but we played that first half in a manner reminiscent of us against Wigan.

 

Not a lot we could have done about the Bale goal really, but their second goal was a disgraceful bit of misjudgment by Boruc, who should have come for the ball earlier and more purposefully. I feel certain that either of Kelvin or Gazzaniga would have been more decisive and we would have come away from the match with a point. Having heard on the radio going home of the incident with the Chapel fans, then as far as I'm concerned he can pack his bags and disappear back under whatever stone we found him under.

 

KD would have stayed on the line as always, dont come say anything else.

Dont get me wrong, I love KD for what he has done the last years but to say that he would come out in that situation is bizarre to me...

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We will get very little from this team of mediocre players. Once you get past that point, you stand half a chance of some enjoyment of what you are watching. I don't understand why we have not seen a lot more from Mayuka, unless he falls into the crapper when the golden finger is pointed at him. If Chung could show a further improvement to the team there is a real possibility we can start competing, that would be nice. Rodriques and Lallana have shown small improvements, but nothing as yet to get us out of our troubles. We would have been far better balanced in dropping Puncheon + one other forward and playing Mayuka and a midfielder such as Cork, still needed that extra in midfield.

 

That looked like a mentally stale Spurs side just coming off a Thursday night European game and easy pickings for the rest of this league. We had absolutely no effective go in us and have to rid ourselves of this lethargic style of play

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Not particularly - it wasn't him making the comedy attempts to clear the ball was it.

 

OK, I saw it from the Northam, so I might have been mistaken, although I am quite high up and directly in line with the incident, so my viewpoint was quite good. But what I saw, was that Boruc should have come for the ball, but seemed to be in two minds about it. But until I see the evidence on Match of the Day, I will continue to hold the opinion that both Davis and Gazzaniga would have been quicker and more decisive than Boruc appeared to be. And if Boruc wasn't at fault, what was the disdain from the Chapel all about?

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Steve Claridge, at St Mary's for BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

 

"I've never seen two more contrasting performances from one team. Incredible. We went from Southampton not having a shot or even barely a touch, to all of a sudden playing some decent stuff, having a go, creating some chances and eventually running out of time. But Southampton will be kicking themselves, because they left them 30 minutes of a 90 minute game to get something. But there is something there to build on for Southampton, because towards the end that was up there with the best football I've seen from the Saints. The first half was one of the worst I have ever seen from a team in the Premier League."

 

He's called that spot on to be fair. First half was dreadful. I thought at half time that the players were playing for Nige. No energy, no penetration up front, no putting their foot in, it was almost like a training game for Spurs it was that easy. Last 30 minutes we were very good and could easily have got a point.

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Shocking first half, comical defending, no bite in midfield or creativity up front.

 

Much better in the second once Mayuka came on, although Spurs should have been out of sight.

 

We have some "winnable" games in November along with Lee, Cork, Ramirez and Richardson to come back so there is a glimmer of hope.

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=Olallana;1511199

KD would have stayed on the line as always, dont come say anything else.

Dont get me wrong, I love KD for what he has done the last years but to say that he would come out in that situation is bizarre to me...

 

You must watch different games to me. Kelvin is usually quick off his line in these situations. It is one of his stronger points. I see it at St Mary's and hear of it happening away from home from Solent.

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The first half was truly abysmal, at half time it was just a case of how many goals Spurs wanted. We were completely and utterly out of our depth it was embarrassing.

 

In the 2nd half we pushed them up, made them panic and played higher up the pitch. Although as soon as they had an attack, they still looked like scoring - but to our credit, that 2nd half was probably the best defensive setup we've had so far this season, but Tottenham took their foot off the gas really, but we made them panic which is all we could have asked for after that 1st half.

 

The problem was that the damage was already done, unfortunately. If we'd have woken up in the first half and actually tried to be competitive, we may have got something out of it.

 

Simple thing from this game really, play like we did in the first half for the rest of the season and we will be relegated by February. But play like we did in the 2nd half, with a bit more intensity, then we have a chance of scraping through.

 

I think Puncheon puts in a fair bit of effort, but for all his desire to be a PL player, he isn't anywhere near the required quality if we're honest. Lots of hustle and bustle, but no premier league quality there. We looked much more potent and threatening with Mayuka in the side.

 

We'll still well short in area's, and decent teams exploit that quite embarrassingly at times. Onto WBA then...

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Shocking first half, comical defending, no bite in midfield or creativity up front.

 

Much better in the second once Mayuka came on, although Spurs should have been out of sight.

 

We have some "winnable" games in November along with Lee, Cork, Ramirez and Richardson to come back so there is a glimmer of hope.

 

Getting sick of expecting to see these back in the team and doing the business. Are they even still at Saints?

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Getting sick of expecting to see these back in the team and doing the business. Are they even still at Saints?

 

I agree with your point re: Lee, his injury record is embarrassing, but to Corks credit he was our only ever present last year and he's just been unlucky so far this season. Deserves his shot when the time comes.

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The likes of Ramirez and Mayuka are exciting players. We need players of this type to start games as we are much too predictable otherwise. I hope Gaston is fit soon.

 

Totally, players that ''scare'' the opposition and force them to sit back. Puncheon for e.g. makes it too easy, he's a full backs dream defensively.

 

We are still well short at the back though, they should have been out of sight before we even got a foot hold.

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Getting sick of expecting to see these back in the team and doing the business. Are they even still at Saints?

 

 

Well yes they are but they're obviously being held back for the League Cup game because as we we know Nigel doesn't believe in rushing players back to the first team. Now Lee there's a dilema, if we'd played him at the start of the season he's probably have been in the Japan squad and wouldn't have been swanning about the south of France looking for stupid things to do. As for Cork, well if the Manager/Chairman had stripped me of my number 8 shirt I'd take my time getting fit as well.

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Felt that we woke up too late and were unlucky not to have any real creativity in the bench to replace Steven Davis with (we would not have lost this game with Ramirez and maybe Cork distributing the ball to attack from the midfield instead of hoofing it hoping for something from the 77th minute onwards).

 

Thought our defense was much better overall, wouldn't even say it was bad today and even Fox had a good game! The only "but" of today down there comes from Clyne, great from Bale for the 1st goal but he should've been all over the ball from the moment that cross comes in. For the 2nd goal I don't understand why Boruc took so long to get back to his line nor why our whole team didn't run to the rescue as soon as Fonte managed to keep it out like Bale and Dempsey did. Boruc also looked to have been too soft on Defoe for a 1-on-1.

 

The rest of the first half was poor and nothing really happened. Thought we were great in the second half, and hating Sandro right now for getting his face on Schneiderlin's shot. Thought the subs were ok but maybe we missed Fox for some of the free-kicks we had until the end and as I said above if we had got Ramirez or Cork in instead of Guly then we would've equalized, we got no return from all those hoofs into the box.

 

So in the end, another moral victory, but the points keep slipping.

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Totally, players that ''scare'' the opposition and force them to sit back. Puncheon for e.g. makes it too easy, he's a full backs dream defensively.

 

We are still well short at the back though, they should have been out of sight before we even got a foot hold.

 

Other than the goals I thought we did a bit better at the back. I think the reason we looked more solid in the second half though is because they had less opportunity to get at us as we were much better attacking wise.

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J-Rod needs a run in the team now, could really see his confidence growing after the goal.

 

I don't care what Boruc did, you don't boo your own players. That's going back to a dark place in Saints' history.

 

Well it needs to grow at hell of a lot faster because you also have Ricky and Lallana needing that same run in the team. I am not happy that any of them is showing the sort of improvement to get us out of this mess. Only Mayuka has shown sufficient growth to be a keep and it could easily be far better in building a counter attacking side around Mayuka, dropping 2 out of 3 of Ricky Lallana and Jrod to bolster the defence and midfield. I can at least see us drawing games that way.

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442 first half didn't work at all. Coupled with a few poor performers, it gave Tottenham free reign in the centre of the park. That said, both goals were avoidable.

 

4-2-1--2-1 (433) worked a treat and Mayuka was great. Good change in tactics by Nige.

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The first hour was a nonsense. There were several major problems. Davis and Schneiderlin are too negative to play together. On a couple of occasions at 0-2 we were attacking and Davis just didn't bother to make the run into the box just strolling and watching.

 

I can't believe that Lallana has been coached on defending since he was a kid. Attack wise he can be at times frustrating taking an extra touch but at other times he can be a genius. Defensively he is pretty hopeless because he isn't reading the game. Yes he does make the effort to get back but mostly too little too late and the damage is done. If he would just look around instead of standing ball watching he might see the area he has to get into to help the defence. It's no good having to run 30 yds and not get there in time when 10 secs earlier he could have dropped into the defensive slot in time to close down an attack. Puncheon was just as culpable and neither full back received the help they had a right to expect.

 

The change after an hour bringing Mayuka on and playing three strikers was the right call. Mayuka looks a good player and quick. Bringing Guly on for Davis gave us an attacking midfielder and Reeves looked a breath of fresh air, really lively.

 

We looked a different team, positive and difficult to handle. The Spurs wide men and full backs had their hands full so were only attacking on the break. I know they were trying to close out the game but even so as Adkins said we just ran out of time. I just don't see how Boruc is preferred to Gazzaniga. I'd like to see this team start the next game. What was interesting and something I've always advocated leaving three strikers up at defensive corners which left us seven to defend against three rather than have a box with about eighteen players crowded into it.

 

At half time I just thought we were going to get a hammering. After the game it almost felt like a win after we battered them for twenty minutes. Maybe even play this team at Leeds.

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Thoughts on the game -

1st half we were so pedestrian it wasn't true & Spuds broke with pace every time one of our predictable attacks broke down

Clyne - who is overall excellent - has a weakness on the far post that has cost us several goals

Second goal was unlucky - Fonte slipped then cleared it onto Dempsey's knee

I thought J-Rod put in another good shift & I can see why Adkins rates him

Pucheon had a 'mare all game & Mayuka looked really good

At half time I doubted we'd ever pick up another point this season, at full time I trust in Nige again

We are not great, but we are not that bad & we have a young team who have never played at this level before & they are learning the harsh realities of the Prem quickly - but they are learning

And most of all, we have to keep the faith.

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Just to add my thoughts....

 

First half I thought both teams were pretty bad. Much the same as West Ham, we did absolutely nothing going forward and didn't trouble Freidel until about 50 minutes into the game. They were never all over us as I feared they would be but we handed them the game with 2 of the softest goals you will ever see scored in the Premier League. What Clyne was doing for the first I don't know. Didn't seem to make any effort to get up for that and I'm afraid to say he has been at fault for a LOT of goals this season. More so than the much maligned Fox. The second goal was just a complete calamity.

 

Second half much better and were unlucky not to nick a draw at the end. Mayuka made a big difference when he came on. I think the biggest difference for me was after Huddlestone went off. He ran the midfield in the first half. Sat in front of their defence and always finding space.

 

Good players

J rod - worked very hard and got his first Premier League goal. Let's hope more follow.

Mayuka - looked sharp and quick when he came on. Changed our team.

Yoshi - looks our best centre half, composed and made one fantastic challenged on Defoe to stop a near certain goal.

 

Poor players

Puncheon - didn't really do much

Davis - didn't get hold of the game in midfield.

 

Boruc I don't think did much particularly wrong, although the second goal was a bit of a mess for all concerned. Didn't see the bottle incident so can't comment yet.

 

The idiots in the Northam (only a small minority, maybe a dozen) can feck off.

 

To try and end on a positive thought, if we play like we did for the last 30 mins we will comfortably stay up. It's a big if though, Spuds were there for the taking second half and we didn't punish them enough

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Mayuka has to start the next game. He completely changed the game when he came on with his confidence and his pace. His confidence spread to the others and the who,e team stepped up a gear or two.

 

I thought we might have got the 2-2 draw before Adkins made the last 2 subs - but they took our momentum down a notch or two.

 

Ben Reeves looked the part and should probably start the next game over Fox - but we did miss Fox's free kick delivery. Problem is he can't defend and that and the long diagonal ball is all he's got to his game.

 

Guly just proved he's not up to this level of football - he lacks the dynamism you need at this level. Even in the per-game warm up he looked half-*rsed!

 

Davis I'm not sure about - he can look tidy on the ball but passes backwards and sideways too much, has no pace and can't defend or tackle - and doesnt run with the ball or drive the game forward. I think Cork will give us an awful lot more in the middle of the pitch.

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Just to add my thoughts....

 

First half I thought both teams were pretty bad. Much the same as West Ham, we did absolutely nothing going forward and didn't trouble Freidel until about 50 minutes into the game. They were never all over us as I feared they would be but we handed them the game with 2 of the softest goals you will ever see scored in the Premier League.

 

Eh? They toyed with us for 45mins, they should have been 4-0 if Defoe had his shooting boots on. They got in behind us countless times, they were very positive in the first half and had us on the ropes.

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Rather worryingly we are now starting to lose touch with the teams in 14th and 15th, at the moment it is only four or five points but it does mean we do have to win two games just to get level on their points totals. Of course as we are always going to concede at least two goals every game we are in a great deal of trouble.

 

The game today threw up few positive points for me.

 

It very much looks like we are a Championship side for the foreseeable future.

 

Perhaps it best we played there anyway - no matter what ambition we have or claim to have, we will never, ever, win the Premiership alongside about fifteen to sixteen other clubs.

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Most "experts" reckon you shoud judge after 10 games - so far we have played 9 : 7 against teams in the top 9, including all the teams between 7th and 2nd. Our next game is WBA, who are currently 8th. That has to be the toughest start for any newly promoted team, surely ?

 

No excusing the performances, which have been too fragmented, but by the time we get to the 'easier' teams will we have the confidence to turn them over ?

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