Saints 2 V 0 Swansea Reaction & MotM thread

[Saint Garrett]

Good solid win. Still not playing great but grounded that win out. The Southampton of last season would have conceded in that second half. Lovren is so so good.

 

Adam Lallana was top notch today. Great to see him getting back to his best this season after a pretty poor one last year.

 

4th, an going to Old Trafford knowing that we'll be above them whatever happens! Class

[ericb]

Can't recall us winning luckier but we dug in, rode our luck, and 3 points is 3 points however we get them. C'mon!!!!

 

Leeds away!

[redder freak]

Sounded as if Lallana and Boruc were very goo today. Boruc the new Niemi?

[redder freak]

Sounded as if Lallana and Boruc were very good today. Boruc the new Niemi?

[Scoobysaint]

A good victory despite being under the cosh for a fair bit of the game. I was hugely impressed by Boruc and the confidence he inspires in the defence,finally found a new Niemi. Overall I thought we were pegged back and spent a long time defending against a decent Swansea side. The way they exploted Fox at left back was fairly predictable and a problem that will keep occurring every time he has to cover for Shaw. Quite simply he isn't good enough for this team anymore and has been proven that he is not even good enough to be a back up. His positional sense is appalling and he never seems to tackle, merely accompany (not jockey) the opposition winger to their crossing position. Was very impressed with Morgan today and thought he worked well together with Big Vic, who's passing still beggars belief at times. The front players were fantastic for the first twenty five or so minutes, plenty of interlinking and movement, creating a number of opportunities. Lallana put is a performance worthy of the captains armband today and seemed back to his best. I

I do think that a couple of injuries to the spine of the team would hit us hard but while everybody is fit and healthy the future is bright. Personally, as a lifelong Saints fan I am not getting too carried away with talk of 4th or Europe. Lets just get to 42 points as quickly as possible and then enjoy whatever happens.

[Bourno]

1.Boruc

2. Lallana

3. Davis

[WealdSaint]

Good entertaining game of football. Fair play to Swansea who turned up intending to play some football and did. Another day we could have lost this.

 

I thought Fox did ok, but quite a few passes went astray. Boruc was just amazing.

 

Nice to see Guly get his 5 mins and look useful

[saint_jas]

Alps seems a bit quiet today, didn't see a HT rant from him.

[melmacian_saint]

Excellent win in a very tough game against a side we're expected to challenge if we are to keep progressing.

 

Thought we started brilliantly but relaxed after the goal and have Boruc (who I expect will improve on his previous career-high level of form this season) and some desperate defending to thank.

 

On a more positive note we are now also over the delusion that Danny Fox is a good PL back-up player. Needs a Sharp/Hammond-style loan soon and we need a new signing in later on in January (provided we can find someone willing to pay his wages!).

 

2nd half we struggled but it was certainly a closer affair. Again Swansea explored that M3 down the left side and the introduction of Ward-Prowse and Rodriguez for me was crucial. Firstly we started to get some more decent passing going on, and then Rodriguez gave us the pressure on Swansea's CBs (their FBs had long become wingers really) that a knackered Lambert wasn't being able to apply. His goal, at a time where we were better, gets top marks for perseverance, effort and belief (neat finish too considering).

 

Overall we did ride our luck, but it was prize for being fresher off the mark. I guess we're on a roll ATM, football games and Murphy's law do seem to go hand in hand. Brilliant start to the season, I'll be conservative on this one but we can definitely challenge those european place candidates!

[Saint 76er]

Crowd were superb today and when we were flagging with 15-20 to go the crowd lifted the level and willed the team to hang on with a near constant OWTS and the players seemed to respond to that. Supporters were a real twelfth man today. Are we really fourth now? This is getting sooooooo crazy, it's almost scary ...

[Saint Charlie]

Interesting to hear MP say Ramirez "is fit".

Also wants Shaw not to join up with the U21s.

[Dig Dig]

Great win, 2-0 slightly flattering with stellar performances from Lallana, Boruc, Clyne and both CB, who had real handfuls with Bony and Michu.

 

Fox a massive weak link as exploited by Swansea, all danger coming from his side. Lovren and Fonte clearly annoyed with him all game. JWP bought on with the sole intention of helping Fox. Very poor.

 

Otherwise a great win without being at our best. Solid stuff yet again.

[warsash saint]

Alps seems a bit quiet today, didn't see a HT rant from him.

 

and you are surprised??

[Mattio]

Proper nail biter up until J Rod's goal, and a great atmos! Reminded me of before Block 1 was closed with the Itchen and Northam drowning out the away end, good stuff

[JoeShmoe]

Back from the game

 

On Fox, he was truly dreadful. He just jockeys players at a distance of 3m but never tackles them. This isn't once, it's all the time even just backtracking into the box. I would be screaming at 9 year old for defending like that. We watched Fonte, Lovren and Morgan scream at him and Poch was pulling his hair out at him throughout the game. He isn't up to it whereas Clyne was superb against Davies

 

Lallana was also very good esp first half, as was Davis who ran his socks off. thought Poch did well going to 4-2-3-1 when we under the cosh

 

And finally Boruc, 2 genuine worldy saves first half, awesome

[Whitey Grandad]

Interesting to hear MP say Ramirez "is fit".

Also wants Shaw not to join up with the U21s.

 

Shaw was at Staplewood this morning. There was a kiddies' tournament thingy with Tottenham.

[paulwantsapint]

Boruc played the way I expect him to play solid the ball was like a bit of metal towards his magnetic gloves

[Crab Lungs]

Supporters were fantastic when we were up against it on the pitch. Absolutely top stuff.

 

Have to say, Fox was woeful but that wasn't just because he's not good enough cover every now and then - he is - it's because his confidence is shot to pieces completely. Poor lad.

[70's Mike]

Interesting people still saying not playing well, imo they need to understand that MP realises that free flowing football leads to 4-3 defeats, whereas filling the midfield with runners, tacklers etc leads to 2-0 home victories.

Keep grinding out the results

[70's Mike]

Shaw was at Staplewood this morning. There was a kiddies' tournament thingy with Tottenham.

he was at SMS this afternoon, arrived about 12.45 in Chapel Car park

[Stepgar]

That kind of makes up for the West Ham when Jussi was class. Today was our turn to have the inform keeper show.

[lordswoodsaints]

Clean sheet,2 goals from open play,lallana scoring......what's not to like.

Good times.

[slickmick]

Those that keep saying Fox is not that bad, do they still believe that ?

[markr27]

he was at SMS this afternoon' date=' arrived about 12.45 in Chapel Car park[/quote']

 

A further update on Luke Shaw watch, he sat in one of the boxes in the Itchen with Maya and Gazza during the game...

[Ohio Saint]

Jay's composure in front of goal deserves a lot of praise. That was the exact kind of situation that we normally fail in. Opposition defenders at sixes and sevens and composure was the key. I honestly expected him to fluff it, but no. The lad did very well in one of those situations that appear easy enough but often end up in a comedy of errors.

[SaintBobby]

Last time we got 5 consecutive clean sheets?

[Rebel]

Fox was awful today and it has nothing to do with a lack of confidence - he's making the same basic mistakes he was making in the Championsip - the difference is it only takes a team 15 -20 minutes to worh out he the very weakest link in the premiership whereas in the championship it took 45 minutes.

 

His poisitioning is terrible, he backs off players instead of tackling and other than a long diagonal ball to the front he can't pass.

 

It's terrible that we had to change our entire game plan to protect one player because he's so bad. Did anyone else notice Lovren and Fonte get increasingly more p*ssed off with Fox - and eventually stopped passing to him. It's not like Dyer is that good a team should really need to double up on him.

 

We desperately need another plan B for left back when Shaw is out - the only thing I can think of is playing Yoshida there.

 

As the game went on I found myself getting increasingly angry that we didn't buy a left back in the summer.

[markr27]

There was a "discussion" between Lovren, Fox, Fonte and Lallana just after JayRod scored, and Fox was looking a bit heated at the start of it...

[TheCholulaKid]

Supporters were fantastic when we were up against it on the pitch. Absolutely top stuff.

 

Have to say, Fox was woeful but that wasn't just because he's not good enough cover every now and then - he is - it's because his confidence is shot to pieces completely. Poor lad.

 

Not surprising when his home crowd resort to sarcastic cheers when a pass reaches its target. Poor really (both Fox and his vocal detractors).

[fez]

Now that West Ham have scored, we have the best defensive record in the league

[Saint Without a Halo]

Spuds 2-0 down we are now officially the meanest defence

[fez]

Spuds 2-0 down we are now officially the meanest defence

And looking safe in 4th

[James]

Decent performance today - Boruc was amazing and as others have said Lallana was brilliant. Have to say Adam has really kicked on this season and has been absolutely key to our good start, he took a lot of stick last season (perhaps rightly at times) but this season he looks a potential England call up.

 

As others have said Fox was absolutely dreadful - I don't like to criticise our own players but he is just not good enough at this level. His positioning is just dreadful, he is constantly in the wrong position and leaves us so exposed down the wing. He makes really basic mistakes as well and I lost count of the number of times he either just hoofed it away or literally passed it to Dyer. If we are going to kick on this season then we really need better back up - I honestly would prefer Jack Cork at right back (or even left back) and Clyne left back.

[OldNick]

Not surprising when his home crowd resort to sarcastic cheers when a pass reaches its target. Poor really (both Fox and his vocal detractors).

Fox is decent when he is delivering a dead ball, but defensively he is a liability. I dislike it when fans jeer their own players. I'm sure he tires his best. My concern is that Mopo keeps picking him

[qwertySFC]

Voted for AL as MOM - but would have put Mauricio Pochettino as tactics , analysis of how the game was going and decisions made were spot on.

[Ohio Saint]

Voted for AL as MOM - but would have put Mauricio Pochettino as tactics , analysis of how the game was going and decisions made were spot on.

 

Good point. Maybe the manager should be an option in those polls!

[Georgie]

Not surprising when his home crowd resort to sarcastic cheers when a pass reaches its target. Poor really (both Fox and his vocal detractors).

 

Fox is dreadful and was dreadful again today, but the jeering of him when a pass reached it's target was pathetic.

It isn't a lack of confidence, he just isn't a PL player at all. So many times others have to help him out, which then leaves other areas exposed.

That said really pleased with the 3 points and the clean sheet, which I couldn't see us getting at half time. Boruc was brilliant and gives us a lot of confidence at the back. Boruc and Lallana were MOMs for me today.

[Depressed of Shirley]

Fox was awful today and it has nothing to do with a lack of confidence - he's making the same basic mistakes he was making in the Championsip - the difference is it only takes a team 15 -20 minutes to worh out he the very weakest link in the premiership whereas in the championship it took 45 minutes.

 

His poisitioning is terrible, he backs off players instead of tackling and other than a long diagonal ball to the front he can't pass.

 

It's terrible that we had to change our entire game plan to protect one player because he's so bad. Did anyone else notice Lovren and Fonte get increasingly more p*ssed off with Fox - and eventually stopped passing to him. It's not like Dyer is that good a team should really need to double up on him.

 

We desperately need another plan B for left back when Shaw is out - the only thing I can think of is playing Yoshida there.

 

As the game went on I found myself getting increasingly angry that we didn't buy a left back in the summer.

 

But we didn't, and we have to go with it. if your one of the total w*nkers who are helping to shoot his confidence to pieces, then you should be ashamed of yourself.

[verlaine1979]

Spuds 2-0 down we are now officially the meanest defence

 

Only Roma (conceded 1) have a better defensive record than us out of the top five European leagues.

[suewhistle]

Spurs goal difference been done a power of good (for us) by West Ham. :-)

[Pedro]

Well done VW at the end, came near the dugout and gave his shirt to a Downs lad, this gesture cost nothing but made this lad and his dad very happy.

[stknowle]

Leeds away!

 

Good shout. Memory ain't what it was.

[Under Weststand]

Well seems we've learned to win ugly this year. Pochettino seems to change tactics to suit different styles, and boy is paying dividends. Great performance from Boruc & great to see Lallana back to his best this season. Great finish from Adam today & cool finish from Jay as well. Heady heights tonight fabulous, long may it continue.

[dan abnormal]

finding a way to win when not playing well is exactly what good teams do. Its also nice to be able to beat teams around us.

 

Couldn't have asked for a better start.

[OfnPanad]

Davis my motm. Now we are a more settled side he just gets better every match. A real bargain signing amongst our more 'stellar' ones. Boruc a close second - maybe I am just expecting the awesome saves these days?!

[dinger]

Alan Green just called us 'so refreshing' - I nearly spat out my penguin

 

Is this prison lingo?

[croydonsaint]

how many games to get to 14 points last season anybody?

[Georgie]

finding a way to win when not playing well is exactly what good teams do. Its also nice to be able to beat teams around us.

 

Couldn't have asked for a better start.

 

Well we should have beaten Sunderland and West Ham, so really we should be top Seriously though still a great start, obviously helped by the fixture list. However we do have more very winnable games coming up after Man U - Fulham, Stoke, Hull. Good results in those 3 and we will really start to cement our place in the top half.

[farawaysaint]

Is this prison lingo?

 

http://www.masterofmalt.com/beer/brewdog-tactical-nuclear-penguin-375cl-beer/ My guess.

[manji]

It was almost like the supporters got us that second goal.They knew we were up against it and spurred the team on.Brilliant atmosphere today.