Saints V Swansea Post match jubilation

[derry]

I think what Koeman is unhappy about was the number of times we gave the ball back to Swansea, he was also very critical about the lack of tight pressing. Our closing down was poor especially when the back four dropped deep and the midfield also dropped off allowing Swansea to dominate the latter part of the game.

 

Rodriguez, Mane, Bertrand, Soares, Romeu, Wanyama closed down tightly and quickly when they could but the tendency of the others to stand off allowed Swansea the room to get at us. Wanyama really was poor in terms of passing and gave the ball away a lot.

 

Good result but a lot to do because Fonte is nowhere as dominant as last season and VVD whilst a decent player is still adapting to the Premier.

[fanimal]

The main thing is we won the early physical battles, chased down hard, all that takes a lot of effort, not sustainable for 90n mins. No surprise we sat back at 3-0.

 

What was niggling was the 3 subs didn't impose as they should; and we gave the ball away on so many occasions, worst I have seen for a while - -a better team would have hurt us. Could have kept the ball, dominated as RK said and maybe got a 4th.

 

Great result against a good side.Well done lads, we march on.

[Roger]

I think what Koeman is unhappy about was the number of times we gave the ball back to Swansea, he was also very critical about the lack of tight pressing. Our closing down was poor especially when the back four dropped deep and the midfield also dropped off allowing Swansea to dominate the latter part of the game.

 

Rodriguez, Mane, Bertrand, Soares, Romeu, Wanyama closed down tightly and quickly when they could but the tendency of the others to stand off allowed Swansea the room to get at us. Wanyama really was poor in terms of passing and gave the ball away a lot.

 

Good result but a lot to do because Fonte is nowhere as dominant as last season and VVD whilst a decent player is still adapting to the Premier.

 

Surely you can't say that vvd was the reason we weren't that good today. He was sublime.

[derry]

Surely you can't say that vvd was the reason we weren't that good today. He was sublime.

 

Good goal. Was certainly not sublime and said himself that he is still finding his feet. He is a decent player but adapting and work in progress. Koeman said it all, poor pressing and ball possession.

[doddisalegend]

I think what Koeman is unhappy about was the number of times we gave the ball back to Swansea, he was also very critical about the lack of tight pressing. Our closing down was poor especially when the back four dropped deep and the midfield also dropped off allowing Swansea to dominate the latter part of the game.

 

Rodriguez, Mane, Bertrand, Soares, Romeu, Wanyama closed down tightly and quickly when they could but the tendency of the others to stand off allowed Swansea the room to get at us. Wanyama really was poor in terms of passing and gave the ball away a lot.

Good result but a lot to do because Fonte is nowhere as dominant as last season and VVD whilst a decent player is still adapting to the Premier.

 

The best closer down of the ball today was Steven Davis by a country mile it was noticeable, as soon as he was subbed, that Swansea got more time on the ball.

[angelman]

One question - I had a disagreement (good natured) with those around me about Pelle being given offside when he collected the ball in our half. I said it was wrong, but my neighbour said it was because he came from an off side position in their half.

[eelpie]

About what?

 

Coasting when we were three up. Lacking in killer spirit. I agree.

[sadoldgit]

you want to tell the manager with that.he was pretty critical about our football.....

 

 

Rons reaction to the win

 

Was not an excellent, we never had total domination

it was a good win but not excellent

the performance was not at the level we can do

too much defending from us and not enough controlling

mistakes with the ball from us

we were clinical which was the difference today

 

He wasn't turning cartwheels when we put 8 past Sunderland either. Good to see a manager who thinks there are more important things than the final result.

[Batman]

He wasn't turning cartwheels when we put 8 past Sunderland either. Good to see a manager who thinks there are more important things than the final result.

 

I think Koeman was u happy because we were pretty sloppy for a large part of the 2nd half for the 2nd week running.

[Roger]

Good goal. Was certainly not sublime and said himself that he is still finding his feet. He is a decent player but adapting and work in progress. Koeman said it all, poor pressing and ball possession.

 

Not can diyk tho. What game were you at?

[Lord Duckhunter]

I thought we were pretty decent first half and the start of the second . The only time we were poor was when the game was already won . The difference this week was balance and people playing in the right positions . Having 2 full backs bombing forward , particularly RB ( who was my MoM for playing like that after a long time out) , made all the difference . As well as he's done lately Targett is just not that sort of full back . And Maya even a week later it's still , WTF Ron . Had we played that team last week , we'd have beaten those Manc twts.

 

There's obviously still more to come , both Tadic and Mane can still produce more IMO , and JRod can only get better . With Classie still to come in and JWP starting to look like a proper player , I'm pretty optimistic tonight .

[waylander]

Solid win. Should have scored more with the openings we created.

[eurosaint]

Comfortable win, perhaps Ron is playing mind games with his players but no reason for us fans to be critical IMHO !

[suewhistle]

There's obviously still more to come ,

 

I'd agree with your view. At the beginning of the game some of our football was grin-inducing. A number of things to note: was anybody else surprised that Bertrand managed 90 minutes? You could see how we've missed him. Davis had an excellent game picking up all the loose stuff in midfield: was his substitution planned, because he seemed to put a great deal of effort into the time he was on the pitch? JWP seems to be getting more 'snap' to his game as well as covering so well and being a right pain to the player in possession. Soares was not in the least a worry in his defensive role, as well as adding a fair bit in attack. VvD looks like he is getting far more comfortable and Pelle continued to do some excellent lay-offs and was never dominated by his centre half.

 

To be honest, although Koeman was not entirely happy you couldn't say anybody actually had a bad game.

[Whitey Grandad]

One question - I had a disagreement (good natured) with those around me about Pelle being given offside when he collected the ball in our half. I said it was wrong, but my neighbour said it was because he came from an off side position in their half.

 

Your neighbour is correct. He was offside when the ball was kicked.

[Andy Durman]

Pressing needs to be all or nothing. It has to be 100% or drop off organize and stay compact.

 

I think we weren't always organized and this is why Swansea were allowed to play.

 

Too many times Swansea were given the opportunity to shoot from distance and we know from last season just how dangerous that can be.

[Pamplemousse]

Just had a look at a couple of Swan's forums. Oh my!! I'm surprised at their delusions of grandeur.

 

I had thought that their team is in a similar vein to ours in a "Best of most of the rest" kinda way. It seems that to most of them, that we are just some other team that they should have beaten easily away from home.

 

I have suitably made an adjustment to my hopes for their degree of success this season.

 

Any links?

[sad saints fan]

Can't believe that no one has put up a link so I can see the goals before our 20 second slot on MOTD.

[Sour Mash]

Strange game. Good win against what I consider a pretty good Swansea team.

 

How many teams will be 3-0 against Swansea this season? I wouldn't be surprised if its not one more after today.

 

But we were a bit stop start, didn't really flow and we'll play better than today.

Edited 26 September, 2015 by Sour Mash

[Leo_ARG]

Van Dijk the best player by far today. The rest was either good or just Okay.

 

Credit to RK, when I saw the Wanyama-Davis duo as holding midfielders I went "Oh here we go again", but they responded well. Especially Wanyama, that was his best game so far. Excellent first half for him.

 

The whole defense looked better thanks to Betrand's return. Just the calmness he brings, the outlet passes, his presence out there made everyone better.

 

Cedric had his best game as a Saint.

 

Overall, we could have been better, but Swansea is such a great team. The only weak point on them is the fullbacks and Tadic and Mane exploited that weakness well.

 

Good team win. Now let's build on this.

[Dark Munster]

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2015/09/26/southampton-vs-swansea-city-highlights/

[sad saints fan]

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2015/09/26/southampton-vs-swansea-city-highlights/

 

Thank you

[LGTL]

Never mind how we played, I thought Swansea were useless. Kept possession but the majority of the time it was pointless possession. Result was never in doubt.

[Pilchards]

Loved the hang in VVD goal, proper CB attacking on a corner.

[Ken Tone]

Your neighbour is correct. He was offside when the ball was kicked.

 

And of course the free kick had correctly then to be taken in their half .... Something their idiot player couldn't seem to understand

[Whitey Grandad]

And of course the free kick had correctly then to be taken in their half .... Something their idiot player couldn't seem to understand

 

Exactly. It shouldn't have been difficult, the assistant was standing at the right place holding his flag out all the time and the referee had to point this out to him. In the end the kick wasn't taken from the right place but we could still be there now.

 

Talking of the ref, there was a lot of abuse for him but without my red and white striped glasses I thought he was spot on throughout the game.

[Saint Charlie]

Not really...thought Martina, Juami and Caulker all looked quality today.

 

Errr...none of them started (Juanmi came on as a sub).

 

You in for TNF next week?

[The Cat]

Thought we were comfortable all game, even when they had a lot of possession in the last 20 minutes or so they didn't do much with it. Stekelenberg had little to do.

 

So good to have Bertrand back because he adds an extra layer of professionalism to the defence. Very encouraging that he seemed to comfortably last 90 minutes because he'll need to be on the top of his game next weekend.

[The Cat]

Errr...none of them started (Juanmi came on ad a sub).

 

It was a poor effort at a joke.

[Saint Charlie]

It was a poor effort at a joke.

 

What was? Juanmi played but didnt do a lot.

[Koolman]

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/2015/09/26/southampton-vs-swansea-city-highlights/

 

Seems that it was a certain Jack Cork that wasn't keeping pace with VvD for the first goal

[Donatello]

What was? Juanmi played but didnt do a lot.

 

Fo' real? CBFry was being sarcastic (wasted summer, etc), it escaped many. DigDig sarcastically points out that three of our summer signings didn't play much/at all today, thereby justifying his unfavorable perception of our window. Basically, It's the annual circlejerk. Christmas has come early

[Wes Tender]

 

But we were a bit stop start, didn't really flow and we'll play better than today.

 

A lot of that was down to the referee IMO. He was a niggly b'stard and half of the fouls he blew he shouldn't have.

[Baird of the land]

Strange game, didn't really feel Swansea turned up till late. Didn't understand their ht changes either.

Soares was much improved. It was great to see Bertrand back. Davis. & wanyama worked well together.thought steklenberg was worrying in net at times, Romeu was poor when he came on after being good midweek.

Overall a very good 3 points. Now got to push on &I get something from Chelsea.

[Lord Duckhunter]

 

Talking of the ref, there was a lot of abuse for him but without my red and white striped glasses I thought he was spot on throughout the game.

 

What!!!!

 

He was poor, really poor. At one stage just before half time he blew every tackle. One was down the left right by me and RB clearly won the ball . Cork also rugby tackled VvD on the corner immediately after the goal and yet he gives a soft soft peno . It was right in front of me and even the Swansea players were bemused . It was one of those " look how clever I am " decisions . Nobody would have said a word had it not been given and maybe in slow motion and by the letter of the law , maybe . But if you're not giving the VvD one , you shouldn't be giving that one. He was poor both ways , even giving us soft free kicks . Quite a few players were on his case and it's a good job it wasn't a close game . Shocking performance .

[BlakeySFC]

Great result against a good side, never expected a win with our current form, very happy.

[kermitsaint]

Refreshing to have Bertrand back and no surprise that most of our best attacking moves came down his side . Hopefully Cedric can learn alot from him .

 

Central midfield hopefully can improve with Classie , lets hope he is as good as we hope he is . Then we can drop Prowse and have a more effective midfield .

 

 

 

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[Jai27]

Van Dijk the best player by far today. The rest was either good or just Okay.

 

Credit to RK, when I saw the Wanyama-Davis duo as holding midfielders I went "Oh here we go again", but they responded well. Especially Wanyama, that was his best game so far. Excellent first half for him.

 

The whole defense looked better thanks to Betrand's return. Just the calmness he brings, the outlet passes, his presence out there made everyone better.

 

Cedric had his best game as a Saint.

 

Overall, we could have been better, but Swansea is such a great team. The only weak point on them is the fullbacks and Tadic and Mane exploited that weakness well.

 

Good team win. Now let's build on this.

 

Totally agree with Van dijk being our best player. He was calm, efficient and accurate. Looks to be a fantastic signing.

 

Thought Bertrand was a bit rusty and a lot of the squad, especially Fonte, we're clearly frustrated with him and let him know about it. Better than Targett regardless.

 

Cedric had four or five **** ups today, but his offensive play makes up for it and I'd start him every game going forwards.

 

Pelle and Davis also had great games today. Worked hard and did their jobs well. Also thought JWP although quiet at times played well. Still not convinced he's good enough to be starting for us though.

[Batman]

 

Talking of the ref, there was a lot of abuse for him but without my red and white striped glasses I thought he was spot on throughout the game.

he really was not

[doddisalegend]

Totally agree with Van dijk being our best player. He was calm, efficient and accurate. Looks to be a fantastic signing.

 

Thought Bertrand was a bit rusty and a lot of the squad, especially Fonte, we're clearly frustrated with him and let him know about it. Better than Targett regardless.

 

Cedric had four or five **** ups today, but his offensive play makes up for it and I'd start him every game going forwards.

 

Pelle and Davis also had great games today. Worked hard and did their jobs well. Also thought JWP although quiet at times played well. Still not convinced he's good enough to be starting for us though.

 

Really??

 

I thought both our fullbacks were excellent, going forward and defending, yesterday. Probably helped by Swansea playing a diamond formation. Cedric was pinned back in the second half because of Montero but he was getting forward, in front of me, well in the first half. Ryan was a huge improvement on Targett (not a go at Targett who I think has improved as the season has gone on) and played like he had been there all season IMO

[Batman]

Comfortable win, perhaps Ron is playing mind games with his players but no reason for us fans to be critical IMHO !

 

ron was saying how it was

we were good in parts but far more clinical.

They had more of the ball and VvD was clearly our MoM.....

[SaintSteve]

ron was saying how it was

we were good in parts but far more clinical.

They had more of the ball and VvD was clearly our MoM.....

Pelle was our MOM for me..perfect centre forward display and he works his socks off for the team. Swansea weren't good enough to warrant VVD being MOM.

[doddisalegend]

Pelle was our MOM for me..perfect centre forward display and he works his socks off for the team. Swansea weren't good enough to warrant VVD being MOM.

 

 

Perfect? Lost count of the number of pointless flicks to no one. Worst one was near the end when he got free of the Swansea defence and instead of just heading to the corner to run the clock down he back heeled it right to a Swansea player.

 

I like Pelle but not Mom for me.

[St.JonB]

Good to see us win and score 3 with Davis and Ward-Prowse in the team! Anyone want to explain again why it doesn't work with these two in our team?

[ProxyCentauri]

Defence is always the key. Ced as right back and Bertrand on the left- Saints is simply another team. Targett did his best and he will get better but Bertrand must be among top-3 left backs in the PL.

Yoshi has heart but he lacks quality. Nice to get both Mane and Tadic on the score sheet.

MoM for me is Cedric who had the difficult task of stopping that fast lad Montero,(who resembles Mahrez on Leicester a lot. Hope Ced can do an equally fine job against him)

[Whitey Grandad]

What!!!!

 

He was poor, really poor. At one stage just before half time he blew every tackle. One was down the left right by me and RB clearly won the ball . Cork also rugby tackled VvD on the corner immediately after the goal and yet he gives a soft soft peno . It was right in front of me and even the Swansea players were bemused . It was one of those " look how clever I am " decisions . Nobody would have said a word had it not been given and maybe in slow motion and by the letter of the law , maybe . But if you're not giving the VvD one , you shouldn't be giving that one. He was poor both ways , even giving us soft free kicks . Quite a few players were on his case and it's a good job it wasn't a close game . Shocking performance .

 

Part of the misunderstanding was his attempts to keep the game flowing by waiting a few seconds to see if any advantage had accrued, and then bringing the game back for a free kick. People around me thought he was giving non-existent fouls. I was bemused by the analytical decision but when you see it again on MOTD Fonte slides in and completely upends the Swansea player. Most of the fouls seemed to be for shoves and pushes which is fair enough. You don't play football with your handset stop pushing and shoving and you won't get picked up.

 

Having said that it was the highest foul count of the day at 32 but not by much, there were a couple of games in the high twenties.

[Saint_Tony]

Nice to see us score from a corner, never seems to happen with us. Van Dijk certainly looks very good in the air. Nice to see RoKo still unhappy, we are still very capable of finishing top half this season.

 

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[Redslo]

What a wasted summer.

 

Surely this comment was intended as some kind of performance art.

 

Saints looked poor after the substitutions. Mentality changed. It's an entirely different team without Mane / a feeling of aggression.

 

I watch Fonte the closest of any of the Saints and while I agree that he has looked very questionable this season (I think signing with Mendes and the national team callup has gotten in his head -- Portuguese are a mentally fragile bunch), that tackle was not out of character for him. Can recall several fairly reckless challenges last season where I thought "surely that's a pen" and he got away with it. He's never been afraid to slide in the area. I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't become routine.

 

I thought Fonte was expected a direct shot on goal and was sliding by to block it .

[benjii]

Our corners are interesting. Some matches we constantly hit outswingers (with the odd short one) and other matches we constantly hit inswingers. I'm not sure if this is designed to keep the oppo guessing or if we adjust based on the oppo's perceived weaknesses.

 

All I do know is that if JWP is on the pitch and we have a left-sided corner, the inswinger always looks dangerous. We should have had a penalty from a corner yesterday as well.

 

I voted Bertrand for MotM. To play near the top of his game following his injury was very impressive. The way he manipulates the ball and creates angles with running and passes is streets ahead of Targett. I hope Targett is watching him closely because Targett will need to add these skills to his game.

 

I thought our pressing was good yesterday. We let them have the ball in the last 30 minutes or so but the game was basically won by then. In the first half we were aggressive with Davis, Tadic, Mane and JWP closing down well. You can see why Koeman us slightly loathe to deploy Romeu and Wanyama simultaneously because their tendency to play deeper means we lose that ability to hunt in packs - to press you need to work together. It's going to be intriguing to see how we set up when Classie is fit.

 

Pelle had another good game. He won the ball so easily and normally used it well.

 

Onwards and upwards!

[Wes Tender]

Part of the misunderstanding was his attempts to keep the game flowing by waiting a few seconds to see if any advantage had accrued, and then bringing the game back for a free kick. People around me thought he was giving non-existent fouls. I was bemused by the analytical decision but when you see it again on MOTD Fonte slides in and completely upends the Swansea player. Most of the fouls seemed to be for shoves and pushes which is fair enough. You don't play football with your handset stop pushing and shoving and you won't get picked up.

 

Having said that it was the highest foul count of the day at 32 but not by much, there were a couple of games in the high twenties.

 

It seemed pretty clear that he had brought back play after waiting to see whether an advantage had accrued and anybody who thought that he was awarding non-existing fouls was either a bit dim, or had their judgement distorted by the number of fouls he awarded that he shouldn't have. It seemed to me that once it became clear that the referee was prepared to award free kicks for the slightest contact, players actually went looking for that advantage by falling easily.

 

Your stats that he had awarded the highest number of fouls of the day speaks volumes. It is one thing to have a large section of the crowd chanting that the referee didn't know what he was doing when you are losing as a result of poor decisions by him and quite another to hear chants like that when your team is winning. I'm pretty sure that we had much the same opinion of him when we last had him.