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Saints v Chelsea Match Thread

St Chalet

By St Chalet,
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CB Fry

CB Fry

Posted
Posted
Been saying it since August, fella

You said exactly the same in summer 2015 (6th) and Summer 2014 (7th) so don't try and make out you minted a sparkling new observation this season. Oh, and in summer 2013 we were "being run like a cr appy seaside B&B" (8th). The season before you predicted relegation all the way through. The previous two seasons you were absolutely adamant we would bottle promotion both times even as late as the last couple of matches of the season.

 

We're all just waiting for your traditional "well, everything is easy in hindsight" snivelling climbdown, just like those previous seasons.

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JoeShmoe

JoeShmoe

Posted
Posted

Chelsea were very very good today - that performance and City at Utd are far and away best team performances ive seen this season. They keep that level up and they'll be in the top 3

 

Negatives - Clasie isnt good enough - too lightweight if you're going to play him and Davies

 

Martina - honestly rather Stephens or Yoshida play there as he isnt good enough at this level

 

We also badly need another Striker or we give Olomola game time and see what he is ...

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doddisalegend

doddisalegend

Posted
Posted

Defended like schoolboys today VVD had a poor game by his standards the rest weren't any better. Defence was all over the shop today.

 

Plenty of possession in the middle but it was all in front of Chelsea with no cutting edge up front.

 

The ref didn't help lm always amazed with how much gamesmanship Chelsea get away with its like refs are blind to it.

 

In the end though Chelsea were decent and took their chances just dust ourselves down and go again. A **** way to end a weekend.

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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

Posted
Posted
Well beaten by a very good side. Wouldn't be shocked to see them win the league.

 

As for the fat troll from Austria. Just disappear back to your mars bar multi packs and your kids in a cellar as you know fu_ck all about football and as CB Fry points out, you're wrong every single time you obese cu_nt.

 

Seems fair.

 

What an eloquent chap you are :lol:

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
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Really well set up away team to be honest, behind the ball, close the space and break quickly when you win it. They played an away game perfectly.

 

Conte has them setup a lot better than they were last year, it looked like there were always more Chelsea players than ours - but they were just tactically a bit sharper than us, fair to say Conte had our number from the first minute. We could have played till tomorrow and there still wouldn't have been openings for us to score.

 

We were too slow in possession and the game was crying out for someone like Long up front to stretch it, Austin tried but is just too slow for that kind of role.

 

Fair play to Chelsea, they did a number on us. Onto the next one.

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Winnersaint

Winnersaint

Posted
Posted
Well beaten by a very good side. Wouldn't be shocked to see them win the league.

 

As for the fat troll from Austria. Just disappear back to your mars bar multi packs and your kids in a cellar as you know fu_ck all about football and as CB Fry points out, you're wrong every single time you obese cu_nt.

 

Seems fair.

 

Well put VFTT. I tried the irony/sarcasm route but you are right. He is cu_nt. Didn't know he was a fat one though

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Graffito

Graffito

Posted
Posted

Out of the country so didn't see it but sounds like we were done up like kippers, not for the first time at home by that lot. A good team and its only three points so no need to over analyse it. We can't win every game so losing to the better sides is preferable to dropping points against Watford and Sunderland.

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WokingSaint

WokingSaint

Posted
Posted
Chelsea by far the best side we've played this season. The midfield got bullied, how does Clasie start over Hojbjerg?

It is odd how opinions differ so much! I thought Southampton dominant large parts of the game particularly in midfield. The difference was a quality ' creator' and a quality striker. Boufal may prove to be one but none of our strikers will be the other. Until that is solved we will rarely beat sides like this, however much possession we have.

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Dalek2003

Dalek2003

Posted
Posted
Alpine in overreaction horror.

Yes Chelsea always "go forwards" they have a mountain of money to spend and world-class players - some that can't even get in their match day squad.

Can you explain how we are supposed to compete with that on a long-term basis? - Simply put we can't and although Leicester had a stunning season last season, it will be very much a "flash in the pan" as the top sides quickly regain their foothold on the PL and we will battle it out to be the best of the rest.

I don't know why we tamper our expectations so high, Europa League is the best we can hope for barring a miracle, we are a very good side but we have to be exceptional to beat sides like Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham etc - today we just weren't.

 

I am quite happy if Saints finish 17th, anything else is a bonus. In simple terms Chelsea are not close rivals, we need to watch out for the likes of Palace and Watford.

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davefoggy

davefoggy

Posted
Posted
Really not convinced Forster is good enough. Doesn't even come for balls on the edge of his 6 yard box...we need someone more agile, mobile and able to pass better. I would sell to Liverpool before his stock begins to fall and get Pickford or Heaton in.

 

He is our biggest weak link at the moment. A keeper of his stature should be commanding his area a lot more. He continues to be rooted on his line. Sorry but i dont rate him at all

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Saint Billy

Saint Billy

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Thought we played ok 1st half without threatening too much but second half Chelsea's quality got the better of us especially as we were having to chase the game.

 

Although we have done well so far this season considering the amount of games we are having to play there are a few things that rangle me.

 

Our corners and spot kicks are terrible, Austin looks very alienated with poor service, Clasie does not cut it for me, still not convinced Redmond being an out and out forward, the square and backward passing by our midfield with little to no penetrating passes to the front two, Martina out of his depth. I think Chelsea's class exposed these more today but for me they have been there in various degrees all season.

 

On a positive Romeu is an absolute revelation this season and was our best player again today

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Dark Munster

Dark Munster

Posted
Posted

​

Martina is a joke of a defender

 

Forster doing a great impression of Marcel Marceau most of the game. As for Martina, is he the new Ali Dia FFS!!!

 

Agree. But it ain't funny anymore.He should have been taken off at half time.

I must've been watching a different match. Please share with us Cuco's jokes, I'm in need of a laugh today. Maybe he could've been tighter for Costa's goal, but it was a world class finish.

 

I thought he, and the whole team, played ok, just were beaten by a very, very good team. Don't forget 2 years ago they walked the league. Last year was an anomaly for them (maybe they had an agreement to swap places with Leicester for one season). This year they look as good as 2 years ago (maybe even better with the addition of Kante). I doubt we'll meet a better team all season. I wouldn't be surprised if they win the league.

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Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted

We gave them too much space and time on the ball and when we gained possession in midfield we were woefully slow in attack. With Chelsea having such an easy, poorly defended goal so early on, they were content to sit back and let us try to break them down, and then hit us on the break. It was criminal how we didn't have a player marking Hazard's every move; you just can't allow a player like him the space and time to control the game or get a shot away.

 

Our best chance of getting anything from the game was via set pieces and Chelsea were proven to be vulnerable defensively because we had two or three free headers in the box, but couldn't direct them on target. Austin also proved that their defence was vulnerable because he had the ball in the net from only being very marginally offside. If we had somebody like Long available, we could have broke up-field with some pace and put them on the back foot, but instead we were pedestrian. Also some of our passing and touches were woeful and we gave away possession time after time.

 

That Chelsea managed to fool the referee so often by falling to the ground at every soft touch didn't help the flow of our game. They have an Italian manager and the sort of players who are masters at that gamesmanship, but ultimately we weren't at the races today and Chelsea had too much quality in their team. We'll just have to beat them up there, like we did last time.

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LaptopSaint

LaptopSaint

Posted
Posted
Chelsea by far the best side we've played this season. The midfield got bullied, how does Clasie start over Hojbjerg?

Agreed on both points. Claude seems to have cooled on PEH a bit at the moment. He'd be a nailed on starter for me.

Chelsea v good though - Moses born again, and Hazard back to being close to unplayable. Costa still a complete **** though.

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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Posted
Posted

Given that this team steamrollered Man Utd last weekend, I was never overly optimistic. They were simply a different class today. I didn't really feel like we were poor but when Hazard and Costa decide to turn up, the other team sure does know about it.

 

Disappointing but losing 2-0 to Championship contenders is pretty much par for a club our size. On to the small matter of Inter.

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Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted

We were lucky to get away with 2 today , could easily have been 4 or 5 . They were totally and utterly in charge of that game . No lack of effort from our side , they're just better players who played well today .

 

OR excellent again , but Tadic & Redmond played for about 10 mins , Charlie did well . Cuco is terrible , he seems to have no forward thinking football brain . It's like he gets the ball and then thinks "! Right , what do I do now", and by the time he's worked it out , the moments gone . He's not the worst defensively but going forward he's woeful .

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FriendlySaint

FriendlySaint

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just back from the game.

 

Disappointing game against a side that parked the bus (did it very well mind) and only looked to hit us on the counter (did that very well too). It was a real shame we conceded the early goal, as they were always just going to sit deep with the back five (I refuse to call it a three).

 

Despite all our possession we did too little with it. Not enough forward passes, not enough crosses from deep (not sure why we were scared to cross from deep today? One of the few times we tried Davis had a header deflected onto the bar..). Mostly importantly at times Chelsea were perfectly happy for us to have the ball and we were simply not moving the ball fast enough. It's a shame we don't have another capable aerial threat on the bench. And I think it's times like that when a manager should think about thinking outside the box. Perhaps sending VVD up top next to Austin, axing an attacker/midfielder for Yoshida to do it and being more direct (long balls, crosses etc)..because Chelsea were so deep.

 

I thought Austin worked harder than anyone else today (and won almost everything in the air). And I really do think the whole team bar Austin had given up at 2-0. McQueen brought some life back into us and it's a shame that borderline offside call went against us. Because it would have given us a sniff, it was also a goal Austin deserved for his hard-work. Just before he scored the disallowed goal he was chasing the ball everywhere and getting little help. He made a brilliant covering tackle late in the game too when we had 4-5 players caught upfield, he stopped Hazard near out penalty box once or twice and just generally pressed hard whenever he could. Think he was brilliant today and deserved a goal (shame it was disallowed). But apart from the two moments (bar, offside goal) we struggled. That being said Chelsea defended brilliantly as a team, particularly the wide players and wing backs. It made it very difficult to get the ball into the box..and then they had quality in the middle of the park too and the three cb's (obviously Azpilicueta is a full back, but was playing right centre back).

 

The most frustrating thing was the 2nd goal probably where he was given too much space and time, but a brilliant finish.

 

Both their goals were brilliant finishes, we hit the bar, scored a borderline offside goal..against a decent side. It was just one of those games and one to forget I reckon. No point dwelling on it. Didn't think anyone really had a stinker. But no one was better than average today for me apart from Austin. But that was a lot to do with how good Chelsea were. I think McQueen starting over Bertrand could have made a difference today, he looked good when he came on. Bertrand is obviously the main man and we were on the front foot a lot more than expected. We were missing that wide man. This was also probably a game where Tadic should have been on the left wing all game trying to get crosses in I reckon, but he was on the right. Oh well.

 

I thought Hazard was brilliant for them and Kante was excellent on the ball in tight areas. 92% passing completion for Kante is very good going considering how deep and defensive they were much of the game. Moses also a pest on the break and worked hard. It was just a tough game , we didn't have the rub of the green at all and they scored two brilliantly executed goals..one to forget..

Edited by FriendlySaint
edited an auto correction
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striker

striker

Posted
Posted
Just back from the game.

 

Disappointing game against a side that parked the bus (did it very well mind) and only looked to hit us on the counter (did that very well too). It was a real shame we conceded the early game, as they were always just going to sit deep with the back five (I refuse to call it a three).

 

Despite all our possession we did too little with it. Not enough forward passes, not enough crosses from deep (not sure why we were scared to cross from deep today? One of the few times we tried Davis had a header deflected onto the bar..). Mostly importantly at times Chelsea were perfectly happy for us to have the ball and we were simply not moving the ball fast enough. It's a shame we don't have another capable aerial threat on the bench. And I think it's times like that when a manager should think about thinking outside the box. Perhaps sending VVD up top next to Austin, axing an attacker/midfielder for Yoshida to do it and being more direct (long balls, crosses etc)..because Chelsea were so deep.

 

I thought Austin worked harder than anyone else today. And I really do think the whole team bar Austin had given up at 2-0. McQueen brought some life back into us and it's a shame that borderline offside call went against us. Because it would have given us a sniff, it was also a goal Austin deserved for his hard-work. Just before he scored the disallowed goal he was chasing the ball everywhere and getting little help. He made a brilliant covering tackle late in the game too when we had 4-5 players caught upfield, he stopped Hazard near out penalty box once or twice and just generally pressed hard whenever he could. Think he was brilliant today and deserved a goal (shame it was disallowed). But apart from the two moments (bar, offside goal) we struggled. That being said Chelsea defended brilliantly as a team, particularly the wide players and wing backs. It made it very difficult to get the ball into the box..and then they had quality in the middle of the park too and the three cb's (obviously Azpilicueta is a full back, but was playing right centre back).

 

The most frustrating thing was the 2nd goal probably where he was given too much space and time, but a brilliant finish.

 

Both their goals were brilliant finishes, we hit the bar, scored a borderline offside goal..against a decent side. It was just one of those games and one to forget I reckon. No point dwelling on it. Didn't think anyone really had a stinker. But no one was better than average today for me apart from Austin. But that was a lot to do with how good Chelsea were. I think McQueen starting over Bertrand could have made a difference today, he looked good when he came on. Bertrand is obviously the main man and we were on the front foot a lot more than expected. We were missing that wide man. This was also probably a game where Tadic should have been on the left wing all game trying to get crosses in I reckon, but he was on the right. Oh well.

 

Even the commentators were wondering why the midfield weren't making passes when the forwards made their runs. Once Chelsea got settled in, they were more than happy to let us pass it all around midfield. This is a game where possession meant little. Not sure why were weren't making our usually attacking passes to the forwards on their runs.

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FriendlySaint

FriendlySaint

Posted
Posted
We were lucky to get away with 2 today , could easily have been 4 or 5 . They were totally and utterly in charge of that game . No lack of effort from our side , they're just better players who played well today .

 

OR excellent again , but Tadic & Redmond played for about 10 mins , Charlie did well . Cuco is terrible , he seems to have no forward thinking football brain . It's like he gets the ball and then thinks "! Right , what do I do now", and by the time he's worked it out , the moments gone . He's not the worst defensively but going forward he's woeful .

 

Both their goals were great strikes. On another today neither of them go in anyway. We could have had one or two ourselves. You are negative. None of our players are terrible.

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Tom28

Tom28

Posted
Posted

So annoying coming on this site. I come on here because there is occasionally some useful insight, discussion and news. But, far too many melts. We suffer our first defeat in 9/10 games to the best team in the division right now, and suddenly 3 or 4 of the players that have been integral to that unbeaten run are now suddenly not good enough. Behave yourselves.

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Batman

Batman

Posted
Posted
So annoying coming on this site. I come on here because there is occasionally some useful insight, discussion and news. But, far too many melts. We suffer our first defeat in 9/10 games to the best team in the division right now, and suddenly 3 or 4 of the players that have been integral to that unbeaten run are now suddenly not good enough. Behave yourselves.

 

I think by far, it has been pretty reasonable here

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FriendlySaint

FriendlySaint

Posted
Posted
2 wins from the last 7 now

 

Was always going to be a rollercoaster under Puel

 

Annoying seeing Spurs, Liverpool and Everton doing so well as we errrrr meh

 

2 of them were away games in Europe...one was away at Man City..and one was away at Leicester and today at home vs Chelsea ....so that's five of the last seven that aren't exactly easy games...

 

We've still won 3 of our last 6 in the league. One loss in 6 in the league. That's not bad. 9th in the league and 2nd in our Europa league group. Were you expecting us to place top four and win the Europa league this season?

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stknowle

stknowle

Posted
Posted
​

 

 

 

 

I must've been watching a different match. Please share with us Cuco's jokes, I'm in need of a laugh today. Maybe he could've been tighter for Costa's goal, but it was a world class finish.

 

I thought he, and the whole team, played ok, just were beaten by a very, very good team. Don't forget 2 years ago they walked the league. Last year was an anomaly for them (maybe they had an agreement to swap places with Leicester for one season). This year they look as good as 2 years ago (maybe even better with the addition of Kante). I doubt we'll meet a better team all season. I wouldn't be surprised if they win the league.

 

I'm with you on this Munster. Why was Martina such a joke of a defender today?

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St.JonB

St.JonB

Posted
Posted

If you sell your best players and let your managers leave you are going to lose the majority of games to the top 4/5 teams. We are playing well and Puel has set us up to win more than we lose. We can't challenge the Chelsea's of this world with our strategy though.

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

Posted
Posted
So annoying coming on this site. I come on here because there is occasionally some useful insight, discussion and news. But, far too many melts. We suffer our first defeat in 9/10 games to the best team in the division right now, and suddenly 3 or 4 of the players that have been integral to that unbeaten run are now suddenly not good enough. Behave yourselves.

 

I've been (quietly) complaining about Forster for about a year and a half now. "Makes some great saves" isn't good enough for where we are right now.

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Sour Mash

Sour Mash

Posted
Posted
Thought we played ok 1st half without threatening too much but second half Chelsea's quality got the better of us especially as we were having to chase the game.

 

Although we have done well so far this season considering the amount of games we are having to play there are a few things that rangle me.

 

Our corners and spot kicks are terrible, Austin looks very alienated with poor service, Clasie does not cut it for me, still not convinced Redmond being an out and out forward, the square and backward passing by our midfield with little to no penetrating passes to the front two, Martina out of his depth. I think Chelsea's class exposed these more today but for me they have been there in various degrees all season.

 

On a positive Romeu is an absolute revelation this season and was our best player again today

 

Agree with most of that.

 

Few negatives from our performance;

Forster regularly spilling shots.

We lacked creativity and cutting edge. Austin is a great finisher and worked bloody hard, but can't offer a whole lot more.

Was Bertrand fully match fit?

Quiet support from us.

 

Think the way Chelsea set up was a compliment to us, but it definitely worked and shut us down.

We seem to have one or two results like that a season, a good reminder on the importance of getting other fixtures to count.

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Heisenberg

Heisenberg

Posted
Posted
Were you expecting us to place top four and win the Europa league this season?

 

Nope I expected us to finish lower than last season (8-12) and after seeing the euro draw I expected us to qualify for the knock outs (minimum)

 

So far we are simply on track and I've seen very little to surprise me so far unfortunately

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