Swansea (H) Match & Reaction Thread

[Ohio Saint]

From day one Tadic came to us with a reputation for assists but few goals. It is something that needs to be addressed in team tactics.

[mrfahaji]

its almost like he is allergic to shooting and scoring. I know he get the odd goal, but for the amount of chances and times he gets in goals scoring positions, not nearly enough

 

I know the 'expected goals' thing is a debatable topic, but if you saw the BBC article they show the players who have the 'best' ratio of goals to expected goals - basically all the top strikers - and the ones with the worst ratio. Tadic had the worst ratio in the whole division last year. Not helped by his penalty misses no doubt!

 

I like him overall though. He's the one player who can produce that inch perfect pass to set up a chance. Needs to do more, but I still feel a wave of optimism when he has the ball at his feet that I don't get so much with others.

[benjii]

Pretty much like last season. We were just lucky today that we were playing completely useless opposition. Our players need to find their shooting boots pretty quickly because we'll ship goals against anyone half decent.

[cellone]

The Ref should be sent on a refresher course after some of those judgements. Loved the football. Thought a lot of the players that showed a lack of interest (Tadic, Bertrand and Cedric) last season looked keen and played well, as did the rest of the team. A lot more positive in play and hopefully we'll find the back of the net soon. I can see why peeps are frustrated by the draw but don't think it can be added to the low at the end of last season. Many on here and a few on pweb are doing so and I think it is adding to their disappointment and causining a bit of an over reaction to the first game of the season.

For some reason this game reminded me how frustrating Pelle could be.

[Lorne Malvo]

Romeu's booking was ****ing abysmal as well. He won the header!

[James]

Pretty much like last season. We were just lucky today that we were playing completely useless opposition. Our players need to find their shooting boots pretty quickly because we'll ship goals against anyone half decent.

 

Even against a side playing with absolutely no ambition we had a few wobbly moments at the back. We've got to address the goal scoring problem asap but I'm not quite sure what we can do without bringing in new blood and I don't think we will do that. We played much much better today than under Puel and I much prefer the way we were setup but if you can't score the end result is the same.

[Toadhall Saint]

Played v well today but didn't convert our chances. Light years ahead of how we ended last season

[James]

Romeu's booking was ****ing abysmal as well. He won the header!

 

That was ridiculous. Might as well make it a non-contact sport. Ref was pretty bad today but it's Mike Jones and he isn't a very good referee.

[stknowle]

Pretty much like last season. We were just lucky today that we were playing completely useless opposition. Our players need to find their shooting boots pretty quickly because we'll ship goals against anyone half decent.

 

I make that pretty much correct. Not tested at all defensively today, had all the play but still couldn't score - for the SIXTH home game in a row FFS - against mediocre-at-best opposition. Can someone please tell me the record for consecutive games/minutes without scoring at home in the Premiership/Premier League.

[OttawaSaint]

 

Finally, am I right in thinkling that the last time we won our first game of the season at home in the top flight was the 5 nil against West Ham when a young Le Tiss got the 4th goal ?

 

Was 4-0. We won our first 3 games and were 2-0 up at Highbury in game 4. Enter Paul Davis...

[cellone]

I make that pretty much correct. Not tested at all defensively today, had all the play but still couldn't score - for the SIXTH home game in a row FFS - against mediocre-at-best opposition. Can someone please tell me the record for consecutive games/minutes without scoring at home in the Premiership/Premier League.

 

Nine.

[Wes Tender]

On the plus side, we played really well throughout, good passing and movement, commitment from every player, great possession, solid in defence and midfield, plenty of scoring chances.

 

On the minus side, the inability to put the ball in the net.

 

It was obviously Swansea's plan to park the bus and waste time at every opportunity and they did it really well, with Fabianski taking an age to kick the ball upfield, their players taking their time over throw-ins and when substituted, taking an absolute eternity to stroll off the pitch at a snail's pace, especially Abraham, their on loan striker from Chelski. Something needs to be done about the amount of time taken by players like this. Either the rules need changing to stop the clock when play stops, or at the very least the referee should flash a yellow.

 

As for the referee, this one was very poor, whoever it was. His added time for the end of the first half was a joke. One minute and then he deducted the time from the free kick, to allow his marking the distance and the players getting ready to take it and blew the whistle immediately it was taken, thus about 18 seconds into the minute. There were other bizarre decisions from him, either penalising us for perfectly decent challenges, or allowing Swansea to get away with some fairly robust tackles which were deserving of yellows.

 

So, frustrating not to have the three points that our play and possession deserved, but we can take some measure of confidence in the number of opportunities we created and the generally entertaining way that we went about our business.

[Dusic]

Played well, were setup well by the Manager and were much more front foot than many times last season. But have to take chances.

 

Positives:

 

- Tadic looked back to being a very good player

 

- Stephens was excellent

 

- Crowd were fully behind the team

 

Negatives:

 

- Finishing

 

- Defending of crosses

 

- Yoshida, who was very shaky and gave the ball away horrendously a couple of times. He is a 3rd choice quality player.

[Shroppie]

Played well, were setup well by the Manager and were much more front foot than many times last season. But have to take chances.

 

Positives:

 

- Tadic looked back to being a very good player

 

- Stephens was excellent

 

- Crowd were fully behind the team

 

Negatives:

 

- Finishing

 

- Defending of crosses

 

- Yoshida, who was very shaky and gave the ball away horrendously a couple of times. He is a 3rd choice quality player.

Yoshida was not poor. He defended well and came close to scoring. But yes, should have scored.

 

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[CWD]

Disappointed to be spot on with my prediction as obviously we should have won the game. Unfortunately we don't have any natural finishers other than Austin, but when Austin is on we lack movement.

 

I thought we played some decent stuff but we are so bad for playing in front of the opposition. How many times in that second half were we knocking the ball about but with at least 9 Swansea players between us and the goal?

 

I also thought we were pretty lucky that Swansea didn't test our defence more. The couple of times they got up in our penalty area we didn't exactly look comfortable, but that's what happens when you start a season with the 3rd and 4th choice CBs from the previous season. Romeu is excellent but if the play gets past him we look fragile.

 

Thought Tadic looked to be the best player on the pitch despite his usual woeful finishing, and JWP also looked good. Potential is there but work to be done.

[nta786]

Ah man that is result is a shame.

 

Still i have high hopes, our 2015-16 season started with 2 points in our first 3 games against average opposition.

[Saint_Tony]

Didn't see the game. Was it a played well, unlucky and would have scored 7 on another day performance, or a clueless and no better than we were under Puel showing?

 

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[benjii]

Played well, were setup well by the Manager and were much more front foot than many times last season. But have to take chances.

 

Positives:

 

- Tadic looked back to being a very good player

 

- Stephens was excellent

 

- Crowd were fully behind the team

 

Negatives:

 

- Finishing

 

- Defending of crosses

 

- Yoshida, who was very shaky and gave the ball away horrendously a couple of times. He is a 3rd choice quality player.

 

Not sure how you can single out Yoshida. Stephens is the one liable to cost us a goal.

[S-Clarke]

I try not to read too much into these early season games, but compared to last season we were much better. The score line may still say 0, but there was intent for 90mins and this is definitely a game you can file under ''one of those afternoons''. We'd have won that game at a canter if we'd got that early goal.

 

Our pressing was noticeable, we pressed in units in different areas of the pitch which 'locked' swansea in a lot of the time. This then allowed us to quickly win the ball back and break on them. Our finishing was wasteful as hell though, especially Gabbiadini. Hopefully he gets his sharpness back for next week...! As he's usually pretty clinical.

 

For me, apart from the fact it was 0-0, there isn't a great deal to complain about from that. We pressed high, passed the ball well, moved it quickly in and around the box and used the width really well at times - it was so much improved from last season, anyone could have seen that.

 

Onto next week...

[warsash saint]

Media team made a good job of the pre match video .... Thought it got the crowd up for it.

[S-Clarke]

Didn't see the game. Was it a played well, unlucky and would have scored 7 on another day performance, or a clueless and no better than we were under Puel showing?

 

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The first one, by a country mile.

[Give it to Ron]

Didn't see the game. Was it a played well, unlucky and would have scored 7 on another day performance, or a clueless and no better than we were under Puel showing?

 

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Better than Puel but same old story can't finish our dinner from midfield.

Yoshida could have had a hatrick.

Swansea terrible.

 

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[James]

I try not to read too much into these early season games, but compared to last season we were much better. The score line may still say 0, but there was intent for 90mins and this is definitely a game you can file under ''one of those afternoons''. We'd have won that game at a canter if we'd got that early goal.

 

Our pressing was noticeable, we pressed in units in different areas of the pitch which 'locked' swansea in a lot of the time. This then allowed us to quickly win the ball back and break on them. Our finishing was wasteful as hell though, especially Gabbiadini. Hopefully he gets his sharpness back for next week...! As he's usually pretty clinical.

 

For me, apart from the fact it was 0-0, there isn't a great deal to complain about from that. We pressed high, passed the ball well, moved it quickly in and around the box and used the width really well at times - it was so much improved from last season, anyone could have seen that.

 

Onto next week...

 

Excellent summary, mirrors my thoughts perfectly. Much to be positive about but failure to score again is a bit worrying.

[OttawaSaint]

I try not to read too much into these early season games, but compared to last season we were much better. The score line may still say 0, but there was intent for 90mins and this is definitely a game you can file under ''one of those afternoons''. We'd have won that game at a canter if we'd got that early goal.

 

Our pressing was noticeable, we pressed in units in different areas of the pitch which 'locked' swansea in a lot of the time. This then allowed us to quickly win the ball back and break on them. Our finishing was wasteful as hell though, especially Gabbiadini. Hopefully he gets his sharpness back for next week...! As he's usually pretty clinical.

 

For me, apart from the fact it was 0-0, there isn't a great deal to complain about from that. We pressed high, passed the ball well, moved it quickly in and around the box and used the width really well at times - it was so much improved from last season, anyone could have seen that.

 

Onto next week...

 

Excellent post. Sums up what I saw. Build up play was superb at times. I must have jumped out of my chair 6 times, contrast that with last year where my mind would start to wander at the slowness and toothlessness of our build ups.

[Appy]

Played well, were setup well by the Manager and were much more front foot than many times last season. But have to take chances.

 

Positives:

 

- Tadic looked back to being a very good player

 

- Stephens was excellent

 

- Crowd were fully behind the team

 

Negatives:

 

- Finishing

 

- Defending of crosses

 

- Yoshida, who was very shaky and gave the ball away horrendously a couple of times. He is a 3rd choice quality player.

 

You're not allowed to have a go at Yoshida on here as he tries hard.

[Saints foreva]

You're not allowed to have a go at Yoshida on here as he tries hard.

 

And is a nice guy.

 

He had his usual lapses of concentration but Swansea playing for a point mean they go unnoticed.

[Saint_clark]

Played v well today but didn't convert our chances. Light years ahead of how we ended last season

 

...but not in anyway different to how we started last season.

[The Cat]

Much more positive going forward and good pressing in the final third. Should have won comfortably.

 

Shout out to the bloke in the bogs in the family stand afterwards shouting "SAME OLD ****, TADIC STILL ****ING RUBBISH AND BOUFAL A ****ING WASTE OF SPACE"

[James]

And is a nice guy.

 

He had his usual lapses of concentration but Swansea playing for a point mean they go unnoticed.

 

You're right he did but so did Stephens who let Abraham go for their only chance of the first half. I think the objection on here is that Stephens is almost universally praised as having had a good game whereas Yoshi is criticised. My observation was that they both had their moments (Stephens was guilty of overplaying at times) and we will definitely be punished by teams who have more attacking quality. We've got to find goals soon as I can't see us keeping a huge number of clean sheets. West Ham will pose a much greater threat.

[James]

...but not in anyway different to how we started last season.

 

I don't remember any Puel performance with that level of high press. We won the ball in the Swansea half countless times and always looked to play the ball forward rather than sideways or back. Don't remember much of that at any point under Puel and I saw almost every game.

 

Our best performances were away where we sat back and hit teams on the counter. It didn't work at home so no goals.

 

Today was chalk and cheese as compared to Puel teams.

[ashnats]

Insane. Yoshida one of the best players on the pitch. Could have had a hat trick. Was solid, and yes, he tries hard- that's not a bad thing you know. And yes, he's a nice guy, also not a bad thing, not sure why people think it's a criticism to say someone tries his best and is a nice guy. Weirdos.

[James]

Insane. Yoshida one of the best players on the pitch. Could have had a hat trick. Was solid, and yes, he tries hard- that's not a bad thing you know. And yes, he's a nice guy, also not a bad thing, not sure why people think it's a criticism to say someone tries his best and is a nice guy. Weirdos.

 

Nobody is saying that is a bad thing, read the posts properly. They are just saying that trying hard and being a nice guy seems to exempt him from criticism (in a similar fashion to Shane Long). He was ok today but wouldn't agree that he was one of the best players on the pitch.

[Forester]

Just a I wasn't in the "Puel is clueless" camp I don't expect to see any sustained changes in style for a few weeks under MP. However, with the exception of the very poor Hull match, I didn't think today was very much different to most (not all) home games last season. We passed the ball pretty well, looked solid at the back and lacked a cutting edge around the box. There were many games under Puel where the stats showed we DESERVED to win. Today was the same.

 

So the world is not about to end now, just as it wasn't about to in May. I thought Boufak looked good when he came on and would like to see him start next week

[doddisalegend]

New season but much the same result. The stats back up the impression, I was getting from the stands, that this was remarkably similar to last season more possession than the opposition lots of shots on goal but only two of them actually on target. We were the team on top but didn't make it count.

 

 

 

Pressing was better than last year and did lead to a few Swansea mistakes . Attacking wise though like last season the majority of our build up play was to slow allowing Swansea to pack out their area and leaving us passing back/ forwards/sideways looking for an opening that wasn't there.

 

 

 

Our crossing was poor two of our best chances came from low cutbacks from the byline which would be a better way for us to go than high crosses into the box. When we do cross we still aren't getting enough bodies in the box to really put the opposition under pressure.

 

 

 

Defensively we were sound Jack, Yoshida and Cedric were all good although Swansea offered very little genuie goal threat and much sterner tests will come.

 

 

 

All in all a ok performance but we really need to start scoring when we are on top in games.

[LGTL]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

[Dark Munster]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

Didn't miss by much. He must've had a few good ones in training to be given the chance.

[Lighthouse]

I think it was a lot better than many of the blanks we drew last year. We played with tempo and intent and the game was far more entertaining as a spectacle than many of last years performances. Even down to the basics, like putting Boufal on when we needed a goal instead of f**king Pied, we looked much better. On another day we'd have taken at least three of those chances. Gabbi, Tadic and Yoshida could probably have had double figures between them.

[doddisalegend]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

 

It was as accurate as a JWP free kick....

[ART]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

 

Obviously you never watched the lads taking free kicks in training video. Yoshida was absolute class scoring every time with precision kicks. Unlike the remainder of the squad who made a complete hash of things

[shurlock]

I think it was a lot better than many of the blanks we drew last year. We played with tempo and intent and the game was far more entertaining as a spectacle than many of last years performances. Even down to the basics, like putting Boufal on when we needed a goal instead of f**king Pied, we looked much better. On another day we'd have taken at least three of those chances. Gabbi, Tadic and Yoshida could probably have had double figures between them.

 

Agree, though Swansea were abysmal.

[Manuel]

Redmond's yellow was funny.

[Toomer]

Swansea came for a draw and if they caught us on the break it would have been a bonus for them you could tell that from the first whistle. Stephens is going to be a very good centre back apart from getting caught the wrong side of Abrahams in the first half he did not do a lot wrong. We created a lot of good chances but we just can't finish.

[ART]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

 

[Wes Tender]

Much more positive going forward and good pressing in the final third. Should have won comfortably.

 

Shout out to the bloke in the bogs in the family stand afterwards shouting "SAME OLD ****, TADIC STILL ****ING RUBBISH AND BOUFAL A ****ING WASTE OF SPACE"

 

Shame that he wasn't thrown out of the stadium if he was swearing like that in the family stand.

[Delmary]

Most will look at the score line but I liked what I saw today. Very positive and encouraging. The goals will come.

 

This!

[Saint_clark]

I don't remember any Puel performance with that level of high press. We won the ball in the Swansea half countless times and always looked to play the ball forward rather than sideways or back. Don't remember much of that at any point under Puel and I saw almost every game.

 

Our best performances were away where we sat back and hit teams on the counter. It didn't work at home so no goals.

 

Today was chalk and cheese as compared to Puel teams.

 

We may not have pressed but we started last season on top, creating loads of chances and just not putting them away. It was only as the season went on, players lost confidence and fatigue set in that our performances became much more subdued and defensive. Don't believe me - just take a quick look at match threads from the start of last season.

[LuckyNumber7]

Despite another blank I enjoyed that much more than the tedious rubbish we were served up most of last season, it felt like Saints again. The failure to score again is a worry but the football was so much more positive and there were plenty of encouraging signs.

[UpweySaint]

Probably falling somewhere between most on here.

 

So frustrating we didn't take an early chance, it would have been a very different game and we may have won resoundingly if Swansea were forced to come forward more. Reminded me at times of the Watford opener last season with Gomes getting about ten last warnings for time wasting on his gk's from start to finish.

 

We lost tempo and Swansea tightened up after the hour mark and a 0-0 seemed rather inevitable. They settled for a point, can't knock them for it, Abraham does look very good for such a young lad. Also worth noting ref had a shocker. Bottled the Tadic decision completely and seemed willing to card our players at the first chance yet Ayew and Fernandez racked up the fouls yet remained out of the book.

 

Positives:

Bertrand looks back to his old self and our overlapping full backs are a real plus,

Stephens looked fairly assured for the most part, odd blip, decent bringing the ball out which can open space up,

Romeu is romeu - how he got a yellow for winning a header is beyond me,

We pressed much higher rather than falling back on losing the ball - it leaves us vulnerable at times but we won the ball back a good few times, much rather see us playing on the front foot,

Prowse and Tadic had decent games,

We created a fair few chances, weren't afraid to shoot and controlled the ball well.

 

Negatives:

Result of course, shades of last season not taking chances and then worrying teams will pinch one - we could do with a good start to shift some of last season's negativity and, with the fixtures we have, we should pick up points,

Lack of ideas towards the end ... but first game back, hopefully MP can find more from what we have,

Gabbi - really rate him but does not look sharp and confident, sure it will come back though.

 

Either way actually going to the WHAM game and hope they come with a bit more intent which will in turn allow us space to play.

[SaintTex]

****ing Yoshida taking a free kick :lol:

 

 

 

29 shots on goal / 2 on target?!

 

[doddisalegend]

 

 

29 shots on goal / 2 on target?!

 

 

so as soon as the opposition replace all their defenders with blow up dolls and put a geriatric reserve keeper in goal we are going to score a bucket load