Saints 0 Liverpool x - Post Match

[Graffito]

I guess that might explain that then

 

A perfect metaphor for the second half performance.

[Wes Tender]

Lost to one of the best front lines in Europe and a load of you are throwing in the towel. If we play like we did last week VS WBA against the next five teams we are due to face, we will be in with a chance of winning the majority of them.

 

If we had played against Liverpool as we did against West Brom, we might have got something out of the game, as they certainly don't possess one of the best defences in Europe. If we play like we did against Liverpool for the next five games, we are down into the Championship.

[Charlie Wayman]

Look lads there's no point clutching at straws we have passed the point of no return as far as relegation is concerned. All we need to discuss now is why the board and owners have allowed it to happen.

 

Here's another hypothesis to add to the many. Imagine that the Chinese owners have told Reed to get rid of all those 6 year contracts without having to pay players off. How does he do that?

 

Easy, **** off the players that are on long contracts so that they ask to leave or take the club down to the Championship so that automatic clauses such as halving wages are triggered and the most highly paid players will leave for PL clubs.

 

Sounds like a coherent strategy to me.

[Sheaf Saint]

Look lads there's no point clutching at straws we have passed the point of no return as far as relegation is concerned. All we need to discuss now is why the board and owners have allowed it to happen.

 

Here's another hypothesis to add to the many. Imagine that the Chinese owners have told Reed to get rid of all those 6 year contracts without having to pay players off. How does he do that?

 

Easy, **** off the players that are on long contracts so that they ask to leave or take the club down to the Championship so that automatic clauses such as halving wages are triggered and the most highly paid players will leave for PL clubs.

 

Sounds like a coherent strategy to me.

 

So you think our new owner is deliberately trying to get us relegated and therefore depriving the club of in excess of £100m a year in TV money, just to get rid of a couple of long-term contracts that cost only a tiny fraction of that.

 

Riiiiiiiiiight.

[Saint Albert]

I don't have an issue with losing to Liverpool, I don't think any fans do. The problem I have is our 2nd half, the lack of any fight or urgency or desire has just done me in. You can lose, but at least show something. We offered nothing.

 

The problem isn't that we lost to Liverpool, its how we lost it. It was the most boring game in the world.

 

This sums it up for me. We’re in the relegation zone, and the side showed no fight or desire to claw their way out of the hole in the second half of yesterday’s game. It was a very troubling half of football.

[SuperSAINT]

This sums it up for me. We’re in the relegation zone, and the side showed no fight or desire to claw their way out of the hole in the second half of yesterday’s game. It was a very troubling half of football.

 

Take away the fact it was Liverpool. We've had "Good 1 half / Cr*p 1 half" games against much lesser teams too (Which is why we will probably get relegated).

[Saint WGC]

That was the most gutless performance in the second half that I have seen anywhere this season and sadly it was Saints who produced it. What bugs me is this obsession with trying to keep possession but just not going anywhere.

 

I personally wouldn't have had a problem if we had resorted to long balls into the box in the second half as at least we would not be at risk of playing a pass backwards or sideways and losing it which we tend to do which leads to a chance for the opposition. We put two or three crosses into the box in the first half and created half chances but nothing in the second half apart from Cedric trying to take out some poor soul in row Z.

 

A lot of the time, teams score against us because of our sloppiness - if we get opened up by brilliant football, none of us can really moan I guess but it is just the way players seem to lack any bravery on the ball to be positive and go forwards with the ball. They just pass the responsibility to someone else.

 

Liverpool have a big game in the week but we just surrendered meekly. Surely the manager should have been saying “come on, let’s get in their faces and see if they fancy it with Porto coming up”. We hardly put an aggressive challenge in all afternoon – that must be the easiest game Liverpool will get all season as far as having time on the ball goes.

 

At half time, I thought we may at least come flying out of the traps to try and get back in the game but we just strolled around and kept possession in our own half before losing it eventually. Looking at the final whistle, our players seemed more interested in going to up to Van Dijk and having a laugh and a cuddle with him. Just looks to me that such a spineless performance does not seem to bother those players one bit, did it actually hurt any of them?

 

Three struggling teams played yesterday and of those three, two of them put in a real shift and performed whereas we just gave up almost preferring to protect our goal difference. Every time I see Newcastle, Jonjo Shelvey is their best player by a mile, I know he does daft things every now and then but he would walk into our midfield and is the type of player we desperately lack. Where is the creativity in our team to take out three or four players with a slide rule pass - hard to believe there was talk that he could be sold at the start of the year but he could well be the difference between Newcastle staying up or going down. Forget the idiotic stuff he can get involved in, he has a lot of quality on the ball.

 

As so many have said on here, the manager should have gone weeks if not months ago and dare I suggest that the board's arrogance in thinking we are too good to go down could come back and bite us big time. To sack Puel because of the style of football was probably fair enough but we are even more dull to watch now so how do the board justify that?

[OttawaSaint]

. Just looks to me that such a spineless performance does not seem to bother those players one bit, did it actually hurt any of them?

 

Nope. I said on another thread that the players couldn't give a **** if we go down. The players will get new Prem teams (or abroad).

[derry]

What I think. (Saint WGC post)

[Depressed of Shirley]

That was the most gutless performance in the second half that I have seen anywhere this season and sadly it was Saints who produced it. What bugs me is this obsession with trying to keep possession but just not going anywhere.

 

I personally wouldn't have had a problem if we had resorted to long balls into the box in the second half as at least we would not be at risk of playing a pass backwards or sideways and losing it which we tend to do which leads to a chance for the opposition. We put two or three crosses into the box in the first half and created half chances but nothing in the second half apart from Cedric trying to take out some poor soul in row Z.

 

A lot of the time, teams score against us because of our sloppiness - if we get opened up by brilliant football, none of us can really moan I guess but it is just the way players seem to lack any bravery on the ball to be positive and go forwards with the ball. They just pass the responsibility to someone else.

 

Liverpool have a big game in the week but we just surrendered meekly. Surely the manager should have been saying “come on, let’s get in their faces and see if they fancy it with Porto coming up”. We hardly put an aggressive challenge in all afternoon – that must be the easiest game Liverpool will get all season as far as having time on the ball goes.

 

At half time, I thought we may at least come flying out of the traps to try and get back in the game but we just strolled around and kept possession in our own half before losing it eventually. Looking at the final whistle, our players seemed more interested in going to up to Van Dijk and having a laugh and a cuddle with him. Just looks to me that such a spineless performance does not seem to bother those players one bit, did it actually hurt any of them?

 

Three struggling teams played yesterday and of those three, two of them put in a real shift and performed whereas we just gave up almost preferring to protect our goal difference. Every time I see Newcastle, Jonjo Shelvey is their best player by a mile, I know he does daft things every now and then but he would walk into our midfield and is the type of player we desperately lack. Where is the creativity in our team to take out three or four players with a slide rule pass - hard to believe there was talk that he could be sold at the start of the year but he could well be the difference between Newcastle staying up or going down. Forget the idiotic stuff he can get involved in, he has a lot of quality on the ball.

 

As so many have said on here, the manager should have gone weeks if not months ago and dare I suggest that the board's arrogance in thinking we are too good to go down could come back and bite us big time. To sack Puel because of the style of football was probably fair enough but we are even more dull to watch now so how do the board justify that?

 

Totally agree with this.

[Pamplemousse]

Nope. I said on another thread that the players couldn't give a **** if we go down. The players will get new Prem teams (or abroad).

 

Most of them are cowards. Even if we stay up, we need a mass clearout.

[Dellman]

If we sack a manager for ending 8th why does the Board think when we are 18th this chap is ok

[del boy]

If we sack a manager for ending 8th why does the Board think when we are 18th this chap is ok

they must have taken too much notice of the forum

[Window Cleaner]

If we sack a manager for ending 8th why does the Board think when we are 18th this chap is ok

 

His style of football must please the fans...or not. It's evidently a loss of face thingy. I mean the reason for sacking Puel was that he wasn't good enough right so this bloke obviously must be. Club have cocked up big time and are too proud to admit it.

[S-Clarke]

His style of football must please the fans...or not. It's evidently a loss of face thingy. I mean the reason for sacking Puel was that he wasn't good enough right so this bloke obviously must be. Club have cocked up big time and are too proud to admit it.

 

It's exactly that. We lord it about saying how we don't sack managers, we get the decisions right., we're concidered in our approach. We lead, others follow. etc etc etc. In fact they made an almightly **** up, twice in a row. Admitting it will be a PR disaster for their Southampton way gumf.

 

He should have been gone in December, he'll still be here in March and we'll still hear guff about how we're ''growing''. The only reason we need to ‘grow’ is because he’s ruined us.

[Window Cleaner]

It's exactly that. We lord it about saying how we don't sack managers, we get the decisions right., we're concidered in our approach. We lead, others follow. etc etc etc. In fact they made an almightly **** up, twice in a row. Admitting it will be a PR disaster for their Southampton way gumf.

 

He should have been gone in December, he'll still be here in March and we'll still hear guff about how we're ''growing''. The only reason we need to ‘grow’ is because he’s ruined us.

 

 

Gone in December ? He should never have been here in the first place. We knew what he was and yet we appointed him in desperation anyway.

[Batman]

Gone in December ? He should never have been here in the first place. We knew what he was and yet we appointed him in desperation anyway.

the wolves game was the big wake up call. even then, many said it was way too early to judge.

[SuperSAINT]

the wolves game was the big wake up call. even then, many said it was way too early to judge.

 

That game actually set off alarm bells. Didn't we go to 3 at the back & get completely destroyed by a Wolves reserve team?

[Batman]

That game actually set off alarm bells. Didn't we go to 3 at the back & get completely destroyed by a Wolves reserve team?

yes. wolves played (I think) 1 starting player from their 1st 11 of the time.

 

something like that.

[doddisalegend]

the wolves game was the big wake up call. even then, many said it was way too early to judge.

 

 

Wolves game? Try pre-season, even then I had my doubts, apparently you can't judge anything on pre-season games but as he was sold to us as an attacking high press manager it didn't take long to work out that was bollix.

[shurlock]

Wolves game? Try pre-season, even then I had my doubts, apparently you can't judge anything on pre-season games but as he was sold to us as an attacking high press manager it didn't take long to work out that was bollix.

 

That Augsburg game was pretty prescient in many ways.

[SuperSAINT]

Wolves game? Try pre-season, even then I had my doubts, apparently you can't judge anything on pre-season games but as he was sold to us as an attacking high press manager it didn't take long to work out that was bollix.

 

That's what was strange. Half an hour googling articles told me he didn't play the high-pressing style / high tempo style.

 

Alaves were seemingly very conservative, defensive & didn't score many goals.

[shurlock]

That's what was strange. Half an hour googling articles told me he didn't play the high-pressing style / high tempo style.

 

Alaves were seemingly very conservative, defensive & didn't score many goals.

 

MP would probably claim that he was cutting his coat according to his cloth and being pragmatic. Still think Les took a flyer on him and couldn't resist the superficial similarities with Pochettino.

[hasper57saint]

the wolves game was the big wake up call. even then, many said it was way too early to judge.

 

This.

[Micky]

the wolves game was the big wake up call. even then, many said it was way too early to judge.

Look on the bright side, at least we won't be playing Wolves again next season.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[IronCitySaint]

If we sack a manager for ending 8th why does the Board think when we are 18th this chap is ok

 

Some speculation is that it is more to do with personalities and how people get on with Reed. Apparently, Koeman just did "OK" according to Reed but was let go because he was clearly his own man and had ambitions. Some say Puel was sacked because he refused to change his style of play. I guess he was asked to play the "Southampton (Reed) Way," whatever that means. He had a reputation before moving to Saints of standing up for himself. Pellegrino on the other hand seems to be a total follower and is probably doing things very much in accordance with Reed's coaching philosophy that worked so well at places like Charlton. His personality fits - doesn't matter whether he is useless and taking the team down. He is a Reed man. A cog in the genius management structure and business model that is Southampton F.C. that all other clubs want to follow. Load of ********.

[st alex]

A lot of quite hysterical posts in response to the result. We got a good result against WBA which left us unbeaten in 5 or so games and were never expecting to get anything against Liverpool because, well this season we're ****.

 

We put in an excellent performance in the first half but managed to get to half time 2-0, and had a woeful second half but didn't concede any more.

 

It's the next few games around the teams around us that matter, if the rest of the season gone is anything to go by we'll draw most of them. If the WBA game is anything to measure by then we might get 2 or 3 wins and move into mid table.

 

We're 2 wins away from Bournemouth in 10th. In the next half a dozen games Carillo could start banging them in and Austin comes back from injury to add some goals. Lemina, Romeo and Hojberg do some extra jogging in training to build up their fitness so that they put in a performance in both the 1st and 2nd half.

 

In order to rest players for their own relegation struggle WBA put out a weakened side in the FA Cup, we beat them and go in the QFs. Maybe.

[CWD]

A lot of quite hysterical posts in response to the result. We got a good result against WBA which left us unbeaten in 5 or so games and were never expecting to get anything against Liverpool because, well this season we're ****.

 

We put in an excellent performance in the first half but managed to get to half time 2-0, and had a woeful second half but didn't concede any more.

 

It's the next few games around the teams around us that matter, if the rest of the season gone is anything to go by we'll draw most of them. If the WBA game is anything to measure by then we might get 2 or 3 wins and move into mid table.

 

We're 2 wins away from Bournemouth in 10th. In the next half a dozen games Carillo could start banging them in and Austin comes back from injury to add some goals. Lemina, Romeo and Hojberg do some extra jogging in training to build up their fitness so that they put in a performance in both the 1st and 2nd half.

 

In order to rest players for their own relegation struggle WBA put out a weakened side in the FA Cup, we beat them and go in the QFs. Maybe.

 

I don't think anybody is complaining about the result. I'm not bothered that we lost to a team who are 3rd in the table. What people are taking issue with is the gutless way in which we seemed to throw in the towel after going 2-0 down.

 

There is a bizarre air of complacency around the club at the moment from management, players and even the media which seems to be fuelled by an arrogant belief that we are too good to go down. This leads to a lack of fight and a lack of urgency, and THAT is worrying me.

[OttawaSaint]

A lot of quite hysterical posts in response to the result. We got a good result against WBA which left us unbeaten in 5 or so games and were never expecting to get anything against Liverpool because, well this season we're ****.

 

We put in an excellent performance in the first half but managed to get to half time 2-0, and had a woeful second half but didn't concede any more.

 

It's the next few games around the teams around us that matter, if the rest of the season gone is anything to go by we'll draw most of them. If the WBA game is anything to measure by then we might get 2 or 3 wins and move into mid table.

 

We're 2 wins away from Bournemouth in 10th. In the next half a dozen games Carillo could start banging them in and Austin comes back from injury to add some goals. Lemina, Romeo and Hojberg do some extra jogging in training to build up their fitness so that they put in a performance in both the 1st and 2nd half.

 

In order to rest players for their own relegation struggle WBA put out a weakened side in the FA Cup, we beat them and go in the QFs. Maybe.

 

Jesus, what the **** are you smoking?

[Highfield Saint]

It's probably already been said but...

 

Lemina MoM first half and we gave as good as we got

 

Lemina went off injured beginning of the second half and we just couldn't cope

 

Hopefully it isn't serious

[Crab Lungs]

They keep possession needlessly because

 

(A) they’re petrified, that’s down to the manager

(B) they haven’t been coached any patterns of play etc, given any tactical instruction so just revert to default

[davefizzy14]

It's probably already been said but...

 

Lemina MoM first half and we gave as good as we got

 

Lemina went off injured beginning of the second half and we just couldn't cope

 

Hopefully it isn't serious

 

Agreed. Lemina was the best player on the pitch first half in my opinion. Such a massive loss when he had to come off. It was with sickness I believe so not too serious. Hopefully he's ok for the cup game.

[suewhistle]

I've wiped the game from my memory, although to be honest I don't think there was a lot to remember. I don't even remember Lemina coming off.

 

But listening to the football on the radio and the complete trashing Porto received puts a little bit of perspective on it all.

 

They're my straws, and I'm grabbing them..

[eelpie]

They keep possession needlessly because

 

(A) they’re petrified, that’s down to the manager

(B) they haven’t been coached any patterns of play etc, given any tactical instruction so just revert to default

 

Comparing and contrasting with Puel:

Puel gave us some boring possessive entertainment, but the team were coached better and played with good shape and structure.

[itchen]

I expected us to lose. Liverpool are a very good team. But the manner of the second half collapse was appalling. What the hell did Pellegrino say at half time? "OK lads, we'll try to hold on with what we've got." Simply awful but probably too late this season to get rid of him.