Saints 2-2 Brighton - Reaction

[sad saints fan]

Would have been a decent win and sitting in the top 10 but for a soft penalty. We will be alright this season. It's much better to watch than the last 2 years as well. Hope Hughes is given time.

 

This

[Saint-Reece]

Atmosphere was poor again tonight. Hated that stupid cringey lightshow and flames.

Clappers also f*cking annoying. Saw a few day trippers leave at 60/65 mins - hope we do go down and shed a load of this crap that comes with the prem.

 

Thought that the whole midfield looked leggy second half as well as Ings and Cedric was getting caught out time and time again.

Brighton weren’t any great shakes which makes it all the more annoying. Hughes needs to take full responsibility of allowing them back into the game and not making the right subs. Davo and JWP when we are under the cosh, REALLY?!

[warsash saint]

That **** of a ref was looking to even it up from the moment he gave us a penalty.

 

McCarthy's booking for moving the ball (quickly!) after the Brighton player had placed it where he wanted it showed the ref's head had completely gone.

 

Anthony Taylor has been an absolute joke the last few times at St Marys!

[Batman]

That **** of a ref was looking to even it up from the moment he gave us a penalty.

 

McCarthy's booking for moving the ball (quickly!) after the Brighton player had placed it where he wanted it showed the ref's head had completely gone.

 

McCarthy was no longer, if not quicker than any goal kick their keeper took in the first half.

[Lighthouse]

Complaining about the ref in this one is like leaving your wallet on your dashboard on a rough council estate, then complaining about crap the Police are when it gets nicked.

 

We orchestrated that situation perfectly, I'm not sure what some of you were expecting.

[Batman]

I think Hughes is a total dud

 

For as much as on top we got to in the 1st half, we didn’t test their keeper much

 

Brighton pressed us 2nd half and he leaves it so long to change it. Ings was a Total passenger. Long was long.

 

We are very average at best

[Nordic Saint]

Atmosphere was poor again tonight. Hated that stupid cringey lightshow and flames.

Clappers also f*cking annoying. Saw a few day trippers leave at 60/65 mins - hope we do go down and shed a load of this crap that comes with the prem.

 

Thought that the whole midfield looked leggy second half as well as Ings and Cedric was getting caught out time and time again.

Brighton weren’t any great shakes which makes it all the more annoying. Hughes needs to take full responsibility of allowing them back into the game and not making the right subs. Davo and JWP when we are under the cosh, REALLY?!

 

They were missing their best player, Pascal Gross. We've been incredibly lucky so far this season to face Leicester minus Vardy, Palace minus Zaha and Brighton minus Gross.

[Batman]

Selling your best players and setting up so long is a vital part of the team = relegation

 

 

It’s happening.

 

But it’s cool, the owner loves the passion of the fans and there are fireworks and clacky things.

[Micky]

I think Hughes is a total dud

 

For as much as on top we got to in the 1st half, we didn’t test their keeper much

 

Brighton pressed us 2nd half and he leaves it so long to change it. Ings was a Total passenger. Long was long.

 

We are very average at best

I would be happy to be average, average keeps you up. We were nowhere near average in that second half, closer to abysmal.

 

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[Batman]

I would be happy to be average, average keeps you up. We were nowhere near average in that second half, closer to abysmal.

 

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How many times do we give up midfield. Lemina was decent and hoj was very good but little they can do when outnumbered in the middle and Ings can barely move. Yet he stayed on!!!

 

No point in calling For Hughes out. Les and Ralph have eaten themselves with bullshyt.

Edited 17 September, 2018 by Batman

[John Boy Saint]

First half I thought here we go, probably the best first half of football I have seen Saints churn out for quite a while, we were scrapping and pressing and Brighton were all over the place, that Murray’s head must weigh about 18stone because he seemed to be toppling over even when a Saints player was nowhere near him first half.

As for the referee how the chuff can you play advantage when Redmond cynically had his feet swept from under him, and was the only Saints player near the dead ball and yet still on his hands and knees, that threw us for a moment in the first half.

 

Second half they must have had their tummy’s tickled over a lovely cup of hot chocolate in our dressing room, we just let Brighton play and run about at will and we got deeper and deeper into our own half and meandered out up the pitch but only to the edge of the 18 yard box mind as it was coming straight back at us. There were balls running dead in space we all looked at each other as if to say “oh are you running after that”..............”oh they have it again best stand here”. We just look so fragile if we concede, you can point the finger at Sparky but there is just something in our DNA that just makes us go into our shell.

 

What you can question is how can you bring on midget midfielders when they still have a couple of giants out on the pitch! If Charlie Austin is struggling with fitness why waste his space on the bench when you have an unknown quantity to the oppos in Gallagher who is big quick mobile and a presence, if you are going to punt long balls up field at least have someone up the field who stands a better chance of winning the ball rather than relying on the Spring in Longs legs to outjump a defender who already has a 5/6” advantage with his feet planted on the ground.

All very frustrating, probably won’t be staying up late Saturday night either as we are likely to be on MOTD first, unless someone finds a bit of back bone down the back of the sofa.

 

As for the pre match lightshow, I can’t see why some folks are getting so wound up and precious about it, alas it’s the razzmatazz way of the world these days. From my position in the ground I thought it was better than expected but also thought being on live TV beamed into millions of homes around the world I thought it was more of a free advert for the guys who installed the new LED floodlights........I was waiting for the fuse to go: how many times were you told off by your Mum when creating your own disco in the living room flicking the light switch on and off?

[obelisk]

Just watched a recording of the game didn't know the result but predicted it, especially the late equaliser. Saints looked horribly disjointed, slow and with little idea in the final third. Defence is going to be totally found out this season. Another relegation scrap I fear.

[sotonjoe]

I still believe we can stay up

 

 

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[manji]

Default

Is it a tactic of ours to sit back and defend extremely deep? We did it under Puel so maybe the limitations of our squad force managers' hands?

 

It is bloody painful to watch us retreat into our own box and invite pressure from and concede space to our opponents.

 

We almost conceded a couple of occasions prior to the penalty, but no tactical change or leadership on the pitch to push out and press eventually cost us!

 

It seems like a conscious tactical decision from MH to sit back and defend deep. Very troubling if so.

 

A draw a fair result tonight I feel. What an awful game of football at times! Laughable, it was like pinball!

Spot on. So conservative. I was like we had an 8 man defence. Everyone round me me knew our tactics would invite an equaliser.

Why can’t the manager see it. Due to illness that was the first game I have been to in over a year. Nothing’s changed.

[Professor]

Selling your best players and setting up so long is a vital part of the team = relegation

It’s happening.

But it’s cool, the owner loves the passion of the fans and there are fireworks and clacky things.

Here we go again - more rubbish. Which of our best players could we have refused to sell? Van Dijk, perhaps?

[Kingsbridge Saint]

No we don't....

 

I think you might be referring to jostling for position or blocking players off. We don't see someone pushing a player with two hands and then elbow barging them over. That is a foul however you want to look at it and as mentioned if it was the other way around we wouldn't be happy if it was not given for us. As far as I can tell nobody has complained about it. MH didn't, the commentators didn't, the pundits didn't and most of all the Saints players didn't. The only one who objected was Cedric. Everyone else just walked out of the box.

It was a foul and thus a penalty.

 

I was recalling watching Smalling this weekend with both arms around a man, wrestling him to the ground as a corner went over. And countless other instances over many weekends watching games. The ref was looking to give it. When was the last time a goalkeeper got booked for moving the ball from one side of the six yard box to the other? Yes timewasting, but everyone else seems to do it and get away with it. Ramos picks up UEFA awards for doing it better than anyone else. Plank referee was looking to give it. Soft penalty all day long. And MH has said it was soft as well.

Edited 18 September, 2018 by Kingsbridge Saint

[Batman]

Here we go again - more rubbish. Which of our best players could we have refused to sell? Van Dijk, perhaps?

 

Tadic perhaps, that’s just this summer

 

 

I bet hoj is making the Yen signs light up in the owners eyes already.

Edited 18 September, 2018 by Batman

[Toomer]

Would have started Yoshi instead of Wes and would have had Armstrong on the bench, joke ref went to sleep after scored the second should never have lost that.

[DT]

Is Yoshi ****ging Hughes’ wife or something? Has Cedric got any decent football in him? Why do we go so deep instead of attacking as best form of defence? Why do we have no captain? How is Hughes able to mirror his dismal performances as a player with us with his vision as a manager? Why are we so mentally frail? How do we stop playing well directly after half time? Why can we not proactively change things or change formation during matches? Why are oppo managers always so savvy in comparison?

 

 

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[Cabbage_Face]

On reflection, first half we were excellent, did everything we hadn’t done in ages, pressed, won second ball, quick passing, etc. Second half you knew they would come at us, biggest problem we have no leader at back, someone to calm down the situation, instead of panicked sliced clearances, Bertrand isn’t a captain for me, brilliant LB but not a captain. We sorely miss that commanding CB that can calm and lead the back. For me I’d rather have Yoshida over Hoedt. Redmond was excellent first half then second half reverted to his normal I have zero clue what to do once I’ve skinned my man. Cedric was terrible. Shane Long Tries so hard but yet again gets in those good one on one positions and can’t finish or falls over. On the whole it was a good football match, second half I’ve never seen pro teams turn into clowns and not be able to pass or tackle. Pre show was actually quite cool.

 

McCarthy 6.5

Cedric 4

Hoedt 4

Lanky Bloke 5

Bertrand 5.5

Redmond 6.5

Hojberg 7

Lemina 6.5

Mo 6.5

Ings 6.5

Long 6.5

 

 

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Edited 18 September, 2018 by Cabbage_Face

[doddisalegend]

Didn't bother to post last night way to deflated on the train on the way home to be rational

 

Thought we were excellent first half pressing was good, we attacked in numbers and at pace. Hoj's goal was excellent. Our defence looked solid and McCarthy had barely touched the ball.

 

At half time I was sat there thinking I hadn't seen saints look that good at home in a good while and figured if we played the same way, in the second half, it was three points in the bag.

 

Then the second half happened...

 

It was like a different team out there all the good things we had done in the first half disappeared and we where back to keystone cops in defence. Despite being crap I still felt we where going to get the three points as Brighton where turd up front

 

And then we gave away a stupid penalty....

 

It seems we are incapable of managing a good performance for 90 minutes. If we can keep the first half of last nights game going for a whole game we will be fine this season.

[scotty]

When they pulled back their first so soon after we'd scored you just knew a draw was the best we could hope for. I'm surprised we got even that the way we were playing towards the end.

 

Others have questioned Hughes decision making during games, last night for the first time I agree. It really did seem like we were trying an Ali rope-a-dope without anywhere near the strength to sustain it, that second half was painful to watch.

[JRM]

The first half was good, but as usual we don't take our chances, Redmond having a good season and I think Hojbjerg will develop into a top midfielder.

Anyone know why Armstrong and Romeu were not even on the bench? Romeu would have been preferable to Ward-Prowse when we were hanging on.

 

The light show did seem to get the fans going pre match.

[ericb]

Shame that just at the time that we need a calm leader in defence the club are forcing Yoshi out.

[angelman]

I liked the light show. At least it was something different. Was surprised about the heat of the flames as I could feel it quite easily at the back of the stand. Not really football, but its something different. A tale of two halves. Its quite often that we come out in the 2nd half and get dominated. And throwing a 2 goal lead away is just criminal.

 

On a totally different note, I like the way the Daily Express sports pages are today. Couldn't see the fact that we played last night on the main sports bit, so went to the football section. Their stories went....

 

Liverpool, CL, Man U, Neymar, Man U, Liverpool, Salah/Hazard, Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Ronaldo, Fantasy PL, Salah, Liverpool, Man U, Man U, Celtic, Liverpool, CL, Spurs, Liverpool, Man U, Liverpool, Messi, Spurs, Chelsea, Man U, CL, PL table, Spurs, Barca, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, Chelsea, Man City, Man U, Chelsea, Man U, Leeds, Real M, Man U, Liverpool, Barca, Liverpool, SFC v BHA predictions........

 

So no mention of the game at all last night. While I realise that we are not the most popular two teams on the planet and that the Express isn't really fit for my backside, it does sort of sum up the way football is these days, even if the Express do things in extremis. And this is one of the reasons I find football so unappealing these days.

[DT]

Shame that just at the time that we need a calm leader in defence the club are forcing Yoshi out.

 

More info please

 

 

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[st alex]

No we don't....

 

I think you might be referring to jostling for position or blocking players off. We don't see someone pushing a player with two hands and then elbow barging them over. That is a foul however you want to look at it and as mentioned if it was the other way around we wouldn't be happy if it was not given for us. As far as I can tell nobody has complained about it. MH didn't, the commentators didn't, the pundits didn't and most of all the Saints players didn't. The only one who objected was Cedric. Everyone else just walked out of the box.

It was a foul and thus a penalty.

 

Two hands and an elbow? You must have been watching a different game, there was the slightest of touches to his back and he threw himself to the ground.

 

9 times of of 10 it's not given and they wouldn't have had any complaints had that been the case.

 

They didn't appeal for it, we had at least 3 players remonstrating with the ref (rather than the 1 that you've suggested), including Vestergard and I think Hojberg as well as Cedric. Mark Hughes said after the game he thought it was a soft penalty and that their player went down too easily from an in innocuous challenge. Listen to his interview from 50 seconds in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45468085

 

I don't think anybody has said it wasn't a penalty, just that it was a soft penalty, one which most of the time wouldn't have been given. Had it not been given it probably wouldn't even have warranted a mention in the match report, certainly nothing more than a desperate penalty shout in the dying minutes.

[Lighthouse]

McCarthy 6.5

Cedric 4

Hoedt 4

Lanky Bloke 5

Bertrand 5.5

Redmond 6.5

Hojberg 7

Lemina 6.5

Mo 6.5

Ings 6.5

Long 6.5

 

How anyone can say Ings and Long were better than the two centre halves I have no idea. Fair play to Ings for the goal but he did little else. Long did nothing AND lost his man for a their first goal.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

How anyone can say Ings and Long were better than the two centre halves I have no idea. Fair play to Ings for the goal but he did little else. Long did nothing AND lost his man for a their first goal.

 

Agreed, but don`t take too much notice as his posts are rarely serious

[angelman]

Agreed, but don`t take too much notice as his posts are rarely serious

 

Is he Glasgow? I find it hard to keep track of his various personas on here.

[Batman]

How anyone can say Ings and Long were better than the two centre halves I have no idea. Fair play to Ings for the goal but he did little else. Long did nothing AND lost his man for a their first goal.

 

Agree. Ings was terrible for almost his whole time on the pitch.

That was with a week off.

[Graffito]

Easy half time team talk for Hughton. Go at them and they’ll get jittery, the crowd will get nervous and they’ll crumble. But at the end of the night we lost to a poorly defended set piece and a bit of stupidity.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Is he Glasgow? I find it hard to keep track of his various personas on here.

 

Possibly but its hard to keep track TBH, he did confess to being the stupid Kenyan though

[Kingsland Codger]

Now the dust has settled and the frustration of dropping points in the final minutes has passed, try looking on the bright side. We are scoring goals; think back to those dreadful days under Puel and MoPe when a scoring goal was something we could only dream of.

 

As for conceding the stoppage time penalty - be grateful Brighton didn't equalise a few minutes earlier; we all know they would then have scored a third and we would have come away with no points at all.

 

Come the end of the season, this might just be the point that keeps us up!

[Lighthouse]

Now the dust has settled and the frustration of dropping points in the final minutes has passed, try looking on the bright side. We are scoring goals; think back to those dreadful days under Puel and MoPe when a scoring goal was something we could only dream of.

 

As for conceding the stoppage time penalty - be grateful Brighton didn't equalise a few minutes earlier; we all know they would then have scored a third and we would have come away with no points at all.

 

Come the end of the season, this might just be the point that keeps us up!

 

It will only be the point that keeps us up because of the other shed load of others we've thrown away. It's like congratulating MoPe for the draw at home to Udders last season because that kept us up.

[Charlie Wayman]

The Son et Lumière was the highlight of the evening, no doubt about that and you just knew what would follow would be a damp squid.

 

Sadly all too predictable, a dominant first half followed by a clueless submissive second. A very familiar pattern this season. What is of greatest concern is that Hughes and his sidekick cronies just sat it out in the second half offering nothing in the way of help or guidance to the players who clearly had lost the plot and needed focusing and re-directing. What are their roles if not to encourage, lead and devise new tactics on the spot.

 

Coaches? The role best suited to their talents in coaching appears to be to drive the bloody coach and I'm not sure they could do that without a crash somewhere along the way.

 

...and what's the point of breathless high speed attacking and closing down if everyone is completely knackered after 45 minutes. A game plan should allow for 94 minutes of physical exertion not 45. So fundamental even an idiot should grasp that.

[Wes Tender]

Two hands and an elbow? You must have been watching a different game, there was the slightest of touches to his back and he threw himself to the ground.

 

And there were another couple of incidents when their players also went down in the box trying to con the ref into awarding penalties too. What with several other incidents of their players pushing ours in the back which went unpunished by the ref, they have a cheating policy instilled in them. But we shouldn't have given the referee the opportunity to award the penalty in the first place.

[shurlock]

And there were another couple of incidents when their players also went down in the box trying to con the ref into awarding penalties too. What with several other incidents of their players pushing ours in the back which went unpunished by the ref, they have a cheating policy instilled in them. But we shouldn't have given the referee the opportunity to award the penalty in the first place.

 

Les, it was a pen all day long.

[Cabbage_Face]

How anyone can say Ings and Long were better than the two centre halves I have no idea. Fair play to Ings for the goal but he did little else. Long did nothing AND lost his man for a their first goal.

 

First half they were both ok, caused problems. The second our central defenders had to deal with anything, they were a mess. Especially Hoedt. [emoji1303]

 

 

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[VectisSaint]

The Son et Lumière was the highlight of the evening, no doubt about that and you just knew what would follow would be a damp squid.

 

Sadly all too predictable, a dominant first half followed by a clueless submissive second. A very familiar pattern this season. What is of greatest concern is that Hughes and his sidekick cronies just sat it out in the second half offering nothing in the way of help or guidance to the players who clearly had lost the plot and needed focusing and re-directing. What are their roles if not to encourage, lead and devise new tactics on the spot.

 

Coaches? The role best suited to their talents in coaching appears to be to drive the bloody coach and I'm not sure they could do that without a crash somewhere along the way.

 

...and what's the point of breathless high speed attacking and closing down if everyone is completely knackered after 45 minutes. A game plan should allow for 94 minutes of physical exertion not 45. So fundamental even an idiot should grasp that.

 

All squids are damp, they live in the sea. Squibs on the other hand... ☺️

[Lighthouse]

First half they were both ok, caused problems. The second our central defenders had to deal with anything, they were a mess. Especially Hoedt. [emoji1303]

 

They dealt with everything thrown at them, even when the rest of the team in front of them had stopped playing, second half.

 

Neither striker caused problems, Long especially. When put through on goal, he managed to 'control' the ball out for a goal kick, from further out than Hojbjerg's goal. Then he was put through again and just fell over. Then he fell over in the box again, looking for a penalty and grabbed the ball, so he gave away a free kick. Then he fell asleep and allowed Duffy a free header for their first goal. He is useless.

[tajjuk]

I don't understand why Long is anywhere near the team, he might be a 'good guy' in the dressing room but he is reaching the effectiveness of a mascot on the pitch.

 

Why keep Gallagher at the club if he is not going to play, his pace and presence up front in the 2nd half could have caused problems as they pushed for the equaliser and he can actually do stuff like control a ball and kick a football.

[benjii]

You take a striker off in these situations and it just invites them onto you. He’s done it before and not learnt. Pathetic and very worrying from the manager. Why can’t he see it?

 

 

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We should have taken a striker off sooner. An open 442 is not how you see out games. Should have gone to 451 earlier in the second half.

 

That said, blaming the subs is missing the point as we got 2-0 up then made individual mistakes. We didn't get tactically outdone, we just shat the bed.

 

Not enough leaders or strong heads.

[shurlock]

They dealt with everything thrown at them, even when the rest of the team in front of them had stopped playing, second half.

 

Neither striker caused problems, Long especially. When put through on goal, he managed to 'control' the ball out for a goal kick, from further out than Hojbjerg's goal. Then he was put through again and just fell over. Then he fell over in the box again, looking for a penalty and grabbed the ball, so he gave away a free kick. Then he fell asleep and allowed Duffy a free header for their first goal. He is useless.

 

Look he’s the only player capable of chasing and winning his own flick-on

[benjii]

It was obvious the ref was looking to get noticed when he gave that ridiculous trumped-up talking and yellow card to McCarthy.

 

I'm more annoyed with the first goal.

[SaintSteve]

It was obvious the ref was looking to get noticed when he gave that ridiculous trumped-up talking and yellow card to McCarthy.

 

I'm more annoyed with the first goal.

 

Having seen highlights, McCarthy had to come for the cross as it was in the air a long time. A rare error from the keeper.

[doddisalegend]

Apparently I missed this "controversy" last night.

 

Brighton & Gaetan Bong: Calls for Southampton to be punished.

 

Do we like Jrod that much?

 

https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/brighton-bong-southampton-punished/

[Micky]

We should have taken a striker off sooner. An open 442 is not how you see out games. Should have gone to 451 earlier in the second half.

 

That said, blaming the subs is missing the point as we got 2-0 up then made individual mistakes. We didn't get tactically outdone, we just shat the bed.

 

Not enough leaders or strong heads.

 

Pretty much. But if you sh it yourself against Brighton 2 nil up at home, it doesn't bode well for too many other games.

[Lighthouse]

Apparently I missed this "controversy" last night.

 

Brighton & Gaetan Bong: Calls for Southampton to be punished.

 

Do we like Jrod that much?

 

https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/brighton-bong-southampton-punished/

 

I thought he was being booed for a foul on Moi, which he wasn't booked for. Seemed to stop about 10 minutes after that incident.

[alpine_saint]

Shame that just at the time that we need a calm leader in defence the club are forcing Yoshi out.

 

We've just taken a new Japanese colleague on at work and he (and a lot of the Japanese sport media, apparently) are of the opinion that somehow Yoshi is being pushed out of the door.