Saints 1-3 Bournemouth - Reaction

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Chasing the game after a shocking team selection by Ralph. Some reputational damage for him tonight but the chance to put it right Tuesday.

[Lighthouse]

InstagramGK Gunn. Utter crap. ‘Learning mate, top GK’. Forster MK II

Vestergaard. Just why. Clearly awful and always has been.

Bertrand and Yoshida on bench. Why.

Stupid team selection and out of position players. Why.

Danish Prutton. Cr4p, always has been. Claps loads and pumps his first a lot, therefore top player. Apparently.

JWP, one of our own. Top player. Apparently.

 

Utterly avoidable loss.

 

Fair play to Boufal though, him and Redmond the only real bright sparks. Anyone who says Boufal doesn’t work hard is mental. Still, we’ll probably end up booing him soon for misplacing a pass.

 

I can’t remember anyone actually saying Boufal is lazy, it seems to be the biggest straw man on this board.

 

The criticism I have is that he plays with his head down and his awareness is badly lacking, tonight was very much in that mould. Three shots, all straight at the ‘keeper, and numerous opportunities to pass missed when he tried to take on two players instead.

 

He wasn’t terrible and he did play a few decent passes but they were hardly defence splitting.

[OttawaSaint]

****ing Robbie Savage is full of ****.

[Baird of the land]

Chasing the game after a shocking team selection by Ralph. Some reputational damage for him tonight but the chance to put it right Tuesday.

 

Only really potential for worse reputation damage against a mediocre league one side.

[NewYorkSaint]

In a desperate hunt for good narrative here... on the evidence of second half -- i.e. with a basic defense in place -- we're a much better team than Bournemouth. Who are third in the premiership. Boufal has come alive so beautifully. Romeu is an incredible player. As is Bednarek. With Moussa back we're going to play amazing, exciting football. Hopefully Ralph learned today some key lessons, and we can build from here.

[striker]

Mid table Championship defence

[SKD]

I can’t remember anyone actually saying Boufal is lazy, it seems to be the biggest straw man on this board.

 

The criticism I have is that he plays with his head down and his awareness is badly lacking, tonight was very much in that mould. Three shots, all straight at the ‘keeper, and numerous opportunities to pass missed when he tried to take on two players instead.

 

He wasn’t terrible and he did play a few decent passes but they were hardly defence splitting.

 

You what? He’s consistently labeled, incorrectly, as lazy and having a bad attitude.

 

Both of which couldn’t be further from the truth.

[austsaint]

I can’t remember anyone actually saying Boufal is lazy, it seems to be the biggest straw man on this board.

 

The criticism I have is that he plays with his head down and his awareness is badly lacking, tonight was very much in that mould. Three shots, all straight at the ‘keeper, and numerous opportunities to pass missed when he tried to take on two players instead.

 

He wasn’t terrible and he did play a few decent passes but they were hardly defence splitting.

 

Are you serious - Boufal was very good tonight. He balanced direct running at the defence with deft passes and touches and tested the keeper on three occasions.

[LGTL]

Oh well. Just win Tuesday.

[shurlock]

Outplayed tonight. Lots of huff and puff second half but no real quality. Defense remains a liability, so makes Ralph’s team selection all the more inexcusable. Anyway we’ll lick our wounds and move on.

[Dig Dig]

Our attackers are brilliant at having all their efforts blocked.

[Saint Pete]

We all know we have a poor defence but it doesn't help if you don't pick the best four, and in their correct positions.

 

Ralph has picked players out of position rather than the more obvious better choices in the last couple of games but got away with it. Tonight it inevitably caught up with him.

 

It's pretty obvious to most that our best defenders are; Cedric Yoshida Bednarek Bertrand. Would be nice if we can see that defence from the start in the next few games.

 

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[Mr X]

In a desperate hunt for good narrative here... on the evidence of second half -- i.e. with a basic defense in place -- we're a much better team than Bournemouth. Who are third in the premiership. Boufal has come alive so beautifully. Romeu is an incredible player. As is Bednarek. With Moussa back we're going to play amazing, exciting football. Hopefully Ralph learned today some key lessons, and we can build from here.

 

thats the problem we dont even have the players for a basic defence

[Vancouver Saint]

Scoreline doesn’t reflect the game. Didn’t deserve to lose, especially not 3-1 imo, but I suppose when you defend like that and waste that many chances, you won’t win many games..

 

Vestergaard is a shambles. Utter sh!te.

Not convinced by Gunn, at all.

Ralph has to take a lot of the blame.

 

Cedric good.

Romeu - class (other than the first goal)

Boufal decent

 

This. Disappointed of course but apart from that ridiculous last goal (Gunn...wtf?) we deserved a draw at least. Vestergard a weak link, the others okay. Danso out of position not being given a fair shot really. Romeu imperious. Boufal played really well. JWP - seriously guilty of missing three, four, five? good scoring chances...all over the bar or mis-hit.

 

Frustrating given the games coming up...we needed some points from this...but who knows, maybe we'll win away next week!

[Baird of the land]

I do sometimes feel boufal wants an 3xtra touch ( moments like where he was hacked down but Bertrand was frustrated because he wanted first time release). Some fantastic play today though too and some of 5he stuff he gets criticized for Redmond does too.

[pimpin4rizeal]

Thought there were some good performances along with the calamity defending that cost us.. Cedric I think was fantastic once he was switched back to the right, tenacious and full of energy better performance then anything I’ve seen from valery. Boufal also done some nice stuff had a couple of tricks that didn’t work in first half but was beating players nicely and getting decent shots off from just outside the box. Romeau probably looking our best midfielder of late was also immense again at breaking up play..

weird game really bosses most of it but end up losing 3-1 last goal was laughable.

Major disappointments were Vestergaard who just is so uncomfortable in possession and also danso looked completely lost on the right he was nervous took ages dwelling on the ball and looked completely uncomfortable.. not sure what was the point in having Cedric on left and danso on the right after danso done quite well on the left last time bar the sending off ???

[Crab Lungs]

Mid table Championship defence

 

I’d say that’s generous!

[sadoldgit]

Ralph cost us that game

 

Next

 

Gone by Christmas?

[Lighthouse]

Are you serious - Boufal was very good tonight. He balanced direct running at the defence with deft passes and touches and tested the keeper on three occasions.

 

Tested? Their ‘keeper made three routine saves. The first was miss hit, the second straight down the middle from 25 yards and the third right at the ‘keeper’s feet. We’d have been fuming if Gunn had let one of those in.

[LaptopSaint]

LOL

 

Having said that... I’m a big fan, but this one is on the manager. Feel sorry for Danso - bought as a centre back and hasn’t played there yet. Shambles in the first half apart from Romeu.

 

Second half all over them - Boufal scaring them sh1tless.

 

Inevitable that we were gonna lose when we had the chance to go third for 24 hours. We’ve got mid-table written all over us.

 

Better beat the skates. No excuses there.

 

 

Lose to Portsmouth and there will be calls for Ralph to go, mark my words.

And although I won't agree with them, I won't be able to muster the willpower to argue with them.

 

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[Sheaf Saint]

Tested? Their ‘keeper made three routine saves. The first was miss hit, the second straight down the middle from 25 yards and the third right at the ‘keeper’s feet. We’d have been fuming if Gunn had let one of those in.

 

At least he can hit a powerful shot on target. That's more than anyone else in the squad seems capable of.

 

His 3 tonight may not have been far enough away from the keeper to beat him. But they were all well struck and there's always a chance the keeper will spill one.

[Crab Lungs]

Mid table Championship defence

 

I’d say that’s generous!

[Useful Idiot]

Poor team selection. Poor performance by the players selected. Playing our two slowest central defenders against pacy forwards doesn't help and Hojbjerg seems to be believing his own hype. He has been pretty terrible so far this season.

 

Very sad that we're miles off Bournemouth in quality.

 

Still think we're going to struggle this season. We've had two lucky wins and put in half a performance against Liverpool and UTD.

 

We have yet to control the majority of a game and our defence is too fragile to frequently get away with that.

[MAY-Z]

Glad I got up at 4:30am to watch that

 

Ralph shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the team sheet

 

No surprise in the 2nd half we looked better when we played a left back at left back and a right back at right back

 

We were lucky the game wasn’t lost early last week with his djenepo experiment and clearly tonight we couldn’t overcome his random selection

[The Kraken]

Woeful from the manager and team. Not sure where the positives are.

 

Danso looked utterly terrified about everything. Second choice right back at left back, wholly inadequate player at right back, our best left back on the bench because he has had a tiff with the manager. Defence looked awful, Vestergaard is an accident waiting to happen. Third goal.....well.

 

Ah well. Can’t get worse on Tuesday. Can it?

[Batman]

In a desperate hunt for good narrative here... on the evidence of second half -- i.e. with a basic defense in place -- we're a much better team than Bournemouth. Who are third in the premiership. Boufal has come alive so beautifully. Romeu is an incredible player. As is Bednarek. With Moussa back we're going to play amazing, exciting football. Hopefully Ralph learned today some key lessons, and we can build from here.

 

Head’s gone

[Baird of the land]

Ralph not even brave enough to be honest and take the blame for the defeat.

[CB Fry]

Head’s gone

Get behind the lads FFS.

[OttawaSaint]

Hoj was absolutely abysmal tonight. Needs to take a good long look at himself.

[Sheaf Saint]

Hoj was absolutely abysmal tonight. Needs to take a good long look at himself.

 

I wouldn't say abysmal. He does good things but his decision making is often wayward. If he could just learn to find a team mate with a forward pass a bit more regularly, he would be superb.

[Katalinic]

Not surprised by the result. Bournemouth are simply a better side and we have the same one paced defence and midfield as last season.

[HarvSFC]

I know it's easy to turn the blame to the referee following a loss, but he was weak tonight. Did nothing to stop their time wasting from the first goal other than a few arm signals and seemingly forgot to book the two Bournemouth players who took their dives in the second half.

 

But, yeah, we were absolutely ****ing awful in the first half. Said last week after Vestergaard's shocker that it would be Yoshida dropped again for this one, and low and behold. It's almost as if Vestergaard was too expensive/on too much wages to be dropped. Hojbjerg and JWP too, I'm not really sure what they bring to the team this season. The latter improved massively in the second half of the season under Ralph, but this season he's reverted to type and isn't a threat on the right. His set pieces have gone back to myth status too. Look at how dangerous Bournemouth were from every corner and then look at ours struggling to beat the first man. (Watch Boufal get dropped when Djenepo returns, rather than JWP) And, yeah, with the departure of Lemina we don't have anyone to replace Hojbjerg in the middle who probably deserves some time out. Can't believe there were talks of some top European clubs looking at him last season. He should be one we're looking to upgrade on.

[Katalinic]

Lose to Portsmouth and there will be calls for Ralph to go, mark my words.

And although I won't agree with them, I won't be able to muster the willpower to argue with them.

 

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Ross Wilson should be far higher up the queue than Ralph. Shambles of a transfer policy over the past 2 to 3 years.

[sydney_saint]

I know it's easy to turn the blame to the referee following a loss, but he was weak tonight. Did nothing to stop their time wasting from the first goal other than a few arm signals and seemingly forgot to book the two Bournemouth players who took their dives in the second half.

 

But, yeah, we were absolutely ****ing awful in the first half. Said last week after Vestergaard's shocker that it would be Yoshida dropped again for this one, and low and behold. It's almost as if Vestergaard was too expensive/on too much wages to be dropped. Hojbjerg and JWP too, I'm not really sure what they bring to the team this season. The latter improved massively in the second half of the season under Ralph, but this season he's reverted to type and isn't a threat on the right. His set pieces have gone back to myth status too. Look at how dangerous Bournemouth were from every corner and then look at ours struggling to beat the first man. (Watch Boufal get dropped when Djenepo returns, rather than JWP) And, yeah, with the departure of Lemina we don't have anyone to replace Hojbjerg in the middle who probably deserves some time out. Can't believe there were talks of some top European clubs looking at him last season. He should be one we're looking to upgrade on.

Honestly we did okay out of the ref tonight. We got alot of the 50/50s and they really could have had a penalty. The time wasting was nothing more than we did last week against Sheffield United and was pretty standard for an away team a goal up. We need to look internally

 

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[tajjuk]

Start the game with the 2nd half team we win that comfortably, a back 4 of Cedric, Danso/Yoshidea, Bednerak and Bertrand, what ever Bertrand has done or Ralf thinks he has done needs sorting.

 

We are just giving teams a head start basically and inviting pressure.

 

Also we won the ball back so often up the pitch with the pressing but then the final pass was poor or too slow, like they never expected to win it back.

 

Have to say though that even with a lot of poor moments, poor first half, result still flattered Bournemouth IMO, they were clinical and got their blocks in but that is about it, they lost the ball so much all over the pitch and the final stats show it, we just didn't take chances, even being disappointed in our play we deserve to at least draw that IMO.

 

The media will fawn over them but if their forwards start missing a few chances they will drop like a stone like they did last year IMO.

 

But Ralph seriously play the players in their correct positions poor Danso I don't think has had a minute yet in his position, we got in a guy who was getting rave reviews as a young centre back in the Bundesliga and he's being shoved all over the place.

[verlaine1979]

The problem with Hoj is that we can really only afford one immobile defensive midfielder, and Romeu has that spot sewn up on merit - he's far better at winning the ball back. Hoj just isn't outstanding in any area - he's not mobile enough to be a nuisance, strong enough to dominate or technical enough for the game to run through him. He's a solid utility player, but easily shown up by opponents with a better blend of qualities in their midfield partnership.

[Baird of the land]

Honestly we did okay out of the ref tonight. We got alot of the 50/50s and they really could have had a penalty. The time wasting was nothing more than we did last week against Sheffield United and was pretty standard for an away team a goal up. We need to look internally

 

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Yeah he gave us a slightly soft penalty & didn’t award them one that if he’d given if wouldn’t have been overturned.

[Nordic Saint]

Absolute garbage. How no one at the club can see that we have not got CB’s that are good enough for this league is a ajokeZ Ralph has to take responsibility also for not playing Cedric and Bertrand in their natural positions for the start.

 

I think we have if we play a back four of Bertrand, Bednarek, Danso & Cedric and we'd still have Yoshida to slot in either of those central defensive positions when needed. It seems to be taking Ralph a long time to realize that Vestergaard is a problem, not a solution. Sometimes managers get too impressed by players who perform well in training when there is less pace and pressure.

[hackedoff]

Played to the opposition's strength yet Again. Predictable, Ponderous crab football.Boring to watch and embarrassing.

[doddisalegend]

Games of two half's really.

 

First half we where awful mostly because we where playing both full backs out of position. Cedric is horribly one footed. Danso looked all over the place and JWP was even worse as a wingback.

 

Second half we where much better with proper fullbacks in their correct positions but the damage had already been done.

 

Basically you have to lay the blame for this game at Ralph's door. I like a lot of what he has brought to the squad but when you have fit players for a position playing other players out of position instead is criminal. If we where really stuck with injuries and suspensions it would be understandable but we weren't so it's just plan odd.

 

As for the players

 

Adams works hard but carries no goal threat. ( Ings didn't even work hard)

 

Boufal and Redmond lacked any end product despite some moments.

 

Jwp and Hoj where poor

 

Romeu was decent

 

Bednarek was decent

 

Vest was **** poor.

 

Danso was very bad

 

Bertrand decent and Cedric bad first half better second once he was playing on his natural side.

 

 

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[SaveloyMush]

That is all on Ralph for his baffling starting lineup. It was the same last week at Sheff Utd, but lucky for us their attacking players are terrible.

 

Bertrand is the best defender in the squad. If he's fit enough to play an entire half then why isn't he on from t he start?

 

Yoshida is the best CB in the squad, but despite playing really well last week he gets left out in favour of our worst player on the pitch at Bramall Lane. With the pace of the Bournemouth attackers, that was never going to end well.

 

I'll cut Danso some slack because it seems he hasn't even been allowed to play a single half in one position yet, but he was woeful at RB. How the hell did it take 45 minutes and a 2-goal deficit (lucky it wasn't 3) for Ralph to identify that.

 

We won the ball in their half very well and dominated the possession, but sadly every one of our decent chances fell to JWP who seems to be utterly incapable of hitting a moving ball properly.

 

Boufal had a couple of decent long range efforts but couldn't get either of them far enough away from the keeper. Our best player tonight by far.

 

As for that gift at the end. Gunn needs to have a word with himself after that. Woeful.

 

 

Er, it didn't. He switched to three at the back (with Danso central) when it became apparent that Bournemouth were in danger of making a cricket score.

[whelk]

Haven’t read back but be amazed that people haven’t already queried wtf was that defensive line up? Manager lost a lot of good will with me tonight then stupid twt.

If you randomly plucked a defence from all our defenders it would have been stronger than that. Fuming.

[doddisalegend]

Not surprised by the result. Bournemouth are simply a better side and we have the same one paced defence and midfield as last season.

Are they heck they where nothing special. We made it easy for them in the first half and they where crap in the second.

 

 

 

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[karlb79]

Is Ake really their biggest set piece threat at 180cm / 5ft 11? Poor from Romeu on that one and set the tone for the evening.

[bpsaint]

Can’t add much that hasn’t already been said - Ralph needs to take the blame for that, first half was an utter shambles, and how Vest continues to get picked is beyond me. Listening to Solent when I got back to the car Merrington was rightfully laying into Ralph for just chatting rubbish in his post match interview instead of holding his hands up to the poor team selection.

[beatlesaint]

Cedric was very good both at left back and right back but was better in his normal position.

Romeu was outstanding and Boufal was very good. Redmond was ok considering the injury lay off.

 

After that I’m struggling.....

 

‘’Ralph seems to want any defensive combo that doesn’t include Bertrand. Today’s was a car crash - a right back at left back, a centre back at right back even though in his last game he was left back.....I mean WTF?

 

Interesting that Merrington said after Ralph’s interview that sometimes you have to hold your hand up and admit you were wrong. Unfortunately Ralph didn’t do that, he made excuses and that’s disappointing.

 

Fully agree with Dave there.

[DT]

What has Yoshida done to Ralf to not get picked ahead of the incredible lump, Vestergaard? Very odd

 

 

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[Katalinic]

6 or 7 of their team would walk into our side.

[Shroppie]

We were never scoring two. Ralph needs to stop throwing the 1st half, our attack can't survive any deficit.

 

Hard run of games now, in trouble.

Rubbish. We were very close to scoring two on several occasions.

 

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[sadoldgit]

Bottom line - we had 6 shots on goal and scored 1, they had 3 shots on goal and scored 3. Same old story, with better finishing we would have got something from the match.