SNSUN Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 I didn’t mind the equaliser as Grealish is in my fantasy team! 3 welcome points, no relegation zone over Christmas, and we’re keeping in touch with the teams just above us coming up to the transfer window. 11 points off the Champions League spots, doable. The goal difference will take care of itself in that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austsaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Can't moan at a win but I can't get my head around the choice and timing of the subs,always seem to stifle the play. Had the chance to give Adams some time to maybe get a goal and sort his confidence,but no. Not a day to be critical but agreed - this was a perfect setting for Ralph to give Adams at least half an hour to boost his confidence and get him more involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfahaji Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Great result, didn’t see that coming after the West Ham performance. Looks like Ralph has found his formation, hopefully we can strengthen in Jan and we will be OK. Perhaps, but it's also the formation that couldn't hold on against Newcastle and lost to West Ham isn't it? I'm not sure this match is evidence of some inevitable turnaround. Having said that I thought that as a minimum we needed to win more than we lost in this latest batch of games (from Arsenal to today) and we finished with a record of 3-1-2, so all in all have to happy with it, although could have been so much better. Picked the best three matches to win though, most likely the three sides to finish below us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Wolf Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Improvement from us but Villa were absolutely appalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 That was a very good win but I'm going to emphasise three acts of stupidity yet again from the same serial offenders, First 2-0 up near the end of the first half Hojbjerg in the clear played a casual chipped crossfield ball straight to Grealish of all people and immediately caused us problems. In the second half near the end, Cedric great break ignored the open player and shot straight at the defender, the ball was back in our half seconds later with us under pressure again. He just needed to give it and put the player in or go to the corner. Hojbjerg did a great run from his own half then with three against two took a shot straight to Heaton and the ball was back in our box with us hanging on again. The pass was the answer not the shot. They need a hammering because those decisions were brainless. Both these players despite being internationals continually display the sort of decision making that tyro players would have knocked out of them quickly. Small wonder we're in the position we are. Stephens had a good game, very solid, a great run and a chance capped with a goal, well done. Ings class. Armstrong played well, The team played well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Golly gosh!! i walked in the house and the first thing Mr JBS said “right that’s it you’re going out on Saturday afternoons when Saints are away and not watching any more streams!”. My Daughter bought me and Mrs JBS tickets for the Christmas with the Stars at SMS this last Wednesday night - Fanny, Matty, Beatts, Jo Tessem, and Glenn Cockerill it was a very pleasant evening and nice gift. Late on it was announced that Cedric and PEH were coming in for an hour, when they arrived I was stood next to PEH the missus mouthed “be quiet”, she had no worries there was a Lady who got certainly got her tuppence ha’penny in........looking at the result this afternoon seems like her pep talk worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 I didn’t mind the equaliser as Grealish is in my fantasy team! 3 welcome points, no relegation zone over Christmas, and we’re keeping in touch with the teams just above us coming up to the transfer window. 11 points off the Champions League spots, doable. The goal difference will take care of itself in that time. Equaliser? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 RIP Martin Peters at at 76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusic Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 That was a very good win but I'm going to emphasise three acts of stupidity yet again from the same serial offenders, First 2-0 up near the end of the first half Hojbjerg in the clear played a casual chipped crossfield ball straight to Grealish of all people and immediately caused us problems. In the second half near the end, Cedric great break ignored the open player and shot straight at the defender, the ball was back in our half seconds later with us under pressure again. He just needed to give it and put the player in or go to the corner. Hojbjerg did a great run from his own half then with three against two took a shot straight to Heaton and the ball was back in our box with us hanging on again. The pass was the answer not the shot. They need a hammering because those decisions were brainless. Both these players despite being internationals continually display the sort of decision making that tyro players would have knocked out of them quickly. Small wonder we're in the position we are. Stephens had a good game, very solid, a great run and a chance capped with a goal, well done. Ings class. Armstrong played well, The team played well.Probably the best performance of the season. We aren't a good side by any means, but come on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Equaliser? With the way Saints collapse, it felt like an equaliser to me too!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNSUN Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Equaliser? Oops, meant consolation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 A great team result today, good over most of the park. We looked much more up for it than Villa, closing them down, good movement, McCarthy more often than not clearing the ball up field instead of the tippy-tappy stuff around the back. Superb contribution from Bertrand in combination with Redmond up the left, good energy from Armstrong too. Ings is in devastating form at the moment. His fitness is warding off the niggling little injuries that he used to pick up from lack of match time and his quality in front of goal is shining through. A bit of a nervous period after Grealish scored his unstoppable volley and Villa's heads picked up and they began at last to apply some pressure to our defence. That is when I thought we ought to have put on Adams perhaps for Long and carried on going for it, instead of padding the midfield. Had Villa scored during the last few minutes, it could have been a nervy ending, but they were fairly toothless. It would be nice at some stage to see a lead in a match maintained by keeping the ball by simple passes between our players moving into space and frustrating the opposition into giving away free kicks from rash challenges as the clock runs down.I can't remember when the last time was that we did that. But the table looks much better now, with us breathing down Bournemouth and Brighton's necks, together with another couple of teams well within our grasp if we can maintain some impetus and bring in a couple of fresh faces in the January window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 I hope Ings gave Redmond a rocket for not passing across goal for a hattrick. Redmond did his pressing role well but was really poor going forward (through pass to Long aside). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Yes, yes, great result but how well did we play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Yes, yes, great result but how well did we play? Quite well against an awful team.....Not a lot to take away from it really because of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Quite well against an awful team.....Not a lot to take away from it really because of that Thanks, that’s something to cheer us up for the next few days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OttawaSaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Yes, yes, great result but how well did we play? Played well. The formation looked a bit different, more like a 4-4-2 at times. Meant we could press and the lose ball would break back to us. Long missed 2 sitters and Hoj one. Stephens very good too. Bertie looked interested, JWP was solid. Ings was excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Quite well against an awful team.....Not a lot to take away from it really because of thatSo sorry for you that we won. We beat what was in front of us. Now kindly go away and leave the celebrating to Saints fans. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 That'll do Saints. Out of the relegation places. Onwards and upwards. Happy Christmas. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 So what was all the fuss about? The new stream lined Jack Stevens looked decent. Any criticism today would be churlish. Great result. COYS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevy777_x Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Armstrong. What a different team we are with him in it. Nice to have some pace in midfield. When we lost the ball today the 2 banks of 4 worked together and got back in position. Hopefully this gives us a little more confidence. We are clearly a much better team away from the home fans. Would love to see how the lads respond to a crowd who sing from the start and encourage the team. But that won t happen as there are so many unhappy sods out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Munster Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 With 3 more today, this now makes it that the last 16 goals scored by Saints in the PL have been by English players. This beats the previous streak (also by Saints). Not sure if it's a record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supaimpy_returns Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Should have been 6-1 but will take the 3-1. When Hoj missed that open goal I thought “here we go again”. Was pretty comfortable in the end. Ings MOM followed by Stephens. Honourable mentions to Bertrand, Armstrong and JWP. 6 would’ve helped swing the goal differential back Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Probably the best performance of the season. We aren't a good side by any means, but come on. I said it was a good performance but these two players repeatedly in games we have to win act stupidly. This time they have got away with it. We are in a relegation dogfight and points are hard to come by. We need to be ruthless not sloppy or stupid. Against a better team we may have lost all three points. these two players specifically have to be taken to task so that they help make us difficult to beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintwbu Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 I said it was a good performance but these two players repeatedly in games we have to win act stupidly. This time they have got away with it. We are in a relegation dogfight and points are hard to come by. We need to be ruthless not sloppy or stupid. Against a better team we may have lost all three points. these two players specifically have to be taken to task so that they help make us difficult to beat. Couldn’t agree more, utterly infuriating every single game, it’s like they want us to lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDog07 Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Delighted with the three points! Big relief than the opposite and being three points and goal difference adrift! Aston Villa, the team who threw £150m at their team in the summer and look what you get.. Unbelievably, their fans talking about how their club need to prioritise the January transfer window and get more players! How much money does everyone have in comparison to us?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Comfortable victory. They played right into our hands. Can't believe the amount of space we had on the counter. For all his limitations, Long once again showed how valuable he is to the squad and Ralph's system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkoksaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 A Saints fan on 606 just suggested an England call up for him. Please god no...........the last thing we need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micky Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Just got back, this time last year we were singing 'Last Christmas' at Huddersfield and we were doing the same at Villa Park today - hopefully we can get the same end of season result as last year as well. Good game today, when was the last time you saw us 3 nil up away from home (Skates excluded of course...!). Everybody put in a shift today, lots of harrying and not letting them settle on the ball, won tackles and controlled the game pretty much throughout. Danny Ings will probably get the plaudits and MotM for his two goals and probably rightly so, but big shout out to Jack Stephens today, much maligned on here, but he played really well today. Was strong at the back, got across on the cover and chipped in with a goal as well. Yeah Villa are poor, and yeah we did make some mistakes, but on the whole fully deserved the result and the 3 points. When it came to Grealish we pretty much tripled up on him and nullified the threat - he got the goal (good volley) but that was pretty after the game was won. We looked like for a little while that we might do our collapsing act after they scored but actually kept it tight and saw the game out quite comfortably. The Holt End were pretty much silent for the entire match which is always a good sign when you're away at Villa Park, meanwhile the travelling fans were having another round of 'Last Christmas'. Excellent away day - 3 points - Merry Xmas everybody....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delmary Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 But that won t happen as there are so many unhappy sods out there. Our home support is horrendous. We do have some right idiots as fans, who like to have ago at the team at any opportunity. I would rather they went and supported another team. No wonder the team plays with so much fear at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouver Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Jack Stephens MOTM for me. Ings did his job superbly - do we actually have a finisher now?! Long did okay (when you accept from the start he is not going to score everything else is about harassing defenders and setting up chances for others) Armstrong makes a difference in midfield, McCarthy not given a mention so far but also played well. Bertrand looked interested and had some great runs. Redmond still struggling a bit to find his confidence and touch but worked hard. Comfortable in the end but I confess with 20 minutes to play I said to myself...3-0 up - "how can we f--k this up from here"...knowing our team, I am still nervous two goals up with only extra time to play...I know you can all relate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangelyBrown Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Excellent effort from the entire team. Looked good in that 4-4-2 formation. We seem to have a more settled team now.Playing the same back 4 week in week out seems to be starting to pay off... Who would have thought it Great result. Let's hope Ralph can make a couple of decent additions in Jan and we can push on.... (Sorry Im getting carried away now) Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordic Saint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Jack Stephens MOTM for me. Ings did his job superbly - do we actually have a finisher now?! Long did okay (when you accept from the start he is not going to score everything else is about harassing defenders and setting up chances for others) Armstrong makes a difference in midfield, McCarthy not given a mention so far but also played well. Bertrand looked interested and had some great runs. Redmond still struggling a bit to find his confidence and touch but worked hard. Comfortable in the end but I confess with 20 minutes to play I said to myself...3-0 up - "how can we f--k this up from here"...knowing our team, I am still nervous two goals up with only extra time to play...I know you can all relate! Agreed. Stephens is turning into a very good footballer and the TV pundits are beginning to single him out for their praise. I can see him playing for England one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stknowle Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Agreed. Stephens is turning into a very good footballer and the TV pundits are beginning to single him out for their praise. I can see him playing for England one day. Played well today but I will be (happily) stunned if he ever plays for England! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Agreed. Stephens is turning into a very good footballer and the TV pundits are beginning to single him out for their praise. I can see him playing for England one day.It's posts like that that come back to haunt you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpsaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Just watched the highlights - great second by Danny boy. Absolutely hate Hojbjerg, should have been straight in the face of grealish - such a weak link in the middle of the park, god knows how he is our captain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Perrin Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Just watched the highlights - great second by Danny boy. Absolutely hate Hojbjerg, should have been straight in the face of grealish - such a weak link in the middle of the park, god knows how he is our captain Hojbjerg can be great but is also prone to a blind pass that puts us in trouble. Personally I would rather have him than not. I don't get the Stephens love in. He may have been good today but he's another one who gives the ball way needlessly far too often. I really struggle to rate him. Cedric gets himself out of trouble - but he is wasteful in attack and weak in the air. Personally I think we need a new CB for Stephens and a striker who can hold the ball up and bring others in (Pele / Lambert). That said, a crucial three points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Well f**k me with a great big pole, we’re out of the bottom three at Christmas! Maybe there are three slightly more appalling teams (again) after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gammon cheeks Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Just watched the highlights - great second by Danny boy. Absolutely hate Hojbjerg, should have been straight in the face of grealish - such a weak link in the middle of the park, god knows how he is our captain Just turned his back and let Grealish shoot straight into the net ! What a wimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Agreed. Stephens is turning into a very good footballer and the TV pundits are beginning to single him out for their praise. I can see him playing for England one day. That's a bit far fetched but he could attract offers which might suit the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Hojbjerg can be great but is also prone to a blind pass that puts us in trouble. Personally I would rather have him than not. I don't get the Stephens love in. He may have been good today but he's another one who gives the ball way needlessly far too often. I really struggle to rate him. Cedric gets himself out of trouble - but he is wasteful in attack and weak in the air. Personally I think we need a new CB for Stephens and a striker who can hold the ball up and bring others in (Pele / Lambert). That said, a crucial three points.Odd that you'd consider a striker to be the priority. It's obvious that cm and cb are the real areas that need improving. A big striker would be a nice to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Can't moan at a win but I can't get my head around the choice and timing of the subs,always seem to stifle the play. Had the chance to give Adams some time to maybe get a goal and sort his confidence,but no. Agreed. Don't think he even touched the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Decent performance, did what we had to do to get the win against a team who were poor on the day. Helped by their early injury because they were pretty toothless up front and heavily rely on Grealish for anything vaguely creative. Take him out that team and they would be certainties for relegation. Good support from our fans, the new Ings song caught on nicely. We went a bit quiet for a while before and after they scored but other than that we seemed quite loud. They sang about 3 times in the whole game which made their "Holte End 12th man" sign seem a bit silly. Thought Stephens had his most solid game for a long time, yes he still made a couple of errors but was largely the best player other than Ings. Redmond showed some glimpses of his better form but was occasionally frustrating. Armstrong should play every game if he carries on like that. Added some much needed mobility and drive to the midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_clark Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Can't argue with beating all three sides in the relegation zone in recent weeks...takes some bottle. Sounded like our best performance of the season today. Great team selection from Ralph.Alternative way of looking at it is we've beaten the three worst teams in the league and have only been convincing about it in one of them. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shance Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Bertrand was ****ing class today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintwbu Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Just turned his back and let Grealish shoot straight into the net ! What a wimp Complete coward imo, only have to look at his disappearing act at Fratton Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Alternative way of looking at it is we've beaten the three worst teams in the league and have only been convincing about it in one of them. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk Alternatively we have taken 3 points off of teams that we needed to in order to avoid relegation and to put them in further trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenridge Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Hojbjerg can be great but is also prone to a blind pass that puts us in trouble. Personally I would rather have him than not. I don't get the Stephens love in. He may have been good today but he's another one who gives the ball way needlessly far too often. I really struggle to rate him. Cedric gets himself out of trouble - but he is wasteful in attack and weak in the air. Personally I think we need a new CB for Stephens and a striker who can hold the ball up and bring others in (Pele / Lambert). That said, a crucial three points. Agree with all your points. Having just watched the whole 90 mins on Sky Game of the Day I’m struggling with the Stephens love-in as well. I wonder if his admirers today actually saw the game. Whilst he played better than normal that’s a really low bar and plenty of mistakes that really kill his game and would have gone punished by pretty much every team other than the hapless Villans who were shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlesaint Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Agreed. Stephens is turning into a very good footballer and the TV pundits are beginning to single him out for their praise. I can see him playing for England one day. One swallow doesn’t make a summer. It would take a major injury crisis of almost plague like proportions for him to ever get within site of the England first eleven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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