macca155 Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Good performance today enjoyed that. Nice to have a stress free afternoon for once. Well almost until Grealish decided to be MLT for a while. Hell of a player surely worth an England call up. I thought Ings, and Stephens will get the plaudits today but the whole team were on their game. Only weakness was Cedric and occasionally Holberg. Bertie was a bit off in the first half. However a wiser head pointed out that he is an older player now and clearly manages his body during the game. Plays intelligently and we need that. Halfway to 36 points which should be enough. Now kick on. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangelyBrown Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 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.Keane played for England and he's proper dog**** Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Did someone kidnap the saints team and replace them with look-a-likes that can actually play football...seriously where did that performance come from? No doubt this will be followed up with a total no show in the next game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca155 Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 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.It is no surprise that our upturn in fortunes has coincided with Stephens and Bendarek forming a solid (ish) partnership. Both have played well in recent games but Stephens's distribution and drive is the difference. A wholehearted club player who is developing. CH's mature later as they draw on experience. An England call up ...... ! Who let his mum on here. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lighthouse Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 It is no surprise that our upturn in fortunes has coincided with Stephens and Bendarek forming a solid (ish) partnership. Both have played well in recent games but Stephens's distribution and drive is the difference. A wholehearted club player who is developing. CH's mature later as they draw on experience. An England call up ...... ! Who let his mum on here. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk We must be watching different players. They looked hopeless in our last game against West Ham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 It is no surprise that our upturn in fortunes has coincided with Stephens and Bendarek forming a solid (ish) partnership. Both have played well in recent games but Stephens's distribution and drive is the difference. A wholehearted club player who is developing. CH's mature later as they draw on experience. An England call up ...... ! Who let his mum on here. Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkPeople go through mad swings on here. After the west ham game people were saying we were relegated for definite, now we get a win and there's talk of an England call-up for Stephens. Can we just have some realism please which is that Stephens has performed alright recently but we still have one of the worst defences in the entire league. He would get absolutely nowhere near the England team and rightly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Also worth pointing out that Targett was sh*te and was at least partly at fault for the first goal. I'm glad we sold him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Good performance today enjoyed that. Nice to have a stress free afternoon for once. Well almost until Grealish decided to be MLT for a while. Hell of a player surely worth an England call up. I thought Ings, and Stephens will get the plaudits today but the whole team were on their game. Only weakness was Cedric and occasionally Holberg. Bertie was a bit off in the first half. However a wiser head pointed out that he is an older player now and clearly manages his body during the game. Plays intelligently and we need that. Halfway to 36 points which should be enough. Now kick on. Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkI thought Grealish was rubbish apart from the goal. He's nowhere near the England team for me and probably needs to move in the summer to play with better teams if he wants to play internationals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish 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. Behave, he was good today against a very poor villa attack, but he’s still a long way to go before he’s even premier league standard. He was awful last week and singled out for criticism along with bednarek and hojbjerg by pundits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Fry 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.Jesus wept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Jesus wept. You need to remember the same poster has also described Calum chambers as the new Bobby Moore and jake Sinclair and josh sims as our greatest ever academy prospects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca155 Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 I thought Grealish was rubbish apart from the goal. He's nowhere near the England team for me and probably needs to move in the summer to play with better teams if he wants to play internationals.He certainly wasn't rubbish and would be a cert for our team. Worked hard, had time on the ball and was a threat. However has Maddison and Ali in front of him. Anyway not a Saints player so who cares. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca155 Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 People go through mad swings on here. After the west ham game people were saying we were relegated for definite, now we get a win and there's talk of an England call-up for Stephens. Can we just have some realism please which is that Stephens has performed alright recently but we still have one of the worst defences in the entire league. He would get absolutely nowhere near the England team and rightly so.I think that was what I was saying. Developing into a good club player, certainly better than we've had for a while. However England no way. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micky 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.Get a grip, our Jack played better than their Jack today, but that's about the size of it. Their Jack will get an England cap long before ours. Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconnect Posted 21 December, 2019 Share Posted 21 December, 2019 Watched the first half and thought we were generally very good, although made to look good maybe by a very poor Villa display. Noticeable improvement from the full backs, but PEH maybe trying too hard again though? Missed a bit of the second half (after about 60 mins), but switched back on around 10 mins to go and one thing I noticed a few times was Obafemi (brought on before Adams?) was just letting players run past him and not making any effort to close anyone down. Isnt his main attribute his pace? Did he take a knock I missed? I was wondering why he wasnt trying to close anyone down when the whole rest of the team are trying to... Maybe he's just not the brightest spark... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinhard Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Improvement from us but Villa were absolutely appalling. The same old story, sorry. When we win then "the other side was awful". No. We did not allow them to play better, that's all. When we play RH's style well and win, the other side will always look awful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Munster Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 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. As they say, when the wolf is chasing you, you don't have to out run it, you just have to out run the 3 slowest fat kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Lion Tamer Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 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. Villa fans booed their team at half and full time, and they're a newly promoted side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skintsaint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 The first minute of the 2nd half was a big highlight of why we need a new right back, also why did Hoj have a go at Ings after ballooning it over the bar near the end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsbridge Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Armstrong was immense. Could build a team around him and Ings. The fact he gets so little game time does make me doubt Ralph's judgment. Hoj had a weird last 5 minutes - like a drunk coming out of a pub and trying to kick a can down the road. Unsuccessfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 He certainly wasn't rubbish and would be a cert for our team. Worked hard, had time on the ball and was a threat. However has Maddison and Ali in front of him. Anyway not a Saints player so who cares. Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkI had a gander on a villa forum and they were all saying that whilst he scored a good goal, otherwise he generally wasn't great and they gave him a pretty low ranking. Overall I'd have to agree, whilst he's clearly a decent player, Saturday was not his best game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 I think that was what I was saying. Developing into a good club player, certainly better than we've had for a while. However England no way. Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkI'm not sure even that's true. If he starts performing solidly every week then maybe but he's had maybe two or three fairly good performances so far? Certainly not enough to definitively say that he's anywhere near good enough for our team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 The same old story, sorry. When we win then "the other side was awful". No. We did not allow them to play better, that's all. When we play RH's style well and win, the other side will always look awful!Nope. I thought we played alright but it's undeniable that villa were a load of rubbish and played totally into our hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rooney Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 We looked good today and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Sit back and enjoy the weekend for a change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Got it right today and a great result. But Villa were no where near their best and so I’m not getting super excited just yet. Let’s keep things in perspective. Two losses and we’re back in the RZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Just watched the MOTD highlights and Shearer was rightly scathing in his criticisms of Villa. As bad as we have been at times this season, we have never been anywhere near as open as they were. I'm starting to finally believe that there actually are three worse teams than us after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRM Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Just watched the MOTD highlights and Shearer was rightly scathing in his criticisms of Villa. As bad as we have been at times this season, we have never been anywhere near as open as they were. I'm starting to finally believe that there actually are three worse teams than us after all. You could argue we were even more open in our 9-0 loss at home to Leicester. Great to be out of the bottom 3 but unfortunately it’s unlikely we’ll stay there for long, Villa’s next games against Norwich and Watford, hopefully draws in those games. Our next few games are really tough can’t see us getting many points from Chelsea, Palace, Spurs, Leicester in the next 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordic Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Jesus wept. Fortunately, Ralph is a much better judge of a footballer than you are, which is why he has kept faith with him. https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/southampton/jack-stephens-villa-hasenhuttl-saints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Got it right today and a great result. But Villa were no where near their best and so I’m not getting super excited just yet. Let’s keep things in perspective. Two losses and we’re back in the RZ.Or one loss if villa beat Norwich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Fortunately, Ralph is a much better judge of a footballer than you are, which is why he has kept faith with him. https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/southampton/jack-stephens-villa-hasenhuttl-saintsSorry mate but you're deluded. There's a massive scale between Stephens improving and having a couple of pretty good games for us and Stephens playing for England or even being a regular starter for saints and performing well regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Stephens for England - FML He has had a couple of good games and long may it continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 You could argue we were even more open in our 9-0 loss at home to Leicester. Ah yes. I appear to have blocked that out of my memory for some reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordic Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Sorry mate but you're deluded. There's a massive scale between Stephens improving and having a couple of pretty good games for us and Stephens playing for England or even being a regular starter for saints and performing well regularly. I've seen players much derided on here, like Chambers and Ward-Prowse, play for England and if I were to plough through the list of central defenders who've won England caps, I'm sure I could find many worse, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. I'm not saying it's nailed on that he will win a cap but the potential is there and he's already won England caps at U18, U19, U20 & U21 levels so England selectors have obviously seen that potential too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Is Stephens the greatest ever CB to play for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austsaint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 I've seen players much derided on here, like Chambers and Ward-Prowse, play for England and if I were to plough through the list of central defenders who've won England caps, I'm sure I could find many worse, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. I'm not saying it's nailed on that he will win a cap but the potential is there and he's already won England caps at U18, U19, U20 & U21 levels so England selectors have obviously seen that potential too. Jack S. played well yesterday but he is a long way off England cap quality - as are the other two you mention. Grealish, in a poor Villa side stood out as International quality - the Club could do with a midfielder like him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Give it to Ron Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Interesting fact on Sky match report Saints ran 5k more than Villa during match Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Jack S. played well yesterday but he is a long way off England cap quality - as are the other two you mention. Grealish, in a poor Villa side stood out as International quality - the Club could do with a midfielder like him. Grealish is loyal to Villa but would do well at City or Liverpool but more likely Spurs if he moves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Interesting fact on Sky match report Saints ran 5k more than Villa during match Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Most of that was to make PEH’s overhit passes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordic Saint Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Is Stephens the greatest ever CB to play for us? No, but there's still no harm in supporting our players. You should try it one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 I've seen players much derided on here, like Chambers and Ward-Prowse, play for England and if I were to plough through the list of central defenders who've won England caps, I'm sure I could find many worse, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. I'm not saying it's nailed on that he will win a cap but the potential is there and he's already won England caps at U18, U19, U20 & U21 levels so England selectors have obviously seen that potential too. Stephens is too prone to lapses in concentration. He is not disciplined enough to be a top class defender in the Premier League, let alone internationals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whelk Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 No, but there's still no harm in supporting our players. You should try it one day Were you there yesterday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Duckhunter Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Really good performance yesterday. Nobody was off colour. Stephens & Ward-Prowse had their best games for a long time, Redmond was better than of late. Ings & Long look a decent partnership & the full backs seemed more committed than last week. Yes, they were poor, but we’ve played poor sides before & missed the opportunity to put them to bed. I don’t understand criticism of Jack Grealish on here he worked hard, tried stuff and worried me every time he received the ball. He’d fit in a Chelsea or Spurs no bother. Ings is a class above the rest of the side. If we could get Adams firing, buy a proper centre half and a midfielder who creates stuff, we’d be pretty decent. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanimal Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 3 very big iffs!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 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.I was at the game and, although he made a couple of mistakes, Stephens was very good: pretty solid defensively, scored and almost had an assist with a great burst to the by-line. Ralph has persisted with the Stephens/Bednarek partnership and the confidence is growing. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 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. Head's gone. One step at a time pal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 I think that was what I was saying. Developing into a good club player, certainly better than we've had for a while. However England no way. Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkThat's a fair assessment. Still needs to concentrate for 90 minutes and hopefully cut out the mistakes - usually weak clearances. He is a decent ball player who can get forward and I'd be interested to see him at DM. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shroppie Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 The first minute of the 2nd half was a big highlight of why we need a new right back, also why did Hoj have a go at Ings after ballooning it over the bar near the end?He was having a go at himself, not Ings. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forester Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 Thoroughly enjoyed that, as I always do on a day out at Villa Park. Our record there is very good over the last decade. Ralph got formation and approach here spot on. Long yesterday was classic Long, failing to score bless him but my god did he run that Villa back line ragged. Think we look a better side with a third proper midfielder in the team in Armstrong as part of a 4222 or 442 however you look at it. Redmond and Djenepo together I don’t think works. Lots of excellent performances today, but main difference in the teams was the work rate and desire from Saints. Good to see our passing game back on track too, mixing moving the ball quickly through the thirds as well as the early long ball behind their lines. That is everyone bar Palace played now, and while this season there is an anomaly because we play Chelsea for the second time in game 19 the table now is more representative of where we are. So while we are not out of the woods yet by a long way, it is equally true that we are only one win away from several teams above us with 20 games left. So I think Ralph can legitimately claim that is is credible to think we could finish four or five points and four or five places higher than last season which I think would be solid progress after two relegation battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 He was having a go at himself, not Ings. Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalkno he wasn't he was screaming at Ings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 22 December, 2019 Share Posted 22 December, 2019 The same old story, sorry. When we win then "the other side was awful". No. We did not allow them to play better, that's all. When we play RH's style well and win, the other side will always look awful!Reinhart, you have to understand that our fans always have to think that if we win the other side are rubbish. It seems to be the rules on here!! Anyway I agree with you, Ive watched the whole game and we ran and shut them down and made our own luck. Well done saints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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