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Saints 3-1 Blades - Reaction

Lighthouse

By Lighthouse,
in The Saints

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Man of the Match v Sheffield United  

315 members have voted

  1. 1. Man of the Match v Sheffield United

    • Alex McCarthy
      8
    • Kyle Walker-Peters
      24
    • Jack Stephens
      2
    • Jannik Vestergaard
      1
    • Ryan Bertrand
      0
    • Oriol Romeu
      48
    • James Ward-Prowse
      24
    • Stuart Armstrong
      0
    • Nathan Redmond
      45
    • Danny Ings
      1
    • Che Adams
      161
    • Will Smallbone
      1
    • Shane Long
      0

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Backrow91

Backrow91

Posted
Posted

Much better second half......we have a manager that seems to know How to find a way around different obstacles. Sheffield certainly were a stubborn unit and what’s really pleasing is that Ralph kept us at it. We didn’t let that match fade away into some sort of meaningless pre season friendly Type game.  That extra “prize” money will pay some wages I’m sure! ......and I quite liked the look of the kit and we won wearing it so no monkey on our back there! 

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Sarnia Cherie

Sarnia Cherie

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

Who do you consider MOM?  Romeo for me

I could happily vote for most of them as MOM. Still not convinced about Vestegaard or Long. Walker-Peters is learning and improving and despite me thinking Adams was not Premiership quality he showed that he may be capable of good things next season. I so wished Ings had scored that penalty last week but he can still pat himself on the back for a great season. I would like to see us sign a solid goal scorer to partner Ings and a robust defender. Credit to all at the Saints.

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

Really positive second half after a very laboured 1st.

We attacked with more purpose and used the width much better, Redmond had a great 2nd half and was causing them all sorts of problems. We pressed higher and engaged with more purpose, and that helped us against an opponent who was tiring quite a lot.

One big factor of our return has been our fitness - I cannot remember seeing a fitter team from this return? We get stronger as the game goes on and the opponents tire out, it's been very telling in pretty much every game we've played.

Now a pre-season with some genuine optimism behind it, some genuine momentum to carry in - there's a shorter break too, so the fitness levels shouldn't drop a great deal.

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Batman

Batman

Posted
Posted

Decent 1st half, brilliant 2nd half

1dt half felt lethargic, lots of backwards passing. Vestergaard proven again to be appalling unless going for a header. Lucky not to concede more than 1. Sheff u defend very well to be fair.

2nd half we totally dominated, should have been more than 3. Adams with some good goals, Redmond very dangerous, JwP brilliant 

Redmond my MoM, just shading Adams.

 

 

 

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Wilf

Wilf

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, Strangely Brown said:

Really chuffed for Che thought taking the shot early for his first really caught the keeper out.

You're right, it was really impressive how he took both goals because each time his first touch was good and he got the shots away instantly after the first touch, defenders and keepers only need a split second to anticipate and block but he didn't give them that.

This is one of the signs of of top class striker (compare with the time it takes a midfield player like Armstrong to get his shots away, hits the ball well if given time, but often gets crowded out).

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Secret Site Agent

Secret Site Agent

Posted
Posted

Well, a good win to end a good restart.  Looking forward to next season now and what we might achieve with a few good buys, (starting with KWP)

Che is starting to show what he can do, and I just had a feeling it was just a confidence thing and once he scored his first he would start to knock them in.

Danny Ings, wow.  great if he can keep that up next season.

Adn Ralph, thanks for this, please stay and put together a winning squad made of a few old heads, youth and weird luck.

 

Just want to say that after the way Bournemouth behaved against us after the 3-1 win, I wanted them to go down today, and they did.  But its easy to forget this will lead to people losing their jobs ans some financial hardship, so I hope they can steady the blow.

 

Well done though, Saints.  The future IS bright. The future IS Red and White :)

And, oh. Apparently we lost 9-0 at some stage.  When did this happen? And why did no body tell us? And surely someone could have mentioned it? But no, not a peep from the press, nothing from the pundits and not even mentioned by any commentator at all.  How bizzare.

 

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Wes Tender

Wes Tender

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Now a pre-season with some genuine optimism behind it, some genuine momentum to carry in - there's a shorter break too, so the fitness levels shouldn't drop a great deal.

Basing it on our fitness levels maintained during the lockdown, which have potentially been the best of any team in the PL, I'm not worried about our fitness levels dropping much. It seems to me that either the players themselves have been very disciplined in maintaining their fitness, or the club had some regime in place to ensure it. It has been instrumental in our strong finish to the season, and I'm confident that it will give us an edge again going into next season.

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LuckyNumber7

LuckyNumber7

Posted
Posted

Great way to end the season with a home win, been an incredible turnaround. I honestly thought back in October we were doomed, Ralph has done a stunning job since and the club deserve credit for backing him. A couple of good additions in the transfer window and we could have a very exciting next season.

Need to get shot of Vestergaard if anyone wants him, he's a liability.

Also what was with the Sky commentator, he sounded gutted when Che scored his two goals.

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Shroppie

Shroppie

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, Wes Tender said:

Basing it on our fitness levels maintained during the lockdown, which have potentially been the best of any team in the PL, I'm not worried about our fitness levels dropping much. It seems to me that either the players themselves have been very disciplined in maintaining their fitness, or the club had some regime in place to ensure it. It has been instrumental in our strong finish to the season, and I'm confident that it will give us an edge again going into next season.

There was online monitoring of players fitness regimes during lock-down. Seems to have worked well and I hope it'll be repeated now (after a well-deserved few days off) as this is a short break.

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OttawaSaint

OttawaSaint

Posted
Posted

A bit OT but a Saints fan finished 2nd in the entire FPL.

He was 2nd and 2 posits back going into this gameweek, the leader blew it by triple captaining Salah for just 3 points and a poultry 58 points. Saints fan got 68 but unfortunately the third placed team got 93 to pass both and win it.

 

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ozzmeister

ozzmeister

Posted
Posted

Bet the players are all looking for to a trip to an all inclusive in Spain.... oh wait! 
 

ia there even a break or is straight into pre season?

Well don’t lads, living in Essex I need to give my boy a reason to support saints and not spurs, the last 6 weeks have certainly helped! 

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JRM

JRM

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, Chapel End said:

To be fair if they had taken the first half chances, mainly from Sharp they probably would have

Yep they could have been 3-0 up if Billy Sharp took those chances. 

We've had a bit of luck on our good run of results, but feel confident for next season now, especially if we replace Vestergaard. 

11th placed finish, 52 points, amazing number of away league wins and a 4-0 thrashing of the Skates at Fratton, that should be filed as a good season for us. 

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Charlie Wayman

Charlie Wayman

Posted
Posted (edited)

Nice way to sign off once Ralph had dragged them off the beach at HT.

Romeu deserves MotM by a country mile but strikers get all the accolades so no doubt Adams will get it. Pleased for him 'though.

It'll be a tougher league next season and a good start will be vital. We have momentum but there are also some concerns about lapsing into complacency as we saw in the first half today. It puzzles me how this can happen and why they need a bollocking from Ralph at HT to get them purring again. It's not the first time this has happened this season and not even the first time since the Restart.

Edited by Charlie Wayman
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Forester

Forester

Posted
Posted

For so many reasons there ends a quite incredible season.  Agree with others that JWP, Redmond, Adams and Romeu the stars today.  Our form as has been highlighted since November shows that the actual quality of performance is top six standard and we have every opportunity to push for this next season as it is clear that no one looks forward to facing a Saints team these days.

Priorities for the break for me:

- Right back, hopefully KWP

- Centre back (sounds like signing imminent) as one of four for the season to compete with the three we have used in recent months

- One replacement for PEH assuming he leaves, and two if we are not prepared to have Reed in the squad who has by all accounts been excellent at Fulham.  We have been lucky with holding midfielder injuries this season and I worry that we could be really short of depth in this department 

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Hawkswood

Hawkswood

Posted
Posted

Id always Like Ralph since the start. I like his demeanour and his tactics, I thought he was a breath of fresh air after the last few years and when the season started I thought, right, lets really see what you can do. And then......Im not really sure what happened. I was so surprised by the performances, I really didnt see it coming.  I have to also admit that after THAT game, I thought he needed to go but purely because I thought he had lost the dressing room. I didnt see any way back. Im so glad I was proved wrong in this instance,  seeing my saints play the way I expected them to originally under him ( and in this case I was proved right to myself about him). Watching our last few performances leave me genuinely excited about the new season and watching us play. I think he has us playing better football than we did under Koeman. I preferred us under Poch and I believe we're on that track. Feels so good to feel good about my team again. Also very happy for Che. Thought he'd come good.

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twopintsnilnil

twopintsnilnil

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Secret Site Agent said:

Well, a good win to end a good restart.  Looking forward to next season now and what we might achieve with a few good buys, (starting with KWP)

Che is starting to show what he can do, and I just had a feeling it was just a confidence thing and once he scored his first he would start to knock them in.

Danny Ings, wow.  great if he can keep that up next season.

Adn Ralph, thanks for this, please stay and put together a winning squad made of a few old heads, youth and weird luck.

 

Just want to say that after the way Bournemouth behaved against us after the 3-1 win, I wanted them to go down today, and they did.  But its easy to forget this will lead to people losing their jobs ans some financial hardship, so I hope they can steady the blow.

 

Well done though, Saints.  The future IS bright. The future IS Red and White :)

And, oh. Apparently we lost 9-0 at some stage.  When did this happen? And why did no body tell us? And surely someone could have mentioned it? But no, not a peep from the press, nothing from the pundits and not even mentioned by any commentator at all.  How bizzare.

 

You weren't listening around the 6th minute then. 

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woodsaint1

woodsaint1

Posted
Posted

The 90 minutes today summed up Alex McCarthy perfectly. Two fantastic stops (one on one against Sharp and then a point blank reaction save) to keep us in the game. Then a moment of madness where he passed it straight to Sharp when under no pressure and then looked like he handled it outside the box. I like him as there is definitely more good than bad however he needs competition too. Cant see it happening but would like to see us move on Forster and Gunn and bring in a new keeper to challenge McCarthy

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St_Tel49

St_Tel49

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, CanadaSaint said:

When somebody finds how far JWP ran today I'd love to see it. He was excellent, and did a lot to cover the Vestergaard vulnerabilities without surrendering his link role, set pieces and even runs into the box. He's turning into a hell of a player.

Really pleased for Adams, and there's a great chemistry developing between him and Ings.

After Leicester, who saw us finishing above Everton, Newcastle and Palace - and with a better goal difference!

That's a Top 8 starting line up with Top 5 cohesiveness, but it's not yet a Top 8 squad.

Huge credit to Ralph.

I think that he has been entered for the the Olympic Men's 10000 metres in Tokyo next year.😉

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tajjuk

tajjuk

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Wilf said:

You're right, it was really impressive how he took both goals because each time his first touch was good and he got the shots away instantly after the first touch, defenders and keepers only need a split second to anticipate and block but he didn't give them that.

This is one of the signs of of top class striker (compare with the time it takes a midfield player like Armstrong to get his shots away, hits the ball well if given time, but often gets crowded out).

He was doing that for a lot of his Brum goals, either first time or one touch and then quick hits, which didn't allow keepers to get a set position to make the save. The first one shows that, people will say Henderson shouldn't get beaten at the near post but he's beaten by the early shot, a little touch to just get the angle and he shoots straight away. Like you say sign of a good finisher, he just needed the confidence and that first goal. Hope he carries it on next season. 

Vestergaard not good enough, just not suited to the league, I am not sure Billy Sharp was ever particularly quick but he's 34 now and he both out paced AND out muscled Vestergaard who got saved by McCarthy, and their goal was from his poor clearance. He's had his chances and its time to go. 

Overall though very pleased, 11th after that horrible start to the season, 52 points. 7 points off 6th, something to build on for next season, real hope we might be able to kick on and maybe challenge top 7. 

Edited by tajjuk
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wild-saint

wild-saint

Posted
Posted

Can’t be arsed to the write much as everyone has hit the nailon the head before me other than Vestergaard really is a fucking terrible centre back. Who the fu(k scouted him? For a player potentially looking for a new club he really couldn’t be arsed to try.

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Hairlesshero

Hairlesshero

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, woodsaint1 said:

The 90 minutes today summed up Alex McCarthy perfectly. Two fantastic stops (one on one against Sharp and then a point blank reaction save) to keep us in the game. Then a moment of madness where he passed it straight to Sharp when under no pressure and then looked like he handled it outside the box. I like him as there is definitely more good than bad however he needs competition too. Cant see it happening but would like to see us move on Forster and Gunn and bring in a new keeper to challenge McCarthy

It was very noticeable how the Sheff Sheff Utd GK always tried to throw the ball  out quickly and get his team on the attack while Saints had men committed forward.   McCarthy should do a lot more of this, especially when we are playing against a 5-man defence.

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tajjuk

tajjuk

Posted
Posted (edited)
57 minutes ago, wild-saint said:

Who the fu(k scouted him? For a player potentially looking for a new club he really couldn’t be arsed to try.

I feel like him, Hoedt and possibly Gunn as well were more lauded for their ball playing ability than their actual main jobs, maybe we thought if we could improve their defensive side we'd have some very complete players on our hands but it just hasn't worked out. (though it still might with Gunn who is young for a keeper). 

We can't afford (nor will they come) complete players, so we have to get people that are a little raw that hopefully can be improved, often it won't work out and their weaknesses will remain their weaknesses. 

But McCarthy is a good example, but the other way round he's an excellent shot stopped, good at cross, but his distribution is wank and has cost in games, and almost did today. Can he be improved or will Gunn maybe come good as a better shot stopper as he is a much better with his distribution or do we go out and find someone new that might tick both boxes. 

Though Hoedt's main weaknesss was always his attitude, he thinks he is a lot better than he actually is and that is always an obstruction to improvement. Vestergaard just can't seem to keep up with the pace of the game, you'd hope by now that is positioning and reading of the game might have improved to compensate, like other big slow centre backs have, someone like Mertersacker was a good example, knew his limitations but read the game and had a good starting position, but Vestergaard to me seems to always want to win the ball in front of attackers and be on the front foot, which means he gets caught on the turn and in behind too easily. 

 

Edited by tajjuk
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SNSUN

SNSUN

Posted
Posted

Great end to the season and very much a season of three thirds. Spanked by Burnley in the first game didn’t look good, and bar a 3 match unbeaten spell we were poor, culminating in the Leicester defeat which was rock bottom. In the second third we improved as Ralph made changes, players improved and we had a great Christmas, but still tailed off until March and we were potentially on the beach already, Then COVID came along, we had time to reset, and in the last ‘third’ since the restart we have been immense. 

As shown today, the team spirit is excellent. I thought we were poor in the first half but great in the second half. Ings was so selfless today, at one point he had a chance for a header but knew there was a better placed player Behind him. Great saves from McCarthy too but he needs to irradiate the brain farts. A good win today and a great end to the season. I won a couple of Fantasy Leagues too. 

With the quick turnaround time between seasons, I hope we get our business done quick and I hope the players return as fit as they returned from lockdown. This has been the best season since Koeman’s last, bar a few blips along the way. Long may Ralph reign.

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