Saints vs Spurs - Match Thread

[Disco Stu]

Just now, Toussaint said:

That says more about our failing high press tactic than the defence.

We can't keep a clean sheet. We're conceding goals for fun. That is bad defending and the tactics are a lot to do with that.

[OttawaSaint]

Did I miss it and we hired Baldrick as head of tactics?

I have a cunning plan sir...

[OttawaSaint]

Just need a red or two to really round off a great day...

[John B]

Spurs players seem to be more clinical when finishing that ours

 

They are probably better than ours

[austsaint]

No one has mentioned our awful midfield today - what's happened to JWP this season?   And Smallbone??   Just not good enough.

[OttawaSaint]

Is Ralph throwing games to convince them to open the coffers?

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 minute ago, Viking Saint said:

FFS, has Ralph lost the plot? How obvious is it that you can't play a high line with two pathetically slow CBS? 

How many centre halves are as quick as Son, a handful at most. The lack of pressure on the ball is just as responsible. Way too easy. 

[St.JonB]

We’re playing well going forward but we need to forget about playing this high line. If a crap manager like Mourinho can work us out we are in trouble 

[DG]

Just now, OttawaSaint said:

Is Ralph throwing games to convince them to open the coffers?

We have coffers?

[Toussaint]

Two under 23s on the pitch , that’ll have Spurs panicking 

[BotleySaint]

The defence did well after lockdown. But the frailties we always suspected have now been shown up in full. Lack of pace, strength and noone covering and helping in midfield. Needs a rethink.. and some other options at the back.

Have to hope Salisu is an improvement.. 

Spurs have put the ball in the net 5 times today. Nobody has been near them on any occasion. More to come I fear... 

[madge]

Play a high line when you have quick central defenders. We’ve got no pace and it’s so obvious. What are you thinking Ralph? Now smallbone and tella as our go to replacements, we’ve got a dreadful bench. . What is going on between the ears of our director of football who needs sacking!!! Shambles from top to bottom.

[BotleySaint]

Got that 7-1 feeling to it.

[DG]

CHANGE IT YOU STUPID ****

[S-Clarke]

This defensive highline is insane, what on earth are we doing?

Need to replace Stephens, we have since 2017 really. Bednerak is decent, but still not amazing. McCarthy is bog-standard.

If we continue to play this high line, then we will finish bottom of the league on single figures. 

If we want to play a high line, we need a new GK, a new CB and Salisu in from next week. That won't happen though, so to preserve our position we need to scrap this insanity.

[saint michael]

It’s like watching a kids game. Defence on the half way line. Ball over the top. They score.....

[StrangelyBrown]

What is the high line all about?? We have a keeper who is shit with his feet and indecisive so can't play as a sweeper and 2 slow centre backs. Absolutely shocking.

Bad tactics has lost this game for us

[wadesmith]

It’s fucking Leicester all over again.

[stknowle]

This is just utter utter crap. Seriously WTF are we playing at. 

[jimmer42]

Don't blame McCarthy for this. He has been left totally exposed by totally inept centre halves

[Lord Duckhunter]

When is someone going to put a fucking tackle in. 

[Lighthouse]

So two defeats in two fixtures we won last year. Good start Saints.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

The defence did well after lockdown. But the frailties we always suspected have now been shown up in full. Lack of pace, strength and noone covering and helping in midfield. Needs a rethink.. and some other options at the back.

Have to hope Salisu is an improvement.. 

Spurs have put the ball in the net 5 times today. Nobody has been near them on any occasion. More to come I fear... 

The coaches and ralph have adjusted our line during pre-season, we play a higher line now. Why they decided that is beyond me and why they continue to play with it and put players like Stephens and Bednerak to the sharks, is beyond me.

Really, really staggering. 

[DG]

CHANGE IT YOU STUPID ****

[BotleySaint]

Well.. that's the early season optimism firmly put to bed. Ralph will surely change things after this. But this kind of start could set the tone for the whole season.. 

[Chapel End]

Stupid stupid f**king high line yet we continue to play it coupled with letting Son stay all alone every time...

Complete embarassment

Edited 20 September, 2020 by Chapel End

[Bananaman]

Loss to Palace, we were awful; midweek, at near full-strength, we were worst; This is embarrassing, could end with 6 or 7.  The sponsor issue, no contact from the club re. the £60 tshirt I've paid for but not received; three CMs sold, none brought in. This club sometimes. Just pisses me off. You can understand why so many kids will just wanna supports these 'big teams' amateur bullshit. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, StrangelyBrown said:

What is the high line all about?? We have a keeper who is shit with his feet and indecisive so can't play as a sweeper and 2 slow centre backs. Absolutely shocking.

Bad tactics has lost this game for us

All Ralph has done is hang Stephens and Bedernak out to dry, anyone with a braincell can see that McCarthy, Stephens and Bednerak cannot play such a highline. They are too slow.

Maybe this change is an adjustment for Salisu, but make the fucking adjustment when he's in the side, not before. Why does Ralph score own goals like this tactically?

[Teddeer]

Ralph has seriously lost the plot. We do not have the players to make this ridiculous high-line system work and will take some hammerings until he changes it. What was wrong with the system that saw us play so well after the lock-down?

[Bananaman]

Oh.. and most of our players would warm the bench in most teams. 

[Toussaint]

We are bottom if we concede another 

[Turkish]

This is shambolic.

[S-Clarke]

They need to rip up whatever the plan is and start again after this shitshow.

Need new additions in ASAP. Hopefully this signals the end of Romeu, Stephens et all. Not good enough, this has shown up every limitation of Stephens game.

Edited 20 September, 2020 by S-Clarke

[Chapel End]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

All Ralph has done is hang Stephens and Bedernak out to dry, anyone with a braincell can see that McCarthy, Stephens and Bednerak cannot play such a highline. They are too slow.

Maybe this change is an adjustment for Salisu, but make the fucking adjustment when he's in the side, not before. Why does Ralph score own goals like this tactically?

This completly.... its all at ralphs door

[DG]

Leave the room and they score another.

 

[Chapel End]

Pathetic 2nd half display

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

All Ralph has done is hang Stephens and Bedernak out to dry, anyone with a braincell can see that McCarthy, Stephens and Bednerak cannot play such a highline. They are too slow.

Maybe this change is an adjustment for Salisu, but make the fucking adjustment when he's in the side, not before. Why does Ralph score own goals like this tactically?

Bobby Moore & Jack Charlton in their Prime would struggle playing a high line when the midfield don’t make a tackle. Pathetic, from the captain today. Like a little boy lost. 

[DT]

This season’s Leicester performance. Something very wrong behind the scenes. Utterly appalling. 

[wild-saint]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

They need to rip up whatever the plan is and start again after this shitshow.

Need new additions in ASAP. 

The bizzare thing is it was blindingly obvious that the high line would fail once they started getting tired. Played well going forward but it was just a matter of time before the goals started flowing. Spurs ironically have been poor but just exploited hoisted balls over the top.

major fuck up by RH to the point of whether I would question whether he has done it deliberately?

[Teddeer]

This is on Ralph I'm afraid.

[Bananaman]

There you go: "Harry Kane has had more assists in the past 28 minutes than in the whole of last season"... Ralph needs to own this. 

[BotleySaint]

Bet they can't believe their luck. They could hardly be bothered in the first half. Now they've got probably their biggest win of the season after 2 games.

[austsaint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

They need to rip up whatever the plan is and start again after this shitshow.

Need new additions in ASAP. Hopefully this signals the end of Romeu, Stephens et all. Not good enough, this has shown up every limitation of Stephens game.

Yet Romeu's been no worse than Ward-Prowse, has he?   And who is it that thinks Smallbone is a Prem mid-fielder?   And Tella an attacking mid-fielder.

[hypochondriac]

This saints team just disappoints and upsets me. We all know we can play much much better than this so I'm afraid I have to place the blame at the managers door with these tactic which don't really make any sense at all 

[DT]

Absolute shower of shite, the lot of them. 

[CamSaint]

Still, look on the bright side - at least Bale wasn't fit & available!

[S-Clarke]

Just now, wild-saint said:

The bizzare thing is it was blindingly obvious that the high line would fail once they started getting tired. Played well going forward but it was just a matter of time before the goals started flowing. Spurs ironically have been poor but just exploited hoisted balls over the top.

major fuck up by RH to the point of whether I would question whether he has done it deliberately?

Playing as high as we have this season has been an own goal and I'm not sure why. Palace could have had a couple against us, they caught us. Brentford caught us.

Tottenham, with their superior quality, have rinsed us. Really be interesting to hear Ralph's views, but it feels as if something has gone on behind the scenes. Maybe Stephens and Bednerak have the pace of Traore in training or something? I have no explanation for why he thinks they can play that high, I honestly don't.

[northam soul]

It’s beyond belief how we have persisted with these tactics when After 20 minutes it was obviously not working.

 

[UpweySaint]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

This saints team just disappoints and upsets me. We all know we can play much much better than this so I'm afraid I have to place the blame at the managers door with these tactic which don't really make any sense at all 

Agree Ralph's got this wrong but blame all around. Our bench is such a sad reflection of where we currently are. This is largely the same squad that have been struggling for 3+ seasons.

 

 

[stknowle]

3 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Well.. that's the early season optimism firmly put to bed. Ralph will surely change things after this. But this kind of start could set the tone for the whole season.. 

He fucked about with or line ups and formations like this at the start of last season. We all know where that led us. Quite why the fuck he’s experimenting again is totally beyond me. Oh, and our options off the bench are fucking embarrassing. I don’t ever expect to see Will Smallbone come on to the pitch and change a game for us.