Villa 3-4 Saints

[Donatello]

Hmmm, I guess the injuries prevented us from making tactical changes to the right hand side - which has been rag-dolled the 2nd half. Still a good result. Was excellent at 4 nil.

[Lighthouse]

Still last on MotD. Shame about the injuries.

[trousers]

Never any doubt

[BotleySaint]

Total collapse. All those who were worried at 3 nil is justified. Thank goodness Ings scored when he did.

[Baird of the land]

Not great 2nd half apart from ings wonder strike.

Got the result, glad that 3nd went in, in the 97 minute when the game was over.

Worrying on the injury front, especially danny.

Thought all 3 replacements played rather poorly.

[Pamplemousse]

As well as we played to get to 4-0, and Villa coming back, that was absolutely terrible game management. 

[obelisk]

Quite a poor performance. The second half was particularly dire. Grealish given the freedom of the park.

[striker]

Glad there was not 8 extra minutes. Great win though. Fingers crossed on Ings

[waylander]

Eased off far too much. Should have kept it to 4-1. But still a good win.

[skintsaint]

no surprise JS comes on and we go to bits at the back. Walker-Peters awful as well.

Hopefully injuries not too serious. 3 points though and some cracking goals!! 

Top 3

[S-Clarke]

Pretty rubbish after 60 mins really. Dreadful collapse. 

Can't go doing that or we'll start losing lots of games.

KWP had a disaster and Armstrong didn't help him defensively at all. Stephens presence seemed to unsettle everyone. We were ripped apart down that side all half.

Injuries are the main worry though, it's made this result feel very sour.

Edited 1 November, 2020 by S-Clarke

[Sheaf Saint]

We were amazing in the first half and then utter shite in the second. 

I don't like to scapegoat people but it's no coincidence that our defence fell apart when we had to swap Bednarek for Stephens at HT.

Despite having gone 4-0 up, we would have lost that but for McCarthy who was my MOTM. Bonkers really.

Hope the injuries aren't too bad.

[East Kent Saint]

Penalty cheat league :

1. Salah

2.Vardy

3.Grealish

Salah gets “Sack of potatoes “ award for  2 seasons.

[Disco Stu]

You can see why we drop the most points from winning positions. Hard to praise them after that second half. Stephens is a liability too. Hope Ings is okay but it doesn't look good 😕

[hackedoff]

If ever a win could feel like a defeat,that was probably it.

[Viking Saint]

Funny how we can be three goals up and still on tenterhooks, and then the last six minutes proves why. Great 3pts but we should have been more clinical in shutting the game down at 4-0 and not let them back into it. They murdered us down our right hand side second half and didn't get clued on to it and deal with it. Grealish is a horrible little scrote. Looked far more fragile at the back when Bednarek went off. MOTM between JWP for first half and McCarthy for second half. Missed first disallowed goal but officials were shit throughout.

Edited 1 November, 2020 by Viking Saint

[Jimmy_D]

Up to third!

Obviously biggest worry right now is Ings, hope that was just a knock...

Now if Everton could fail to win and we win next Friday we’ll go top!

[Uncle Albert]

Ralf should of made changes earlier.

[Archers Road Stand]

Stephens comes on and we look poor defensively. No coincidence. 

 

2nd half performance takes the gloss off what should have been a very comfortable win. 

[austsaint]

Just now, skintsaint said:

no surprise JS comes on and we go to bits at the back. Walker-Peters awful as well.

Hopefully injuries not too serious. 3 points though and some cracking goals!! 

Top 3

Stevens was quite poor - but Armstrong too was very loose and sloppy in his play allowing Grealish and co much freedom on the left side.   A pity the second half display detracted from those four marvellous goals

[DT]

Great result overall but Diallo very rash and just shows how losing Bednarek and introducing Stephens is still a problem. Ralph’s management of games and subs still seems a bit slow. But hey. Great three points. Ward Prowse amazing again. And hope Ings okay obviously. 

Edited 1 November, 2020 by DT

[Croissaint]

Back to old ways in the second half. 

Don't think Armstrong looked great. 

[OttawaSaint]

The 3 injuries and 3 goals really took the shine off of a fine win. We tried to coast home. 

[Manuel]

Diallo worsened us.  Lost count of the fouls he gave away, plus the pen.  Hopefully just needs to get up to speed.  

 

[Charlie Wayman]

What was the point of sitting back second half, taking our foot off the gas and be satisfied with defending a 4 goal lead. Strange tactics indeed.

Great win nevertheless and JWP simply outstanding today. Stevens has completely lost it, KWP needs cover in our system with full backs charging forward and simply didn't get any after Brednatrek departed.

Three key players injured, not a co-incidence Villa are a dirty side and Grealish is just a foul mouthed lout.

[The Cat]

Feels weird to be deflated after a win. We were fantastic up until 60 minutes at which point it started going all wrong. 

Hope the injuries aren't too bad. Bertrand had his hamstring iced up which isn't a good sign. 

[Professor]

Just noticed that football is a strange game.  Win a 45 minute match 3-0 and then lose a second 45min match against the same team by3-1.  No wonder my Mum never won the football pools 

 

 

[trousers]

We score 4 and jump up to 3rd yet I feel deflated. Oh, the joys of being a Saints fan

 

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Albert said:

Ralf should of made changes earlier.

And left us with 9 or 10 men due to injuries!

[Shroppie]

Hopeful Bednarek is concussion so he should be back. But losing either/both of Bertie/Danny would be bad.

[OttawaSaint]

Don't think we can read too much into the 3 they got. That last goal was a fluke. 

[Sunglasses Ron]

Well I’m happy even if no one else is!

WE’RE 3RD!!!!! 🙂

[redkeith]

Armstrong wasn't helping out KWP at all with Grealish, if not for the injuries I would have taken him off.

We got far too casual after going 4 nil up and struggled to get back to our first half pressing. 

Lets hope the injuries aren't to bad, and that Armstrong can work on his defensive positioning for next week.

 

 

 

 

[striker]

I'm happy also. A win to go to second, no way I can be mad

[washsaint]

If you had said we would beat Villa before the game anyone would have taken it.  Very disappointing 2nd half display but the game was already won and Saints stopped doing what had them destroying Villa.  Understandable and the injuries did not help.

If we can beat Newcastle next weekend then we'll go into the International break sitting pretty: plenty of work for Ralph to do.  Not least Walker-Peters who was terrible and constantly drifts into the middle.  Walcott also anonymous and Armstrong gave the ball away in stupid areas.

However, 13 points from 7 games (especially after the first 2 games) is a very decent return so far 

 

[Østerrike]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

And left us with 9 or 10 men due to injuries!

yes, agreed, i think it is Ralphs fault we are 3rd now

[Kingsland Codger]

Just now, Sunglasses Ron said:

Well I’m happy even if no one else is!

WE’RE 3RD!!!!! 🙂

I'm with Ron on this ... Fantastic result and up to third. What's not to like?

[Colinjb]

A win is a win. Played wonderfully to get to a point where even when we implode it was irrelevant.

Happy birthday to JWP.... He took his goals brilliantly.

[nta786]

For me result is all everything- we got the 3 pts even if it was nervy at the end so my weekend is complete.

However, am worried about Ings and Bednarek. Perhaps the international break will be a blessing if Ings can just about get through the Newcastle game and then have 2 weeks off! 

[badgerx16]

So today's scapegoats are KWP and JS. Regarding KWP, Ralph should have done something tactically to sort out the right hand side in the second half, especially with their short corners. As for JS, we abdicated control of the midfield when we switched off at 4-0, allowed Villa to dominate the game and our defensive organisation went into panic mode.

Still, back to back wins against the top 2 ( at the time ) teams in the league. MOM - JWP in the first half, Macca in thye second.

[stknowle]

Great game will be utterly ruined if Ings' injury is serious. Would be saying that if we'd won 6-0. 

Credit to Villa they came back very well, 10 more minutes we may well have lost after looking utterly imperious first half and still comfortable 2nd pre injuries (noted McCarthy made some very good saves).

[striker]

Also that is 13 out of our last 16 potential points. Go go go.

[Hawkswood]

Why is it weve won away and scored 4 goals yet Im really bloody irritated to concede 3. Bit annoying how we fell away after the fourth.

[washsaint]

Blimey - 13 from 16 points.  Quite amazing that!

LOL - of course I am teasing

[OttawaSaint]

Feels weird, but we won and with great goals too.

Just feels slightly meh with the late goals. Had we surged back to win 4-3 we’d be ecstatic. 

Hopefully we get word about Ings, Bertie and Beds soon and it’s all positive.

[LaptopSaint]

Er lads, we won.

[saintjimbo83]

Clinical finishing, but not the same game management as we saw last week.

Stephens is a liability and should be nowhere near the bench, let alone 11 when Salisu is fit. JWP MOM with Vestergaard a close second.

Worried about Ings and Bertrand, two players we can't replace IMO.

[Shroppie]

Shows the importance of a settled defence. Without Bertie and Bednarek at the end we looked far less secure. Also missed Bednarek playing out from defence.

Another key point was JWP having to go to LB, where he did well, but lost us the composure and movement in midfield. 

Villa are a dirty team and having got three players off they stepped up the pressure, especially in midfield, and we struggled.

[stknowle]

Just now, Hawkswood said:

Why is it weve won away and scored 4 goals yet Im really bloody irritated to concede 3. Bit annoying how we fell away after the fourth.

Well it was heavily influenced by the injuries - which will be far more than irritating if serious - and AV did deserve credit for stepping it up. 

[Wes Tender]

A great game from us to go ahead by the 4 goals and could have been more but for offsides. However the balance of the team was upset when Bednarek went off for Stephens, and further impetus was lost when Ings went off. Villa's headed goal from Mings was unstoppable, but Grealish's penalty was a joke. A great theatrical performance from him, almost as good as Salah's yesterday. But Grealish's goal in the last minute of the match was superb. The way that we had capitulated in the second half, it was a good thing that there was only 6 minutes of extra time.

But looking at the positives, when all is said and done, the important thing is the 3 points against the team that hammered the Scousers 7-2. The stand out performances from us were Ward-Prowse, Vestergaard, McCarthy and Ings, J W-P MOTM by a mile.