Fulham 0-0 Saints - Reaction

[Dan Johnson]

Currently 1pt off champions league and 3pts off second after 15 games and people are moaning ffs 🤦‍♂️ 

Get a grip, that is an unbelievable return so far with our squad.

[trousers]

Was otherwise occupied this afternoon so didn't get to watch the game. From the reactions on here, it would appear the game had 0-0 written all over it...?

Still, same points as Chelsea after 15 games. Could be worse. 

[sad saints fan]

1 hour ago, Maya's Dad said:

that im sorry should most definitely not be our main objective. our form since the start of the season has shown that we can compete at the top half of the table. the oppportuity was there to move up the table and we didnt take it. ralph contributed to that if you ask me

Sorry but I still say get to forty points and then we can take chances in a game like that . The way it was going a point needed to be protected.

[Convict Colony]

11 minutes ago, Appy said:

I mean, they’re playing Chelsea 

hahaha fairpoint but i meant that if we were playing chelsea we probably wouldnt get it but anyway i have to say with our trips to arsenal and fulham i am disappointed with 2 draws so that is progress.

Really like how we played in the last few weeks, everything was clicking, today it must be the changes.

 

Anyone know what Ralph said ?

[macca155]

4 players missing, Fulham with three consecutive draws (including Liverpool) and fighting for their lives, , VAR karma biting, and it is Boxing day ... I guess we need to accept a point and move on. Would have liked three but December's fixtures were always going to be grizzly and the old adage 'first don't lose' stands true.

I thought Stephens stepped in well, he'll be needed for at least a month and hopefully he'll regain the confidence he had last year. Diallo played well, he is clearly a ball winner but not so hot on distribution. The side clearly missed Romeo but Ibrahima certainly gained valuable experience. Let's not make the same mistake we all made with Vestergaard, he is young and it takes time to establish yourself in a premier league team.

Walcott put a lot of work in, he seemed to be defending alongside Walker Peters on many occasions. He buzzed, harried their defenders, won free kicks, defended .... nothing brilliant but he did his job. My issue is why on earth Ralph played Long. He's been a great servant for Saints but his fitness has gone and he really was anonymous. This game cried out for N'Lundulu, full of running and probably able to force mistakes from nervous Fulham defenders. Or play one of Djneppo/Tella/Redmond and partner Adams with Walcott.

Guess we just need to keep the faith.

One last point, the cameras kept flicking to Forster sitting on the bench looking miserable. His salary is 3.5 million pounds a year...... 3.5 million! Roughly 70K a week. That would make me smile even if I wasn't playing. It takes 5000 of us season ticket holders to cover that salary, and he actually gets to see the game live. Smile big man we are going to need you at some point.

 

 

[saintadjg]

How anyone could possibly think that was ball to hand or accidental is beyond me. He very clearly leaned toward the ball forcing contact , that is handball all day long. He wasn't already leaning he leaned as the ball was going passed. This is exactly what VAR should be picking up. Same as KWP it should have been a free kick at the very least as neither were given by the ref then he has made a clear and obvious error.

[egg]

52 minutes ago, Dan Johnson said:

Currently 1pt off champions league and 3pts off second after 15 games and people are moaning ffs 🤦‍♂️ 

Get a grip, that is an unbelievable return so far with our squad.

People are moaning because we were poor today. We looked disjointed, lacking in ideas, and no creativity. There can be no criticism of people for pointing that out. 

[Greenridge]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

People are moaning because we were poor today. We looked disjointed, lacking in ideas, and no creativity. There can be no criticism of people for pointing that out. 

Missing 3 of our best players makes us a lower middle half performing team ergo a draw and that performance shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone and makes the criticism and moaning pointless. 

[Red]

We are better than we were last year/years and a gradual improvement, so that's a positive. I think anyone who thought we were the finished article or havens forbid champions material now know we are some way off that. Our starting 11 is fairly decent - can it be improved, sure but with our spending power it will be tough. Beyond that we are average at best. 

Ralph is a great manager but blind sighted in some aspects - plan B for counteracting "park the bus" teams, too slow to bring on subs at times, and for someone who is famed for blooding new/youth players he's been very hesitant - ok, not everyone at the same time but an odd 30 minutes here and here to see if there is potential in our reserves?

Overall though in over 40 years of supporting the Saints I think this is one of our better moments and long may it continue - just frustrating that with just a bit more investment we could be so much better. 

[CB Fry]

2 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Could say the same about Leicester, and look where they are in the league.

On the form of the last year we’ve got every right to believe we could push for a europa league spot, especially with the way the season has started for us - however not killing off games is costing us, you’d have every right to say that’s the third away game on the bounce we really should have won.

Leicester are a whole 3 points ahead of us.

[egg]

Just now, Greenridge said:

Missing 3 of our best players makes us a lower middle half performing team ergo a draw and that performance shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone and makes the criticism and moaning pointless. 

Moaning is always pointless, but that performance wasn't worthy of praise was it. Missing our new best CB shouldn't have been a great issue and defensively at least, it wasn't. Diallo and JWP in midfield should have been enough to dominate in there, but it wasn't. Our reject Reed played far better than Diallo. Adams was poor, Long shocking bar one shot straight at the keeper and an offside goal. 

We were poor in a game we should have won with the players available. 

[Harry_SFC]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

Moaning is always pointless, but that performance wasn't worthy of praise was it. Missing our new best CB shouldn't have been a great issue and defensively at least, it wasn't. Diallo and JWP in midfield should have been enough to dominate in there, but it wasn't. Our reject Reed played far better than Diallo. Adams was poor, Long shocking bar one shot straight at the keeper and an offside goal. 

We were poor in a game we should have won with the players available. 

I don't think Reed was that good at all, certainly no better than Diallo. Anguissa on the other hand... He looks a proper player. 

 

[OttawaSaint]

22 minutes ago, saintadjg said:

How anyone could possibly think that was ball to hand or accidental is beyond me. He very clearly leaned toward the ball forcing contact , that is handball all day long. He wasn't already leaning he leaned as the ball was going passed. This is exactly what VAR should be picking up. Same as KWP it should have been a free kick at the very least as neither were given by the ref then he has made a clear and obvious error.

Yep, clear as day deliberately moved his arm to deflect the ball. I swear some on here like to play the contrarian because they think it makes them look special. I’d have had no complaints if one of ours had done that and the ref pointed at the spot.

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Pony.

What happened was people moaned about handballs being given as penalties, so they’ve now changed the definition. Surprise surprise, people are moaning about them not being given. I absolutely guarantee had that  been given against us the majority of posters on here would be moaning. 

He moved his arm towards the ball and made contact. What else can it be other than a penalty. Clear cut!

[trousers]

I've just watched the highlights for the first time.

How on Earth was that penalty not given? The Fulham player clearly intended to deflect the ball with his arm. It surely doesn't matter that his arm was in a 'natural' position if there was intent? It's not that he was trying to move his arm away from the ball, quite the opposite. 

P.s. and why on Earth didn't Adams launch his head at the rebound from JWP's excellent free-kick?!

Edited 26 December, 2020 by trousers

[OttawaSaint]

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

I've just watched the highlights for the first time.

How on Earth was that penalty not given? The Fulham player clearly intended to deflect the ball with his arm. It surely doesn't matter that his arm was in a 'natural' position if there was intent? It's not that he was trying to move his arm away from the ball, quite the opposite. 

Absolutely. Anyone saying otherwise is just desperately trying to look like a level headed football expert but failing...badly.

[Convict Colony]

34 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I don't think Reed was that good at all, certainly no better than Diallo. Anguissa on the other hand... He looks a proper player. 

 

yeah I really like anguissa, never heard or watched him before, maybe him their system he thrives but I dont think we will see too many centre mid's getting into the box early.

Thought diallo was good to be honest, recieved the ball and pivots forward quickly, unlucky with the air shot but he was in our best 3-4 players today which for a debut away is not to be sniffed at.

My ratings:

No criticism and played ok

Stephens/Mccarthy/KWP/JWP/Diallo/Adams/Benders

 

Need to be better in the final 3rd

Walcott/betrand

 

Needs to spend time on the bench

Armstrong/long

[Doctorkmt]

Long and adams were never going to score were they! Struggling to think of a less formidable pairing in the epl

[Teddeer]

McGoldrick and Sharpe.

[OldNick]

45 minutes ago, trousers said:

I've just watched the highlights for the first time.

How on Earth was that penalty not given? The Fulham player clearly intended to deflect the ball with his arm. It surely doesn't matter that his arm was in a 'natural' position if there was intent? It's not that he was trying to move his arm away from the ball, quite the opposite. 

P.s. and why on Earth didn't Adams launch his head at the rebound from JWP's excellent free-kick?!

You obviously have not seen the replay where the ball took a spin that you rarely see on a football pitch, it was bizarre. There was no way Che could be ready for that.

[OldNick]

If they have scored there is no way we would have got back in the game.

There is at present a poor connection from midfield to the attack, the passing is poor. Armstrong is one of the main culprits, he does well and then makes a useless pass  

[trousers]

5 minutes ago, OldNick said:

You obviously have not seen the replay where the ball took a spin that you rarely see on a football pitch, it was bizarre. There was no way Che could be ready for that.

Only saw a brief replay so fair enough (Ralph obviously hadn't seen it either, before his post match interviews, as he was aghast that Adams didn't bury the chance)

Edited 26 December, 2020 by trousers

[austsaint]

3 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I think two things came into play today, firstly Fulham are nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe, they have fast and dangerous players and work really hard. I know some will disagree but I thought our bench was extremely lightweight today, changing things was possibly more likely to cost us a point rather than gain us an extra two.

The bench may have been lightweight but surely Nlundulu on for Long earlier was an obvious move and Armstrong's game was again sloppy - he could have made way for Djenepo.    Forgettable game but no lack of graft and effort.   KWP once again stood out....I haven't seen a better RB in the Prem than him.    Midfield were ok; I thought Diallo grew into the game, and he's going to be good for the Club.  Walcott and Adams had their moments too.

[Doctorkmt]

TAA is much much better than KWP

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, austsaint said:

The bench may have been lightweight but surely Nlundulu on for Long earlier was an obvious move and Armstrong's game was again sloppy - he could have made way for Djenepo.    Forgettable game but no lack of graft and effort.   KWP once again stood out....I haven't seen a better RB in the Prem than him.    Midfield were ok; I thought Diallo grew into the game, and he's going to be good for the Club.  Walcott and Adams had their moments too.

Walker, Cancelo, Alexander-Arnold - 3 who spring to mind who are light years ahead of KWP. He's good, but not at their levels.

[Totton Saint]

3 minutes ago, austsaint said:

The bench may have been lightweight but surely Nlundulu on for Long earlier was an obvious move and Armstrong's game was again sloppy - he could have made way for Djenepo.    Forgettable game but no lack of graft and effort.   KWP once again stood out....I haven't seen a better RB in the Prem than him.    Midfield were ok; I thought Diallo grew into the game, and he's going to be good for the Club.  Walcott and Adams had their moments too.

How can any  on say bench was lightweight. We have not seen them play much and never will if today's brief cameos are anything to go by. Both teams contributed to a poor spectacle.  Goodness knows who will play tuesday. It was overlooked Redders was injured too

 

 

[austsaint]

20 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Walker, Cancelo, Alexander-Arnold - 3 who spring to mind who are light years ahead of KWP. He's good, but not at their levels.

You might be right about TAA, but give me KWP over Walker any day of the week.    One thing we could surely agree on is Walker-Peters has been a great buy.

[S-Clarke]

13 minutes ago, austsaint said:

You might be right about TAA, but give me KWP over Walker any day of the week.    One thing we could surely agree on is Walker-Peters has been a great buy.

Easily our best RB since our Clyne days IMO.

[Jonnyboy]

I don't see how the commentators could say a draw was deserved. We had 2 disallowed goals, free kick off the post (plus Adams' miss) penalty shout turned down, and another penalty shout not even checked. 

[Dorchester Saint]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

If they have scored there is no way we would have got back in the game.

There is at present a poor connection from midfield to the attack, the passing is poor. Armstrong is one of the main culprits, he does well and then makes a useless pass  

We had the ball in the net twice ffs 

[fanimal]

Absolutely Johnny boy

[jimmysaint7]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

If they have scored there is no way we would have got back in the game.

There is at present a poor connection from midfield to the attack, the passing is poor. Armstrong is one of the main culprits, he does well and then makes a useless pass  

If we scored there is no way they were getting back into it

[cloggy saint]

Poor, poor, poor, blah blah blah. The way I see it is we got the same result there as Liverpool did. Usually at this stage of the season we're hovering around 17th and nervously looking over our shoulders so I'm quite satisfied with a point and a healthy league position. 

[OttawaSaint]

I guess what people are failing to grasp is that it’s not moaning it’s frustration that we’ve pissed away another 2 points. We should have beaten Arsenal, missed chances vs Wolves, lost 2 points today. We could be in a really good position in the table but annoyingly we’re dropping further down with each game.

[Whitey Grandad]

10 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

I guess what people are failing to grasp is that it’s not moaning it’s frustration that we’ve pissed away another 2 points. We should have beaten Arsenal, missed chances vs Wolves, lost 2 points today. We could be in a really good position in the table but annoyingly we’re dropping further down with each game.

We’re still picking up points though. At the top of the table you  have to keep winning in order to stay there. The games you mention are all away games and we are unbeaten in them.

It wasn’t the greatest of games today but I thought we just edged it with what are limited resources. Fulham were well organised and worked as hard as we did. For Ralph this is a long term project and we are steadily moving in the right direction.

Let’s see how we do against West Ham.

[Chris cooper]

9th now in the league could have been 3rd .. lack of depth .. puzzled that vesty is now 4/5 weeks out wen he had some fluid on his knee reported nothing serious... off to Liverpool perhaps 🤔.. Theo gave the ball away too much today ..diallo did ok and Stephens had a fairly quiet afternoon..salisu will get the nod against Shrewsbury if doesn’t you know we’ve brought a dud 

[Brumsaint]

I was concerned that it would be a worse result when I knew we'd be without the key players. Stephens didn't do much wrong, although he didn't dominate as much as Vestergaard, obviously. Diallo also didn't do a bad job and improved as the game went on. I suggested Long from the start. I was so wrong when I thought he might get into the game better in that case and I found it so hard to believe that Ralph didn't change things earlier. As many have already said, the subs were a joke. Long should have been taken off around 55 minutes at the latest, with Djenepo coming on and Walcott playing up front. N'Lundulu should also have been given a chance if we hadn't improved, so that he got at least 20 minutes, rather than coming on in added time! 

We can score without Ings, but not if we don't learn from our mistakes! I hope we put up a better performance against Wet Sham and get back to scoring ways at the very least, because three games without scoring would start to be very worrying.

 

[rooney]

Poor game from a changed team. Positives were clean sheet and record undefeats, a point away from home and Jack Stephens body block. Unluckly no tp get something from the getting the in the net, Fulham's handball and KWP foul their penalty area.

[Sarnia Cherie]

15 hours ago, SNSUN said:

Yeah this, was our worst performance for ages but with us missing our spine, we still had two disallowed goals, a definite penalty for handball not given, and we hit the bar and missed an open goal. We could have won that despite being poor. Subs needed to be earlier.

 

A point was fair, but we are slowly slipping away from the title fight!

The Title Fight??? What planet do you live on? It's great to have been up amongst the big boys for a while but comparing the quality of players and depth of squad that those teams in the top places enjoy, Saints are not going to be title contenders. 

[Saint_Tony]

fair result, we were fairly solid defensively, but didn't create enough going forward. Walcott so wasteful in possession, something which has hampered him his whole career. Probably should have had a penalty though for the handball, seen plenty of those given when its been more minor

[Sarnia Cherie]

12 hours ago, Doctorkmt said:

Long and adams were never going to score were they! Struggling to think of a less formidable pairing in the epl

I agree. How we miss Ings, especially when there are no decent replacements for him. When I saw Long on the team sheet my heart sank. Fulham may be down in the basement but they have put in a couple of decent performances of late. Teams down there are fighting for survival, even at this stage of the season. We ought to know, Saints have been in that position often enough. Adams has been slow to adapt to the Prem but he was gradually improving with Ings beside him and has scored a few. I hope he can develop into a formidable striker which we desperately need but I won't hold my breath. 

[Chez]

53 minutes ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

The Title Fight??? What planet do you live on? It's great to have been up amongst the big boys for a while but comparing the quality of players and depth of squad that those teams in the top places enjoy, Saints are not going to be title contenders. 

Leicester won it with a wafer thin squad. They got on a roll and then the belief took them places. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Leicester won it with a wafer thin squad. They got on a roll and then the belief took them places. 

it was a freak season for everyone - especially Leicester, whereby none of their squad got injured, absolutely insane and unheard of. So whilst they didn't have a big squad, they didn't have to delve into it a great deal. They were able to play that core group for 90% of the season.

We have already hit injuries to our core group, long term as well.

[VectisSaint]

1 hour ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

The Title Fight??? What planet do you live on? It's great to have been up amongst the big boys for a while but comparing the quality of players and depth of squad that those teams in the top places enjoy, Saints are not going to be title contenders. 

The title fight, sure we were never really in that, but just remember we are 4 points behind 2nd and 6th equal on points, and that is after a little bit of a sticky patch, and 5 of the big 6 played. It's not bad really. 

[AlexLaw76]

I thought we were dreadful in the 1st half and better in the 2nd

The goals ruled out were correct (obviously) and the penalty shout (for us) - you see them given.

I thought a draw was a fair result. Our disallowed goals (due to a few inches), verus their air shot, free header and brilliant block by stephens.

KwP was my MoM but the rest were a bit rubbish.

Bertrand offered little, Walcott kept giving the ball away, Adams offers little goal threat, Long was anonymous, Diallo was average at the very best.

Stephens was good but did go wandering at times, leaving loads of space in the box and generally feel that had we played a better side, we would have been finished by HT.

I can't help feel that we have hit a bit of a brick wall, for all our good play (like against city - great team admittedly, and against a terrible Arsenal), we just don't particularly trouble the opposition keeper. It seems teams defend deep and compact against us and it is hurting.

I would not be surprised if we are soon in bottom half of the table until vestergaard and more importantly, Ings are match fit and back. 

Edited 27 December, 2020 by AlexLaw76

[The Cat]

27 minutes ago, Chez said:

Leicester won it with a wafer thin squad. They got on a roll and then the belief took them places. 

They also had Vardy, Mahrez and Kante who are all far better than any of our players. 

[hasper57saint]

This time yesterday had we won 2-0 we would be fourth. However, fortunes change so quickly that we now find ourself 9th. One point off 5th and just two points off 4th. Stop the bloody whinging and recognise that we are still a vast improvement on last season and leave the 0-0 behind. We didn’t lose as Mr. Lawrenson predicted. I am quite impressed our goal difference too. Wet Spam on Tuesday and a chance for us to increase both the points and the goal difference. What’s not to like?

[Chez]

11 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

it was a freak season for everyone - especially Leicester, whereby none of their squad got injured, absolutely insane and unheard of. So whilst they didn't have a big squad, they didn't have to delve into it a great deal. They were able to play that core group for 90% of the season.

We have already hit injuries to our core group, long term as well.

I'm a realist and know Saints wining the league is a pipe dream, but it can be done. Not sure it can be done without Ings at his best though. 

[Chez]

27 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I thought we were dreadful in the 1st half and better in the 2nd

The goals ruled out were correct (obviously) and the penalty shout (for us) - you see them given.

I thought a draw was a fair result. Our disallowed goals (due to a few inches), verus their air shot, free header and brilliant block by stephens.

KwP was my MoM but the rest were a bit rubbish.

Bertrand offered little, Walcott kept giving the ball away, Adams offers little goal threat, Long was anonymous, Diallo was average at the very best.

Stephens was good but did go wandering at times, leaving loads of space in the box and generally feel that had we played a better side, we would have been finished by HT.

I can't help feel that we have hit a bit of a brick wall, for all our good play (like against city - great team admittedly, and against a terrible Arsenal), we just don't particularly trouble the opposition keeper. It seems teams defend deep and compact against us and it is hurting.

I would not be surprised if we are soon in bottom half of the table until vestergaard and more importantly, Ings are match fit and back. 

pretty fair analysis of the game. I think we can still win games without those two, but we'd have to play a damn sight better than we did yesterday. Hoofing it down the channel is not going to cut it.

[Chez]

10 minutes ago, The Cat said:

They also had Vardy, Mahrez and Kante who are all far better than any of our players. 

fair point, bloody good players, but perhaps offset by Morgan et al?