Saints 0-0 West Ham - Match Thread

[Dusic]

I hope they are ultra careful with Ings rather than try to rush him back too soon, even if from the bench.

He has had an operation and a separate injury all within 2 months, and we shouldnt have tried to make him play 3 games in a week, and had a lucky escape that its seemingly not too bad this time.

With the FA cup weekend thrown in, hopefully he doesnt play many mins til after that.

[Convict Colony]

3 minutes ago, benjii said:

Does anyone apart from me quite like the idea of Djenepo up front with Adams for this one? Means we can leave Walcott playing where he has been and Djenepo should be less likely to pick up a yellow card in the first half.

I can go for that playboy only if he is the forward who drops into space to recieve the ball and turn and run.

[Pilchards]

1 hour ago, Saint-Reece said:

Ings back training from the pictures just posted on the official Twitter feed. 

Great news but I expect he will be on the bench.

Was JWP in the photos as I heard he maybe out.

[davefizzy14]

Just now, Pilchards said:

Great news but I expect he will be on the bench.

Was JWP in the photos as I heard he maybe out.

Yes Prowsey was in the training gallery

[egg]

16 minutes ago, benjii said:

Does anyone apart from me quite like the idea of Djenepo up front with Adams for this one? Means we can leave Walcott playing where he has been and Djenepo should be less likely to pick up a yellow card in the first half.

Not for me, I can't see him playing with his back to goal. He's a winger all day long. I'd play N'Lundulu who I think has something about him. 

[Vancouver Saint]

I'm with Ottawa on the Shane Long discussion. He's no doubt a lovely person and a good servant of the club, but his commentator cliche description as 'not a natural goal-scorer but a hard-running, hard-working 'constant nuisance' to defenders' is wearing thin. He doesn't challenge or even jump for 50:50 high balls in the top half of the pitch and - as we all know - the minute he's named in the squad we know there's one less person in the team who is going to score a goal. I don't think he can hold the ball up as well as others, his positional sense and ball control skills are weaker than other options.

I would much rather see what our supposedly super-talented young strikers can do and given a full game to prove themselves.

Think Walcott has got a second lease of life at his home club, is working really hard front and back...and certainly deserves a start. Djenepo I like, but he needs more grit and less prickle...much better going forward than back, just needs to be given the brief to run at people and be forgiven losing possession once or twice doing so. Hopefully will score a couple quickly and gain confidence he needs. Redmond a great player in there but something is wrong...hiding a foot injury, brittle confidence?

Vestergard a big loss now...in defence, attack and play-making. Hope Bednarak can learn from him and add a 40-yard cross-field diagonal pass to the wing-backs into his game. KWP a revelation...showing up Bertrand's increasing lack of edge.

Would be very happy to have this posted back at me if Long starts and scores a hatrick in a 3-0 win tomorrow! (or any day for that matter).

[lambtiss]

1 hour ago, Vancouver Saint said:

I'm with Ottawa on the Shane Long discussion. He's no doubt a lovely person and a good servant of the club, but his commentator cliche description as 'not a natural goal-scorer but a hard-running, hard-working 'constant nuisance' to defenders' is wearing thin. He doesn't challenge or even jump for 50:50 high balls in the top half of the pitch and - as we all know - the minute he's named in the squad we know there's one less person in the team who is going to score a goal. I don't think he can hold the ball up as well as others, his positional sense and ball control skills are weaker than other options.

I would much rather see what our supposedly super-talented young strikers can do and given a full game to prove themselves.

Think Walcott has got a second lease of life at his home club, is working really hard front and back...and certainly deserves a start. Djenepo I like, but he needs more grit and less prickle...much better going forward than back, just needs to be given the brief to run at people and be forgiven losing possession once or twice doing so. Hopefully will score a couple quickly and gain confidence he needs. Redmond a great player in there but something is wrong...hiding a foot injury, brittle confidence?

Vestergard a big loss now...in defence, attack and play-making. Hope Bednarak can learn from him and add a 40-yard cross-field diagonal pass to the wing-backs into his game. KWP a revelation...showing up Bertrand's increasing lack of edge.

Would be very happy to have this posted back at me if Long starts and scores a hatrick in a 3-0 win tomorrow! (or any day for that matter).

very good summary

[Harry_SFC]

15 minutes ago, craig said:

very good summary

Agree with a lot of this but not with Djenepo not being able to defend - it's an area of his game which he has improved massively. Arguably he has actually regressed going forwards! 

[Dorchester Saint]

If Ings is fit then he must start, his presence alone gives the team a huge lift and his work rate is priceless . 

[woodsaint1]

4 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Agree with a lot of this but not with Djenepo not being able to defend - it's an area of his game which he has improved massively. Arguably he has actually regressed going forwards! 

Would agree, but he also has a tendency to rush in or leave a leg out and picks up silly bookings (and has been sent off)

[Saint Pete]

1 hour ago, Dorchester Saint said:

If Ings is fit then he must start, his presence alone gives the team a huge lift and his work rate is priceless . 

If he is fully fit then yes he would start. The suspicion would be it’s too soon for that to be the case. You are right about his importance to the team, which is why it’s sensible not to rush things and risk him being out for longer and more games. Suspect he will start on bench and come on for last half hour or so.

[skintsaint]

Really good chance today to get a bit of a gap between us and the bottom half of the table. 

[niceandfriendly]

32 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Really good chance today to get a bit of a gap between us and the bottom half of the table. 

That would be bloody lovely. The league is still so tight and if we're not careful we could find ourselves dropping into the lower echelons of the table with a couple of bad results. 

Would love to think we can beat West Ham but just can't see it, especially with Vester out and Ings possibly not back to his best yet. Think they're favorites but a draw is probably the best we can hope for tonight.

[Pilchards]

7 hours ago, niceandfriendly said:

That would be bloody lovely. The league is still so tight and if we're not careful we could find ourselves dropping into the lower echelons of the table with a couple of bad results. 

Would love to think we can beat West Ham but just can't see it, especially with Vester out and Ings possibly not back to his best yet. Think they're favorites but a draw is probably the best we can hope for tonight.

They’re favourites?

Seriously we have a better home record now, Only UTD and CITY have beaten us recently and it was very close.

We also had a full day and a half to prepare for this game while West Ham have another game on Friday.

 

Edited 29 December, 2020 by Pilchards

[SuperSAINT]

12 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

They’re are favourites?

Seriously we have a better home record now, Only UTD and CITY have beaten us recently and it was very close.

We also had a full day and a half to prepare for this game while West Ham have another game on Friday.

 

Biggest problem we will face is aerially without Vest.

[Pilchards]

47 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

Biggest problem we will face is aerially without Vest.

What’s wrong with Walker-Peters?

[Charlie Wayman]

Quite interesting stat that 8 of the top 10 have drawn their last match, suggesting that most of the teams are much of a muchness, hard to break down in defence but also finding it increasingly difficult to score. Is this a sign of clubs adopting ever more defensive tactics following the maxim that if they keep a clean sheet they will get something from the game?  Or could it be that strikers with notoriously fragile confidence are finding it increasingly difficult to raise their game without crowds singing their names and pushing them on?

What it does mean is that a win by any of the clubs gives them a chance of moving quickly up the table. Despite our recent run of indifferent form we find ourselves in just this position, win tonight and conceivably we could be in the top 4 whether we deserve to be or not is a mute question. 

It is going to be a miserable day today, rain, sleet and temps just above Zero, not ideal for football and certainly not designed to bring the best out of players born in hotter climes. I fear a dour, rugged and mistake strewn game in which one goal will win it. It will come down to who makes that vital error leading to the goal and my money is on Stephens who is reliably error prone, like passing to the oppo's when clearing the lines or falling asleep on the job.

I fear a typical Saints missed opportunity with the chance to go 4th. For me Hammers will snatch it 1-0.

[Totton Saint]

15 hours ago, suewhistle said:

"Trash"? That's a rather strong word, do you really mean it or just have a small vocabulary and look at everything in black and white?  Do you mean that everybody who doesn't play week in week out in the premier league is trash? Could you criticise a player without being so sweeping and uninformative? Which do you think are the weakest points of his game? Do you think he has any reasonable attributes to have played so many games in the top flight?

Nah, you go with "trash".

 

Trash is an Americanism. At least use an English word for example - rubbish.

[fez]

20 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

It will come down to who makes that vital error leading to the goal and my money is on Stephens who is reliably error prone, like passing to the oppo's when clearing the lines or falling asleep on the job.

I was quite impressed by Stephens against Fulham. He's no more likely to make a serious mistake than anyone else. 

If you look at KUMB they're more pessmistic about their prospects than we are about ours https://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=179314&start=100

Edited 29 December, 2020 by fez

[Mr X]

Tricky tricky game we will be very lucky to get a draw with our injuries & current form! Long shouldn't be any where near the pitch except for last ten minutes 

[saintwbu]

If Antonio is out i’ll be much more confident. Glad we’ve got Romeu back for this one, Rice makes them tick, we’ll need to win it in midfield to have a chance of getting 3 points. Without Antonio they don’t have a great deal of pace, which is good for us, but they’re a big threat from set pieces with Soucek particularly. Would love to banish some demons and finally beat West Ham for once!

[the saint in winchester]

All the pre-game write ups say Antonio is OUT ….. but you never know. Funny ol' game, Saint, funny ol' game.

About time we played for a win, not a clean sheet. Play N'Dululu or Obafemi up top and tell Walcott to back them up.

[BallBoy]

37 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

All the pre-game write ups say Antonio is OUT ….. but you never know. Funny ol' game, Saint, funny ol' game.

About time we played for a win, not a clean sheet. Play N'Dululu or Obafemi up top and tell Walcott to back them up.

BBC say Antonio back in training following a hamstring problem. That seems like code for either playing or on the the bench. We just couldn't handle him last year. I do hope he is out but, obviously, I hope Danny is either playing or at least on the bench. 

[skintsaint]

Sounds like Antonio is in the same boat as Ings in preparation for this game, and we would expect Ings to be on the bench.

Edited 29 December, 2020 by skintsaint

[Chris cooper]

Antonio plays Stephens has a tough night ahead.. he still having nightmares from being beaten up last season ..just couldn’t handle him ! I think Antonio will come on late on which will be IMO more crucial as Stephens and bednerak will be then laboured .. expect a rollercoaster Last 15 minutes tonight I’m going irons winner in last 5 .. sorry but we have no depth and will again be found wanting 

[Millbrook Saint]

Stephens should no way play, he is a complete liability with no positional sense when the ball is crossed in, off the top of my head I can think of an instance against Fulham where he was running back next to their striker as their winger raced down the side, by the time the ball was crossed in he'd drifted 5 yards from the striker, leaving him a free header from the penalty spot, luckily for us Fulham are crap and it went over, we won't be so lucky against West Ham.

Would much prefer Salisu get his chance, don't care if it's his first game, if he's good enough to be on the bench, he should be good enough to start, Stephens is such a liability he should be no where near starting for us.

[Mr X]

29 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

Stephens should no way play, he is a complete liability with no positional sense when the ball is crossed in, off the top of my head I can think of an instance against Fulham where he was running back next to their striker as their winger raced down the side, by the time the ball was crossed in he'd drifted 5 yards from the striker, leaving him a free header from the penalty spot, luckily for us Fulham are crap and it went over, we won't be so lucky against West Ham.

Would much prefer Salisu get his chance, don't care if it's his first game, if he's good enough to be on the bench, he should be good enough to start, Stephens is such a liability he should be no where near starting for us.

Is he as bad as you suggest though? I think not, yes he's had bad games but he's had some great ones too, we will need experience against a dogged battling side like West ham 

Edited 29 December, 2020 by Mr X

[miserableoldgit]

Was there a press conference for this match??

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

Was there a press conference for this match??

Don't think they usually do one for games between Xmas and New Year?

[Appy]

3 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

Was there a press conference for this match??

He did his preview for tonight's game in the post match Fulham presser.

[miserableoldgit]

Ahh...that explains why I couldn't find it! Cheers!

[trousers]

36 minutes ago, Millbrook Saint said:

if he's good enough to be on the bench, he should be good enough to start

<MLG Mode>

That often used phrase doesn't really stack up, logically. Statistically, a player on the bench is highly unlikely to play more than 45 minutes. More likely 30 mins or less. Ergo, it's not unreasonable to have a player who is 'not ready' to play a full game named on the bench.

(I suspect Ings will fit into this category today)

[Puddings and Monkeys]

I'm glad our players and management team have more bite and backbone within them than most of our fans do.

[Pamplemousse]

Back to winning ways tonight, 4-0 with a Long goal off his penis again

[suewhistle]

Well, knowing Long part of him would be offside! 🙂

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, Millbrook Saint said:

Stephens should no way play, he is a complete liability with no positional sense when the ball is crossed in, off the top of my head I can think of an instance against Fulham where he was running back next to their striker as their winger raced down the side, by the time the ball was crossed in he'd drifted 5 yards from the striker, leaving him a free header from the penalty spot, luckily for us Fulham are crap and it went over, we won't be so lucky against West Ham.

Would much prefer Salisu get his chance, don't care if it's his first game, if he's good enough to be on the bench, he should be good enough to start, Stephens is such a liability he should be no where near starting for us.

The problem is that Ralph is risk averse and so very unlikely to start Salisu against this dogged and skilful WestHam side. We saw on Saturday how Diallo struggled on his first start with the pace of the modern PL game especially in the first half and a similar shock-wave would engulf Salisu. He wouldn't have time to settle in and then speed up. Last thing we need is to go one down early on. Stephens will get the nod again for that reason, we don't have anybody else!

[Charlie Wayman]

48 minutes ago, Puddings and Monkeys said:

I'm glad our players and management team have more bite and backbone within them than most of our fans do.

If ever there was a meaningless statement this is it! How many of 'our fans" do you actually know?

Reminder for you;

Fans watch = passive

Players play = active

Managers manage = active

[Hodgey]

Might just be me - but I recall many an awful performance v Hammers, hope tonight is different but I’m worried about defending corners with no Vest. We can’t play Long and Adams again - that partnership doesn’t look like it will ever work - assuming no Ings we need to play Walcott up front again and recall Djenepo. Rom back big plus as their midfield with Souchek and Rice are strong and mobile. Hopefully both teams try and play tonight

[fanimal]

Agree with Hodgey

[Wade Garrett]

Longy will tear them apart tonight.  

[trousers]

[Toadhall Saint]

Just now, trousers said:

Ah bollox. Other than that hopefully all is ok with RH and his family 

[qwertyell]

7 minutes ago, trousers said:

Welp, that's us fucked. We're not going to be one of those teams that performs better without the manager around. Ralph absolutely drives the boys from the sidelines.

Thought his family were still living in Germany...

Anyway, get well soon, boss.

[CB Fry]

9 minutes ago, trousers said:

Onto the cruise ship with you sunshine.

[VectisSaint]

31 minutes ago, trousers said:

Likely to be out for Liverpool as well then, and for all the training between games. Bad news. 

[Appy]

It's bad news, but it's a bloody pandemic, these things will happen, just have to get on with it.

[JRM]

27 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

Welp, that's us fucked. We're not going to be one of those teams that performs better without the manager around. Ralph absolutely drives the boys from the sidelines.

Thought his family were still living in Germany...

Anyway, get well soon, boss.

Probably his mistress then. 

Assuming he was at the training ground yesterday there's bound to be others testing positive, can see more games being postponed soon.

Got to say West Ham win based on this. 

[Manuel]

That is a big blow

[beatlesaint]

2 minutes ago, Appy said:

It's bad news, but it's a bloody pandemic, these things will happen, just have to get on with it.

Exactly that.

Although we haven't beaten West Ham at home (certainly this time of year) for a fair while, Antonio will probably be back, we havent won the last game of a calendar year for 9 seasons and the guy that gives them a bollicking when they need it wont be there.......it could look better 🤔

[Master Bates]

16 minutes ago, Appy said:

It's bad news, but it's a bloody pandemic, these things will happen, just have to get on with it.

Awaiting team news with baited breath 👍