Saints 1-0 Liverpool — Reaction

[moonraker]

That was performance of immense character.  It simply expressed  Ralphs passion and ability as a coach.  Picking a stand out performance from a Saints player is to do a disservice to the other 14 but I will, Stephens was immense in an immense defensive effort, he gets a lot of stick on here, tonight he was my MotM. 

Edited 4 January, 2021 by moonraker

[Midfield_General]

Magnificent tonight. Simply magnificent. 

[simo]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

Diallo was excellent.

Just so chilled on the ball never seems panicked. 

[saintwbu]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Good post - glad someone mentioned Moussa. I thought he was full of life at the start as well, but he just cannot shake these muscle injuries. You've got to wonder if he will ever be able to and that's a massive frustration for us and Moussa.

Could be more truth then ever in the Demari Gray rumours.

It was really sad to see. You can see his frustration, he seems like a really lively, bubbly character so to see him like that was actually really hard to watch. Really hope he can shake them, as there’s a lot of talent in there and I think he’s got a lot to offer.

[Hamilton Saint]

Fantastic team effort from all involved.

So proud to see us win with such character.

[Hayling Saint]

13 minutes ago, moonraker said:

That was performance of immense character.  It simply expressed  Ralphs passion and ability as a coach.  Picking a stand out performance from a Saints player is to do a disservice to the other 14 but I will, Stephens was immense in an immense defensive effort, he gets a lot of stick on here, tonight he was my MotM. 

Agree with that, a scapegoat no more (Hopefully) But they will find the next one soon enough.

[Patrick Bateman]

It's been emotional. 

 

F**king hell Ralph, you set me off too.  I haven't loved a Saints team this much for a long time - Koeman's Saints were brilliant, but Ball's Saints followed by Strachan's Saints take some beating for me. 

[Hairlesshero]

2 hours ago, danjosaint said:

New all time record, 1st team to beat 7 league champions the following season

Doesn't appear to be correct though if they are saying seven seasons in a row e.g. in 2017/18 we lost both games against the reigning champions Man City.

Similarly in 2018/19 we lost both games against then reigning champs Chelsea.

[Tamesaint]

Just brilliant. Watching that caused the missus to turn to drink. Can't  say that I blamed her. Matches like that are why we support the Saints and I think that Ralph feels the same way.

Edited 5 January, 2021 by Tamesaint

[Patrick Bateman]

From that RAWK forum "only because the FA Cup is just too unimportant - let the other teams fight it out - I couldn’t care less." 

What an utter c**t. I hate Liverpool and this "football fan" sums up why they are such c**ts. 

[Avenue_Saint]

2 hours ago, It's There said:

Nothing to be afraid of in this league!

Frame this post.

👏🏼 

[Tamesaint]

2 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

How's this for starters;

3 fucking clear pens not given. Not one. Not two. Three! Red card for Walcott not even given as a foul. Conceding from a free kick that wasn’t a foul. Yellow cards given to us like sweets and nothing for them. Absolutely corrupt bullshit from this c*nt of a ref.

I never knew that Donald Trump  was a Liverpool supporter. 

[Patrick Bateman]

13 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

From that RAWK forum "only because the FA Cup is just too unimportant - let the other teams fight it out - I couldn’t care less." 

What an utter c**t. I hate Liverpool and this "football fan" sums up why they are such c**ts. 

For balance though, this is spot on; "Excellent press conference from Klopp, giving the Saints deserved credit, saying it how it is with our own performance and also shining a big light on the elephant in the room about the Man United penalties. How can a team that’s been as dire as they have over the last 5 years have more penalties in the last 2 years than a Klopp team has in the last 5 1/2 years. A fucking damning statistic."

Fernandez has scored 15 penalties for them, 15. He signed a year ago ... 

 

Edited 5 January, 2021 by Patrick Bateman

[mcbendy]

Diallo is 21 years old. Second start for Saints (second start in the Prem), playing against the defending champions. That performance...

[sydney_saint]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

From that RAWK forum "only because the FA Cup is just too unimportant - let the other teams fight it out - I couldn’t care less." 

What an utter c**t. I hate Liverpool and this "football fan" sums up why they are such c**ts. 

One thing I have noticed, as a generalisation, is that top 6 club fans compare their decisions against one another, rather than the rest of the league. So if they compare Rashford and whether he would have got a penalty- yes he would, would Werner- yes, would Sterling- fuck yes, would Auba- yes, would Son- yes. So if you solely look at that, then yes they were hard done by. But if you reverse it, would any of these players get a penalty against those clubs? Would Chris Wood- god no, Fornals- no, McBurnie- no, Joelington- no, Mitrovic- no. Etc. So often I watch a team who are more often than not our position rivals so I want them to lose, against a 'top 6' club and I think, shit they were hard done by. Liverpool were hard done by tonight as it was a fair refereeing performance, when their rivals would probably have walked away with a win. 

[Singapore Saint]

My MOM was the ref, he was faultless!

[Appy]

All these Scousers moaning about the ref. 
 

The decisions were all correct, Thiago was lucky to stay on the pitch too. 
 

What goes around comes around after that stonewall penalty we were denied at Anfield last year. 

[Singapore Saint]

Mods, how about a poll: who cried better - Djenepo or Hasenhuttl?

[Singapore Saint]

43 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

For balance though, this is spot on; "Excellent press conference from Klopp, giving the Saints deserved credit, saying it how it is with our own performance and also shining a big light on the elephant in the room about the Man United penalties. How can a team that’s been as dire as they have over the last 5 years have more penalties in the last 2 years than a Klopp team has in the last 5 1/2 years. A fucking damning statistic."

Fernandez has scored 15 penalties for them, 15. He signed a year ago ... 

 

Pogba dove for the penalty that won the game against Aston Villa, and actually berated Luke Shaw for not diving earlier, can you believe it?

[vectraman]

Saints played fantastically as a team tonight, brilliant performance. On the edge at the end, but that's what you'd expect against the reigning champions. Deserved victory thanks to a great finish, and lots of hard work and graft.

Defence was immense - all if them put their bodies on the line making blocks - fab to see.

Highlight is as always, the tw*t Carragher cheering on the losing side. (Sorry punditing for the losing side). Can't stand him, should have been sacked for his appalling behaviour, makes me so happy when Liverpool lose 😁.

Great win Saints, proud of you 👍

[striker]

Great effort on defence. Really happy for FF, a huge win for him. Diallo was brilliant too. I swear the 2nd half was 100 minutes long

[skintsaint]

Great win, absolutely quality taken goal and then a backs to wall job at the back!! RH looked fucked by the end of it emotional and physically...wonder if still not 100% after the rona.

Give the outfield players a rest in the FAC as they also looked cooked by the end of the game.

[skintsaint]

p.s was Forster even troubled? Can't remember too much on target that forced a good save and even sorted out Salah's run on goal even though he was offside.

Last year Liverpool had a lot of decisions go their way but not happening this season by the looks of it. League is soooo close at the moment.

[Sunglasses Ron]

That weapon Garth Crooks actually waited for us to play this week before announcing his team of the week...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55536085

 

[HKsaint]

34 minutes ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

That weapon Garth Crooks actually waited for us to play this week before announcing his team of the week...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55536085

 

I think you are wrong. He only waited for Liverpool, but they lost to us. 

[Sunglasses Ron]

14 minutes ago, HKsaint said:

I think you are wrong. He only waited for Liverpool, but they lost to us. 

Haha true, he must have been gutted to have bothered waiting.

[Noodles34]

6 hours ago, Hairlesshero said:

Doesn't appear to be correct though if they are saying seven seasons in a row e.g. in 2017/18 we lost both games against the reigning champions Man City.

Similarly in 2018/19 we lost both games against then reigning champs Chelsea.

• Southampton have won 10 league games against reigning Premier League champions, beating all six different teams to win the trophy when defending their crown (Man Utd, Blackburn, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Leicester). They could become the first team to beat all seven Premier League champions in the season following a title win.

[Saint Billy]

Ralph's reaction last night confirmed he is going no where.

Too many great individual performances and moments to mention but special praise to KWP and Diallo, awesome both of them. 

[East Kent Saint]

From the online BBC updates 'the back 4 were immense for Southampton' and 'Forster didn't have a shot to save'  Fantastic game/result , lifts the spirits even in these dark days . What a manager , hope we can tie him down !

[Scallysaint]

An added bonus was the youngsters that started and the ones that came on all did really well. Not that that was mentioned by the experts in the studio

[SaintBobby]

Haven’t counted myself, but saw on social media someone saying that we haven’t just beaten the current champions, we did so with 11 academy products in the squad and finished the match with 5 of them on the pitch.

Sweet.

[Sheaf Saint]

3 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

That weapon Garth Crooks actually waited for us to play this week before announcing his team of the week...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55536085

 

And still didn't include a single one of our players, despite us beating the champions and league leaders with a clean sheet. 

What a prick. 

[JRM]

Winning in that manner against the odds has to be one if the most satisfying feelings in football, absolutely buzzing at the end of the game.

I'd written us off when I saw the line ups, but Forster didn't let us down, Stephens and Diallo were both superb, brilliant team performance, and fair play to Marriner as ref, we all know other officials who would have been happy to give them a pen or two. 

3 clean sheets in a row with Stephens back in, I've always liked his attitude and think he's grown as a player in the last 12 months, keep it up he'll have a chance for an England call up along with KWP. 

Assuming we'll rest a few for Shrewsbury it's a nice two week break now, hopefully have McCarthy, Vestergaard, Redmond,  Romeu and Adams back available by the time we play Leicester and Leeds away, plenty of options. 

Ralph, top man, on course to be a legend just needs some silverware. 

[hypochondriac]

Jwp is absolutely insane. How he has managed to play so many consecutive minutes and continue to play so well I have no idea. Remarkable. 

[rooney]

Magnificent. Everybody was superb and cannot say anymore.

[StrangelyBrown]

6 hours ago, Appy said:

All these Scousers moaning about the ref. 
 

The decisions were all correct, Thiago was lucky to stay on the pitch too. 
 

What goes around comes around after that stonewall penalty we were denied at Anfield last year. 

Thiago should have gone after 25 mins, but the ref bottled it and again just after half time. Had he been one of ours I suspect he would have gone....

Mane should have had 2 yellows for dives - again never going to happen to a big 6 player

Edited 5 January, 2021 by StrangelyBrown

[Sarnia Cherie]

9 hours ago, macca155 said:

I reckon we're all in pieces after that. My God that was a long 45 mins. Fabulous win get in.

That was a long 92 minutes after Ings scored at 2 minutes in. There were a couple of worrying moments for me; when Liverpool started the second half so strongly and when Long was warming up. Thankfully, both came to nothing. On paper, with a depleted team, most people would have gone for a Liverpool win but in reality, our players got stuck in and showed what belief, hard work and determination can do. In Ralph we have a manager who totally cares for our Saints. To see him on his hands and knees, in tears, at the final whistle, said a lot about him.  

[Sarnia Cherie]

7 hours ago, Singapore Saint said:

Pogba dove for the penalty that won the game against Aston Villa, and actually berated Luke Shaw for not diving earlier, can you believe it?

Yes, I can believe that. If I want to wind my Man U loving son-in-law up, I ask him if their best striker Pen is playing. Works every time. 

[tajjuk]

7 hours ago, sydney_saint said:

One thing I have noticed, as a generalisation, is that top 6 club fans compare their decisions against one another, rather than the rest of the league. So if they compare Rashford and whether he would have got a penalty- yes he would, would Werner- yes, would Sterling- fuck yes, would Auba- yes, would Son- yes. So if you solely look at that, then yes they were hard done by. But if you reverse it, would any of these players get a penalty against those clubs? Would Chris Wood- god no, Fornals- no, McBurnie- no, Joelington- no, Mitrovic- no. Etc. So often I watch a team who are more often than not our position rivals so I want them to lose, against a 'top 6' club and I think, shit they were hard done by. Liverpool were hard done by tonight as it was a fair refereeing performance, when their rivals would probably have walked away with a win. 

Yeh this is the point, in any fair and objective world that is never a pen, that is Mane looking for a pen, I am not even sure JWP touched him at all with his legs it looked like basically a shoulder on shoulder challenge that should have never knocked a strong player like Mane over, but of course he is looking for a pen.

The problem is the biased refs give those things to the big clubs, so their fans see that all the time and think they are getting done out of a pen. 

The Liverpool v Fulham game was a classic example IMO. Fulham completely outplayed Liverpool and deserved to win IMO, Fabinho goes through a player standing foot trying to challenge the ball, Ref doesn't give a pen and VAR doesn't over turn it. 

What does Klopp moan about? The tiniest of hands on the back of Salah in the build up to Liverpool's goal where Salah (as usual) goes down like he has been shot. 

They need to start dishing out yellows for these dives and going down to easily, then when some of these players start getting bans they might change their behaviour. 

 

6 hours ago, Singapore Saint said:

Pogba dove for the penalty that won the game against Aston Villa, and actually berated Luke Shaw for not diving earlier, can you believe it?

He literally tripped over his own feet, it was an absurd penalty. 

The problem is the refs are bad and give the big clubs huge benefit of the doubt and then VAR, likely with another biased ref operating it, so they won't over rule it as an 'obvious mistake'. 

[Mr X]

Excellent result was so nervous t the end especially with Fraser's kicking! But we held out against tough opposition & limited their chances! At last our record against them has a win

Klop already getting the blame game in https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55540225

 

 

 

 

[Saint Troy]

1 minute ago, Mr X said:

Klop already getting the blame game in https://www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/55540225

From seeing KLopps long interview i think the issue is the media here really. He was positive about southampton throughout and made it very clear he was not trying to take away from saints. Cant expect him to be hi-fiving about how great our display was as he would be immediately very disappointed but i thought his interview was quite classy generally.  He did mention the pen but the reality is that its to do with Man U getting soft pens which is hard to argue with. The media then jump all over this - the sky write up says "Jack Stephens handball while blocking...going unpunished". That reads as though it was a bad decision which under the current rule interpretations it wasnt.  Sadly having the big clubs, big personalities etc sells news and so it will always be so - was just pleased the ref was prettystraight down the line all night as i can ignore the press cause they cant do mucha bout the result

 

 

 

 

[Cabrone]

Ralph is on a fast track to legend status. What a performance, what a goal.

[Dan Johnson]

8 hours ago, mcbendy said:

Diallo is 21 years old. Second start for Saints (second start in the Prem), playing against the defending champions. That performance...

Absolutely,

It's why I gave him my MOTM vote, could have gone to KWP or Stephens, both equally deserving. 

Really excited to see how Diallo progresses now!

[Chickendippers]

Diallo MOM for me - very composed. KWP was also excellent against their best player but since no-one else has mentioned him I think Bertrand did a super job on Salah who can win a match on his own sometimes. Three subs were excellent, gave us energy when we needed it - so pleased for Valery in particular. Secial praise for Jurgen Klopp who decided to keep Hendo in defence all match. He came on as a sub a couple of years ago, upped the tempo, ran the game for them  and scored. Happy to see him picking his arse at the back all game.

[Noodles34]

1 hour ago, Saint Billy said:

Ralph's reaction last night confirmed he is going no where.

Too many great individual performances and moments to mention but special praise to KWP and Diallo, awesome both of them. 

which bit did he say that?

[Noodles34]

47 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Thiago should have gone after 25 mins, but the ref bottled it and again just after half time. Had he been one of ours I suspect he would have gone....

Mane should have had 2 yellows for dives - again never going to happen to a big 6 player

what a load of crap. its great to win but if anything, Walcott could have been sent off, Stephens handball in the first few weeks would have been given and never saw Mane dive in this game, not penalties but contact. Thiago's further fouls didn't warrant a second yellow. 

Don't be Garth Crooks, be objective. 

[niceandfriendly]

Diallo wow what a performance. Some player we could have, and as somebody just pointed out he's only 21! 

Jack Stephens had another brilliant performance overall. Someone pointed out he gave the ball away a few times but I thought as a team we did that quite a lot especially in the first half. He's filling in brilliantly for Vester, and if Salisu is "the future of Southampton" as Ralph said recently then we have 4 excellent options at CB.

KWP. How we managed to get him from Spurs is unbelievable. He's getting better and better, such a class act.

Proper throw back to see Forster in goal, reminded me of the Koeman days. If he's improved while at Celtic and under Sparkes then would be delighted if he keeps his position and goes on a run. 

Ralph, what a man. ❤️

[Saint Troy]

7 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

what a load of crap. its great to win but if anything, Walcott could have been sent off, Stephens handball in the first few weeks would have been given and never saw Mane dive in this game, not penalties but contact. Thiago's further fouls didn't warrant a second yellow. 

Don't be Garth Crooks, be objective. 

agree about the handball - deffo early season pen - but correctly not now

i think there was a dive - theres contact, theres even a shout for a pen but on the way down he throws himself in an exaggerated way - to me that's a dive - i cant see why in similar situations a ref cant give a pen and a yellow card to the attacker for diving - MOTD analysts couldn't handle that though! 

Thought overall the ref was fair - never gonna get everything right (Stephens choke hold etc) but not a game the ref should even be mentioned by the managers/media really and very annoying that its even a subject

[woodsaint1]

8 minutes ago, Noodles34 said:

what a load of crap. its great to win but if anything, Walcott could have been sent off, Stephens handball in the first few weeks would have been given and never saw Mane dive in this game, not penalties but contact. Thiago's further fouls didn't warrant a second yellow. 

Don't be Garth Crooks, be objective. 

I saw Mane dive. Very delayed reaction to a slight touch from KWP, when he knew the ball was going out of play, which constitutes a dive. Not the first time hes done it either. Do agree that a red for Thiago would have been harsh

[austsaint]

Having just watched the game again, several things stood out.  Diallo's game was just great- his work rate, positioning, tackling and intercepting, range of passing and time on t

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

And still didn't include a single one of our players, despite us beating the champions and league leaders with a clean sheet. 

What a prick. 

Yep, Diallo and KWP could/should be in that team of the week.   I don't think I can remember a better full game debut by an "under the radar" player than the one played by Diallo.   Whoever scouted him deserves a pay rise.