Saints vs Shrewsbury - Match Thread

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, saintquin said:

Did enough nothing more.

Stephens, Bednareck,  Diallo and JWP stood head and shoulders above all others with JWP my MOTM. Though I will say all the kids tried and looked no worse than Long.

JWP's freekicks always looks like the keeper should save them but, when he puts the ball so close to the post I'm sure the keepers are nervous of hitting it!

 

So the 4 regular first team players were better than the other 7 who were back up our youngsters? Great analysis. 
 

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Well I thought it was a good professional performance against a well organised team, did what needed to be done. Not quite sure what some people expect given how inexperienced the team was.

JWP ran the show and I'm really excited about Diallo, he looks a class act.

Of the youngsters Watts looked full of potential, Chauke had a nervy start but I thought he grew into the game. Well taken goal by Nlundulu and Vokins solid again.

I appreciate what Long has done for us in the past but he needs to retire frankly, he is finished.

Hopefully we get one or two bodies back for Arsenal.

[Midfield_General]

43 minutes ago, LaptopSaint said:

God, most of you lot are a bunch of miserable bastards.

2-0, 4 teenage debuts, first teamers not too stretched, job done. 
 

Roll on the gooners. 

100% this. Plus a first goal for one of our kids. 

[trousers]

 

[madge]

To be fair that was a banana skin avoided in fairly comfortable style. Don’t really think it’s fair to judge any of those academy players in their first performance and no doubt very nervous. But they showed the difference in levels between league 1 and the premier league. 
jwp totally controlled that game abd is looking better by the day.. if Southgate picks winks over him then he’s clueless.  As someone else said, no injuries either. Happy with that.

[Saint IQ]

If we want to win this thing, beating Arsenal will go a long way to doing that considering they win it nearly every year it seems. Like City with the league cup.

Hopefully some players get back for that game.

Think next year Nlundulu will really make an impact for us

[benjii]

I thought that was a very professional performance in wet and windy conditions.

We controlled the entire 90 minutes and were never under any sustained periods of pressure. I remember matches against lower league opponents in the past where we looked like the underdogs, so I thought it was an assured and sound display.

We didn't carve them open at will, but our front four were inexperienced or Shane Long and they played with a deep back 5 when we had the ball so it wasn't going to be easy to create lots of clear chances.

Diallo very good again and Valery and Vokins looked quite assured.

I liked the look of Watts. Seems to be very composed and quite two-footed and to have a bit of flair but without arrogance / extravagance. 

I think Nlundulu needs to look after the ball better before starting regularly at PL level but he's clearly a goal threat and has a lot of potential.

[Charlie Wayman]

I feel a bit like Ralph, it was an um OK performance, just about. Far too cautious and unadventurous against pretty poor opposition despite the hype of the taters. A damp squib of a match on a damp night. A win's a win so we'll take it and move on.

Bearing in mind that Diallo is still a relative novice and about the same age as some of our youngsters, there is clear gulf in quality between his abilities and reading of the game and any of the Academy lads who  played tonight. That's not to say they won't learn but clearly they have a great deal to learn before they can challenge for a first team spot.

Bit of a one man show directed and orchestrated by JWP.

 

Edited 20 January, 2021 by Charlie Wayman

[DT]

This is a good point. Diallo looks an absolute gem. Just wish the transfer window wasn't so perennially destabilising for clubs like ours...

[goodymatt]

We weren’t at our best last night but we played with a much changed side and the number of academy players forced to play were higher than we would have ideally liked.

That said, I thought we won fairly comfortably and didn’t ever have to get out of second gear, which was welcome to avoid any further injuries and get the job done with the minimal effort needed.

Good opportunity to see some academy players we hadn’t seen previously in the first team too. I have to echo the thoughts of others on Shane Long. I’m sure he is still capable of performing at a higher level than we witnessed last night... He looked ineffective against league one opposition, which just isn’t good enough.

[Doctorkmt]

Impressed with nlundulu goal. Nice shift and finish. Would have him with ings up top when all are back fit. 

We won't have diallo for long, he'll be gone either next Jan or the following summer. He will turn out to be a truly excellent player.

[Totton Saint]

Good post. I thought the youngsters did well. I enjoyed the game. Everything went via  JWP. His goal just shaved the post. What laser like pinpoint accuraccy

33 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

We weren’t at our best last night but we played with a much changed side and the number of academy players forced to play were higher than we would have ideally liked.

That said, I thought we won fairly comfortably and didn’t ever have to get out of second gear, which was welcome to avoid any further injuries and get the job done with the minimal effort needed.

Good opportunity to see some academy players we hadn’t seen previously in the first team too. I have to echo the thoughts of others on Shane Long. I’m sure he is still capable of performing at a higher level than we witnessed last night... He looked ineffective against league one opposition, which just isn’t good enough.

Good post. I thought youngsters did well. All moves went through JWP. What a free kick - pinpoint laser lie accuracy shaving the post.

[Totton Saint]

11 hours ago, SupersonicSaint said:

Have to say, in spite of our inability to put the game to bed I quite enjoyed it - nice to see us as the team in control of the ball for long stretches of the game (obviously to be expected against this calibre of opposition). Still never really felt like there was a risk of us losing and enjoyed seeing the youth get a run out.

I was impressed with the lad Watts, happy for Dan and think the other youth lads gave a decent account of themselves.

I echo the frustrations about the finishing of our senior players. Adams really had to bury the 1v1 and Longs inability to control the ball and lay off the simple pass was, as another user here put it, embarrassing.

Armstrong looked a cut above the rest when he came on.

I enjoyed it too. Do these lads play in the B team or even lower. Whatever,  I thought they did well in the circumstances

[Shroppie]

11 hours ago, Turkish said:

So the 4 regular first team players were better than the other 7 who were back up our youngsters? Great analysis. 
 

 

To be fair, that was the plan. Experienced and solid block in midfield/central defence to control the game (which they did, very well) giving youth and fringe players the chance to create and show what they can do.

Of these, Forster was ok when needed, Valery good going forward but suspect in defence, Vokins looked no better than ok but should improve, Watts and N'Lundulu look promising, Long looks past it, Chalke hadn't impressed me yet. The young subs didn't get enough time to show anything. Armstrong (and Adams except for his miss) demonstrated how big a step up it is to the regular first choices.

[Matthew Le God]

56 minutes ago, Doctorkmt said:

Impressed with nlundulu goal. Nice shift and finish. Would have him with ings up top when all are back fit. 

He hasn't done anywhere near enough to warrant starting instead of Adams. He should be above Long in the pecking order of strikers though.

[goodymatt]

Fraser Forster was coming off his line much quicker than he used to last night. There were a few short back passes and sweeper keeper moments. It was good to see he’s improved that side of his game, as Ralph had mentioned in recent interviews.

I really am liking the look of Diallo, he’s a classy player. Lots of potential there, will be interesting to watch him improve with us.

 

[Turkish]

24 minutes ago, Shroppie said:

To be fair, that was the plan. Experienced and solid block in midfield/central defence to control the game (which they did, very well) giving youth and fringe players the chance to create and show what they can do.

Of these, Forster was ok when needed, Valery good going forward but suspect in defence, Vokins looked no better than ok but should improve, Watts and N'Lundulu look promising, Long looks past it, Chalke hadn't impressed me yet. The young subs didn't get enough time to show anything. Armstrong (and Adams except for his miss) demonstrated how big a step up it is to the regular first choices.

Yeah i know, i'm just pointing out the bleedin' obvious that 4 regular first team players would be better than the other 7 kids or reserves. I was disappointed not to see more of Jakuweitz given the promise we have been told he has, when he came on he looked head and shoulders above the other youngsters out there, seems a class act. He was the only one who stood out for me. It was a difficult game for them though, there was no space, Shrewsbury defended very deep and in numbers and it wasn't helped by the fact Long as the experienced head in the front 4 was abysmal and seemed to give the ball away every time he touched it. 

[John Boy Saint]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

I feel a bit like Ralph, it was an um OK performance, just about. Far too cautious and unadventurous against pretty poor opposition despite the hype of the taters. A damp squib of a match on a damp night. A win's a win so we'll take it and move on.

Bearing in mind that Diallo is still a relative novice and about the same age as some of our youngsters, there is clear gulf in quality between his abilities and reading of the game and any of the Academy lads who  played tonight. That's not to say they won't learn but clearly they have a great deal to learn before they can challenge for a first team spot.

Bit of a one man show directed and orchestrated by JWP.

 

A good few years ago now possibly  (along with a good few thousand others) my daughter and I ambled down to St Mary's on a Friday evening for something like the Academy Final between us, obviously, and Aston Villa. Saints academy team was peppered with nippers who went on to make a decent living out of the game. It was an exciting watch, given where we were in football it was great to see kids especially sliding to the front of their seats in anticipation of Saints attacking play, something they hadn't seen for a while from the first team. 

The football from both Saints and Villa nippers was very good, which was why they were in the final, and why its stuck in my head still. There was one player in our team who had been given a couple of goes in the 1st team as main the season ran down, Gareth Bale. Having seen a few academy games that season where he was just part of the team, you could see the difference playing and training with the first team for just a few games and what it had given him. Whenever the ball was with a team mate it was a little frantic (a bit like we saw last night) when the ball came to Bale he suddenly had a little more time and poise in his play compared to his mates. It was then the penny dropped for me of the daunting chasm between Academy and First team. 

Whilst the opposition were not overly challenging as another Premier League team, those lads from the Academy who had a go on the pitch last night, alongside 1st team regulars will have likely made the gap to step up seem just that little bit narrower, whilst giving them a taste for more. Hopefully it will have given them the spark to knuckle down more to listen and learn. 

[BARCELONASAINT]

We did what we had to last night and got through with no obvious added injuries which must have been the most important thing before the game.

The game itself was not great but i didn't expect it to be with so many changes.

JWP and Diallo ran the show as expected (Diallo has everything to go on and become a very very good player for years to come)

Bednarek and Stephens were rarely challenged and i never thought we were in trouble at any point in the game.

I have always admired Long for his work rate and harassing opposition defences but he seriously looks past it now and should not be anywhere near the first team.

It worries me who we have to step into Ings and Che's boots when they are not available (Walcott maybe) I'm just not convinced by Ndlulu, I really played close attention to him last night hoping he would be excellent and turn it on but despite his goal i remain unconvinced.

I really liked Watts, you could tell he was having a ball playing last night, never stopped smiling and was an absolute menace to the Shrews. I think this lad could make the step up.

 

 

[Totton Saint]

The Telegraph sports page wrote a bigger piece about Ings wanting to go to a Champions League team than their report of the game. Might stop buying the paper.

With a good tail wind we could be the  very team Ings wants.

[Viking Saint]

11 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

The Telegraph sports page wrote a bigger piece about Ings wanting to go to a Champions League team than their report of the game. Might stop buying the paper.

With a good tail wind we could be the  very team Ings wants.

Or a modicum of investment from our truly useless, unambitious pointless owner

[steve green]

1 hour ago, goodymatt said:

Fraser Forster was coming off his line much quicker than he used to last night. There were a few short back passes and sweeper keeper moments. It was good to see he’s improved that side of his game, as Ralph had mentioned in recent interviews.

I really am liking the look of Diallo, he’s a classy player. Lots of potential there, will be interesting to watch him improve with us.

 

Yes, my backhanded compliment is I forgot it was Fraser there, almost mobile. If we can squeeze a couple more clean sheets out of him this season maybe someone will invest a fee for him. Oh, forgot the wages.

 

[the saint in winchester]

49 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

The Telegraph sports page wrote a bigger piece about Ings wanting to go to a Champions League team than their report of the game. Might stop buying the paper.

With a good tail wind we could be the  very team Ings wants.

It's ironic isn't it. He wants to go to a team challenging for a champions league place. We can't afford to buy in players of that level, but if he helped improve his colleagues now, we could well get there with us, especially this season when the league is open.

But I guess he'd rather go back to being a bit-part player in a squad that has a higher probability of getting there. I'm surprised.

[the saint in winchester]

40 minutes ago, steve green said:

Yes, my backhanded compliment is I forgot it was Fraser there, almost mobile. If we can squeeze a couple more clean sheets out of him this season maybe someone will invest a fee for him. Oh, forgot the wages.

 

Fraser hasn't yet been tested in the two games. First, Liverpool fancy-danned around the penalty area and didn't test him. Then ;last night, the opposition was lower level and didn't have enough to attack. The jury is out for me. He needs to be making regular saves and commanding his area, so we know where his level is now.

[John Boy Saint]

4 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

Fraser hasn't yet been tested in the two games. First, Liverpool fancy-danned around the penalty area and didn't test him. Then ;last night, the opposition was lower level and didn't have enough to attack. The jury is out for me. He needs to be making regular saves and commanding his area, so we know where his level is now.

I just liked the fact that we kept him awake with a couple of lukewarm back passes, that quickened the pulse. :-)

[Sarnia Cherie]

20 hours ago, trousers said:

Shouldn't Long be unhappy rather than grinning like a Cheshire cat when he gets subbed?

Nope. When he misses a shot that a 5 year old could put away, then turns around and grins, that' when I could cheerfully strangle him!

[saintquin]

21 hours ago, Turkish said:

So the 4 regular first team players were better than the other 7 who were back up our youngsters? Great analysis. 
 

 

I know I'm dyslexic but that makes no sense.

Sorry I upset you for writing what I had seen but, I thought that's what this site was about!