Man City 0-0 Saints - Match Thread

[Sheaf Saint]

1 minute ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Even if you don't think it's a penalty, it isn't a clear and obvious mistake.

If he didn't give it and then looked at the footage and thought there wasn't enough, okay. However to give the penalty and then say it's clear and obvious that it isn't a foul, that is utterly horrendous.

Spot on. He just bottled it in the face of the whining from the City players, and the VAR ref gave him the opportunity to 'correct his error'.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Don’t care what anyone says….look at the cost of the squads….look at the performance. Ralph is the difference and he showed why he deserves a massive amount of respect for his game management today. The players too for enacting his plan. That my friends is a very good result and there’s no denying it. The officials were more effective in taking 3 points away from us than Pep and his superstars. This game may define the season, but not for reasons many on here will cite. COY fooking  Saints!!!

[revolution saint]

5 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Dragging up old posts to mock views made without the benefit of hindsight is a little sad. Football is about opinions and who is ever right 100% (besides Turkish)? 

For me that was a miraculous unexpected point but maybe we could have done better with a different team? We’ll never know, but I will settle for the result we got. 

Yeah, it is a bit sad but then going over the top and hysterical before a ball has been kicked is a bit sad too.

[Shroppie]

1 minute ago, whelk said:

why did Moss give it in first place? Surely a lot easier not to, given he has been paid off?

You need to take a serious look at the VAR ref's actions. (It was Atkinson) Took ages to find one angle that could suggest an error then shows Moss only that. Later, also takes ages trying to find a reason not to disallow City's offside goal.

This is the clearest example I've seen (but there have been plenty) of the VAR ref desperately trying to get a required outcome. There must be worries that it's corrupt. If that incident happens at the other end there is no way VAR would have even looked for a reason to overrule.

 

 

[Dellman]

5 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

Ralph and the lads were absolutely phenomenal today. Absolutely class. Play like that we're going to have a superb season. So proud of the lads.

Will 'fans' ever stop the moaning about Ralph, whatever he does, and start appreciating what he is building for us?

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Great result, even if it could have been more. 
 

I was sceptical about the line up but it worked well. I actually though Moi put in an excellent shift and was often in the right place at the right time defensively. Salisu and Bednarek both really good and Romeu is made for games like these. There’s a slight question mark about how clinical we are but hopefully the goals will start to come. 

[whelk]

2 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

What are you f*cking talking about paid off? Huh? He gave it because it was a foul. Then VAR said ooooh maybe it's not a foul. He went over and saw a chance to overturn a decision against a big club and he took it. 

I thought I was the biggest fool on here at times. You've just taken that prize off me with aplomb. 

Oh so it is just his natural bias towards big clubs for no reason. What about the disallowed goal? Honestly sad old men on here screaming foul, ooh big club is quite pathetic. 

[Chapel End]

12 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

So from now on, no match threads! ? Just reaction threads to the result?

We played well but you and the others can crow all you like but Redmond wasted many opportunities so you don’t know for sure that with a better player in there we could have won. 

Im happy with a point but think that we’d have won with Djenepo on and Broja from the start. But again, we’ll never know.

In not crowing at all mate.

We just need to discuss without calling the manager clueless. 

Yep we have no idea how it would have turned out with other personnel 

[whelk]

4 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Exactly. Happy clippers acting like holier than thou cunts. 

Quite funny that people give a shit isn’t it. I am all over the place with my fickle opinions and couldn’t give a fuck

[redkeith]

Great performance  from everyone.  Elyonousi was everywhere, put in some great defensive work. More of a player than we thought. 

As for the pen, I can see why they thought Walker sheilded it. If Armstrong had not slid before the contact. Whitey Grandad will give the definitive verdict. 

[whelk]

2 minutes ago, Shroppie said:

You need to take a serious look at the VAR ref's actions. (It was Atkinson) Took ages to find one angle that could suggest an error then shows Moss only that. Later, also takes ages trying to find a reason not to disallow City's offside goal.

This is the clearest example I've seen (but there have been plenty) of the VAR ref desperately trying to get a required outcome. There must be worries that it's corrupt. If that incident happens at the other end there is no way VAR would have even looked for a reason to overrule.

 

 

They are all out to get you right?  City fans must just constantly praise refs all season as get all the decisions and never grumble?

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, whelk said:

Quite funny that people give a shit isn’t it. I am all over the place with my fickle opinions and couldn’t give a fuck

Exactly, I watch the match, cheer on the lads and blow off a bit of steam during the match in real time. Then we’ve got people going back to quote stuff said hours earlier. If I want to get told off for stuff I said ages ago I’d go visit my girlfriend...

[hans gruber]

16 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

Well there always has to be one, I suppose. Watch Walkers hip. Then watch how it smashes into Armstrong without going anywhere near the ball. The only angle that makes it look even SLIGHTLY not a foul was the one Moss was shown. And even that showed it was a clear f*cking foul. Can you imagine if that was Bednarek on Sterling? 😂...

yep. Penalty and red card…………..

[Minsk]

2 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

Exactly. We’ll never know. 

Yes I slated the lineup because I want the squad to be based on performance. What kind of message does it send those not picked when they see the Redmond clown show each week?

Apart from more composure in front of goal, Redmond played well today.

Ralph sees the players every day in training. He sets a team up to play against the opposition. He probably has an idea of who the starting 11 will be at the start of the week, but undoubtedly makes the odd changes based on performances in training. What you are saying is that he shouldn't do that. Instead, he should look at today's performance and say 'right, players a, b, c, and d were the best players today, they will definitely start next weekend; players x, y and z could have done better, they're dropped. Now, what formation/tactics shall we go with to work around that'. Fucking madness! Modern football is a squad game. It's all about using the right assets at the right time. Especially for a team like us. Not being able to do that in the 2nd half of last season is what cost us and got the bedwetters out in force.

On another point you made: yes, theoretically we could have won 1-0 with the starting 11 you wanted to see; equally we could have got the 9-0 stuffing you predicted pre-match. We will never know. What I do know is that I will trust Ralph's judgement over yours any day of the week.

 

Edited 18 September, 2021 by Minsk
amending typos

[Saint Matty 76]

Our erratic full-backs topping off a nice afternoon.

[Give it to Ron]

Ralph 1 Forum Twats 0

[Teddeer]

Superb performance and a result not many would have expected. I thought Romeu was man of the match - the guy was immense today in making sure City didn't boss the midfield.  To be fair to Redmond I thought he finished the game quite strongly. Defensively we were spot on and not many teams will come away from the Etihad with a clean sheet and few shots for their keeper to save.  Salisu is going to be worth a lot of money. Regarding the penalty it did seem that Moss was not shown the best angle when he viewed the pitch-side screen. I would like to see the same set up as in rugby where the referee can actually ask to see different shots of an incident so he has the full picture. Wasn't sure about the time wasting near the end when we had a free kick in a dangerous area but then again, how many times have we seen those thrown into the mix and then the ball is cleared and we are caught short on the break so maybe it was the sensible option. Well played lads and hats off to Ralph for a brave team selection which I admit left me scratching my head when I saw the line up.

[sydney_saint]

Brilliant result! In particular I thought Romeu and JWP were incredible and really led the energy and fight in the team. We deserved to win that, which is really unbelievable when you consider that every player in their first xi cost more than our record signing, and most players on their bench as well. Anything that shoves it up Pep is always satisfying.

I was one of the ones who didn't like the starting lineup, particularly Salisu dropped (who was immense when he came on) and Redmond starting.

I think some of the people dragging up the responses are just a little sad really. Managers do get set ups wrong, so to basically suggest we aren't allowed to debate a lineup is a bit crap. This place will be hell boring if we just nod along and say every single decision made is bound to be the correct one because the manager knows best. There have been times where some have said he nailed the line up- and we got dicked. It works both ways.

I personally thought the lineup wasn't right today. I am absolutely thrilled to be wrong. Life moves on.

[Roo1976]

17 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Even if you don't think it's a penalty, it isn't a clear and obvious mistake.

If he didn't give it and then looked at the footage and thought there wasn't enough, okay. However to give the penalty and then say it's clear and obvious that it isn't a foul, that is utterly horrendous.

Outside the box and its a free kick ....................

[Give it to Ron]

Redmond was very good last 25 mins great cover good going forward just needs to find end product 

[The Left Back]

Fantastic result, it sounds like everyone played really well.  I find it hard to follow away games so generally end up gardening.  Popped in here a couple of times but the venom on these match threads from an hour before kick-off is not very enlightening.  I simply don't understand why 20-30 supporters - of the same team - get so angry with each other.  Reminds me of the 80's when fans used to start fights with each other when they couldn't get close to the opposition.  I'm all for plenty of opinion and banter, but don't get the hate.  We're all saints - I assume.

As for the penalty my son showed me the clip on twitter.  I feel sorry for Moss in a way.  He gave the penalty, then in front of 53000 fans and surrounded by Man City players he's asked to take another look.  I'd like him to have grown a pair and stick to his original decision but can see why he bottled.  In my view it should not have been overturned because there was no clear and obvious error but the blame lies with he VAR guy (did someone say Atkinson?).  I'm not sure about corruption but he's definitely let his ego get the way of his decision making.

Edited 18 September, 2021 by The Left Back

[Streaky]

22 minutes ago, Dellman said:

Will 'fans' ever stop the moaning about Ralph, whatever he does, and start appreciating what he is building for us?

What is he building?

[cloggy saint]

I don't think anyone truly believes that there's corruption at play, it's just knee-jerk reactions.

[niceandfriendly]

23 minutes ago, whelk said:

Oh so it is just his natural bias towards big clubs for no reason. What about the disallowed goal? Honestly sad old men on here screaming foul, ooh big club is quite pathetic. 

You're an absolute nutjob. Sorry. I don't have anything constructive or polite to say to you. Lunatic.

[niceandfriendly]

22 minutes ago, whelk said:

They are all out to get you right?  City fans must just constantly praise refs all season as get all the decisions and never grumble?

Ok now I found something constructive. You're extrapolating. Why just because it was a woeful decision means the world is against us? Stop trying to use straw man arguments to prove your point.

[niceandfriendly]

15 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Our erratic full-backs topping off a nice afternoon.

Solid work. Enjoy those drinks!

[niceandfriendly]

6 minutes ago, Streaky said:

What is he building?

A bloody good side? 

[Scully]

Excellent result, was definitely expecting to get battered here today so absolutely delighted.

[steve green]

Good result and performance. I await the fustration of being told by experts 'city had an off day' and how tired they all are after euro matches poor loves.

Special 👍 to Elyounoussi, not a world beater as such maybe but putting a real shift in (never thought I'd say that) and looks more a Prem' player with each game.

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

 

[Scully]

 

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Pep is right. We are consistently better with him in the team

[niceandfriendly]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Not far wrong. What a performance today from Oriol. We are so lucky to have him. That delayed touch late in the second half made the enter city support groan! A fair few applauded too. 😄

Edited 18 September, 2021 by niceandfriendly

[TWar]

3 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

He's said that before iirc

[Convict Colony]

off to check out blue moon to get their view

[Shroppie]

A satisfying view from the Blue Moon forum:

What worries me is that they didn’t hold us to a 0-0. They were the better fucking side.

[LuckyNumber7]

Fantastic performance, says it all that I'm slightly disappointed with just a point. Not only were we solid defensively but also offered plenty of threat going forward, unfortunately again it's the end product that let us down. Would be churlish to criticise though, they all put in a brilliant effort. Romeu MOTM for me, bossed the midfield and showed great composure in possession.

Regarding the penalty I can see why it wasn't given. Walker just got himself across Arma who was already going down. In many ways it was similar to the tackle by Stephens on Fernandes in the buildup to our goal against Man Utd which most agreed wasn't a foul. Really could have gone either way, that said I've no doubt it would have been given at the other end.

Credit to Ralph, so far this season he is showing far more flexibility with tactics and has actually got us looking solid at the back which is no mean feat!

[Chez]

What a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. City were below par, no doubt that, but our game plan and execution caused them all sorts if problems and they just never worked out how to deal with it. We forced errors, prevented them from doing what they wanted, and then they started doing silly things in bad areas and we were all of them like a rash. They turned possession over so often and in very bad areas.  You just love to see that. That's exactly what we want teams to do. The only negative was our slight lack of confidence when in that final third. We created some great opportunities, but there didn't seen to be genuine belief that they could score. Only when Armstrong dummied and forced the foul for the pen did anyone really commit. That was terrific play, but we needed just a little bit more of that. There is the talent but they need to believe they can murder the likes of Ake every now and then. Loved today. Loved our approach, effort and our our willingness to push high, play through the lines and take City on.  

Edited 18 September, 2021 by Chez

[VictiAbNonem]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

off to check out blue moon to get their view

If I were a City fan it'd be - well played Saints, but what a Shot Shy Shit Show from the billionaires

[Sheaf Saint]

Looks like we have become hard to beat, after we were so easy to beat in the second half of last season.

We've already played 3 of the current top 4, and only lost one of those games, as well as holding our own against a very good WH team, and getting a late equaliser (something we were incapable of last season) at Newcastle where we would usually lose. 

Just got to hope we can find our scoring boots in the more winnable games coming up, of which there are a few between now and the end of Nov.  2 or 3 wins out of those and we can head into the Xmas period in a healthy position.

[angelman]

2 clean sheets in a row against a WHU on fire, and ManC. So can't complain about that. Hope JS isn't injured for too long, but I think we're blessed with 3 pretty decent CBs

 

I've tried taking my Saints tinted glasses off, about the red/pen VAR. I can understand why maybe not a red, but can someone explain to a simpleton like me, why wasn't that a pen?

[VictiAbNonem]

On the Walker penalty/red card, just seen this on the Beeb write up

"Armstrong had burst into the box after City had again given the ball away cheaply but, despite being first to the ball he was adjudged to have fouled Walker as the City defender attempted a challenge."

So Armstrong fouled Walker?!?!

I'm going to have to watch this again..

[Chapel End]

Just now, VictiAbNonem said:

On the Walker penalty/red card, just seen this on the Beeb write up

"Armstrong had burst into the box after City had again given the ball away cheaply but, despite being first to the ball he was adjudged to have fouled Walker as the City defender attempted a challenge."

So Armstrong fouled Walker?!?!

I'm going to have to watch this again..

Seriously?

What idiot wrote that shite?

[angelman]

1 minute ago, VictiAbNonem said:

On the Walker penalty/red card, just seen this on the Beeb write up

"Armstrong had burst into the box after City had again given the ball away cheaply but, despite being first to the ball he was adjudged to have fouled Walker as the City defender attempted a challenge."

So Armstrong fouled Walker?!?!

I'm going to have to watch this again..

Well that answers my question above, but f*** me it opens up a lot more. 

 

[VictiAbNonem]

Just now, Chapel End said:

Seriously?

What idiot wrote that shite?

Chris Bevan

Manchester City 0-0 Southampton: Shot-shy Man City fortunate to draw with Saints - BBC Sport

[Saint Matty 76]

I’ve given Romeu a load of shit recently but he was excellent today. He was so good at the stuff he’s usually poor at. There was a moment later in the game where the ball was played to him and KDB pressed him and he feinted to take the ball in stride as calm as you like.

Hard to say anyone (almost) was poor but Bednarek, Salisu, Livramento, Romeu and Elyounoussi were all too class.

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, VictiAbNonem said:

On the Walker penalty/red card, just seen this on the Beeb write up

"Armstrong had burst into the box after City had again given the ball away cheaply but, despite being first to the ball he was adjudged to have fouled Walker as the City defender attempted a challenge."

So Armstrong fouled Walker?!?!

I'm going to have to watch this again..

yeah, that's exactly what John Moss' interpretation was after reviewing it. Walker got his leg in front and Armstrong then took him out. And that interpretation could be argued, however what he ignored during his review was the fact Walker had bumped Armstrong from behind a fraction beforehand which contributed to him taking him out. It was a foul and a penalty. I can see the counter argument, but its a foul.  

[VictiAbNonem]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

yeah, that's exactly what John Moss' interpretation was after reviewing it. Walker got his leg in front and Armstrong then took him out. And that interpretation could be argued, however what he ignored during his review was the fact Walker had bumped Armstrong from behind a fraction beforehand which contributed to him taking him out. It was a foul and a penalty. I can see the counter argument, but its a foul.  

I don't get how Walker can legitimately get in that position without touching the ball, which I'm pretty sure he never did.

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

I’ve given Romeu a load of shit recently but he was excellent today. He was so good at the stuff he’s usually poor at. There was a moment later in the game where the ball was played to him and KDB pressed him and he feinted to take the ball in stride as calm as you like.

Hard to say anyone (almost) was poor but Bednarek, Salisu, Livramento, Romeu and Elyounoussi were all too class.

Romeu is a class act. He was tremendous up until his injury last season and I have little doubt he will have a good season this.

[JRM]

Excellent performance and result, Ralph and players deserve a lot of credit, just a shame the corruption within the Premier league once again showed itself. 

Good to build an unbeaten run to 5 games, feels a big week now with Sheffield United giving us a chance to progress in the cup and get the winning feeling back and then Wolves , despite their poor start they'll be tough to beat. 

[The Cat]

1 hour ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Dragging up old posts to mock views made without the benefit of hindsight is a little sad. Football is about opinions and who is ever right 100% (besides Turkish)? 

For me that was a miraculous unexpected point but maybe we could have done better with a different team? We’ll never know, but I will settle for the result we got. 

I explained before kick off why those comments were dumb, so yeah, I'm going to call people out on it.

Obviously no one is ever 100% right but come on, loads of people ragging off about a team selection when they have no idea why it was picked? Some of the comments were ridiculous even without hindsight.

You'll settle for a point away at Man City where the vast majority of teams lose? That's good of you, although you are so overwhelming negative on here I'd have thought you'd have been happy with us keeping the margin of defeat under 5.