Saints 1-1 Spurs - Match Thread

[austsaint]

8 hours ago, Dr Who? said:

Something was up with Salisu today. He was very pumped up and I think frustrated that he made the challenge for the penalty. He knew the red card was coming. He had to be talked to and calmed down by 2 subs and he just looked very angry and pumped as he was leaving the field. Did not acknowledge the Saints fans at all in the Itchin chapel corner as they applauded him off. All very strange, seemed to lose his head completely, so much that his tackling was off like his head was not straight. 

He always looked fired up from the off didn't he.    Yet in the first half the whole side played with an intensity and an aggression not seen for some time - it was inspiring stuff for the long suffering supporter.    I just interpreted Salisu's ill timed tackle as a desperation to deny an almost certain goal...clumsy and ultimately costly, but he is a player on the up and long may we keep him.

The second half was as gutsy and committed as the first half was intense and aggressive.  So many impressive performances from "unusual" suspects.   Bednarek, Valery, Perraud (second half), Diallo (second half), Armstrong A. ran all day playing a different role, even Shane Long made a contribution from his diminishing bag of tricks.   KWP showed what a classy RB he is; and he dug in and showed courage with multiple clearances and blocks late on.      JWP's sweet strike was a sublime moment and his all round game an example others followed, especially Diallo as the game wore on.    

 

[ButtikonSaint]

I think having Stu A. available again means Ralf can play three in central midfield from which we can press and dominate. It frees up JWP and minimises side-way and back passes. 

The five at the back also worked pretty well until the sending off. Like most of us, I'm awe struck at Tino's start to the season but KWP is a great player, a real asset to the team and we need him in his natural position to influence games.  Maybe Ralf will try both of them on the right in a cup game, see how it fares.  FF and especially Valery did well today which is another positive. 

Adam A. worked hard for the team but he's not a wide player so unsure what we're going to do with him in the long run, his situation seems to parallel Shane Long who never was a real number 9.  Longy gave us a more than an acceptable cameo. He's never been a great striker but what an honest, hard working player he's been since signing for us seven years ago. However we saw what a dominant forward can bring up the moment Broja came on. 

St Mary's was rocking... Draw was more than fair.... 3 points vs Newcastle and we can finally start looking up .... COYR

[Sir Ralph]

The last three games the team has shown more character, culminating in yesterdays performance. Hopefully they are turning a corner in terms of getting rid of their soft side

[Sir Ralph]

Everyone played well and did their part. Valery and Bednarek were particularly good but Perraud is poor though - bad distribution and crossing

[Andy Durman]

My criticism of Broja is that he needs to work harder out of possession. He had 15 mins to run his socks off upfront and I don’t think he did enough for the team. Yes he’s a match winner, but too many times he left Winks free to connect the next attack. He has to develop this side of his game. Shane Long was fantastic out of possession and a real role model to Broja.

Edited 29 December, 2021 by Andy Durman

[Charlie Wayman]

Arguably our finest performance of this season, without Salisu's madness we seemed well on course for a resounding victory. Outstanding performance from JWP and Perraud ensured we kept the pressure on Spurs in the first half and some tidy defensive work and solidity in midfield negated the usual Spurs dynamic midfield. Forster acquitted himself well and good to see him mopping up and generally owning our defensive third. He was certainly up for this match and presumably determined to silence his critics. Well done Fraser

JWP was excellent and his well taken goal worthy of GotM. Wow! He is in a rich vein of form and we must hope it continues and he doesn't get injured. How much better is KWP on the right and how much better is he than Livramento as a defender. Stuart Armstrong started well but faded quickly, it will be a while before he his back to his best.

What intrigued me was the semi-forced wholesale changes to our team yet the fringe players  played with rare determination and flair and a drive that is often missing when Ralph's more favoured players are selected regularly. It raises the question of if he really knows his best XI and what criteria he uses to pick his players. Frankly on this performance we didn't miss any of them. It will be fascinating to see who gets the nod at the weekend.

 

Highly satisfying night all round and although I watched on Prime rather than attend SMS the broadcaster captured the atmosphere and tension perfectly.

[Charlie Wayman]

8 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Everyone played well and did their part. Valery and Bednarek were particularly good but Perraud is poor though - bad distribution and crossing

Utter rollocks were you watching at all ?

Edited 29 December, 2021 by Charlie Wayman

[The Left Back]

Straight on the lash after walking back from the ground so haven't had a chance to catch up on here before now.  I think it's all been said but my take on it is...

Cracking atmosphere.  The brass band seemed even more powerful as both sets of fans joined in.  (Thought the spurs fans on the whole were pretty quiet otherwise).  First half we were brilliant and very aggressive.  At half time I let go of the idea we would hold on and so the second half was also fantastic, in a backs to the wall sort of way.  We were hanging on a bit, but not as much as we have done with 11 in many games.  I was surprised spurs kept with 3 centre halves all game - Conte seemed reluctant to really go for it, which helped us.

Big credit to the manager for selections, formation, playing style and getting the team spirit right.  I would have made subs earlier, Broja for Long was obvious, and someone for A Armstrong after he was booked.  And probably Romeu on for Diallo or S Armstrong, but otherwise can't fault him at all.  I am a Ralph fan and agree with those who say he is right for us.  We all hung on afterwards to enjoy the celebrating, and it's just great that he walks round the pitch clapping the crowd.  At least partly explains why there is more support for him in the ground than on here.

My man of the match was Bednarek, I just thought he was immense today and held the defence together.  Him and Valery up against Kane and Son for 50 minutes will be one of my highlights of the season.  Just behind him KWP and JWP were magnificent. And then everyone else played very well.  It's great to see S Armstrong back and lasting 90 minutes; he just brings something we don't have otherwise.  I really enjoyed seeing Shane again - it was a typical Long performance and I'm glad to see at least one more before he leaves.  I guess he only played because of the Adams covid test late the night before.  Hat's off to Valery; he was very nervy at the start but grew into it and was great in the 2nd half, showing strength and defensiveness nous to go with his pace.

Finally Fraser Forster.  He made 10 saves; I think only one perhaps was what I would call a difficult save.  But somedays he looks like a brick wall and the ball just bounces off him and he seems to inspire that sort of defensive effort.  His kicking was woeful, but it all seemed to add to the fun.  In the second half, every time he made a save or claimed a catch we were singing "England's number one".  His performance just added to the the general craziness of the day.  I don't get the debate on here about him and McCarthy - they are both of similar standard, capable of good, bad and ugly performances.  Neither has the distribution capability we need, both make the occasional howler and both are low prem/championship standard in my opinion. I imagine the club know this and plan to fix it in the summer.  It doesn't bother me which one plays until then.

 

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, The Left Back said:

Straight on the lash after walking back from the ground so haven't had a chance to catch up on here before now.  I think it's all been said but my take on it is...

Cracking atmosphere.  The brass band seemed even more powerful as both sets of fans joined in.  (Thought the spurs fans on the whole were pretty quiet otherwise).  First half we were brilliant and very aggressive.  At half time I let go of the idea we would hold on and so the second half was also fantastic, in a backs to the wall sort of way.  We were hanging on a bit, but not as much as we have done with 11 in many games.  I was surprised spurs kept with 3 centre halves all game - Conte seemed reluctant to really go for it, which helped us.

Big credit to the manager for selections, formation, playing style and getting the team spirit right.  I would have made subs earlier, Broja for Long was obvious, and someone for A Armstrong after he was booked.  And probably Romeu on for Diallo or S Armstrong, but otherwise can't fault him at all.  I am a Ralph fan and agree with those who say he is right for us.  We all hung on afterwards to enjoy the celebrating, and it's just great that he walks round the pitch clapping the crowd.  At least partly explains why there is more support for him in the ground than on here.

My man of the match was Bednarek, I just thought he was immense today and held the defence together.  Him and Valery up against Kane and Son for 50 minutes will be one of my highlights of the season.  Just behind him KWP and JWP were magnificent. And then everyone else played very well.  It's great to see S Armstrong back and lasting 90 minutes; he just brings something we don't have otherwise.  I really enjoyed seeing Shane again - it was a typical Long performance and I'm glad to see at least one more before he leaves.  I guess he only played because of the Adams covid test late the night before.  Hat's off to Valery; he was very nervy at the start but grew into it and was great in the 2nd half, showing strength and defensiveness nous to go with his pace.

Finally Fraser Forster.  He made 10 saves; I think only one perhaps was what I would call a difficult save.  But somedays he looks like a brick wall and the ball just bounces off him and he seems to inspire that sort of defensive effort.  His kicking was woeful, but it all seemed to add to the fun.  In the second half, every time he made a save or claimed a catch we were singing "England's number one".  His performance just added to the the general craziness of the day.  I don't get the debate on here about him and McCarthy - they are both of similar standard, capable of good, bad and ugly performances.  Neither has the distribution capability we need, both make the occasional howler and both are low prem/championship standard in my opinion. I imagine the club know this and plan to fix it in the summer.  It doesn't bother me which one plays until then.

 

Nice balanced post.  For all Long's failings, its hard not to appreciate his effort. Perfect game and scenario for him. 

[Teddeer]

5 minutes ago, Andy Durman said:

My criticism of Broja is that he needs to work harder out of possession. He had 15 mins to run his socks off upfront and I don’t think he did enough for the team. Yes he’s a match winner, but too many times he left Winks free to connect the next attack. He has to develop this side of his game. Shane Long was fantastic out of possession and a real role model to Broja.

I agree in some ways as defending starts from the front. However, we had two solid banks of four and were coping reasonably with what Spurs were throwing at us and I didn't think we ever looked swamped or overwhelmed. For me it made absolute sense to bring on Broja and ask him to be our outlet to give us a slim chance of nicking all 3 points and it very nearly paid off. It also kept them more honest at the back as I'm sure their defenders were aware that Broja is a handful and far more of a goal threat than Long so they couldn't overly commit for fear of losing a game they expected to win. All in all Ralph managed the game well especially when we went down to 10 and I think Broja may have been instructed to concentrate more on attack than closing down the likes of Winks because we did need an out ball at that stage of the game. 

[Sir Ralph]

18 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Utter rollocks were you watching at all ?

Same game as you. Other people that were watching thought the same as me. Also, he played son onside - it was schoolboy defending. I suggest you look at the still and then you might see he was to blame for the situation. I was screaming at him to step up but he was worried about Emerson and stepped back but Emerson was no danger at all. Been poor in nearly every game I’ve seen. He’s ok at defending but poor attacking. 
 

not to detract from the performance of the rest of the team. On what basis do you think he played well?

Edited 29 December, 2021 by Sir Ralph

[austsaint]

2 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Same game as you. Other people that were watching thought the same as me. Also, he played son onside - it was schoolboy defending. I suggest you look at the still and then you might see he was to blame for the situation. I was screaming at him to step up but he was worried about Emerson and stepped back but Emerson was no danger at all. Been poor in nearly every game I’ve seen. He’s ok at defending but poor attacking. 
 

not to detract from the performance of the rest of the team. I assume I’m permitted a different opinion to you? On what basis do you think he played well?

I'm not stepping up to the plate for Charlie - first half Perraud was quite poor with some embarrassing moments, but he improved greatly second half in the same way that Diallo did.    Perraud's problem is he has a quality player like KWP taking his spot to accomodate Livramento at RB and what looks to be a star player of the future in Thierry Small not far away from staking his claim.  

[John Boy Saint]

1 hour ago, Sarisbury Saint said:

Spurs were diving all over the place, people blame the ref, but there players were the ones who should be questioned. They are by far the most disgraceful team I’ve seen this season.

Must have taken Taylor ages to get his receipts for everything he bought in Southampton yesterday in order

[malcolm waldron]

3 hours ago, niceandfriendly said:

Never expected to get anything from this game after seeing the lineup. My apologies to Ralph for my part in the pre-match criticisms. 

Thought Valery had a really good game even after being forced to go in at CB. Diallo had some decent moments and Long and Armstrong worked hard without actually causing them too many problems. And despite FF's kicking being pretty shocking I always feel far more confident with him in goal compared to the other two. When he plays we pick up more points. Do not want to see McCarthy come back in again like he did last season after FF put in some great performances.

I can't help thinking that Fraser's late second half drop kicks being shanked towards his right (my left as I looked on from the Chapel) were all deliberate.  It seemed a case of - we'll give Spurs the ball back but from deep in their own half so that we can keep our shape in midfield and at the back.  Stuart Armstrong gave Fraser a massive above the head clap from that position after the ball had gone straight out at one point - hence I think it was a deliberate tactic.  Ultimately it worked.  Let's see how he kicks it on Sunday.  

[Sir Ralph]

18 minutes ago, austsaint said:

I'm not stepping up to the plate for Charlie - first half Perraud was quite poor with some embarrassing moments, but he improved greatly second half in the same way that Diallo did.    Perraud's problem is he has a quality player like KWP taking his spot to accomodate Livramento at RB and what looks to be a star player of the future in Thierry Small not far away from staking his claim.  

Fair enough. I was in the part of the itchen that saw more of him in first half than second. Like I said defensively ok (he was better second half) but whenever he came forward Adam Armstrong was making good runs and he couldn’t pick him out once. At risk of repeating myself I lay a significant amount of blame for the penalty incident on him.

[Chris cooper]

Cracking atmosphere yesterday! Was proud to be a saints fan ..out sung spuds and some of the performances from our players was wot we been wanting from them week in week out.. Kwp and Jwp were incredible.. spuds forum talking about Kwp and gutted they sold him and now think we had the better deal as hoijberg was bang average again yesterday.. Kwp so much better defensively on the right than tino but would love to see him in front of Kwp on the right ! Maybe the Swansea game could have a look .

 

[Sarisbury Saint]

9 minutes ago, malcolm waldron said:

I can't help thinking that Fraser's late second half drop kicks being shanked towards his right (my left as I looked on from the Chapel) were all deliberate.  It seemed a case of - we'll give Spurs the ball back but from deep in their own half so that we can keep our shape in midfield and at the back.  Stuart Armstrong gave Fraser a massive above the head clap from that position after the ball had gone straight out at one point - hence I think it was a deliberate tactic.  Ultimately it worked.  Let's see how he kicks it on Sunday.  

We were thinking the same thing. It took Spurs longer to pick the ball up and throw it , then would have done to just pump it back upfield:

[derry]

I thought it was an obvious deliberate tactic to use as it slows the game down drastically and allows the team to consolidate goal side. He usually hits long into the two channels away from the centre backs or chips it down either touchline as in the first goal at West Ham. Kicking long out of play was a good move in the circumstances. Pissing around at the back doesn't cut it as we've found to our cost when we lose the ball.

[Whitey Grandad]

12 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

Yes he was because he was never up with play and guessing 20-30yards away and going with top 6 team some of decisions near us were ridiculous 

That was his biggest fault and probably the reason for his weird decisions. The booking for KWP came when Taylor was still near the centre circle and thirty yards away.

10 hours ago, warsash saint said:

The screams from Ali & Ederson following tackles in the first half was pure embarrassing!  I honestly thought Ederson have broke his leg after the noise he made ... gets up & sprints off to join in Spurs next attack!

That Emerson Royal one was unbelievable. He got robbed and then realised that he wasn’t going to catch up with play and then went down clutching his leg with a scream that could be heard all round the stadium. The ref didn’t give anything at first but then stopped the game and gave Spurs a foul long after the event. I don’t know what made him change his mind. There was no flag from the linesman.

[Nordic Saint]

The whole team played well but Forster, Ward-Prowse and Walker-Peters were really outstanding. We have the makings of a top 8 team there.

[JRM]

9 minutes ago, derry said:

I thought it was an obvious deliberate tactic to use as it slows the game down drastically and allows the team to consolidate goal side. He usually hits long into the two channels away from the centre backs or chips it down either touchline as in the first goal at West Ham. Kicking long out of play was a good move in the circumstances. Pissing around at the back doesn't cut it as we've found to our cost when we lose the ball.

I agree it was deliberately done, what I've never understood is how dim / unsavvy our fans are rushing to throw the ball back when it goes in the crowd, one time straight to the Spurs player. If the kick makes it past the ball boys into the crowd do your bit and slowly pass it to a little kid who can then take a few attempts to lob it back using up vital seconds. 

Edited 29 December, 2021 by JRM

[Nordic Saint]

1 minute ago, JRM said:

I agree it was deliberately done, what I've never understood is how dim / unsavvy our fans our rushing to throw the ball back when it goes in the crowd, one time straight to the Spurs player. If the kick makes it past the ball boys into the crowd do your bit and slowly pass it to a little kid who can then take a few attempts to lob it back using up vital seconds. 

It's a rugby tactic: kick the ball into touch deep in the opposition's half then it's going to take them a long time to get back up the pitch. When you are down to 10 men and trying to hang on to the end of the game, it makes sense. As we've seen in our last 2 games, Forster is very good at 'game management'. 

[The Left Back]

1 hour ago, austsaint said:

I'm not stepping up to the plate for Charlie - first half Perraud was quite poor with some embarrassing moments, but he improved greatly second half in the same way that Diallo did.    Perraud's problem is he has a quality player like KWP taking his spot to accomodate Livramento at RB and what looks to be a star player of the future in Thierry Small not far away from staking his claim.  

I thought Perraud was ok first half and very good second.  Didn't spot the playing Son onside thing but we play a very disciplined offside line so that is an issue - albeit not one about ability, ore about not playing regularly.  I thought he worked well with AA on the whole.  He's still young and adjusting to life in our league and this country.  I think he has more pace than is being suggested on here.  One run back after 80 odd minutes stood out.  I've seen enough to think he'll do fine with us.  We suddenly seem much stronger at full back than before.

10 minutes ago, derry said:

I thought it was an obvious deliberate tactic to use as it slows the game down drastically and allows the team to consolidate goal side. He usually hits long into the two channels away from the centre backs or chips it down either touchline as in the first goal at West Ham. Kicking long out of play was a good move in the circumstances. Pissing around at the back doesn't cut it as we've found to our cost when we lose the ball.

I would like to think you were right but I'm not buying it.  His general kicking was a mixed bag, but the 5 or 6 shanks did not seem deliberate.  Each time Kane forced him to kick from hand rather than the floor.  I'll accept he was trying to play to that right hand channel where Long/Broja could go up against Davies.  But he acknowledged the poor kicking by putting his arm up at least a couple of times.  

[Nordic Saint]

9 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That was his biggest fault and probably the reason for his weird decisions. The booking for KWP came when Taylor was still near the centre circle and thirty yards away.

That Emerson Royal one was unbelievable. He got robbed and then realised that he wasn’t going to catch up with play and then went down clutching his leg with a scream that could be heard all round the stadium. The ref didn’t give anything at first but then stopped the game and gave Spurs a foul long after the event. I don’t know what made him change his mind. There was no flag from the linesman.

The screaming. It looks like Spurs practise their cheating in training. They are very good at diving, screaming and then mobbing the ref, with Kane constantly in his ear demanding cards for opposition players. The jumping up and backing into the goalkeeper to knock the ball out of his hands was another cheat they'd practised. Since the 1960s it has been 100% a foul to knock the ball out of the goalkeeeper's hands with any part of the body, but usually it's done with boot or head. By smashing into him backwards, they hoped to get away with it.

[cloggy saint]

44 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

It's a rugby tactic: kick the ball into touch deep in the opposition's half then it's going to take them a long time to get back up the pitch. When you are down to 10 men and trying to hang on to the end of the game, it makes sense. As we've seen in our last 2 games, Forster is very good at 'game management'. 

So when Forster hoofs it out of play it's good game management and when Macca does the same it's because he's shit at kicking?

[John Boy Saint]

2 hours ago, malcolm waldron said:

I can't help thinking that Fraser's late second half drop kicks being shanked towards his right (my left as I looked on from the Chapel) were all deliberate.  It seemed a case of - we'll give Spurs the ball back but from deep in their own half so that we can keep our shape in midfield and at the back.  Stuart Armstrong gave Fraser a massive above the head clap from that position after the ball had gone straight out at one point - hence I think it was a deliberate tactic.  Ultimately it worked.  Let's see how he kicks it on Sunday.  

Think a few of us began to think the same, ate up time, allowed the team to reset as they knew it was coming - punt it upfield into play and it’s coming back at us straight away.
Then suddenly he tweaked it and sticks it almost on a sixpence for Broja to nearly steal the game. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

I think saying it was deliberate is being slightly generous to the big fella. He was clearly aiming for Broja who was hugging the touch line. I’d imagine the thinking was Broja would win it , they’d win it but head it out for a throw in, they’d win it but the result would be another headed battle in midfield or it would go straight out of play. They were playing the %’s imo. 
 

One thing I did notice at West Ham was Forsters kicking got worse the longer the game went on,same again yesterday. Wonder if lack of games and being injured has something to do with it. He definitely was more accurate earlier on in both games. 

Edited 29 December, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[Toadhall Saint]

1 hour ago, Nordic Saint said:

The screaming. It looks like Spurs practise their cheating in training. They are very good at diving, screaming and then mobbing the ref, with Kane constantly in his ear demanding cards for opposition players. The jumping up and backing into the goalkeeper to knock the ball out of his hands was another cheat they'd practised. Since the 1960s it has been 100% a foul to knock the ball out of the goalkeeeper's hands with any part of the body, but usually it's done with boot or head. By smashing into him backwards, they hoped to get away with it.

They were screaming at the slightest touch! Not sure what the duck man makes of that.

[Saint Billy]

4 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

Everyone played well and did their part. Valery and Bednarek were particularly good but Perraud is poor though - bad distribution and crossing

Really, I thought Perraud was class be it a little rusty. He showed some nice touches in attack and worked hard at the back.

 

[markr27]

2 hours ago, cloggy saint said:

So when Forster hoofs it out of play it's good game management and when Macca does the same it's because he's shit at kicking?

Shame parts of the crowd don't... just hang onto the ball for a few seconds rather than chuck it immediately back to the opposition 

[Sarisbury Saint]

5 hours ago, Andy Durman said:

My criticism of Broja is that he needs to work harder out of possession. He had 15 mins to run his socks off upfront and I don’t think he did enough for the team. Yes he’s a match winner, but too many times he left Winks free to connect the next attack. He has to develop this side of his game. Shane Long was fantastic out of possession and a real role model to Broja.

Long only threatened once and missed a simple free header. Broja showed Shane why he doesn’t get game time by being far more of a threat.

Long looked like he was glued to the floor, he doesn’t jump for headers and has lost his pace. 
We don’t need another player that runs around a lot, we have that with A Armstrong.

[sadoldgit]

30 minutes ago, Sarisbury Saint said:

Long only threatened once and missed a simple free header. Broja showed Shane why he doesn’t get game time by being far more of a threat.

Long looked like he was glued to the floor, he doesn’t jump for headers and has lost his pace. 
We don’t need another player that runs around a lot, we have that with A Armstrong.

Just goes to show how people see the game differently. I thought Long played well yesterday and deserved the applause when he went off.

[Sarisbury Saint]

11 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Just goes to show how people see the game differently. I thought Long played well yesterday and deserved the applause when he went off.

Don’t get me wrong, he did alright, but we need a bit more at this level.

With Broja not 100% , I thought it was an unfair comment by Andy Durman.

[hasper57saint]

4 hours ago, cloggy saint said:

So when Forster hoofs it out of play it's good game management and when Macca does the same it's because he's shit at kicking?

Playing for time is the norm when you are under the cosh as we were after the red card. I thought that Forster deliberately kicked into touch and also fell to the floor every time he caught the ball. Those extra seconds all add up. All in all our tactics paid off. Hoof it into the crowd and hope that the return is delayed by 'pass the parcel' methods which our fans should start practicing. We all thought that the amount of simulation by Spuds 'posers' should have been punished but the Ref totally ignored their theatrics.

[Mystic Force]

The one really telling thing from the match was when Saints were in the ascendancy Spurs was flopping all over the place, I am still not sure how backing into someone and landing on top of them constitutes a foul by the player being backed into. However when we went down to 10 men and the onus was on them to do something suddenly they could all stay on the feet as they needed the game played at pace, rather than being stopped to allow us to reset. Funny that right?

Edited 29 December, 2021 by Mystic Force

[Ldnsaint]

Jan Bednarek was superb yesterday I thought, gets a lot of stick from our fans but he was excellent  👏

[Teddeer]

19 minutes ago, Mystic Force said:

The one really telling thing from the match was when Saints were in the ascendancy Spurs was flopping all over the place, I am still not sure how backing into someone and landing on top of them constitutes a foul by the player being backed into. However when we went down to 10 men and the onus was on them to do something suddenly they could all stay on the feet as they needed the game played at pace, rather than being stopped to allow us to reset. Funny that right?

That's a good point...there was far less simulation and rolling around screaming like girls when they wanted to increase the pace of the game.

[LiberalCommunist]

Spuds were disgraceful in that first half. Screaming, dropping and rolling with barely any contact. Taylor is a good ref, but he fell for everything. 

I wonder if the decisions started levelling out in the second half. We got away with some right old shit! It could not have happened to a better team. 

I can't stand the Spurs. 

[Charlie Wayman]

5 hours ago, cloggy saint said:

So when Forster hoofs it out of play it's good game management and when Macca does the same it's because he's shit at kicking?

Of course, Forster was kicking it our deliberately.

[Totton Saint]

I have just read The Mail's and the Telegraph's report of the game. Utterly disgusted that all they could talk about was Kane being robbed of a goal by VAR's marginal offside decision, and Forster being let off an own goal  by the ref. The mail at least conceded that Prowsie's goal was a good one.  I agree with a poster that Redmond played an excellent defensive role when he came on

[Totton Saint]

12 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

Spuds were disgraceful in that first half. Screaming, dropping and rolling with barely any contact. Taylor is a good ref, but he fell for everything. 

I wonder if the decisions started levelling out in the second half. We got away with some right old shit! It could not have happened to a better team. 

I can't stand the Spurs. 

One day a payer will be seriously injured and a ref will think he is faking it and precious seconds will be lost getting treatment

[rooney]

I did not hear any renderings of our song from the spuds fans. Too embarrassed methinks.

[Toadhall Saint]

26 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

I have just read The Mail's and the Telegraph's report of the game. Utterly disgusted that all they could talk about was Kane being robbed of a goal by VAR's marginal offside decision, and Forster being let off an own goal  by the ref. The mail at least conceded that Prowsie's goal was a good one.  I agree with a poster that Redmond played an excellent defensive role when he came on

You sound surprised.

[Red]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

Just goes to show how people see the game differently. I thought Long played well yesterday and deserved the applause when he went off.

Agree with you. I though he was great and would have rather Ralph took off AA than Long for Broja.

All about opinions I guess?

[Billy the Kidd]

19 minutes ago, Red said:

Agree with you. I though he was great and would have rather Ralph took off AA than Long for Broja.

All about opinions I guess?

See I think AA did a better defensive job at LB, and don’t believe Shane could have done that, think that is why he kept AA on. 

[HarvSFC]

46 minutes ago, rooney said:

I did not hear any renderings of our song from the spuds fans. Too embarrassed methinks.

Whoever chucked the flare after the disallowed Kane goal must have felt very embarrassed.

[The Cat]

10 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Whoever chucked the flare after the disallowed Kane goal must have felt very embarrassed.

Hopefully they get a ban too.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like the odd flare but whoever chucked it is a Spurs fan so any ban is warranted.

[cloggy saint]

6 hours ago, cloggy saint said:

So when Forster hoofs it out of play it's good game management and when Macca does the same it's because he's shit at kicking?

 

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Of course, Forster was kicking it our deliberately.

Riiiiiight.

[OldNick]

21 hours ago, Saint Billy said:

Really, I thought Perraud was class be it a little rusty. He showed some nice touches in attack and worked hard at the back.

 

His attepted shot from 40 yards was ridiculous, especially as it gave them the ball and they counter attacked

[OldNick]

It was so good to see Valery do so well especially as he has been written off on here by the high brow football pundits 'should never put a Saints shirt on again' etc etc

Perhaps he should become a centre back as he looked to be pretty good there.

As for Spurs, Conte seems to have trained them into the dark arts of getting soft fouls. Royal and Reguillon both fell over when going for  ball and the ref fell for it.

Spurs were even asking for a straight red after Salisu had received his 2nd yellow. 

Shame that Kane as England captain is part of this sham

KWP was brilliant and showed his determination to get us a point when he took that shot with a header.