Saints 2-1 Coventry - Match Thread

[ErwinK1961]

3 minutes ago, The Cat said:

We can't get into Europe and wont get relegated so the league is almost irrelevant now. Go for the cup.

Oh I’m with you totally, just answering the point. I was disappointed at the line up and expected stronger.

Thought Cov were decent.

[stknowle]

19 minutes ago, jimmysaint7 said:

 

 

18 minutes ago, Secret Site Agent said:

 

And one more thing.

 

When did we on this forum decide that one thread will do it, starting 3 weeks ago and including the build up, match and post match thread?

Want to know who said what during the last match, maybe on a Tuesday or Wednesday?  Well trawl through 28 pages to find the beginning.

And what mods decided this was acceptable.

They need to, and can, do better.

 

I think embarrassingly low posts on PMR threads lead to an amalgamation of pre, during and post threads so the overall post count looked ok. 

Edited 5 February, 2022 by stknowle

[Dr Who?]

I thought it was the downpour of rain I could hear outside, but it was all the embarrassing bed wetting that was taking place on page 8 of this thread. 

All about getting through to the next round and that is what we did. No game is easy and Coventry are only in the league lower and a handy side. Look at some of the other results today, with West Ham and Chelsea just squeezing through, and Man U going out yesterday. 

some need to stay and support the side until the end. But hey page 8 cheered me up, because I’m not a miserable bitter so and so. 

quite fancy Boro away in the 5th round please. 

[Toadhall Saint]

We did enough. Wasn’t great, wasn’t pretty but hey were in the hat.

[tunit]

Struggling to see why people are saying Ralph shouldn't rotate the lineup. We have three games in less than a week, and you need to give the fringe players a chance to keep morale up and to give players like Small first team football. Yes it wasn't as comfortable as we'd have liked but we're through are we. Also this is the first time Ralph has selected a significantly weakened team from what I can remember. Last year he was playing our full strength team in the FA Cup

[Secret Site Agent]

Just now, stknowle said:

 

I think embarrassingly low posts on PMR threads lead to an amalgamation of pre, during and post threads so the overall post count looked ok. 

I think we should go back to it.  

Great the post count is up

Boo that we have an amalgamated load of sputum that we have to trawl through.

Wasn't  problem before, so why change it.  What are we, Spurs?

 

[stknowle]

Just now, Secret Site Agent said:

I think we should go back to it.  

Great the post count is up

Boo that we have an amalgamated load of sputum that we have to trawl through.

Wasn't  problem before, so why change it.  What are we, Spurs?

 

I don't disagree. Would also like to see the return of the MOTM poll - remember them? 

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Disapointed that, from what I'm reading, Small didn't have a good game. Hopefully, he'll be taught/ learn from that game. Disapointed about Walcott too. We're probably going to have him for another season, and I'm sure everyone was hoping he'd have more of an impact.

First time I have seen him, other than some youtube clips. He seemed a lot taller/bigger than I remember. He is one hell of a unit for a 17 year old. He looked confident and comfortable on the ball. At the end of the half he got forward and put in a nice early cross. Apart from that, I too was a bit disappointed.

He has a very laid back style, which can be good, but it looked like he wasn't doing enough. He didn't look terribly quick to me (which is a concern) and he didn't bust a gut, especially when tracking back. He reminded me a bit of Valery in that there was no urgency about him. The complete opposite of Perraud. No hussle. Ideally you want to either see a rolls royce like player in the mould of Bale/Livramento that cruises effortlessly up and down the pitch, or if not, a wasp of a player, like KWP/Perraud, that are all hussle and bussle. He was neither. Just  bit too sluggish and more in the Kayne Ramsay mould. 

I look forward to seeing him progress in the next few years, but now I know why he hasn't had any game time in the Prem, despite him being a hot prospect. He's 17 and he ain't good enough, yet. No big deal though. he has time on his side.

Safe to say KWP is going nowhere this summer. He will be needed on both sides over the course of the season (as he has been this).

[Teddeer]

1 minute ago, tunit said:

Struggling to see why people are saying Ralph shouldn't rotate the lineup. We have three games in less than a week, and you need to give the fringe players a chance to keep morale up and to give players like Small first team football. Yes it wasn't as comfortable as we'd have liked but we're through are we. Also this is the first time Ralph has selected a significantly weakened team from what I can remember. Last year he was playing our full strength team in the FA Cup

Which only goes to make his team selection today even more baffling. Play strong FA Cup line-ups last season when we were not in as strong a league position as we are now. Work that out.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

First time I have seen him, other than some youtube clips. He seemed a lot taller/bigger than I remember. He is one hell of a unit for a 17 year old. He looked confident and comfortable on the ball. At the end of the half he got forward and put in a nice early cross. Apart from that, I too was a bit disappointed.

He has a very laid back style, which can be good, but it looked like he wasn't doing enough. He didn't look terribly quick to me (which is a concern) and he didn't bust a gut, especially when tracking back. He reminded me a bit of Valery in that there was no urgency about him. The complete opposite of Perraud. No hussle. Ideally you want to either see a rolls royce like player in the mould of Bale/Livramento that cruises effortlessly up and down the pitch, or if not, a wasp of a player, like KWP/Perraud, that are all hussle and bussle. He was neither. Just  bit too sluggish and more in the Kayne Ramsay mould. 

I look forward to seeing him progress in the next few years, but now I know why he hasn't had any game time in the Prem, despite him being a hot prospect. He's 17 and he ain't good enough, yet. No big deal though. he has time on his side.

Safe to say KWP is going nowhere this summer. He will be needed on both sides over the course of the season (as he has been this).

Thanks for the summary Chez. Good to see there were positives in there.

[Disco Stu]

Thought Caballero had a good game.

[VictiAbNonem]

Biggest disappointment today was Adam Armstrong. 

He couldn't even look half decent against mid-Championship opposition.

Small was also rather poor. The way he gave up in the build up to their goal was awful.

[tunit]

2 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Which only goes to make his team selection today even more baffling. Play strong FA Cup line-ups last season when we were not in as strong a league position as we are now. Work that out.

I'd say he's learned that no matter your league position you are never safe because of what happened last season. I personally have no complaints as long as we win, which we did. Broja getting injured just proves why its a good idea to rest them. Just a shame we needed to bring him on 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, tunit said:

Struggling to see why people are saying Ralph shouldn't rotate the lineup. We have three games in less than a week, and you need to give the fringe players a chance to keep morale up and to give players like Small first team football. Yes it wasn't as comfortable as we'd have liked but we're through are we. Also this is the first time Ralph has selected a significantly weakened team from what I can remember. Last year he was playing our full strength team in the FA Cup

I agree. If he plays Broja and he gets injured in the first half we'd be asking why he didn't give him a rest.

Willy - made sense

Livrameto needed game time to get fit

Perraud needed a good rest and Small needs game time

Good to rest Salisu, Good to rest Romeu, Good to rest Broja

Long earned another cup game.

Walcott, Lyanco and Stephens need game time so that they are ready is called upon.

Armstrong needs game time to get confidence back.

There are some reasons for these selections. Whether you make them all, I don't know, but the league is the be all and end all these days for a football business. Shame.

 

[Sarisbury Saint]

8 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

I thought it was the downpour of rain I could hear outside, but it was all the embarrassing bed wetting that was taking place on page 8 of this thread. 

All about getting through to the next round and that is what we did. No game is easy and Coventry are only in the league lower and a handy side. Look at some of the other results today, with West Ham and Chelsea just squeezing through, and Man U going out yesterday. 

some need to stay and support the side until the end. But hey page 8 cheered me up, because I’m not a miserable bitter so and so. 

quite fancy Boro away in the 5th round please. 

You were happy with the set up then, and the way we we’re playing ? 

[Toadhall Saint]

When’s the draw for the next round?

[The Cat]

10 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Oh I’m with you totally, just answering the point. I was disappointed at the line up and expected stronger.

Thought Cov were decent.

Yeah they were alright. Well organised, some good neat passing. Much stronger than that Swansea side we played in the last round.

[Manuel]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

First time I have seen him, other than some youtube clips. He seemed a lot taller/bigger than I remember. He is one hell of a unit for a 17 year old. He looked confident and comfortable on the ball. At the end of the half he got forward and put in a nice early cross. Apart from that, I too was a bit disappointed.

He has a very laid back style, which can be good, but it looked like he wasn't doing enough. He didn't look terribly quick to me (which is a concern) and he didn't bust a gut, especially when tracking back. He reminded me a bit of Valery in that there was no urgency about him. The complete opposite of Perraud. No hussle. Ideally you want to either see a rolls royce like player in the mould of Bale/Livramento that cruises effortlessly up and down the pitch, or if not, a wasp of a player, like KWP/Perraud, that are all hussle and bussle. He was neither. Just  bit too sluggish and more in the Kayne Ramsay mould. 

I look forward to seeing him progress in the next few years, but now I know why he hasn't had any game time in the Prem, despite him being a hot prospect. He's 17 and he ain't good enough, yet. No big deal though. he has time on his side.

He showed some promise going forward once or twice, seemed like a handful.  Really poor defending at times though and lacked the sort of effort to get himself back between attacker and the goal after he lost the ball.  More coaching needed.  

[Disco Stu]

I felt any striker coming on should have been Adams. In fact Adams should have started in a front two with Long in my opinion. Broja shouldn't have played a role today.

Edited 5 February, 2022 by Disco Stu

[Manuel]

3 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

When’s the draw for the next round?

Tomorrow 11:30.

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, VictiAbNonem said:

Biggest disappointment today was Adam Armstrong. 

He couldn't even look half decent against mid-Championship opposition.

Small was also rather poor. The way he gave up in the build up to their goal was awful.

Yeah Armstrong looked like a player that has lost all confidence. Maybe not all, there was a nice turn and a shot (well) over the bar, but he continued to get the ball stuck under his feet, which is a sure sign he aint on top of his game. To be fair, Che had a bit of drop in confidence too and he bounced back, but right now Armstrong offers us little, even off the bench. That's a shame, as he obviously has a different game to Che and Long, but unless he can find his mojo again, we'll need to turn to ,,,,someone else off the bench. Not sure who though. 

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, Manuel said:

He showed some promise going forward once or twice, seemed like a handful.  Really poor defending at times though and lacked the sort of effort to get himself back between attacker and the goal after he lost the ball.  More coaching needed.  

I have to say that Livramento didn't bust a gut to get goal side either a few times. Perhaps it's the modern game. Fullbacks being all about attack and then midfield and CBs have to take up the slack. I didn't like what I saw defensively. He just wasn't sharp. Wasn't on it. I am not sure if is super laid back or far too casual. time will tell.

[woodsaint1]

59 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

If Broja and Lyanco are out long term it really doesn't justify that spectacular error of a team selection.

Plus we will be knackered for 2 tough games in a week.

Ralph had a mare today.

Knackered? We've had two weeks off and rested quite a few of our starting 11 (or they've played 30 mins or so). Also Spurs havent even kicked off their game yet.

Not ideal but a bit over dramatic. Plus you clearly hate Ralph because you havent stopped gurning about him

[fanimal]

Awful foul on Broja at the end that sort of challenge should be straight red

[S-Clarke]

A really substandard showing for me. We started the game very slowly and Coventry had the foothold, if we're honest they were the more composed and tidy team for 60-70% of that game. We were a bit of a rabble to say the least.

It's one of those games where you need something out of nothing to get you back into it and Armstrong gave us that, he had no right to score from that. It reminded me of Wayne Thomas's effort at home against Ipswich many, many years ago. Good play by KWP, who improved us on the left when he came on and provided a threat which ultimately lead to the winner.

There were big opportunities today for Adam Armstrong in particular and sadly he just looks shot. It looks like the lack of game time and goals has just drained him of anything, he doesn't even look Championship level now which is a shame as he was clearly a decent Championship player. He needs some confidence from somewhere but he also needs refinement in his game, which he doesn't have an inch of. I've seen him many times now and he's just a hectic hit and run player which isn't good enough for the top level.

Theo is just not there anymore sadly. It feels like we're flogging a dead horse with him and it's not fair to have his career end watching him look like this. 

Small has amazing physical attributes from what I saw, reminds me of Micah Richards when he first broke through - that sort of stature to him. A really sloppy style of play though I'd have to say, comes across lazy but that may just be his style. Certainly didn't look ready for the cut and thrust of first team football and would get caught out in the PL playing that way.

Willy - great experience. To be honest, dreadful finishing by Coventry but he stood tall on 3 occasions and blocked those shots. For an OAP he has insane reactions to get up for that 2nd shot.

Overall, not an amazing night. We won, but one of the worst outcomes generally - 30 extra mins, which we could have done without, and some very horrible looking injuries to a particular key player which we can't really afford to lose, but there we go.

Edited 5 February, 2022 by S-Clarke

[Disco Stu]

42 minutes ago, cloggy saint said:

I know right? Ralph is probably the first manager in history to field a weakened line up in a cup game against lower league opposition.

Rotation is important but making 10 changes against decent Championship opposition is just naive. We could have played with 2 or 3 additional first team players to take more control of the game giving us a better chance of settling it in 90 minutes. We may not have found ourselves chasing the game and certain players Ralph wanted to keep rested may not have been required to play. Our early selection guaranteed a tight game in my opinion.

[Harry_SFC]

Walcott and A.Armstrong were complete passengers. Walcott wouldn't even cut the mustard in League 1 these days.

Small struggled and was clearly nervous. As mentioned above, not sure if he was a bit lazy or that's just his style of play.

The second half onwards really showed why KWP and Stu Armstrong must play if fit. 

Edited 5 February, 2022 by Harry_SFC

[S-Clarke]

On the note of the selection, I think this is probably a case of Ralph being dammed if he does and dammed if he doesn't.

Players like Armstrong (both Armstrongs), Stephens, Long, Theo etc needed minutes if they are to be of any use to us. This was a dcent opportunity for them to get those minutes and I'm fairly sure that we felt they'd be enough to see us over the line.

I think a few players let Ralph down today, I'm sure he'd expected more from them. Two tough away games next week and I could see the logic in rotating strongly today (the easiest of the 3) but the players brought in let him down.

[bpsaint]

Just got home, had the pleasure of sitting in the kingsland premium block today. I’d be absolutely fuming if my regular seat had been replaced with a padded one and then I get hit with an extra £400 charge just for some cushioning. Haven’t done f**k all about the legroom!!

Disappointed to see Ralph bomoaning the 120 minutes taking its toll today when it’s his line up that caused it. Play a stronger team and it would have been over in 90 minutes. Long, Valery, and Small were poor. Debut to forget for the lad bless him. If we get a sensible bid for Armstrong this summer we need to take it, that guy is not going to cut it I’m afraid.

What an absolute Thunderbastard that goal from Armstrong was, worth the ticket price for that alone. Loved the double save from Willy before their disallowed goal. Big highlight was their fat bastard fan running on the pitch thinking they’d scored, and the numpty that let off a flare, made that Lino flag all the more sweeter.

Lastly….can we stop f**king giving the whole of the Northam to away fans please, kills any hope of an atmosphere apart from little pockets of singing. Seriously only we would bend over for away fans like that.

 

Edited 5 February, 2022 by bpsaint

[JCBSaint]

Changing subject a bit but why didn’t we have VAR today ?? If the Lino hadn’t been intimidated by our goalie the goal would of stood and we couldn’t of challenged it??? Thought prem teams used it in cup?

[S-Clarke]

Just now, JCBSaint said:

Changing subject a bit but why didn’t we have VAR today ?? If the Lino hadn’t been intimidated by our goalie the goal would of stood and we couldn’t of challenged it??? Thought prem teams used it in cup?

There was VAR I thought, it's in all games if the home ground is a PL one.

Their goal was clearly offside, the player who took the shot was onside but it was tapped in by Waghorn who was about 5 yards offside. Didn't need VAR for that, which is why it was odd it took so long for the lino to put his flag up.

[Wade Garrett]

We rested a load of players and won.

Happy days.

[AlexLaw76]

Valery is MoM according to Ralph 

[VictiAbNonem]

I reckon that not having Salisu on the pitch was the main reason we looked inferior to usual.

We had nobody making his blocks and interception today. I think he would have halved their chances.

We also missed his pace in defence, and his positive passing and that pace again when he takes the ball forward. 

I'm so glad he'll be back for Spurs.

[Chez]

S Armstrong has looked very `leggy' in the games since coming back from injury, making him totally ineffective. Didn't look leggy today. Obviously the goal was fantastic, but good to see him marauding up and down the pitch. Still loses the ball at times, but you trade that for the impetus he brings. Great to have in back for real, we've missed him.

[JCBSaint]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

There was VAR I thought, it's in all games if the home ground is a PL one.

Their goal was clearly offside, the player who took the shot was onside but it was tapped in by Waghorn who was about 5 yards offside. Didn't need VAR for that, which is why it was odd it took so long for the lino to put his flag up.

Dave merrington said there was no VAR,?? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Valery is MoM according to Ralph 

He's certainly stuck in it at CB, which is weird. He's certainly not going to make a career there but his recovery pace is helpful, but he is still prone to these absolute brain fucks with pass backs. It's like he's programmed to do it at least once a game, he should have cut that out years ago but it's part of his makeup which makes him a very dangerous player. Did ok though, but not really one to count on going forward.

[Teddeer]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

On the note of the selection, I think this is probably a case of Ralph being dammed if he does and dammed if he doesn't.

Players like Armstrong (both Armstrongs), Stephens, Long, Theo etc needed minutes if they are to be of any use to us. This was a dcent opportunity for them to get those minutes and I'm fairly sure that we felt they'd be enough to see us over the line.

I think a few players let Ralph down today, I'm sure he'd expected more from them. Two tough away games next week and I could see the logic in rotating strongly today (the easiest of the 3) but the players brought in let him down.

Starting that back 4 was a recipe for disaster. Add in that Theo is probably finished at this level plus Long and Adam Armstrong up front and I think that was weakening the side far too much. We got home thanks to a worldie from Stuart Armstrong and a deflected shot from KWP plus some smart saves from Willie. We could have had no complaints if Coventry had won today.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, JCBSaint said:

Dave merrington said there was no VAR,?? 🤷🏼‍♂️

I think we need to wait for the MLG confirmation...! But I'm sure there is VAR if the game is at a PL ground, which is daft because it then becomes very inconsistent as it's not applied to all.

[Disco Stu]

Kevin Friend was on VAR.

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

If we get a sensible bid for Armstrong this summer we need to take it, that guy is not going to cut it I’m afraid.

no one has any money in the championship, so he's gonna be our player until his contract ends. The financial gulf between the two divisions ensures that. A loan paying half his wages is probably the best outcome you would get. He can still turn it around. Maybe not this season though. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Teddeer said:

Starting that back 4 was a recipe for disaster. Add in that Theo is probably finished at this level plus Long and Adam Armstrong up front and I think that was weakening the side far too much. We got home thanks to a worldie from Stuart Armstrong and a deflected shot from KWP plus some smart saves from Willie. We could have had no complaints if Coventry had won today.

Yeah, Coventry should have won really, bit of a sucker for them. It's a tough call though...we've got two away games in 7 days at the Top 6 teams, I think if I were a manager I'd probably go weakest in this home game with the confidence that the squad we have is good enough...but as I said players like Armstrong, Long, Theo etc let the manager down today, as 'on paper' they should have been able to create more than we did against 'lesser' opposition, but they were all utterly abject.

I'm fairly sure the plan today was for Armstrong and co to show up so we didn't have to see Broja, Redmond, Romeu, KWP etc on the pitch.

[VictiAbNonem]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

S Armstrong has looked very `leggy' in the games since coming back from injury, making him totally ineffective. Didn't look leggy today. Obviously the goal was fantastic, but good to see him marauding up and down the pitch. Still loses the ball at times, but you trade that for the impetus he brings. Great to have in back for real, we've missed him.

He makes us play so much better when he's fit and on form.

[Chez]

13 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Valery is MoM according to Ralph 

considering he is not a CB, he did a reasonable job IMO, one horrific mistake apart. He at least tried to up our temp with his passing. Thought he made Stephens look the slow and overly casual player that he is. CB is still a weakness IMO. 

Edited 5 February, 2022 by Chez

[bpsaint]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

no one has any money in the championship, so he's gonna be our player until his contract ends. The financial gulf between the two divisions ensures that. A loan paying half his wages is probably the best outcome you would get. He can still turn it around. Maybe not this season though. 

Really thought given how well he did in the Championship that he would have absolutely shone against Swansea and Coventry but he looked awful. Really can’t see how he turns things around given his diminutive stature on the pitch.

if the championship teams can’t afford him he might do well to consider a move to the SPL if anyone comes knocking.

[VictiAbNonem]

14 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Valery is MoM according to Ralph 

He had some good moments but couldn't have been considered for MoM if Willy hadn't saved his worst moment. 

Caballero was my MoM.

[Teddeer]

7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah, Coventry should have won really, bit of a sucker for them. It's a tough call though...we've got two away games in 7 days at the Top 6 teams, I think if I were a manager I'd probably go weakest in this home game with the confidence that the squad we have is good enough...but as I said players like Armstrong, Long, Theo etc let the manager down today, as 'on paper' they should have been able to create more than we did against 'lesser' opposition, but they were all utterly abject.

I'm fairly sure the plan today was for Armstrong and co to show up so we didn't have to see Broja, Redmond, Romeu, KWP etc on the pitch.

If it was only Theo, Armstrong and Long as changes we might have got away with it and they'd have had more chance to show their merits in a stronger side. As it was nobody had much chance to shine with that starting line up. It was just asking for trouble and weakened us all over the pitch.

[Teddeer]

21 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Valery is MoM according to Ralph 

Hope he was joking or I'll really start to question his sanity. Valery gave me kittens every time he was anywhere near the ball.

[Toadhall Saint]

2 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

If it was only Theo, Armstrong and Long as changes we might have got away with it and they'd have had more chance to show their merits in a stronger side. As it was nobody had much chance to shine with that starting line up. It was just asking for trouble and weakened us all over the pitch.

Remind me, who won?

[VectisSaint]

1 hour ago, Manuel said:

And obviously would have been good to have got the job done at 90 so the team didn't have to suffer another extra time.  

The only players who 'suffered' were Valery, Stephens, JWP, Long and Diallo. With the exception of JWP who we know is superhuman, none of those would be expected to be starters. 

Anyone know why Bednarek was not in the squad. With Lyanco doing his hammy might we be street he'd at the back again? 

Edited 5 February, 2022 by VectisSaint