Saints 1-2 Watford - Match Thread

[stknowle]

9 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Goal aside Ely has been total shit today.

Seems to be really reluctant to turn and go at goal when he receives the ball. He's still a much better player than he looked capable of being in his 1 star first season with us.

[Chris cooper]

We will beat Man City .. saints being saintly after this shit run !

[bpsaint]

Embarrassing result that.

I’d have laughed in your face if you told me from Villa away, Toon at Home and Watford at home we wouldn’t pick up a single point given the way we had been playing.

[Roo1976]

Well that was weak again ..............yet again way too slow at passing .Is the grass 2 foot tall when we pass the ball lately?,we are at the wrong part of the season to just be in an awful run of non performing performances like the last 3 games weve taken part in. On this showing  City would have given us a right going over before half time next week,why all of a sudden is there such a lack of understandings and direction?....................pissed off Just want Everton to go and us stay great result  and then re group for next season.We seem to have used all our good chances  when we beat Spuds that night.Havent played like that since it seems .

[Pamplemousse]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

We seem to be the masters at taking our foot off the pedal once we get a sniff of relative safety around March time. That's 3 half-hearted games on the trot. Baffling after such a good c.3 month period (aka "a few games"). Maybe the players have got wind of all the superstars that Dragan intends splashing out on in the summer...?

I hope so, if they play like that for of the season they can fuck off

[Roo1976]

Just now, Chris cooper said:

We will beat Man City .. saints being saintly after this shit run !

Cant see it, but there are stranger things that can happen.

[Wade Garrett]

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, stknowle said:

Seems to be really reluctant to turn and go at goal when he receives the ball. He's still a much better player than he looked capable of being in his 1 star first season with us.

I’d say he had his Vestergaard moment of being decent for 7 or 8 games and now has reverted to being the player he was for two years before that. Looked like a passenger in the last three games.

[badgerx16]

4 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Lol as if the manager is telling them to play badly

 

Players have to take responsibility on the pitch and nobody did

The manager picks the team, sets up the tactical formation, assigns marking responsibilities, and theoretically motivates. He also stands on the sidelines watching the game and has the ability to shout fresh instructions and apply tactical tweaks. Yes the players cocked up royally for the 2 goals, but don't try to deny that over the last 3 games Ralph has made his full share of fuck ups.

After all, when a team plays badly who ultimately gets the push - the players or the manager ? He, if nothing else, has a responsibility to himself.

[Teddeer]

7 minutes ago, Dman said:

As long as one of those months don’t become one of those years…. 

It all started with Ralph being touted for manager of the month. We know that comes with a curse.

Edited 13 March, 2022 by Teddeer

[obelisk]

Saints fortunate to get away with just conceding two goals. That was dreadful all round the park. No saving graces at all.

[Chez]

 

1 minute ago, M271 said:

How can we have gone from an unstoppable well oiled machine 11 days ago to being so disjointed and not flowing now? 

the manager changed a wining team is the only thing I can think of.

What worked well in one game doesn't in another.

We are a mid table side. It's no surprise to lose to any team.

[Charlie Wayman]

3 minutes ago, adriansfc said:

Absolutely pathetic week of results when we really could have made something of the season. 

Really highlighted how poor we are in attack. When we're struggling and making errors there just aren't the goals there to rescue it. I still thought we'd win today and make it only a slightly rubbish week!

Desperately need a decent no10 and striker to add to this, and not to mention an upgrade on Bednarek but I doubt any of that will happen.

We need an upgrade in many positions on the evidence of today's performance. Once Romeu was removed it was all over. S Armstrong was at his clueless best today. Our strikers really have lost the plot now.

[Baird of the land]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

Yeah i find it bizarre. Clearly i'm blind because i thought Armstrong was actually fairly lively off the bench on Thursday. Clearly ralph saw something completely different to exclude him completely from today's disaster of a performance.

[Pamplemousse]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

I’d say he had his Vestergaard moment of being decent for 7 or 8 games and now has reverted to being the player he was for two years before that. Looked like a passenger in the last three games.

Yup agreed. Think that's where we could do with an upgrade in the summer

[ButtikonSaint]

3 times in a row now we've been bossed in midfield which forces us to revert to side and back passes.... and the brain farts to go with it.
Pretty embarrassing display... feel sorry for the crowd at St Mary's.
 

[Saints foreva]

3 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

£15m well spent! 

[Harry_SFC]

Would be more than happy to never see Bednarek play for the club again. Absolute twat. 

Edited 13 March, 2022 by Harry_SFC

[Yozzman]

12 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Not arsed by this defeat. We looked fookin rubbish and will get drubbed by City in the cup if they don't improve massively. Bednarek so crap in the air as well, never looks like he is going to win a header.

Sissoko been a boss for them today. Glad Everton lost, makes it a bit easier.

Why are you calling out Bednarek when Salisu was far worse today?

[Teddeer]

3 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

It's puzzling to say the least. 

[Pamplemousse]

1 minute ago, Harry_SFC said:

Would be more than happy to never see Bednarek play for the club again. Absolute twat. 

I saw on twitter he sarcastically clapped the fans after a bit of booing. Anyone at the game confirm?

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

Someone told me Smallbone was a genuine talent, but every time he plays I fail to see it. We always look weaker and more open. We don't create more. I don't see this amazing talent shining yet. Good that he is getting chances, but I don't see the team benefitting from it at this point.

Edited 13 March, 2022 by Chez

[stknowle]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

I’d say he had his Vestergaard moment of being decent for 7 or 8 games and now has reverted to being the player he was for two years before that. Looked like a passenger in the last three games.

Well, he's contributed goals this season so must be doing something right. Believe me I'm no fan, I wrote him off as the worst player to wear the shirt since we came back up (and maintain in that first season he was). Anyway hopefully Brendan Rogers is lining up a £20 million bid......

[Saint_Tony]

A quite incredible collapse over the last 9 days. Absolute waste of time playing out of our skins for a couple of months if we are going to revert back to performance like this. For many sides losing at home to Watford would be a sackable offence.

Season over now, we are undoubtedly safe already but would be surprised if we get much more than 40 points. 

 

[Hawkswood]

Lol. It's so Saints. Play really well against the good teams then drop loads of winnable points. At least we're safe with 10 games to go. Feels like they're on the beach already.  Just need man City to do us in the Q final and see you all next season. 

[SNSUN]

3 home league defeats this season, I've attended 3 league games and those defeats are it.

 

I promise I will not attend games for the rest of the season. Including the cup final if we make it. 🙄

[Dellman]

I like Salisu and have big hopes for him but last two games he has been completely off the pace, I don't see why Bednarek gets the blame its Salisu who suddenly become casual 

[stknowle]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

 

the manager changed a wining team is the only thing I can think of.

What worked well in one game doesn't in another.

We are a mid table side. It's no surprise to lose to any team.

Exactly. We'll have some good results and some crap results. We've had 3 crap ones in a row. We had 3 good ones in a row before. Que cera.

[Micky]

6 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

We will beat Man City .. saints being saintly after this shit run !

I hate to break this to you, but City will dispatch us easily whilst in second gear.  Pep will be very respectful of us, as he always is, but that's generally easy to do after you've won away from home by many to nil. 

[Chris cooper]

8 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

Cant see it, but there are stranger things that can happen.

💯 we turn up next Sunday !

[woodsaint1]

3 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

I saw on twitter he sarcastically clapped the fans after a bit of booing. Anyone at the game confirm?

Wasnt at the game but it looked that way on the TV. He deserved the boos, his usual lack of urgency (particularly when 2-1 down in the 90th minute) and took too long pondering what to do with the ball and gave his usual pass back to Forster

[Pamplemousse]

We're better when we play on the counter attack so yes we'll look better. Maybe we should try parking the bus against every team we play against. Would look weird playing that at home to Watford but they'd be so bamboozled I'd reckon it's a tactic that could work

[Pamplemousse]

Just now, woodsaint1 said:

Wasnt at the game but it looked that way on the TV. He deserved the boos, his usual lack of urgency (particularly when 2-1 down in the 90th minute) and took too long pondering what to do with the ball and gave his usual pass back to Forster

He's OK for this level, but nothing more. Same as Stephens. We can do better

[Midfield_General]

34 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Are we actually safe from relegation?

Mate

[Harry_SFC]

6 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

I saw on twitter he sarcastically clapped the fans after a bit of booing. Anyone at the game confirm?

Yep and then ran off at the end throwing his arms around. I wouldn't mind as much if he was playing well but he thinks he's a lot better than he is.

Edited 13 March, 2022 by Harry_SFC

[Winnersaint]

8 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

It all started with Ralph being touted for manager of the month. We know that comes with a curse.

Also cursed by comments about Europe, plenty of goals this afternoon, 9 points out of 9 against Villa, Newcastle and Watford. You know how it goes?🙂

[saintscottofthenortham]

'This will not happen again' - Hasenhuttl makes guarantee to supporters (05/03/2022, Aston Villa 4-0 Southampton)

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, Saint_Tony said:

A quite incredible collapse over the last 9 days. Absolute waste of time playing out of our skins for a couple of months if we are going to revert back to performance like this. For many sides losing at home to Watford would be a sackable offence.

Not a waste at all. If we don't do that and win games, we go down.

[Chez]

6 minutes ago, stknowle said:

Exactly. We'll have some good results and some crap results. We've had 3 crap ones in a row. We had 3 good ones in a row before. Que cera.

This.

We don't have enough top class players to get us out of jail when things don't go right. 

[Toadhall Saint]

7 minutes ago, stknowle said:

Exactly. We'll have some good results and some crap results. We've had 3 crap ones in a row. We had 3 good ones in a row before. Que cera.

It’s why we are a mid table side. Still think we beat ourselves 

[Midfield_General]

16 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Please tell me how Smallbone and Shane Long play and Adam Armstrong is on the bench?

I have said in the past that I won’t slag off Ralph any more.  But I am finding it difficult.

Starting Smallbone as second striker when we've got five attackers on the bench is a lovely bit of Ralph at his maddest. 

[TWar]

Absolute shite. Defensively frail, massive errors from multiple players, Moi was ineffective, Broja was outright useless after coming on, don't remember him getting a touch. Basic errors even from our best players in Salisu, Stu, Romeu and Che. No idea where this slide has come from but if we don't stop by sunday we'll be thumped.

[Master Bates]

To save anyone staying up, Elyounoussi goal

 

[stknowle]

7 minutes ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

'This will not happen again' - Hasenhuttl makes guarantee to supporters (05/03/2022, Aston Villa 4-0 Southampton)

Well we haven't lost 4-0 to Villa since he said that have we.............................

[The Cat]

15 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

I saw on twitter he sarcastically clapped the fans after a bit of booing. Anyone at the game confirm?

He had no pass on and had to go back to Forster. Did nothing wrong, the problem was with no one showing for a pass.

People booed, he probably thought they were booing him. 

[Midfield_General]

12 minutes ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

'This will not happen again' - Hasenhuttl makes guarantee to supporters (05/03/2022, Aston Villa 4-0 Southampton)

Well it hasn't, has it? We haven't lost 4-0 to Villa again since we played them last week, he's a man of his word in that respect. 

Edited 13 March, 2022 by Midfield_General
StKnowle beat me to it 

[nta786]

15 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

3 home league defeats this season, I've attended 3 league games and those defeats are it.

 

I promise I will not attend games for the rest of the season. Including the cup final if we make it. 🙄

If you can handover your debit cards and other assets I’ll be sure to make sure you don’t purchase a ticket?  

Or, why didn’t you run onto the pitch today?  

Only way we can trust you sorry!

[Holmes_and_Watson]

 

Last time out showed that Ralph's playbook can't cope with tall folk that can head a ball.

This time, the opposition having a strong bloke in the midfield defeats the playbook too. Sissouko bossed that.

 

But we let it happen.

 

Suicidal defending gifted them the first. Passing it across and out from the back because that's what they've been told to do, rather than having an awareness of the passes that needed to be done. Someone went missing for the second, as Perraud came across to cover.

 

The intensity has really been lacking in recent games. I'd hate to think it's some sort of mental sigh of relief at pretty much getting to safety.

 

Ralph playing Smallbone off of Adams seemed odd at the start. I've not seen enough of Smallbone to be able to say if he had all the attributes there. On recetn performances AA would have seemed a better shout. A fit Redmond could have doen a job there too.

 

I could see that Ralph might have wanted to have a bit more presence just off where we had a front two. Redders in for Mo and AA for Smallbone would have bee a stronger set up. After a couple of defeats starting Smallbone was taking a chance. And it didn't work.

 

Without that intensity or sense of purpose, it doesn't matter if it's two up front or 4-4-1-1. By the time the ball got anywhere near that area, Watford were more than set up for it. Very slow int he build up, and not putting pressure on them to make mistakes. KWP had the occassional moment, but niether him nor Perraud really pushed Watford back, or got a lot into the box. So , little going through the middle or from fullbacks meant that was a much, much easier game than it should have been against a team desperate to get out of relegation.

[JRM]

Absolutely woeful, dreading the Man City game now, play like that and we'll collect our 0-9 must be due another soon 

[Chez]

 

2 minutes ago, TWar said:

Absolute shite. Defensively frail, massive errors from multiple players, Moi was ineffective, Broja was outright useless after coming on, don't remember him getting a touch. Basic errors even from our best players in Salisu, Stu, Romeu and Che. No idea where this slide has come from but if we don't stop by sunday we'll be thumped.

That's your take away from this game - that Broja was useless. Blimey.

Try watching each game without your preconceptions blinkering what you see.