Saints 0-6 Chelsea - Match Thread

[kyle04]

41 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

23rd Oct 2011 - Chelsea 7 Norwich 0 - but don't let the facts get in the way !! 

Er, it's 2022 now?

[Whitey Grandad]

If anyone is in any doubt about how much we were outplayed.

 

 

Possession

Home29%

Away71%

Shots

Home4

Away24

Shots on Target

Home1

Away14

Corners

Home3

Away3

Fouls

Home11

Away10

 

 

[CB Fry]

52 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

I hope you are right but I’m not feel that comfortable at the moment. Even more so if Burnley beat Norwich tomorrow. 

So what if they do? They can beat them and beat us on Thursday and still be six points behind us with 6 games left. If it happens well done Burnley but it won't go any way to relegating us.

Just the usual SaintsWeb hysteria that teams in the bottom three are about to go on insane non-stop winning runs while we're never going to get a single point ever again.

[The Kraken]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

So what if they do? They can beat them and beat us on Thursday and still be six points behind us with 6 games left. If it happens well done Burnley but it won't go any way to relegating us.

Just the usual SaintsWeb hysteria that teams in the bottom three are about to go on insane non-stop winning runs while we're never going to get a single point ever again.

You just don’t get it Ffs.

We are not safe, we need 40 points. 

[Andy Durman]

First home match of the season and last home match of the season. I flew out to collect my Son from Austria on Friday and then drove 3 hours to watch this pile of shit, I can safely say I feel a bit cheated.

St Mary’s really has gone down hill. Steak & Ale pie was cold and nowhere near as good as a Pukka pie. Tea was £2.60 each and undrinkable. They knew the hot water tasted disgusting, but still served it to me.

The whole experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and not just from the pie and tea. The supporter is now seen as a cash cow. There’s no value to any purchase. Even the merchandise is poor quality.

A £500 experience that won’t be repeated for a while.

Edited 9 April, 2022 by Andy Durman

[Tamesaint]

Atrocious. 

Before the match I thought that we could win today. Chelsea lost to Brentford and then had 2 hard games v Real Madrid with us sandwiched in between. With a week's rest I thought that we were on for one of those tough gritty displays against a team with their eyes on Europe. How wrong could I be?

It is not difficult to pick out an under performer today but Salisu seemed half asleep for much of the match. If we can sell him for any decent money this window then please do so. His recent performances have been poor. He cost us points at home to Spurs and since his injury he has been shite. Bednarek should go as well and hopefully we can get some decent centre backs. 

[Kingsbridge Saint]

We've been awful ever since Ralph blew smoke up the arses of some senior Pros by 'resting' them for the cup match. Big 'I am' syndrome from a lot of them now. Also - JWP  needs to realise thumping the ball backwards isn't a failsafe strategy. Perfectly weighted assist there when he could have chosen other more progressive options. Glad Chelsea put the cue in the rack at 6, I'm not going to say we kept it to 6.

[Mallagroth]

Real life trauma and heartache meant that going today came very much bottom of priority list… just seen result… I’ll take not being able or fit to go as absolute blessing in disguise… forgetting everything else I can’t help but wonder if it’s worth a gamble on the touch line whether it takes us up or down. In the words of someone far more wise than I, ‘the worst place is standing still because you can’t see how far up or down really is’

[Saint Keef]

I kept reading in the lead up to this game, Ralph saying we were going to "make it tough" for Chelsea. Well, it's a good job we did just that, otherwise it could have been quite a one-sided match!

Further up the page someone suggested the fans should be refunded. I wasn't able to go to this game, yet somehow I still feel I deserve a refund. 

[Micky]

7 hours ago, Kenilworthy said:

I am preparing myself for the Arsenal game to be very similar. Only games I see us possibly not losing are Palace and Brentford.

Palace are good, they could do us at a canter. 

[rallyboy]

But Brentford would also really struggle against Chelsea, so we can beat them....

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Micky said:

Palace are good, they could do us at a canter. 

If we play like that again, wide open, no ball retention, anyone could beat us. After this defeat and five  or six game run, confidence is going to be low. It's now going to be tough to turn it around. We are in a slump, again. That probably means five at the back next week - which we don't have a clue what we are doing and Shane Long to run around a lot. How have we gone from turning Spurs over and running United ragged to this.

[Whitey Grandad]

8 hours ago, Kingsbridge Saint said:

We've been awful ever since Ralph blew smoke up the arses of some senior Pros by 'resting' them for the cup match. Big 'I am' syndrome from a lot of them now. Also - JWP  needs to realise thumping the ball backwards isn't a failsafe strategy. Perfectly weighted assist there when he could have chosen other more progressive options. Glad Chelsea put the cue in the rack at 6, I'm not going to say we kept it to 6.

That’s where it all changed. Our cohesion fell apart. Instead of a well-oiled machine running smoothly we have ended up with a pile of broken old cogs.

[John B]

10 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That’s where it all changed. Our cohesion fell apart. Instead of a well-oiled machine running smoothly we have ended up with a pile of broken old cogs.

Yes you are right  but I think the teams we have lost to recently have played better than the ones we played earlier in the year and lets face it our players are in general average at the best and next season could be dreadful without a regular goal scorer

 

We do not have any really standout player who perform consistently well and would be in the team of players who have played in the PL in the last ten years

[CB Fry]

8 hours ago, Kingsbridge Saint said:

We've been awful ever since Ralph blew smoke up the arses of some senior Pros by 'resting' them for the cup match. Big 'I am' syndrome from a lot of them now. Also - JWP  needs to realise thumping the ball backwards isn't a failsafe strategy. Perfectly weighted assist there when he could have chosen other more progressive options. Glad Chelsea put the cue in the rack at 6, I'm not going to say we kept it to 6.

It's very hard to say that this isn't a coincidence.

Yes we were delighted with the West Ham cup result but the impact of that still seems to be felt.

Since Ralph did his berating of the fans for daring to be disappointed by the weakened team he put out there, the team and manager have been overwhelmed by a "we can do no wrong" arrogance. Don't question my selections, don't criticise the squad.

Since then

L

L

L

L

D

L

For: 4

Against: 19

It's pretty clear it is not our place to question our brilliant management and his team selections or tactics ever again. Disrupting the team for the WHU game was an absolute masterstroke.

He's proper proved us all wrong there.

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

It's very hard to say that this isn't a coincidence.

Yes we were delighted with the West Ham cup result but the impact of that still seems to be felt.

Since Ralph did his berating of the fans for daring to be disappointed by the weakened team he put out there, the team and manager have been overwhelmed by a "we can do no wrong" arrogance. Don't question my selections, don't criticise the squad.

Since then

L

L

L

L

D

L

For: 4

Against: 19

It's pretty clear it is not our place to question our brilliant management and his team selections or tactics ever again. Disrupting the team for the WHU game was an absolute masterstroke.

He's proper proved us all wrong there.

“Never change a winning team”

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, Andy Durman said:

First home match of the season and last home match of the season. I flew out to collect my Son from Austria on Friday and then drove 3 hours to watch this pile of shit, I can safely say I feel a bit cheated.

St Mary’s really has gone down hill. Steak & Ale pie was cold and nowhere near as good as a Pukka pie. Tea was £2.60 each and undrinkable. They knew the hot water tasted disgusting, but still served it to me.

The whole experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth and not just from the pie and tea. The supporter is now seen as a cash cow. There’s no value to any purchase. Even the merchandise is poor quality.

A £500 experience that won’t be repeated for a while.

It’s been like that for years, no idea why it comes as a surprise to you. 

[Teddeer]

I'm assuming the squad were all woken by early alarm calls and have been at Staplewood since 06.00 am to shock them out of their comfort zone and give them a literal wake-up call.. I hope they've been made to watch the whole game and each player and Ralph have had to stand and give a five minute talk on what happened and why, what part they played (or didn't play) as individuals and what they aim to do to put it right for the remainder of the season. Following this the lot of them should be put in stocks by the Bargate with fans and members of the public given the chance to hurl abuse and whatever else they can get their hands on at this pathetic bunch of excuses for football professionals. In reality they'll all be snuggled up in bed in their luxury mansions sleeping like babies with not a care in the world.  🙂 

[DT]

Still fuming. National embarrassments again. Surely we have to take decisive action and lose this woefully inept manager and coaching team? We need a spine, and resilience. The knife through butter nature of our frail squad will only get worse under these guys. 

[OldNick]

9 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Atrocious. 

Before the match I thought that we could win today. Chelsea lost to Brentford and then had 2 hard games v Real Madrid with us sandwiched in between. With a week's rest I thought that we were on for one of those tough gritty displays against a team with their eyes on Europe. How wrong could I be?

It is not difficult to pick out an under performer today but Salisu seemed half asleep for much of the match. If we can sell him for any decent money this window then please do so. His recent performances have been poor. He cost us points at home to Spurs and since his injury he has been shite. Bednarek should go as well and hopefully we can get some decent centre backs. 

Salisu is not the problem!! He has had a couple of poor games. Surely Bednarek is the one, he gets out muscled time and again and has been part of the team each time we fall apart. If we sell \salisu the club will then go and buy another cheapie to fill that spot.

The new owners in my opinion are fairly potless in real terms, and have a programmed fanbase who accept mediocrity. Iam one of them, my expectations are always low.

It is sad to hear Sky sports spouting we have let in 6 or more goals 10 times in PL history the most of any club.

Its great being a lovely family club but boy are we welcoming. We give the away fans prime position to give their team great vocal backing and have a team that rolls over too often, and a policy to let the world know anybody is for sale. Hence we will never create a side that can do no more than survive.

I cant think of the last time I went to a game confident we'd win. Even teams like Watford etc concern me, when we should roll them over consistantly easily

[egg]

4 hours ago, Micky said:

Palace are good, they could do us at a canter. 

Palace are very good, and are reaping the rewards of being brave. They completely overhauled their squad, and took a leap of faith in Vieira. They've now got a young ish squad with options on the bench, and play exciting football. 

We need to do the same. Now. 

[macca155]

What is good about this and other forums, is that after the inevitable (and fully justified) 'sack them all' reaction, a concensus starts to emerge as we all come to terms with the performance.

Ralph's decision to make so many changes against West Ham, has clearly impacted on the players.

The difference between Feb and March is stark. We may have won that game but at what cost?

I think the players lost their rhythm and just don't know how to get it back. Same has happened to Utd and Everton, somehow Ralph has to find a way out of this. He has to respond to other team's strategy against his tactics.

I like Ralph still believe in him as our manager, basically the good outweighs the bad. However the new ownership need to do a reset with this squad. That defence cannot cope with an all out assault.

One of the bonuses of the Cup changes was the emergence of Valery as a central defender. He was excellent against Chelsea in the cup and Ralph was talking him up. He's shown potential so why not play him. He has pace and would have been a better opponent for Warner than Bendarek, or as it turned out Salisu.

Anyway its no good doing what ifs for too long, pretty pointless really.

Arsenal next different prospect. Let's give them a game of footie and try not to get hammered..... please.

 

[david in sweden]

10 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

If anyone is in any doubt about how much we were outplayed.

 

 

Possession

Home29%

Away71%

Shots

Home4

Away24

Shots on Target

Home1

Away14

Corners

Home3

Away3

Fouls

Home11

Away10

 

 

Despite the fact that we finished with all 11 players, statistically that performance was only slightly better than the stats. from our two 0-9 defeats.

v. Leicester  possession 27% - 73%     Shots 6 v. 25.      We had only 10 men for c. 80 minutes.

v. Man Utd.      -"-           25% - 75%     Shots 3 v. 24       We played 88 minutes with 10 men - and the last 5 mins. with just  9 on the field.

At least we made an effort in those two matches, but yesterday  "Shambolic " doesn't come near the description - we just didn't turn-up. 

Thank goodness that Referee Dean wasn't officiating. 

Seeing Chelsea hit the woodwork twice - even before their first goal  didn't auger well, and then being 0-3 down after just 20 minutes 

was alarmingly reminiscent of the Leicester game.  We showed little fight and  some of our players gave it up as " a bad day " after that. 

 

Chelsea looked like they were playing a practice match for fun, and we didn't get into the game. I'm just pleased they showed mercy on us in the second half.

Finding our " best " player was very hard, but despite seeing 6 goals past him, Forster saved us from a mauling that might have ended in double figures. 

[Baird of the land]

Glad i avoided this game yesterday. Roll on next season.

Very depressing the way Saints seem to have given up completely since the West Ham game.

[Turkish]

39 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Salisu is not the problem!! He has had a couple of poor games. Surely Bednarek is the one, he gets out muscled time and again and has been part of the team each time we fall apart. If we sell \salisu the club will then go and buy another cheapie to fill that spot.

The new owners in my opinion are fairly potless in real terms, and have a programmed fanbase who accept mediocrity. Iam one of them, my expectations are always low.

It is sad to hear Sky sports spouting we have let in 6 or more goals 10 times in PL history the most of any club.

Its great being a lovely family club but boy are we welcoming. We give the away fans prime position to give their team great vocal backing and have a team that rolls over too often, and a policy to let the world know anybody is for sale. Hence we will never create a side that can do no more than survive.

I cant think of the last time I went to a game confident we'd win. Even teams like Watford etc concern me, when we should roll them over consistantly easily

Yep. MOTD said Werner has scored more goals against us than the entire rest of premier league combined, that’s unbelievable. Sadly it’s not an isolated case. We have always been the team a that the opposition will end a bad run of form against, same with players, if a striker needs a goal you can virtually guarantee one against us. 
 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

The players all gave up after JWP made an assist for their third with his reckless header. 

[spyinthesky]

35 minutes ago, macca155 said:

What is good about this and other forums, is that after the inevitable (and fully justified) 'sack them all' reaction, a concensus starts to emerge as we all come to terms with the performance.

Ralph's decision to make so many changes against West Ham, has clearly impacted on the players.

The difference between Feb and March is stark. We may have won that game but at what cost?

I think the players lost their rhythm and just don't know how to get it back. Same has happened to Utd and Everton, somehow Ralph has to find a way out of this. He has to respond to other team's strategy against his tactics.

I like Ralph still believe in him as our manager, basically the good outweighs the bad. However the new ownership need to do a reset with this squad. That defence cannot cope with an all out assault.

One of the bonuses of the Cup changes was the emergence of Valery as a central defender. He was excellent against Chelsea in the cup and Ralph was talking him up. He's shown potential so why not play him. He has pace and would have been a better opponent for Warner than Bendarek, or as it turned out Salisu.

Anyway its no good doing what ifs for too long, pretty pointless really.

Arsenal next different prospect. Let's give them a game of footie and try not to get hammered..... please.

 

From the Villa game the equivalent League record (and appreciate it contains one Cup game)is P6 W0 D 1 L 5 F4 A19 Pts 1

Of the measley 4 goals scored one was from an own goal and the other from a (fantastic) free kick.

We have changed overnight from a team that was difficult to play against and with a good degree of confidence to an absolute shambles, especially in the Villa, Watford and Chelsea games.

[Give it to Ron]

15 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

The players all gave up after JWP made an assist for their third with his reckless header. 

They had given up after the second goal the body language showed that.

We have no leaders or backbone, I not only blame the manager for his tactics but where is the players looking round and saying look he has 10 yards no-one near him?

Where is the on field organisation? 
Can someone explain why Elynoussi stayed on?

At least Ralph threw his coat on ground and sat down….what about changing the shape earlier and admit you faked it up again instead of blaming the press.

2 in midfield is ridiculous against these top teams when will he learn?

[rooney]

If you look at our current squad compared to the one we had for the first few seasons back in the PL it will be easy to spot the problem——quality!

[beatlesaint]

28 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

The players all gave up after JWP made an assist for their third with his reckless header. 

When he's in the middle of the park he does like a back or sideways pass, which is fine, but fuck me we were 2-0 down, there were more Saints players in front of him than behind, we needed to attack, so he passes back to who ? Oh yeah a centre back who had ambled over to take one of those oh so effective long throws and not bothered to stroll back into position either because he thought the momentum was for going forward or because he couldnt be arsed.

I dont like it when we have a full seven days to train, thats when Ralph gets his big boy coaching manual out and goes for the weird and not so wonderful. Ok, in fairness yesterday that was the strongest team he could put out but god knows what the game plan was. Give them as much room in midfield as they want to lull them into a false sense of security ? Taking Romeu off was a weird one, you want damage limitation so you sub off the only midfield player who will put his foot in?

I dread to think what he puts out and in what formation for the Arsenal game. I really hope he doesnt use this as an excuse to put McCarthy back in goal....oh and scrap the bloody long throw ins, having a centre back take them and then be miles out of position if/when the ball goes to the opposition is reckless or bloody stupid.  

 

 

[S-Clarke]

We are a mid-table bog average team who don't actually have a conventional season like you'd expect from a mid-table team, it's weird.

We have streaks where we are top 4/top 6, plaudits from everywhere and just delightful to watch for a period of time.

Then we have streaks where we are bottom 2, worst in the league and are the worst team to watch for a period of time.

There is simply no middle ground. The reality is that both of those extremes meet up at the end of the season and we end up finishing mid-table as per our squad dictates we should. I guess we could be more like a Brighton or a Bolton of old and get to mid-table with a few wins here and there, draws, runs of draws and wins and defeats etc - but that seemingly isn't how we do it. We define streaky team.

I guess the question is why does our form keep falling off a cliff? In my opinion it's still the age old problem of most of our players not really being much above mid-table in quality wise (probably much lower in some plcaes). There are a couple of top 10 players in our 11 but the rest are pretty average. When we play well it often coincides with our 'Top 10' players playing at the top of their game, i.e Ings a couple of years ago, JWP/Broja/Salisu/KWP at points this season. When those top 10 players drop off form wise (which will happen) it highlights the lack of quality in the rest, as everyone else has to show up - which they don't.

Bednarek is garbage, no real debate to be had there. GK is a massive problem and we need to fix that. CM is rubbish beyond JWP and Romeu, we need a shake up there. Up front and attack is an absolute cluster fuck of a mess, our best player in attack is a loan who won't be staying. We need quality injected into those 3 area's in the summer otherwise it will be the same old story. If we have more quality in those areas then we may be able to sustain our decent spells for longer and maybe...you know, potentially win a game when not playing well? (i.e have a winger/number 10 who can win a game out of nothing?). We don't do that, you only see us win games when everyone is 100%. We don't have enough quality to afford any slight drop off as it stands.

At the end of the day though we will finish mid-table on a shoe-string budget, which is exactly what most would expect and probably accept if they're honest. The extremes are frustrating and if anything brings out more extreme reactions (at both extremes) but that our season is going exactly as most predicted.

Edited 10 April, 2022 by S-Clarke

[East Kent Saint]

Well I forced myself to watch Motd , Saints managed a few chances but then the high back line was mentioned several times before Chelsea started scoring for fun . So our tactics all wrong and didn't seem to change . Afterwards they focused on Werner and didn't mention Saints capitulation much .

Ralph seem to just give up , rather than shout from the sidelines as usual and the team followed suit . What's going on behind the scenes I wonder ???

Edited 10 April, 2022 by East Kent Saint

[Whitey Grandad]

16 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

 

Bednarek is garbage, no real debate to be had there. GK is a massive problem and we need to fix that. CM is rubbish beyond JWP and Romeu, we need a shake up there. Up front and attack is an absolute cluster fuck of a mess, our best player in attack is a loan who won't be staying. We need quality injected into those 3 area's in the summer otherwise it will be the same old story. If we have more quality in those areas then we may be able to sustain our decent spells for longer and maybe...you know, potentially win a game when not playing well? (i.e have a winger/number 10 who can win a game out of nothing?). We don't do that, you only see us win games when everyone is 100%. We don't have enough quality to afford any slight drop off as it stands.

 

With the best goalkeeper in the world yesterday we might have kept the score down to five. Or he may not have made any difference.

[beatlesaint]

11 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

Well I forced myself to watch Motd , Saints managed a few chances but then the high back line was mentioned several times before Chelsea started scoring for fun . So our tactics all wrong and didn't seem to change . Afterwards they focused on Werner and didn't mention Saints capitulation much .

Ralph seem to just give up , rather than shout from the sidelines as usual and the team followed suit . What's going on behind the scenes I wonder ???

He does that a lot, when we go a couple of goals down he often just goes and sits down, any presence from the touch line just goes missing. Sort of sending out its own message to the players of “this games gone, you’re on your own” 

Edited 10 April, 2022 by beatlesaint

[John Boy Saint]

I haven’t read through all of this simply because I can’t be arsed - I was there so I know what I saw. 
 

Media team must have had their head in their hands having just launched season tickets 

[S-Clarke]

15 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

With the best goalkeeper in the world yesterday we might have kept the score down to five. Or he may not have made any difference.

Not just talking about this game in isolation, but overall we need to change up the GK positions. Agreed it wouldn't have made a huge difference y/day, but his distribution left a lot to be desired and kept putting us back in the shit.

[Whitey Grandad]

7 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

I haven’t read through all of this simply because I can’t be arsed - I was there so I know what I saw. 
 

Media team must have had their head in their hands having just launched season tickets 

The whole focus of the club seems to have changed. They appear to have taken our Premier League status as a given and are pushing other unrelated commercial interests. The main information screens yesterday showed nothing about the game apart from the time and the score. The rest was nothing but adverts. There was quite a bit about women’s football too.

All of it a distraction from the prime purpose of the club.

 

 

[benjii]

Let's be honest, the only player in our squad with a chance of getting into their team would be KWP but even that's debatable. We've fallen a long way from having players that the Champs League clubs would be interested in. I thought Salisu might get there but his form over the last month should ensure he isn't going anywhere this summer.

Centre back has been a weakness since VVD left and has never been addressed. Bednarek is shite and his body language and demeanour are terrible but he's still our best option after Salisu. We need to sign two good CBs and give Salisu some competition. 

GK is obviously an area where we also need a signing, assuming Forster is off.

At CM we badly need someone with some recovery pace or, even better, we need to play with 3 in the middle occasionally.

Moi, Djenepo and Tella are not good enough. Redmond is out of favour. We need to sign a new AM.

Upfront, Armstrong and Long are a waste of a shirt and Adams is a supporting act. We need a new striker.

So, basically, we need to strengthen the entire spine and, ideally, add an attacking midfielder.

100m should do it.....

[Wade Garrett]

Got to disagree there.  Made some great runs, not his fault that pedestrian RalphBall prefers to recycle it back to the defenders.

I was fuming that he was taken off at half-time.

18 hours ago, Dman said:

He’s dropped off, but so had the whole team. 

Like today, the strikers were feeding off scraps, Broja has been feeding off scraps for weeks now, yet Twar calls him out continuously. 
 

Nothing said about Armstrong, who again today, looks way out of his depth. 

 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Got to disagree there.  Made some great runs, not his fault that pedestrian RalphBall prefers to recycle it back to the defenders.

I was fuming that he was taken off at half-time.

 

I thought so too. Armstrong was putting himself about and when he did get the ball Chelsea had trouble trying to get it back off him. Very lively.

[TWar]

14 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I thought so too. Armstrong was putting himself about and when he did get the ball Chelsea had trouble trying to get it back off him. Very lively.

He had a nice turn on Rudiger and drive forwards. Would be interesting to see how he does against worse quality teams.

[Dman]

24 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Got to disagree there.  Made some great runs, not his fault that pedestrian RalphBall prefers to recycle it back to the defenders.

I was fuming that he was taken off at half-time.

 

Fair comment, there were a few times he dropped in and found some space and looked tidy (he’s a different type of player to Broja in that sense), but I just don’t think he has the threat in front of goal. 
 

Id be interested to see the 2 together actually. I think the space that Broja creates would really benefit Armstrong. 

[cloggy saint]

8 minutes ago, TWar said:

 Would be interesting to see how he does against worse quality teams.

We've already seen on multiple occasions how he does against worse quality teams.

[TWar]

38 minutes ago, cloggy saint said:

We've already seen on multiple occasions how he does against worse quality teams.

Yeah and he started slow, but so did Che and now Che is our top scorer. Would like to see him have another run in the side.

[Sarisbury Saint]

3 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

The players all gave up after JWP made an assist for their third with his reckless header. 

Was poor, but Bednarek was goal side of Werner, but by the time he had turned, the ball was in the net.

 

[nta786]

MANAGER Thomas Tuchel has revealed Saints walked into a Chelsea trap, saying “we expected” the high-press and it was “set out for Timo Werner to deliver”.

“We expected a 4-4-2 and both number sixes to press high."

“So we wanted to pin the defenders with two strikers and find Mason (Mount) in a bit of an open position between the lines."

“We had a bit of a different role for the wing-backs because we anticipated an aggressive 4-4-2 and wanted to have three midfielders against their two midfielders and have an ideal position for Kai (Havertz) and Timo (Werner)."

"That was the idea behind it but, of course, it's not about the idea. It's about how we played, how committed we played, and with what quality we played."

“It was a different mindset. A different attitude. And it was then followed by all the quality."

"Timo was playing in his favourite position, and he loves to play with Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic"

“He has a connection to these players. He loves the double striker position, the half left position."

“It was an opponent where we could imagine we’d find spaces in behind because it was a higher attacking opponent. Everything was set out for him to deliver, honestly."

Tuchel added: “It was a very good performance offensive-wise but also defensive-wise."

“It’s not only a possession game against Southampton, it’s about winning the duels, accepting the physicality."

“There was a good mix in all areas of the pitch, in mentality and commitment. It was very, very good.”

 

[egg]

4 minutes ago, nta786 said:

MANAGER Thomas Tuchel has revealed Saints walked into a Chelsea trap, saying “we expected” the high-press and it was “set out for Timo Werner to deliver”.

“We expected a 4-4-2 and both number sixes to press high."

“So we wanted to pin the defenders with two strikers and find Mason (Mount) in a bit of an open position between the lines."

“We had a bit of a different role for the wing-backs because we anticipated an aggressive 4-4-2 and wanted to have three midfielders against their two midfielders and have an ideal position for Kai (Havertz) and Timo (Werner)."

"That was the idea behind it but, of course, it's not about the idea. It's about how we played, how committed we played, and with what quality we played."

“It was a different mindset. A different attitude. And it was then followed by all the quality."

"Timo was playing in his favourite position, and he loves to play with Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic"

“He has a connection to these players. He loves the double striker position, the half left position."

“It was an opponent where we could imagine we’d find spaces in behind because it was a higher attacking opponent. Everything was set out for him to deliver, honestly."

Tuchel added: “It was a very good performance offensive-wise but also defensive-wise."

“It’s not only a possession game against Southampton, it’s about winning the duels, accepting the physicality."

“There was a good mix in all areas of the pitch, in mentality and commitment. It was very, very good.”

 

Thanks, couldn't find it to post. Embarrassingly easy for them. 

I'll wait for TWar to tell you that it wasn't 442 though! 

[Tank]

Villa getting thrashed was a crumb of brutish comfort ... Ingsy taken off at 70 minutes.....

[gallaghert366@yahoo.com]

5 hours ago, DT said:

Still fuming. National embarrassments again. Surely we have to take decisive action and lose this woefully inept manager and coaching team? We need a spine, and resilience. The knife through butter nature of our frail squad will only get worse under these guys. 

Where do think Southampton FC would be in the league with either Klopp or Guardiola in charge?

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, nta786 said:

MANAGER Thomas Tuchel has revealed Saints walked into a Chelsea trap, saying “we expected” the high-press and it was “set out for Timo Werner to deliver”.

“We expected a 4-4-2 and both number sixes to press high."

“So we wanted to pin the defenders with two strikers and find Mason (Mount) in a bit of an open position between the lines."

“We had a bit of a different role for the wing-backs because we anticipated an aggressive 4-4-2 and wanted to have three midfielders against their two midfielders and have an ideal position for Kai (Havertz) and Timo (Werner)."

"That was the idea behind it but, of course, it's not about the idea. It's about how we played, how committed we played, and with what quality we played."

“It was a different mindset. A different attitude. And it was then followed by all the quality."

"Timo was playing in his favourite position, and he loves to play with Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic"

“He has a connection to these players. He loves the double striker position, the half left position."

“It was an opponent where we could imagine we’d find spaces in behind because it was a higher attacking opponent. Everything was set out for him to deliver, honestly."

Tuchel added: “It was a very good performance offensive-wise but also defensive-wise."

“It’s not only a possession game against Southampton, it’s about winning the duels, accepting the physicality."

“There was a good mix in all areas of the pitch, in mentality and commitment. It was very, very good.”

 

In other words, we are predictable and only play RalphBall.