Saints 0-2 Brentford - Match Thread

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

t'fuck is he on about?

The first half was appalling...

 

This is a huge worry. He got it wrong. Meddled with the starting XI and gave Brentford a chance to get a foothold.

I'm certain that if we'd come out all guns blazing and bagged a goal then Brentford would have to bring the game to us. Instead they realized that the moment they went 1 up they'd be comfortable winners by just sitting back and repelling our pathetic crosses. Easy as pie.

[Grimsby1984]

4 minutes ago, Saint_Jonny said:

That was absolutely abysmal. Typical of many, many displays at St Mary's in the last 5 years. Loads of possession and absolutely fuck all to show for it, barely a shot on target, just wanky wayward crosses and easily cleared shit cut backs. 

Atmosphere was shit from kickoff. You wouldn't know we were in with a about of getting out of the bottom three with our fans complaining about sideways passes from minute one. Bellends. 

At least if you go ,they wont be able to moan about the vertical passes some of them load it big time there , that big lad up top might actually come in useful -Rotherham , Luton and Sheff Weds if they go up really mix it seen 1 of there games -load then re load direct football not sure how some of these would copw with it ,Bednarek might be useful hes a bit of an immobile lump but might suit it

[Streaky]

13 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Can anyone see anything of merit in Tall Paul?
Another £20m spunked away.
I dont suppose he shares the same agent as Carillo

He was awful his first touch from a throw was to smash it back st a brentford player to somehow win a throw. Ali dia had a better cameo. Looked like he won a competition to get on the pitch. 

Our recruitment is embarrassing.

[James G]

It's what I said, they keep it tight, saints dominated possession, tick, beyond that, it was quite poor. The passing was poor to feet early, noone doing runs, closing was an afterthought. Second half, tall Paul was on and they were crossing to feet alot. On set pieces, the back post was abandoned again, this needs addressing 

[LuckyNumber7]

Such a disappointing performance considering what was at stake. As others have said the selections of Diallo and especially Moi were a complete disaster, they are just nowhere near good enough. We were so labored and pedestrian in how we played, we actually looked scared to play a forward ball. There were plenty of times when Che and Sulemana made runs off the last man but were just never picked out, instead the ball going backwards and sideways again until we lost possession. WWe are s easy to play against, no urgency at all and no clue how to break Brentford down. The injury to KWP is just another kick in the bollocks.

Feels like any remaining hope has been extinguished tonight, a golden chance to get out of the bottom three and we blew it. There are too many players in this squad who aren't up to standard, I'm almost looking forward to a cleansing of the squad in the summer and a fresh start in the Championship. Just seeing us score a few more goals would be nice.

[RedWillie]

If that's football you can stick it.  Appalling , no entertainment whatsoever.

Reason 1. Saints were so so bad

Reason 2. Brentford time wasting, 'game management',  fake injuries,  slow to restart, complaining to refs about nothing, Disrupting play. Call it what you like but it don't call it football.

Football? That wasn't a football match it was a farce. 

[SupersonicSaint]

Just now, RedArmy said:

Easily the most unlikeable squad of players we’ve ever had. Disgraceful bunch of pricks. Looking forward to most of you being sold, hopefully to shit clubs so you can all rot for a few more seasons. 

I remember people saying this a lot in that 2017-18 season where we beat swansea on the penultimate day.

Only Bednarek, McCarthy (both of whom only broke into the first team in the second half of that season) and JWP (then a bit part player) from that team are still in the squad.

Sure we had cocks like Hoedt and Austin, as well as some polarising players like Cedric, Hojbjerg, Redmond etc, but lots of good memories associated with the likes of Gabbiadini, Tadic, Romeu, Yoshida, Davis. Interesting to compare to the current squad...

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, RedWillie said:

If that's football you can stick it.  Appalling , no entertainment whatsoever.

Reason 1. Saints were so so bad

Reason 2. Brentford time wasting, 'game management',  fake injuries,  slow to restart, complaining to refs about nothing, Disrupting play. Call it what you like but it don't call it football.

Football? That wasn't a football match it was a farce. 

Absolutely. What a shitty little team Brentford are. Players made of glass sitting down every time the referee blew his whistle. That’s not clever or skilful or clever game management. It’s pure outright cheating.

[LGTL]

We are in real danger of going down for years. The Championship is full of clubs that stunk the PL out for years before finally meeting their fate. If you think this is bad, wait for us to still be floating around the second division in 10 years time. 

[HarvSFC]

We lost the game before kick off. Unforgiveable to start Diallo and Elyounoussi in any fixture after being here for 27 league matches, let alone a fixture of this importance. The one winnable fixture of the three this week. Diallo's comfortably the worst central midfielder in the league. Can't make a simple pass and gives up possession every time, meaning we had no control of the game in the first half. Whilst, Elyounoussi is a trier, but he can't move. Our passes to feet weren't working, so when we did try to pass into the space on the side that Sulemana wasn't on, Brentford were just mopping it up as neither Elyounoussi or Adams have any legs. I guess Edozie and Djenepo were too forward thinking for our manager, as even though they do lose possession more often than not, Elyounoussi also does, but also doesn't create any excitement either. Too many sideways safety passes that gets you nowhere against Premier League defenders.

I made a joke in the week, but how Toney continues to play after admitting to 200+ betting offences, only the FA knows. Best bit of the match was Bednarek giving him a bit after he left a boot in on Bazunu towards the end of the match.

KWP going off injured was shit. He should've also been brought off straight away after going down, don't know why we kept him on for a few extra minutes. Nathan Jones' son looked crap. Can't carry the ball and just hits the ball and hopes for the best, even when he hoofed what should have been a simple pass down the line to Walcott.

Ref was shit.

Predicted it on Sunday, we've been false dawn football club this season. Only show up against the big boys.

 

[Huffton]

Thats it for me, we are down. Its on Ankersen and the recruitment team, they collectively failed to replace a 20 goal a season striker and now we literally couldn't score in a brothel. Doesn't matter how good the defence now is if you don't score you don't win. We are fucked. Well done Rasmus...

[skintsaint]

[SotonianWill]

35 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Anyone have an idea on what the hell our 1st half goal kicks are about?

We were shyte, Brentford defended well and Frank is light years ahead of Selles.

Tall Paul is shit, Mo is Shit, Bree is shit and Diallo is shit, HT action is shit, sound is shit.

I hope we do not stick with Selles...we need a new start next season

it took me until this comment to realise I was watching Bree at right back?

[Archers Road Stand]

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Absolutely. What a shitty little team Brentford are. Players made of glass sitting down every time the referee blew his whistle. That’s not clever or skilful or clever game management. It’s pure outright cheating.

Wish we were more like them because they are far better than us hence the three comfortable wins in a row they've had vs us now. 

[Whitey Grandad]

There is one inalienable principle in football.

Always play your best team

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, Archers Road Stand said:

Wish we were more like them because they are far better than us hence the three comfortable wins in a row they've had vs us now. 

I don’t. Winning at all costs is no good if you lose your soul.

[Archers Road Stand]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

I don’t. Winning at all costs is no good if you lose your soul.

This club lost its soul a long time ago. 

[obelisk]

Have just arrived home and discovered the score. Exactly what I feared. Can we knock St Mary's down now?

[Mr Saints]

We are shit

[adrian lord]

Just now, Archers Road Stand said:

This club lost its soul a long time ago. 

Definitely. We’ve been a zombie club from the Gao era on. I could cope with his absentee,  remote stewardship, that was for the most part caused by the Chinese government who shafted him with the sudden change of monetary outflow policy a matter of weeks after he bought the place, but these shallow shysters that are running the show now in the form of Ankersen et al feel sleazy and make me uneasy.

[Charlie Wayman]

A few blokes having a full on slanging match with the owners and board at the end of the game, no expletives spared. Lots of very angry people leaving St Mary's. Their anger is understandable after such an inept and unimaginative performance. One wonders how many will bother to turn up on Saturday. 

[Kingsbridge Saint]

Diallo over Lavia and Moi over Stu was symptomatic of the sort of selection errors made over the course of the season. Selles seems just as bad as all the rest of them in not knowing or sticking to our best line up. A consistent line up breeds familiarity and some structure. Chopping and changing for each opponent is not the way to do things. This one is down to Selles for me. Diallo and Moi kill us as an attacking unit.

[allsa001]

Don't really know what to say.

We could have played against them until tomorrow, and still not score.

When I watch non saints games, I am so envious of the chances that get created. Watching us is so predictable, even when we play against 10 men, we will need a jwp or a pen to be in with a chance of scoring.

I can't think of an easier task to play against than us.

[Saint Matty 76]

67% possession with one shot on goal and not a single good chance all game.

Awful watch. They were never under threat.

[JRM]

Referee - shite 

Saints performance- shite 

Saints fans - shite 

Look at teams like Everton who know what it takes to stay up, make home game intimidating, St Mary's as flat as ever 

Another terribly disappointing Wednesday night home game 

100% relegated 

[davefizzy14]

4 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

67% possession with one shot on goal and not a single good chance all game.

Awful watch. They were never under threat.

We've got to be creating more. Our home form needs to improve and quickly. 

[macca155]

We're down aren't we, can't see the team getting out of this mess now. Knowing Saints they'll probably beat Spurs now, and the whole ghastly hope process will start again. Wearing me down. (They won't of course)

Brentford were stronger, bigger, faster, more committed, and better led than Saints. A shame they resorted to time-wasting as they didn't need to. Couldn't see Saints scoring however long they played.

We all saw this coming when Elyounoussi and Diallo were selected. One could be absorbed but playing both simply left us slow and ponderous.

Frank made changes mid game to counter any progress we were making. JWP was relentlessly shut down and their forwards defended more than they attacked.

They constantly target the back post and it was no surprise the goal came from there.

Tella scored again. Why on earth didn't they call him back and avoided wasting 20 million on Paul Onuachu. He doesn't fit the system and clearly isn't PL standard yet.

[obelisk]

This season's home strip has surrender written all over it as well. Relegation now a nailed on certainty on this form.

[Bob76]

Home and had chance for a medicinal brandy, not much to say really, some say the fans were quiet but after seven seasons of crap I'm not surprised. As for Ralph MK2 he had succeeded in making us as boring and predictable as we were before always with the first choice to turn and go back, we are simply not good enough to beat eleven men every attack, alien Lucy and diallo are just so bad.

I was hoping the manager having seen this crap all year might have other plans.

[Lord Duckhunter]

26 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I don’t. Winning at all costs is no good if you lose your soul.

Don’t be so fucking  soft. “Lose your soul”.. 😂 what a drama nod. 

[Whitey Grandad]

13 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

67% possession with one shot on goal and not a single good chance all game.

Awful watch. They were never under threat.

There was one occasion in the second half when we had worked our way in on the right close in to their goal when there were suddenly four Brentford players plus the goalkeeper smothering any chance.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Don’t be so fucking  soft. “Lose your soul”.. 😂 what a drama nod. 

You have never understood and you never will. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

10 minutes ago, JRM said:

Look at teams like Everton who know what it takes to stay up, make home game intimidating, St Mary's as flat as ever 

What do you expect after watching yet another dismal home performance? The players need to give something to the fans, be it a crunching fair tackle or a shot on target. There was nothing this evening, it was the usual shit of passing it around the back four sideways and back. The lack of urgency was pathetic, we were playing like we were three up with ten to go.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

You have never understood and you never will. 

I understand that Brentford put in a tremendous away performance & deservedly won. They are a credit to clubs of their size, extremely well run, nice little ground & players that fight for the cause. There was only one club missing their “soul” and it wasn’t them. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I understand that Brentford put in a tremendous away performance & deservedly won. They are a credit to clubs of their size, extremely well run, nice little ground & players that fight for the cause. There was only one club missing their “soul” and it wasn’t them. 

That presentation tonight was a load of crap. Nothing to do with football. A load of cheating bastards. 

[Noodles34]

Had to laugh when there was a big cheer for 7 minutes added time. Like we’d looked like scoring in 90 and people getting excited about another 7 FFS

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

That presentation tonight was a load of crap. Nothing to do with football. A load of cheating bastards. 

And let me be clear. I’m not talking about Southampton here.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That presentation tonight was a load of crap. Nothing to do with football. A load of cheating bastards. 

Its part of the game nowadays, I don't like it, but the ref this evening was totally weak. He let them time waste, so of course they are going to keep doing it.

[saintant]

41 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Absolutely. What a shitty little team Brentford are. Players made of glass sitting down every time the referee blew his whistle. That’s not clever or skilful or clever game management. It’s pure outright cheating.

I actually feel sorry for them because their future is fairly predictable. They are an even smaller club than us so will not be able to survive the Premier League for long. The first thing that'll happen is Frank will be tempted away. Then their better players will either be snapped up by bigger clubs or banned for betting indiscretions. Don't see them as long term in the top league.

[Pamplemousse]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

I actually feel sorry for them because their future is fairly predictable. They are an even smaller club than us so will not be able to survive the Premier League for long. The first thing that'll happen is Frank will be tempted away. Then their better players will either be snapped up by bigger clubs or banned for betting indiscretions. Don't see them as long term in the top league.

Can see them doing a Blackpool, Huddersfield or Portsmouth. Back to their level of League 1/2 within 5 years 

[tpv01]

Bad game. No width, which has been successful recently. If Walcott can’t play two games in a week I’d prefer another genuine winger like djnepo or edozie to Ely. Lavia had to play from the start. 
 

Blunt attack. Would love to have a player like wissa who sat on their bench and came on for a lovely finish at pace. Made it look easy when we know che, Walcott or AA would do the opposite. 
 

wonder if we should try someone else on corners. Commentators always say how good jwp deliveries are and how he always puts it into an “area”. They look just fizzed in and hard to attack and easier to block or defend. Never fancy we get anything from them and the players don’t seem to anymore either. Set pieces crucial in this league. Try alcaraz on them and put it up there for someone to attack. 
 

annoying when you look at the kwp injury. A cynical foul that will do a hammy every time. Don’t know how professionals can do that to each other. Could be a big blow if it’s a bad one and bree is the alternative or it means no other option that amn and Perraud as fullbacks for the rest of the season. 

[obelisk]

Saints home form if beyond dreadful. Has been for quite a while if we're honest. The players hardly see St Mary's from one week to the next so it's no wonder they don't treat it like home. Maybe a few training sessions at St Mary's might help the clueless sods to get to know the place.

[Whitey Grandad]

8 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Its part of the game nowadays, I don't like it, but the ref this evening was totally weak. He let them time waste, so of course they are going to keep doing it.

I normally support referees on account of my history but that one tonight was poor. His positioning was awful, getting too close to the ball and got in the way twice in the first half, something you hardly ever see. I’d love to know what Bednarek said to him when he ran up to him after he had blocked JWP’s wonderful cross field pass. He broke up what was becoming a beautiful sequence of passes.

Something needs to be done about all these players sitting down at every opportunity. Maybe the game should just carry in without them. If it’s not a head injury there should be no reason to have the medics come onto the field. Don’t they carry on in rugby with the game going on around them?

[DT]

Anyone who thinks Selles is any good should actually just look at his team selections. And those he was clearly behind in the mystifying ones by Hassenhuttl. Another find of pure shite. Well done Saints. Would we have preferred a loss last game and a draw tonight ? Dunno. Do know there is fuck all fight in this team, and an absolute streak of nothingness that runs right through the club like letters in a stick of rock. 

[Micky]

Tonight was effectively this seasons 'cup final' for us and we totally blew it.  We only had to beat Brentford at home to give ourselves a chance of staying up, dragging others in, and we put in yet another insipid, crap display.   How we are meant to offload our deadwood before next season is beyond me, because we have an awful lot of players that nobody in their right mind is going to want. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The reason we can’t win games is because we don’t score goals. The reason we don’t score goals is because nearly every attacking move involves waiting for the opposing team to re-group into 11 men behind the ball, thus making it difficult if not impossible for our mediocre players to break down a defence. Contrast this to the excellent creative move for the recent Che assist / Alcarez goal. We just don’t do that stuff enough. It’s not just Diallo and Ely-no-usey…JWP is a culprit too, along with our two centre backs who dawdle on the ball (although who they’re supposed to thread a pass to is anyone guess).

Brentford are well drilled, set up to compete and generally play fast flowing football. They don’t have well known expensive players. In fact to be honest they had few chances this evening, but they were tidy and clinical in taking their 1st goal (that essentially won the game). We were no match and that’s the sad reality. We are not as good as Brentford…let that sink in. The madness is that we’re still not mathematically down, but those who know a dysfunctional team when they see one will know that we’re dead certs for the drop. In truth, we have been all season.

Edited 16 March, 2023 by Saint Fan CaM

[LaptopSaint]

Just got home after another fun packed evening at St Marys. 

Our next eight games are all against direct relegation rivals or teams competing for the top four, so I’d been hoping the players realised that this chance of getting off the bottom, out of the relegation places, and two points from twelfth was worth taking. 
 

Apparently not. We weren’t terrible, we were just flat, predictable and toothless. Seeing Moi and Diallo starting ahead of Stu/Theo and especially Lavia was like watching the air come out of a balloon. If Lavia can’t play three full games in a week then give him the first half tonight and on Saturday to at least give us a chance of getting a lead. Nope. Diallo. Tried hard but has the creativity of a bullfrog.
 

What’s that you say - we had the fastest and slowest wingers in the league on the pitch? That must be why we kept asking Moi to chase the ball down the line, while Sulemana seemed allergic to the massive wad of space behind their right back. At least Charley tried to get things going, but Brentford never had to be more than fucking average.  

I’ve lost all hope again, and wonder how we’ll ever score more than one goal again this season, so we’ll probably beat Spurs 2-0 on Saturday. 
 

[OttawaSaint]

Just sitting here still shaking my head at how Saints played tonight's game. Did they actually think they could score playing like that?

I was kinda hoping the confidence would be high after the great performance at OT, that they'd figured some things out and would be tweaking a few things to get to the next level.

But no, they reverted to type and showed us all that the Utd and Chelsea games were just fluky results at that they aren't really capable of anything resembling EPL aptitude. 

Annoyed at myself for having more belief in these losers than they have in themselves and caring more about the club than they do. I'm such a fool.

Edited 16 March, 2023 by OttawaSaint

[Spark]

19 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Just sitting here still shaking my head at how Saints played tonight's game. Did they actually think they could score playing like that?

I was kinda hoping the confidence would be high after the great performance at OT, that they'd figured some things out and would be tweaking a few things to get to the next level.

But no, they reverted to type and showed us all that the Utd and Chelsea games were just fluky results at that they aren't really capable of anything resembling EPL aptitude. 

Annoyed at myself for having more belief in these losers than they have in themselves and caring more about the club than they do. I'm such a fool.

They just play for the cameras in the big games to get their move because we told them they would get that when we bought them. 

[St Steve]