Saints 0-1 Cherries - Match Thread

[Jack]

Only play those who want to be here in the championship for the rest of the season, even if it’s just the kids. Pathetic. Praying the board ship Selles out and get a real manager in for a fight next season but I reckon they’ll stick with him until promotion is out of reach 

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

One of the poorest displays I've seen from us for most of the match. Bournemouth are a distinctly average team but they know their roles, they seemed to all be a yard quicker than us and seemed to be winning every aerial challenge. 

Didn't think McCarthy did anything to show he shouldn't be playing each week, he was a bit slow for their goal to get down but he has our whole defence between him and their attacker so you'd hope someone would block it or put a challenge in before then. He wasn't the best on the ball but he never has been.

The defence were shit, I cannot believe the defender I trust most and who seems to care the most is Bednarek, that really sums up what a horror show this season has been. Swapping to 5 at the back at half time killed us, it meant we relied too much on Lyanco and DCC to bring the ball out from the back and neither of them looked like they wanted to at any point, and they can't pass. So frustrating to see us have the ball at the back, Bednarek play it wide to DCC only for him to plod a few paces forward, be closed down and then turn it back. We need to learn to pass quicker. KWP, Perraud and AMN all had games to forget really.

Lavia looked his usual good self. 

I cannot fathom how we start with the forward players we do. Elyounoussi and Alcaraz did the exact same thing, received the ball, turned, and either passed it to a Bournemouth defender or turned back. Walcott looks like he's done, he made a good few runs, but he's too slow now to do that, so either he goes early and is offside or he doesn't have the pace to then beat his man. Armstrong pressed well, but he can't dribble or finish, so basically he's as effective as the fake rabbit greyhounds chase when they race. 

Bringing Lyanco on was dumb. We invited more pressure by dropping deeper, and gave them the midfield. The change should have been Stu, or Adams, with a re-shuffle of a system that wasn't necessarily working, but was at least not reliant on DCC to progress the ball. 

So frustrating to see us finish the game with a front three who could have made a difference early in the game. Sulemana is our only attacker who has pace to beat people, Adams can actually hold the ball up and score (albeit brutally close offside) and Stu knows how to take a player on, or at least give the ball and run into space! Instead we play Armstrong who can't beat a man, Alcaraz who doesn't hold the ball up and Walcott who just turns play back to his full back.

Selles might be a good bloke who helped Ralph and the players liked him, but they're so clearly not playing for him anymore. We need a fresh start with someone who can use the pre-season to reset and allow us to play attacking football. We haven't looked like scoring a goal from open play or a counter attack for about 2 years now, aside from Broja. 

I thought the sorry state of yesterday evening was encapsulated by the full time whistle. Most of the players were head down straight off the pitch, and only Adams, Stu, Lavia and AMN even acknowledged the fans. There are no leaders in this squad, no-one to take a game to an opposition, and no-one I'd trust to win any more games this season.

I'm glad we're not going into the last few games with any hope. In 2005 I genuinely thought we could beat Man U on the last day and stay up, this year's squad probably couldn't even beat the 2005 Man U squad now, even in their 40s. 

[beatlesaint]

I don’t even blame the inept, passionless players anymore, the finger has to be pointed at the manager who in four must win games in the past 6 weeks, three at home, has gone into the games WITHOUT PLAYING A STRIKER!!!!

We play with something called a false number 9 which presumably fits in well with the false numbers 1,2,3,4,5 etc we also play. It’s absolute suicide. He decides in the latest all or nothing must win debacle to pick a team including this false number 9 and two players who were pathetic in the last match yet somehow get picked again!!

As soon as you see the team sheet the alarm bells start to ring. But wait, the first 5 minutes Saints look lively, pity there’s no striker to get on the end of this….aah here we go, minute 6 onwards and we are back to no threat, no pace, no passion, no idea. Just waiting for the latest bang average at best team to score….and they do…..game over!

Only then does the genius in the polo neck and jacket combo on the touchline decide to introduce a striker!! Whoop effin whoop.

Five mins left and said introduced striker scores!!!! Oh no, no he doesn’t, VAR determines the nail on his big toe is offside. Ah well, another dream dashed cos we obviously would have scored another in the 5 mins injury time left…..yeah right

Bastards

[OldNick]

I think Selles takes more time selecting his suit than selecting a team

[markr27]

The only thing I remember from that game is Sulemana being clearly overlooked by quite a few of the players when they saw whom it was.
Seems there is a clear divide within that squad. Probably LLLLL based on that for the forthcoming games.

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Has anybody ever worked out the purpose of that? All it does is waste time and bore the fans. On the football side it gets us nowhere.

Winning the possession stats.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

I want to know when the rules changed about free kicks. Every time you win one you have to play it backwards.

And why didn't Bournemouth know about that change?

Because Bournemouth are fifty years behind the rest of the country.

[Baird of the land]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

I want to know when the rules changed about free kicks. Every time you win one you have to play it backwards.

And why didn't Bournemouth know about that change?

Yeah there was an instance late on where sulemana got hacked, I turned away from the screen for a second and we’d already gone all the way back to McCarthy from the fk.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Yeah there was an instance late on where sulemana got hacked, I turned away from the screen for a second and we’d already gone all the way back to McCarthy from the fk.

Their goal came from our own throw-in in their half.

[cloggy saint]

Too bad we're as good as down but happy for Bournemouth's (probable) survival.

[Professor]

Of all the matches we have lost this season, this was the most embarrassing. Since the club was rescued by Marcus it has had advantages that Bournemouth could only dream about. We have a modern stadium, a state of the art training facility and a long established Academy.

All of those advantages have been squandered in assembling a second-rate squad of inadequate players and a few journeymen. Few of the first team have any connection with Southampton. 
I look forward to a fresh start in The Championship where it may once again be possible to enjoy my team playing football  Although I’d like to see them winning most of their games, I have no wish to see them back in the Premier League which is a flawed competition  

 

 

 

[East Kent Saint]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Has anybody ever worked out the purpose of that? All it does is waste time and bore the fans. On the football side it gets us nowhere.

This has been the ‘modern’ coaching normal , see England for advice ! It only works if you have the second part which is players capable of converting that possession to quick forward attacking movement as per Man C , Real etc

[Lord Duckhunter]

36 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

This has been the ‘modern’ coaching normal , see England for advice ! It only works if you have the second part which is players capable of converting that possession to quick forward attacking movement as per Man C , Real etc

Man City and teams like that circulate the ball round and round to pull the opposition around, create over loads and then BANG, they’re in. We mince about with it slowly to maintain possession where the opposition don’t mind us having possession, before giving it away or eventually passing back to the keeper to hoof it. It’s fucking pathetic, it’s fucking slow and it’s fucking boring. When your defenders aren’t that comfortable on the ball you need an outlet. You need to be able to knock it and a CF needs to be able to chase it or hold it up. Every pass into our attacking areas needs to be so precise because the forwards are so small and lightweight, apart from Che. It beggars belief that we’re trying to play champagne football with beer players…

[Baird of the land]

Apparently that was a dynamic frontline! That’s why we didn’t want to play a target man.

[saintant]

Time for a major rebuild and not just involving players and coaches. Can we please go back to a more traditional striped shirt - the current design is hideous. Somehow we need to reconfigure St Marys so that the home support covers the whole of one end to create a better atmosphere and stick away fans somewhere that makes it harder for them to generate so much noise. We need a new manager along with a set of good coaches who pride themselves on having the fittest team in the division, who have fast, progressive attacking beliefs coupled with looking to get every player moving off the ball and getting between the lines - no more static robots who are quite happy to hide from the ball.  Clear out the dead wood and introduce some experience so we have a better blend of younger and older players and bring in some bigger, faster more aggressive types. This will encourage more exciting football, energise the crowd and get the fans back on side. I'm hoping Jason Wilcox will bring some fresh ideas to help rejuvenate the club. If we do nothing we are headed only one way so an urgent reset is needed during the summer and let's have a team we can be proud of again - it's been too long.

Edited 28 April, 2023 by saintant

[Shroppie]

In my morose and depressed state I can’t help thinking about JWP going off at half time last night. It’s probably just me being sceptical, and I know the official reason was illness, but I just wonder if our docile captain could have blown his top at half time?

We were playing badly. Bournemouth were weak in the air, so our tall striker wasn’t even in the squad. Our most creative players and best striker didn’t start. AA and Elyounoussi were passengers. We were far too tentative. Just imagine JWP and maybe others demamdong change and Selles not liking the criticism. Answer: put JWP in his place, take him off and do the opposite by going even more defensive.

And what makes me think something had happened was we actually got worse after half time which I didn’t think possible. Looked like a lot of not caring.

You’ll appreciate I’m a great one for a conspiracy theory but it’ll be interesting to see it Prowsey “recovers” by Sunday. (Or if Selles lasts that long)

[Shroppie]

I missed the entire game as. I was chairing my last Council meeting as Mayor. But it’s not difficult to pick up the anger over the way we played without ungency, determination or commitment.

Hadn’t the players been told this game was it? Win or we’re down? Surely they don’t still think escape is on?

What worries me most is I think the problems at the club now run far deeper than players or even manager. I never thought I’d say this, but we were lucky that although Gao put no money into the club hd didn’t interfere. I fear we have the opposite now. Owners who think they know better than the people appointed to do jobs.

How else can you explain the ludicrous appointment of Jones? Things were very shaky under Ralph but we’d got 12 points from 14 games. Personally I think he should have had the WC break and January window to have a last go at turning it round: we’d had injuries and has no striker.

Since then we’ve had two managers who have brought nothing and delivered another 12 points, but from 19 games and wasted money on Onuachu.

Last Summer’s buying was also flawed: no striker (except Mara) and over-emayhasis on what seemed more of a business model rather than building a football team - far too many young players with potential but little experience. They’re now mainly out in the cold.

Yes, I’m pessimistic because it there aren’t big changes at Board level and restructuring under a motivational manager who will seriously kick some arses, we will not compete in the Championship. There is something rotten in the state of St Marys.

[Sunglasses Ron]

I'm running a marathon tomorrow, which I'm fairly sure will be a lot less painful than trying to support us at the moment.

[derry]

At just after 6.45 last night I looked at the team. Yet again Selles had picked a team that just didn't work. Selles is another result of too much theory over common sense. He obviously has no clue what he is trying to achieve or how to do it. We get the soundbites but they are just hot air and meaningless. Every team he has selected in his short tenure has been the same. Because he hasn't a clue he tinkers every week with the line up hoping he's going to hit on the answer. Yet he still fails to turn out a blanced team that blends and a well defined shape. The result is a shapeless mess.

Although some people are praising the Arsenal game because we scored goals but look a little closer. Arsenal's arrogance in the first ten minutes gifted us two goals. The goalkeepers pass out to Alcaraz was swiftly punished as was Alcaraz' beautiful ball in behind the defender for Walcott's goal. After that it was one way traffic with us hanging by our fingernails. Then a once in a blue moon JWP delivery flicked on by Bella-Kotchap and buried by Caleta-Car gave us a little breathing space amidst the constant battering.

We are crying out for goals so he picks Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong which immediately means no chance against AFCB who were nice and compact. We indulge in playing out short but for what purpose because the way we play it it is no more than meaningless ball rotation and often leads to a punt upfield to the opposition. Alcaraz is a good player, Walcott has time expired. There was no shape or meaning in the way we played.

My blue print starts from the back, cut out all short passing and hit the ball out to the wings. Stop fullbacks making kamikaze runs and exposing the centre backs. We just aren't good enough and produce very little from it, so play with a solid back four. Four in the middle, two pacy wide men who hug the lines and two midfielders one deep the other like Alcaraz. Two proper strikers supported by the wide men and the attacking midfielder. A simple philosophy defend and win the ball then get it out wide and attack in numbers. Stay compact at the back and go for it quickly up front. 

I haven't written off Onuachu because he has scored a lot of goals most getting in front of the defenders in the box so play him there he's not a presser. Adams is a dead loss, unintelligent and totally unaware of his positioning. He has scored more than his share of goals disallowed through offside because of his lack of awareness. He is also poor one on one with the keeper. If those goals had counted we would be comfortable. Personally I'd look at Mara alongside Onuachu with Djenepo and Sullemana wide.

There is really no place or purpose in playing Armstrong, Elyounoussi, Walcott, AMN or Aribo.

Edited 28 April, 2023 by derry

[JCBSaint]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Time for a major rebuild and not just involving players and coaches. Can we please go back to a more traditional striped shirt - the current design is hideous. Somehow we need to reconfigure St Marys so that the home support covers the whole of one end to create a better atmosphere and stick away fans somewhere that makes it harder for them to generate so much noise. We need a new manager along with a set of good coaches who pride themselves on having the fittest team in the division, who have fast, progressive attacking beliefs coupled with looking to get every player moving off the ball and getting between the lines - no more static robots who are quite happy to hide from the ball.  Clear out the dead wood and introduce some experience so we have a better blend of younger and older players and bring in some bigger, faster more aggressive types. This will encourage more exciting football, energise the crowd and get the fans back on side. I'm hoping Jason Wilcox will bring some fresh ideas to help rejuvenate the club. If we do nothing we are headed only one way so an urgent reset is needed during the summer and let's have a team we can be proud of again - it's been too long.

Summed up perfectly! Agree the kit is least of our problems but it is awful. 

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Time for a major rebuild and not just involving players and coaches. Can we please go back to a more traditional striped shirt - the current design is hideous. Somehow we need to reconfigure St Marys so that the home support covers the whole of one end to create a better atmosphere and stick away fans somewhere that makes it harder for them to generate so much noise. We need a new manager along with a set of good coaches who pride themselves on having the fittest team in the division, who have fast, progressive attacking beliefs coupled with looking to get every player moving off the ball and getting between the lines - no more static robots who are quite happy to hide from the ball.  Clear out the dead wood and introduce some experience so we have a better blend of younger and older players and bring in some bigger, faster more aggressive types. This will encourage more exciting football, energise the crowd and get the fans back on side. I'm hoping Jason Wilcox will bring some fresh ideas to help rejuvenate the club. If we do nothing we are headed only one way so an urgent reset is needed during the summer and let's have a team we can be proud of again - it's been too long.

I agree with nearly all of that. What worries me is the gap between the end of the PL and start of the Championship is very small. 28 May -7 August. Not much time to make these changes. I hope they are starting now.

[M271]

Every word Ruben Selles said on Bournemouth defeat, Gavin Bazunu decision and relegation - HampshireLive

[harvey]

44 minutes ago, M271 said:

Every word Ruben Selles said on Bournemouth defeat, Gavin Bazunu decision and relegation - HampshireLive

My god, he talks some shite!

[obelisk]

"Che Adams is as good as any striker in the air".

Selles must have been dozing when Adams failed to score with his head unchallenged from about a foot against Wolves. That statement is just so daft.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

17 minutes ago, obelisk said:

"Che Adams is as good as any striker in the air".

Selles must have been dozing when Adams failed to score with his head unchallenged from about a foot against Wolves. That statement is just so daft.

I can't even remember the last time Adams had a header at goal, let alone score with a header

[obelisk]

Adams scored with a header against Bournemouth back in the distant days when Saints weren't bottom. Yet.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

I agree with nearly all of that. What worries me is the gap between the end of the PL and start of the Championship is very small. 28 May -7 August. Not much time to make these changes. I hope they are starting now.

This is the thing - just two months. With the current set up and tactics, we will struggle for points in the Championship. Having watched this lot against Sheff Wed, Lincoln and Grimsby this season, it's obvious we need a quick reset. But I don't get any feeling of urgency at the club. Decide on the nucleus of the team, flog the rest of them and buy a couple of comparatively quality strikers.

Can our Academy be resurrected? Home grown talent are much more likely to give a toss than this current set. Attitude and motivation are key to a successful club.

[InTheChannel]

Hi all! Have started a Southampton FC blog, most recent post after the Bournemouth game is up now. 
 

Would really appreciate if people could take the time out to check it out and follow on Instagram (In The Channel)

 

https://inthechannel.blogspot.com/?m=1

Thanks

[drd]

AFCB fan in peace here.  Ive lived in a SO postcode longer than a BH one so got lots of Saints friends. Can't believe how poor you were last night and why Selles decided to not even have Tall Paul as a sub, when Douglas Bader would score headers against us is a mystery.  Fear that's it for you this season,  you'll be back though

[SotonianWill]

42 minutes ago, drd said:

AFCB fan in peace here.  Ive lived in a SO postcode longer than a BH one so got lots of Saints friends. Can't believe how poor you were last night and why Selles decided to not even have Tall Paul as a sub, when Douglas Bader would score headers against us is a mystery.  Fear that's it for you this season,  you'll be back though

“we’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day!”

Edited 28 April, 2023 by SotonianWill

[S-Clarke]

53 minutes ago, drd said:

AFCB fan in peace here.  Ive lived in a SO postcode longer than a BH one so got lots of Saints friends. Can't believe how poor you were last night and why Selles decided to not even have Tall Paul as a sub, when Douglas Bader would score headers against us is a mystery.  Fear that's it for you this season,  you'll be back though

You played well I thought, you've pulled it out of the bag these past 6 or so weeks. Credit to you.

Your new owner will ensure that you continue to compete as well. We'll be playing catchup to you for a good few years I feel.

[suewhistle]

8 hours ago, derry said:

There is really no place or purpose in playing Armstrong, Elyounoussi, Walcott, AMN or Aribo.

Amen.

I was in a pub before the match when everybody was looking at their phones to see the line-up, then looking up at their friends with a WTF expression..

 

[OttawaSaint]

Is there a first XI that we could field that isn't WTF?!?

We have so many average and off form players in our squad. I think Perraud has scored more than most of our attacking players.

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, OttawaSaint said:

Is there a first XI that we could field that isn't WTF?!?

We have so many average and off form players in our squad. I think Perraud has scored more than most of our attacking players.

Sulemana Che Edozie/Djenepo 

Alcaraz Lavia JWP

Perraud Salisu ABK Kwp

Mccarthy

 

There you go ^. This lineup wins some games in this league. Probs would have played paul yesterday to have a go at Bournemouths shaky set piece defence. 
 

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

12 hours ago, drd said:

AFCB fan in peace here.  Ive lived in a SO postcode longer than a BH one so got lots of Saints friends. Can't believe how poor you were last night and why Selles decided to not even have Tall Paul as a sub, when Douglas Bader would score headers against us is a mystery.  Fear that's it for you this season,  you'll be back though

I’m the other way round, born in SO postcode but spent most of my life in BH. Live in Poole & work in Bournemouth so have contact with loads of Boscombe supporters. The over riding feeling I get from my mates was sympathy, they were genuinely baffled how poor we were and the lack of fight. As you say, they were also baffled why we didn’t target your poor defending of crosses .
 

That’s how far we’ve fucked up. No disrespect but I moved to Poole 30 years ago, the thought of Bournemouth fans feeling sorry for us is unbelievable. The fact I was in a boozer full of Cherries last night fully expecting a lot of clog, but it was more “poor old scummer” rather than normal banter or abuse. I got more clog when we were down in league 1 with you, now it was pity. Pretty horrible feeling, like we’re a little noddy club. Fucking horrific….

[sfc4prem]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I’m the other way round, born in SO postcode but spent most of my life in BH. Live in Poole & work in Bournemouth so have contact with loads of Boscombe supporters. The over riding feeling I get from my mates was sympathy, they were genuinely baffled how poor we were and the lack of fight. As you say, they were also baffled why we didn’t target your poor defending of crosses .
 

That’s how far we’ve fucked up. No disrespect but I moved to Poole 30 years ago, the thought of Bournemouth fans feeling sorry for us is unbelievable. The fact I was in a boozer full of Cherries last night fully expecting a lot of clog, but it was more “poor old scummer” rather than normal banter or abuse. I got more clog when we were down in league 1 with you, now it was pity. Pretty horrible feeling, like we’re a little noddy club. Fucking horrific….

We fucking are at the moment. Rinsed at home by fucking Grimsby. Down with a whimper.

[Vancouver Saint]

On 28/04/2023 at 05:03, saintant said:

Time for a major rebuild and not just involving players and coaches. Can we please go back to a more traditional striped shirt - the current design is hideous. 

This. I blame this awful season - worst in my long long time following Saints - on this awful design. Can't believe someone got paid to produce this horror...also carried on to disgusting away kit. Fire the design agency!