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Stoke 0-1 Saints - Match Thread


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5 minutes ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

Can't see a way back for Stephens at this rate.

During our 4 match blip, Martin made it clear we missed Stephen's leadership and that he'd effectively walk straight back in the team when he's fit. Maybe a back 3/5 could work...?

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Positives- Smallbone and Downes were excellent. THB and Bednarek very solid as well. Stu's goal was superb and Sulemana will be a big threat for us if he can get better with the final ball and adding goals. Aribo helped kill the last 3 minutes of the game single handedly lol

Negatives - Alcaraz looks lost and then hes getting involved in the handbags at the end. Hes went backwards since last season. Not sure what Mara offers off the bench, particularly ahead of Che

A bit more composure and we would've killed the game. Very ugly last 20 minutes or so but we dug in and got the win so cant fault the effort

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What an absolutely ugly game of football that was, not much to write about other than the win. I think we were dragged into the Stoke game a bit too much, they had absolutely nothing - a truly horrific side. We should have made it more comfortable than it was.

Not entirely sure why Stu got MOTM - bit of a lazy choice just because he got the goal. In play he was inept tonight. Alcaraz was great slightly in front of him I think.

Best player for me was THB - he quietly goes about it, but he just defends with no nonsense. Always in the right position, the ball is like a magnet to him. He's going to be huge for us.

Subs made us weaker, Mara was really, really, really bad - didn't give us anything as a sub. Can't trust him now, go with Adams if we make that change going forward. Hopefully we get some takers in Jan.

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I only managed to catch the last half hour but, flipping eck, that was a hard watch. If that’s what we’re deeming the benefits of possession football then it’s not a great advert. Stoke looked like a poor championship team, we looked just a little bit above that.

Clean sheet, what’s that?! Downes challenge looked just a bit of a coming together but Bednarek ffs what’s he thinking, both arms wrapped round the striker is a terrible look, very lucky to get away with that.

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6 minutes ago, freshen up said:

I liked Fraser when he came on, experience showed with winning a few 'fouls' to slow it down. 

Did ok. When he came on the threat of Sulemana's pace was gone. They pushed up and turned the screw a bit. There was one great break opportunity, but Fraser is too slow to take advantage. I guess Sulemana had plenty of opportunities himself. Good to have options, but I don't want to see Fraser picked ahead of Sulemana again.

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1 minute ago, adrian lord said:

Bazunu with a big performance in my book. 

Passing was exceptional today. No real difficult saves to make but did better in parrying the ball into safer areas which has been a worry this season. I really hope two decent performances in a row & a clean sheet can push him on now.

THB and Downes my joint MOTM probably. KWP very good as well.

Still mystified why he's giving Fraser minutes over Edozie, but oh well. 

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1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Really? Their first shot on target was in the 96th min

Yeah, I thought he was much more confidence inspiring overall, and distribution was excellent. Sure he didn’t have much to save, but when called on it was an excellent one.

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I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

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Just now, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

I thought Flynn was good tonight, tired a bit as the game went on, but he's a tidy CM. Think he would be better with a bigger stature next to him, as Smallbone gets eaten alive.

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1 minute ago, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Eh? Downes was motm for me. 

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1 minute ago, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Downes was good!!??

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1 minute ago, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Last 2 games he's been among the best players for us

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Missed the game. Sounds like hard fought win but got to be happy with a clean sheet at last. must start to take those chances to kill off the opposition in games like this. Good week so far. Three points on Saturday will round things off just nicely so expect a scrappy 0-1 defeat. 😇

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2 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

I only managed to catch the last half hour but, flipping eck, that was a hard watch. If that’s what we’re deeming the benefits of possession football then it’s not a great advert. Stoke looked like a poor championship team, we looked just a little bit above that.

Clean sheet, what’s that?! Downes challenge looked just a bit of a coming together but Bednarek ffs what’s he thinking, both arms wrapped round the striker is a terrible look, very lucky to get away with that.

I know it wasn't pretty but Stoke have barely managed to create a chance against us, we're clearly a class apart

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2 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

I only managed to catch the last half hour but, flipping eck, that was a hard watch. If that’s what we’re deeming the benefits of possession football then it’s not a great advert. Stoke looked like a poor championship team, we looked just a little bit above that.

Clean sheet, what’s that?! Downes challenge looked just a bit of a coming together but Bednarek ffs what’s he thinking, both arms wrapped round the striker is a terrible look, very lucky to get away with that.

totally controlled the game in the first hour. Passed through them at will, just didn't do enough when breaking. Should have done more. Got ugly when they brought the big lad on and we made lots of subs. 

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3 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Mara got 15 minutes. He's not played. Maybe give him a little more of an opportunity?

Downes did OK. Dissappeared a bit in the last half hour.

Aribo did pretty well when he came on. I think that's been said a couple of times now this season. 

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Just now, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I know it wasn't pretty but Stoke have barely managed to create a chance against us, we're clearly a class apart

As I said, just commenting on the last half hour or so as that’s all I saw, it wasn’t a great watch! Sounds like the first bits were much better. In what I watched I was constantly struck by how much we gave the ball away for a so called possession based side, very sloppy stuff.

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1 minute ago, Chez said:

totally controlled the game in the first hour. Passed through them at will, just didn't do enough when breaking. Should have done more. Got ugly when they brought the big lad on and we made lots of subs. 

Pretty much how I saw it, had a good spell in the first half but didn't strangle them as much as we should have. Then they just became the thugs they are and just bombarded us with the ball and big blokes flying all over the place. They didn't let us play football in the end to be fair, they just kept the ball in the air as that is the Stoke DNA.

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THB was outstanding at the back tonight. Ridiculously good. Bednarek was solid alongside him. Downes very good too, alongside Smallbone who was composed. Both KWP and Manning stood upto the task very well. Bazanu very good also, so pleased for him getting a clean sheet. The front four all worked very hard. COYR :)

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We did get lucky with the Bednarek penalty but other than that the only thing I’d complain about was some of the finishing.

the all round game and team spirit was bang on, I’d be happy to see us grinding out 1-0 wins the rest of the season, isn’t that what we’ve been crying out for?

As others have said let’s hope Stewart comes good, with a proper finisher we should be a top side in this league 

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8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

What an absolutely ugly game of football that was, not much to write about other than the win. I think we were dragged into the Stoke game a bit too much, they had absolutely nothing - a truly horrific side. We should have made it more comfortable than it was.

Not entirely sure why Stu got MOTM - bit of a lazy choice just because he got the goal. In play he was inept tonight. Alcaraz was great slightly in front of him I think.

Best player for me was THB - he quietly goes about it, but he just defends with no nonsense. Always in the right position, the ball is like a magnet to him. He's going to be huge for us.

Subs made us weaker, Mara was really, really, really bad - didn't give us anything as a sub. Can't trust him now, go with Adams if we make that change going forward. Hopefully we get some takers in Jan.

Thought he was crap. Looks disinterested (possibly with what was said about Willy and Lyanco leaving) and gave the ball away countless times

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Happy to get the win, but that's about it. The way we slow down and turn back whenever we get a break or a turnover is incredibly frustrating. Was a great fk, but nine times out of ten the ref turns a blind eye to that and we go home disappointed. All our best moments came from players in motion, playing the ball quickly for other players to run on to. As soon as we slow things down and try to "build" we haven't got a clue.

Downes had a good game and Sulemana will have the beating of most fullbacks in the league. The raw materials are there for us to be among the best in the league, but on that performance I'd say we're about where we belong in the table at the moment.

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Just now, The Kraken said:

As I said, just commenting on the last half hour or so as that’s all I saw, it wasn’t a great watch! Sounds like the first bits were much better. In what I watched I was constantly struck by how much we gave the ball away for a so called possession based side, very sloppy stuff.

The stats might prove me wrong but I felt we gave the ball away much more in the first half than the second...

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1 minute ago, CSA96 said:

Russell Martin to Sky on fixing the recent issues: "I've been kicking myself, but maybe we came here and tried to run before we could walk."

Nail on head. Fair play.

Like the sound of that.

We also got beaten, playing like idiots, by some better sides. Ipswich, Leicester and Sunderland are gonna be there or there abouts.

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7 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

I only managed to catch the last half hour but, flipping eck, that was a hard watch. If that’s what we’re deeming the benefits of possession football then it’s not a great advert. Stoke looked like a poor championship team, we looked just a little bit above that.

Clean sheet, what’s that?! Downes challenge looked just a bit of a coming together but Bednarek ffs what’s he thinking, both arms wrapped round the striker is a terrible look, very lucky to get away with that.

To be fair at times in the first half, and certainly first 15mins 2nd half, we played some very nice football and really with some better finishes/ bit of luck would have had a comfortable lead.

Considering we didnt do that then did well to limit them to some crosses and a long shot.

Good win.

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10 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.

Thought both did well today. Never seen Aribo put in a shift (or even run) before. Until today. 

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I think it's takes 5 years off my lifespan everytime I watch Saints, but I'll never complain about a win, especially one away at Stoke in midweek. 

We should've had at least two more through Stueys header and Sulemana/Mara chances. 

Stoke threw alot at us and we stood firm, that's not something to turn your nose up at.

Onto Rotherham at the weekend, let's make it 3 from 3 and get a feel good factor back. 

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Downes and Smallbone were very good I thought.

Smallbone probably someone teammates particularly valuable, always available for the ball and his weight of pass is usually great. Can barely remember a single misplaced pass from him, despite the chaos of the game.

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14 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Stoke were atrocious weren't they, my word. Apparantly that's one of their better home performances 😂

No wonder why it was empty. 

Yeah they were really shite. Streaky win really considering that but we missed a couple of sitters so could/should've been easier plus confidence will build you would hope.  Also CB's are starting to look like a solid pairing, fuck me they should do one is an experienced international and the other won this league last year.

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1 minute ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

No thanks

He wasn't good tonight, but we might need him at some point. Good idea to get behind players like him. Try to build their confidence up. They can make all the difference come the end of the season. 

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9 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Really? Their first shot on target was in the 96th min

He was excellent, it's not just about saves, his distribution was superb. Put Stoke under pressure for the first 65 mins.

After that it was a full on assault, and the whole team defended with gusto.

He isn't perfect I totally accept that, but not our major problem.

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Back 5 picks itself now (Manning in light of a lack of other options). THB and Bednarek looking like a decent partnership. That nobody picked THB up in the summer in the Prem astounds me. If we don’t go up I fail to see him here for another season. Class above. KWP too. 
 

Difficult to give a MOTM. Sulemana was decent again, Downes too, KWP close but THB edges it for me.

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2 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Downes and Smallbone were very good I thought.

Smallbone probably someone teammates particularly valuable, always available for the ball and his weight of pass is usually great. Can barely remember a single misplaced pass from him, despite the chaos of the game.

I'd agree with that. Really good crisp passing in the last few games. I'm not a big fan, because he's a pussy in the tackle, but fair play, he has the touch and pass to play at this level.

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Just now, Long Shot said:

Everyone happy with a gritty win but no way do we look anything like automatic promotion hopefuls. Miles inferior to the side Adkins took up. 

We had some horribly gritty wins under Adkins. Leeds away comes to mind, we were absolutely destroyed by them all night, we were shockingly bad. Only Davis got us over in that one.

Teams who go up automatic don't look like world beaters every week, it's just not possible. You need a mixture of wins and we'll have more of these I'm sure.

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11 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I know it wasn't pretty but Stoke have barely managed to create a chance against us, we're clearly a class apart

God we weren’t exactly ‘a class apart’ 

Stoke played reasonably well and got into dangerous positions a number of times.

There really wasn’t much in it….

We were also full strength and they had injuries.  
 

Great goal from Stuart Armstrong but that apart fairy even… 

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