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Stoke 0-1 Saints - Match Thread


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Just now, Saint86 said:

That was a second foul on sulemana by the booked Hoover just before half time. Ref bottled that big time.

There’s a lot of football between half and full time. If they’ve got any sense they’ll be getting Sully running relentlessly at Hoover who’s clearly gonna get ‘suckered’ into another yellow. 
 

I’ll get me coat. 🤪

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1 minute ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

There’s a lot of football between half and full time. If they’ve got any sense they’ll be getting Sully running relentlessly at Hoover who’s clearly gonna get ‘suckered’ into another yellow. 
 

I’ll get me coat. 🤪

He'll pick up in the second half.

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Maybe winning, but that is a really lacklustre half. Goal aside Stu has been very sloppy in possession. Same with Alcaraz and Manning*. Sulemana getting plenty of joy against Hoover but the final ball is lacking. Keeper has had bugger all to do. Can only get better in the second half. We get the next goal and its over.

* we desperately need a new LB in January. Manning gets worse every game I see him. Gets caught in possession two many times, lazy in defence and needs to communicate better with Sulemana in front of him

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The worldie free kick aside, that was a pretty ordinary Saints performance against a very ordinary Stoke side. Given our superior quality (on paper) we should be out of sight by now. Let's ditch the tippy-tappy Russ-ball again and give the directness of the first half vs Leeds another crack of the whip. 

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Stoke are definitely still in this, they are being very direct and getting the ball in the box every time they can. We're doing the tippy tappy stuff around the box and getting nowhere with it, being fouled for the free kick excluded. We need more cutting edge.

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Both teams struggled to get any consistency going there. Stoke looked to be having more of the nearly breakthroughs. We got some passing together, but not for any length of time.

Stu, and Smallbone a little off with the passing. Sule not tracking back too well. We preferred to not try to pick a forward option at times. Not just Smallbone, but as the link player he stands out for that. Yet, on a number of other occassions that was the right thing to do. Because with Alcaraz so deep, we had no one to be on the end of things. Arma and Alcaraz switched better in the last game, providing more of an outlet in the middle. It will develop and the players will learn when to pick the right moments.

But Stu did pick up good spaces, offered direct movement and support. He's technically one of our best, and overall it shows. Sulemana's pace is already a mark of fear for defences, and he had some lovely moments, and Smallbone was all over the park keeping that passing going. Lovely track back and a really good block too this half, after I felt this was a little lacking in his game.

One up off the back of few chances. Let's hope the players' scar tissue isn't going to cause a problem when dealing with the dizzy heights of beiong a goal ahead this time. We've done a lot right, so the second half is a chance to build on that.

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Just now, trousers said:

The worldie free kick aside, that was a pretty ordinary Saints performance against a very ordinary Stoke side. Given our superior quality (on paper) we should be out of sight by now. Let's ditch the tippy-tappy Russ-ball again and give the directness of the first half vs another crack of the whip. 

No I think tippy tippy stuff would work here. Two issues are:

 

- not enough energy in our movement off the ball in making runs, making themselves available to receive the ball, and pulling their players out of position

 

- out passes have been too tentative, underhit quite a lot, taking the pace out of our attacks.

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I enjoyed that...  A lot.  Yes, some annoying give-aways, but also a few electrifying breaks.  The 'method' slowly gained control over the half.  Provided we concentrate first 10 mins second half, I think we've got this.  0-3. first clean sheet in forever.   you read it here first.

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Presumably the get it forward merchants would rather we played like Stoke?

There's a clear gulf in technical ability between the teams. Our touch and movement is far superior to theirs. Need to make it count and see this one through for the 3 points.

Thought we were ok really. Some silky mistakes here and there but otherwise alright. 

I wonder if they'll start pressing us higher up, they didn't seem bothered about trying it too much in the first half.

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Thought Sule was getting too much bad press from the commentary for his defensive mistakes given he looked our most likely person to create something in that first half. Central defense has been excellent. Midfield looks stronger and Alcaraz having a good game. 

Just stay positive second half and don't go in to the shell.

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Aside from being a little untidy in possession at times, we’ve had a pretty good grip on the game, limiting Stoke to very little. If we can clean that up we’ll hopefully be able to make the second half pretty comfortable.

Stoke complaining about the ref picking up fouls that they normally get away with is amusing :lol: 

What a free kick that was!

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got to say that we look miles better than them, but just haven't quite got it right in the final third. Sulemana looks a fucking nightmare to mark. They have done just enough to contain him, but only just.

Brilliant free kick. Hope we can get this wrapped up with an early goal in the second half. Can't let games like this slip away.

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