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Liverpool 3-0 Saints - Match Thread


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Just now, Sheaf Saint said:

Yes. I've learned that we are nowhere near ready to be competing in the PL yet, and it's probably for the best that we don't get promoted this season because we would need to upgrade pretty much our entire squad in the summer top avoid getting utterly humiliated.

A huge squad change is going to happen, regardless 

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2 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Adam Armstrong does not look anything like a player that has that many goals this season. What's happened to him? 

He's not been the same every since we signed Brooks and he's not playing so much in his favoured position on the right of a front 3.

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Just now, Sheaf Saint said:

it's probably for the best that we don't get promoted this season because we would need to upgrade pretty much our entire squad in the summer top avoid getting utterly humiliated.

If we don't go up the squad only going to get worse as seasons go on....

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We are so weak with back to goal only Adams and Aribo can keep it the rest so timid always second best.

we didn’t deserve 3 nil but when we couldn’t score in a brothel forwards get punished. The Ross Stewart injury signing really hasn’t helped.

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To be honest I learnt something from it, thought we were good in first half and then maybe a bit more tired than usual in 2nd half with some self inflicted errors as per normal.

When we have a dm in the midfield who can receive the ball under pressure we look better, really liked charles in there, he had some sloppy passes but he recieved the ball alot under pressure all night asking for it.

Liverpools pitch is unbelievably slippy for opposition teams, didn't see one of their players slip.

Out cutting edge is currently the edge of a card board box.

Aribo seems to think he should run through people as his default tactic.

Saw rothwell play for a bit then he disappeared for the rest of the game.

Manning just cannot defend and judging by this season cannot assist goals or score them.

Mara/Edozie/Sulemana tried but cannot get the ball in the goal, or right area's of the box.

 

 

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Just goes to show that if we did go up we would be battered every week.

The only players that would be worth a start in the Prem in the current set up would be KWP (who may be out injured on Saturday), Bednerak (although he struggled a bit last time round in the Prem) THB, possibly Edioze and Aribo (as a squad players) and that's it.
Smallbone, Manning, Mara, Adams, Arma, Sulemana, not good enough.
Charles is relatively young but has not developed so far.
With decent strikers we could have had a comfortable lead by half time although giving away two poor goals may not have been enough.

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Over half their team were playing for the U21s two weeks ago. Just goes to show the gulf between the two sides. I enjoyed the first 40 minutes. Charles, Mara and then Smallbone were all crap though. Back to trying to find some form in the league. Hope KWP isn’t too bad. 

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Really good first twenty minutes 1/2 hour,  but very naive.

I would really fear for us in the Prem if we go up, which I still think we will either automatically or playoffs. 

Would need a proper DOF spending money absolutely properly, and not just wasting it. 
 

 

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Once Sulemana went off our attacking threat completely disappeared. Martin doesn't like him that's obvious but AA should have replaced Mara and left our two wingers to exploit the wide spaces. Our subs were a disgrace, no effort, no conviction and no impact. AA did nothing, Adams was invisible and Smallbone beyond awful. If this was a shop window for some of our players then it was more Primark than John Lewis.

That's 4 defeats from 5 and it will be difficult to turn this around at this stage of the season especially with a lengthening injury list. Sorry to say we look less and less convincing with every match. The promotion dream is fading quickly. 

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Just now, Saint Gifford said:

Really good first twenty minutes 1/2 hour,  but very naive.

I would really fear for us in the Prem if we go up, which I still think we will either automatically or playoffs. 

Would need a proper DOF spending money absolutely properly, and not just wasting it. 
 

 

Why do you think we will? 

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First half we were excellent, some really good passing & I thought Rothwell & Aribo played really well. The difference was once we broke the press we went through the middle third really quickly. I guess it was because they came at us rather than sit back, but there was urgency and pace. Clearly we missed some real decent chances as we lack real quality in the most important area. 
 

Second half was a shit show. Particularly after the substitutions, absolutely woeful changes that made us even worse. I just didn’t get them. Our wide men who did ok were taken off & Mara (who should have come off) pushed out wide & Adam A who was atrocious. Smallbone,enough said, he’s fucking pony. 

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Just now, Charlie Wayman said:

Once Sulemana went off our attacking threat completely disappeared. Martin doesn't like him that's obvious but AA should have replaced Mara and left our two wingers to exploit the wide spaces. Our subs were a disgrace, no effort, no conviction and no impact. AA did nothing, Adams was invisible and Smallbone beyond awful. If this was a shop window for some of our players then it was more Primark than John Lewis.

That's 4 defeats from 5 and it will be difficult to turn this around at this stage of the season especially with a lengthening injury list. Sorry to say we look less and less convincing with every match. The promotion dream is fading quickly. 

Agree with this. Subs were all wrong. Although Sulemena and Edozie have such poor end product they were by far our most dangerous players. 

Just don't get how Mara stayed on the whole game.

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3 minutes ago, Andy Hill said:

Correction - Smallbone would be crap at any level. 

Cannot believe how weak he is and gifts it too often - poor game from him yes it’s tough coming on and picking up the tempo but passing is a basics he didn’t master tonight. 
oh well onwards to Brum on Saturday get three points more important but worrying form.

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1 minute ago, Harry_SFC said:

Agree with this. Subs were all wrong. Although Sulemena and Edozie have such poor end product they were by far our most dangerous players. 

Just don't get how Mara stayed on the whole game.

Maybe they are starting v Brum and he wanted to save them ?

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1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

First half we were excellent, some really good passing & I thought Rothwell & Aribo played really well. The difference was once we broke the press we went through the middle third really quickly. I guess it was because they came at us rather than sit back, but there was urgency and pace. Clearly we missed some real decent chances as we lack real quality in the most important area. 
 

Second half was a shit show. Particularly after the substitutions, absolutely woeful changes that made us even worse. I just didn’t get them. Our wide men who did ok were taken off & Mara (who should have come off) pushed out wide & Adam A who was atrocious. Smallbone,enough said, he’s fucking pony. 

Spot on. We surrendered speed for Donkeys

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I thought Charles had a good game, he is only a kid and playing in a position of high responsibility. I honestly don’t think Mara, Sulemana and possibly Smallbone will ever make the grade. AA has reverted to his old self. Good to see Bree back, thought he looked good. Don’t know what to make of Rothwell, looks to have talent but also looks chronically unfit. Too many weak links in the team / squad to go much further this season.

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Just now, Toussaint said:

I thought Charles had a good game, he is only a kid and playing in a position of high responsibility. I honestly don’t think Mara, Sulemana and possibly Smallbone will ever make the grade. AA has reverted to his old self. Good to see Bree back, thought he looked good. Don’t know what to make of Rothwell, looks to have talent but also looks chronically unfit. Too many weak links in the team / squad to go much further this season.

I actually thought Rothwell was a lot better tonight and looked good alongside Aribo and Charles. You're right though, he just looks unfit.

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6 minutes ago, Saint Gifford said:

Our once famed academy. Liverpool youngsters have been really good. But how has our academy fallen so behind.

I’ll answer my own question, the club has had some mixed priorities and owners in the last few seasons. 

 

 

Unfortunately the likes of Chelsea and Man City have a number of satellite academies across the uk, including in Hampshire. Any talent that would have likely ended up under our care is now being allured by the package these clubs offer them and their families.

We’ll still have a few breakthrough but whether they’ll ever be at the level we’ve been lucky enough to witness over the years is unlikely.

Back to tonight and the result was to be expected although we played better than I thought we would. Crap finishing and lack of striker has once again cost us, and the last minute equaliser proves pointless and costly given the fatigue and possible injury to KWP.

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First half was decent, so was the start of the second half. But the result was pretty much guaranteed when we didn't take our chances, we just lacked any real quality in the attacking third - and that will kill you at any level.

We approached it well, brave on the ball, did get caught out a few times. Some of our build up and play through the two thirds was great, but it was the lack of any real ability at the top end which killed us.

I thought Stephens had a good game, but that was prime PL Bednarek out there for their first goal. Rothwell was decent I thought. Most of our threat came through Sulemana, but that's all it was - threat, no real punch at the end of it.

Mara did hold the ball up well and bring others into play, but he was pretty shit as our top end threat which is why we lost ultimately.

Not really much to learn from this one really, always an inevitable result and the proverbial free hit. We gave a good account of ourselves, but the lack of quality in our attack made it look more comfortable for Liverpool than it should have been.

Worried about KWP - hope it was just a precaution, if he's out injured for any period of time then this game is going to end up being pivotal for our season for all the wrong reasons.

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I was very impressed with that. Why could we do that against millwall. I'm of the opinion each sub made us worse. Slightly unnecessary other than kwp injury. For me I'd have left sulemana and Edozie and taken Mara off for Adam a as he seemed off his game tonight. As for Adam a's effectiveness unless he's getting any good balls it's going to be limited. And we spend so much time playing it around our box still.

 

I think we looked good and we should take the confidence of not falling apart to the best team in the country atm

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The boys should be proud of themselves, they gave it everything and that’s all we should have asked of them. Let’s face it we were outclassed by a very good side in a division above us. Bring on Saturday 

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We played some lovely stuff at times right up to the final ball. The score line is harsh on us but they got better as the second half went on and we got worse.

Main takeaways:

Charles is by no means the finished article and is prone to the odd mistake, but we look so much better with a proper holding midfielder in the team. Rothwell looked far better tonight.

Loved how often we looked to play forward and in behind.

Seems strange to say when we have scored the amount of goals we have and have a forward in the the top 3 scorers in the league, but the lack of clinical finishers in the squad will cost us. 

Edozie and Sulemana going off was the wrong decision if the aim was to win that game. Maybe a decision made with Saturday in mind?

KWP looking like having done a hammy is by far the worst thing about tonight.

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Well, that was a lesson.

Yet, we were by far the best in the opening spell. But we seemed to burn through all our energy in that period. Liverpool came into it more. We'd still get the odd chance, but it was a more even game. Second half, we didn't regain much of that early energy either. Liverpool looked sharper, stronger and much more confident. We offered less and less.

I'd have fancied any of their players ( except Gomez) to bury the chances we created in that first half hour.

Martin can look to the same issue. Liverpool even set themselves up to allow us to attack in behind. Martin planned to make more use of Sule that way too. But we simply couldn't take a chance.

After we'd failed to do that often enough, the game changed. Ahead (from quite the deflection), Liverpool still attacked. But we lacked the composure, structure and personnel to shift our own game to get past them.

We've a fair number of youngsters, from top clubs, all getting lots of first team minutes. I'd not expect their decision making to be great. Hopefully, they can look at their counterparts tonight and push on a bit, knowing how much they can improve.

We've lost confidence in what made some of our unbeaten run so good. It still seems that Downed is key to it, as JWP was to our opening results. Charles had a mixed game, and is struggling. He doesn't have anyone around him who can support him out there. Rothwell looks suspect in a lot of areas, while Will came on and offered nothing but a guilt edged chance for them to get a second.

With our midfield struggling, we had no decent passing angles. Martin's system depends on it. Yes, Liverpool set up to catch us. But we didn't help ourselves much. At least Sule offered a genuine target for a while. Aribo offered another, but wasn't used as much. Adams barely got a touch while Mara vanished. Passes went astray, posession was lost cheaply as we rushed or overhit. Whether direct or when trying to pass, it became disjointed.

Like our previous managers, Martin will look to that opening spell and wonder what if. Meanwhile, we still have well known gaps up front and in midfield. We might now be missing KWP who, earlier in the season, was the player most likely to turn a game for us. Joining the other player, Fraser, on the injury list.

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Just now, Miltonaggro said:

Russ looked fuming in the interview, there’s an advocado that’s going to get smashed on the coach journey home! 

I think that was more to do with the terrible interviewer and being asked to comment on the Liverpool youngsters more than once.

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Wow, so much negativity on here.  A reminder that, having changed half the team, we have just lost away to the Premier League leaders but having outplayed them for an hour.

The difference, as so often the case, is in both boxes.  Liverpool were clinical, we were wasteful.  Positives for me were Stephens, Charles, Rothwell, Aribo (first hour).  Despite not scoring I also thought Kamaldeen looked sharpest I have seen him this season.

I don’t get the “no point being promoted” narrative.  It’s pretty obvious there is a big gulf.  But from our current squad I think the following are all capable of being in a Premier League squad, albeit not all as starters:

Bazanu, KWP, THB, Bednarek, Stephens, Charles, Aribo, Armstrong (S), Armstrong (A), Kamaldeen.  But we would need to make eight or nine signings.  That is what being promoted entails.

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That Liverpool side would get relegated from the PL over course of a season imo so the fact we lost 3-0 is a poor show. Yes we missed gilt edged chances but Liverpool didn't have to work hard for their goals. Subs were awful. Mara is so bloody lazy and has no technical ability to run with the ball so why play him out wide FFS? We lost all creativity and purpose once Sulemana and Edozie went off. Yes there end product is woeful but at least they offered some form of attacking threat. 

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Just now, Forester said:

Wow, so much negativity on here.  A reminder that, having changed half the team, we have just lost away to the Premier League winners but having outplayed them for an hour.

The difference, as so often the case, is in both boxes.  Liverpool were clinical, we were wasteful.  Positives for me were Stephens, Charles, Rothwell, Aribo (first hour).  Despite not scoring I also thought Kamaldeen looked sharpest I have seen him this season.

I don’t get the “no point being promoted” narrative.  It’s pretty obvious there is a big gulf.  But from our current squad I think the following are all capable of being in a Premier League squad, albeit not all as starters:

Bazanu, KWP, THB, Bednarek, Stephens, Charles, Aribo, Armstrong (S), Armstrong (A), Kamaldeen.  But we would need to make eight or nine signings.  That is what being promoted entails.

Would you start Bazunu in net in the PL?

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Just now, Convict Colony said:

I think I am in the charles fan club now, great effort 🤣

https://x.com/TheStatsSaint/status/1762962315635220610?s=20

How can the stats look so different what a lot of people saw with their eyes? Weird.

To me, every time he got it he wasn't ready and gave it away. He was also lazy when covering ground going backwards, only ever seems interested on the front foot. He's also weak as piss (to be expected from a 19/20 year old).

Overall, to my eye he's nowhere near good enough and not worth £10m+ in a million years.

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11 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Just goes to show that if we did go up we would be battered every week.

The only players that would be worth a start in the Prem in the current set up would be KWP (who may be out injured on Saturday), Bednerak (although he struggled a bit last time round in the Prem) THB, possibly Edioze and Aribo (as a squad players) and that's it.
Smallbone, Manning, Mara, Adams, Arma, Sulemana, not good enough.
Charles is relatively young but has not developed so far.
With decent strikers we could have had a comfortable lead by half time although giving away two poor goals may not have been enough.

I thunk you are wrong. We played the best team in the country atm. They have scored 101 goals before today. Against most teams on today's performance we'd do well. We should have scored in the first half and this game would have been different. But the forward line haven't had the opportunity to play many games to practice 

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12 minutes ago, Saint Gifford said:

Really good first twenty minutes 1/2 hour,  but very naive.

I would really fear for us in the Prem if we go up, which I still think we will either automatically or playoffs. 

Would need a proper DOF spending money absolutely properly, and not just wasting it. 
 

 

  Fear not  - it won't happen.

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1 minute ago, SambaMaverick said:

Would you start Bazunu in net in the PL?

I think he would be one of two front line keepers, and it would depend who else we got in.  But I think at 22 he would be much better than when he was 20.

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8 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

yes we look better with charles holding and whilst he can’t pass we look more solid 

 

6 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I thought Charles had a good game, he is only a kid and playing in a position of high responsibility. I honestly don’t think Mara, Sulemana and possibly Smallbone will ever make the grade. AA has reverted to his old self. Good to see Bree back, thought he looked good. Don’t know what to make of Rothwell, looks to have talent but also looks chronically unfit. Too many weak links in the team / squad to go much further this season.

somebody posted a stat that before today charles had played 200 mins and we hadnt conceded - maybe it’s bollocks and can’t be bothered to check but sides don’t run through us when he plays. if downes is still out he should play from now on 

and why do we concede so many shit and avoidable goals 

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4 minutes ago, saintnick said:

The boys should be proud of themselves, they gave it everything and that’s all we should have asked of them. Let’s face it we were outclassed by a very good side in a division above us. Bring on Saturday 

Proud of losing 3-0 to a team made of mainly fringe and academy players? Wonderful 

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Just now, Forester said:

I think he would be one of two front line keepers, and it would depend who else we got in.  But I think at 22 he would be much better than when he was 20.

would you play both at once ? that would be one way to address his shortcomings 

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