Liverpool 3-0 Saints - Match Thread

[manji]

13 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

You can just imagine a future where we get promoted and our performances are like that every week. Solid performances where we look good for large parts of the game before folding to the teams with better quality. You'll then have Martin coming out saying how proud he is of the team every week as we have great looking stats but hardly any points. 

We have a robust financial plan in place to make sure if we go up next season we stay up we are already tracking players. Also we have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

[Toussaint]

6 hours ago, Harry_SFC said:

He did what any decent manager would do and noticed there were problems with their press in the first half. He changed it at half time and dominated the second half whilst we ran out of steam.

That's my take also, I was really pleased with our first half performance, then it occurred to me in the second half that Liverpool had allowed us to look good.  Klopp corrected this at half time and Liverpool were pushing up much higher and not allowing our pretty little passing patterns, thereafter we largely struggled. Subs obviously didn't help. 

[Toussaint]

1 minute ago, manji said:

We have a robust financial plan in place to make sure if we go up next season we stay up we are already tracking players. Also we have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

I hope so, it would be a depressing state of affairs if this wasn't the case. I assume it will be a significant rebuild again, but hopefully this time we will address  the glaring issues. I'm guessing a big striker such as Ross Stewart was key to RM's plans, so, assuming RM stays, lets hope that is one of the key areas that is sorted out.  

[Weston Super Saint]

9 minutes ago, manji said:

We have a robust financial plan in place to make sure if we go up next season we stay up we are already tracking players. Also we have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

Source?

[manji]

Last night was such an unnecessary distraction. We talked on here before the game about getting injuries . We would have time to prepare for Brum and sort out the issues from the previous two defeats

[hypochondriac]

23 minutes ago, manji said:

We have a robust financial plan in place to make sure if we go up next season we stay up we are already tracking players. Also we have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

If we fail to go up, first eleven next year likely to be an approximation of:

Bazunu 

Bree Stephens new signing Manning 

Charles Smallbone 

Adam Armstrong/Dibling Edozie/Amo-Ameyaw 

Aribo 

Stewart/new signing 

 

Which isn't half bad. Probably need as good a cb as we can afford, new rb, new cm, winger and striker. 

 

[Leighsterrr]

5 hours ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Does he want to sign for us!?

Maybe he already has...was it David Brooks? 😄

Edited February 29 by Leighsterrr

[trousers]

2 hours ago, manji said:

We have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

Does that plan involve buying a non-injury-prone/clinical/prolific striker, just for a change...?

Edited February 29 by trousers

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, manji said:

We have a robust financial plan in place to make sure if we go up next season we stay up we are already tracking players. Also we have a plan B if we don’t get promoted.

Wish we had a plan B on the fucking pitch.

[Whitey Grandad]

I got the impression that once they had flunked their goal nobody was interested in trying to get back into the game.

I wonder if knowing the next round opponents before kickoff played any part in this?

[Jack]

Just watching it back after being there last night. As well as we started, our problems are so obvious. I understand playing out, but when the opposition know you’re going to play out at all costs, it’s too easy to counter. We HAVE to start mixing it up more.
 

Mara and Sulemana butchered every opportunity we managed to create, really frustrating. Neither has got an eye for a pass and the finishing was dreadful. Unlucky for their first, then we were architects of our own downfall for the rest. Pundits could see it at half time and said that you’re always going to get caught out playing like that, and we were. 

[Rebel]

I found it a bit embarrassing last night - losing to what was effectively Liverpool's B team / youth team.

We played well in patches at the start of the game and really should have scored 2 or 3 goals - but we didn't.  But that doesn't excuse the way we basically capitulated to a bunch of teenagers at the end of the game.

Mara, Edozie, Charles and Sulemana all seem to lack the edge you need to succeed in top class football - whether it was aggression on or off the ball, having pace and and knowing when to use it, or the killer instinct in front of goal.  They all seemed to lack the desire needed to really win a game. 

Surely it was the opportunity they have all been wanting and needing to go and perform and show how good they were against a bunch of kids slightly younger than them- and really impose themselves on the game.

Charles was great one minute - winning the ball or turning his man and making a great pass - but the next it didn't look like he could arsed to close down a player or he gave the ball away with a hospital pass.  Hopefully he will come good.

As for Sulemana - I just don't understand why we paid £25M for him - he just has no end product and it doesn't look like he ever will.  

But as a team we have got to stop trying to play it out from the back every time - its so predictable - and more often than not we play ourselves into trouble - or put more pressure on ourselves than we can cope with and end up collapsing just like we did last night. I am all for passing football over just hoofing it forward but we need to find a balance.

We used to play out from the back under Adkins and Pochettino - but we were never as one dimensional about it as we are now.   The fullbacks used to go wide,  the centre backs would split and one of the CMs would drop deep to receive the ball. This gave the keeper 3 or 4 options for the pass out. The difference being the player that got the ball would aim to carry it or pass it forward  - not pass it back to the keeper or across the box or into the corner - and we weren't afraid to use the full backs to get the ball down the pitch or pass it long.  But we were normally stating the play  20 or 30 yards further forward - not in our own box or on top of the keeper.  

Mind you we had Lambert up front who was more than capable of dropping deep and wide to receive a long ball and then turning and playing it forwards or carrying it from there.  It made a massive difference for us.  We are  desperate for a centre forward or striker to lead the line - and do the same kind of thing, as well as score goals.  We really should have bought one in January.

 

[Rebel]

I think Adam Armstrong will be gone with only one year left on his contract at the end of the season whether we go up or stay in the Championship.  

And I think Fraser will want to stay with us on loan for the last year of his contract whichever division we are in.

[warsash saint]

1 hour ago, Rebel said:

I found it a bit embarrassing last night - losing to what was effectively Liverpool's B team / youth team.

 

 

f*** me what an over reaction & that says something on this site!!

We outplayed Livepool in that first half with ourselves playing a weakened team ...No??????

 

Edited February 29 by warsash saint

[Fabrice29]

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

I found it a bit embarrassing last night - losing to what was effectively Liverpool's B team / youth team.

We played well in patches at the start of the game and really should have scored 2 or 3 goals - but we didn't.  But that doesn't excuse the way we basically capitulated to a bunch of teenagers at the end of the game.

Mara, Edozie, Charles and Sulemana all seem to lack the edge you need to succeed in top class football - whether it was aggression on or off the ball, having pace and and knowing when to use it, or the killer instinct in front of goal.  They all seemed to lack the desire needed to really win a game. 

Surely it was the opportunity they have all been wanting and needing to go and perform and show how good they were against a bunch of kids slightly younger than them- and really impose themselves on the game.

Charles was great one minute - winning the ball or turning his man and making a great pass - but the next it didn't look like he could arsed to close down a player or he gave the ball away with a hospital pass.  Hopefully he will come good.

As for Sulemana - I just don't understand why we paid £25M for him - he just has no end product and it doesn't look like he ever will.  

But as a team we have got to stop trying to play it out from the back every time - its so predictable - and more often than not we play ourselves into trouble - or put more pressure on ourselves than we can cope with and end up collapsing just like we did last night. I am all for passing football over just hoofing it forward but we need to find a balance.

We used to play out from the back under Adkins and Pochettino - but we were never as one dimensional about it as we are now.   The fullbacks used to go wide,  the centre backs would split and one of the CMs would drop deep to receive the ball. This gave the keeper 3 or 4 options for the pass out. The difference being the player that got the ball would aim to carry it or pass it forward  - not pass it back to the keeper or across the box or into the corner - and we weren't afraid to use the full backs to get the ball down the pitch or pass it long.  But we were normally stating the play  20 or 30 yards further forward - not in our own box or on top of the keeper.  

Mind you we had Lambert up front who was more than capable of dropping deep and wide to receive a long ball and then turning and playing it forwards or carrying it from there.  It made a massive difference for us.  We are  desperate for a centre forward or striker to lead the line - and do the same kind of thing, as well as score goals.  We really should have bought one in January.

 

There’s nothing one dimensional or embarrassing about consistently breaking into the oppositions half into a 3 v 3 match up. We didn’t take advantage but the idea that ‘playing out the back’ in anyway hinders us is just nuts. Smashing it up to any striker we could have signed in January against VVD or Konate would have been much more likely to result in us losing the ball and being under pressure than playing out from the back. 

Also Liverpool started 3 kids’ yesterday from the start that could reasonably be considered as youth team players. The rest were experienced PL/European level players or Bradley/Quansah for example who are pretty much on the verge of becoming that and been fairly regularly used in their first team. Probably similar amounts to Bree/Charles for us. The desperation to fall into their ‘kids’ narrative and to criticise us is much more embarrassing than us playing out from the back. 

[Whitey Grandad]

23 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

There’s nothing one dimensional or embarrassing about consistently breaking into the oppositions half into a 3 v 3 match up. We didn’t take advantage but the idea that ‘playing out the back’ in anyway hinders us is just nuts. Smashing it up to any striker we could have signed in January against VVD or Konate would have been much more likely to result in us losing the ball and being under pressure than playing out from the back. 

Also Liverpool started 3 kids’ yesterday from the start that could reasonably be considered as youth team players. The rest were experienced PL/European level players or Bradley/Quansah for example who are pretty much on the verge of becoming that and been fairly regularly used in their first team. Probably similar amounts to Bree/Charles for us. The desperation to fall into their ‘kids’ narrative and to criticise us is much more embarrassing than us playing out from the back. 

We don’t’ play it out the back’. We play it around at the back. It never gets beyond there. All the opposition has to do is play it tight and wait for the inevitable mistake. Then pounce and when they do they are well up the field in an advanced position and we are a defensive mess.

[ErwinK1961]

4 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

We don’t’ play it out the back’. We play it around at the back. It never gets beyond there. All the opposition has to do is play it tight and wait for the inevitable mistake. Then pounce and when they do they are well up the field in an advanced position and we are a defensive mess.

What a complete load of bollox.

[Chez]

8 hours ago, Rebel said:

I think Adam Armstrong will be gone with only one year left on his contract at the end of the season whether we go up or stay in the Championship.  

 

Gone where? To a Prem side? 

[Osvaldorama]

8 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

We don’t’ play it out the back’. We play it around at the back. It never gets beyond there. All the opposition has to do is play it tight and wait for the inevitable mistake. Then pounce and when they do they are well up the field in an advanced position and we are a defensive mess.

Take it you only watched the second half then

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Take it you only watched the second half then

I was talking in general about our style of play.

[Fabrice29]

33 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I was talking in general about our style of play.

We’re the third top goal scorers in our league. Your narrative, once again, isn’t reflective of the reality. 

[Roo1976]

16 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Wish we had a plan B on the fucking pitch.

amen..............................(and were Saints)🤭

[Wade Garrett]

10 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

There’s nothing one dimensional or embarrassing about consistently breaking into the oppositions half into a 3 v 3 match up. We didn’t take advantage but the idea that ‘playing out the back’ in anyway hinders us is just nuts. Smashing it up to any striker we could have signed in January against VVD or Konate would have been much more likely to result in us losing the ball and being under pressure than playing out from the back. 

Also Liverpool started 3 kids’ yesterday from the start that could reasonably be considered as youth team players. The rest were experienced PL/European level players or Bradley/Quansah for example who are pretty much on the verge of becoming that and been fairly regularly used in their first team. Probably similar amounts to Bree/Charles for us. The desperation to fall into their ‘kids’ narrative and to criticise us is much more embarrassing than us playing out from the back. 

We have become extremely easy to negate.  Klopp did it the other night.  It’s not rocket science.  We are so predictable and that will be our undoing.

Liverpool’s U21 side were too good for us on the night.

[Jack]

37 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

We’re the third top goal scorers in our league. Your narrative, once again, isn’t reflective of the reality. 

We’ve also got the 7th best defensive record in the league. With a top 3 budget and squad.

[Whitey Grandad]

49 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

We’re the third top goal scorers in our league. Your narrative, once again, isn’t reflective of the reality. 

But it’s not good enough, is it. Slightly better than Norwich.

Ask yourself, could we have scored more with a more traditional style of play?

[Alanh]

15 hours ago, Rebel said:

Mind you we had Lambert up front who was more than capable of dropping deep and wide to receive a long ball and then turning and playing it forwards or carrying it from there.  It made a massive difference for us.  We are  desperate for a centre forward or striker to lead the line - and do the same kind of thing, as well as score goals.  We really should have bought one in January.

 

Lambert was such a huge influence on how we could play then.  His ability to hold up the ball was better than anyone we have had since and not having it now makes regularly playing a long ball out of defence too much of a lottery in terms of possession of the ball - which we all know is RM's primary philosophy.

[AlexLaw76]

6 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

We’re the third top goal scorers in our league. Your narrative, once again, isn’t reflective of the reality. 

now do the defence

[Fabrice29]

15 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

now do the defence

I’m not sure talking about our defence would be particularly relevant to the comment ‘we play it around the back and never get anywhere’

You can find out about the defence yourself on various sites. Who scored.com 

As a starter, 7th best in the league and 6th best shots against. It’s decent. We’re really bad in the air though fwiw. 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Nobody on here, and I mean nobody, minds playing out from the back.  What some do mind, however, is continuing to play around at the back when we are so effectively pressed that we cannot play out and so gift the ball to an opposition player, with the real possibility of us conceding a goal because we are still in or near our penalty area.  All that is required is for us to vary our tactics when we find that our preferred way of playing is under too much pressure.  By becoming less predictable we would become harder to play against.  And thereby more successful.  That is not an attack on RM; it is merely a wish that he should be more flexible and thereby more successful in what really matters: promotion (not the highest possible possession and pass completion statistics).

Why some on here cannot see that completely defeats me.

[ErwinK1961]

1 hour ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Nobody on here, and I mean nobody, minds playing out from the back.  What some do mind, however, is continuing to play around at the back when we are so effectively pressed that we cannot play out and so gift the ball to an opposition player, with the real possibility of us conceding a goal because we are still in or near our penalty area.  All that is required is for us to vary our tactics when we find that our preferred way of playing is under too much pressure.  By becoming less predictable we would become harder to play against.  And thereby more successful.  That is not an attack on RM; it is merely a wish that he should be more flexible and thereby more successful in what really matters: promotion (not the highest possible possession and pass completion statistics).

Why some on here cannot see that completely defeats me.

Well that’s patently not true.

[trousers]

23 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Well that’s patently not true.

Name someone who is against playing out from the back as an optional tactic? 

[Dark Munster]

1 hour ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

Nobody on here, and I mean nobody, minds playing out from the back.  What some do mind, however, is continuing to play around at the back when we are so effectively pressed that we cannot play out and so gift the ball to an opposition player, with the real possibility of us conceding a goal because we are still in or near our penalty area.  All that is required is for us to vary our tactics when we find that our preferred way of playing is under too much pressure.  By becoming less predictable we would become harder to play against.  And thereby more successful.  That is not an attack on RM; it is merely a wish that he should be more flexible and thereby more successful in what really matters: promotion (not the highest possible possession and pass completion statistics).

Why some on here cannot see that completely defeats me.

Why RM cannot see that defeats me.

[ErwinK1961]

19 minutes ago, trousers said:

Name someone who is against playing out from the back as an optional tactic? 

That wasn’t the statement.

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

That wasn’t the statement.

Nor was he suggesting that there are people who are against playing out from the back in any circumstance, which is your interpretation of what he was saying....

[ErwinK1961]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Nor was he suggesting that there are people who are against playing out from the back in any circumstance, which is your interpretation of what he was saying....

Ok mate.