Leicester 5-0 Saints - Match Thread

[The Curse of St Mary's]

7 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Having listened to the Stephens interview on Solent I reckon I'd have him back in the team for the remaining games. He'd at least have a go. Especially if THB gets a retrospective red card.

What did THB do?

[obelisk]

Just now, The Curse of St Mary's said:

What did THB do?

Nearly broke a lad's ankle.

[Badger]

1 minute ago, obelisk said:

Nearly broke a lad's ankle.

Vardy I hope.

In which case he deserves a three match ban for not managing to do it properly.

[Sheaf Saint]

2 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Nearly broke a lad's ankle.

If it was Vardy's then he should get a medal instead of a retrospective red card.

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Nearly broke a lad's ankle.

He stopped short of that and ended up barging him over.

[FarehamSaintJames]

23 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

19 goals conceded in our last 10 games is a joke for a team eyeing promotion. 22 more than Leicester, joint 8th worst defence in the league. Could you imagine how many we would concede in the PL should we get there and employ this same style.

RM deserves most of the criticism but questions also need to be asked of the likes of Calderwood. Two defenders in their day and we cant defend for shit

When Calderwood came in we went on a twenty five game unbeaten run.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

What did THB do?

 

5 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Nearly broke a lad's ankle.

Pretty nasty one looking at it again. Would have been off with VAR no question. 

[obelisk]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

He stopped short of that and ended up barging him over.

Looked to me like he bent the lad's ankle by treading on him.

[captainchris]

7 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

What did THB do?

Sod all in the game apart from stamp on one of their players foot…

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 minute ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

 

Pretty nasty one looking at it again. Would have been off with VAR no question. 

Not so sure about that. He went in for the ball legally, but the Leicester player didn’t get out of the way quick enough so got his foot stamped on…it was accidental and the Ref had a good view of the challenge.

[saintant]

38 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

And yet the ball just kept coming back at us, time and time again. The defence kept dropping deeper to cover McC, they kept pressing us higher, we could play through it, they had tonnes of space in front of our back four for the likes of KDH to play balls in, etc.

Not many of the 17 McC conceded in 6 games at the end of last season were directly as a result of his kicks/throws either but somehow in that period our average goals conceded went from 1.75 to 2.83.

I didn't believe that was a coincidence then and I don't believe it was tonight either.

They cut us to shreds down both flanks and through the middle. That hammering had nothing to do with McCarthy's distribution. We gave them the freedom of the park. They were quite happy to let us play our little tippy tappy backwards sideways passing and whenever we gave them the ball back as we did lots of times they broke our lines and flanks at pace and caused havoc. That was about as badly managed team performance as I have ever seen because we offered nothing. The stats in both games against Leicester show that they played on the break - we fell for it at St Marys and RM should gave been ready for more of the same tonight but of course he's far too arrogant to change the way we play. He got what he deserved tonight and I hope it hurt.

[saintant]

35 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Before 60 mins, the only difference between the teams was they were much better organised in defence.

They score a second and we crumble. This team has a mental weakness and that can't be coached.

Btw, Martin is right, we need Jack Stephens. Maybe he isn't the best defender but he is a leader and right now we need him on the pitch. When the going gets tough, I'd rather have someone like him on than Bednarek.

Take off the red and white tinted specs - they bossed us for 90 minutes.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

That was terrible and demonstrated that RM, who is supposed to be a good coach, does not have what it takes to succeed in this division.  He has a rigid style of play and sticks to it even when it is not working.  He encourages defenders to stand off attackers and invite crosses and runs into our box.  He encourages slow, ponderous play everywhere on the pitch even when we are aggressively pressed.  Our press is OK but nothing more and certainly nothing like as effective as Leicester’s.  We gave the ball away too many times as a result of being pressed effectively, with players closing down ours and our favoured passing channels; and then stood off them as they attacked our goal with pace and accuracy.  He encourages possession to the exclusion of everything else, resulting in sideways and backwards passing instead of moving forward at pace.  Having two shots and none on target is a disgrace.  He insists on playing one way only even when faced with a CB with the turning circle of an oil tanker; why did we not try to run Vestergaard ragged?  If he really thinks that we put on a good show, he is deluded.  We were well beaten by a far better team that was well coached to play against us and all our flaws.  Outthought and outplayed.  A miserable evening.  One that we could see coming but did not believe would be as demoralising as it turned out to be.  Truly pathetic.

[macca155]

41 minutes ago, Chez said:

we weren't. Doesn't mean players didn't try, but we were outclassed. 

The stats show they were simply more committed in movement, tackles, shots, and sheer energy.

They wanted it more.

Martin's strange post match interview is a concern. Bunker mentality starting to appear.

I've always felt that loan players become more of a liability at this stage of the season. The commitment simply isn't there. Even THB must be thinking what next.

So why start with Rothwell and Brookes. Smallbone is no ground breaker but plays for the badge. Same for Stephens.

Thought Charles did ok tonight but he needs pace next to him.

[Forester]

On train back to London having witnessed second 5-0 thrashing of the season.  As others have pointed out, the goals conceded show we are well short of being equipped for promotion.  Leicester have put nine goals past us this season (albeit at least took two games to do so!).

 

I have enjoyed the football this season, but we don’t have the right defensive capabilities, and we lack pace and cutting edge against good teams.  We may still get lucky in the play offs, although I fear this team will take some lifting.  But the level of overhaul in the summer will be huge irrespective of what division we are in.  We have six loans returning, five loans in finishing, two senior players out of contract etc.

The two Bournemouth loan signings have proved to be hugely disappointing overall.  I wouldn’t start Brooks next week

[OttawaSaint]

Fuck why do we always seem to attract nutcases like RM. 

All season we've been a mess at the back, all season our failings have been really obvious. But he just rumbles on. Yes we had that unbeaten streak but some of the games in that were shite, conceding late equalizers and getting a few spawny late winners ourselves. 70 goals conceded but yet, nothing changes. 

Every fucking game he gets to 60 mins and the just shuffles around the midfield a bit, then at about 75-80 he does the same with the forwards. Same predictable shite and we are approaching the playoffs at our lowest ebb. Great job RM...arrogant pillock!

 

[Pamplemousse]

29 minutes ago, saintant said:

Take off the red and white tinted specs - they bossed us for 90 minutes.

That's just not true. Not before the second goal.

[Fan The Flames]

Well that made me forget the Cardiff result, every cloud.

[Fan The Flames]

Martins game just can't compete with the good teams.

He needs a new philosophy or fuck off.

[Give it to Ron]

Was at game but why was Bree taken off injured? He was playing really well then KWP and Manning gave them all the time wide to hurt us. 
If that was tactical it’s nuts as it’s Leicester strength and swapping messed that up .

We never tested keeper all night - Shea did ok, Smallbone good and Che battled well.

THB had right go at Manning after 3rd goal allowed winger 15 yards to do what he wanted shambolic

[badgerx16]

26 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Fuck why do we always seem to attract nutcases like RM.

Because of the nutcase that appoints our managers.

[6ft8saint]

1 hour ago, John B said:

Why should he get out of the club when we have finished fourth with over 84 points one of the best positions we have ever achieved in the last sixty years

Clearly Leicester are a better team than us with more pace especially up front and we have no consistent attacking players.

We are wear we are today because we have not developed any top class players and our recruitment in general has been piss poor

To be a success a club needs decent owners with lots of money which we have never had except for the short time 15 years ago when Markus was around 

 

I feel you have point. We have been lead down the path with Rothwell and Brooks. Not sure what either bring. Loaned out our saints spirit player -alcaraz and wasted 10m on a injured forward. And had to deal with a forward who won't resign a new contract and often fluffs chances

[captainchris]

23 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

Was at game but why was Bree taken off injured? He was playing really well then KWP and Manning gave them all the time wide to hurt us. 
If that was tactical it’s nuts as it’s Leicester strength and swapping messed that up .

We never tested keeper all night - Shea did ok, Smallbone good and Che battled well.

THB had right go at Manning after 3rd goal allowed winger 15 yards to do what he wanted shambolic

The first two goals were JWPs fault, just stood off and watched the cross and shot.. He was dreadful tonight ..

[SNSUN]

7 minutes ago, captainchris said:

The first two goals were JWPs fault, just stood off and watched the cross and shot.. He was dreadful tonight ..

I blame past players too. They got us into this mess. 😀

[Jack]

Just got home, not ashamed to admit we left when the 3rd went in, heard the next 2 on the way to the car. 
 

Pathetic performance, the fans deserved better. No running off the ball, no bottle on it, first instinct is to go backwards and sideways, just nonsense. Brooks and Rothwell have done nothing at all to justify a start, but Martin persists. Concerning to now read that he thinks things would’ve been different if Stephens had played. It wouldn’t have changed a damned thing. Massive underachievement with this squad 

[maxi_sopez]

Awful performance. This team is so frustrating. 

 

Anyone else petrified of what will happen if we somehow go up. God help us in the premier league with this squad and manager. Will be a horror show. 

[Pamplemousse]

Some good news everyone - this was Sekou Mara's final game suspended!!

[Thereisonlyonemickychannon]

Martin out.

[warsash saint]

My thoughts after just getting home ... It's probably a good job we ain't going up !  We'd end up with a pts total lower than Derby's!

The 3k Saints fans did not deserve that performance - after the capitulation at Cardiff i was hoping for a reaction.  The fans gave it there best - sadly the players didn't!  Fans were in fine voice until the third went in when most gave up like the team!

Please can the premiership refs just FUCK OFF back to where you came from - we have 3 this year & ALL have been fucking abysmal!

Edited April 24 by warsash saint

[Dark Munster]

4 hours ago, Challenger said:

If anyone thinks these owners, this manager, this brittle team and this " style" of football is going to progress the club, they are absolutely deluded.

I know one person.

[BranfootsLoveChild]

Where's the gamber on here that said we we favourites for this one? After that essay he wrote I'd love to hear his thoughts on this result! We were never favourites with any of the bookies I looked at!

[Chris cooper]

6 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

That's just not true. Not before the second goal.

Yes it is 

[Chris cooper]

8 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

It is with McC in goal. Tonight showed exactly what Baz brings to the team, we looked hopeless at building any kind of attack out from that back. We needed a keeper with good distribution who can bypass their forward press and play it into the midfielders in the right places.

Gav isn’t a good goal keeper tho .. could probably play a  sweeper role in our defence but he’s basically a shit goalkeeper.

[Saint Billy]

A truly pathetic performance.

RM is a one trick pony and even though the opposition sussed his tactic long ago he still perseveres with it.

That was an unenthusiastic lifeless display on such an important game, shame on all of them including the manager.

Edited April 24 by Saint Billy

[John B]

5 hours ago, Jack said:

Just got home, not ashamed to admit we left when the 3rd went in, heard the next 2 on the way to the car. 
 

Pathetic performance, the fans deserved better. No running off the ball, no bottle on it, first instinct is to go backwards and sideways, just nonsense. Brooks and Rothwell have done nothing at all to justify a start, but Martin persists. Concerning to now read that he thinks things would’ve been different if Stephens had played. It wouldn’t have changed a damned thing. Massive underachievement with this squad 

Are you suggesting that a team playing as well as Leicester did last night did not deserve to win and a player like Vardy should stop playing as well as he did 

Their front players were fast and decisive last night miles faster than ours its just football 

[a1ex2001]

7 hours ago, macca155 said:

The stats show they were simply more committed in movement, tackles, shots, and sheer energy.

They wanted it more.

Martin's strange post match interview is a concern. Bunker mentality starting to appear.

I've always felt that loan players become more of a liability at this stage of the season. The commitment simply isn't there. Even THB must be thinking what next.

So why start with Rothwell and Brookes. Smallbone is no ground breaker but plays for the badge. Same for Stephens.

Thought Charles did ok tonight but he needs pace next to him.

Of course they wanted it more, they are fighting for promotion and the title we are waiting for the play offs

[Master Bates]

7 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Why? It would make no difference.

Got nothing else to lose, could be his penalty save in the play off finals that gets us promoted.

 

And now i'm awake.

[Convict Colony]

I see it was a good one to miss.

We no doubt will waddle through the rest of the season and have no impetus for the playoffs.

[Chris cooper]

Get Martin gone at end of the season !

The performance was worrying but imo the interview after was worse . He’s deluded & stubborn as fuck just like Ralph was .

75% of the earth is covered in water           
the rest of the space on earth was giving to fatawu to run into .. pathetic defending!

I reckon it’s Norwich for us in the semis 

& Sargent & co will have an absolute field day with our pedestrian defence.

[Convict Colony]

Also one more point, it doesnt matter what style we play if we only 1 forward/winger who usually can score through out the season.

'

[Long Shot]

We have been poorly managed both off and on the pitch ever since SR took control. 
That unbeaten run against a lot of poor Championship sides gave us all an over inflated view of the players and Russell Martin’s ability. The fact we had two thirds of the possession last night and were severely found out , tells me to persist with Russball is impractical and damaging us long term. 

[rooney]

Leicester were better all over the pitch man for man and looked up for it. We created nothing so got to face up we are not good enough to go up.

[coalman]

We had no outlet last night. Rothwell and Brooks conspired to made our right hand side ineffective. Armstrong shouldn't play on the left. Adams lost the physical battle.

The way to get at that Leicester defence was to stretch them and get the ball wide at pace. At no point did we manage that bar a couple of late runs by Edozie where he couldn't make the final ball.

Out defence was regularly caught ball watching and invited crosses and shots. 

60 minutes was far too late to address this.

We looked much better in possession when Smallbone came on. He gave us a player able to find space to receive the ball. We looked much worse in defence when Manning came on even though KWP was having a stinker on the left.

Charles was neat without driving the game except a couple of times. When he tried he was able to play on the half turn a couple of times. Want more of that.

Aribo was good until he tired.

Need to abandon the AFC Bournemouth experiment and get our balance back. Plus pray that Downes is fit for the play offs and THB doesn't get banned.

Edited April 24 by coalman

[SW11_Saint]

8 hours ago, saintant said:

They cut us to shreds down both flanks and through the middle. That hammering had nothing to do with McCarthy's distribution. We gave them the freedom of the park. They were quite happy to let us play our little tippy tappy backwards sideways passing and whenever we gave them the ball back as we did lots of times they broke our lines and flanks at pace and caused havoc. That was about as badly managed team performance as I have ever seen because we offered nothing. The stats in both games against Leicester show that they played on the break - we fell for it at St Marys and RM should gave been ready for more of the same tonight but of course he's far too arrogant to change the way we play. He got what he deserved tonight and I hope it hurt.

I’m sure it will hurt, but will it change anything? Not a jot… he’ll look at the possession stats, continue to convince himself we played ‘well’ and just need to cut out ‘errors’. 

We perfectly illustrated what our midfield is capable of without Downes & Stu. Nothing. Actually felt for Charles, left with far too much to do with the passengers Aribo & Rothwell in front of him (Smallbone at least seemed to care, but is also limited). A portent  for next season…

One final footnote. How ineffectual is Arma as captain? I have no idea why he has that role. Doesn’t open his mouth. I’d much rather have THB or Bednarek as leader when JS is out. That said, the lack of leadership was palpable last night.

Depressing way to limp over the (league) finishing line…

Edited April 24 by SW11_Saint

[Kenilworthy]

I have a feeling that in our history we may have conceded more hat-tricks than any other club.

[ally_uk]

The football philosophy is bollocks..

 

We are not and never will be Man City..... 

Next season  get this arrogant twat out! 

Get someone in who can actually manage a defence and make us somewhat hard to beat.

Forget this play it out back nonsense go more direct.....

Sign a Romeu type Def destroyer I'd even sign two make our midfield a tough tackling no nonsense smash!

A new GK who is actually capable of saving something....

And a Striker who isn't crocked, can actually finish of a regular and is a target man. 

 

 

 

 

[Chez]

9 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

RM snippets...

We broke their press so many times. Che came and took the ball which was fantastic.

 

This is tosh. We made four passes with the fourth (reasonably direct, to be fair) up to Adams. But he always had a guy right up his arse and struggled to keep the ball or he had to carry it about ten yards backwards. We didn't really beat the press. Aribo was brave and prevented the ball being immediately turned over. The rest? And that was in the first half when energy was high and we were competing. In the second half we didn't even manage that. We struggled to get out of our own half. The midfield was pathetic and then when defenders were left exposed we saw just how limited they really are. 

[Harry_SFC]

19 minutes ago, SW11_Saint said:

I’m sure it will hurt, but will it change anything? Not a jot… he’ll look at the possession stats, continue to convince himself we played ‘well’ and just need to cut out ‘errors’. 

We perfectly illustrated what our midfield is capable of without Downes & Stu. Nothing. Actually felt for Charles, left with far too much to do with the passengers Aribo & Rothwell in front of him (Smallbone at least seemed to care, but is also limited). A portent  for next season…

One final footnote. How ineffectual is Arma as captain? I have no idea why he has that role. Doesn’t open his mouth. I’d much rather have THB or Bednarek as leader when JS is out. That said, the lack of leadership was palpable last night.

Depressing way to limp over the (league) finishing line…

Always thought Armstrong as captain was a very very weird choice.

[Toadhall Saint]

9 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

RM snippets...

For a long time in the game, I thought we were really good.

Broke through their press a lot.

Pressed well. Stole the ball off them.

Comes to nothing if we're 4 v 4 around their box, and we're not ruthless and they are.

Conceding the second goal is difficult, but it can't descend into what it descended into after that. It's madness.

So in the game at 1-0 (did think it was both offside and a foul, but not blaming the 5-0 on it).

Started the second half really well.

Our moments don't come to enough and we defend pathetically after we go 2 goals down.

First half was high level, very tactical. I thought both teams pressed well. Both teams struggled to get a real flow with the ball. 2 aggressive teams without the ball.

.2nd half, it was a lovely energy we started with causing them some real problems.

2nd goal takes the sting out of it. Need to regroup but didn't.

After that we go into self preservation mode, individually. It's the worst thing you can do in football, to try and protect yourself. To feel as though you're just doing enough in your bit, rather than help your team mate. And I don't like that trait in my team one bit today. And that really hurts.

In rectifying it, Martin said they'd approach it like they always do, win, lose or draw.

We'll show them the brilliant build up play they did. But it's pointless if you don't make the most of it. We broke their press so many times. Che came and took the ball which was fantastic.

The players who want to fight, care the most, and who want to run the most will play.

Deluded

[FarehamSaintJames]

I switched off in the 37th minute last night at 1-0. I couldn’t be bothered - my wife was keen to give me score updates as the night went on.

The reason I switched off was that from the first five minutes you could see only one team fancied this, only one team looked organised and up for the fight. That was alarming.

Extremely poor team selection. Brooks and Rothwell are better as impact subs rather than starters. Aribo looked knackered walking down the tunnel. No one performed last night.

The fact that Russell Martin said he saw good play out there is alarming. 

It’s amazing what a difference a week makes. This time last week I fancied us to get back to back wins.
I now find myself content with getting a point against Stoke and a point against Leeds going into the play offs.

To add a side point, it just shows the vast gulf in class between the two teams. One on their day has players that can turn it on and make a difference. We don’t have that.

We should’ve had it with Sulemana but he can’t be arsed. We should’ve had it with Alcaraz but he was shipped out. We should’ve had it with Ryan Fraser but Russell Martin seems to have forgotten he exists.

I like Russell Martin and the way we’ve played, you don’t finish fourth be playing bad football or being a bad manager.
But he needs to learn to adapt to a Plan B and switch out tiring players sooner or switch depending on opposition; and when to smash the ball long and get rid.