Arsenal 3-1 Saints - Match Thread

[Osvaldorama]

12 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

Nah, not acceptable. There were way too many instances where instead of keeping possession we had a shot at goal. And what are we doing crossing it in from the wings instead of recycling the ball??

We also attacked on the counter. There were multiple times we actually had more people in the opposition half than the opposition. 
 

This must never EVER be allowed. We need to pass it around a few hundred times and let them get 11 men behind the ball. Or how will we sleep at night 

[scumbag]

12 hours ago, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

Decided to cheer myself up with memories of happier times - 4-0 Cuco-Martina-screamer, finished 8 points behind second-placed Arsenal that season.

 

Mods - can this be taken down please? It's clearly offensive to the regime and our glorious leader.  The poster needs to be put in the gulag for footballing re-education. The sight of players running with the ball in a vaguely attacking manner, repeatedly getting in behind, putting balls into the box, and worst of all actually shooting is absolutely sickening propaganda in its worst form and should not be tolerated.

Edited 3 October, 2024 by scumbag

[WALK DMC]

1 hour ago, Stu Man Do said:

Judging by how Stewart defended crosses against Ipswich I don’t think he’d add a lot. 
 

its time for the tower. Give the people what they want. We can hardly get any worse.

Sunderland fans used to rave about his strength in defending corners. Let's see.

[Rebel]

It's a struggle to pick a first 11 and we shouldn't really be relying on an 18 and a 20 year old to be starters (that says a lot about recruitment) but here is my attempt to pick a starting 11 that might stand a chance of winning a game - but not against Arsenal.

                   Ramsdale

Sugawara    THB     Bednarek   Taylor

                    Downes

        Aribo               Fernandes

Dibling                             Archer

                   Stewart

You could witch Aribo for Big Les and Lallana for Fernandes.  

With Dibling drifting in to the middle as a 10 and Sugawara  attacking as a wing back it gives us an attacking threat on the right.   Similarly it allows Archer to move inside to play as a second striker when we have the ball. 

Taylor stays back as the third centre back. Fernandes is the attacking midfielder and Aribo is the box-to-box ball carrier.  Downes has to sit and protect the back 3/4. So it ends up as a 3-3-4 when attacking much  like last season.

Or it could easily be a 3-2-3-2 when attacking, keeping a more defensive structure at the same time.

With Stewart up front it gives us the option to play long and direct as well as out from the back.  There is nothing wrong with playing out from the back and keeping the ball - in fact it makes sense.  But to do it every time - and only through the centre backs is just stupid. We should use the full back to carry the ball forward as well as the long pass to keep the other team guessing. 

Edited 3 October, 2024 by Rebel

[saintant]

6 minutes ago, Rebel said:

It's a struggle to pick a first 11 and we shouldn't really be relying on an 18 and a 20 year old to be starters (that says a lot about recruitment) but here is my attempt to pick a starting 11 that might stand a chance of winning a game - but not against Arsenal.

                   Ramsdale

Sugawara    THB     Bednarek   Taylor

                    Downes

        Aribo               Fernandes

Dibling                             Archer

                   Stewart

You could witch Aribo for Big Les and Lallana for Fernandes.  

With Dibling drifting in to the middle as a 10 and Sugawara  attacking as a wing back it gives us an attacking threat on the right.   Similarly it allows Archer to move inside to play as a second striker when we have the ball. 

Taylor stays back as the third centre back. Fernandes is the attacking midfielder and Aribo is the box-to-box ball carrier.  Downes has to sit and protect the back 3/4. So it ends up as a 3-3-4 when attacking much  like last season.

Or it could easily be a 3-2-3-2 when attacking, keeping a more defensive structure at the same time.

With Stewart up front it gives us the option to play long and direct as well as out from the back.  There is nothing wrong with playing out from the back and keeping the ball - in fact it makes sense.  But to do it every time - and only through the centre backs is just stupid. We should use the full back to carry the ball forward as well as the long pass to keep the other team guessing. 

Seems counter intuitive but we need to seriously reduce the amount of possession we have.

[Saint86]

I reckon this is going to be one where it might be worth being "out for the day"....

Edited 3 October, 2024 by Saint86

[Mr X]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I reckon this is going to be one where it might be worth being "out for the day"....

This 100% unfortunately 

[Chez]

Have we ever gone into a game feeling less likely to get a result?  

[richardc]

14 minutes ago, Chez said:

Have we ever gone into a game feeling less likely to get a result?  

Yes - a game on 26/12/15 that I vaguely remember

[Wurzel]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

I reckon this is going to be one where it might be worth being "out for the day"....

Remember to switch off match updates/goal notifications or you may run your battery down

[redkeith]

 I would pick  

                   Ramsdale 

Sugawara THB Bednerek Taylor 

Dibling Downes Aribo   KWP 

                Fernandes

                 Sterwart 

Give Downes and Aribo strict instructions to both stay near the centre halves to provide cover. None of this box to box nonsense which resulted in Downes being in the wrong half when Bournemouth scored the 2nd. Aribo is probably our 2nd best DM at the moment based on Monday's evidence.  

[WokingSaint]

1 hour ago, redkeith said:

 I would pick  

                   Ramsdale 

Sugawara THB Bednerek Taylor 

Dibling Downes Aribo   KWP 

                Fernandes

                 Sterwart 

Give Downes and Aribo strict instructions to both stay near the centre halves to provide cover. None of this box to box nonsense which resulted in Downes being in the wrong half when Bournemouth scored the 2nd. Aribo is probably our 2nd best DM at the moment based on Monday's evidence.  

That's more like it. Cannot keep leaving KWP out.

[Mr X]

A game where we can just just relax and only worry about how many we are going to lose by....not cling to hope that we can win.... It's the hope that kills you 😂

[saintant]

6 minutes ago, Mr X said:

A game where we can just just relax and only worry about how many we are going to lose by....not cling to hope that we can win.... It's the hope that kills you 😂

Anything below the 9-0 record will be acceptable 🙂

[Mr X]

9 minutes ago, saintant said:

Anything below the 9-0 record will be acceptable 🙂

4-0 defeat would be a good result and never thought I'd say that against any team! just hoping we don't get totally humiliated another 9-0 would finish our already fragile mentality off 

[Dark Munster]

3 hours ago, saintant said:

Anything below the 9-0 record will be acceptable 🙂

If we are going to lose one could argue that a cricket score may be best if it forces SR's hand to pull the trigger now on RM, rather than waiting until we are miles adrift. If it's double digits surely not even Ankersen will be able to spin it to keep him on any longer.

As an added bonus maybe it'll finally wake up Dragan to the fact that the lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

[BarberSaint]

Arse nil  aren't the kind of team that would go all out.  They'll get to about 2-0, ease off mentally. Get one or two more and then coast.  They'll end up 3rd or 4th because of that mentality and won't win anything.  I reckon we can get a goal so it'll be about 3-1 to them.

[Saint in Paradise]

Just a quick question...has any PL team scored 10 in a match against another PL team?

I confess that I think Arsenal will win 5 - 0 😣

[SNSUN]

"Another goal update and we're back to the Emirates"

"Yes you've joined me just as Arsenal get their sixth goal, a breakaway from a Saints corner and..."

[east-stand-nic]

we will lose 5-0

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

16 minutes ago, east-stand-nic said:

we will lose 5-0

I had a look on one of their forums and they're all, understandably, expecting a stroll. 5-0/6-0 appears the most popular scoreline predictions but one or two showing a bit more caution - someone flagged up this run of results on there from 2015-16 when we did them 4-0 at St Mary's.

Shit November/December and we still finished 6th!

[CylonKing]

1-0 to Saints. Arse will not turn up as they will be expecting an easy match. We'll play out of our skins and get the winning goal in the 90th minute as a defender clears the ball off of BBDs arse and into the net. Bosh!

[ScandiSaint]

Stick Tall Paul and Stewart up front and just keep pumping it up there - they wouldn't be expecting that, but then again, neither would our strikers! 

I think it is probably a fair criticism that our attacking options may be good enough for this level but I think our style of play, which led to many goals and chances in the Championship, does not favour them in this league and because of that, if think they are quite disadvantaged. 

[Roo1976]

8 minutes ago, ScandiSaint said:

Stick Tall Paul and Stewart up front and just keep pumping it up there - they wouldn't be expecting that, but then again, neither would our strikers! 

I think it is probably a fair criticism that our attacking options may be good enough for this level but I think our style of play, which led to many goals and chances in the Championship, does not favour them in this league and because of that, if think they are quite disadvantaged. 

why not, and tell them not to come deep and interfere,  we have enough soft brush asides in midfield already. Long balls up to the tall boys and compete for 2nd ball knock downs with Cornet and Archer  on the wings. Sorted......................................................

 

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

I had a look on one of their forums and they're all, understandably, expecting a stroll. 5-0/6-0 appears the most popular scoreline predictions but one or two showing a bit more caution - someone flagged up this run of results on there from 2015-16 when we did them 4-0 at St Mary's.

Shit November/December and we still finished 6th!

Koeman out! 

[tdmickey3]

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

Yeah. Very much a "don't change a thing, Russ. You be you." quote. Just to make it easier for them. 🙂

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

3 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

"...keep playing the same way on Saturday please" is what he's trying to say... "three-points-goal-fest thank you very much"

[SWLondon Saint]

6 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

Absolutely, who wouldn't enjoy watching the opposition cough up the ball for some easy goals!! 😂

The way they pressed with 5/6 against PSG, they could pretty much score at will if Russ does his usual amount of homework / prep as evidenced so far. If they're serious about the title they ought to be thinking they have a huge chance for a cricket score and then hopefully the manager gets changed before we play their title rivals.

[East Kent Saint]

2 hours ago, ScandiSaint said:

Stick Tall Paul and Stewart up front and just keep pumping it up there - they wouldn't be expecting that, but then again, neither would our strikers! 

I think it is probably a fair criticism that our attacking options may be good enough for this level but I think our style of play, which led to many goals and chances in the Championship, does not favour them in this league and because of that, if think they are quite disadvantaged. 

Haarland found it tough going against Gabriel , I don’t think it would work with Saints !

[beatlesaint]

I've just seen on a Saints FB page someone saying RM stated that Ross Stewart was unavailable (injured presumably). Anyone else seen or heard this or is someone just been a dick?

[suewhistle]

On 02/10/2024 at 20:06, Convict Colony said:

Happy to report I won't be able to watch this game, so it's as close to a point or a win as I can guarantee.

Enjoy and your welcome.

Does this mean you won't be supplying your normal dodgy stream link?

 

Thank Christ!

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

Here’s a lesson even for Arteta. ‘Unbeaten’ is a long way from ‘winning’.

[jamesfp1]

29 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

I've just seen on a Saints FB page someone saying RM stated that Ross Stewart was unavailable (injured presumably). Anyone else seen or heard this or is someone just been a dick?

Untrue

[beatlesaint]

4 minutes ago, jamesfp1 said:

Untrue

Great, cheers

[Doctoroncall]

On 03/10/2024 at 11:48, Saint86 said:

I reckon this is going to be one where it might be worth being "out for the day"....

I’m crashing a wedding somewhere, should be fun. 

[OttawaSaint]

On 02/10/2024 at 14:25, TheAlehouseBrawlers said:

Decided to cheer myself up with memories of happier times - 4-0 Cuco-Martina-screamer, finished 8 points behind second-placed Arsenal that season.

 

Has everything we are missing. Pace, directness, composure, aggressively attacking crosses, organization, meaningful attacks with a purpose, good finishing. 

 

Uggghhh *sobs uncontrollably*

Edited 4 October, 2024 by OttawaSaint

[OttawaSaint]

16 hours ago, SNSUN said:

"Another goal update and we're back to the Emirates"

"Yes you've joined me just as Arsenal get their sixth goal, a breakaway from a Saints corner and..."

How does the second half go?

[Andy Hill]

Get ready to be spanked. We will be lucky to get nil.

[Vancouver Saint]

Potentially RM's last game in charge? It can go one of two ways:

A) The team play out of their skins, defend like lions and hold on for a 1-1 draw after being out-shot 27-1

B) We get gubbed 7-0

C) Something in between...2-0 or 3-0 to them (I lied about there only being two options).

[Chewy]

I’ve literally no idea what team he’ll pick. He’s so far gone I wouldn’t be surprised to see KWP recalled and have Taylor, Larios and Manning all on the bench.

Not happy with 5 strikers?? Well try three left backs for size. Stick that in your electronic pipes and vape it!!

[bugenhagen]

3 minutes ago, Chewy said:

I’ve literally no idea what team he’ll pick. He’s so far gone I wouldn’t be surprised to see KWP recalled and have Taylor, Larios and Manning all on the bench.

Not happy with 5 strikers?? Well try three left backs for size. Stick that in your electronic pipes and vape it!!

For me, this the telltale sign that things are going wrong. Use fewer players and get better results. I thought we loved stats...

[sandwichsaint]

Not necassarily my team but I think the human tombola will come up with a

radical 4-4-2-ish

Rams

Suga THB Bed Taylor

KWP Downes Les Fernandes

Cornet Archer

 

Save Lallana and Dibling for the more winnable games.

 

[Wade Garrett]

7 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

Fucking piss-taking prick.

[Wade Garrett]

Who knows what the man that has reinvented football is going to do tomorrow?

Some hare-brained scheme I expect.

[Miltonaggro]

8 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Arteta: Martin's teams are a joy to watch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Russell Martin's philosophy:

"I love that kind of behaviour - you have to do what you feel. It's proven his philosophy is successful, what he did with Swansea and Southampton, they went 25 games unbeaten.

"It was a joy to watch them and Swansea play. From what I've seen, they deserve more than what they have already."

 

Try being a Saints fan Mikel 😬

I think he meant Martin`s teams are a joy to play against 

From the opposition dugout it's clearly a veritable fucking hoot!

[Galway saint]

On 03/10/2024 at 12:35, Chez said:

Have we ever gone into a game feeling less likely to get a result?  

Got tickets for this and feel we have been so shit to date that this might be the game where we actually put in a decent performance and maybe nick a point , but probably wishful thinking and just trying to justify the money i’ve spent on the tickets.

Defence picks itself but god knows who plays up front this week and in what formation  as the choices are pretty shit and I think RM knows it. At the moment it looks like we had a better forward line last year with Che there. Are any of the current choices better than him ? Can’t see they are. 

[Lighthouse]

Four years ago today, Man Utd lost 6-1 at home to Spurs and Liverpool lost 7-2 to Villa (back when the latter was sh*t). I don't know where I'm going with this post but thanks for reading anyway.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

51 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

Got tickets for this and feel we have been so shit to date that this might be the game where we actually put in a decent performance and maybe nick a point , but probably wishful thinking and just trying to justify the money i’ve spent on the tickets.

 

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Four years ago today, Man Utd lost 6-1 at home to Spurs and Liverpool lost 7-2 to Villa (back when the latter was sh*t). I don't know where I'm going with this post but thanks for reading anyway.

Welcome to another episode of Wish Upon a Star... 🙂

[Saint Billy]

My priority tomorrow is to avoid any news about the Arsenal game until I'm too inebriated to give a shit.