Fulham 0-0 Southampton - Match Thread

[Chez]

1 minute ago, stknowle said:

After what we’ve been served up heretofore  this season Chez I would politely suggest you are being greedy. I’m fucking delighted with the point. Let’s try and build from there at home against a less than flying Wham. Merry Xmas!

Fair enough.

I would say that the game was there for the taking if we had a second gear, but don't appear to have one.

Maybe Dibling coming ff the bench might not be a terrible idea next time. 

I don't rate Tall Paul, even I wouldn't object to him getting a start.

[Miltonaggro]

5 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Fucks me off that we wasted so many games playing that fucking stupid RussBall.

Played ok today. 

Absolutely, nowt too much wrong with the basic foundation, and you’d hope for some funds for Juric to bring / loan in a few ready mades in the January window. Couple of attackers capable of mixing things up would be nice. 

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I thought it was a foul, but probably outside the area.

Well it was either a free kick to us or a goal kick because KWP clearly toed the ball over the line so, whichever way you cut it, the ref got it wrong.

[saintant]

A plus for me was Big Les but last I heard he wanted to return to Chelsea. Criminal misuse of him by Russell.

[SfcPhil]

9 minutes ago, Chez said:

I was not expecting anything, but I certainly hoped for more than that.I always do.

If Wilson had scored his great chance, every man and his dog would be moaning about how truely shit we were today.  

And.. that's exactly what most level headed supporters were expecting today surely? Fulham are a very good side, who should be beating a team like us quite comfortably. Some people on here have extremely short memories and expect a new manager (who hasn't officially taken duties yet) to win his first game in charge, when we've won 1 in 16 and none away.

Playing shit and gaining a point is much better than playing shit and being 5-0 down at half time. It's progress.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by SfcPhil
Can't spell

[tdmickey3]

14 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Try watching it again. No contact initially but he catches him later in the challenge to bring him down. 

This

[Harry_SFC]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

A plus for me was Big Les but last I heard he wanted to return to Chelsea. Criminal misuse of him by Russell.

He just doesn't strike me as a Russball player. Probably a shame if he goes back because I think Juric could get a tune out of him. 

[OneMrsWallace]

A point. It's a point! Away. Worth feeling positive. Equals RMs entire away points tally😅 I'm going to see the WH game with my son who's back from Uni for Christmas. Finally a game look forward to. 

[stknowle]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

Fair enough.

I would say that the game was there for the taking if we had a second gear, but don't appear to have one.

Maybe Dibling coming ff the bench might not be a terrible idea next time. 

I don't rate Tall Paul, even I wouldn't object to him getting a start.

Hmmm ‘there for the taking’ not so sure but yeah absolutely there were possibilities we didn’t choose to explore. I’d have had Armstrong off and TP on with Archer upfront on about 70 mins personally but, whatever, it’s a point and a solid performance. Ramsdale makes a massive difference imho.

[saintant]

Now we are going long from the back teams will have to reconsider how they press us. This will potentially lead to us finding we have more opportunities to play from the back so will be able to mix things up. RM was clear that he would not tolerate playing any other way which allowed teams to press us and draw mistakes - play long for a bit and we'll benefit.

[benjii]

7 minutes ago, OneMrsWallace said:

A point. It's a point! Away. Worth feeling positive. Equals RMs entire away points tally😅 I'm going to see the WH game with my son who's back from Uni for Christmas. Finally a game look forward to. 

Glad you're looking forward to it huns.

P.s. sorry again, Gregg.

[Nordic Saint]

Juric for Martin and Ramsdale for McCarthy = clean sheet. I'm very happy with that. Fulham are a decent mid-table Premier League team in good form lately. In the bad old days of Martin and McCarthy, hopefully never to return again, they'd have beaten us easily.

[saintant]

Good game for the neutrals now we have to suffer Liverpool Spurs which is not likely to be as exciting.

[Lord Duckhunter]

15 minutes ago, saintant said:

Well it was either a free kick to us or a goal kick because KWP clearly toed the ball over the line so, whichever way you cut it, the ref got it wrong.

The ref did, but I reckon that’s why var couldn’t get involved. 

[Convict Colony]

I liked what Big Les brought today, think he is much better in this type of formation as seemed to thrive a bit more.

Amusing that Ivan looked pissed off everytime the camera showed him, its nice to see a manager looking like someone is going to get the mother of all bollockings instead of a rub and tug.

 

[SWLondon Saint]

Watched from about 20 mins in and thought we did fine - we were competitive, it was ugly at times but that's absolutely fine for a promoted team and you'd take the away point any time. Look how Ipswich celebrated getting a draw at ours.

- Definitely think Juric has already been giving instructions, we have never pressed that far up with wing backs before and clearly our CBs had more license to go after the ball into the opposition half on the press.

- Why was AA even on the pitch? He won it once that I saw and offers so, so little on the ball it's shocking. He doesn't even try to use his strength against CBs, he doesn't shape to take it on the turn and run the defender, and nearly always plays backwards, often into pressing traps. Just...

- For a supposed 6, Downes plays some real hospital passes at times. Twice at least he played a pass to the most under pressure player when if he'd held it even a second he'd have seen it wasn't on. If Juric as a former CM can put some tactical sense into him that would make a huge difference.

- Think Dibling needs a break, too much has been asked of him - he's a marked man these days and that's made the game a lot harder for him. His end product also needs work, but that's understandable.

- Big Les overplayed a few times, but he looks much better suited to the double pivot when he can just go for it rather than play possession.

- We still really lack attacking structure. I saw a couple of good cross field balls in the first half but we need to overload quickly and then cross if we're doing that, and it looks like our players are still waking up out of Russball as they go back after the switch which I am pretty sure Juric will want to cut out.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by SWLondon Saint

[stknowle]

29 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

That’s grinding out an away result. Proper performance with that squad and players. Had that Lego headed cock not been so arrogant and played the right way, we’d have 3 or 4 more points now.

He isn’t here to try to grind out results. Literally, thank fuck.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by stknowle

[Suhari]

AArma offers so little in this league, or through the middle in any.

A solid, dull display. Been missing these for a while. Something to build on at least.

IJ has lots of work to do. 

[Broccoli Man]

20 minutes ago, saintant said:

Well it was either a free kick to us or a goal kick because KWP clearly toed the ball over the line so, whichever way you cut it, the ref got it wrong.

He did get it wrong, he got a few wrong, although he did try Imo, the yellow for downes though is unforgivable. Stinker

 

[saintant]

Just now, Broccoli Man said:

He did get it wrong, he got a few wrong, although he did try Imo, the yellow for downes though is unforgivable. Stinker

 

The club should be appealing that.

[Convict Colony]

4 minutes ago, SWLondon Saint said:

- Think Dibling needs a break, too much has been asked of him - he's a marked man these days and that's made the game a lot harder for him. His end product also needs work, but that's understandable.

- Big Les overplayed a few times, but he looks much better suited to the double pivot when he can just go for it rather than play possession.

- We still really lack attacking structure. I saw a couple of good cross field balls in the first half but we need to overload quickly and then cross if we're doing that, and it looks like our players are still waking up out of Russball as they go back after the switch which I am pretty sure Juric will want to cut out.

Agree let him come off the bench a bit more and give ivan some 1-1 time to coach the rashford out of him.

When i compare him tracking back to the other forwards he has a lot to improve on, it was no surprise suga was exposed as fulham exploited this until he went off.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by Convict Colony

[coalman]

2 minutes ago, Broccoli Man said:

He did get it wrong, he got a few wrong, although he did try Imo, the yellow for downes though is unforgivable. Stinker

 

"The yellow card for Downes changed the game"..... Oh wait are we not in teflon excuse land any more?

[Miltonaggro]

An ability to grind these type of points away from home has been lacking under Martin, so the current volte face with the U21 manager pulling the levers over the last week is a good sign. If the board can back juric with a couple of solid signings / loans next few weeks that he trusts we might put up a fight and start pissing off oppo managers, fans and the media!

[Gingeletiss]

7 minutes ago, Broccoli Man said:

He did get it wrong, he got a few wrong, although he did try Imo, the yellow for downes though is unforgivable. Stinker

 

I suspect it wasn’t the tackle he got the card for, but the dissent. Players have been warned this season.

[Harry_SFC]

4 minutes ago, Gingeletiss said:

I suspect it wasn’t the tackle he got the card for, but the dissent. Players have been warned this season.

It was confirmed that it was for the tackle, not dissent. Just a piss poor decision. 

[Gingeletiss]

1 minute ago, Harry_SFC said:

It was confirmed that it was for the tackle, not dissent. Just a piss poor decision. 

If that is the case, then a poor poor decision.

[qwertyell]

Can't argue with the clean sheet - and well deserved; the defence knuckled down and did the basics without overcomplicating things. Wood actually looks a half decent prospect. 

Going forward we were atrocious, though. As bad as I can remember. There was just nothing there. It's been a bit of a running joke all season that our entire attack rests on the shoulders of an 18 year old, but it really feels that way. Armstrong and Archer were complete passengers. The midfield couldn't pass water. 

I'm not sure Ivan will be doing cartwheels tonight looking at the resources available to him. If he really wants to play with energy, pace, aggression and physicality there's fuck all of that about. 

 

 

[macca155]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

Fulham are a solid Prem outfit, so maybe I am being greedy here, but have to say, that was absolutely rubbish. We did nothing the entire game attacking wise. We struggled to string three passes together.

If you are going to sit back and defend, there has to be some sort of threat on the break.We offered none. 

Probably need to give the new guy some time to work that out.

That was definitely a first don't lose performance.

Saints have made ground on some of our competitors, that will do for starters.

Must remember tovtakeca book on Boxing day

[Vancouver Saint]

Good battling point playing non-suicidal football. I know it's been said many times before but let me get it off my chest...

It is criminal we let RM play his little ideological game for so long. Swansea fans told us exactly what we were getting with his suicide pass-it-out-from-the-back-and-concede-chances modus operandi - and we got it. Credit him for getting promotion from the Championship (although honestly, it was a very close-run thing).

We have paid millions to RM to educate him. He will be a better manager because of us...a little less ideological? a little less arrogant? We are a weaker team because of him. 

SR needed to make the change earlier as everyone has observed...those three or four points we might well have gained from five or six games could have made all the difference...

Now, it's just build up what strength we can, get some fighting spirit and positivity back into the club...and build a core of players who will stay with us an can build on in the Championship.

Commentator used the word 'delusional' in reference to us staying up...and I don't blame him...but it would be dreamland to prove them wrong all the same

[Harry_SFC]

6 minutes ago, Vancouver Saint said:

Good battling point playing non-suicidal football. I know it's been said many times before but let me get it off my chest...

It is criminal we let RM play his little ideological game for so long. Swansea fans told us exactly what we were getting with his suicide pass-it-out-from-the-back-and-concede-chances modus operandi - and we got it. Credit him for getting promotion from the Championship (although honestly, it was a very close-run thing).

We have paid millions to RM to educate him. He will be a better manager because of us...a little less ideological? a little less arrogant? We are a weaker team because of him. 

SR needed to make the change earlier as everyone has observed...those three or four points we might well have gained from five or six games could have made all the difference...

Now, it's just build up what strength we can, get some fighting spirit and positivity back into the club...and build a core of players who will stay with us an can build on in the Championship.

Commentator used the word 'delusional' in reference to us staying up...and I don't blame him...but it would be dreamland to prove them wrong all the same

Russell Martin will never change his ways, despite what happened with us. I'd imagine he still thinks he was doing a great job. 

[Micky]

Never watched it but a point away anywhere is not to be sniffed at.  I'm kinda hoping that we get easily relegated, because if we do make a fight of this and then get relegated by a few points, we are going to be very, very pissed off that we humoured Russell Martin for so long. 

[coalman]

3 minutes ago, Micky said:

Never watched it but a point away anywhere is not to be sniffed at.  I'm kinda hoping that we get easily relegated, because if we do make a fight of this and then get relegated by a few points, we are going to be very, very pissed off that we humoured Russell Martin for so long. 

I'm pretty pissed off we humored him for so long already.

[Lighthouse]

I doubt either club will be selling the DVD of that for Christmas but a point is a point and I’ll take them however they come. Good to have Ramsdale back, he certainly made a difference at the back. I just hope that when Juric does get to work he can come up with some ideas for scoring goals.

[VectisSaint]

1 hour ago, Harry_SFC said:

He just doesn't strike me as a Russball player. Probably a shame if he goes back because I think Juric could get a tune out of him. 

Exactly, but looked pretty good going forward, was a real plus today. Maybe if he gets played more now he will stick around, clearly did not suit Russ, or Russ didn't suit him.

We looked better today, no messing about at the back, but there were still too many sloppy passes, so often we did all the hard (good) work defending and then passed it out straight to a Fulham player. Fortunately Fulham were having an off day and didn't hurt us.

Actually thought Wood was decent, likes to play a long ball, which is presumably why RM did not play him much. Dibling having his worst game was maybe not opportune, given Ivan was watching on. He can be so much better than that. Love to know what happened to the Flynn Downes who played for us last year.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by VectisSaint

[sambosa75]

Need to cut our losses with Adam Armstrong in the PL.  He is awful and offers us literally nothing.

Archer has proven he’s got a goal in him and with some polishing and regular game time, could improve.  I think Tall Paul is an abomination of a player but his big, natural awkwardness does seem to cause confusion and would in theory give the side a focal point and a physical presence.  Either have to be better options than Armstrong now.

[Mr X]

Happy with that they could have anilated us and knocked our confidence beyond repair! so something to build on 

[CeeBee]

Delighted to get a point but what a really turgid performance. The number of times players got caught while fiddling around on the edge of the area. Too many to count. At least there were a couple of occasions when the ball got kicked upfield rather than mess around passing back to Ramsdale.

Time for Armstrong to be dropped. Brings nothing to the party. A few others need to up their games as well so some work for IJ next week.

[SWLondon Saint]

5 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Actually thought Wood was decent, likes to play a long ball, which is presumably why RM did not play him much. Dibling having his worst game was maybe not opportune, given Ivan was watching on. He can be so much better than that. Love to know what happened to the Flynn Downes who played for us last year.

I think Downes got too used to having time on the ball in the Championship while in the Prem you are gonna be under heavy pressure as soon as you move towards the ball and need to be that much clearer about your options in advance. Compare him to Lallana or Fernandes when they receive it.

Because he's under pressure and not comfortable with that, he makes bad passing decisions. Also, the athleticism is that much better in the Prem and he can't dominate other midfielders like he did in the champ.

[stknowle]

45 minutes ago, Vancouver Saint said:

We have paid millions to RM to educate him. He will be a better manager because of us...a little less ideological? a little less arrogant? 

 

Well possibly pal but if I supported whatever team he landed at next I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

[sadoldgit]

As much as I didn’t care for Martin’s tactics this season I don’t care either for hoof and hope. As others have said, Juric certainly has his work cut out but if this is the start of making us harder to score against, l’ll take it.

[Zorba]

Nice to be able to post something positive. Rusk did well with his first real game in charge, although just unshackling the players from shiteball was probably enough. A few individual errors but will take an away point all day long. Looking forward to see what Ivan can do now.

#COYS

 

 

[Football Special]

Heading back on train now, jubilant scenes at the final whistle celebrating the clean sheet, party will go on long into the night , happy days are here again 🍺 

[saintant]

2 hours ago, saintant said:

Good game for the neutrals now we have to suffer Liverpool Spurs which is not likely to be as exciting.

Told you 🙂

[Teamsaint1]

The media ( BBC etc) seems to havequite a bit about Saints fans having a go at the team. Support sounded good to me, despite not having much to cheer other than a decent defensive performance.

 

 

[Sheaf Saint]

This really pisses me off. The second half shot from Sugawara was quite clearly 'on target', but because it was blocked by a defender rather than saved by the keeper, it doesn't count? WTF! 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, qwertyell said:

Can't argue with the clean sheet - and well deserved; the defence knuckled down and did the basics without overcomplicating things. Wood actually looks a half decent prospect. 

Going forward we were atrocious, though. As bad as I can remember. There was just nothing there. It's been a bit of a running joke all season that our entire attack rests on the shoulders of an 18 year old, but it really feels that way. Armstrong and Archer were complete passengers. The midfield couldn't pass water. 

I'm not sure Ivan will be doing cartwheels tonight looking at the resources available to him. If he really wants to play with energy, pace, aggression and physicality there's fuck all of that about. 

 

 

Watching Liverpool nearly all their players look six feet or more and they're all athletes. Not sure why we always seem to build a team full of small weaklings - it's no surprise we get bullied so much. I think this is something Juric will want to do something about as far as possible in the transfer window.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Actually enjoyed watching that for a change. Felt like we were comfortable for the majority of the match, certainly much more solid than we have been, with no Hail Mary moments. Going forward, didn't offer a great deal. Armstrong as stated is a waste of time up top. Something to build upon though.

[Football Special]

8 minutes ago, Teamsaint1 said:

The media ( BBC etc) seems to havequite a bit about Saints fans having a go at the team. Support sounded good to me, despite not having much to cheer other than a decent defensive performance.

 

 

Seems odd? Maybe shouting BREEE sounds like a boo. 

Support was good mostly, Fulham supporters good impression of a mural in complete silence for 90 mins, walking back after the game they were having a right old moan about not beating us 

[hypochondriac]

Looked great to me. I was in a box next to the non binary person Sam smith so I can't say for definite what the game was like as I was quaffing champagne but I was happy with our performance for the bit I did see. 

[Wade Garrett]

Nathan Wood played well again today.  Really taking his chance.