Fulham 0-0 Southampton - Match Thread

[Baird of the land]

Happy with the defensive solidity

extremely unhappy about the limited use of onachu.

hopefully new manager will change that.

[trousers]

Well, that's 20% of Russ's points tally chalked up after 1 day at the club... 😁

[St. Ciervo]

Massive increase to our points total!

[OttawaSaint]

The angle made it look like Ugu's header was going in, I was up and celebrating but it was heading out for a throw. 😆 

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, adrian lord said:

Sounds like the ref was an utter disgrace? 

He wasn't. He wasn't brilliant: Downes should not have been hooked, perhaps another Fulham player should have been, and a few biased observers think he missed a Saints penalty ( that wasn't), but I thought on the whole he did OK.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by badgerx16

[Disco Stu]

Normally I would say to respect the away point but draws won't help us gain any ground. I guess it's a small step closer to avoiding Derby's record.

[Saint_clark]

Wtf? Post match they immediately start talking about United instead of the game they showed. Jesus Christ.

[Sheaf Saint]

See Russ - turns out we *can* defend alright when we don't piss about with the ball at the back.

Fairly happy with that. Not great at all going forward, but much more solid at the back and a clean sheet isn't to be sniffed at. 

[Mr X]

1 minute ago, OttawaSaint said:

That was a clear penalty. Big team and they'd be drawing lines, sucking cocks, exchanging envelopes and going to the monitor!

Was outside the area and a theatrical dive

[saintant]

Big Les clearly wasted by RM. Should have played him in the double pivot with Downes.

Edited 22 December, 2024 by saintant

[coalman]

Over the course of 90 minutes we didn't gift them one single gilt edged chance through piss-a-boutery and kept running for the whole 90 minutes. 0-0 is something we can build on there. We looked better when Big Les replaced Aribo - there's a player there. Baffled as to how Onuachu was left on the bench until the 90th minute.

[Saint NL]

Well done Rusk. He can return to the u21s with his head held high.

We are really going to struggle to score, but first things first to get the defense sorted and then we can work on that.

Happy with that.

[Midfield_General]

Well that was shit, but we got a point, as opposed to how it usually goes where it’s shit but we don’t get a point. 

So that’s a step forward. 

[Saint_clark]

Just now, Mr X said:

Was outside the area and a theatrical dive

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

[stknowle]

1 minute ago, davefizzy14 said:

How did we not get a penalty for that 🤷‍♂️ clear foul

No it wasn’t.  Anyway we looked competent today (whilst looking incapable of scoring even if we played until this time next millennium but you can’t have everything). 

[Killers Knee]

Better, lots to improve on:

1. Fitness
2. Formation
3. Selection
4. Tactics
5. Set pieces
6. Substitutions

All the above need drastic work to reverse the entropy caused by managerial neglect

[SfcPhil]

I'm not sure what people are expecting. A 0-0 draw is a brilliant result considering what we've been served up this season. We shipped five a week ago without a whimper. To get our second clean sheet (and first away) will be massive for building confidence at the back. We can't run before we can walk. Give Ivan a few days on the training pitches and we'll start to see his influence.

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 minute ago, Saint_clark said:

Wtf? Post match they immediately start talking about United instead of the game they showed. Jesus Christ.

In fairness there was all most F all to discuss about that match!

[OttawaSaint]

Just now, Saint_clark said:

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

Yep.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Previously, we've offered little up front, but gifted goals away at the back.

Today, we offered little up front, but cleared our lines.

The result is that in one game, Rusk has equalled Martin's PL away points record.

The second half mostly followed the first. Fulham on top early. Then a lull before their subs started to make a difference. Ramsdale parried a very close effort away, and a second chance went just wide.

In the closing minutes we had a flurry of corners to sneak all three points. But they will be happy enough with one.

[Wsaint]

1 minute ago, Saint_clark said:

Wtf? Post match they immediately start talking about United instead of the game they showed. Jesus Christ.

[Baird of the land]

Just now, stknowle said:

No it wasn’t.  Anyway we looked competent today (whilst looking incapable of scoring even if we played until this time next millennium but you can’t have everything). 

Honestly More annoyed walker peters didn’t cross the ball.

 

[Chez]

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. 

[obelisk]

Would have liked to see a replay of that last corner. Thought the header might sneak in for a moment.

[Harry_SFC]

1 minute ago, OttawaSaint said:

Yep.

Agree. It should've been a penalty but you just don't expect to get them anymore. 

[Wade Garrett]

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

Played ok today. 

[BotleySaint]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

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

Played ok today. 

Defensively ok. Same problems upfront.

[Harry_SFC]

1 minute 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. 

You are being greedy.

[John Boy Saint]

I think that’s alright - good point and we looked much better with no suicide football. 
Most notable the departure of defending corners with every Saints player in our own 6 yard box.

[Saint NL]

xG of 0.26 says it all.

West ham always have some big units, guess they're saving TP for that one. 

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Try watching it again.

Like VAR did, and decided there was no penalty.

[Verwood Saint]

12 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Have any of Ramsdales kicks found a saints player? They either go to the keeper or out for a throw

He was consistently aiming at Aribo who won a few wide left or it went into touch and therefore was safer for us. He tried the same with big Lez when he replaced Joe. Otherwise we don’t have anyone likely to win a long ball in the air from the keeper. 
 

on the other hand we could try playing out from the back to keep possession…

[macca155]

Great result, stops the losing streak. Terrible to watch but sometimes that's necessary

Ivan can build on that

[saintant]

Maybe our U21 manager had more idea than the bloke who was being paid millions just to carry out his own vanity project.

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, SfcPhil said:

I'm not sure what people are expecting. 

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.  

[Disco Stu]

2 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Honestly More annoyed walker peters didn’t cross the ball.

 

We're playing him on his weaker side. We're nerfing him for bang average Sugawara.

[OttawaSaint]

It was ok. Not much threat at all but I guess, fix defence first then attack.

[Wade Garrett]

4 minutes ago, SfcPhil said:

I'm not sure what people are expecting. A 0-0 draw is a brilliant result considering what we've been served up this season. We shipped five a week ago without a whimper. To get our second clean sheet (and first away) will be massive for building confidence at the back. We can't run before we can walk. Give Ivan a few days on the training pitches and we'll start to see his influence.

Well said.

[Wsaint]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

Like VAR did, and decided there was no penalty.

I didn't think it was a pen, but VAR saying no pen doesn't really mean a lot these days 😂

[Baird of the land]

Just now, Verwood Saint said:

He was consistently aiming at Aribo who won a few wide left or it went into touch and therefore was safer for us. He tried the same with big Lez when he replaced Joe. Otherwise we don’t have anyone likely to win a long ball in the air from the keeper. 
 

on the other hand we could try playing out from the back to keep possession…

I must have missed the 6 foot 8 Nigerian in our squad.

[stknowle]

Just now, 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. 

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!

[Lord Duckhunter]

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. You can bet your life Marco Silva won’t be praising our “style”. Small steps, but it’s taken a youth team coach to fucking take them. 
 

Ramsdale man of the match, closely followed by the 3 centre halves. Big Les did more in that half an hour than the previous knob got out of him all season. Clearly AA needs to fuck off, he’s horrendous. Nowhere near good enough. We should have given him the Billy Sharp treatment. 
 

Not saying we’ll stay up, but we looked like a proper relegation battling team at last…

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Verwood Saint said:

He was consistently aiming at Aribo who won a few wide left or it went into touch and therefore was safer for us. He tried the same with big Lez when he replaced Joe. Otherwise we don’t have anyone likely to win a long ball in the air from the keeper. 
 

on the other hand we could try playing out from the back to keep possession…

We could but we'd probably be sat on one less point.

[Patches O Houlihan]

2 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

We're playing him on his weaker side. We're nerfing him for bang average Sugawara.

This is true; but I can count the number of airborne crosses KWP has delivered in his entire Saints career on the fingers of one hand. 

Unless someone has a word with him we'll need to play Suagwara and Manning to get a tune out of Paul

Edited 22 December, 2024 by Patches O Houlihan

[Verwood Saint]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

I must have missed the 6 foot 8 Nigerian in our squad.

Agreed!

[saintstowin]

I believe drawing is better than losing. But not lots of ambition or confidence, understandable. We've got to work out how to involve strikers. I think Archer had a touch about half an hour after he came on.

[Sheaf Saint]

3 minutes ago, macca155 said:

Great result, stops the losing streak. Terrible to watch but sometimes that's necessary

Ivan can build on that

I'd rather watch that than Russball.

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

This is true; but I can count the number of airborne crosses KWP has delivered in his entire Saints career on the fingers of one hand. 

Unless someone has a word with him we'll need to play Suagwara and Manning to get a tune out of Paul

Or Fraser.

[HarvSFC]

I think that performance was what we expected the season to be. Little to no quality, but we did manage to ground out a point in a hard-fought draw. Something that Martin's teams were unable to do with this being our second clean sheet of the season, after just one week of Martin being gone might I add.

Whenever the camera panned to Juric it looked like he was hating every minute, which I think can only be a good thing, if he's able to get us to be a bit more creative in the attacking third.

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Like VAR did, and decided there was no penalty.

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