Saints 0-1 West Ham - Match Thread

[Harry_SFC]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

I was impressed by Les. I didn't really watch him closely before. I don't understand how he fell it if favour as we badly needed someone in the middle. In general, the central midfielder did quite well. 

 

 

He had one bad game against Bournemouth so Russ binned him off. Abysmal management. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

Lego ball result, but far far more exciting & rewarding watch. 
 

Big Les played well, KWP was back to his best, TP good as an outlet, needs one off his arse to get him rolling, but good he did a 90. Suga, average, I thought wood struggled a bit as well, poor with the flick on that fell to Bowen. AA, really winding me up now, fucking waste of space. Subs were average, Aribo must have missed Lego checking out, Dibling really poor and Sulemana, fuck me he was in Ali Dia territory. 
 

We are always going to struggle, but a proper manager set up a team to deliver a proper performance. Let’s hope he’ll stick around after the inevitable happens and we can build a proper premier league side. 

[Noodles34]

Got to say that Ramsdale should have claimed the ball that HTB headed away. Could have come for the second ball in too. 

[chownie20]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Lego ball result, but far far more exciting & rewarding watch. 
 

Big Les played well, KWP was back to his best, TP good as an outlet, needs one off his arse to get him rolling, but good he did a 90. Suga, average, I thought wood struggled a bit as well, poor with the flick on that fell to Bowen. AA, really winding me up now, fucking waste of space. Subs were average, Aribo must have missed Lego checking out, Dibling really poor and Sulemana, fuck me he was in Ali Dia territory. 
 

We are always going to struggle, but a proper manager set up a team to deliver a proper performance. Let’s hope he’ll stick around after the inevitable happens and we can build a proper premier league side. 

Wood has been okay, but can't be long till ABK gets a go.

Maybe Taylor/Manning and KWP for Suga.

Arma is a weak link. 

Other than that we looked good.

[DT]

Hugely improved intensity everywhere. Better directness. More cohesion and pace. Big unlucky with the goal. Shame about Suguwara’s ability and Armstrong continuing to be a total waste of space. Thought Tall Paul was excellent and shows just how criminal it was to avoid using him. Same largely for Les. Ho hum. At least we aren’t playing that awful brand of football anymore. Would have lost 3-0 today

[Chez]

I'd like to see us continuing to cross the ball early and at every opportunity like we did in the first half. If we are going to play TP, we have to feed him. The first half was pretty much the only game I've seen us do that and TP became a weopon.

[SaveloyMush]

7 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Lego ball result, but far far more exciting & rewarding watch. 
 

Big Les played well, KWP was back to his best, TP good as an outlet, needs one off his arse to get him rolling, but good he did a 90. Suga, average, I thought wood struggled a bit as well, poor with the flick on that fell to Bowen. AA, really winding me up now, fucking waste of space. Subs were average, Aribo must have missed Lego checking out, Dibling really poor and Sulemana, fuck me he was in Ali Dia territory. 
 

We are always going to struggle, but a proper manager set up a team to deliver a proper performance. Let’s hope he’ll stick around after the inevitable happens and we can build a proper premier league side. 

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, chownie20 said:

Wood has been okay, but can't be long till ABK gets a go.

Wood has been okay but his decision making is not great. He has a proper rick in him too. I'd be surprised to see ABK though. Perhaps there is a clean slate, but if he has ben stinking up the place (I don't know if thats true) then other players wont appreciate him being selected.

[Doctoroncall]

I hope Juric does the same as Bielsa with Leeds, and stays with us when we go down. 

A decent manager is hard to fine.

 

[madge]

New manager has 3 training sessions with the team and we play a totally different way and we were unlucky not to get something. It’s not rocket science and if the board had the Conviction to move Martin on earlier who knows what any new manager could have achieved. West Ham pretty dire, Bowen is class and wasting his career with West Ham. 

[Oldandtired]

I enjoyed it . Giving up hope of staying up has freed me up to actually enjoy what's on offer without worrying if we're going to win or lose. Several positives for the day, TP, Les and I actually thought Wood played well.

A breath of fresh air after the Martin PL nonsense. 

 

[Saint Fan CaM]

Got to blame Downes for their first goal in terms of the offensive movement - he jumped up 10 feet in front of the crosser of the ball before the ball had even reached the player and then didn’t get close so the block was not made…result - ball into dangerous area and eventual goal. Downes is the one position we really need to be watertight, but in midfield he’s too power puff and slow, which is why he looked OK for Russball. Same with Aribo - needs a slow build up as he’s facing backwards for a backwards pass 95% of the time.

TP was good in general, but the skill and composure in front of goal was sadly lacking in spades which is pretty unsustainable for a striker. AA runs a lot - that’s it…no vision for a pass…no composure in front of goal. Dibling is either being found out or needs completely re-training in proper EPL level football. Wondering why Archer didn’t get a look in - is he that unfit?

Fernandez is a lovely player - most things he does he does well. Unlucky not to score, but again composure let him down.

In general, this a game where we should be saying - “we should have won 3-1 and the WH goal was a consolation”. Trouble is every point is so precious now that this feels like a double defeat rather than just a single shocker of a game that can be corrected. Is it worth investing in another striker in January? If we can offload the likes of Sulemana, Aribo, etc then the loan of an exceptional striker and CM until season end would be very good business.

[Mr X]

16 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

I hope Juric does the same as Bielsa with Leeds, and stays with us when we go down. 

A decent manager is hard to fine.

 

Assume that's the plan and he knew he would be managing us in the championship hence 18 month contract 

[Chez]

21 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

I hope Juric does the same as Bielsa with Leeds, and stays with us when we go down. 

A decent manager is hard to fine.

 

not a fan of managers that kneel down in the coaching box, but less pretentious than sitting in a bucket I suppose.

[Chez]

What position did AA play? It felt like he was on the left, but BBC has him as up front with Onuachu. If we are playing two strikers, then Archer might be an option.

[HarvSFC]

We lost today due to a lack of quality, specifically in the areas that matter with the chances in the first half. But, it was a better watch than losing due to the manager's tactics setting us up to give possession away on the edge of our own area and giving up goals for fun, while not laying a glove on the opposition goalkeeper. We made Fabianski and Areola work today, when plenty of goalkeepers could have taken the day off against us under Martin. We were at least in the game until they scored, and could have potentially got an equaliser if Dibling played the ball to Onuachu near the end rather than taking the shot on.

Juric has no ties to Armstrong and like Stephens and Smallbone, who Martin also loved he just isn't good enough for Premier League level. Hopefully he'll drop out of the eleven soon. Ugochukwu was very good today. I reckon Juric will love him, he showed the quality that made Chelsea sign him today. KWP was also back to his best now that he's allowed to carry the ball forward again, rather than constantly needing to tuck in and play the ball backwards.

But, yeah, just need a bit more upfront. Surprised Archer didn't get any minutes. Notable omissions from the match squad being summer signings Taylor, Brereton-Diaz and Cornet. They might be heading for an early exit next month, while Edwards needs a loan out. SAA needs to be loaned out too and I think he's worth a subs spot here, but the managers disagree.

[thornhill_saints]

Fecking shit - Better shit than before

Edited 27 December, 2024 by thornhill_saints
.

[Sheaf Saint]

57 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Despite his popularity Aribo as an extremely poor player.

It's a constant irk to me that he's the only player, aside from Dibling, who has his own song. It's not like he's ever done anything to earn cult hero status among the fans.

[die Mannyschaft]

Much better, especially the first half. We are not a pacy fast side and revert to sideways when running in space in front would be better. Need some shooting practice. As others have said before too little to late ut at least it's now watchable.  Still good support. 

[macca155]

Much better performance, far more direct and we gave West Ham a proper game. Some nice touches from Onuachu but he has to finish those opportunities.

Ugochikwa was much better and once again Wood was really solid at the back.

However the cold hard truth is that this side simply isn't good enough to survive. I hope I'm wrong but even this improvement won't be enough.

When Bree, Aribo, and Sulemana came on, everything slowed down. Disappointing to see.

Dibling looked sour and miserable. He's 18 just enjoy it lad and stop listening to your agent. He went straight down the tunnel at the end of the game. 

Edited 26 December, 2024 by macca155

[Whitey Grandad]

Dibling knocked £10m of his value when the put that chance way over the bar.

[captainchris]

Unlucky to lose. Much improved all over the pitch. We look a totally different team.

Martin lost us that game through the players not being up to premier fitness.. If only The owners did something about that months ago. How they could allow Martin to turn the team into part timers is beyond comprehension. 

 

[Sheaf Saint]

Just now, captainchris said:

Unlucky to lose. Much improved all over the pitch. We look a totally different team.

Martin lost us that game through the players not being up to premier fitness.. If only The owners did something about that months ago. How they could allow Martin to turn the team into part timers is beyond comprehension. 

 

They're essentially just asleep at the wheel. Martin was able to badly mis-manage the team with seemingly zero oversight from anyone above him. A shocking indictment of SR's ownership really. 

[Mr X]

7 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Unlucky to lose. Much improved all over the pitch. We look a totally different team.

Martin lost us that game through the players not being up to premier fitness.. If only The owners did something about that months ago. How they could allow Martin to turn the team into part timers is beyond comprehension. 

 

Having terrible strikers at the club cost us that game! 

[Badger]

40 minutes ago, Chez said:

not a fan of managers that kneel down in the coaching box, but less pretentious than sitting in a bucket I suppose.

Just a welcome change not to have one preening himself, either hair or beard  in the coaching box or elsewhere.

[Badger]

9 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Unlucky to lose. Much improved all over the pitch. We look a totally different team.

Martin lost us that game through the players not being up to premier fitness.. If only The owners did something about that months ago. How they could allow Martin to turn the team into part timers is beyond comprehension. 

 

Except in front of goal, although just creating chances is a step up on recent stuff. 

Personally, I can't consider it "unlucky" to lose when you spurn chances as often as we do, and fail to take advantage when you're on top of the game. 

[OttawaSaint]

We played much better but don't have enough quality to survive.

Can't survive with finishing like today. We don't get much luck but we just don't do enough with the chances we get, look much weaker once a few subs come on and still look shaky at the back. 

[Forester]

1 hour ago, Doctoroncall said:

I hope Juric does the same as Bielsa with Leeds, and stays with us when we go down. 

A decent manager is hard to fine.

 

Bielsa wasn’t in charge when Leeds were relegated

[Wade Garrett]

Nice watching a team that plays normal football again.  We more than matched them and made a mockery of claims from Russ's PR team that nobody could get more out of our squad.

Need to get the chequebook out for forward players though.

[Morse]

Now we're at least creating chances, but this is only going to highlight, if there was any doubt, how shit our strikers are at converting chances. But let's concentrate on the positives.

[Convict Colony]

Bro's back from the yanks, the steak was nice but based on what I've read it's a promising start.

Tall Paul and Big Les playing well, first half we looked good then ran out of steam.

We might not of won but it's given us optimism to build from and a bit of belief for the next games.

Biggest annoyance as noted is that players who didn't get a look in seem to be out better players today, hopefully juric makes sure they stay and gets us another option for goal scoring in Jan window.

[Bakovnetski]

2 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

Day late and a dollar short with the manager change imo

Juric set us up well but dropped bollocks with the subs 

Would've been making all these mistakes with the squad in October if we had a competent board

Archer rather than Sully 

[gecko]

Obviously not going to win any games if we can't score. But that performance was so much better than the dross we've been treated to this season... And Juric been in charge less than a week.

I'm hopeful of seeing results pick up a bit from here onwards, but the finishing today was a big worry.

[Bakovnetski]

Lallana needs to be put out to pasture. Doesn't have the fitness or speed to compete at this level any more. Should take his badges if he hasn't already done so.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I see Blackmore and Tessem putting the boot into Lego ball now, fucking pathetic. Blackmore spent weeks sucking up to Lego, now “today was the first time we’ve looked like a premier league team”. True, but they’re a bit late on parade. Two faced cock Womble. 

Edited 26 December, 2024 by Lord Duckhunter

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

Got to say that Ramsdale should have claimed the ball that HTB headed away. Could have come for the second ball in too. 

Yeah looked like he was holding back,  broken finger still causing issues? 

[beatlesaint]

24 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I see Blackmore and Tessem putting the boot into Lego ball now, fucking pathetic. Blackmore spent weeks sucking up to Lego, now “today was the first time we’ve looked like a premier league team”. True, but they’re a bit late on parade. Two faced cock Womble. 

To be fair Tessem has been pretty consistent in his dislike of Russball

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

31 minutes ago, gecko said:

Obviously not going to win any games if we can't score. But that performance was so much better than the dross we've been treated to this season... And Juric been in charge less than a week.

I'm hopeful of seeing results pick up a bit from here onwards, but the finishing today was a big worry.

Really liked the effort today and enjoyed watching them but same old problem - lack of a striker.

The Brazilian Wellington should be joining in January and I see the U21 have a Nathaneal Boot. Imagine that...our strikers could be Wellington Boot!

[macca155]

9 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Really liked the effort today and enjoyed watching them but same old problem - lack of a striker.

The Brazilian Wellington should be joining in January and I see the U21 have a Nathaneal Boot. Imagine that...our strikers could be Wellington Boot!

Wellington is a left back. I suspect he'll be loaned out to a one of sister clubs. Can't see him being up to Premier League standard just yet.

[aintforever]

First half we were good, nice to see some direct attacking play for a change and we’re unlucky not to be in the lead. But second half we were shocking and got worse with every sub he made. Tall Paul looked a threat again but we need some pace alongside him not Armstrong.

[Football Special]

10 minutes ago, aintforever said:

First half we were good, nice to see some direct attacking play for a change and we’re unlucky not to be in the lead. But second half we were shocking and got worse with every sub he made. Tall Paul looked a threat again but we need some pace alongside him not Armstrong.

Yeah at 1-0 I think West Ham realised they could just see the game out, we'd lost all intensity 

[saintant]

15 minutes ago, aintforever said:

First half we were good, nice to see some direct attacking play for a change and we’re unlucky not to be in the lead. But second half we were shocking and got worse with every sub he made. Tall Paul looked a threat again but we need some pace alongside him not Armstrong.

Pretty sure IJ will have been pleased with a lot. Today will have reinforced the fact that he's taken charge of players who are clearly well below the elite fitness levels needed to compete on an even playing field. This is a sad indictment of those previously tasked with coaching our players. Some of the stories emerging about the laxness such as 2 days off after Saturday matches and no plan to train on Xmas day are a disgrace. IJ will obviously be trying to rectify this but it will take time. SR should have been all over this. 

[Tanlee]

Although sometimes he can look awkward and clumsy, Tall Paul definitely has ability and best thing about him in my opinion is when he plays it creates a enthusiasm and feel good amongst us supporters and we bloody need that this season! 

[Mr X]

1 minute ago, Tanlee said:

Although sometimes he can look awkward and clumsy, Tall Paul definitely has ability and best thing about him in my opinion is when he plays it creates a enthusiasm and feel good amongst us supporters and we bloody need that this season! 

Not premier league quality but should be pretty good in the championship if he can finish better (or at all)

[Charlie Wayman]

2 hours ago, madge said:

New manager has 3 training sessions with the team and we play a totally different way and we were unlucky not to get something. It’s not rocket science and if the board had the Conviction to move Martin on earlier who knows what any new manager could have achieved. West Ham pretty dire, Bowen is class and wasting his career with West Ham. 

We still lost so it remains to be seen whether a new way of playing produces positive results.

[Charlie Wayman]

4 minutes ago, Tanlee said:

Although sometimes he can look awkward and clumsy, Tall Paul (?) definitely has ability and best thing about him in my opinion is when he plays it creates a enthusiasm and feel good amongst us supporters and we bloody need that this season! 

Why not use his proper name? 

[Fabrice29]

A lack of quality goal scorers is a problem that will transcend any manager, style or vibe.

[Wade Garrett]

Feel sorry for Archer.  He needs a run in the side.  Probably the best finisher we have.

[Vancouver Saint]

Posting before reading others...having let the dust settle on that. Completely different game, same result: no goals and no points. But it would be a huge mistake to draw the same conclusions that nothing's changed after RM.

We so deserved something from that game. First half we should have scored at least two...and yes so should have Wet Spam scored at least one - I thought they were pretty ordinary.

The difference was a sloppy error to concede an unnecessary corner and then poor defending of the subsequent attack you just knew they were going to score from. Does anyone else think Ramsdale could/should have done better? - with high looping balls he should be commanding his six-yard box...he came for it and then retreated. This is why Arsenal dropped him.

Tall Paul played extremely well and lasted the full 90 minutes. Super unlucky not to score. But again, we just can't seem to buy a goal. Fernandes should have scored too.

What a waste of 16 games when you see how differently we can play, even with a below-average squad.

IJ did most things right for me...perhaps the only thing I'd have done differently was play Archer instead of Armstrong, but I'm guessing he was playing the high-pressing game and Archer doesn't works as hard without the ball as Armstrong...plus he's our penalty-taker. I think Tall Paul and Archer is the combo.

Not enough pressure from us second half, but at least IJ recognised that and tried to change it up. As I said, would have bought Archer on for Adams after they scored.

[Harry_SFC]

4 minutes ago, Vancouver Saint said:

Posting before reading others...having let the dust settle on that. Completely different game, same result: no goals and no points. But it would be a huge mistake to draw the same conclusions that nothing's changed after RM.

We so deserved something from that game. First half we should have scored at least two...and yes so should have Wet Spam scored at least one - I thought they were pretty ordinary.

The difference was a sloppy error to concede an unnecessary corner and then poor defending of the subsequent attack you just knew they were going to score from. Does anyone else think Ramsdale could/should have done better? - with high looping balls he should be commanding his six-yard box...he came for it and then retreated. This is why Arsenal dropped him.

Tall Paul played extremely well and lasted the full 90 minutes. Super unlucky not to score. But again, we just can't seem to buy a goal. Fernandes should have scored too.

What a waste of 16 games when you see how differently we can play, even with a below-average squad.

IJ did most things right for me...perhaps the only thing I'd have done differently was play Archer instead of Armstrong, but I'm guessing he was playing the high-pressing game and Archer doesn't works as hard without the ball as Armstrong...plus he's our penalty-taker. I think Tall Paul and Archer is the combo.

Not enough pressure from us second half, but at least IJ recognised that and tried to change it up. As I said, would have bought Archer on for Adams after they scored.

Yes at the time I thought Ramsdale should've tried to get something on the ball. Not a glaring error but one he should've done better with.