Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Sunday 14th April but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Southampton v Watford Match Reports

PezzaSaint added 18:14 - Apr 13 Wow, what a league, great for the neutral, not so good for the supporters of the top 4! Still in it! COYS!!
6

WestSussexSaint added 18:38 - Apr 13 Dare we believe?!?!
3

Avior added 18:55 - Apr 13 I know a win is a win at this stage of the season but god do we make it difficult for ourselves. Great first half an hour then go all passive and let them back into it. Solid first set of subs, Aribo and Brooks were both poor, but unfortunately Stuey wasn't at the races. Manning for Bree fine but not required. Then what was RM thinking taking off Adams for Mara, he was playing really well and not tired. Smallbone should have been off with Aribo, he was really leggy even before he got a knock. This meant Downes had to run twice as far = equalizer. Why we didn't have Charles on bench to bring on for Smallbone is ludicrous. Why do we need Fraser, Edozie and Sulemenia, they are never all going to come on? THB, Downes, KWP, Adams, AA all superb. COYR

4

janecook added 19:31 - Apr 13 Why do we keep playing Stephens when we always let in more goals with him in the team?
5

Jellybaby added 19:32 - Apr 13 Exciting game and great ending, but an all too familiar pattern is being established of early dominance followed by a poor attempt at keep ball leading to often fairly mediocre opposition getting back in to the game and stealing or nearly stealing points. I would love to be proved wrong, but I don't believe this team has the mental toughness or this manager the guile to win every game and claim an unlikely automatic spot, but you never know... Not just because of his goal, but Downes was MOM, although an unlikely challenger was JS with two timely saving tackles.

-3

SaintPaulVW added 20:41 - Apr 13 Could criticise various players, subs choices but so what! cracking game of football to watch. With the other results, I'm starting to believe again. Leicester and Leeds games looking like huge matches. COYR
4

Bawdrip added 21:54 - Apr 13 We made hard work of it again but great to win it so late on. Watched in Portugal whilst on holiday thanks to Saints Player. If we can beat Preston it sets up an interesting last few games. I'll be at Cardiff and then Leicester with my Leicester supporting son in law. Play offs still look most likely but you never know. Beat WBA again then Leeds or Norwich at Wembley. Rode our luck a bit today but came strong at the end.

3

jameshill added 22:22 - Apr 13 Do I take it we are all going to be spared the recent drivel about Jack Stephens being poor and the manager clueless? What has changed after the last two games? The answer is that we have won but nothing else. Jack Stephens is and has never been the problem and neither has been the manager. The former is a loyal servant who tries his best each game and the later is a young enthusiastic coach who seems to have both imagination and the respect of his players.Do they make mistakes? Of course they do and so do all you moaners do as you do whatever work you do. Furthermore where does this deluded belief that ‘we have the best squad in the division’ come from? I’m sure fans of Leicester and Leeds say exactly the same. The TRUTH is that the table does not lie - it never does. I believe we have a great bunch of players playing for a passionate manager and with our support - not our moaning - will do even better. Be proud of your team, win or loose, and enjoy the privilege of what is a really exiting season.

2

SanMarco added 10:43 - Apr 14 'The TRUTH is the table does not lie' says jameshill. Yes - but the 'what if' question (which, of course, can never be answered) is could we be doing better? Under RM's management our team would seem to be fourth best and that is the TRUTH the table tells us. Many fans have a feeling that we could be doing better. Poor old JS has become the fall-guy for that particular argument (as was Manning, and maybe Smallbone, earlier in the season) but in the end the tippy-tappy and the frequent inability to finish teams off has cost us dear and that is not the fault of any player. Having said that it has often been exciting. Is that down to RM. Answers on a postcard...

0

jameshill added 12:15 - Apr 14 SanMarco, I hear you but consider this: Every fan of every club thinks they 'should be doing better'! I have friends who support Liverpool who tell me that regularly. The corollary of that is that we could be doing worse. A different manager with WORST results. As for what you deridingly call 'Tippy Tappy' consider this: Most modern forward thinking coaches try to play this way. Why? Presumably because its the percentage call. It's not a function of good or bad players. Yes you loose sometimes but more often you win. It's a net gain. If we get promoted guess what - RM will be considered a genius by all and 'Tippy Tappy' the way to go. One other thing: How many players in the championship have as many Premiership games under their belt than Jack Stephens. A handful maybe. How did that happen if he is as bad as made out to be.

2

redwight added 12:48 - Apr 14 The problem with 'tippy tappy', jameshill, is the predictability of it. By all means have it as your basic style of play, but what drives so many of us mad is that it is practised relentlessly, thus completely removing the element of surprise. Surely one aspect of good management is to occasionally do the unexpected and keep the opposition guessing. instead of which RM seems to regard it as the football equivalent of a virility symbol.

-1

Ifonly added 14:54 - Apr 14 Redwight correctly points out one of the problems with tippy tappy, but there are many, many more. Some of these are: - It's dangerous. Passing the ball around your own box used to get defenders dropped. Now it's all the fashion. Go figure. - It's slow. By the time you get up the pitch, the opponents have closed down the space. - It leaves you exposed to the counter attack because you end up with the majority of your players in the top third of the pitch. I could go on, but the biggest point for me is that tippy tappy works if you have the best technical players. So it could work for us in the Championship because we have relatively good players for this league. But if we get promoted it's a whole different story. So I wonder what the point of developing this style is, if it only means that we come straight back down.

-1