Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Sunday 7th August but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton Match Reports

I_would added 17:08 - Aug 6 Got exactly what I expected.
4

GRIM added 17:42 - Aug 6 Well, what did we expect. In the 2nd half Ralph reverted to the same defence that conceded so many soft goals last season, I think Jack Stephen's must be Ralph's love child. Our performance was as drab as that awful away kit (uggh). Lavia was by far our best player, that will tell you how bad the rest were. After one game we're bottom of the lge & that's exactly where we'll be all season.

7

Boris1977 added 17:42 - Aug 6 Yesterday while on a boys day out with a couple fellow Saints fans I said I'd take 5-0 so I guess I should be happy rather than a little disappointed but not surprised. The match report should be up soon as it's already been drafted multiple times over the past 3 seasons. Don't forget. Ralph is the best man for the job. If you don't believe you're not a true fan and support Liverpool or Man city. So there 😉

4

ElijahK added 17:43 - Aug 6 Leeds game will be the interesting one for me, as that’s our first and only upcoming game where we should actually win it. But we sure do need to get in the new centre half and striker, as until they come in then we could be in trouble! Also does anyone know why that Mara wasn’t even on the bench?
7

Boris1977 added 17:52 - Aug 6 Yesterday while on a boys day out with a couple fellow Saints fans I said I'd take 5-0 so I guess I should be happy rather than a little disappointed but not surprised. The match report should be up soon as it's already been drafted multiple times over the past 3 seasons. Don't forget. Ralph is the best man for the job. If you don't believe you're not a true fan and support Liverpool or Man city. So there 😉

0

codge added 18:04 - Aug 6 Well here we go again,basically the same mistakes again and no threat at all up front. Don’t know we’re we go from here it surely we must improve if not a very long and stressful season to be in front of us. Hassenhutal is surely on the bubble if this keeps happening.
3

Boris1977 added 18:13 - Aug 6 Yesterday while on a boys day out with a couple fellow Saints fans I said I'd take 5-0 so I guess I should be happy rather than a little disappointed but not surprised. The match report should be up soon as it's already been drafted multiple times over the past 3 seasons. Don't forget. Ralph is the best man for the job. If you don't believe you're not a true fan and support Liverpool or Man city. So there 😉

0

SanMarco added 18:37 - Aug 6 Did you go on three boys days out Boris? This result doesn't mean we are definitely going down but it does show that none of the obvious problems have been solved. Poor defending, powder-puff attack and STILL Jack Stephens for fecken hell's sake. If Ralph has an idea of how to get us up to 40 points this season then next week's game would be a very good time to show us all. Lose it and I think he is half way to the exit door given the fixtures after that.

11

SaintPaulVW added 18:39 - Aug 6 Played fairly well for 30 mins. Then lots of silly errors and our Defence fell apart in second half. Aribo, Lavia and Bazunu looked good. Djenepo was still up for it. Arma was stranded in the first half and then we switched to no striker. Not too sure what that was about with Che on the bench. At least Ralph was using his subs. Oh well we always start slow. COYR
2

GRIM added 18:44 - Aug 6 The club brings in 6 new players & only 3 of them played. So Ralph doesn't trust the rookies. We didn't need 6 unproven rookies, we needed just 3 proven Premier players. When will Ralph realise that Djennepo is not a wing back, wing backs first priority is to defend & he just can't. And once again his substitutions made us worse, Ralph is so tactically naive & it's going to cost us our premier lge status. Another game lost after taking an early lead. Oooohhh, that sounds so familiar.

8

NewburySaint added 18:54 - Aug 6 Only Saints could look even more woeful defensively with 1 more defender on the pitch than usual!
6

Sadoldgit added 19:03 - Aug 6 Lavia looks ok. Aribo will be a good player for us. Spurs had several more gears than us. Toothless up front still and weak at the back still. We desperately need to decent striker but then we know that but it needs to happen soon. Didn’t expect anything from this match but it was depressing to see a new system and some new players not making a significant change to the last end of season form. Pleased to see Djnepo finally get an assist but very few positives to take from this match.

4

Boris1977 added 19:12 - Aug 6 I'm not sure how that happened San Marco - I'm as incompetent with IT as the the alpine clot is at football management
2

Boris1977 added 19:18 - Aug 6 I'm not sure how that happened San Marco - I'm as incompetent with IT as the the alpine clot is at football management
2

Boris1977 added 19:30 - Aug 6 I'm not sure how that happened San Marco - I'm as incompetent with IT as the the alpine clot is at football management
2

Bawdrip added 21:16 - Aug 6 Easily outplayed. No real upgrade on last season. The three debutants did OK but we were generally poor. I'm gutted as I think Adams could be on the way out. I've always felt he contributed so much (though arguably not enough goals). Think he is better than the alternatives we have. First trip to the ground since they moved. Impressive but doesn't keep the noise in and all felt a bit flat. Hottest I've ever been at a football match. At least leaving ten minutes early meant I could catch the fast early train back to Taunton.

3

wrathoftazz added 21:17 - Aug 6 OK so match review report will consist of the following. Rusty team due to off season. New players need to adapt Ralph did his best with what he has. We don't have the money of Spurs It's only the 1st game of the season Ralph doesn't know his best start line up All the above will be "rinse and repeat" till we finally win a game and then it will change to We said it would take time New players now know the league Ralph has it all figured Followed by reverting to the 1st lot of excuses after we then lose games after that 1 win. My view from the game... Ralph spent way to much on what we don't need. We need leaders, not nipple suckers. Ralph still has no clue on, well, anything. We had 1 gear and that was "turn up" My view on interview after. Ralph saying it wasn't good enough! Well DUH!! Ralph still hasn't got a clue and will be consulting his magic 8 ball for a solution. My view in general... The ONLY place we are going with Ralph is the championship. He still hasn't got a clue, will not develop a clue and I'm quite happy to escort him to the local airport... it may cost me a tenner in petrol but that's money better spent than the £50m he's been allowed to spend in the window. If I were prowsey, I'd be begging for an exit... unless he has no ambition and doesn't want to play for England.

12

Bawdrip added 21:29 - Aug 6 I had feared 5 or 6 nil before the game so 4-1 was better than that I guess but the manner of the performance and the errors were so disappointing.
7

Ali_Diarea added 23:38 - Aug 6 First goal: djenepo useless preventing cross, KWP useless defending against Sessegnon. Second goal: Aribo completely leaves Dier unmarked. Third goal: Salisu, wtf Forth goal: Bednarek nowhere near the goalscorer, just stands in front of our keeper, about two yards away. Schoolboy stuff Should of spent £50m on two players - a quality cb and a decent striker - instead of six lambs to the slaughter.

6

PezzaSaint added 08:33 - Aug 7 Says a lot about where we are as a club when we’ve got supporters predicting 5-0/6-0 before the game starts! Back 5, two defensive minded midfielders and we still concede 4. Going to be a long season!!
4

sidsaint added 10:09 - Aug 7 "You don't win anything with kids". Summer transfers needed to be more experienced players. I'm not saying we didn't buy good prospects but we may find we need them later on to get us back to the premiership as the showing was not good enough to convince that we will survive in the top flight this season. Albeit against a Tottenham team that were quality but Kane and Son didn't score and it was only the first game of the season,so its squeaky bum time already. Need a quality striker above anything else.

2

Block8 added 10:59 - Aug 7 If only we had a left back and big strong forward on the bench for half time changes!
2

EvertonSaint added 19:33 - Aug 7 We as supporters have been crying out for a new CH, we see it, but Ralph still seems oblivious to our needs. Is this a manager or is he there for the pay off when he gets a taxi? He seems to have totally ignored what we have known for the last couple of years.
1

EvertonSaint added 21:41 - Aug 7 We as supporters have been crying out for a new CH, we see it, but Ralph still seems oblivious to our needs. Is this a manager or is he there for the pay off when he gets a taxi? He seems to have totally ignored what we have known for the last couple of years.
1

Avior added 22:18 - Aug 7 So lets be clear this match was won by Conte. He took one look at the Saints team sheet immediately realised the weak link was our left flank and then told Royal & Kulusevski it was Christmas and Djenpo was playing Santa. Helps that Kulusevski is approaching world class and does what he is told. So we had basically lost before we started. Not helped by a totally inept display by all of the back five, but again it is the same old faces just in a different formation. Back 5 might work against weaker teams but current crop just do not know how to defend the channels against any sort of quality. We will score very few goals as well since transition is just too slow. The other problem we now have is that Lavia already looks a class act. he was best defensive midfielder on the pitch by a mile yesterday. A couple of times he won / retained the ball had a quick look up for de Bruyne or Silva on the move and instead found our lot playing musical statues. So Ralph will have to play him which probably means Romeu cannot play as well and imo he remains one of our top 5. He was very ineffective in his more forward role yesterday. Ralph has a straightforward choice to make now either find a system that works with our 11 best players or decide a system and find 11 players to play it. Its going to be a long season.

1

AmericanSaint added 04:43 - Aug 8 So since there is no math report yet, I will add a few comments here. First, we were in the game in the 1st half and were attacking when Salisu has a brain-fart. WTF? Wow. Then we did our usual mental collapse. Next, I have supported Rh for the last two seasons, but believe that these first 5 games should determine his future. He did a few things poorly yesterday in his set up. (1) Dnejepo should have been on the bench and Parraud should have started. RP can play the wing back and a team like Tot, you need a seasoned LB (which they exploited well). (2) Lavia should be playing the top of the triangle in the midfield and no Romeu. He has better feet, speed and looks forward first instead of back. (3) He should have exploited Dier in the back and played more over the top balls for AA to run on with his speed. Didnt do that once. (4) Aribo should have been changed at halftime. So, if RH doesnt make these types of changes and see that a tweak is needed, then he will be gone by the end of Sept., unless the new owners do not care about staying up as they see some of the wages as a major hurdle. Next - We should be going after Conner Coady as we need a season CB badly. Him in the middle, with JB and MS on the sides could be very good. I wont even talk about a striker as we will not spend the necessary 20-30 needed to get a proven one. We have a run of games that we need points from and if August has us at the bottom, then I foresee a change in managers.

3

sidsaint added 09:12 - Aug 8 Agree with American Saint but feel we need to move quicker as a new manager could be needed before the window closes.
0