If in the previous round Saints thought they played the perfect game, then FC Midtjylland will think that everything went to plan at St Mary's last night.

I have to say that I cannot remember a more cynical team in action than FC Midtjylland, yes we expected them to be tight, organised and disciplined, but what we didn't expect was the cynical time wasting and blatant feigning of injury.

They were asting time in the first half long before they scored, but in the second they excelled themselves and in the final half hour there main tactic seemed to be to feign injury everytime they lost a tackle in a key area to try and con the ref into stopping play.

At the end of the day it perhaps did not affect the result, but it was disgusting to watch and if that is the way that they like to play football then god help their fans who have to watch it and god help Brentford who share owners with the Danish club and whom these owners are looking to build in FC Midtjylland's image.

It was another evening of frustration for Saints and not just because of the visitors tactics, we enjoyed 60% of the possession, had 23 attempts on goal compared to their 9, with 9 on target compared with their 2.

That perhaps tells you the story of the game, did Saints play badly ? I would say no, they dominated the game and just did not seem to get the luck when it mattered, it was not for lack of trying.

Jay Rodriguez could of put Saints ahead in the early minutes but is lacking a little match practice and confidence but overall in the first half Saints had dominated and FC Midtjylland had done little apart from one header well saved by Stekelenburg.

So as half time approached it looked to be goalless, then again Saints switched off for seconds a cross was headed out and it went straight to Sparv who unmarked and wit all the time in the world hit a low shot from 25 yards into the corner that gave Stekelenburg no chance

The second half was all Saints with the Danes trying to break up the game and throwing themselves to the ground for no reason, Steven Caulker who posed a real aerial threat had what looked to be a perfectly good goal disallowed before Pelle chested down a ball to James Ward Prowse who was brought down for a penalty, Jay Rodriguez stepped up and put Saints level.

It was hoped that with 35 minutes left Saints could win the game, they had their chances not least another Caulker header brilliantly saved by the keeper and a header from Yoshida that hit the post in the 96th minute, but they could not break the Danes down again.

If I was a fan of FC Midtjylland and they don't seem to have many perhaps for this reason, I would be ashamed of the way my team plays football, I have no problems with a team sitting back and keeping it tight etc, that is a valid tactic, however the blatant timewasting and cheating by the Danes was just disgusting.

Saints are still in this tie, the truth is they are a far better side with far better options, FC Midtjylland did what they do, score one goal and keep it tight and it might just suit Saints better to play them in Denmark where they will have to come out a little more.

If we can get an early goal as we dd at Arnhem it will put them under pressure, they will have to get at us more and this will create space for the pace of Mane.

It will be an exciting game, this is why we want European football, but we want more of it, Saints are struggling to find their form at the moment, they are not a bad team, they are a good team struggling to make things click, in the main Everton aside we are not losing games, we are getting stronger with every game and there are plenty of plusses to be taken from this performance, we can only get better and if we do in Denmark next week then we can progress.

Photo: Action Images

TreeHugger added 09:38 - Aug 21 This is what make European football so exciting. There are lot more scenarios to think about and tactics play a much bigger part. at 1-1, they will surely try to see the game out for a 0-0. There goal was a bit frustrating as you could see him unmarked on the edge for ages. Keeper played well, Pelle and Jrod look like they are starting to gel. Pelle does so much to bring others into the game. He also created most of his own chances. Lets keep behind the team. Watford are talking themselves up quite a bit so it would be nice to get a win against them. We could do with some of those injuries clearing up asap though.

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JGH added 09:43 - Aug 21 Please take note of this Nick: http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/their-there-theyre/
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palmsaint added 10:04 - Aug 21 A football fan page not a english lesson .jgh
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michaeljoycetf added 10:17 - Aug 21 Nobody likes a smartarse . JGH
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hmmm added 10:22 - Aug 21 Perhaps. But as Nick often criticises our defenders for sloppy defending/losses of concentration, surely he should practice what he preaches ;)
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mgprobert added 10:23 - Aug 21 Ive not seen anything so sickening in terms of time wasting and feigning injury since the bad old days of Poyet's Brighton - never want to see it again but for some its how to play the game :(
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michaeljoycetf added 10:34 - Aug 21 hmmm. The grammatical error pointed out by JGH was made by Treehugger in his comment and not in the main report. check it out.
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SanMarco added 10:37 - Aug 21 I thought we were poor last night. No cohesion or fluency. I know the opposition made it difficult but at our best last season we would have swept them aside with disdain. I am pleased that Matt Targett had a good game but JWP isn't doing enough and although Maya was solid at right-back he doesn't offer anything much going forward. Did anyone else watching on TV notice the way the commentator kept managing to mention tthe Mane/Wanyama 'rumours' at regular intervals...

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ThereIn76 added 11:20 - Aug 21 Why will Midtylland have to “come out a little more” in the second leg? I expect them to play for a 0-0 and Saints will need to play better than they did last night to get the result they need to go through. Last season they were good at keeping possession and slowing the game down but then upping the tempo for short spells and taking advantage. So far this season they haven’t done that so well. They are missing Spiderman of course (Sparv’s goal was a direct result of both Wanyama and Romeu following the ball instead of patrolling in front of the defence) and on last night’s evidence Clyne as well. Was Cedric not 100% fit? Yoshida is not a right back and never will be? Saints will need to be patient in the second leg and keep the ball better. RK will need to brief them well. When they upped the tempo Midtylland buckled and Saints have the quality and the options to make that happen again. And there were positives last night. Targett grew into the game and looked very impressive, some of JWP’s set-pieces were outstanding, great to see JRod back and on the scoresheet. We march on.

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BaselSaint added 11:23 - Aug 21 Nick, you are right `a good team not clicking yet`. They need to be clear about their roles and RK has his work cut out to get this functioning. One major difference; although mentioned by many before is the complete absence of our full backs marauding forward. It`s completely disappeared from our game. We look so different now because of this.
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DPeps added 11:48 - Aug 21 Another element of our play that's missing at the moment is building attacks through midfield. Almost all our attacks were long balls up to Pelle. Long balls are ok, but we were predictable towards the end. I hope this will change when Clasie comes in, as he is a natural forward passer while Victor and Romeu aren't so much. On Midtjylland being cynical: yes of course they were, but that's not something we can control or something worth complaining about. We can only control what we do, and in my opinion we didn't do enough to win even though, technically, we are far the better side. I'm confident we'll get through because we'll need to be more attacking away, and that will suit us. It was weird to play the home leg with a defensive set-up and personnel, but maybe our plan from the start was to contain in the first leg and then be more adventurous second leg.

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Jesus_02 added 12:12 - Aug 21 They time wasted after they got an away goal against a vastly superior opponent...it’s hardly a big surprise. What was more disappointing was that we seemed to have stopped passing from the back and pressing in the middle. Are we playing moneyball, hoofball or football Either way we didn’t get the result!
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TreeHugger added 12:58 - Aug 21 Thanks JGH, you sound like a fun guy! Apologies for the typo. I am aware of the difference but sometimes I just don’t give a sh*t. Call me crazy, but correcting a typo is the least of my worries when I’m stuck on the underground with 50 people breaking in my face. I will learn from my failings and try to maintain the standards required for a fan site of this quality.

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Consigliere added 13:24 - Aug 21 I think that a dose of realism is required here. The plain fact is that we were playing a well-organised and very good team who had a plan and stuck to it. What else did we expect really? On the whole I thought Saints did pretty well, especially in the second half though I don't think that any one player should be singled out for particular praise or particular criticism. Man of the match for me was the referee, who had an excellent game!

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SaintBrock added 13:24 - Aug 21 Like DPeps and Jesus02 it worries me that we've abandoned the build-up from the back and holding the ball up in the midfield. Why? Using those tactics we have become one of the best teams in the league, yet it seems we no longer believe in that approach. Last night it certainly looked like goofball, lobbing everything at Pelle with a nil percent success rate or shooting wildly at every sight of goal when mile outside the 18 yard box. Very few attempts at passing our way through. What's going on? Same coaches? Maybe it's just for the European thing, let's hope so because if we have to watch this awful boring approach week in week out it is going o be one hell of a long season os struggle. Sort it out Koeman, what of the Adkins legacy now?

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ItchenNorth added 13:56 - Aug 21 Far too many long deep drifting balls into Pelle from Saints again. Pelle is great in the air but surely we need to getting down the line more to whip the ball into the six yard box and he can stick it in the net! We need a combination of both approaches of course with others feeding off the knock downs but last night was route 1 far to often. Can't say this game did anything to change my view of this competition. Its hard work for little reward. On a separate note: it was good to see the ground so full for a match against a team hardly anyone had heard of or cares about watching. Its been mentioned before that stadium expansion is some sort of pipe dream unless we can regularly fill our stadium. But last night showed that despite the opposition or competition; if the price is right, fans will come. Its a long term strategy but increase the stadium capacity (safe standing being the cheaper option), lower the ticket prices and watch the fanbase are revenue increase in time. All we need to do is look at the German model to see that it can work.

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gpsgm added 15:10 - Aug 21 I'm in a good place to see this when we are kicking towards the Northam (1st half) and I can say that whenever Maya and Matt had the ball near the touchline there was never anyone up the line as an option, they were all going inside and unreachable from a low-risk ball. So they had to go back to Jose & Caulker who then got pressurised and had to hit it long to Pelle or go back again to The Stek who did the same. By this time someone had usually appeared on the wing. Not so well placed to see 2nd half but I think we seemed to use the space on the wings far better. Especially later on with Mane wide right, but by then he was a bit too knackered. I think theyre defence may get more to do when we go their as there certainly not as good as us.

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