 | Forum
Reply | 5 Things About The Liverpool Game
at 10:21 25 Nov 2024
1. I totally disagree. With the previous setup, Liverpool fans would have totally owned St Mary's yesterday and you wouldn't have heard our fans in the corners of the Northam at all. It was much better with the new setup. The atmosphere was good. [Post edited 25 Nov 10:22]
|
| Forum
Reply | Alex McCarthy
at 10:17 25 Nov 2024
I agree. His performance reminded me of those "Two good; two bad" sequences they sometimes show at the end of MOTD. |
| Forum
Reply | Russell Martin
at 09:40 25 Nov 2024
'Playing out is what got us to the Premier league'
It really isn't. What got us promoted was that, along with Leicester, we had one of the two strongest and most expensively assembled squads in the Championship, even stronger than Ipswich's. In spite of having that advantage, we only finished 4th, NINE POINTS OFF THE AUTOMATIC PROMOTION PLACES.
Then, in the play-offs our superior players went into cup mode, forgot about the sideways and backwards passing of the regular season, and then had the good fortune to come up against a Leeds team whose form had fallen off a cliff. |
| Forum
Reply | Is Anyone Positive About The Liverpool Game
at 09:00 25 Nov 2024
I don't think he's a 90-minute player at this level, but he played the best 45 minutes of his entire Saints career yesterday. Admittedly, he never really looked like scoring, but he showed a lot of skill that we'd never seen from him before, and he was definitely one of our best players in the first half.
I remember when we played Liverpool at St Mary's last year and drew 4-4: Sulemana was superb, ran their defence ragged and scored 2 goals, but we've seen little of him since.
On a positive note, it was an entertaining game yesterday, and, if not for the usual silly passing in our own penalty area, we'd have at least got a draw, like we did the last time.
If somebody could just instruct our players never to pass the ball inside our own penalty area, we would concede far fewer goals and get a lot more points. Just get the ball away out of the danger zone. It's so bloody obvious.
One other thing: our players need to be told to face the opposition's goal after they get the ball, not ours. So many times, a Saints player gets the ball and then immediately turns round to face our goal and look for a backwards pass instead of looking where he should be looking, which is at the opposition's goal. I know that passing the ball backwards is the easy option, but it's also a pointless option if you want to win football games. At least Tyler Dibling seems to understand that. [Post edited 25 Nov 9:28]
|
| Forum
Reply | Dibbling
at 21:09 24 Nov 2024
Yes, that substitution when Ugochukwu came on instead of a forward was one of those "Oh no" moments. |
| Forum
Reply | Russell Martin
at 20:56 24 Nov 2024
One of the Liverpool players said in his post match interview that they'd been told to focus on our passing around at the back as we made mistakes which they could score from. So, there was no surprise when they did. Of course, the manager of every team we play must tell his players that, and that's how we give away most of the goals against us.
What really pIssed me off is when our players were doing the slow sideways passing in our own half in the final minute when we were losing and needed to get the ball into the Liverpool penalty area. |
| Forum
Reply | Dibbling
at 20:33 24 Nov 2024
Dibling lasted OK. The problem was that at the end he was under instruction to play deep in his own half and defend. I've seen Russell Martin shouting at him, telling him to get back. If he'd been allowed to stand on the halfway line when Liverpool were camped in our half near the end, there was one occasion when we got the ball and a long pass to him would have seen him through unchallenged on goal to make it 3-3. Instead he got the ball passed to him near our own corner flag.
The one who didn't last was Onuachu. That first half was the best he's ever played for us, but you could see he'd had enough and didn't want to play the 2nd half. I'm very sceptical about that injury as I've seen him feign injury before when he wanted to come off. After all that shenanigans with the stretcher, he walked off without a limp, admittedly looking very tired.
Even if either of them was totally exhausted, they'd still make more of a contribution than Ugochukwu. It's almost like being reduced to 10 men when he comes on the pitch. Total waste of space. Russell's substitutions clinched the game for Liverpool in the end.
It will probably be best for Dibling to move to another club as Russell Martin is trying to spoil his natural game, which is to take on defenders and attack the opposition goal, not pass sideways and backwards or be an extra defender. A better manager will give him free reign to use his exceptional talent. [Post edited 24 Nov 21:12]
|
| Forum
Reply | Liverpool Game Matchday Thread
at 20:26 24 Nov 2024
Captain in name only today. Harwood-Bellis was the one shouting out the instructions and trying to organise the players around him. He also led by example. He could be an England captain one day. |
| Forum
Reply | Could This Be Russell Martin's Last Game ?
at 11:35 24 Nov 2024
Whilst most experienced Premier League managers would steer well clear of us, van Nistelrooy and Carsley would take the job. They'd see promotion next season and establishing us back in the Premier League after that as a step towards a job at a big club.
The thing is they are available right now, but won't be for much longer. |
| Forum
Reply | Could This Be Russell Martin's Last Game ?
at 10:56 24 Nov 2024
They must be bit thick if they can't see that the old possession style of football has been well and truly found out and that we need to play a more effective style in future. Successful teams now use a fast counterattacking style which is far more effective than the outdated possession style we are still persevering with. Successful teams now only use the posssession game in patches to run down the clock or to take a breather during games. [Post edited 24 Nov 11:00]
|
| Forum
Reply | Will Saints Be Cast Adrift At The Bottom Before They Kick A Ball This Weekend
at 19:44 23 Nov 2024
On the bright side, at least our recent form isn't as bad as Man City's. They've lost their last 5 games. The possession game really is sh!t unless you have a player like Rodri, who acts like a quarter back, spraying passes forwards from the halfway line to keep the opposition's penalty area under siege and then stops them whenever they try to counterattack. And there really is only one Rodri. [Post edited 23 Nov 19:56]
|
| Forum
Reply | Is Anyone Positive About The Liverpool Game
at 19:40 23 Nov 2024
The Dell could be a hostile place for away teams to play at. David Beckham said it was the ground he hated playing at the most because the crowd were so close to the pitch and really gave him some stick.
Our home record against Liverpool used to be good too, at least until the mid-90s when the terraces were replaced by seats and the capacity was reduced. |
| Forum
Reply | Is Anyone Positive About The Liverpool Game?
at 15:41 22 Nov 2024
"Does anyone think we will win?"
This sounds like the sort of rallying call the Earl of Cardigan would have made before leading the Light Brigade into a valley surrounded by Russian artillery. [Post edited 22 Nov 19:45]
|
| Forum
Reply | Liverpool Cup Tickets
at 10:33 20 Nov 2024
I think what it tells you is that we have been loyally turning up in numbers to watch one of the worst performing teams in the entire history of the Premier League, with both home and away league games continuing to sell out, but that witnessing a midweek cup defeat by Liverpool shortly after we see them defeat us in a league game may, understandably, be a step too far for some. Under such circumstances, I really wouldn't expect the game to be nearly sold out 4 weeks in advance anywhere. [Post edited 20 Nov 10:36]
|
| | dirk_doone
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 586 | | Comment Votes: | 1505 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 2091 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.