 | Your
Report | Southampton v Stoke City Your Report added at 11:18:51
Dear oh dear.
Stoke turned up and we did not until the subs started to arrive. Stoke could and should have won this by a bigger margin.
All the faults we have seen this season were present. No shape, intricate passing at the back inviting trouble, no ability in the forwards to hold the ball, too many players not interested or not good enough.
Going to be hard to get this team back to the one that was in a record beating run of wins/draws. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Chelsea Your Report added at 18:57:00
I'm amazed Salisu got more than 2.
I'm also surprised that SA scored as highly as he did. His body language was poor and he was lost most of the time.
Big up Forster because otherwise it was double figures.
Likewise Smallbone when he came on. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Watford Your Report added at 09:42:54
Frustrating because a month ago we would have put this lot to the sword, regardless of their time wasting tactics that the ref failed utterly to deal with.
RH is correct when he says that the PL has to deal with teams adopting these tactics. Perhaps allowing the trainers on without being instructed and stopping play only if it goes near a player being treated. A player being treated who makes a miraculous recovery to join the game coming near him = yellow card and free kick.
The team as a whole was leaden and lacked intensity. True, building up a head of steam and pressure was not possible, but even when we had the ball we did little with it.
Their first goal was a comedy. All the defenders and keeper can take the blame for that.
The FBs were probably our best players on the day. Even the changes in formation (baffling) did not prevent them going forward. The midfield was poor with way too much going sideways. When Ely and SA did make a run forward, it was not rewarded with a pass.
Che Adams did his best but Smallbone in the first half was lost and Broja was ineffective when he came on.
Worst player on the pitch by a margin was Salisu. His positioning and timing was way off and he could not pass the ball 10 yards. I would have replaced him at half time as well.
RH has a confidence building job to do because otherwise I can see a record QF score against us. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Manchester City Your Report added at 08:55:44
I'm going to start by saying well done to RH.
He saw that Redmond was off the pace and changed him early. He protected Bednarek and then Armstrong when they were carded by replacing them. He played with two strikers which meant that the City back line was unable to push on and support like we see them do when team sit back.
Forster was exposed for their goal. City had three players waiting to head that in (although two of them had come from offside positions.
The back four was tight and didn't allow much space even when Grealish (tart) dropped deeper to get the ball. KWP of course scored a really good goal.
Romeu got under the skin of Grealish which I think he was unhappy about being the wind up merchant he usually is. JWP had a captains game and only ranks so low this week because his teammates stepped up to his level. Armstrong and Ely were solid with the former looking to move forward as often as he could.
Forwards were busy all night and could have got a couple more with some luck.
All round good performance but hat's off to RH. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Leicester City Your Report added at 14:18:42
I thought that there were a number of positives to take from the match.
We looked to move forward when we could and the usual second half slump was avoided. Perhaps the extra minutes helped. (I hope whoever was involved in the medical emergency is recovering). We kept some belief in the system even when pegged back and could have snatched a win. Given the form Leicester brought into the game, overall I thought it was positive. Our first and their first goals were scrappy and could have just as easily not happened. Our second was good and theirs was our errors.
The ref had a few unfortunately moments when he tried to play advantage but it didn't work out for the team in possession. He was however willing to give every 50/50 to Leicester and ignored some blatant time wasting from Maddison in particular. I've ranked him a 4/10 but to be fair refs usually get a max of 7.
There were some negatives for me. McCarthy beaten again at the near post. Admittedly Maddison was inside the 6 yard box and hit it well, but it was past him before he moved.
For a full back, Livramento is skinned too easily for me. He looks great going forward, but his primary role is a defender and I thought he was exposed by Vardy and Maddison. Salisu is prone to mad chicken moments. I used to think that Yoshida was good for one major error a game and I fear he has passed that on to Salisu.
Redmond and Tella had good games, esp first half. Likewise Adams. I think Armstrong continues to struggle because he's trying to do things too fast. He's thinking about what's next before he has the ball under control and a couple of times he stumbled. Perhaps he needs to calm down a little.
KWP had a very mixed time. Some very good, some very bad. He continues to get exposed because he favours his right foot and the coaches need to work on that.
Bednarek was sound enough but he and Salisu are guilty of ball watching and sometimes don't work together well. Romeu was solid and did his job which was to blunt their midfield. I think he tired a little and as a result we got a little overwhelmed in the last 15 and could have lost the game there.
JWP is an enigma. He was busy, got his foot in when needed, made some decent passes, put in some decent crosses. He also went missing a couple of times, notably when Maddison did him like a kipper and went upfield to score. Broja did well - Lyanco not so well. Ely had a decent chance but seems to be afraid of giving the ball some air (as all of our forwards were) perhaps because their keeper is well known as a shot stopper?
Overall encouraging and looking forward to Brighton who will pose a different threat. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Burnley Your Report added at 10:05:53
In my view, we lost two points against Burnley because we chose to go toe to toe with a heavyweight slugger, rather than be smarter with our lighter and more nimble players.
Saints best player by a country mile was Livramento.
Burnley, aside from Cornet, have little guile or craft and instead rely upon a series of long balls to a bully of a centre forward (why was he not at least booked?) or throwing the ball in from wide. They had little in terms of midfield because they never really use it. Their midfield is there to stop the opposition from playing up to what is a static and rigid back 4, sometimes a back 6, and passing around them. That was clearly their tactic and we fell for it.
The centre of our midfield (Romeo and Diallo) both had decent games. But, how many times did we see one of them challenge for a ball in front of a Burnley forward who was also be challenged by Bednarak or Salisu? The result was often that a ball dropping into the centre of the pitch was picked up by a Burnley player and not Diallo or Romeu.
In short we lacked quality in the centre of the pitch and chose instead to throw long balls into the channels which left Redmond and Walcott chasing against bigger and stronger opponents. Against Leeds (a poorer side with no real tactical plan), we took the ball forward in the midfield and fed Redmond etc with better precision and effect. Boroja won a lot of aerial challenges but I don't recall any of the flick ons reaching one of our players.
The right side moving forward worked well but Walcott, once he had pulled his defended inside to give Livramento space, thought his work was done. He then idled with no real further contribution. Elyounoussi was wasted by playing on the left. As we saw against Leeds and others, he is a right sided player and whilst I thought he was no worse than others, he was not as effective.
Bedranal and Salisu were also average. Perraud was limited because the players in front of him were not allowing him the space.
RH is partly to blame here. He spoke pre match about how Burnley were not just a long ball team and then picked a team with no quality in the centre of the pitch instead choosing to go down the flanks (to cross the ball into the box against 3 or more six foot plus defenders?). Surely somebody with the ability to put their foot on the ball and more it forward toward the Burnley back line, feeding our quicker forwards would have been better.
The best player we have for that is JWP who was unavailable. This shows the threadbare nature of the squad.
Finally, what was the point of the goal kick routine? McCarthy worries me a lot. His kicking is erratic and his positioning questionable. If he cannot be trusted to kick the ball to a red player, why is he in the team?
An opportunity lost in my view because we played to Bunrley's game and not ours. Look at the last ten minutes when we pressed and played on the edge of their box. Unfortunately it also showed a lack of creativity with JWP.
An opportunity for two more points lost. |
| Your
Report | Southampton v Leeds United Your Report added at 07:54:12
Everything is easier when we win!
Even though this is worst Leeds side I've seen for a while, it was clear from the start that we were not going to let them play. It helped that Leeds sat back and allowed Broja a gentle introduction into a centre forward holding the ball and bringing others into play, but I thought he was excellent. Intelligent running into the wider channels and a handful for their defence. Redmond had his best game for a long while and even in the last few minutes was tracking across the front line to close Leeds down.
Perraud looked good and importantly we looked more balanced with a left footed left back. No longer could their defence leave the player out there knowing that a poor cross would result.
The midfield had a good day partly because Leeds were not closing them down. Nonetheless their first thought was a pass forward and not sideways and that kept Leeds going towards their own goal. Diallo was much more effective than I've seen him before.
Salisu is an enigma. Looks composed and solid 99% of the time but that 1% is a rabbit in the headlights. On Saturday his error was not costly but against better teams he has to improve his concentration. It may be that he switches off when the ball is at the other goal and then when Leeds played the long ball out, his starting position is a few yards off.
Good to see the team play with some confidence and actually enjoy the game.
MOTM for me was Redmond. Worked hard, played the right pass most of the time, harried their defence. |
| | saint901
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