Both sides huffed and puffed. Both sides lacked quality.

Todays match reminded me a little of last years home game to West Brom. Defensive but lacked creativity.

Today was about not losing and ideally keeping a clean sheet too. However, our lack of guile in attack was disappointing. Had Mane stayed on, maybe we would have got something as his pace did seem to cause Watford problems. Aside from that, we resorted to long ranges shots that never caused any problems.

Romeu and Fonte were the stand out players for me followed by Cedric.

A point and a clean sheet at least gives us a foundation to build on. I am a tad worried that we do not have enough about us at the moment to break down a determined, defensive Danish side though. We really have to come out of the blocks in that one.

1

Better defensively but at the cost of no link up play and only scraps for the strikers to work on. No doubt Ron was back to basics to try and regain some defensive cohesion and consistency and opted from start for a clean sheet draw. Once that is established with perhaps Bertrand coming back in after the break and Soares looking better we can at least get a settled back four and with Romeu looking a class act in midfield perhaps by the end of September we will be getting back closer to where we were last year. Of course if it is really true that Wanyama doesn't want to be here, the chance of establishing a settled excellent midfield defensive partnership with Romeu will go out the window.

For now we are in the relegation zone with no immediate prospect of getting away from it.

0

I know it's early days but today was against Watford! Scraped into PL. I know we will settle down eventually but we need a shot of confidence. Clean sheets are good but everyone loves to see goals. Goals win games. I've been saying for months that we need Charlie Austin. Proven goal scorer (4 already) and an excellent alternative to our one and only true big man, Pelle. He is there waiting for someone to pay £15m for....a bargain! Get him and Van Dijk and we are set. Probably £25m for the two, but we can afford them. Caulker and Romeu look to be good pick ups but it's a long season. We need depth, cover and alternates for the injuries that are bound to happen. Next week we need to win in Denmark and win in the league on Sunday but at this point in time I'm not confident of either.

0

The only thing I'm quite happy with, is that our matches are easy to bet. In the first two PL-games the Formation made it obvious that it would mean some goals and with yesterdays formation meant there hardly could be more than one... Going for clean sheets of course isn't the worst thing, but if you play Watford and put on a 7-1-2 formation than this is somehow worrying if you think in terms of ambition. With a team and tactics like that you can't complain lacking creativity or goals, I doubt that having Messi or Ronaldo alone up front would have managed to change that - so for sure Austin couldn't neither.
If you start looking for a point in such a game then you surely accept that avoiding relegation is the only goal. Every made substitution underlined this. Watford looked far more likely to score than us despite this and with the injury of Mane there was noone left but Pelle who you could hope for to score. And when I was hoping for Tadic or Junami to come on and try to make a difference with one of the 7 defensive Players making way, there came JWP for Davis to make the team (and our offense) even weaker...
I personally rather watch a 2-2 at Newcastle with a formation that at least shows ambition even though it won't ever keep a clean sheet than being bored to death with this tactical approach at PL-Giants Watford...

0

The only thing I'm quite happy with, is that our matches are easy to bet. In the first two PL-games the Formation made it obvious that it would mean some goals and with yesterdays formation meant there hardly could be more than one... Going for clean sheets of course isn't the worst thing, but if you play Watford and put on a 7-1-2 formation than this is somehow worrying if you think in terms of ambition. With a team and tactics like that you can't complain lacking creativity or goals, I doubt that having Messi or Ronaldo alone up front would have managed to change that - so for sure Austin couldn't neither.
If you start looking for a point in such a game then you surely accept that avoiding relegation is the only goal. Every made substitution underlined this. Watford looked far more likely to score than us despite this and with the injury of Mane there was noone left but Pelle who you could hope for to score. And when I was hoping for Tadic or Junami to come on and try to make a difference with one of the 7 defensive Players making way, there came JWP for Davis to make the team (and our offense) even weaker...
I personally rather watch a 2-2 at Newcastle with a formation that at least shows ambition even though it won't ever keep a clean sheet than being bored to death with this tactical approach at PL-Giants Watford...

0

great win-started off slugishly but roared into a 3 nil almost did a cardiff but Poulter won a good penalty to seal it 4-2
Austin worked hard but Luongo was the star
Felt the defense needed some work but 4 games in -this is a team in development
Expected to win and did win We play better teams but cans see the potential of this team

0

Weird team selection given that our main aim should have been to score goals. Depressing reliance on long balls (again). I know some of us don't rate Europa League but opportunities like this don't come along often.
I'm intrigued to see what positives Nick can squeeze out of this...

2

No ideas, slow and playing as if it was a practice match. The team have forgotten how to play. No amount of spin can make their performances this season look good. No positives. If this was the result of last season's hard work you question what the point was. Massive respect to those who travelled and those who have bought season tickets. The board need an EGM pronto to save this club as the league positions don't lie.

1

These are very depressing days for Saints fans. I have watched Saints all my life but never have seen such a woeful and ugly performance as that of the first half last night. Everything we have learned and built here over the last six years seemingly come to nought, cast away as 'though it never happened. This has been truly our death by a thousand cuts. Was this a sign of surrender from Koeman? Out of sorts all season and no magic recipe last night, is he still with us?

Perhaps his own inability to persuade Clyne, Alderweireld & Schneiderlin to remain with him (he had a year to talk them round after all) has undermined his own self esteem and sowed real seeds of doubt - and now the suggestion that Wanyama & Mane may feel the same way!

Good managers and coaches don't become bad managers and coaches overnight so evidently all is not well in our camp, so now the question is will he walk if VVD cannot be persuaded to come here either. I hope not but fear Norwich may be the last game with him and his brother at the helm.

If that happens we may have to settle for Big Sam! - "always look on the bright side of life"

-1

Well it was horrible and I want that 90 minutes of my life back again - no midfield, no urgency, no cohesion and no ideas.

But...

We've been here before and in recent memory. On a horrible wet night in Sheffield last year I watched what I thought was the worst performance I have ever seen from a Saints team, under the same manager and with many of the same players. Indeed a few better players took the trip north than were on the field in Denmark last night. How quickly things can change, although change they certainly must. Its not yet time for panic and meltdown.

Nothing worthwhile in this life is learned from success alone, but hell, do we need to learn from our mistakes!

1