Oldham Athletic 1 v 0 Salford City Papa John's Trophy Tuesday, 31st August 2021 Kick-off 19:00 |
SaintBrock added 18:20 - Oct 20 A very dull affair from two plodding sides that hadn't got a clue on unlocking defences between them. We were slightly the better side but being the better of two poor sides is hardly uplifting. I suppose we'd claim a post gained but we need wins from now on to survive. Problem is we seem not to know how to score goals or win matches Austin & Long looked spent forces today. If we have an opt out clause on Ings I'd use it if I were the Saints recruitment people. SanMarco added 20:55 - Oct 20 To be fair it was a good point against a team who have made an excellent start to the season. We were better in defence than usual but were not good enough to get the 1-0 win that a decent side would have got from it. Big match next week. SaintPaulVW added 07:49 - Oct 21 A bit better but against toothless opposition that isn't much comfort. I think we will be okay this season but we seem to be in death spiral that eventually ends in relegation a few seasons later. We need to break it. smegma added 08:17 - Oct 21 dirk_doone added 09:41 - Oct 21 Avoiding defeat at Bournemouth was a good result for us. One big change in the centre of our defence was the key to that. I know he has been written off by many but the man of the match for me and many of the media pundits was Jack Stephens. He's always looked a very promising footballer but he's finally developing into a fine centre back, which is something that takes time. Remember John Stones in his first season at Man City? I'd definitely pick Stephens ahead of Vestergaard and I hope that Hughes continues to do that. helpineedsomebody added 10:34 - Oct 21 KriSaint added 14:58 - Oct 21 Good point. Should probably have been 3, really. My player ratings: Best player Hoejbjerg: 8 Worst player Armstrong: 4 Second worst player(s) Elyounoussi and Gabbi: 5 Rest of the team: 7 forallthesaints added 17:49 - Oct 21 It's looking better, apart from the terror that strikes when the goal comes into view. I must admit I was surprised to see Stephens and Hoedt paired again as they have been accident prone when playing together. I was very happy to see they both played very well - solid and calm. When Saints went for it, we had Bournemouth on the back foot but we don't seem to be able to play the ball forward quickly enough. And that starts at the very back. McCarthy's distribution is slow but mainly because outfield players don't give him enough options in space to rid himself of the ball. I'm afraid Austin is a busted flush - I really don't see how he beats Gabbi or Long into the starting 11. He was simply awful. When Long and Gabbi came on they injected pace and threat. Long won some good headers and if the excellent cross from Redmond at the end had been an inch lower, he'd have scored and won us the game - Austin wouldn't have even been there. Redmond is playing really well these days but he and Bertrand could still connect better down the left. Elyounoussi shows moments but seems not to have the nerve to run at players. Hojbjerg was strong again and is the hub of midfield these days. Lemina is wasteful in possession - his song which ends "never gives the ball away" is hugely inaccurate! Not the best of games but with a bit more luck and a goalkeeper not making several good saves, we could have come away with the points Geoff78 added 23:01 - Oct 23 Excellent! Organised, strong and committed. From the Loft difficult to see exactly what was going on, but looked a bit lucky to survive early part of second half and Lumley didn't look convincing. In general defence was good. When losing possession we are quick to get 6 (back 4 + Cameron, Luongo) set up across area, with Pav dropping into right back creating a solid wall. And at last starting to score goals. Long may it continue. Lynch, Luongo and Pav were outstanding. I wanted to say one of them was MOTM, but Eze's incisive passing and vision were superb. He set up 2 goals, and Wednesday couldn't handle him. Badlands added 23:22 - Oct 23
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