Pretty toothless going forwards, Dibling ineffective and not pressing, Archer the same. However, great to keep a clean sheet and Rambo being back is priceless. New manager has a lot of work to do but thankfully the players are getting out of the nasty RussBall habit already. Ref was atrocious, broke up our attack because their player was down, allowed the Fulham attack to continue when ours was down in an identical scenario. The quality of refereeing in the PL is worse than Russell Martin's tactics.

3

A very good start for our new manager. Great to see Ramsdale back in goal too.

5

Just goes to show how toxic the possession clown was. Boot it up there try harder to defend and get 1 point. Easy. Nice to see Ivor so niggly. We need that.

3

Well a good point. Fought well at the back but creatively got nowhere. Attacking wise we were very poor. However, something to build on. Ramsdale did well but his kicking was poor. So many kicks went straight in to touch. Onuachu should have started with Archer.

8

At last. No fannying around at the back and giving the ball away. Ivan has seen a lot of videos of Saints and in 5 minutes saw what the fraud couldn’t see in 18 games. It wasn’t pretty but a good point.

7

Will take the point. Better defensively, Ramsdale being back was a big plus. Lesley had his best game for us and we were better in midfield as a result. With Fulham seemingly out of sorts, there was a case for being more ambitious upfront. Tall Paul should have come on earlier, Sulemama could have been given a run. How we miss JWP - his quality on set plays woukd help ys eke out wins on a day like today. Still we march on

5

Makes you realise how may more points we could have now, if we had taken this pragmatic and sensible approach in tactics. It wasn’t pretty, but more importantly it wasn’t suicidal.

You can tell the players are happier with getting the ball cleared quicker.

It was difficult to know how much influence Ivan had on this, but presumably some, so a promising start.

I like the back three. I would ask why Wood has not played more, but we all know about RM’s infatuation with JS, but He seems comfortable at this level so far.

Lesley looks a different player. I wonder how many more may have a new lease of life?

Substitutions were spot on. Dibbling was out of sorts, Sugar was visibly tiring and Lesley was an upgrade on Aribo.

I am sure we are still doomed, but better Fayre ahead.

5

That's better. A lot of Saints fans are much relieved with a well fought, ground out 0-0. Not a great match but arguably a great result for Saints. I really enjoyed us defending properly after having to watch so much dross for so long. No clowning around at the back and the defence looked solid and capable - doing what they should, namely blocking and clearing the ball without putting themselves in danger.

Good performances from the 3 centre backs, notably Bednarek and Wood. The latter's performances recently have been really encouraging. Ramsdale as terrific as usual.

The attack and midfield were ,of course, was mostly inept, but with a bit of common sense applied, some tinkering and a few new faces, Ivan might be able to make a half decent competitive team that we can all get behind and enjoy. Not that Saints fans haven't got behind Saints in any of the previous games; here they owned Craven Cottage showing that Saints have some of the best supporters in the league.

All this goes to show that Martin didn't have a clue at this level and was probably one of the luckiest managers ever to get us up last year and get given a whooping contract, extension and all. If Bob the Builder can achieve this after two games it has to make one shudder at the ineptitude of Martin and SR. Hopefully he'll retain the reserve coach position under Ivan.

Fingers crossed - at least there's some optimism over Christmas and for the New Year.

6

Pretty sure Ramsdale finding touch was tactical rather than mistakes. We don't have the players to challenge for the 1st or 2nd ball so its more pragmatic to press from a throw in now we are launching it forward. We then have more time to organise our 2 banks of 5. Was a shame that Dibbling wasn't effective. It may be wise to sell him now while his stock is high and get some stockier players in. Otherwise a good display.

4

I always enjoy the visit to Fulham. Their new stand is a big improvement, but had a lot of empty seats because of 'elf and safety'.

Defensively we played well, and Ramsdale kept us in game with 2 good saves. However, his kicking was a bit off today.
Other than those 2 attempts, their finishing was awful. I lost count how many ended up in row 'Z', especially from Iwobi.

We barely threatened, and was surprised Armstrong didn't get hauled off earlier.

KWP's penalty attempt in last minute looked embarrassing, but will wait until I see it again. It wasn't as bad as one of their players holding his face which stopped game when we had momentum. Didbling looked bright and guessing he has injured to get subbed at half time ?

All said, I will settle for the point and take comfort from the effort the team put in.

Off topic, but has anyone checked Juric's birth certificate ? 49 . emmhh !!!

0